A fast-growing market for airborne missile warning systems has developed around the globe--except in the U.S., which pioneered the MWS. The delay in outfitting U.S. military aircraft stems from the Pentagon's mandate that a common MWS (CMWS), which is still under development for Army helicopters, also be used for high-speed fixed-wing aircraft.
A significant increase in the sensitivity of the imaging ultraviolet sensors of the AAR-54 missile warning system will enhance the ability of the AAQ-24 Directed Infrared Countermeasures (DIRCM) to counter heat-seeking missiles. The AAQ-24 was developed by an international team headed by Northrop Grumman's Electronic Warfare Systems operation here (AW&ST Sept. 30, p. 50).
V4/2.0 is an upgraded data warehousing tool designed for helping aerospace executives manipulate data and make decisions. Users can run contextual, what-if scenarios involving such issues as varying flight hours, raw material projections, maintenance escrow and warranty costs. V4 runs on Windows NT, most Unix platforms and Open VMS. Its reports can be read in Microsoft Excel. MKS, Suite 906, 992 Old Eagle School Road, Wayne, Pa. 19087-1803.
The Model 690 L-70 is a three-cylinder, two-stroke engine that could find use on light aircraft. The engine has a displacement of 684 cc. It can produce up to 70 bhp. at 6,250 rpm. and peak torque output of 68 ft.-lb. at 5,250 rpm. The engine develops more than 60 ft.-lb. of torque over a range of 4,500-6,400 rpm. The cast aluminum alloy engine features a liquid cooling system and 150-watt charging system. The engine weighs about 100 lb. with starter and gearbox. 2 Stroke International, 8 Schein Loop, Beaufort, S.C. 29906.
This free play trainer is designed for use by Fokker 70/100 pilots. The trainer simulates the entire flight management system and can be used for all phases of operation from the preflight inspection until the aircraft is shut down and parked. The trainer can be programmed with a customer's navigation database to allow realistic training by flight crews. The trainer can be used in a classroom configuration with a video project, on individual workstations or on a laptop computer. FAROS, Rue Blaise Pascal, Parc Pegase, 22300 Lannion, France.
At its recent annual meeting, the European Regions Airline Assn. (ERA) called for member states of Eurocontrol and the Joint Aviation Authorities to give airlines adequate time to modify aircraft to meet new navigation and communications requirements. It said agreed-upon specifications should be implemented and interpreted consistently throughout Europe. ERA members also voiced fears that moves to harmonize flight crew time and duty limitations within Europe may fall victim to social politics.
The key issue of whether USAF and Navy tactical aircraft a decade hence will operate with the protection of a modern escort/standoff jamming aircraft may be decided during the coming year. The only potential replacement for the Navy's aging EA-6Bs is the F/A-18G, the unofficial designation of the Command and Control Warfare (C2W) variant of the F/A-18F.
The HP 4351B 130-volt solar array simulator helps solve the problem of simulating the output characteristics, or I-V curve, of solar arrays accurately. Engineers program a series of curves to simulate the capture of solar energy as a satellite moves from darkness to light. The HP4351B works in three operating modes, simulator, table or fixed. The simulator responds to changes in array output in less than 5 millisec. Hewlett-Packard Co., Test and Measurement Organization, P.O. Box 50637, Palo Alto, Calif. 95303-9512.
Jonathan Gibbs has been named director/general manager of Heliwork Services Ltd., Andover, England. He was commercial director of Wessex Traincare Ltd.
Night-vision technologies continue to proliferate in the civil sector. Innovative applications already on the market include a real-time video crib monitoring system using low-level infrared light-emitting diodes (LEDs) to illuminate the subject while leaving the room dark. The monochrome image can be viewed on a portable monitor or with the ``picture-in-picture'' feature of some television sets.
Perry Bradley, senior editor of Business&Commercial Aviation, an Aviation Week Group magazine, and Dan Lothian and Tony Dill of NBC News, have won the 1997 Gold Wing Awards for Reporting Excellence from the Washington-based National Business Aviation Assn.
Senior U.S. Air Force officials are guardedly optimistic that Defense Secretary William Cohen will OK their proposal to give contracts to both Lockheed Martin and Boeing to develop families of Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicles (EELV), instead of downselecting to a single contractor next year, as had been planned (AW&ST Jan. 6, p. 27). The Air Force was scheduled to outline the idea to Defense Dept. officials on Oct. 24. The EELV program is aimed at cutting U.S. launcher operating costs by at least 50%.
The ``Mars Express'' orbiter that the European Space Agency (ESA) wants to launch to the red planet in 2003 may allow NASA to cancel plans to launch its own Mars orbiter the same year. The U.S. is planning to launch two landers to different spots on Mars in 2001 and 2003. The landers, which would be equipped with long-range rovers, would gather rocks, analyze them, and assemble the best samples into a ``package'' that a sample-return spacecraft would pick up in 2005.
The U.S. Army's new Intelligence&Electronic Warfare Common System (IEWCS), which uses both airborne and surface-based sensor platforms, is under test at the Owego, N.Y., facility of Lockheed Martin's Federal Systems division. This is to check out system performance and software preparatory to its operational evaluation next summer at the Army's Ft. Huachuca, Ariz., facility.
Dennis D. Freeman has become executive vice president, Jerry R. Kukulka vice president-operations, David R. Lillington vice president-technology and Paul K. Ballew chief financial officer, all of Spectrolab Inc., Sylmar, Calif., a unit of Hughes Electronics.
HUGHES SPACE and Communications won its first contract to build a Russian satellite. The company is to provide an HS-376 model spacecraft, launch and ground station control equipment to a subsidiary of Media Most, a private Russian media group. The satellite will have eight active Ku-band transponders capable of providing up to 50 direct-to-home television channels to western Russia from an orbit at 36 deg. E. Long. Launch is scheduled for November 1998 on a Delta 2 booster from Cape Canaveral. Financial terms were not disclosed.
OrthoGIS, an orthophoto production software package, is now available for Windows NT and Windows 95. Previously, the software which allows users to easily remove distortions from standard aerial photography was available only for Unix platforms. Precision corrected photos can be used in geographic information systems and for generating city and area maps. The software goes beyond simple rectification or warping techniques to provide true orthorectification. Vexcel Corp., 4909 Nautilus Court, Boulder, Colo. 80301.
THE FAA IS UPGRADING its supervision of Boeing's commercial transport production lines as the manufacturer rapidly spools up its manufacturing rate. The stepped-up surveillance is precautionary and is not targeted toward a specific area, process or problem. Neither has FAA notified Boeing of any change in inspection methodology or philosophy, the company said. The FAA instituted similar measures during the last sharp production increase in the late 1980s.
Flight tests in Italy last week demonstrated that two different wide-area GPS augmentation systems can be linked to share information on satellite integrity, which is essential to flight safety.
The U.S. Navy will soon select a contractor for Engineering/Manufacturing Development of its Advanced Integrated Electronic Warfare System (AIEWS), intended to protect a variety of different types of vessels against antiship missiles. Future business potential is estimated to be more than $1 billion. AIEWS is intended to replace the long-used SLQ-32, developed two decades ago by Raytheon E-Systems' Goleta (Calif.) division--which heads one of the two teams of bidders. The other team is led by Lockheed Martin.
Officials of AMR Eagle Inc., have selected the highly competitive Chicago market for the inauguration of regional jet service beginning in the second quarter of 1998 using 50-seat Embraer EMB-145s.
The difficult job of clearing away major supply-chain bottlenecks and filling a record backlog of commercial aircraft orders is proving to be extremely costly for the Boeing Co. Last week it reported a third-quarter pretax charge of $1.6 billion. The company also expects to incur another $1 billion in pretax charges related to production difficulties in the fourth quarter and into next year.
Every major airline except US Airways could be hiring pilots by the end of the year, according to the pilot employment service Air Inc. Twelve of the 14 major airlines hired 366 new pilots in September, according to the Atlanta company, putting the year's hiring total through that month at 2,977 for the majors. That nearly matched 1996's nine-month total of 3,080. National airlines hired 204 pilots in September and a total of 2,297 through the first nine months of the year. Air Inc.
Tower Air plans to enter short-term agreements with two foreign carriers for the lease of seven aircraft from its fleet of 17 Boeing 747s. An unnamed major Asian carrier is expected to lease three aircraft for two months each year for three years for passenger service to the annual Hajj pilgrimage, which next year begins on Mar. 3. An unnamed Middle Eastern carrier plans to lease four Tower 747s for a nine-month period, with the first aircraft scheduled to begin service at the end of this month.
