Pratt&Whitney has added a variety of upgrades to production F100-229s to eliminate durability problems with engines powering U.S. Air Force F-15Es based at Lakenheath, England. USAF officials said many of the problems have been prompted by insufficient resistance to high temperatures, so that many of the upgrades--which were made production features in powerplants built after February 1997--are focused on improving the F100-229's temperature capabilities.
A SECOND PREPRODUCTION Galaxy business jet made its first flight late last month at Ben Gurion Airport in Israel, flying to an altitude of 25,000 ft. and reaching a maximum speed of 0.85 Mach. It will be used to certify the aircraft's performance, avionics and auxiliary power unit.
Motorola's Durrell Hillis says the entire U.S. satellite industry is being unfairly tarred by the flap over allegations of sensitive missile technology leaking to China. Hillis is peeved that the House's bid to ban further Long March launches of U.S. birds came even though his company hasn't been accused of anything and ``China didn't do anything wrong.'' Hillis, one of the gurus behind the newly complete Iridium network, wants to keep using Long March to loft pairs of replacement satellites.
THE RUSSIAN Service Module for the International Space Station has passed a major milestone by being shipped from Khrunichev, where it was assembled, to Energia where it will be tested. Russian funding for Service Module completion has held up the station program, but the module is 95% complete and managers believe it can make its updated launch target of April 1999 as the third station element.
The shuttle Discovery astronauts were to undock from Mir on June 8 and prepare for landing on June 12, completing U.S./Russian joint operations on the aging outpost and setting the stage for more ambitious flights to assemble the new International Space Station (ISS) starting late this year. Mission 91, piloted by USAF Col. Charles Precourt and Navy Cdr. Dominic Gorie, was to transfer nearly 2 tons of cargo and supplies to Mir while retrieving astronaut Andy Thomas and 1,500 lb. of U.S. equipment. Thomas spent 130 days on the orbiting base.
SIXTEEN JAPANESE TOURISTS and a South Korean were hurt on May 27 when Ansett Australia Flight An822 hit severe clear air turbulence on a flight from Osaka to Brisbane. The turbulence occurred south of Papua New Guinea at 3 a.m. The 747-300 was only carrying 79 passengers, a reflection of the downturn in Asian traffic to Australia.
Rudy Oswald (see photo) has been named vice president-business acquisitions and alliances of Honeywell Space Systems, Clearwater, Fla. He was vice president-business development for space and strategic systems operations. Oswald has been succeeded by Scott Starrett, who was director of business development.
India and Pakistan have taken up nuclear positions rife with the potential for military and political miscalculation, Asian and Western experts say. First, the stability that mutual nuclear deterrence might bring to the subcontinent is hostage to the volatility of Kashmir. The impassioned territorial dispute there could erupt at any time, security analysts warn. Small-arms fire is nearly a daily occurrence, accompanied by periodic mortar and artillery barrages.
ImPro Lab is new image-processing software that allows algorithms to be graphically programmed from a library of image-processing routines. ImPro Lab runs on Windows 95/NT/98 and is made by Hyperception Inc. of Dallas. The routines run directly in the computer and are not bogged down by the graphical user interface. Custom routines can be added to the library. Options include being able to convert an algorithm into a stand-alone Windows image-processing program, or into ANSI C source code that can be used in a digital signal processing chip or other ANSI C environment.
A CONSORTIUM including British Airways has plans to create a high-speed rail link between London's Heathrow Airport and Paris and Brussels as early as 2001. The move is part of a U.K. government plan unveiled last week to rescue long-delayed plans for a high-speed rail link between London and the Channel Tunnel. BA has a 10% stake (which could grow to 35%) in the consortium which was selected over a rival bid from Richard Branson's Virgin Group to run the Eurostar high-speed train service.
The U.S. Navy will likely embrace vertical-landing unmanned air vehicles as the replacement for the Pioneer reconnaissance drone and abandon the Outrider fixed-wing drone which the service has been supporting for several years.
A detailed review of data from a Jan. 16 National Missile Defense (NMD) system flight test over the Pacific confirmed that Raytheon's kill vehicle sensor performed better than initially thought. It was the second sensor ``flyby'' test under a Ballistic Missile Defense Organization risk-mitigation plan, which ultimately will lead to selection of a single Exoatmospheric Kill Vehicle (EKV) contractor. A critical sub-element of the NMD ground-based interceptor, the EKV is designed to destroy a threat missile by ramming it at high speed.
KOREAN AIR PRESIDENT Yang-Ho Cho will order 22 737-800s and five -900s valued at $2 billion as he accompanies South Korean President Kim Dae Jung to Washington for a June 9 visit with President Clinton. The aircraft are to replace MD-82/83s and Fokker 100s on the airline's domestic network with deliveries in 2002-04. Despite a 62% decline in the value of the won, Cho has not delayed or canceled any deliveries of his wide-body fleet, but he has expressed caution about fleet expansion (see p. 30).
Despite France's pullout from the ESA/NASA atmospheric reentry vehicle project, the European Space Agency soon hopes to confirm its role in a second phase of studies for the X-38 Earth-return vehicle. An orbital test vehicle for this project is due to be launched by the space shuttle in May 2000 (AW&ST Mar. 23, p. 92).
American Airlines will modify some of its Boeing 727-200s with Raisbeck Commercial Air Group Stage 3 Increased Gross Weight System kits to meet the government's Stage 3 noise standards by 2000. The Raisbeck modification is primarily achieved by flat rating the Pratt&Whitney engines by 3.5%, reducing the landing flap setting and adjusting the 5-deg.-takeoff-noise-flap-speed schedules.
The Airborne Laser, the Boeing 747-400-based missile defense system, is progressing technically, Hawley says. But a debate rages about ``whether the program office understands the atmosphere correctly.'' Critics charge that the environment at high altitude is more turbulent than expected. Hawley supports program research that indicates it is more benign. Meanwhile, researchers at Hanscom AFB, Mass., are finding that high-altitude turbulence affects more than lasers.
The FAA is ``ineffective in all critical areas'' of computer security, according to a recent review by the General Accounting Office. The FAA responded that system redundancies protect integrity in any contingency, and that its computers and software are unique to the agency (read: decades out of date), so that common hackers will be unfamiliar with them.
CAE ELECTRONICS LTD. WILL PROVIDE four Level 7 Flight Training Devices for the NATO Flying Training in Canada program. The company will produce two Raytheon T-6A-1 and two Hawk Mk. 115 FTDs for Bombardier under a $68-million contract. Level 7--the most capable FTD category--is a fixed-base device with a cockpit that is an accurate replica of the aircraft, and is similar to a full flight simulator except that it lacks motion systems. Three of the FTDs will have a 7-channel Enhanced ``B'' Maxvue visual system; the other, a 4-channel Maxvue system.
James T. McKenna, Aviation Week&Space Technology's transport and safety editor, spoke on the media's role in aviation safety, at SAE Aerospace's recent ``Advances in Aviation Safety'' conference in Florida. This article is based on his speech.
Lockheed Martin is formulating a plan to initiate commercial Titan 4B launch operations to orbit heavy communications spacecraft and multiple satellite constellations. The company's objective is to use the existing 3.4-million-lb.-thrust heavy booster--instead of its evolved expendable launch vehicle (EELV) concept--to compete against Boeing's Delta 4 EELV and the European Ariane 5.
Micro aircraft, no larger than a small bird, are already showing promise in reconnaissance roles by flying with video cameras and returning live pictures. Performance should increase markedly over the next several years as designs are refined and new technology integrated under Defense Dept. funding.
FLS AEROSPACE LTD. has suspended its bid to acquire the maintenance arm of Aer Lingus and is turning its sights on other expansion opportunities in Europe and the U.S. The Danish-owned, U.K.-based maintenance company had signaled its intent to acquire Team Aer Lingus earlier this year. But it suspended its ``due diligence'' process after only 41% of employees at Team Aer Lingus approved an offer placed before them by the state-owned Irish carrier to transfer their contracts to FLS Aerospace.
Software is the long pole for delivering the space station's U.S. laboratory module to Kennedy Space Center on Aug. 26. While the Boeing-built structure is essentially complete at Marshall Space Flight Center, not all of the software is written yet, and the lab is supposed to finish qualification tests before being shipped. Command and control programming is at the most risk, while the lab internal systems software is in better shape. There are further hurdles ahead.
Boeing has turned to simulation software from Composite Design Technologies to reduce the trial-and-error setup costs in a demonstration of laminated composite technology. FiberSim software from Composite Design of Waltham, Mass., provides a direct link from 3D computer-aided designs to automated composite layup machines, reducing hand layup procedures.
Photograph: THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA AIR NATIONAL GUARD'S 201st Airlift Sqdn. has begun operating two C-38A military versions of the commercial, mid-size cabin Astra SPX business jet built by Israel Aircraft Industries. Stationed at Andrews AFB, Md., near Washington, the squadron is responsible for transporting senior Defense Dept. and National Guard officials. Options exist for two additional airplanes. The C-38A has a range of more than 3,000 naut. mi. and cruise speed of 470 kt., and is powered by two AlliedSignal TFE731-40 engines.
