The first 18-kw. XM Satellite Radio spacecraft is about half-way through testing at Hughes Space and Communications (see photo). The Hughes HS 702 satellite, which is about 23 ft. high, is one of two spacecraft with which XM Satellite Radio plans to begin subscription service during the first half of next year. The second satellite just entered testing at Hughes. XM Satellite Radio, with headquarters and a broadcast center in Washington, will offer up to 100 new channels with digital sound. In other news, Asia Satellite Telecommunications Co.
Simon Ramo and Dean Wooldridge, whose Ramo-Wooldridge Co. merged with Thompson Products to form TRW Inc., have won the John R. Alison Award for Industrial Leadership from the Reston, Va,-based Air Force Assn. The award honors industrial leaders who have contributed to the nation's defense and is named for Maj. Gen. (Ret.) John R. Alison, a World War II flying ace and former AFA president and chairman. Ramo and Wooldridge were cited for lifetimes of excellence as industrialists, scientists and authors of scientific and technical material.
China is planning a massive airport development program that would build 11 new airports and refurbish nine others in the western region--where, in the next five years, the demand for air transport is forecast to grow higher than the average for all of China. The project, led by the National Development and Planning Commission (NDPC) Bureau of Basic Industry, would provide a rare opportunity for foreign investors to enter a long-underdeveloped region.
Robert Q. Fugate, technical director for the Starfire Optical Range, a division of the Directed Energy Directorate at the Air Force Research Laboratory, Kirtland AFB, N.M., has received the Photographic Society of America's Progress Medal Award. He was honored for research and development work in adaptive optics, which is allowing astronomers to more clearly view planets, stars and other objects in space, and is an enabling technology for using a laser to power satellites.
Boeing plans to conduct flight tests late this year to baseline vibration characteristics of MH-47E Chinook helicopters used for special operations. Although similar tests have been performed on other models of the Chinook, they are not relevant to the -47E because of its larger fuel tanks and aerial refueling probe. The tests will verify Nastran design calculations against flight data. In addition, the U.S. Army plans to convert one of its existing CH-47Ds into a special operations MH-47E to replace an aircraft lost in March 1996.
Boeing and Lockheed Martin, opponents in the Joint Strike Fighter competition but likely collaborators once a prime contractor is selected, are mapping out their strategies for expanding the weapons payload of the next- generation stealth strike aircraft.
Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile (Jassm) failed last week to complete a key flight test as the program resumed testing after a hiatus of several months. The break was caused by design changes made to the missile. The controlled test vehicle separated cleanly from its F-16D, deploying its wings and starting its engines. But it descended and hit the ocean after completing only 25% of the 25-min. mission. Failure analysis is ongoing. The next test is scheduled for late this year.
First flight of the Boeing X-32A Joint Strike Fighter has set in motion a relatively focused test program aimed at fulfilling three specific government requirements for the two JSF contenders. The aircraft must demonstrate low-speed handling characteristics, short takeoff and vertical landing (STOVL) operations and the capability to meet multiple service requirements while maintaining a high degree of commonality among each contractor's JSF variants.
Russia's abject military retains ``islands of excellence'' in missiles, satellites and germ warfare research, despite 10 years of extreme reductions in its defense budget, according to a partisan congressional critique of the Administration's Russia policy.
The focus of many U.S. plans for beefing up the firepower of stealthy manned and unmanned aircraft--which require internal carriage of their weapons--is development of the small smart bomb (SSB).
BRITISH RAF FLIGHT CREWS will have displays that are much more readable in sunlight when AMLCDs (active matrix liquid crystal displays) replace their CRTs. This attribute is important for crews using video imagery from forward-looking infrared (Flir) sensors and from targeting pods--the Thermal Imaging and Laser Designator (TIALD) and the Convertible Laser Designator Pod (CLDP). The display, which BAE Systems calls TV-TAB, is monochromatic but paves the way for a full-color AMLCD upgrade, according to the company.
NASA has decided to recycle the structural test article for the International Space Station's Unity Node as the U.S. Propulsion Module. It will backstop Russian hardware to raise the station's orbit and maneuver it out of the way of orbital debris. Boeing will build the module, working under a planned change order to its prime station contract. The space agency halted work at Boeing on an earlier version when costs crept more than $200 million above the $540 million budget.
Roger N. Beachy has been named to the scientific advisory board of Washington-based Spacehab Inc. He is president of the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center in St. Louis.
Orbcomm, the low-Earth orbit satellite data and messaging service based on simple satellites launched in stacks of eight, has filed for protection under U.S. bankruptcy law because it needs ``just a little more time and money'' to get its business off the ground.
The U.S. government has tacitly agreed not to interfere with the sale of the Israel Aircraft Industries' Green Pine fire control radar to India, according to Indian and Israeli officials. A contract for the radar--an element of the Israeli/U.S. Arrow anti-ballistic missile system that would be used as a stand-alone system by India, was signed more than a year ago. The U.S. is reportedly opposed, however, to the proposed sale of two IAI-developed Phalcon airborne early warning systems to India.
The FAA and the U.K.'s Civil Aviation Authority have signed an agreement to cooperate on the investigation and prevention of incidents regarding shipments of dangerous goods. The agreement clears the way for greater information sharing between the U.S. and U.K. on safety alerts, incident reports, investigations and enforcement actions.
Raytheon Co. has broken off negotiations with striking members of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 1505 and filed unfair labor practice complaints with the National Labor Relations Board.
There's new fuel for the presidential campaign debate about national missile defense (NMD). The Cato Institute publishes a report concluding that one oft-discussed alternative to what the Pentagon has been working on is neither cheap nor easy. Writing for the think tank, consultant Charles V. Pena says dreams of a boost-phase NMD system on ships similar to the Navy Theater-Wide system are chimerical.
The FAA's grounding of Pro Air terminates a three-year effort by the Detroit airline to establish itself as a low-fare operator and to serve the city's big corporations with contractual scheduled service.
Even though French military procurement spending will remain flat next year, Defense Minister Alain Richard says the armed forces will stand by their commitment to new programs such as the European A400M airlifter.
The pilot and eight passengers who survived the ditching of a single-engine Antonov An-2 biplane in the Gulf of Mexico on Sept. 19 while fleeing from Cuba to Miami will be allowed to stay in the U.S. The aircraft was headed west away from Cuba when it crashed about 300 mi. from the Florida coast. Moments after the An-2 takeoff from a rural airport, Cuban authorities notified the FAA that the aircraft had been hijacked. One survivor with serious injuries was airlifted to a Florida hospital. One Cuban man drowned.
James A. Dailly has become vice president-contracts, Walter Galloway vice president-sales, Cameron Mountenay vice president-business development and David Penhorwood vice president-international development, all for Bombardier Aerospace Regional Aircraft of Toronto. Dailly was vice president-sales for Asia-Pacific and Galloway general manager of asset management. Mountenay was controller and Penhorwood director of international contracts.
Former astronaut Buzz Aldrin and Denice D. Denton have been appointed to the scientific advisory board of ScienceWise.com, Gaithersburg, Md. Denton is dean of engineering at the University of Washington.
A Lockheed Martin-led team will modernize U.S. Air Force missile warning, air defense and space operations command and control systems under a contract award that could be worth approximately $1.5 billion.
