Spacehab has been awarded an additional $21.6 million from NASA under the REALMS contract to conduct the upcoming resupply mission to the International Space Station.
Joint Vision 2020, now circulating in the Pentagon in draft form, will have one major new element not in JV 2010--information warfare, or information operations, as it now is called. ``Information ops will be a jump ball for the services,'' said an officer close to the subject. ``It's going to get a lot of attention because all the services are going to be competing to take the lead--and capture new funding.'' Pentagon officials are anticipating Congress will loosen the purse strings to allow the pursuit of new technology. Rep.
Henri Sala has been appointed executive vice president of Turbomeca. He succeeds Raymond Heng, who retired. Sala was programs director of Alcatel Space.
Boeing's developmental unmanned combat air vehicle (UCAV) is expected to be designated X-45 by the U.S. Air Force. Service officials are now wrestling with how to form and operate two squadrons of UCAVs without having them be counted against the service's limit of 20 fighter wings. The argument is that the EF-111 and EA-6B jamming aircraft and the F-4G Wild Weasel radar killer could carry weapons and were not counted as part of the fighter and strike aircraft total because of their specialized roles. The X-45 is expected to be ready to fly by the end of the year.
Dean D. Thornton, retired president of the Boeing Commercial Airplane Group and executive vice president of the Boeing Co., has been named director of the Tera Computer Co. of Seattle.
Andrew Cahn will join British Airways on June 5 as director for government and industry affairs. He has been chef-de-cabinet for Neil Kinnock, vice president and previously transport commissioner of the European Commission.
A U.S. Senate bill to reauthorize the NTSB and beef up its funding through 2003 was introduced last week by Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), head of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee. The board's authorization expired last September, and McCain called for ``significant'' funding increases, although he did not specify dollar amounts.
Jim Onorato (see photo), principal engineering specialist with the Command Systems Div. of the Telephonics Corp., Farmingdale, N.Y., has won an Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers award for new technical concepts. He was cited for contributions to the U.S. Navy's AN/ APS-147 multi-mode radar, commercial APS-143(V) maritime surveillance radar, U.S. Customs' C3I drug interdiction program and Vessel Traffic Systems.
The Master Executive Council of the Assn. of Flight Attendants at US Airways last week voted unanimously to recommend that rank-and-file union members ratify the tentative labor agreement with management. Votes will be counted on May 1.
Bryan LaBrecque has become senior vice president-ground operations and support of Atlantic Southeast Airlines. He was senior vice president-corporate services.
FlameOut, a budget-priced mobile fire-fighting rig releases an inert dry chemical to quickly quench a blaze, then foam-floods any smoldering material or flammable liquids to prevent reflash. FlameOut sprays out foam and/or a dry chemical for up to 3 min. and the propelling force is nitrogen under pressure. Developed for applications where cost or use of a full-size fire engine would be prohibitive, it can be mounted on a pickup truck or trailer, or bolted to a skid for permanent protection at a critical site, such as a helicopter pad on an offshore platform.
BAE Systems is to supply up to three additional two-seat Hawk Mk. 115 jet trainers beyond the 18 already planned, for the NATO Flying Training in Canada program because of Singapore's decision to join. The company also has negotiated a five-year contract worth 20 million pounds ($31.6 million) for repair and overhaul services for Hawks in the program, which is jointly led by the Canadian government and Bombardier Aerospace.
CFM International, a General Electric/Snecma company, has begun tests of an advanced six-stage, high-pressure compressor and high-pressure turbine as part of its TECH56 effort. TECH56 is a technology exploration and validation program aimed at developing technologies for future CFM powerplants.
SCANDINAVIAN AIRLINES WILL EQUIP six A340 and four A330 aircraft with Collins Total Entertainment Systems (TES), providing audio/video on demand, and provisions for future access to e-mail for all classes of service using passengers' laptops. TES deliveries to SAS are slated to commence in July 2001.
The benefits of airport privatization are fast becoming apparent at New York's 9,600-acre Stewart International Airport. One of the few airports named in the FAA airport privatization initiative, Stewart received approval last month to begin the first step in its transition. Developers National Express Group, under a 99-year lease from New York State, now are reexamining the airport's design and function. The field's 11,800-ft. and 6,000-ft.
The Teal Group suggests in a recent report on the Asia-Pacific region that Malaysia is unlikely to purchase Sukhoi Su-27s because of the cost of operating two different types of attack aircraft. They claim instead that Malaysia will increase its fleet of MiG-29s and add to its Hornets by acquiring secondhand F/A-18C/Ds from the U.S. Defense Dept.
House space subcommittee chairman Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.) warns NASA to be cautious about pouring more money into the X-33, the reusable launch vehicle demonstrator the agency is undertaking as a ``cooperative'' effort with Lockheed Martin. The X-33 effort was thrown way off stride with the test failure of a graphite composite fuel tank, and Rohrabacher worries the company might not complete the project.
Legend Airlines has signed a $90-million, 10-year agreement with Pratt&Whitney Engine Services to provide engine maintenance for the airline's JT8D-powered DC-9-30 aircraft.
BBA Aviation has begun fixed-base operations at Le Bourget, France. The facility, acquired in 1998 from Air Luxor, is the second in Europe for BBA, which claims to operate the world's largest fixed-base operator network. BBA has spent more than $25 million upgrading installations at Le Bourget. European Area General Manager Joseph Bagosy said the company is looking at further expansion in Europe, initially in the U.K.
Officials of Boeing's space transportation businesses met last week with the company's top 150 suppliers to discuss results of the Boeing Mission Assurance Review (BMAR)--an initiative aimed at examining Boeing's expendable launch vehicle programs and make recommendations to improve mission success. The BMAR committee urged Boeing to increase its focus on launch vehicle quality from the design phase through manufacturing and operations to gain increased reliability and reduced costs.
The PMSAD and PMMAD Series of low distortion steering diodes are intended for use on high-frequency analog or digital data I/O ports for protection against electro-static discharge and electrical fast transients. They are connected between rail-to-rail voltage bus or rail-to-ground for clamping and diverting overvoltage transients for the protection of sensitive network interface circuits. The diodes provide low capacitance, ensuring signal integrity up to 900 MHz., and complete isolation between adjacent diodes keeps cross-talk to a minimum. ProTek Devices, 2929 S.
John E. (Ned) Walker has been promoted to senior vice president-worldwide corporate communications from vice president-corporate communications of Continental Airlines.
Robert G. Sarver, chairman/CEO of the California Bank and Trust, has been named to the board of directors of SkyWest Airlines, St. George, Utah. Ken Grattan, professor of measurement and instrumentation at City University in the U.K., has been appointed a non-executive director of Sira Ltd.
The newly affirmed strategic relationship between Russia and China is increasingly troubling U.S. officials. ``Russia and China are now cooperating in technology more aggressively than ever before,'' warns Rep. Curt Weldon (R-Pa.) of the House Armed Services Committee. One example is the sale to China of Russian SS-N-22 supersonic sea-skimming missiles, NATO code-named ``Sunburn.'' The U.S. Navy now plans to buy several of the Russian missiles and use them as targets in testing. Its own target, the Vanguard, is deemed inadequate.
