United Defense has won a $23.7-million contract by the U.S. Army's Tank-Automotive and Armaments Command to provide 18 M993 Multiple Launch Rocket System carriers for Greece and four for Denmark.
Buzz, the new U.K.-based low-cost carrier, plans to add three new destinations this summer--Jerez, Spain, and Toulouse and Montpellier, France. The KLM subsidiary will begin the weekend-only services on Mar. 26 and continue them through Sept. 28. The summer routes are in addition to the seven daily services the carrier inaugurated on Jan. 4 and the four planned to start in March (AW&ST Jan. 10, p. 38).
The first Boeing 757-300 for Arkia Israeli Airlines is prepared for delivery at Boeing Field. The stretched version of the 757-200, one of two ordered by Arkia, is scheduled to begin revenue service next month. Tel Aviv-based Arkia plans to use the 757-300 to expand its route structure and offer more international charter flights. Arkia is Israel's second largest airline and offers scheduled and charter services.
Jay Haberland has become vice president-finance/chief financial officer of the Sikorsky Aircraft Corp., Stratford, Conn. He succeeds James Falco, who was promoted to Sikorsky's e-commerce division. Haberland was vice president/controller. Dave Nord will be acting controller.
The global sales outlook for civil helicopters will remain relatively flat in the near-term despite the introduction of more cost-effective aircraft and the need to upgrade aging fleets. This year both U.S. and European commercial helicopter manufacturers are expected to do well in the current economic climate, but demand for aircraft is unlikely to climb significantly in the next five years as market demand for new aircraft is met. As a result, sales and deliveries will taper off during 2001-04, but an economic downturn could further depress the market.
The China Aviation Industrial Corp. expects its output will reach a record 36 billion yuan ($4.3 billion) by 2005 and targets exporting as many as 200 domestically built aircraft over the same time period. In 1999, CAIC's industrial output reached 15.7 billion yuan, up 4.6% on an annual basis, according to General Manager Zhang Yanzhong. The corporation, a conglomerate of 54 large and medium-sized firms, is one of China's top 10 military suppliers and employs a total of 210,000. One of its biggest product lines, however, is cars and motorcycles.
Ian Bustin (see photo) has been named vice president-communications of Eurofighter GmbH. He succeeds Charles Carr, who has joined BAE Systems. Bustin was group press relations manager at Marconi Avionics.
LOCKHEED MARTIN SANDERS IS DEVELOPING an electronic warfare technique to autonomously adjust the scanning schedules of warning systems on aircraft, depending on the signal environment. EW systems increase aircraft survivability by detecting and countering threats. Today the sensors are controlled by fixed scan schedules that determine the dwell time, or length of time each sensor looks at an emitter, and the time-revisit time, or period between observations.
Eurocopter, Westland and Agusta plan to jointly propose a research and development project that could ultimately pave the way for a European tiltrotor program.
Alenia Marconi Systems concluded an order with Uzbekistan's civil aviation authority covering air traffic control and management systems for the airports at Samarkand, Urgench and Bukara.
British Aerospace is the launch customer for Amsafe's inflatable seat belt. Passengers traveling in the front row of about 94 BAe Jetstream 41 twin-turboprop transports operating worldwide will begin seeing the inflatable restraints late this year. The belts help carriers meet new occupant safety standards established by the FAA and Europe's JAA, specifically head injury criteria for passengers seated aft of aircraft bulkheads, according to Cary Pawluk, director of business development for Phoenix-based Amsafe.
Anthony Cacace (see photo) has become CEO of GKN Westland Aerospace, Tallassee, Ala. He was product center integration manager for Pratt&Whitney, in East Hartford, Conn.
Walter Boyne, a former director of the National Air and Space Museum and author of about 30 aviation books, is drumming up a protest against the Air Force's new slogan and logo. A $655,000 advertising agency effort produced ``World Ready'' and a logo that ``looks like an airman's insignia bent in half,'' Boyne protests. In an e-mail to potential allies in his rebellion, Boyne, who is also a retired colonel, bemoans the de-emphasis of the logo inspired by Gen. Hap Arnold. Boyne contends that the slogan ``World Ready'' doesn't mean anything.
Gulfstream International Airlines has begun operating seven Beechcraft 1900C 19-seat regional turboprop transports leased from Raytheon Aircraft Co. Dania, Fla.-based Gulfstream will use the twin-engine aircraft to serve routes from San Juan, Puerto Rico, to destinations in the Bahamas and Florida, as part of its code-share agreements with Continental, United and TWA. The additional aircraft brings to 32 the number of older 1900-series aircraft operated by Gulfstream International, making it the largest 1900 operator in the world, according to Raytheon.
American Eurocopter is aggressively marketing its EC 155B medium-weight helicopter to corporate and off-shore operators in North America, touting the aircraft's large cabin, twin-engine reliability, low direct operating costs and IFR capability.
Aspi R. Wadia (see photo), engineering program leader at General Electric Aircraft Engines in Cincinnati, has won the Melville Medal of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers for a paper he coauthored entitled ``Inner Workings of Aerodynamic Sweep.'' The paper examines the aerodynamic effects of axial rotor blade sweep on the design of turbofans. The coauthors are: Peter N. Szucs, principal engineer for fan and compressor aero technology; and David W. Crall, manager of the Tech56 compressor group, both at GE Aircraft Engines.
EUROCONTROL HAS INTRODUCED an Internet service that gives airspace users insight into routes available, based on a daily message from the central flow management unit. The conditional route availability message (cram) viewer shows the status of routes graphically and gives quick access to other airspace information such as navigation aids, waypoints and airports. Through the cooperation of military and civil national representatives, Eurocontrol intends to use its airspace more flexibly, segregating areas for military use only on a temporary basis.
For years, industry officials have complained that the FAA acts on technical and policy issues without heeding the views of companies and individuals most affected by its decisions. Garvey has made reversing that go-it-alone practice her hallmark, tapping working groups and advisory committees for suggestions on how to resolve thorny and complex issues. But industry groups are starting to think, ``Enough is enough.'' Oh sure, Aircraft Owners and Pilots Assn.
In the same week it suffered another safety incident, Korean Air named former Delta Air Lines Vice President for Operations David Greenberg, 58, as vice president and chief operating officer. The latest incident involved a Boeing 747-200 freighter that landed at Kuala Lumpur International Airport with a hole in the aft fuselage, apparently caused when a section of the 747's flap assembly detached and damaged the fuselage just prior to landing.
Michael T. N. Fitch, vice president of regulatory affairs and spectrum for Hughes Communications Inc., has been elected chairman of the Alexandria, Va.-based Satellite Industry Assn. board of directors for 2000. Other officers elected recently are: vice chairman, Larry D. Atlas, vice president of government relations for Loral Space and Communications; and treasurer, Jeffrey Trauberman, director of information and communications systems for the Boeing Co.
The alliance between Continental and Northwest airlines has mated the route systems of two very different air carriers over the last 13 months. Out of the vulnerable middle section of U.S. commercial aviation, the two operators have created the equivalent of a large fourth airline now competing with the Big Three.
CASA's C-295 military transport has received certification from the FAA and the Spanish aviation authorities. A prototype and the first production C-295 have logged more than 1,300 test flight hours. Aircraft No. 2 and No. 3 are in assembly and deliveries to the Spanish air force are expected to begin by the end of the year.
Russia plans to launch what could be the final cosmonaut crew to Mir in late March. The crew would prepare the station for deorbit and stay as long as 45 days, or even into August. Energia, which operates Mir, was continuing discussions last week with Golden&Apple, a Caribbean-based investment firm that hopes to provide several million dollars to keep the station operational. This could include extending the flight for the crew that is supposed to launch in March.
PartsBase.com Inc., an online marketplace for aviation parts, plans to sell 3 million shares in an initial public offering of its stock. The Boca Raton, Fla.-based company expects to net about $34.27 million through the IPO, a prospective for which it filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Jan. 10.
Lanxide Electronic Components Inc. (LEC) of Newark, Del., recently introduced its second generation of actively-cooled metal-matrix composite heat sinks, which offer greater system reliability and improved thermal performance over conventional approaches to cooling electronic circuitry.
