Republican leaders are confident President Clinton will back the $268-billion defense appropriations bill, despite White House/congressional brinkmanship over balancing the budget without dipping into Social Security trust funds (see p. 36). ``I would caution the President against vetoing that bill--we have troops spread all over the world from East Timor [to Kosovo]'' who are stressed out and need a pay raise, said House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.).
Philip A. Odeen (see photo), executive vice president/general manager of the TRW Systems and Information Technology Group, has received the 1999 John W. Dixon Award from the Assn. of the U.S. Army for his contributions to America's defense.
Alenia has awarded China Great Wall Industries a contract to launch Eutelsat's Atlantic Bird 1--the first time it has agreed to use a Chinese launcher. The company also was chosen as the Western partner to build and operate two Yamal 200 Russian telecom satellites, in association with Energia and gas utility Gazprom.
Lanham, Md.-based Integral Systems Inc. will provide the ground system to control Loral Skynet CD Radio 1/2/3 satellites, which provide direct satellite-car radio.
A top U.S. Air Force acquisition official, Darleen Druyun, savaged Lockheed Martin's handling of many of the service's programs in a document purporting to be notes from an unvarnished conversation with the company's president and chief operating officer, Peter Teets.
The majority of large U.S. airlines last week reported lower net income for the quarter ended Sept. 30, with US Airways Group Inc. and Trans World Airlines turning in the weakest performances. For the industry in general, the main problems were higher fuel prices and revenue shortfalls. Carriers also underestimated their windfall profits from a Northwest Airlines strike last year, which exacerbated the disappointing year-over-year earnings comparisons, Merrill Lynch analyst Candace Browning noted.
Starsem has launched four additional Globalstar satellites, bringing to 44 the number of spacecraft now in orbit. The Arianespace affiliate will orbit another four units next month in its sixth and final mission for Globalstar, which started commercial service on Oct. 11.
Fulfilling an earlier profit warning to Wall Street, Raytheon Co. last week posted a third-quarter net loss of $169 million, or 50 cents a diluted share, on a 7% rise in sales, to $4.7 billion. A year ago, the company reported third-quarter earnings of $11 million, or 3 cents per share. On an operating basis, Raytheon's electronics businesses lost $8 million. Raytheon Aircraft posted an operating profit of $63 million, but that was down slightly from $68 million in 1998's third quarter.
Aviation Partners Boeing is negotiating to use an Atlas Air 747-200 freighter for flight tests employing the joint venture's blended winglets modification. Flight tests of 30-50 hr. at Mojave, Calif., are envisioned, including baseline flights prior to adding the 14.5-ft.-high graphite winglets. Construction of a prototype set of winglets is underway and the joint venture is targeting a 7% or better reduction in aerodynamic drag.
Pencil in satellite export reform on the long list of things the 106th Congress won't get done this year. Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.), chairman of the House's space subcommittee, finally has convinced hard-line Sen. Jesse Helms (R-N.C.) to go along with his amendment to streamline approvals of satellite exports to ``friendly'' nations. But there's a problem--the State Dept. authorization bill that houses Rohrabacher's amendment may never come to a vote, thanks to a dispute over abortion. Rohrabacher, who lambasted U.S.
Frederick W. Reid, who is executive vice president/chief marketing officer of Delta Air Lines, has been appointed chairman of wholly owned subsidiary Atlantic Southeast Airlines. Edward H. West, who is executive vice president/chief financial officer of Delta, has been named to the ASA board of directors.
The Pentagon's new budget is hostage to the yearly autumn brawl over federal spending. A $267.8-billion defense appropriations bill sits on the President's desk awaiting signature, prey to his veto pen because the White House and Congress have failed to find a middle ground on government spending in the three weeks since Fiscal 2000 began Oct. 1.
Eurocontrol and civil aviation authorities are desperately attempting to meet the airline industry's expectations for more efficient air traffic management (ATM) in European airspace.
Congressional criticism of the relationship between the FAA and RTCA was intended to emphasize that the agency's responsibility for safety is its top priority, according to a Capitol Hill source. The Fiscal 2000 Transportation Dept. apportionment bill directed the FAA not to use RTCA for any new ``consensus-building'' activities during this fiscal year. The congressional concern was that the airline and industry focus on increasing efficiency might jeopardize safety, and the industry is heavily involved in RTCA.
A launch services contract request for proposals (RFP) that would be worth more than $5 billion to winning contractors has been issued by the NASA Kennedy Space Center, Fla. The launch services RFP covers a broad range of planned NASA expendable launch vehicle needs across light, medium and heavy payloads. Nearly 70 major NASA unmanned launches through 2010 could eventually be part of several launch service contracts planned to be awarded under the program.
Pratt&Whitney plans to expand the PW6000 test program to include three powerplants before the end of the year, following completion of initial sea level trials. Pratt engineers have accumulated a ``little under 50 hr.'' running time with the first powerplant, which initially went to test in late July. Since beginning its trials, fan flutter investigations, full power performance calibrations, emissions trials and measurements on secondary systems such as the oil system have been completed.
Boeing is trying to expand the uses and capabilities of the GPS-guided Joint Direct Attack Munition and wants to entice the U.S. Air Force and Navy in added capabilities by demonstrating some of the possible upgrades. After testing a 500-lb. version of JDAM this summer (the Pentagon is buying 1,000-lb. and 2000-lb. versions), Boeing is putting forward the concept of an extended-range weapon. It would allow pilots to attack targets from farther away and would reduce an aircraft's exposure to enemy air defenses.
Japanese prosecutors are investigating charges that, during a 20-year period, 11 major oil companies in Japan conspired to fix prices on aviation and other fuels sold to the Japanese Defense Agency. The 11 companies have been indicted by the Fair Trade Commission. In one contract, the JDA paid $448 million for fuel that should have cost $411 million, the FTC investigation report said. Oil company executives have said they were told they could get the higher prices in exchange for hiring senior staff members from the JDA's Procurement Div.
I'm mad as hell, and I'm not going to take it anymore. --Howard Beale One gets the idea these days that if a Howard Beale, the newscaster gone berserk that Peter Finch played in the 1976 movie ``Network,'' were to show up in a clogged lounge at a hub airport, he would have no trouble getting passengers to join in.
A number of compelling stories of disruptive passengers have appeared in the media recently, but there may be more to ``air rage'' in the headlines than there actually is in the air. Airlines large and small say that when it happens it can be very serious, but it does not happen often. Sharon Wibben, senior vice president for inflight service at Delta Air Lines, speaks for many in observing: ``We have seen a growing number of passenger cases over the past couple of years, although it certainly isn't a common occurrence.''
A former director of the JJDA's Procurement Div. and 12 executives of the NEC Corp. and its subsidiaries have been sentenced to 2-3-year prison terms for inflating bills on avionics equipment for the agency. The bills were approved in exchange for job offers for senior JDA officials. Judge Toshikazu Obuchi said that even after the overcharges were discovered, JDA officials understated the amount of refunds due. He ordered two NEC subsidiaries to return about $44 million to the agency.
Officials from the United Arab Emirates have just left Lockheed Martin's Fort Worth facility, where they appear to have hammered out some of the problems in the long-delayed sale of $8 billion in 80 F-16s, spare parts, support and training. Further encouraging signs came from Defense Secretary William Cohen, who is on a Middle East swing. He said U.S. officials have finally agreed on the details of what technology can be shared. UAE officials wanted to ensure they could reprogram the aircraft's system for jamming the radars of enemy aircraft.
