THE ROYAL THAI AIR FORCE is planning to delay the purchase of eight F/A-18 Hornet fighters from Boeing due to the currency crisis. The Thai government has been forced to cut the air force budget by 30% because of the conditions of the IMF rescue package. The Thai air force has already paid $149 million of the $392 million due for the jets, which are scheduled for delivery in 1999. The cancellation fee is $250 million, and the Thai air force is negotiating to delay the payment term by three years. One of the options being considered is reselling the fighters to the U.S.
FLIGHT TESTS OF HONEYWELL'S ADVANCED metal-tolerant magnetic head tracker in a U.S. Army AH-64 Apache rear cockpit showed that it is unaffected by the metal and electromagnetic fields, and has better performance and reliability than the current electro-optical system, according to the company. Head-tracking accuracy of 3.2 milliradians exceeded the 10-milliradian requirement. The magnetic tracker, which is smaller than the EO unit, is being used to upgrade Holland's F-16 and the U.K.'s Jaguar.
THE U.S. AIR FORCE HAS DETERMINED that a B-1B crash on Sept. 19, near Alzada, Mont., was caused by an excessive sink rate that developed while the crew was performing an ``authorized, often-practiced defensive maneuver.'' The pilot had slowed and made a sharp turn at low altitude during a defensive countermeasures and simulated bombing mission, when the aircraft struck the ground, killing all four crewmembers.
Peter A. Bukowick (see photo, p. 13) has been appointed chief operating officer of Alliant Techsystems of Minneapolis. He will remain corporate executive vice president/acting group vice president of the Defense Systems Group.
IBM MICROELECTRONICS WILL MANUFACTURE enhanced synchronous dynamic random access memory (ESDRAM) chips developed by Enhanced Memory Systems of Colorado Springs. IBM's high-volume, low-cost production will allow a rapid ramp-up in deliveries of the high-performance memories. The ESDRAMs are offered with clock rates of 100, 133 and 166 MHz., which makes them attractive for use with high-speed embedded processors, high-performance workstations and servers, and communications applications.
Brian Gora has been named director of marketing for the Component Services Div. and Allen Beeman manager of marketing for the Airframe Services Div. of BFGoodrich Aerospace, Everett, Wash. Gora was director of marketing for Michelin Aircraft Tires and Beeman manager of materiel for BFG.
Saddled with inadequate facilities and an infrastucture that is incapable of handling rising passenger traffic, beginning next year the Mexican government plans to privatize 35 of the country's 58 airports in an attempt to upgrade and modernize the aging facilities.
VOTERS IN THE OKINAWAN port city of Nago have turned down a proposal for the U.S. Marine Corps to operate an offshore heliport as a replacement for the Futema air base. Opponents secured nearly 53% of the vote. While it is not binding, as a political statement it puts pressure on Okinawan government and Premier Ryutaro Hashimoto to find an alternate site. None has emerged thus far.
Photograph: Photograph: The Eurofighter consortium's partners have built seven EF2000 prototypes to complete the flight test program. The aircraft shown is in Royal Air Force livery. The first production EF2000 is scheduled to be delivered in 2002. After a long delay due to tight military budgets and the program's post-Cold War reorientation, the Eurofighter EF2000 has received a production go-ahead that is expected to strengthen Europe's consolidation efforts.
Qantas has begun work on an A$76-million ($51.6-million) upgrade of its Melbourne domestic terminal as part of a $357-million plan for improving its domestic terminal facilities throughout Australia. The Melbourne development will include an automated baggage handling system with bar code tag readers and expanded arrival, departure and baggage claim facilities. Work is expected to be completed by April 1999.
Photograph: Photograph: A technician inspects AsiaSat 3 at Hughes' satellite plant in Los Angeles. A faulty launch left the telecommunications spacecraft in a useless orbit. The fourth stage of Russia's Proton booster failed for the third time since 1996, stranding a high-power telecommunications satellite in a useless orbit and raising questions about the reliability of the Proton upper stage. The launch of the AsiaSat 3 spacecraft began smoothly on Dec. 25 with an early morning liftoff from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
JAPAN HAS SET a Feb. 13 launch date for the Comets communications/broadcasting technology experiment satellite. Besides general experiments in data-relay communications, Comets is to be used to relay commands from the Tsukuba Space Center near Tokyo to the ETS-7 automatic docking experimental satellite, now in orbit. ETS-7 is a chaser-target satellite combination launched on Nov. 28. Comets was to have been launched last summer, but failure of solar panels on the Adeos-1 spacecraft last June prompted a design review because they are a common design to Comets.
Adolfo Revuelta Millan has been named senior vice president-administration of Airbus Industrie. He succeeds Alberto Fernandez, who has become president of Spain's Construcciones Aeronauticas. Airbus also named Christopher Buckley vice president-sales for Western Europe and Charles Champion vice president-sales for Eastern and Southern Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States.
Photograph: Photograph: The addition of an F-22 forward fuselage section does not appreciably change the 757 testbed's flight characteristics. A representative F-22 wing is to be installed in August. Boeing is preparing for initial flight tests of its 757 testbed fitted with the forward fuselage section of an F-22 fighter. The flying testbed (FTB), the first 757 transport ever built, is nearly fully instrumented and scheduled to be fitted with a representative F-22 wing in August. The wing is to be located on the fuselage crown directly aft of the cockpit.
AMERIJET INTERNATIONAL voluntarily suspended operations on Dec. 24, following an FAA inspection of the cargo-only carrier, rather than face an immediate suspension of its operating certificate. In a three-day inspection, the FAA had found ``serious deficiencies,'' including weight and balance problems, improperly secured cargo, improper preflight checks by flight crews and missing records and manuals. The Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based carrier, which operates 17 Boeing 727s, resumed flight operations on Dec. 30 after resolving the issues the FAA raised.
Meanwhile, the National Air Transportation Assn. (NATA) is worried that the FAA will force general aviation under the security umbrella that covers airlines just because they may operate out of the same airports. The FAA has proposed the first comprehensive overhaul of FAR Part 107, which sets rules for airport security. The NATA says the security concerns of charter and on-demand operators typically relate to safety, privacy and deterring theft--not terrorism.
Photograph: Photograph: The Aster 15 missile, developed by Aerospatiale and Alenia, has an anti-ballistic capability. Two additional qualification launches were made in late 1997. More and more nations face the prospect of their own arms exports being used against them in combat, says a new think tank analysis. It says the risk is increasing as dual-use technologies proliferate and defense industries become global.
A BIMAN BANGLADESH Fokker 28 crashed into a paddy in heavy fog on Dec. 22, 2 mi. short of its destination at Sylhet airport. It was on a domestic flight from the capital, Dhaka. Although the aircraft was extensively damaged, all 89 passengers and crew escaped serious injury. The aircraft had made several attempts to land, according to airport officials.
Ted Stevens (R-Alaska), the chairman of the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee, has joined the chorus warning the Clinton Administration of the high costs and painful choices that will come with NATO expansion. And he fired a shot across the bow about trade-offs he won't accept. Last summer, the Atlantic alliance invited the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland to join. But estimates of the cost of adding former East Bloc countries to NATO vary widely--from $20 billion to $165 billion during a 10-year span.
John V. Ruberto (see photo) has become vice president-strategic business development for GenCorp Aerojet, Sacramento, Calif. He was principal deputy in the office of the assistant to the Defense secretary for chemical and biological defense programs.
Western Pacific Airlines filed a company reorganization plan last month that stipulates $8 million in payments to unsecured creditors and emergence from bankruptcy by March.
The U.S. Navy plans to equip all Carrier Air Traffic Control Centers, for fixed-wing and helicopter ships, with Barco Chromatics' 29-in. rugged displays. The large viewing area will permit controllers to use multiple windows, as well as the central viewing area.
Mary Ellen Genovese has been named corporate controller of Trimble Navigation Ltd., Sunnyvale, Calif. She was controller of Trimble's Software and Component Technologies Div.
Robert B. Clasen has been appointed president/CEO of the ComStream Corp. of San Diego. He was senior vice president of the Comcast Corp. and president of Comcast International Holdings Inc.
