Lt. Col. Steve Laushine, 55th Special Operations Sqdn. commander, represents the U.S. Air Force and Army crewmembers and support personnel who executed the successful rescue of the only two pilots shot down during the Kosovo air campaign. The ability of the combat search and rescue team to respond rapidly was significant, particularly since both the F-117 Nighthawk and the F-16CG were shot down not far from the Yugoslav capital. Serb forces were closing in on the downed airmen, but the rescue team was faster.
Aviation Week&Space Technology's Laureates Hall of Fame recognizes all of the Laureates winners selected by the magazine's editors since 1988. Each year, the current Laureates are added to the Hall of Fame following the award ceremony. The Hall of Fame display--featuring the Laureate Trophy, Legends plaque and a listing of the members who have been inducted to date--is on display at the Smithsonian Institution's National Air&Space Museum in Washington. AERONAUTICS/PROPULSION Pierre Baud Laurent Beaudoin Philippe Camus
Harlan Bennett has been appointed vice president-reservation sales of Delta Air Lines. He was director of international network analysis and succeeds Lee Macenczak, who is now vice president-customer service.
Technological advances are strengthening the joint operational capability of U.S. forces, but their interoperability still falls short, and overall ``jointness'' has a long way to go, the Pentagon has told Congress. The Global Hawk unmanned aerial vehicle and the integration of disparate data links will provide the most immediate improvements in future joint operations, senior military officials forecast.
Boeing's decision to go ahead with the 777X program will not affect Airbus Industrie's aggressive plan to acquire a major share in the ultra-long-range aircraft market, according to European industry executives. However, Boeing's long-waited initiative is expected to further boost competition in an expanding market segment. In addition, it could exacerbate a controversy about the merits of extended twin-engine operations (ETOPS).
Chris Chant has become deputy CEO of Matra Marconi Space and managing director of Matra Marconi Space UK. He succeeds Nick Frank, who is now BAE Systems' managing director for Gripen and South Africa.
Aviation Week&Space Technology has been recognizing the achievements of people in the aerospace and aviation fields for more than four decades with its Laurels and Laureates awards. On Feb. 7, the magazine announced its 1999 Laurels and Laureate winners in eight categories: Commercial Air Transport, Aeronautics/Propulsion, Government/Military, Electronics, Space, Operations, Lifetime Achievement and Special Achievement. The Laureate awards are presented each year at the Smithsonian Institution's National Air&Space Museum.
Congressional insistence that the U.S. Air Force reexamine its bomber modernization plans and consider buying a low-cost aircraft sooner than scheduled has sparked some creative thinking in industry. The service is completing its work on the bomber plan, first released last year. It called for upgrades to B-52Hs, B-1Bs and B-2As, but not a new aircraft until 2037. Dissatisfied with that plan, Congress told the Air Force to look at more aggressive upgrades and buying a low-cost B-2 around 2015.
Last week turned out not to be the best time to go to the Hill and lobby for a new export administration act (see p. 25). A Senate hearing had barely been gaveled to a close when the State Dept. charged that Lockheed Martin violated export controls (see p. 22). It may not do that much to hurt the Bethesda, Md., company, but it could certainly derail the congressional initiative to craft a post-Cold War framework for trade in militarily sensitive technologies. The effort is now virtually dead, says one industry official.
After more than two years of development and beta (live) testing with 120 airlines, Airbus Industrie has launched its materiel support Internet site, spares.airbus.com. The site is part of its Airbus On-Line Services initiative, which reported a 400% increase in qualified transactions last year. The site includes information on part number interchageability, single-purchase order status, shipping details, shipment tracking, an ``excess inventory list'' and spares support guide.
During his nearly 15 years at the helm of Israel Aircraft Industries, Moshe Keret has pulled the state-owned company out of the red and into profitability, setting the stage for its eventual privatization.
Hardware concerns have forced the U.S. Navy to delay the first controlled test vehicle flight of the lower-tier Area Wide missile defense program. So far, the test of the Standard Missile SM-2 Block 4A interceptor has slipped about a month. Ground testing raised concerns about the integrity of a missile component. One official said it has now been resolved.
A new era of prosperity in space may be taking a pause as the industry sorts itself following the Iridium debacle, reassesses some practices, and deals with overcapacity and the flight of money and talent. The long term continues to look bright, but short-term problems need to be fixed. These were some of the conclusions from the Space Foundation's 16th National Space Symposium, held here Apr. 3-6. There were nearly 1,000 attendees.
As part of the Golan Heights agreement, designed to promote peace with Syria, Israel has asked for $17-20 billion in additional U.S.-provided aid, a portion of which is to build up a sophisticated reconnaissance capability.
Unresolved accounting issues continue to dog Orbital Sciences Corp. (OSC) and cloud the company's outlook, so much so thatMerrill Lynch analyst Thomas Watts last week downgraded the stock to ``accumulate'' from ``buy.'' That's not the only set of problems with which management has been grappling. Product and service delays, such as the slow rate of installation of Orbcomm subscriber units, also have been taking their toll.
Eight primary cost-reduction initiatives for the Super Hornet wing will eliminate parts and complexity from the design, reduce tooling requirements and increase opportunities to use automated manufacturing systems. The changes also should reduce assembly tasks, improve assembly flow and significantly reduce lead times. The eight primary changes for the wing are:
Secrets continue to trickle out of the U.S. Air Force's black world about the fertile period of the late 1970s when the U.S. was researching and building its first stealth aircraft capabilities.
Lockheed Martin's alleged violation of export control laws comes at a critical time for the aerospace giant. Even if the charges don't hurt the company financially, they may cause corporate leaders to reexamine their commitment to the commercial satellite business. Lockheed Martin on Apr. 4 was charged with having passed sensitive information to China that could be used to improve the country's satellite rocket motor technology.
Some of the U.S.' most sophisticated airborne electronic warfare and intelligence-gathering systems are built into a number of its oldest aircraft such as the RC-135V/W Rivet Joint, EP-3E Aries II and EA-6B Prowler. Now aerospace companies--including Raytheon, General Dynamics and Boeing--are actively positioning themselves to capture contracts for the aircraft that will at first supplement and later replace these aging platforms.
Boeing has cut the cycle time required to produce a Super Hornet to 36 months, down from 41 months, and plans to squeeze additional time out of the process. Targets today call for only 18 months to elapse from the time an aircraft purchase order is cut to the time that an F/A-18E/F is delivered. The 18-month target, however, is a long-term goal, ``one we'll take in chunks,'' Pat Finneran, F/A-18 vice president and general manager, said. ``During calendar 2000 we'll try to get down to 24 months.''
David M. Bethune (see photo) has been promoted to vice president of customer administration from corporate director of strategic programs for the Nordam Group, Tulsa, Okla.
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is funding new ultraviolet sensor-material technology that shows promise of minimizing MWS false alarms and reducing sensor complexity and cost. Current passive missile warning systems, such as the AAR-57 and AAR-54, must try to discriminate between UV emitted by the rocket of an approaching missile and other non-threat UV sources, such as the Sun. This now requires extensive optical filtering within MWS sensors and elaborate computation.
Malcolm Petro, former group program director at Marconi Avionics, has been named program director of Archer Communications Systems Ltd. Gary March has become financial director.
GASL Inc. has signed a contract with the U.S Air Force's Arnold Engineering Development Center for scramjet testing. GASL will conduct testing in the center's hypervelocity Range G in the $230,000 work order.
