The U.S. Air Force has tested an antijam Global Positioning System module that appears to offer a low-cost counter to jamming of GPS guided weapons and could also have applications for civil aviation. As an added bonus the Boeing system uses commercial off-the-shelf parts. This could drive the cost down to about $3,000 a system for buys of 72,000 or more, said USAF Program Manager James M. Moore.
With the successful completion of three Global Hawk test flights, there is growing interest among Pentagon and aerospace industry officials to somehow combine Teledyne Ryan Aeronautical's big payload UAV program with that of Lockheed Martin's stealthy DarkStar. Until a crash delayed the DarkStar program by two years, Lockheed was pitching a larger version of DarkStar to squeeze out Global Hawk. Now ideas are being floated to modify Global Hawk with a radar deflecting shape and build it from more low-observable materials.
The Air Transport Assn., the trade association of 22 U.S. passenger and cargo carriers, is taking the offensive against proposed Transportation Dept. guidelines on unfair competitive practices in the airline industry. Intended to make sure new low-fare entrants have a chance to compete against powerful incumbents, ATA President and CEO Carol B. Hallett argues they will harm consumers and raise air fares instead. The industry believes further study, possibly by a commission (another one!), is necessary.
Pro Air, a Detroit-based airline that will celebrate its first anniversary on July 4, has reached five-year agreements with both Chrysler Corp. and General Motors to provide air services for the auto makers' employees. With the agreements, Pro Air would become a preferred airline for employees traveling on business from Detroit to the destinations it serves from Detroit City Airport--Baltimore/Washington, Indianapolis, Newark and Philadelphia (AW&ST July 28, 1997, p. 46). The agreements also apply to the car manufacturers' suppliers.
Mary Walsh has become assistant FAA chief counsel for legislation and Thomas F. Zoeller deputy assistant chief counsel. Walsh was minority counsel to the House Transportation subcommittee on aviation, and Zoeller was legislative assistant to U.S. Sen. Wendell H. Ford (D-Ky.).
Pentagon planners have earmarked money in future budgets to refit five E-8C Joint-STARS aircraft by 2006 with an improved radar and computer system that is expected to produce a massive amount of new and high-resolution information about ground or low-flying targets on 21st century battlefields.
DENMARK WANTS TO ACQUIRE a lethal suppression of enemy air defense (SEAD) capability for its F-16s through the purchase of the Raytheon-built AGM-88 High-Speed Anti-Radiation Missile (Harm).
The Joint-STARS ground surveillance aircraft is at a crucial point in its life. The threats it must find are changing, and so are its roles. Ironically, this advanced aircraft's sensors and computers are already aging. Senior Military Editor David A. Fulghum flew on board a Joint-STARS in a Green Flag exercise and explored its current capabilities, the planned upgrades to its radar and computers, the aircraft's expanding mission as a command center and such emerging roles as serving as the mother ship for unmanned aircraft.
USAF has exercised an option to obtain a third C-40A transport from Boeing. Deliveries of the military version of the 737-700C are scheduled to begin in December 2000. The Navy is using the C-40A to replace its existing C-9 airlifter fleet, which consists of 29 transports. Twenty-seven of these are operated by the Naval Reserve and two by the U.S. Marine Corps.
ASIA-PACIFIC'S ECONOMIC CRISIS WILL RESULT in about 150 fewer orders for commercial aircraft during the next five years, according to Boeing's ``Current Market Outlook'' for 1998. Boeing and Airbus Industrie are likely to split the lost orders in line with their respective shares of the market or roughly 60% versus 40%, said Bruce Dennis, vice president of marketing for the Boeing Commercial Airplane Group.
James N. Bilodeau has been named sales director for the Aviation Week newsletters, based in Washington. He was Mid-Atlantic and Southeast U.S. regional manager with WiseWire.
The final segment of Green Flag 1998 was dedicated to finding mobile ballistic and air defense missiles, but like the search for Scuds during the Persian Gulf war, the effort began in frustration for some of the E-8C Joint-STARS aircrew.
Advances in sub-micron fabrication techniques keep lowering the run times and energy requirements of programmable memory chips. Xilinx Inc., of San Jose, Calif., is an industry leader in field programmable gate arrays (FPGA)--blank memory chips that allow system designers to create unique integrated circuits at their desktops. FPGA's heaviest use is in big, complex circuits where the speed of devices is a major issue. Xilinx's products include encapsulated plastic devices that meet military temperature standards with densities of up to 130,000 gates.
THE TECHNICAL RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT INSTITUTE of Japan's Defense Agency has picked Fujitsu Corp. to develop an ejectable electronic countermeasures (ECM) system and its launcher for the air force. After being ejected, the fin-shaped ECM system is to discharge jamming waves fore and aft to lure hostile active homing missiles. Sharing in the 8-billion-yen ($55.2-million) contract is Fuji Heavy Industries, which is to develop an unmanned target vehicle for launch tests of the ECM.
PHILIPPINE AND JAPANESE authorities are examining cockpit and flight data recorders from a Japan Airlines MD-11 that left Runway 24 during a night landing in Manila on June 14 in heavy rain. Capt. Takayoshi Minami reported heavy water coverage on the runway as he landed the trijet aircraft, which was carrying 248 passengers and 11 crewmembers on a flight from Tokyo. Twenty-four passengers were injured during an emergency evacuation.
Shay D. Assad has been appointed president/chief operating officer of Raytheon Engineers and Constructors, Lexington, Mass. He was senior vice president/corporate director of contracts. Assad has been succeeded by Richard J. Foley, who was senior vice president-contracts of the Raytheon Systems Co.
Francis L. Shill has become vice president/project director for Computer Sciences Raytheon, Patrick AFB, Fla. He was senior vice president/general manager of the Calspan Corp. Services Contracts Div. Shill succeeds William P. Hickman.
A spate of incidents involving launch payloads will force Arianespace to go ahead with the third and final Ariane 5 qualification launch without a paying customer and oblige the company to accelerate its launch schedule in the second half of the year to unprecedented levels.
Pratt&Whitney has begun ground tests of a derivative F119 engine that will serve as the main powerplant for the conventional takeoff and landing version of Lockheed Martin's Joint Strike Fighter prototype.
Air Afrique expects its new strategic plan to restore profitability and align the carrier for privatization and strategic alliances with non-African partners. Eleven West African states, which pool traffic rights, jointly own 70.4% of Abidjan, Ivory Coast-based Air Afrique. In the last few years, the multinational carrier accumulated losses resulting from a heavy debt burden, devaluation of the CFA franc and weak company organization.
Air traffic controllers and engineers have launched a campaign opposing U.K. government plans to sell off 51% of the National Air Traffic Services (NATS) to the private sector, which they believe would pose a risk to safety.
RADA ELECTRONIC INDUSTRIES and MLM Integrated Systems, a division of Israel Aircraft Industries, have agreed to cooperate on marketing and producing an enhanced, multidimension Integrated Data Center (IDC) for fighter aircraft. IDC includes a data recording, processing and transmitting system for postflight debriefing or real-time monitoring using an advanced data link. The companies' target is the upgrade market.
Tomasso P. Rivellini, cognizant engineer of the Mars Pathfinder Airbag Subsystem, is expected to receive the 1998 American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) Engineer of the Year Award. Herman Krier, professor of mechanical engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, is scheduled to receive the 1998 Wyld Propulsion Award. And, Leroy Spearman, a senior technical specialist in the Aeronautics Systems Analysis Div. of the NASA Langley Research Center, has received the 1998 Aerodynamics Award.
