The Boeing Co. may be poised to land orders from China for 40-60 new commercial aircraft valued at a potential $5 billion, according to some Wall Street analysts. Most would be 737s. A company official would not confirm the reports but did indicate the manufacturer ``is in talks with a lot of customers.'' As of Sept. 5, Boeing had 388 aircraft in its 2000 order book, compared with 390 for all of 1999.
Lockheed Martin's Mission Systems Integration Laboratory features a full-scale model of the company's Joint Strike Fighter that allows engineers to scrutinize performance of sensor subsystems before integration into the aircraft's avionic architecture.
Jonathan Bernstein has become vice president-technology and Carlos Mastrangelo vice president-engineering, of the IntelliSense Corp., Wilmington, Mass. Bernstein developed, analyzed and fabricated advanced micromechanical sensors and actuators at the MIT Draper Laboratories. Mastrangelo was professor at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.
THE GENERAL AVIATION MANUFACTURERS ASSN. has published ``Recommended Practices and Guidelines for Part 23 Cockpit/Flight Deck Design'' to help manufacturers with human factors issues in the cockpit environment. FAR Part 23 addresses certification requirements for small aircraft. William H. Schultz, vice president for engineering and maintenance, said the guidelines bring together research on human factors for the purpose of increasing the operational safety of general aviation aircraft.
Astrium has received an order for up to 15 upper stages from Arianespace for the Ariane 5 program. The contract valued at $88 million consists of 10 firm orders and five options. Astrium said it has achieved the production cost reduction target of 35% with a decrease of ``more than one-third.'' The European consortium has received an order worth $132 million for steering and control elements on Ariane 5.
Epner Technology's new generation of low scatter infrared light pipes have polished inside diameters from 1 mm. to more than 1 in. and up to 2 ft. in length. The line achieves ultra-high transmission using a process to coat the interior mirror finish with LaserGold, a proprietary process for electrochemically deposited gold. This produces reflective efficiencies of greater than 98%, for straight or curved pipes. For a high-production, low-cost application, the light pipes can be injection molded in ABS plastic and coated with LaserGold.
Deep cryogenic tempering--a technology pioneered by Cryocon Inc. of Ogden, Utah--is helping aerospace manufacturers increase the performance of many types of metal and nonmetallic tools and parts.
Bombardier Aerospace last week announced orders for CRJ200 Series aircraft: five by Shandong Airlines, three by Shanghai Airlines, six by Yunnan Airlines and 10 by an undisclosed Chinese carrier. In addition, three Q400 turboprop aircraft were ordered by Changan Airlines. Initial deliveries for both aircraft types are to begin in late October. To meet the demands of a growing regional aircraft customer base, Bombardier Aerospace last week opened an Area Spares Distribution Center in Beijing for the CRJ200 regional jet, Q400 and, eventually, CRJ700.
An Ariane 4 booster has successfully orbited the Eutelsat W1 communications satellite, the first in three launches planned for this month. The Astra 2B and GE 7 telecom spacecraft are scheduled to be lifted into orbit by an Ariane 5 on Sept. 14, followed on Sept. 27 by EuropeStar-1 on an Ariane 4. W1 will be the 18th satellite in Eutelsat's fleet, making it the second largest in the industry, after Panamsat's.
The stage has been set for the start of an aggressive flight test program for the Boeing X-32 and Lockheed Martin X-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) demonstrator aircraft. Two government teams--including representatives from three U.S. military services and the U.K.--have been set up here to support the two contractors in the scheduled year-long test program. Boeing and Lockheed Martin determine specific test points they will fly and the overall pace of their programs.
Could Litton Industries Inc. become the next sizable U.S. defense contractor to be acquired by a larger company? Speculation about Litton as a likely target has been circulating for more than a year--its defense electronics and information technology businesses would be among the most desirable elements--and last week, the whole package suddenly became a lot more affordable.
The Joint Strike Fighter will have new-generation radar, electronic warfare suite, infrared sensors and satellite communications links pulling data into the aircraft, but the key to sorting that data into useful information is a still-evolving, specialized computer processor.
Northrop Grumman plans to stake out a larger share of the multibillion-dollar information technology (IT) market with the acquisition of Federal Data Corp. The transaction is valued at $302 million. Federal Data, which is headquartered in Bethesda, Md., reported 1999 revenues of $584 million. The seller is The Carlyle Group, a Washington-based investment firm to whom Northrop Grumman recently sold its $1.4-billion aerostructures business.
Tom Aniello has become director of e-business and Roger Martin has been promoted to director of market development and distribution planning from manager of business development for the Cessna Aircraft Co., Wichita, Kan.
Boeing plans to consolidate certain manufacturing operations in the Puget Sound area and at its facilities in Wichita, Kan. About 3,500 workers are affected by the change and will be reassigned to other jobs or offered retraining. The realignment will reduce Boeing's floor space by about 1.5 million sq. ft., and will shift work from three subassembly shops near Seattle and one in Wichita to different suppliers inside and outside of the company.
Naval Air Systems Command has rescinded a temporary flight restriction on the U.S. Marine Corps' V-22 Osprey, allowing aircraft grounded on Aug. 25 to resume operations. According to the Navy, all 11 V-22s in the field will be cleared to fly after inspections of each aircraft are completed late this month. Seven aircraft, part of the Low Rate Initial Production batch of MV-22s being produced for the Marines, are based at MCAS New River, N.C., and are scheduled to be flying again this week, a Navy official said.
John Reimers has been promoted to CEO from president/chief operating officer of the Compass Aerospace Corp., Long Beach, Calif. He has succeeded Douglas B. Solomon, who resigned but remains a member of the board of directors.
Eddie Leung has been promoted to area sales manager from sales manager for South China for Emery Worldwide at its North Asia base in Hong Kong. Flora Liu has been named area service manager and Thomas Lee manager of area ocean freight. Liu was air freight manager for Circle International. Lee was ocean freight manager for the Hong Kong division.
The Canadian National Defense Dept. has awarded BAE Systems Canada (formerly Canadian Marconi) the CP-140 Aurora Navigation and Flight Instruments Modernization Project. The company will act as prime contractor, systems integrator and avionics management systems supplier.
Saab Aerospace is conducting wind tunnel tests of a low-signature, unmanned air vehicle (UAV) design for attack missions. Dubbed the Swedish Highly Advanced Research Configuration, or Sharc, the vehicle is 10 meters (32 ft.) long with a wingspan of 8 meters (26) ft.) and a take-off weight of 5,000 kg. (11,013 lb.). The configuration is intended to study the effects of internal carriage of nonstealthy weapons on the design. Sharc is designed as a ``complement to today's piloted aircraft,'' according to Saab.
W. Burks Terry (see photo) has been named corporate vice president/general counsel of the Northrop Grumman Corp. of Los Angeles. He succeeds Richard R. Molleur, who is retiring. Terry was vice president/deputy general counsel.
China Southern Airlines is expanding e-ticketing for domestic services. Passengers travelling from Baiyun International Airport at Guangzhou may now e-ticket flights to more than 60 cities via the airline's site at www.cs-air.com/en or the country's travel Web site, www.et-china.com. Passengers may book round-trip flights from Guangzhou to Beijing and Changsha, but only one-way e-ticketing is available from Guangzhou to other domestic destinations.
Joe Saliba, senior vice president sales and account management of the Sabre Holdings Corp. of Fort Worth, has been appointed acting president of the Outsourcing and Software Solutions Unit, following the resignation of Bradford J. Boston.
