Pratt&Whitney Canada will supply the Airbus A3XX mega-transport's auxiliary power unit, a growth version of the PW901A that is temporarily dubbed the PW9XX. The agreement is subject to formal launch of the A3XX, which is tentatively scheduled for the end of this year.
Luxell Technologies will supply displays and keyboards for the Mitsubishi Precision Co. Ltd.'s control display units installed in the Inert Navigational System of Japan's CH-47JA and CH-47J carrier helicopters.
Pamela J. Lupien has been named senior vice president-human resources for the Orbital Sciences Corp., Dulles, Va. She was vice president of James Martin&Co.
Raytheon reports a successful completion of a 21-day test of the Wide Area Augmentation System that demonstrated continuous coverage and a measured accuracy--1 meter horizontally and 3 meters vertically--that is well within the FAA's 7.6-meter requirement. The FAA canceled a WAAS test begun last December out of concern for the stability of the WAAS signal and the system's reliability.
Lufthansa remains one of the most profitable airlines in Europe. For the first six months of this year, the aviation concern posted an operating profit of 349 million euros ($314 million), an increase of 18% over the same period last year, and a net profit of $409 million. With the airline and cargo businesses flourishing, Lufthansa Technik was the only division that reported an operating loss--$29 million. The company said this was due to the high dollar exchange rate and dependency on third-party work.
Raytheon will soon complete a critical road map to guide the company's future research and development (R&D) activities--including balancing short- and long-range goals--based on a comprehensive review of the technical disciplines unique to large businesses acquired in the late 1990s.
William P. Reiner (see photos) has been appointed director of military space business development and Nick A. Fuhrman director of NASA business development for the Atlanta-based Space&Technology Group of EMS Technologies. Reiner was satellite systems integrator at U.S. Army headquarters and retired in June as a lieutenant colonel. Fuhrman was director of government relations for Washington-based Spacehab Inc.
Breaking into international and U.S. markets is vital, French aerospace manufacturers agree, but their strategies are vastly different. Some do it by international acquisition, companies with less capital may try to join an aircraft manufacturer's new aircraft design team, while others pursue the spare parts market for existing aircraft. A number of small French companies are carving out niches as producers capable of providing small numbers of technically demanding components.
A long-awaited surge in U.S. shuttle operations to build the International Space Station is about to begin with next month's launch of Atlantis on STS-106 for major ISS outfitting. The flight is the first of three shuttle missions planned through the end of the year and eight set for 2001. This represents a doubling in shuttle flights compared with the last two years and portends an average of 7-8 missions per year over the next several years in the push to complete station assembly. Nine of the missions through 2001 are to the station.
Singapore Airlines said it will spend S$700 million ($407 million) over the next three years to provide passengers with worldwide electronic business connections. It expects e-ticket sales to reach S$820 million by 2003, or 10% of its total revenue.
Boeing and Airbus Industrie have long taken different approaches to envelope protection in fly-by-wire flight control systems. But perhaps the best approach would be one that combines features of each airframer's strategy.
Military budget officials have presented their plans for Fiscal 2002-07 with the warning that unless they get increased top lines, the services' ability to modernize and deploy around the world will begin to atrophy. To the likely advantage of Vice President Al Gore's presidential campaign, the Clinton Administration is now considering increases to the planned budget that could raise spending by $16-18 billion or more over the six years.
Jet Airways, India's largest private carrier, says it will not bid for a 51% stake in state-owned Air India. Jet Airways has opted instead to expand its fleet of 30 aircraft with purchases of 70-seat regional transports. It flies five ATR 72-500s and 25 737s and has 10 ``new-generation'' 737s on order for delivery from 2001-03.
SAir Group suffered the consequences of failing to hedge fuel prices adequately in the first half of the year as it posted losses in its airline businesses while most European carriers enjoyed profits despite the fuel situation and air traffic delays.
Jim Albaugh (see photo), president of the Boeing Space and Communications Group, has received the Russian Space Agency's Blue Planet Medal. Albaugh, the first non-Russian to receive the honor, was chosen for contributions to the development of cooperation between Boeing and Russian aerospace industry.
The Royal Danish Air Force has awarded a contract to Thomson-CSF Comsys to equip Lockheed Martin F-16 combat aircraft with TLS 2010 airborne navigation systems.
Officials of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) have concluded that Qantas did not breach trade practice laws when the airline expanded service to Newcastle, Brisbane and Melbourne to compete against regional, low-fare carrier Impulse Airlines (AW&ST Aug. 21, p. 49). Impulse officials objected to Qantas' expansion into their core markets, alleging that the larger airline was engaging in predatory conduct. But ACCC Chairman Allan Fels says Impulse has not been harmed economically by the action, and there is no basis for legal proceedings.
NASA is closing in on advanced technology it hopes will enable a yet-to-be-selected contractor to build the Next-Generation Space Telescope, an 8-meter reflector designed to peer ``all the way back'' to the--literal--dawn of time, when the first stars were lighting up and the primordial galaxies were forming.
James F. McCabe (see photo) has been promoted to chief operating officer of Sermatech International, Limerick, Pa., from chief financial officer of TFX Sermatech.
SAir Group CEO Philippe Bruggisser has detailed the Switzerland-based aviation concern's plans for France. He said Air Liberte, Air Littoral and AOM French Airlines ``might very well become two companies.'' SAir Group plans to set up two separate operations. One would be based in Nice and oversee all flights on aircraft up to the size of the Fokker 70. Aircraft with more than 100 seats would be operated by AOM. The plan means Air Liberte as well as Air Littoral will be split up to form a regional carrier, while the two airlines' bigger aircraft will be operated by AOM.
Russia might develop a new laser weapon too, intelligence officials warn in a national intelligence estimate on directed-energy weapons. ``It could be a very significant threat if this is a program they pursue,'' says Ken Knight, who watches global trends at the Defense Intelligence Agency. Russia still has a large directed-energy weapons program, but it is unclear whether Moscow has the funds or the interest to pursue the technology. Additional countries are believed to be actively pursuing laser weapons.
One of the first space applications of technology developed under the Gossamer Spacecraft Initiative will be the Advanced Radio Interferometry between Space and Earth (Arise) mission. The mission, with its orbiting 82-ft. inflatable radio telescope, will use a technique called Space Very Long Baseline Interferometry to make high-resolution images of objects in space.
In a bid to develop a quiet supersonic aircraft, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency plans to discard traditional design approaches that officials believe have stifled innovation and marginalized such airplanes.
