Business jet manufacturers revealed a pair of major deals and a spate of smaller ones here last week, confirming the Middle East as one of the world's hottest business aviation markets. The strength of the market was reflected in the large number of models and companies present, including first-time exhibitor Galaxy Aerospace, which brought its super mid-size cabin Galaxy jet and Astra SPX, and Bombardier's Learjet 45, which was on display in Dubai for the first time.
The first Lockheed Martin Atlas III, with a powerful new Russian Energomash RD-180 first-stage engine, is being prepared for liftoff here in early 2000 on a flight initiating the Atlas family's transition to much heavier commercial and military payloads.
Two competing industrial teams expect they will be able to meet U.K. Ministry of Defense requirements to provide satellite communications services in an innovative concept that will see a further convergence of military and commercial technologies.
BAE Automated Systems Inc. has won a $15-million contract from American Airlines to convert the outbound baggage handling facility at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport to a three-loop system.
A Raytheon/Thomson-CSF consortium has signed a $101-million contract with the Swiss Defense Procurement Agency for Phases 4 and 5 of the Florako air defense system. The contract includes the supply of new primary and monopulse secondary surveillance radars, plus software and other modifications to Swiss military radar sites.
An Independent Mission Assurance Review Committee requested by Boeing to review the company's expendable launch vehicle programs found Boeing underestimated the task of designing the Delta III booster, which is derived from Delta II. The committee found that the first Delta III failure was due to improper analytical assumptions and poor communications between two design engineering groups, according to Boeing. The second Delta III failure resulted from a lack of communication and understanding between design engineering and manufacturing elements.
Turkey will procure more than 800 Rapier Mk. 2 air defense missiles from Matra BAe Dynamics, which also will upgrade associated ground equipment. Assembly will be conducted in Turkey, and three Turkish firms will produce missile components. The export deal is linked to the re-opening of the Rapier production line following a U.K. decision earlier this month to acquire new and refurbished Mk.2 version missiles. Matra BAe Dynamics is eying sales to other Rapier users, including Oman, Singapore, Switzerland and Australia.
DHL Worldwide Express purchased two Boeing 757 freighters from Ansett Worldwide Aviation Services for $50 million. The aircraft will be delivered in January and March 2000 for DHL's European and African networks.
The U.S. Navy has signed an agreement with Hughes Space and Communications Co. for the 11th in a series of UHF Follow-On (UFO) satellites (see rendering). The satellite, scheduled to be launched in 2003, will be built on a Hughes HS 601 bus and carry UHF and EHF payloads to provide global military communications. UHF Follow-On satellites are replacing the Navy's Fleet Satellite Communications (Fltsatcom) spacecraft and Hughes-built Leasat satellites.
NASA/Langley Research Center recently completed impact tests of a prototype Learfan business aircraft to evaluate the effects of energy absorbing materials on airframe structure, occupant survivability and crashworthiness of small aircraft.
Northrop Grumman's Ryan Aeronautical Center is the latest company to reveal its design for an unmanned vertical takeoff and landing aircraft that the U.S. Navy could fly from small helicopter decks on combat ships on real-time reconnaissance missions.
Ellen S. Smith (see photo) has been named senior vice president-commercial business of Pratt&Whitney, East Hartford, Conn., to oversee the company's large commercial aircraft engine programs, advanced engine programs and industrial gas turbine business. She was vice president-sales for GE Energy Services in Atlanta.
Jerome F. Lederer, whose aviation career began in 1926 with the U.S. Air Mail Service and who established the Flight Safety Foundation, has received the 33rd Edward Warner Award from the Council of the Montreal-based International Civil Aviation Organization. Lederer was cited for his role in the development of accident investigation procedures and regulatory standards.
The increasing level of automation in airline cockpits generally has proven beneficial from a safety and efficiency standpoint, but these complex systems continue to create difficulties related to human factors and operational procedures that can lead to accidents, according to an Australian study.
Saab's initiative to acquire Celsius, which will give birth to northern Europe's biggest defense group, is expected to pave the way for broader cross-border alliances, according to Swedish industry executives.
Douglas Kobayashi has been named president/CEO of Dee Howard Aircraft Maintenance, San Antonio, Tex. He was vice president-technical services at Conair Aerospace, Abbotsford, British Columbia.
French air force airlift command DC-8-72CF and A310-300 transports will be maintained and overhauled by Air France Industries under a contract to be completed this month.
KAISER ELECTRONICS IS developing projection cockpit displays as the next step for larger aircraft monitors. The company is using ruggedized commercial off-the-shelf reflective micro LCD devices for the projectors. A single projector design, with slightly folded optics, can be used for displays from 5 in. square to 32 in. diagonal, according to Kaiser. As the commercial market produces higher resolution and more efficient LCDs and lamps, displays could be upgraded by replacing individual components. The first products will be 8 X 8-in.
Boeing will remove, repair and reinstall the fuel tank access doors on all of its in-production Seattle-built aircraft after paint flaking was discovered on one aircraft. The company said it determined a supplier was using an inadequate surface preparation. The defect presents no safety problems, and no in-service incidents have been filed related to the part, Boeing said.
Continental Airlines CEO Gordon Bethune, who has been an outspoken critic of the U.S. air traffic control system, has blasted Congress for failing to approve long-term funding for improvements to the FAA infrastructure and operations (AW&ST Nov. 15, p. 27). Speaking to reporters at a briefing early last week in Seattle, Bethune said air traffic controllers ``do a good job but need the tools that Congress can provide by stopping the budget games.'' He said it is necessary to provide a long-term budget for ATC improvements as would a private company and urged the U.S.
Airbus Industrie and Lufthansa Technical Training concluded an agreement to jointly produce training manuals for United Parcel Service's 30 all-cargo A300-600F twinjets.
The USAF has finalized a contract with Global Ground Support of Olathe, Kan., for up to 241 deicing trucks that use new forced air deicing technology. With options, the purchase could increase to 600 trucks over the next decade, according to the company. The technique uses a 700-mph. windstream to push snow and unattached ice off aircraft. The forced air never exceeds the critical pressure that would damage aircraft skin. USAF spends more than $30 million a year in costs related to traditional glycol deicing of aircraft.
Mitsubishi Electric Corp. (Melco) has built the first industrial satellite testing chamber in Japan, an 11.5-meter-diameter (37.7-ft.) facility at its Kamakura plant south of Tokyo. The $67-million chamber will be used to test satellites up to five metric tons to conditions below -150-deg. C. Until now, Japan's satellite manufacturers have relied on the test chamber at the National Space Development Agency's Tsukuba Space Center north of Tokyo.
Hexcel Corp.'s operating performance during the last several quarters, combined with pricing and other market pressures, offers little hope that the structural materials company will show any meaningful earnings growth in the intermediate term.
Messier-Bugatti has been chosen by Mahan Air of Iran and Nouvelair of Tunisia to supply wheels and carbon brakes for their aircraft. The Mahan Air contract involves two Airbus A300 aircraft, while the Nouvelair agreement will see Messier-Bugatti's new Sepcarb III carbon brakes fitted on six A320s.
