Following a 1.5-year delay due to financial problems, Turkey has requested proposals from four competing firms for the planned acquisition of four airborne early warning (AEW) aircraft. The contenders for the $800-million program are Boeing's E-767 AWACS, Northrop Grumman's E-2C Hawkeye, Lockheed Martin's C-130J AEW and Israel Aircraft Industries' Phalcon system mounted on an Airbus A310. IAI has teamed with Raytheon for the bid.
NASA's Deep Space-1 (DS-1) spacecraft (pictured) is completing final testing at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and slated to be shipped to Cape Canaveral later this month for an Oct. 15 launch. DS-1 is to fly by and study the asteroid 1992 KD on July 28, 1999. But the primary aim of the mission, the first in NASA's New Millennium program, is to flight test advanced technologies. DS-1 will be powered by a 12-in.-dia. xenon ion engine developed at NASA's Lewis Research Center.
The U.K. has said it will join a collaborative program with the U.S., France, Germany and Italy to develop a new, longer range guided rocket for the Multiple Launch Rocket System. A memorandum of understanding is expected to be signed shortly for the development phase of the multinational effort.
Under ever-tightening budget pressure, Japan's Space Activities Commission and National Space Development Agency have postponed launch of the nation's first spaceplane by three years, to 2003. Hope-X was first intended as a test article that would be launched in 1999 for a more elaborate Hope (H-2 Orbital Plane) unmanned mini-shuttle that would carry supplies to the International Space Station.
The first flight of the Embraer RJ135 was almost two weeks ahead of schedule, primarily because of the 90% commonality between the 37-seater and the larger 50-seat RJ145, which is already in service. The RJ135's maiden flight took place on July 4 and was quickly followed by a second. During the two flights, which totaled 5 hr., pilots explored the full operational envelope, reaching the 37,000-ft. ceiling and Mach 0.78 maximum cruise speed. The aircraft, for which Embraer has 73 firm orders, is scheduled to make its air show debut at Farnborough in September.
With five successive intercept failures in the Theater High-Altitude Area Defense program, prime contractor Lockheed Martin has ``reached out'' to the Raytheon Systems Co. for help, says Army Lt. Gen. Lester Lyles, the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization director. Raytheon already builds the Thaad radar. The new arrangement will draw on the company's vast missile experience. Lyles says the Pentagon hasn't ruled out introducing a second prime contractor to the program.
Virgin Atlantic Airways has begun linking its flights with the 24-hr. MedLink Emergency Telemedicine Center operated by Phoenix-based MedAire. The company manages medical emergencies in the air worldwide for a dozen carriers and scores of corporate and government aviation departments. In the event of a medical-related incident during flight, airline staff have direct and immediate radio access to MedLink's 16 emergency physicians who make diagnoses, advise initial treatment and make recommendations to assist the captain in deciding whether a diversion is necessary.
NH Industries will submit this week a revised proposal for tooling and initial series production of the four-nation NH-90 naval frigate/tactical transport helicopter. The NH-90 will be the second major new European military helicopter to go into production. A contract for 160 Tiger attack helicopters was signed in May (AW&ST May 25, p. 22). NH Industries comprises the French and German units of Eurocopter, plus Agusta and Fokker Aviation.
The U.S. Justice Dept. has cleared American Airlines' proposed acquisition of an 8.5% stake in Aerolineas Argentinas after American agreed to restructure the deal to meet the department's concerns about potentially reduced competition in the highly restricted U.S.-Argentina market. Under the original proposal, American would have had a representative on the Aerolineas board of directors and would have had veto rights over certain large investment decisions.
Kenya Airways posted a surprising 31.7% rise in pretax profit for the fiscal year which ended Mar. 31, despite declines in tourism and the country's overall economy. The $24-million profit was supported by a 19% increase in cargo revenue and 9% rise in passenger revenues. The largest growth has been within Africa (21%), following the carrier's decision to expand its African route network. Kenya Airways now serves 19 African destinations from its hub at Nairobi.
Southwest Airlines and Continental Airlines are retrofitting CFM56-7B engines with new starter gear shafts following an FAA airworthiness directive mandating replacement of those components by Sept. 1.
U.S. security experts say two factors make hybrid terrorist warfare enormously difficult to prevent--the weakness of conventional deterrence and public disbelief in the threat. ``We may very well be in an environment where the terrorist is not deterrable, certainly not by any conventional means,'' Air Force Maj. Gen. John P. Casciano, the service's director of intelligence, told a recent symposium here organized by the National Defense Industries Assn. (NDIA). By ``environment,'' Casciano means:
Boeing has begun structural assembly of the first of two demonstrator X-32 Joint Strike Fighters at its Phantom Works facility in St. Louis. The work, on the JSF's forward fuselage, began a month ahead of schedule, according to Frank Statkus, Boeing vice president and JSF program manager. Final assembly is scheduled to begin next year in Palmdale, Calif. Boeing is competing with Lockheed Martin for the JSF contract, which is also building two JSF concept demonstrators.
Continental Airlines became the first U.S. operator of Boeing's new 737-800 model last week and said it will continue its average delivery pace of greater than one transport a week through 1999.
British and Virgin Atlantic Airways are vying to take advantage of a new air services agreement between the U.K. and China that will open up access to Shanghai for British carriers. The agreement, concluded between Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott and Vice Premier Wu Bangguo, also allows for increased frequencies between the U.K. and Beijing. British Airways currently operates four flights a week to Beijing and two a day to Hong Kong, while Virgin Atlantic operates a daily flight to Hong Kong.
The pilots of the Formosa Airlines Saab 340 twin-engine turboprop that crashed Mar. 18, 4 min. after takeoff from Taiwan's Hsinchu airport, were apparently aware of a malfunction in the power supply to their cockpit flight display system before departure but elected to proceed anyway. Billy Chang, the deputy director general of Taiwan's Civil Aeronautics Administration, confirmed that the pilots were aware of the malfunction of one of two flight displays before takeoff for the southern Taiwan city of Kaoshiung. Chang would not speculate why the pilots proceeded.
Three more space shuttle contracts are being absorbed by the Boeing Lockheed Martin United Space Alliance this month as part of NASA's space flight operations contract (SFOC), which will ultimately combine work performed under 20 different contracts. The changes will bring United Space Boosters Inc. under the SFOC as an Alliance subcontractor for solid booster processing at Kennedy Space Center. Specific booster work will transition to Alliance control in October 1999. In addition, work on flight equipment performed by Boeing in Houston is transferring to Alliance.
The Small Launch Vehicle Div. and Launch Test Programs at Kirtland AFB, N.M., are seeking proposals for providing launch services for small payloads using ``existing and emerging'' low-cost technologies. The launcher must be able to place up to 3,000 lb. into a Sun-synchronous orbit of 400 naut. mi. The Air Force has a contract with Orbital Sciences Corp. for Pegasus and Taurus launches, but the pact expires at the end of the year.
Odds are that the Pentagon will decide this month to stick with 13 E-8C Joint-STARS rather than return to the pre-Quadrennial Defense Review number of 19 aircraft, a Pentagon official said. As a trade-off, the Office of the Secretary of Defense is expected to recommend making those 13 systems more capable through a wide-ranging upgrade program. The U.S. Air Force already has plans for extensive Joint-STARS enhancements (AW&ST June 22, p. 59), but so far it hasn't had the money to upgrade all 13 aircraft.
University of Hawaii astronomers have discovered an asteroid completely within Earth's orbit of the Sun. Dubbed 1998 DK36 and estimated to be 40 meters (131.2 ft.) in diameter, the asteroid was first spotted in February as the astronomers scanned the dusk and dawn skies with a 2.24-meter telescope atop Mauna Kea. Additional observations were made to calculate the orbit. All previously known asteroids have orbits that take them beyond Earth for at least part of their journeys about the Sun.
The General Electric-Pratt&Whitney Engine Alliance is studying frangible bearing housings as a way to reduce the weight and cost of the powerplant the firm is developing for the Airbus A3XX transport. The engine's first and second bearings, which support the powerplant's fan, are candidates for the frangible housings. The housings would isolate the fan from the rest of the engine structure if the fan were to suffer the loss of a blade.
Business jet fractional ownership programs, which have demonstrated spectacular growth during the past five years, have the potential to increase by another 500%. A main reason is the growth of the U.S. stock market, which in large part is responsible for the estimated 250,000 individuals in the U.S. with net worth of $10 million or more, according to Dennis Keith, president of Business Jet Solutions, Bombardier's charter, aircraft management and fractional ownership arm.
