Greece has expressed interest in buying advanced U.S. munitions for its fighters. In response, the Pentagon has offered Athens the sale of 560 Amraam air-to-air missiles and 750 2,000-lb. bombs with BLU-109 penetrator warheads. The deal would cost about $305 million.
PolyMax 5000AC floor coating system is designed to withstand heavy wheeled traffic, abrasion, impact and aviation and automotive fluids. The three-coat system offers an oil and moisture tolerant primer with exceptional adhesion to concrete, a high-build pigmented intermediate coat to aid in impact resistance and a chemical-resistant urethane finish for excellent abrasion resistance, light reflectivity and protection against ultraviolet degradation from direct sunlight. It's also impervious to Skydrol and brake fluid. PolyMax/Milamar Coatings LLC., 12005 N.
Eugene J. Horak (see photo) has been promoted to director of mission success from manager of reusable launch systems for Lockheed Martin Space Systems' Michoud Operations in New Orleans.
National Transportation Safety Board officials said tests of shoulder-fired Stinger missiles conducted Apr. 28 at Eglin AFB, Fla., were part of the board's probe into the July 1996 explosion and inflight breakup of TWA Flight 800 near Long Island, N.Y. According to Defense Dept. officials, three missiles were fired but a fourth misfired. Investigators wanted to determine whether streaks of light seen by witnesses resembled those of a small missile such as a Stinger. The test missiles were fired by the U.S. Army, according to the NTSB.
Although the ink on the agreement forming Astrium has barely dried, and the document founding EADS has yet to be signed, executives are already hard at work on the next phase of their task--deciding how to consolidate the two companies' launch vehicle and space infrastructure activities.
A Silicon Valley startup, Dreamtime Holdings, will spend about $100 million to put high-definition television on the space shuttle and International Space Station. The venture, which is backed by Lockheed Martin and AT&T's Excite@Home, also is supposed to make NASA archives available electronically. Dreamtime will be allowed to use, for profit, NASA imagery and data to create TV programming and an Internet portal. NASA will share in the profits. NASA Administrator Daniel S. Goldin told Aerospace Daily that this is the first in a series of experiments.
Greg Airel has been promoted to vice president/chief financial officer from controller and Bruce Bassett to quality manager from assistant quality manager for the Drop Dies and Forgings Co. of Cleveland. Jim Sharar, who was ISO/AS 9000 coordinator, has succeeded Bassett.
Argentina's LAPA has ordered six 737-700s, with deliveries set to begin in mid-2001. The sale was included in Boeing's list of undisclosed customers. LAPA operates 21 Boeing transports, including 18 737s.
During the past three weeks, I have flown 10 legs and passed through airports in Washington, Salt Lake City, Seattle, Atlanta, Dallas and New York. The impression gained during these flights, and from listening to fellow passengers, is that the airlines have made some progress in addressing passenger concerns. Lest anyone forget, dissatisfaction and outright anger among passengers in the U.S. came to a head late last year with calls in Congress for a ``passenger bill of rights.'' The airlines dodged that political bullet by coming together and promising to do better.
Boeing Rocketdyne is working toward a December certification of the Delta IV booster's RS-68 engine after resolving technical problems that have slowed development of the cryogenic propulsion system by about nine months. Boeing Delta IV program officials said they plan to reexamine the engine situation in late July to determine what impact the delays will have on the booster's initial launch, which late last year was set for April 2001 (AW&ST Dec. 13, 1999, p. 54).
Driven by the momentum seemingly affecting all European aerospace initiatives these days, the proposed Galileo satellite navigation system appears to be inching closer to launch, although additional sources of funding--including defense budget lines--may be required to round-out current financing plans.
Meanwhile, as Washington continues to broker peace in the Middle East, Israeli officials see expanding ballistic missile threats. The latest development is a Syrian upgrade to the Scud theater ballistic missile, says Arieh Herzog, director of Israel's missile defense organization. On a visit to Washington, he says the Scud-D missile has an increased range, estimated at about 700 km. (435 mi.). The Scud-Cs in Syria's inventory have a 500-km. range.
Cathay Pacific Airways has demonstrated the ease and benefits of polar routing for nonstop flights from eastern North America, but the Hong Kong carrier will wait for a new generation of aircraft before scheduling regular North Pole flights.
The HPS LoPro 2-stage valve has been enhanced. It is now pneumatically actuated with a square-shaped body for easier maintenance. The 2-stage valve consists of a main isolation valve and a small bypass valve. The bypass valve creates a small opening for the initial system pump down, which slows system evacuation. In the the second stage, the main valve opens, allowing use of full pumping speed. Valves can be tailored to users needs with options available in flanges, seals, solenoids and limit switches. MKS Instruments, 5330 Sterling Drive, Boulder, Colo. 80301.
Alaska Airlines plans to fire the pilot and copilot of one of its 737-700s who continued a flight after cabin oxygen masks had deployed. The masks dropped at about 14,000 ft. during Flight 506 on a Mar. 25 flight from Portland to San Jose. The crew initially descended to 10,000 ft. before resuming their climb en route to California.
Raytheon Co.'s back-to-basics approach to restoring investor confidence appears to be having some success, although the company still faces an uphill climb. Since sinking to a low of 17 3/4 on Mar. 6, the stock has risen to 23 7/16 (as of last Wednesday), and Deutsche Banc Alex. Brown analyst Christopher Mecray has upgraded the issue to ``buy'' from ``market perform,'' with a 6-12-month price target of $28.
British charter operators are becoming increasingly interested in the Boeing 757-300, which already is in service with Lufthansa affiliate Condor (AW&ST May 1, p. 48). Manchester-based JMC has placed an order for two airplanes to become Boeing's fifth customer for the stretched-cabin transport. Airtours also is evaluating the airplane to determine how it would complement its existing fleet of six 757-200s.
Recent breakthroughs in European aerospace industry consolidation will strengthen ties between Arianespace and launcher/satellite manufacturers, although the form and extent of these ties still remain unclear. The creation of the new European satellite manufacturer, Astrium, on May 17 and the forthcoming foundation next month of the aerospace and defense company EADS--which will own 75% of Astrium--will combine previously dispersed industrial shareholdings in Arianespace into a block of stock big enough to sway future company policy.
The Intercomp TL6000 digital tension link scale weighs with an accuracy of 0.1% of applied load--the highest in electronic units. Users choose the model and weighing capacity needed--ranging from 500-500,000 lb. It is well-suited for checking tolerances on production items and engines and used in conjunction with engine removal and aircraft recovery kits. It is also used on production floors and in hangars for line monitoring and crane certification. Intercomp, 14465 23rd Ave. North, Minneapolis, Minn. 55447-3438.
Agilent Technologies' E7490A is the first over-the-air maintenance tool for testing CDMA base stations. This nonintrusive test method could solve wireless service providers' dilemma of how to easily access base stations located in hard-to-reach areas such as urban rooftops or telephone poles. The tool integrates CDMA base station over-the-air test software with the digital receiver and platform software of the E7400 series drive-test systems.
Boeing added 26 sales to its commercial transport orderbook last week, worth an estimated $1.6 billion at list prices. The sales bring the Seattle aerospace manufacturer to a total of 183 net sales for the year. The new orders, which were not identified by airline, included 23 737s, a 747-400 and four 777s, with orders for two other 777s canceled or switched to other Boeing aircraft families.
Strong traffic and an emphasis on premium-class passengers is positioning El Al Israel Airlines for another profitable year as it moves to take advantage of Internet-based ticketing efficiencies and further improves its passenger cabins and in-flight services. Despite a sharp increase in fuel prices and unfavorable exchange rates, the airline turned a $16-million profit last year, according to President Joel Feldschuh. Advances in the Middle East peace negotiations continue to boost tourism, business and cargo traffic.
Bell/Agusta Aerospace Co. is completing final design details for the BA609 civil tiltrotor and plans first flight for next year, followed by a test program leading to FAA certification in 2003.
