Euless, Tex.-based Menasco Aerospace is transferring manufacture and final assembly of landing gear components for the F-16 to its affiliate in Poland, Menasco Aerospace-Krosno. Production of minor components already has begun, and plans call for shipping additional tooling to Poland by year-end, according to a senior Menasco official. He said painting, plating and final assembly of the gear, however, still is being performed in Euless.
To get more bang out of palmtop and other inexpensive computers, Annasoft Systems of San Diego is making several products to improve Windows CE, the palmtop operating system. Annasoft's ``Intrinsyc DeviceCOM'' makes it easy to create client-server distributed applications by using the distributed component object model (DCOM), which Windows CE does not support. DCOM is available in Windows 95, NT and UNIX, so DeviceCOM will allow operation with these existing systems. The company expects DeviceCOM to be used in factory automation, transportation and point-of-sale.
Indonesia's parliament has finally approved a rise in domestic airfares. Fares will rise by 40% from Sept. 1 and a further 14% from Dec. 1. The problem for Indonesia's carriers, including Garuda, Merpati, Bourak and Mandala, is that 80% of their costs and only 20% of their revenues are in U.S. dollars.
Northrop Grumman Corp. has won a $5.5-million contract from the U.S. Air Force to provide radar circuit card assemblies applicable to the F-16 aircraft.
Unova Inc. of Beverly Hills, Calif., is planning to diversify into the aerospace segment of machine tool manufacturing by acquiring the machine tool business of Cincinnati Milacron Inc. for $178 million in cash.
The Joint Chiefs of Staff rejected Rumsfeld Commission criticism of the Pentagon's missile defense program (AW&ST July 20, p. 24). The commission's concern that an outlaw nation such as North Korea could acquire an ICBM capability in a short time with foreign assistance and high-risk crash programs ``is an unlikely development,'' JCS Chairman Henry H. Shelton said in a letter to Congress. The more immediate threat is terrorist use of weapons of mass destruction, he admonished (see p. 30).
Defense stocks historically have been considered potentially attractive investments because of, well, their defensive nature. During periods of slackening economic growth, such as the U.S. is experiencing now, military contractors' earnings were viewed as relatively immune from lower economic expectations. But the sector hardly has been a safe haven this year; through mid-August, most issues substantially underperformed against the Standard&Poor's 500 Index. Among large-capitalization companies, Northrop Grumman Corp.
The Boeing Super Hornet, scheduled to join U.S. Navy squadrons in 2001, offers carrier pilots a fighter/attack aircraft that has improved performance, longer range, greater weapon payload, a slower landing speed and overall better handling characteristics. The F/A-18E/F is a compromise aircraft spawned when the McDonnell Douglas/General Dynamics A-12 was canceled in 1991. Boeing's McDonnell Douglas Aircraft and Missile System unit and the Navy concentrated on improving the shortcomings in the Hornet, which has been in operation since the early 1980s.
Spar Aerospace Ltd. has entered into a strategic alliance with privately-held Ellipso Inc., which is building a satellite-based global communications system. As an equity investor, Spar will provide system definition support services and payload components, including low-noise amplifiers and electronic power conditioners. The partnership could generate up to $45 million (Canadian) in incremental sales for Spar during the next 30 months, according to a company official.
Hurricane Bonnie moves slowly toward the U.S. East Coast in image from NOAA 15, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's newest polar orbiting satellite. Launched in May, the spacecraft had antenna problems initially. The image, relayed by the Automatic Picture Transmission payload, was captured by Hank Brandli, a Florida satellite meteorologist.
Richard E. Tierney has been named president of Interstate Electronics, Anaheim, Calif. He succeeds Lawrence A. LaCotti, who has retired. Tierney was president of Whittaker Electronics Systems.
U.S. Army ground crews for the Boeing AH-64D Apache Longbow are training to use an interactive electronic technical manual (IETM) for the helicopter. The IETM is a ``Class 4'' system, which makes it easier to obtain the correct information because data are stored in a hierarchical, rather than linear, manner. The IETM replaces 30,000 printed pages with a single CD-ROM. The F/A-18E/F fighter will also have an IETM, and Boeing employees in Mesa, Ariz., and St. Louis collaborated on both IETMs.
Chutta Ratnathicam has been named interim president of Emery Worldwide, Palo Alto, Calif. He succeeds David I. Beatson, who has resigned. Ratnathicam was chief financial officer.
THE GERMAN AIR FORCE HAS AWARDED a $5.2-million contract to CAE's German company, CAE Elektronik GmbH., to add simulation of a new radar warning receiver to flight simulators for German Air Force F-4F aircraft. Electric warfare training will be enhanced as the scenario is upgraded to generate signals double the number of threat emitters--up to 32 from 16.
The Lufthansa group expects a ``distinct improvement'' in earnings and a rise in sales this year, based on first-half results released last week. The group reported a first-half pretax gain on ordinary activities of DM928 million, a 134% jump, on consolidated revenues of DM10.6 billion (up 7.6%). Performance was attributed primarily to strong growth in passenger revenues (+7.6%), a record seat occupancy rate on passenger flights (71.6%, up 1.7 percentage points) and continued progress in containing unit costs.
Bell Helicopter Textron is using high-velocity machining techniques to reduce weight, cost and complexity of structural components for the new, twin-engine Bell 427. The keelbeam, which is a primary structural member of the aircraft's nose section, is being fabricated by high-speed (40,000 rpm.) machines that produce a single piece with wall thickness as low as 0.030 in. The thin walls are possible because heat generated during the cutting process is dissipated by the metal chips, leaving the part cool and undistorted, according to company engineers.
Northwest Airlines canceled 400 flights scheduled to operate Aug. 28-29 in anticipation of a potential strike by the Air Line Pilots Assn. The union has set a strike deadline of 12:01 a.m. EDT on Aug. 29 if negotiations had failed to produce a new contract. The airline also stopped accepting cargo shipments on Aug. 27. Meanwhile, passengers and shippers sought to make other arrangements, and other airlines outlined the procedures they would use in accepting Northwest tickets.
The deepening silence out of the Pentagon about the details of the raids on Afghanistan and Sudan and the limited nature of these two strikes are signs that there are additional raids planned against other sites associated with terrorists, say Pentagon officials, defense specialists and former military leaders.
IRS TECHNOLOGIES HAS AGREED TO PURCHASE a portion of Raytheon's second-generation ground electro-optical systems and a portion of its focal plane array business. Raytheon agreed to divest those parts as a result of its acquisition of Texas Instruments' defense business and merger with the defense business of Hughes. Among the U.S. Defense Dept. programs using the Ground EO and FPA products are: the Long Range Advanced Scout Surveillance System, Javelin missile, U.S.
The X-38 development team believes that it is pioneering low-cost aerospace manufacturing techniques by tying together computers, lasers and software in innovative ways. ``The limits on manpower here have forced us to use a lot of advanced information technology techniques,'' said John Muratore, overall project manager for crew-rescue vehicle development.
