Michael K. McDonald (see photo) has been named vice president-government operations for Rockwell Collins in Washington. He was vice president-business development for Rockwell Collins Government Systems.
The Air National Guard wants to increase the amount of self-protection equipment it has for its F-16 Block 25/30 fighters. The Guard has bought 10 ALQ-184(V)9 electronic-countermeasures pods that are equipped with the Raytheon-built ALE-50 towed decoy. Now the service wants to order eight more of the systems to fully equip the Air National Guard squadron in Richmond, Va. So far, however, there are no plans to equip other units. The purchase is expected to cost $8 million. The squadron is slated to have its full set of countermeasures pods by April 2001.
The Netherlands is looking to increase the combat capability of its AH-64D Apache attack helicopter fleet by adding the APG-78 Longbow fire control radar. The Pentagon has issued a letter of offer to the Dutch defense ministry for a $225-million deal that includes the Lockheed Martin/Northrop Grumman-built radar and associated APR-48 radar frequency interferometer made by Lockheed Martin. It would provide a radar system for each of the 30 Apaches the Royal Netherlands air force has ordered. In a separate deal, the U.S.
All Nippon Airways, Ishikawajima-Harima Heavy Industries and General Electric are to form an engine maintenance company in Japan by next spring. Besides serving ANA and its subsidiary carriers--which have more than 400 GE engines--the firm is to perform third-party work. That should be good news for Skymark and Air Do, Japan's discount carriers. Labor costs are so high in Japan that its major carriers try to farm out much of their routine work, although they do take in third-party component work.
Japan's drive to develop a commercial launch industry has been stalled by the first-stage failure of the high-priced H-2 on its eighth mission. Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi vowed that the loss of the H-2 during a Nov. 15 launch will not impede the nation's drive to develop the H-2A as a less costly derivative. But the National Space Development Agency (NASDA) was expected to announce late last week that the H-2A development program will be suspended pending the outcome of its investigation.
Boeing has completed a $474-million modernization of the Royal Australian Air Force's F-111Cs. The program involved installing digital cockpit displays on the 21 F-111C strike aircraft. Defense Minister Bruce Scott said the avionics update was a cost-effective method of upgrading the F-111 fleet and extending its service life for another 20 years, since there is no comparable aircraft on the market or in development today.
Deutsche Post (DP), Germany's postal services, will acquire the U.S. Air Express International Corp. for approximately $1.14 billion. The transatlantic consolidation initiative will further strengthen DP's European leadership in the courier, mail and parcel market, with 270,000 employees and annual revenues estimated at 28 billion euros ($29.4 billion), according to Board Chairman Klaus Zumwinkel. DP owns 25% of DHL International and recently acquired companies such as Danzas, Royal Nedloyd and Securicor.
Alenia Marconi Systems successfully completed the second test firing of its Brimstone antiarmor weapon at the Yuma (Ariz.) Proving Grounds. The Oct. 27 test marked the first free-flight trial of the integrated missile and millimeter-wave seeker. Three further firings are planned at Yuma, to be followed by a test launch of a nonguided Brimstone from a Royal Air Force Tornado in the U.K. The Anglo-Italian joint venture is developing the missile, which is based on the Boeing Hellfire, for use on British Harrier, Tornado and Eurofighter aircraft.
U.S. and Egyptian aviation and diplomatic officials are wrestling over whether data from EgyptAir Flight 990 exonerate the aircraft and its systems and conclusively point toward a deliberate act by one of its pilots as the cause of the crash that killed 217 people.
Midwest Airlines, a new Egyptian carrier which began charter operations in June with two Airbus A310-300s, will acquire two A320s powered by CFM International CFM56-5B4/P engines and has placed options on another two. The airline, which operates charter and scheduled services between Europe and Egyptian tourist sites, will take delivery of the new aircraft in mid-2002. Midwest plans to use the A320s for charter flights and allocate the A310s for scheduled services.
Technology transfer issues are a factor in how both the U.S. and Russian sides are conducting RD-180 rocket engine production and integration with the Atlas III and Atlas V, even though most of the technology benefits are flowing from Russia to the U.S. in the program.
Century Aerospace Corp. has completed initial wind tunnel tests of its proposed, entry level CA-100 Century Jet business aircraft at the University of Washington Kirsten Wind Tunnel in Seattle.
Indonesia's government has agreed to sell a stake in Garuda Indonesia to private investors. Under a plan devised by its financial adviser, Deutsche Bank, Garuda would make a public offering in 2003. Deutsche Bank has tentatively estimated the airline's value at $1 billion but its debt level is $1.8 billion, although much of that is related to the nation's weak currency.
Failing to jimmy FAA reauthorization into a final catchall spending bill, House and Senate leaders were struggling late last week to come up with another legislative vehicle to fund the agency. But House Transportation Committee Chairman Bud Shuster (R-Pa.) wasn't optimistic he could persuade Senate counterparts to budge after prolonged negotiations broke down. It's now likely FAA operations will be condemned again to an uncertain budget future.
Ted Collins has been appointed senior vice president-law and contracts and Doug Bain vice president/general counsel of the Boeing Co. Bain was vice president-legal for the Boeing Commercial Airplanes Group. He has been succeeded by Eric Mulloy, who was chief counsel.
Using F/A-18G ``Growlers'' temporarily to replace aging EA-6B Prowler jamming aircraft--an idea suggested by the Marine Corps commandant, Gen. James Jones--is not an impractical plan, Lautenbacher says. ``We are working on an analysis of alternatives for the EA-6B,'' he said. ``The F/A-18G is certainly a candidate [and] obviously could be delivered earlier than some other [aircraft]'' like the Joint Strike Fighter, which the Marine Corps would like to use as the airframe for a new electronic-warfare aircraft.
BOEING HAS SELECTED Raytheon to supply a prototype Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) for the F/A-18E/F. AESA will use hundreds of active transmit/receive modules to steer the radar beam and give it increased agility and resolution and multiple simultaneous radar modes. The technology has been under development for years in Europe and in the U.S., primarily for the F-22, initially under a Westinghouse/Texas Instruments team. The F-22 radar is now made by Northrop Grumman, the other competitor for the F/A-18E/F AESA.
Look for more military training programs to switch to public-private partnerships, also called private finance initiatives. Under such an arrangement, the training system supplier provides the up-front funding for facility construction and training device purchase as well as hires the instructors and sometimes creates courseware. In return, the supplier receives long-term training contracts from the military. Reflectone Inc.
The trade accord that sets the groundwork to bring China into the World Trade Organization is unlikely to have immediate impact for aerospace, but it is viewed positively by manufacturers, who believe any effort that opens the Chinese economy to increased trade will rebound in their favor.
Lack of high-resolution imagery hampered India's military operations during last summer's border fighting with Pakistan in the Kargil region of Kashmir, according to the Delhi-based Defense Image Processing and Analysis Center (Dipac). To get ``continuous coverage,'' Dipac said India should develop a constellation of 1-meter imaging satellites, synthetic aperture radar and unmanned aerial vehicles.
CONCEPTS FOR MAKING smaller transistors and squeezing more transistors and other circuit elements on a single chip will be described by researchers at the 1999 IEEE international electron devices meeting on Dec. 5-8 in Washington. Bell Laboratories' researchers have built complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) transistors with gate sizes as small as 50 nanometers (nm.) without using lithography, etching or exotic tools.
Sabena Belgian World Airlines, Swissair and American Airlines will jointly apply to the U.S. Transportation Dept. for antitrust immunity. The three carriers concluded a 10-year agreement to operate code-share flights between Europe, Chicago, Boston, Miami and Washington.
In the absence of notable objections, the European Commission's (EC) competition directorate has approved the SAirGroup's initiative to acquire a 20% stake in South African Airways (SAA). According to the EC, the proposed Swissair/SAA partnership, which is expected to boost the Qualiflyer Group's market share between Europe and South Africa, will not create a dominant position in a highly competitive environment.
Airlines pushing for the manufacture of lower cost, standardized air transports plan to accelerate their campaign in a two-day meeting in Seattle at the end of this month. The group is working with the Air Transport Assn.'s Aircraft Interior Engineering Subcommittee and will use the forum to designate experienced airline executives to head various avenues of investigation. The initial focus will be on aircraft interiors, as these offer the greatest opportunity for costs savings, the group said.
American Blimp Corp. is exploring the potential for airship sales in the gulf region in cooperation with Gulf Aviation Manufacturing Co. Company officials said there appeared to be a potential market for 20-30 airships primarily for maritime patrol and border surveillance applications.
