ELBIT SYSTEMS OF ISRAEL WILL PARTNER with Virtual Prototypes Inc. (VPI) of Montreal to develop the software code upgrades to aircraft, helicopters, and command and control systems. Elbit already uses VPI's virtual avionics prototyping system and automatic code-generator technology in those upgrades, for interactive pilot-vehicle interfaces. Elbit uses VPI products as the basis for developing cockpit and head-up displays, helmet-mounted sights and instrument panels.
PGA Portugalia Airlines is on track to carry 1 million passengers this year. The Lisbon-based airline carried a total of 301,465 passengers during the first five months of 1998, a 29.2% increase over the same period last year. International passenger traffic grew by 58.3%. Portugalia recently opened new routes to Nice and Lyons, France. The airline has taken delivery of the last of six Embraer RJ145s on order, which it operates along with six Fokker 100s.
Sheila Whittaker has been elected chair of the British Columbia Aviation Council. She is vice president-school operations for Coastal Pacific Aviation in Abbotsford and was council vice chair.
France-based Avions de Transport Regional is once again considering the merits of the AIRjet regional transport. The French-Italian consortium will reassess the ill-fated program and initiate exploratory talks with potential risk-sharing partners. The proposed AIR-70 was terminated last December, when AIR's partners failed to agree on the $1.2-billion program's business plan. The 70-seat twinjet was tentatively scheduled to enter service in late 2001 and would have been followed by 58-seat and 84-seat derivatives of the basic version.
A bitter but simmering dispute between Canada and Brazil over counter allegations that each nation unfairly subsidizes its primary aerospace company has boiled over again into formal complaints to the World Trade Organization.
It looked finally as if Northwest Airlines was going to get some serious competition at its Minneapolis/St. Paul hub, where it has an 85% share of the 29 million passengers using the airport. Southwest Airlines, which brings low fares to the cities it serves, said it was holding a job fair in Minneapolis last week ``looking for local employees.'' That implied a new city on its route map. But no such luck for competition-starved Twin Cities' residents. The word ``local'' was a mistake. Southwest did hold a job fair, but it wasn't looking for local employees.
Alenia Marconi Systems, a joint venture that combines the radar, command and control, missiles, simulation and ATC systems businesses of GEC-Marconi and Alenia Difesa, is expected to become operational before year-end. Parent companies General Electric Co. of the U.K. and Finmeccanica of Italy, which formally signed the agreement on July 10, are discussing adding GEC-Marconi's guns and armored vehicles and Finmeccanica's avionics businesses to the joint venture.
Coy wording by Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott (R-Miss.) has Democrats fuming. Citing a Senate Intelligence Committee investigation into U.S. satellite exports to China, Lott offered ``interim judgments.'' He alleged that sensitive technology has been transferred to China, leading to military benefits for Beijing, and the Clinton Administration has ignored ``overwhelming information'' on Chinese proliferation. The problem is that the judgments weren't made by the intel committee. Sen.
The FAA has awarded a contract for $57 million to Comsat Corp. to support the Wide Area Augmentation System through specialized transponders on Inmarsat-3 satellites. With options, the contract is worth about $120 million.
An international team of government and military weather organizations and private-sector participants is planning to attempt the first transatlantic crossing by an unmanned aerial vehicle this summer. The Aerosonde, a miniature robotic aircraft manufactured in Australia, is designed for long-range weather sampling. It has a 13-kg. (28-lb.) takeoff weight and demonstrated a 30-hr. endurance. It has logged about 700 flight hours to date.
Sir Geoffrey Pattie, chairman of GEC Marconi, has succeeded David Wright, managing director of GKN Aerospace, as chairman of the Defense Manufacturers Assn. in the U.K.
Robert M. Davis, Jr., (see photos) has been appointed president/CEO of Kelly Space and Technology Inc., San Bernardino, Calif., and Marc T. Constantine president/CEO of subsidiary Kelly Aerospace. Davis was vice president-strategic business development of GenCorp Aerojet, Sacramento, Calif. Constantine was vice president-business development of Alliant Techsystems of Minneapolis.
Russia's latest financial emergency, the worst to date, is a symptom of a broad systemic crisis that the major powers are ignoring at their peril, strategic analysts say. Deeply worried that the White House and world capitals are not laying contingency plans for a looming ``crash'' of the Russian government and military, veteran security and economic experts claim that worse is to come in the ex-Soviet Union, despite last week's largest bailout of Russia to date by the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
The U.S. Navy and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory are developing a small ultrawideband radar system that will accurately determine rotor-blade ``tracking'' on the V-22 Osprey, enabling rapid balance adjustments in the field.
Wing cracks that occurred during static testing of the Mitsubishi F-2 close air support fighter have raised alarm flags and may require additional funding for the $7-billion program. Neither the Japanese Defense Agency nor Mitsubishi Heavy Industries will comment officially on the cracks, although the agency may need to seek an additional 3 billion yen ($21.3 million) in fiscal 1999 to improve the F-2's structure. The JDA has spent about $2.3 billion on the F-2 so far. It is the largest procurement program in the Japanese air force's budget.
Faced with a barrage of criticism that political pressure led to a premature opening of Hong Kong's new international airport at Chek Lap Kok, Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa has ordered an independent investigation into the $9-billion facility's overall operations.
Frederick W. Hotson and Donald H. Rogers have been inducted into the Canadian Aviation Hall of Fame in Montreal as have Richard D. Hiscocks and Franklin E.W. Smith, posthumously. All were cited for their contributions to the advancement of aviation in Canada.
Peter A. Bukowick (see photo) has been promoted to president/chief operating officer from executive vice president/COO of Alliant Techsystems of Minneapolis. He succeeds Richard Schwartz, who is now chairman/CEO.
The future of Philippine Airlines (PAL) hangs in the balance this week with a looming strike by ground personnel that could bring the already crippled carrier to its knees. PAL's 5,000-member Philippine Airline Employees Union has said it will defy an order by Labor Secretary Bienvenido Laguesma not to strike. A strike would jeopardize the airline's restructuring plans, greenlighted by the Philippine Securities and Exchange Commission.
Boeing has moved to increase revenue flow by raising the base price of its commercial transports by at least 5% and increasing its inflation escalation formula.
British Airways is discussing a possible equity investment in LOT Polish Airlines as part of ongoing negotiations to expand their code-share agreement, initially agreed to last January. The first stage is to go into effect on Aug. 10, when jointly coded services are to be introduced on each of the carriers' three weekly flights between Manchester and Warsaw, as well as LOT's two weekly Gdansk-London Gatwick flights. British Midland, meanwhile, launched a competing London Heathrow-Warsaw service last week.
The U.S. Army is developing and testing a combination of high- and low-technology improvements to its tactical missile inventory to increase performance while stretching scarce development dollars.
Boeing and AlliedSignal recently completed certification testing for updated carbon brakes for the 767 transport family. The brakes, made with Carbenix 4100 material, are similar to those used on the newer Boeing 777 and are scheduled to enter revenue service in early 1999, according to Pete Goranson, Boeing lead engineer for landing gear and door systems. A new supplier, French manufacturer Messier-Bugatti, also is completing development testing on a set of 767 wheels and carbon brakes. Certification is planned for the middle of next year.
Southern California's aerospace industry, battered earlier in the decade, may be facing another major round of job cuts as large-scale integration and platform assembly in the region begin to wind down. Longer-term, the area is expected to be a major beneficiary of double-digit growth in commercial space, electronics and information technology. For Southern California to share fully in that growth, however, the region will have to address a possible shortage of job skills.
The U.S. Air Force and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency are trying to identify technologies that will let aircrews suppress air defense without aircraft dedicated to the role.
