Diehl Corp. of Germany and Thomson-CSF/Sextant of France plan to create a joint venture in avionics that is expected to strengthen Sextant's presence outside the cockpit while giving Diehl the scope needed to compete in world markets. The venture will see a spinoff of Diehl's BGT Control and Navigation and VDO Lufthfahrtgeraete Werk, of which Sextant already owns half, into a new company--Diehl Avionik Systeme. Sextant will comanage Diehl Avionik Systeme and pay DM35 million ($17.2 million) for a 49% share.
The U.S.-German X-31 Vector (Vertical Extremely Short Take-Off and Landing, Control Tailless Operations Research) program is getting underway at the U.S. Navy's Patuxent River, Md., flight test center. First flights are scheduled to begin this summer with two further series of test flights continuing until 2002. The project is aimed at developing and testing thrust-vectoring (TV) and supporting technologies to enable complete flight control/engine/TV integration for extremely short take-off and landing and tailless flight.
ASI Entertainment (www.asie.com.au) has developed the Data3Mail Aircraft Communication and Mail Server (ACAMS) to connect airline passengers to the Internet. Instead of using a $10/min. passenger telephone, it operates via the cockpit's satellite link and charges by the kilobyte. Crew communications gets top priority, of course. ASI has tested ACAMS with the Inmarsat, Comsat and Sita satellite networks, and claims it is five times cheaper and 10 times faster than other systems. Wiring is not required.
Dunlop Aviation Services has been selected by Air Gulf Falcon of Sharjah, United Arab Emirates, to provide brake overhaul and maintenance services for six Boeing 747s.
Joint military operations need to have an interoperable security system to connect their command and control systems. The backbone for these interoperable systems is to be the Defense Information Infrastructure Common Operating Environment (DII COE), and the first network intruder detection software that complies with DII COE was recently delivered to the Defense Information Systems Agency. The software is based on the commercial RealSecure application by Internet Security Systems, and was made compliant with DII COE by Logicon.
No smoke. No joke. A Transportation Dept. ruling that bans smoking on all scheduled passenger flights of U.S. airlines as well as those of foreign carriers operating between U.S. and foreign cities went into effect last week. The ban, implementing a provision of the Wendell H. Ford Aviation Investment and Reform Act of the 21st Century, also extends to the cockpit. According to the Transportation Dept., U.S. scheduled domestic services have been smoke-free since early 1990. As for scheduled international flights between the U.S.
British Midland Airways has chosen Messier-BFGoodrich's Braking Systems to equip its Airbus A330s. British Airways has also selected Messier-BFGoodrich to equip its A321s.
Italy's Istituto per la Ricostruzione Industriale (IRI), a state-owned holding company, last week floated an additional 39% of Finmeccanica's shares, valued at 4.9 billion euros ($4.7 billion). IRI still owns 35.8% of the aerospace-defense group that includes Alenia Aerospazio and the Agusta group.
United Airlines plans to build a $100-million terminal for United Express at Denver International Airport (DIA). Pending approval of parent UAL Corp. and the Denver City Council, and following a one-year design phase, construction of the terminal is expected to begin in 2001 and continue for two years. Under the proposal, United would expand the east end of Concourse A, where it now has eight gates, to accommodate up to 36 regional jet/turboprop aircraft.
Despite a 40-day engineers' strike earlier this year, Boeing last week reported it was on track to pay most nonunion employees five days' extra pay under its new Employee Incentive Plan. The cash payments will be made in early 2001, based on the company's economic performance for this year. Up to 10 days' pay could be earned under the program, or none. The same profit target is being used as a measure for executive incentive pay.
Missile defense and arms control advocates share a unanimous verdict on the Moscow summit. The summit's failure to produce either an updated Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty, or more reductions in nuclear weapons, exposed large veins of stale, confused and timid thinking that have disfigured nearly eight years of Clinton strategic policy, Veteran military analysts say.
A Delta Air Lines Boeing 737-300G en route from Allentown, Pa., to Atlanta on June 2 experienced an uncommanded roll. Flight 1495 was over Monticello, Va., at about 1:35 p.m. When the crew engaged the autopilot, the aircraft rolled to the left and then to the right. A flight attendant sustained minor injuries as a result; no other passengers or crew were injured. When the crew disengaged the autopilot, the roll stopped and the flight proceeded without incident to its destination.
Thomson-CSF Detexis will supply Airborne Maritime Situation Control Systems to the Indonesian air force to equip three maritime patrol IPTN CN-235 twin turboprops.
THE FAA HAS INITIATED USE of the Raytheon-developed Multi-Sector Oceanic Data Link (MS-ODL) as a communication link between controllers and pilots over the North Atlantic. A similar system has been employed in the Pacific for more than a year. Aircraft equipped with Future Air Navigation System (FANS-1) avionics can use the MS-ODL for more reliable and faster communication with the New York air traffic control center. The link relays VHF digital messages over a satellite link or can communicate directly on an HF link.
David H. Morrison has been appointed vice president-legislative affairs, William B. Inglee vice president-security policy, Ann Sauer director of general legislation and budgetary affairs and Carol Hulgus vice president-Navy/Air Force/Marine Corps team, all for the Lockheed Martin Corp.'s Washington Operations. Morrison was deputy associate director for national security for the U.S. Office of Management and Budget, while Inglee was national security and trade adviser in the office of the speaker of the House. Sauer was legislative director for U.S. Sen.
The Directed Energy Directorate of the Air Force Research Laboratory has awarded Boeing Rocketdyne Technical Services a five-year, $86.5-million contract to conduct research and development activities for the Research Laboratory at the Maui Space Surveillance System in Hawaii.
Merger mania is ruffling the airline industry once again after a 1980s' consolidation trend that reshaped U.S. air transport. The prospect of a reduction of major airlines to a Big Three causes consumer groups, unions and regulators to grow queasy. Airline executives and Wall Street tend to regard consolidation as inevitable. Our coverage focuses on developments in the U.S., Canada and in Europe, where merger negotiations are underway between British Airways and KLM Royal Dutch Airlines for the second time in a decade.
Gen. Richard D. Hearney (USMC, Ret.) has become president/CEO of Washington-based Business Executives for National Security. He was a vice president of Boeing and had been assistant USMC commandant.
Pentagon officials are talking about adding a new phase to the Joint Strike Fighter program. Although it is not yet a formal proposal, the rough idea is to insert a 18-24-month ``risk reduction'' phase to give either Boeing or Lockheed Martin time to fine-tune advanced short-takeoff, vertical-landing (ASTOVL) designs for JSF in light of the V-22 crash that killed 19 Marines. It would come after selection of a single design and a prime contractor to lead the program, but before start of the high-priced engineering and manufacturing development phase.
AGILENT TECHNOLOGIES HAS DEVELOPED optical spectrum analyzers that speed the task of checking optical components and systems. Built-in wavelength-division multiplexing uses a broad filter to measure channel power in one sweep and a narrow filter to measure noise floor power density. Wavelength accuracy is 10 picometers, according to the company.
Bryant Gilbert has been appointed team director for California for the Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based Aircraft Service International Group. Three other team leaders recently named are: John Sweet, Jr., Southwest U.S.; Gordon Haines, ground services in Europe; and Mark Edwards, fuels in Europe.
The FAA's new ``Spring 2000'' air traffic control efficiency initiatives are in-place and received a pre-season tryout last month as lines of thunderstorms swept across the eastern U.S., delaying hundreds of flights. The joint FAA-industry effort to increase ATC system efficiency was precipitated by record ATC delays during last year's busy summer season, with July delays up 76% from July 1998, and 36% from the previous summer overall. The delays, which averaged over 1,200 a day, received national media attention.
The biennial ILA air show in Berlin clearly is at a crossroads. Only the final accounting and the relative success of the Farnborough air show next month will determine the direction of ILA. One road leads to a continued aerospace industry presence with chalets and exhibitors, while the other path leads toward an air show primarily for the German public.
