The Pentagon's apparent plan to abandon its winner-take-all competition for the Joint Strike Fighter is causing concern within the aerospace industry and has many officials convinced it could cause the price of the multiservice aircraft to increase substantially.
The Hispasat Spanish Satellite Communications Co. and Alcatel are checking out their large Hispasat 1C spacecraft that is to provide new television services to Central and South America as well as large portions of Europe. The 6,861-lb. spacecraft was launched here on Feb. 3 on board a Lockheed Martin/International Launch Services Atlas IIAS. Total cost of the mission is nearly $200 million, split about evenly between the Alcatel Spacebus 3000B2 satellite and Atlas-Centaur booster.
Smaller organizations that need to track how changing requirements affect a project but don't want the cost and complexity of a large management system can use the latest version 1.1 of QSSRequireit, made by Quality Systems and Software. The software runs on a Windows-based PC with as little as 8 megabytes of RAM and operates within Microsoft Word, making it easier to send data to QSS's high-end Doors requirements system used by larger companies. QSSRequireit also is good for training requirements gatherers, the company says.
The intelligence community is finding that demands on it have grown so much that routine operations are stressing its infrastructure daily. The symptoms of strain include glitches, such as the recent failure of a National Security Agency computer system. No intelligence was lost, says George Tenet, the director of central intelligence, but information couldn't be processed for multiple days. ``We have an infrastructure that is functioning at near or over-capacity constantly,'' Tenet said.
The U.K.'s Beyond Visual Range Air-to-Air Missile program carries ramifications beyond just a question of settling on the primary armament for Eurofighter. The outcome of the $1.6-billion BVRAAM battle, expected in the next few weeks, could signal the future course of transatlantic defense and industry ties.
MICHAEL A. TAVERNAMichael Mecham contributed to this article from San Francisco.
The Japanese and French space agencies have concluded a preliminary agreement to collaborate in developing a High-Speed Flight Demonstration project, one of the cornerstones for Japan's Hope-X experimental reusable launch vehicle program.
Northrop Grumman is considering taking on one of its main competitors in the Airborne Early Warning market--Israel Aircraft Industries--on its home turf. Israel is in the market for three or four AEW aircraft, said William Adams, Northrop Grumman's vice president for airborne surveillance. IAI is teamed with Raytheon to offer the Phalcon radar system on an Airbus A310 worldwide. Boeing and Northrop Grumman won the first round in Australia with their 737-based system.
Thomas Hajek has been named vice president-Russian operations for Pratt&Whitney. He was director of the company's Perm Engine Project, a joint venture with Perm Motors in Russia.
Thomas R. Stelter has become managing director of specialized training, Lillian Hunt director of human resources and Kenneth C. Arnold senior manager of maintenance training, all for SimuFlite Training International, Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport. Stelter was director of quality. Hunt was liaison for training and state relations for GE Capital Mortgage Services Inc., and Arnold was service manager for Raytheon Aircraft Services' Tampa, Fla., facility.
Claudia Taylor-Bodmer, general manager of materials management at United Airlines, has been appointed to the board of managers at AirLiance Materials, the joint venture of United, Air Canada and Lufthansa Technik.
So what's so impressive and secret about the F-22? It is fast and stealthy, but other aircraft are faster and some are equally stealthy. The breakthrough difference, pilots and engineers contend, is its expanded range of lethality provided by the stealth fighter's hard-to-detect and highly integrated radar and sensor suite.
Researchers at Galaxy Scientific's Atlanta office are developing a methodology to assess the return on investments made in improving maintenance-related human factors issues. Aim is to use data from maintenance center self-reporting systems to identify those human factors problems that offer the greatest cost savings per dollar invested in new equipment or procedural changes. After improvements are instituted, operational performance will be tracked and the related savings calculated, according to Bill Johnson, chief technology officer.
Japan's Fair Trade Commission has opposed a plan by Japan Airlines, All Nippon Airways and Japan Air System to operate joint services on a Tokyo-Osaka route. The carriers propose common ticketing, fares and check-in on flights leaving every 30 min. The aim is to attract business passengers and compete with the ``bullet-train'' services offered by Japan Rail. But the antimonopoly commission violates Japan's antitrust law. JAL, ANA and JAS want to begin the service in July after a new runway opens at Tokyo's Haneda airport.
A planned visit to India by U.S. Pacific Forces chief Adm. Dennis C. Blair is seen in New Delhi as an effort to repair military ties strained by the embargo Washington imposed after India's last nuclear tests. India's increasing military cooperation with Russia is regarded as troublesome by the U.S. Cato Institute's Ted Galen Carpenter predicts a ``growing cooperation among China, Russia and India to contain U.S. power and influence.'' While there is no alliance yet, the fact that Beijing and Moscow are on friendlier terms is troubling.
Northrop Grumman Corp.'s Integrated Systems and Aerostructures sector has won a contract from Korean Aerospace Industries Ltd. to produce night vision kits to upgrade South Korean fighter aircraft.
The Indian air force's long-dragged-out program to buy 66 advanced jet trainers (AJT) has hit a snag. A new Parliamentary Standing Committee on Defense has called for the competition to be reopened. Defense Secretary T.R. Prasad has told members of Parliament that they will be kept informed about the choice.
Researchers at Northrop Grumman's Ryan Aeronautical Center have, for the first time, autonomously flown its entry in the Navy's competition for an unmanned aircraft that can land vertically on the helicopter decks of small warships.
Penny&Giles Aerospace Ltd. of Christ-church, England, has been selected to provide solid-state cockpit voice and flight data recorders for the new Agusta AB139 helicopter.
George Foyo has become president of Galaxy Latin America, a subsidiary of Hughes Electronics, El Segundo, Calif. He also will be a vice president of Hughes. Foyo was president/managing director of Caribbean and Latin American operations for AT&T.
Turkey's proposed procurement of new airborne early warning aircraft is back on track. Long-standing problems with treasury officials over funding for the project have been resolved. The armed services will provide $600 million from their budgets with the remainder met by special government taxes and lottery earnings. A decision is expected in the next few months. A Boeing 737 platform equipped with Northrop Grumman's multirole electronically scanned radar, which was recently selected by Australia, is considered the favorite in the competition.
Lockheed Martin Corp. will restructure its aeronautical and space businesses, effectively immediately. Annual savings are expected to total $200 million--partly at the expense of about 2,800 employees.
When President Clinton issued a policy directive in 1994 clearing the way for the licensing of privately operated satellite imagery systems, he included a provision that allows the U.S. government to require companies to turn off their cameras over sensitive areas in times of crisis.
The first Orbital Suborbital Program (OSP) space launch vehicle was launched Jan. 26 from Vandenberg AFB, Calif., at 7:03 p.m. PST, the opening of its 3-hr. launch window. The booster used Minuteman II first- and second-stage motors combined with Orbital Sciences Corp. Pegasus XL third- and fourth-stage rocket motors. The U.S. Air Force Minuteman II was deactivated as an offensive weapon system by the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty in 1991.
Investors and analysts trying to second-guess Hughes Electronics' canny managers have gone wrong before. Will they go wrong again as they chew over Hughes' latest bold move--selling off, outright, the satellite manufacturing operations to concentrate on services such as DirecTV? Some analysts and old space hands wonder if Hughes is sacrificing the technology base that has served it so well during the years, drawn in by the allure of the consumer businesses' high margins and relatively low exposure to government red tape and regulation.
