Northrop Grumman and the U.S. Air Force are validating technical procedures for the composite/metal structure of the C-17's horizontal stabilizer to facilitate field repairs as the airplanes enter service. To date, seven of the four-engine transports are flying with the new tail assembly, which weighs 20% less and eliminates 90% of the parts compared with the all-aluminum stabilizer. Production of the composite tail began on the 51st airplane. The Air Force plans to buy 120 C-17s.
Boeing plans to use a pulsed moving line to manufacture the Joint Strike Fighter if the company is successful in winning the competition for series production. The Boeing JSF team has adopted this technique, in which all aircraft stations simultaneously move down the line every few days, from its Apache helicopter line in Mesa, Ariz.
Johannes Turzer has become general manager of the Jet Aviation International Inc. facility at Dusseldorf, Germany, and Michael Gregory vice president/general manager in West Palm Beach, Fla. Turzer succeeds Klaus-Dieter Hessenmuller, who has retired. Turzer was managing director of LTU's commuter airline RAS. Gregory was chief financial officer of the Jet Aviation Group.
Many problems that Pentagon acquisition programs encounter are self-inflicted, says Lee Buchanan, the Navy's acquisition chief. When an innovative initiative stalls, it is often blamed on hurdles caused by legislation. ``But in most cases, we do it to ourselves,'' he said. The V-22 program, for example, proposed a multiyear contract that would have yielded a 4% savings. The deal was denied--savings of 4% were too small to justify a multiyear deal. Budget officials then cut V-22 by 4% anyway. Another case is the Defense Dept.'s plan to buy smart weapons, Buchanan said.
The American Society of Mechanical Engineers has added its name to the growing list of NASA critics, charging the agency with the ``apparent abandonment of its historic commitment to long-term aviation research.'' The indictment, leveled earlier this month during congressional testimony over NASA's Fiscal 2001 budget request, is the latest in a string of rebukes aimed at the agency and at the military services concerning dangerously small allocations to aeronautical research and development.
The Defense Dept. will have to implement reforms quickly to preserve its industrial base, according to a review by senior government and industry officials. But some officials fear the proposed remedies do not go far enough and may encounter obstacles.
Boeing last month told its more than 80,000 salaried, nonunion employees it will end cost-sharing and pick up 100% of their medical premiums effective this month. The decision, announced by Jim Dagnon, senior vice president-people, also boosts the company's standard monthly pension benefit slightly. Boeing's unsuccessful demand for a 10% co-payment of medical insurance premiums was a major issue in the recently ended 40-day strike by Boeing's engineering and technical workers' union.
Allyn Robinson (see photo) has been promoted to chief operating officer of several Garrett Aviation Services facilities from vice president/general manager of the Long Island, N.Y., facility.
American Airlines has gone to court in an effort to force Honeywell and Jeppesen Sanderson to help pay monetary damages awarded to families of victims killed in the December 1995 crash of an American Airlines Boeing 757 near Cali, Colombia.
John C. Wilbur (see photo) has become director of business development for Microwave Instrumentation Technologies of Atlanta. He was chief engineer of Boeing's Brimstone missile program.
Boeing is testing a full-scale pole model of its Joint Strike Fighter candidate in its 110 X 200-ft. anechoic chamber here to validate predicted radar cross section and performance of its built-in antennas.
Lockheed Martin's Joint Strike Fighter team has completed flight qualification testing of the Pratt&Whitney JSF119-611 engine for its X-35A CTOL and X-35C aircraft-carrier-version Concept Demonstrator Aircraft. Plans call for completing flight certification of the engine in May. After that, Pratt&Whitney is scheduled to reconfigure the engine for the X-35B version and conduct similar tests to certify the powerplant for short-takeoff/vertical-landing operations.
British U.K. Transport Minister Lord Macdonald said the U.S. and U.K. are now on a more positive footing after being on the ``brink of a trade war'' over stalemated open skies talks. Macdonald said negotiations are resuming following the ``mini-deal'' struck by the two sides last month (AW&ST Apr. 10, p. 57). ``Past experience shows us we should not be too optimistic,'' he said, however. ``But we're more hopeful this time.''
A new telecommunications satellite to be placed in service by Eutelsat will be the first Russian-built spacecraft ever utilized by a Western telecom operator. Sesat, constructed by NPO PM of Krasnoyarsk, Russia, using a payload supplied by France's Alcatel Space, was orbited by a Proton/Block DM booster at 9:06 p.m. GMT on Apr. 18. The launch was the third successful mission since Proton was sidelined by a failure last autumn, destroying a Russian telecom satellite, Express A1. Sesat (Siberia Europe Satellite) will operate from a new orbital slot at 36 deg. E. Long.
The Cassini spacecraft has successfully passed through the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, marking another milestone for the spacecraft on its journey to Saturn (see picture). Project officials at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory said they made no adjustments to Cassini during passage through the region, which has a significant concentration of asteroids--with the exception of moving the spacecraft's cosmic dust analyzer for improved measurements of the environment. Cassini remains in good operational condition.
Ansett is poised for significant route and fleet expansion as Singapore Airlines prepares to take a major stake in its owner, Air New Zealand, and revitalize both of the carriers. Brierely Investments Limited (BIL) is ready to sell part of its 47% stake in Air New Zealand to Singapore Airlines (SIA) in a move that it hopes will boost flagging share values.
Lockheed Martin's Hybrid Sounding Rocket passed its first ground test at Stennis Space Center with a 16-sec.-long run that demonstrated stable combustion and high performance. The rocket, which burns both solid fuel and a liquid oxidizer, is designed to power suborbital space and atmospheric science missions and serve as a flying testbed for small-scale experiments. Advantages include the ability to restart in flight and to change throttle settings.
European partners in the International Space Station are maintaining delivery dates for major components, but allowing some to slip because of continued delays to the overall ISS deployment schedule. Only two elements--the FGB Zarya and Node 1 Unity modules--are in orbit. A third, the service module, is now set to be added in July after numerous deferments (AW&ST Feb. 21, p. 47).
Martin R. Benante has been appointed chairman/CEO of the Curtiss-Wright Corp., Lyndhurst, N.J. He succeeds David Lasky, who has retired but will continue as a director. Benante was president/chief operating officer.
The Pentagon is developing a plan to accelerate the Theater High Altitude Area Defense system, as it gets ready to begin the final development phase of the theater missile defense program. The U.S. Army and Ballistic Missile Defense Organization are about to seek approval from top Pentagon acquisition officials to move forward with Thaad's development. The baseline plan would provide a limited capability in 2007, with two launchers, one radar and 16 missiles. A more robust system would follow a few years later.
The U.K. Ministry of Defense would retain control over 25% of the nation's defense research establishment under a new privatization plan which addresses concerns voiced by British industry and U.S. defense officials to earlier proposals.
THE FAA HAS AWARDED SENSIS CORP. a contract to deploy its Multistatic Dependent Surveillance (MDS) multilateration system at Memphis International Airport to identify and locate all transponder-equipped aircraft on the airport surface. The data will be displayed at the FAA's control tower and at the ramp tower of Federal Express and should improve safety and throughput for time-critical cargo operations under all weather conditions. The multilateration sensors will also receive Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast messages.
Boeing officials have publicly staked out a position against establishing two separate production lines for the Joint Strike Fighter. At least one option being considered by Pentagon acquisition chief Jacques Gansler was to have both Lockheed Martin and Boeing establish final assembly lines for the JSF--one for the Air Force version and another for the Marine Corps and Navy designs. As the program matures, the two companies would compete against one another annually for larger production shares.
In Japan, PCs or laptops are not the big deal for electronic ticketing. But, whether for trains, planes or (sporting) games, wireless transmissions are. In a nation where it seems every youngster has a mobile telephone with Internet access and mini-display screens, Japan Airlines wanted to tap into that market.
