The Asian economic crisis is expected to dampen participation by 10-15% at the Asian Aerospace '98 air show in Singapore next month, but major European and American aerospace companies insist that their long-term outlook for the region remains positive.
Robert J. Hermann, senior vice president-science and technology of the United Technologies Corp., has been named chairman of the American National Standards Institute of New York. He succeeds Lawrence L. Wills, director of standards for IBM.
Work aimed at sending U.S. astronauts to Mars early in the 21st century, possibly by using the Moon as a stepping-stone, is being thrown into disarray. NASA headquarters has ordered field centers to halt most Office of Space Flight projects that would support missions to send astronauts beyond Earth orbit. The cancellations are being ordered because of Fiscal 1998 NASA budget shortfalls and Clinton Administration plans to restrict NASA spending in Fiscal 1999.
H.M. (Mike) Strange has been appointed vice president-industrial operations at the Little Rock, Ark., Center of the Dassault Falcon Jet Corp. He succeeds Roy Pickens, who was promoted to senior vice president/general manager. Strange was manager of corporate completions for the Raytheon Aircraft Co. in Little Rock.
Jeff Elmes (see photos) has been appointed product manager for civil programs, Keith Lawlor for regional aircraft, Mike Knight for military programs and Martin Pye for business aircraft, all for Dunlop Aviation Braking Systems, Coventry, England. Also named were Chris Manton as data manager and Richard Tipton resource manager.
Construction and painting of remote sensing verification targets is nearly complete at Stennis Space Center, near Bay St.Louis, Miss. The targets are intended to determine the accuracy and resolution of airborne and satellite remote sensing imagers. The 150-meter (492-ft.) square main target, and adjacent experimental radial pattern, are intended to function like specialized eye charts to determine the accuracy and resolution of remote sensing imagers.
Berl Bernhard has been appointed a director of Atlas Air Inc., Golden, Colo. He is chairman of the Washington law firm of Verner, Liipfert, Bernhard, McPherson and Hand.
Raytheon Systems Co.'s Greenville Operation is beginning an extensive disassembly, repair and rebuilding of P-3C aircraft as part of the U.S. Navy's Sustained Readiness Program to stretch operational life of the aging P-3 fleet for at least another eight years.
Snecma and Pratt&Whitney Canada still intend to seek applications for the proposed 13,000-15,000-lb.-thrust SPW14 turbofan engine. Aero International Regional's ill-fated AIRjet twinjet, which was terminated last month, had been the SPW14's sole application. The engine, scheduled to be produced by France-based SPW International, now is on hold but has not been abandoned. ``It remains available and certainly will find a spot in the market,'' Snecma Chairman and CEO Jean-Paul Bechat said last week. Bombardier's Regional Aircraft Div.
Two new scientific studies are raising new doubts about whether Martian meteorite ALH84001 contains remains of ancient life on the red planet. A NASA/Stanford University science team spurred new interest in Mars when it announced in 1996 that it had found mineral features in the meteorite characteristic of biological activity and possible fossils of tiny organisms (AW&ST Aug. 12, 1996, p. 24).
The same NASA budget problems are also forcing the layoff of about 500 Kennedy Space Center employees of United Space Alliance, the industry operator of the shuttle. A shuttle risk assessment headed by the agency's safety guru, former astronaut Fred Gregory, found that KSC and USA officials will have to make careful management adjustments to account for the layoffs to ensure that they don't lead to safety problems.
Air France is shifting its Asian regional headquarters from Hong Kong to Bangkok ``in order to serve better the Southeast Asia region and reduce regional overhead,'' Asia-Pacific Managing Director Arthur Bullard said. The decision is another blow to Hong Kong's prestige as a business center at a time that air traffic, tourism and business have fallen off dramatically. Meanwhile, Air France says it will begin three-times weekly direct Paris-Shanghai services with the start of its summer schedule in April.
Duncan Aviation Inc., of Lincoln, Neb., plans to acquire Kal-Aero Inc., an aircraft completion, air charter, fixed-base operation and maintenance center located in Battle Creek and Kalamazoo, Mich. Officials of both companies expect to complete the transaction by the end of this month. Duncan provides similar service, plus an extensive avionics capability, for business aviation and government customers in Lincoln. Plans call for Kal-Aero to retain its name and operate as a division of Duncan.
TWO JAPANESE SELF-DEFENSE Air Force test pilots are to undergo a one-month flight training course in the Su-27 at Zhukovsky Flight Testing Center, near Moscow, under a contract valued at roughly $300,000. The course will include practical experience in the basic flight/technical capabilities of the aircraft. According to a Sukhoi Design Bureau official, Moscow is ready to sell Su-27s to Japan provided it is a batch deal. But he said Japan has not shown an intention to buy.
Flights between the ancient Chinese capital of Nanjing, near Shanghai, and Taiwan's two largest cities, Taipei and Kaohsiung, have been approved for Air Macau. The process was initiated in October 1995. Since China and Taiwan first approved indirect air services as an interim step toward the day when the two countries could agree on direct flights, Air Macau has established routes from Beijing and Shanghai to the island nation. Like those services, the Nanjing flights will not be direct; they'll stop in Macau.
Aaron J. Penkacik (see photo) has been named vice president-advanced technology of Lockheed Martin Sanders, Nashua, N.H. He was director of research and technology for the Lockheed Martin Electronics and Missiles Co., Orlando, Fla.
Delta Air Lines in July is scheduled to start equipping its 558-aircraft fleet with automatic external defibrillators (AED) with heart monitoring capability. In March, Delta flight attendants are to begin training in the operation of the ForeRunner AED developed by Seattle-based Heartstream Inc. The company says its AED features low-energy (150 joules) biphasic technology and is designed so that ``first responders'' to emergencies, such as police and fire department personnel, could easily deliver time-critical defibrillation therapy.
Photograph: The $222-million Russian Khrunichev/Boeing FGB control module spacecraft that will be launched by a Russian Proton booster as the first element of the new International Space Station (ISS) is to arrive next week at the Baikonur Cosmodrome. The spacecraft was rolled out at Khrunichev in Moscow Jan. 17. Top U.S. and Russian aerospace officials, including astronauts and cosmonauts for initial ISS missions (foreground), attended the rollout. The FGB was built with U.S. funds under a Boeing contract. The 1,200-mi.
An infrared sensor ``flyby'' test conducted by the National Missile Defense Joint Program Office in mid-January apparently cleared the way for actual intercept tests by a full-function exoatmospheric kill vehicle later this year.
NASA and Sen. John Glenn have justified his upcoming flight on space shuttle Discovery as a valuable opportunity to learn more about the human aging process, but the mission will more likely be most remembered for the thrill of a 77-year-old pioneer astronaut returning to space after a 36-year absence.
The National Reconnaissance Office, the once-supersecret agency that procures and operates U.S. intelligence satellites, has for the first time in its history revealed the names of more than 100 companies with whom it does business. In response to a Freedom of Information Act request filed by Aviation Week&Space Technology, the NRO released the contractor list, which an agency spokesman said contains the ``majority'' of companies the agency had direct contracts with as of last Nov. 1.
United Parcel Service and the Independent Pilots Assn. (IPA) have reached ``a handshake agreement'' on a new six-year contract for the company's 2,100 pilots.
Russia's attempts to establish effective arms export controls are stymied in a tug-of-war between rival government and business factions, according to the first major analysis of the subject in Russia since the end of the Cold War. An English translation, Russia in the World Arms Trade, says the policy fight has saddled Moscow with a shaky export control system that is constantly subject to change. This heightens proliferation concerns at a time when crime and smuggling in military goods are reported rampant nationwide.
Robert C. Weber has become program manager for airborne products for Tecom Industries, Chats- worth, Calif. He was a senior systems manager for Sensor Systems.
