NASA OFFICIALS TOLD a House panel that development of the International Space Station will cost $21.3 billion through the end of 2003, about $4 billion above the cost cited a year ago. Among the factors contributing to the increase were a new crew return vehicle, contractor cost overruns, and Russian delays that so far have forced NASA to develop an interim control module and slip completion of the station by one year.
Boeing has slashed its workforce by nearly two-thirds on the Teledesic satellite venture, and an erstwhile competitor, Motorola, is poised to try again to get a role in the high-profile ``Internet in the sky'' project. Boeing executives insist the company remains strongly committed to the project, which calls for building and launching Teledesic's global, Ka-band system in time for commercial service to begin in 2002. ``We are on track and moving forward,'' a spokeswoman said.
THE FIRST PROTOTYPE of the NH-90 frigate/electronic warfare helicopter has begun a new flight-test campaign equipped with the T700-T6E engine codeveloped by Alfa Romeo Avio, Fiat Avio and General Electric. Aircraft PT1 had previously logged 160 flight hours with the Turbomeca/Rolls-Royce RTM 322-01/9, opening the full flight envelope. The RTM 322-powered PT2, which made its maiden flight in March 1997, is responsible for fly-by-wire trials. The four NH-90 partner nations will be free to choose between either of the two engines.
William Lewandowski has been named vice president-supplier management and staff representative to the Supplier Management Council of the Washington-based Aerospace Industries Assn. He was assistant vice president-technical operations. Margaret Bouline (see photos) has become vice president-information services and Cornelius Van Den Handel vice president/treasurer of Aviall Inc. of Dallas. Bouline was director of information services and Van Den Handel treasurer/director of planning.
FAA Administrator Jane Garvey describes the office environment when she set out to build her career: ``Women made the coffee, men made the decisions.'' Speaking at the ninth annual conference of Women in Aviation International, held in Denver recently, she also confided, ``It's exhilarating to lead the procession.'' And what's changed in aviation over the years? ``More men are now learning to make coffee.''
Fueled by economic vitality, new products and pent-up demand, business aircraft manufacturers and operators are riding a wave of prosperity that, barring any unforeseen economic disasters, will continue unabated for the next 3-5 years. Despite potential ramifications of the Asian financial crisis, a generally positive global business environment, coupled with prospects for continued economic expansion in most regions, bodes well for new and used aircraft sales as well as the increased utilization of these assets by commercial operators.
A BOEING STANDOFF Land Attack Missile-Expanded Response (SLAM-ER) DT-5 missile scored a direct hit on a ship target on Mar. 19 at the Pt. Mugu Sea Test Range in California. The missile was launched from a Navy F/A-18. The SLAM-ER navigated toward the target using GPS/INS, and the missile received two midcourse updates from the aircraft via data link. The F/A-18 pilot then used imagery transmitted from SLAM-ER's infrared seeker to identify the target and lock the sensor onto it as the missile closed within 7 naut. mi.
FORTY-ONE MINORITY WORKERS charged Boeing with discriminatory practices, including sexual harassment, in a lawsuit filed in Seattle last week. The plaintiffs are seeking $82 million in damages. More workers are expected to join the suit.
Airline passenger growth in Asia/Pacific markets is expected to slow over the next couple of years but in the long-term the slight scaleback is expected to be a blip on an increasingly upward curve. ``The center of the world economy is moving to the Far East, so the actual crisis should not impact on the general trend,'' a chief executive officer of a European airline told the International Air Transport Assn. (IATA) during a survey this year.
ARIANESPACE HAS CONTRACTED with the Defense Evaluation and Research Agency (DERA) of the U.K. to orbit a pair of microsatellites with the Ariane 5 heavy-lift booster. The two space technology research satellites will be placed in geostationary transfer orbit during the summer of 1999 using the Ariane 5's ASAP 5 auxiliary payload structure derived from the ASAP on Ariane 4. ASAP 5 can carry a 100-kg. (220-lb.) payload, equivalent to 25 experiments--double the capacity of the Ariane 4 model.
Jacques Lignieres has been appointed senior vice president-development of Amadeus Global Travel Distribution and general manager of its development company based in Nice, France. He has been deputy general manager for development. Lignieres succeeds Jean-Paul Hamon, who is now head of information technology for Air France.
The Administration is lobbying Congress hard for billions in extra money to continue Bosnia operations, warning lawmakers that military readiness will suffer if the Pentagon has to pay the expense out of its regular budget.
Malaysia Airlines said it expects to take deliveries of Boeing 777-200IGWs so it can start a thrice-weekly service to New York next month via Dubai. The airline is examining various refinancing packages to ease the drain on its U.S. dollar accounts. Besides the pressures they feel to save money because of Asia's currency crisis, many Asian carriers are being persuaded by their governments not to buy new aircraft, to avoid exacerbating dollar reserves. But the Malaysian carrier says it remains committed to its fleet renewal.
H. Eric Edwards has become vice president-product operations and James Frelk vice president-government operations for Earthwatch, Longmont, Colo. Edwards was director of operations engineering and Frelk vice president-market development. H.R. Boswijk has been appointed managing director of Hollandse Signaalapparaten, Hengelo, Netherlands. He was commercial director and succeeds Eric van Amerongen.
Jack W. Hugus has been appointed vice president-best practices of the Lockheed Martin Corp., Bethesda, Md. He was vice president-technology for Lockheed Martin Information and Services. Frank J. Cappuccio has been named vice president/program manager for the Joint Strike Fighter for Lockheed Martin in Fort Worth. He was vice president-programs and technology for the company's Aeronautics Sector, Bethesda, Md. Cappuccio succeeds David Wheaton, who has retired.
The Administration's goal of a balanced budget for Fiscal 1999 and beyond means Pentagon planners can hope for no more than flat funding. With no change in the spending power, military officials are sure program cuts are in the offing as the Pentagon faces a decade that will require heavy spending to modernize its tactical fighters.
In the months following last August's 747 crash on Guam, FAA officials uncovered major, widespread problems in the use and control of critical low-altitude warning systems like the one that may have contributed to the crash.
Christos C. Chamis, a senior technical scientist/technologist at the NASA Lewis Research Center in Cleveland, has been named the 1998 recipient of the Structures, Structural Dynamics and Materials Award of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. Other awards and their scheduled recipients are: Goddard Astronautics Award, Jimmie D. Hill, former principal deputy in the Office of the Assistant Air Force Secretary and former deputy director of the National Reconnaissance Office; Reed Aeronautics Award, Roy V.
Vice President Al Gore's plan for NASA to build a micro satellite that would provide live images of the Earth 24 hr. a day on the Internet is getting an icy reception on Capitol Hill. The space-craft, dubbed Triana, would carry a small telescope and camera and make its observations from 1 million. mi. away at the L1, the point between Earth and the Sun where gravity and centrifugal forces are balanced. NASA says the satellite could be built and orbited for $20-50 million. But Rep.
The Pentagon is considering merging responsibility for space and airborne reconnaissance ``architecture'' under a new Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (C4ISR) office. Last year, Congress mandated that the Pentagon restructure airborne reconnaissance. As a result, the Defense Airborne Reconnaissance Office is being eliminated and responsibility for its programs is being returned to the military services.
The proposed British Airways/American Airlines alliance ``certainly won't go through as is,'' the Justice Dept.'s antitrust chief declared last week. At a packed Senate subcommittee hearing that included American and BA bosses Robert L. Crandall and Robert Ayling, Assistant Attorney General Joel Klein addressed the key obstacle to the proposed alliance--arranging enough access (enough gates and slots) at Britain's Heathrow Airport so other airlines could replace the competition shut out by the alliance. Absent such access, Justice will urge the Transportation Dept.
U.S. government space operations will be maintained at about $25-27 billion annually in the next several years, with increases on tap for both NASA and the Air Force. Advanced technologies combined with commercial involvement will multiply the payback from government space expenditures.
Mark S. Newman, chairman/president/CEO of DRS Technologies Inc., Parsippany, N.J., has been elected to the board of directors of the New Jersey Technology Council.
