The White House and Congress must redouble efforts against the mounting threat of ``loose nukes'' falling into illicit hands from the former Soviet nuclear complex, say former high-ranking Clinton Administration officials. They are calling for improvements to U.S. intelligence on nuclear smuggling, compliance with an unfulfilled 1995 U.S./Russian agreement for data exchanges on nuclear stockpiles and U.S. supply of advanced tracking equipment to the Russians.
To Continental Airlines after one of its officials in the Southwest Region said surveillance of the airline was being increased because of an ``abnormal amount of engine shutdowns in flight.'' Instead, an FAA official in Washington said heightened oversight of Continental's engine maintenance operations is the direct result of a nationwide increase in the number of agency inspectors available to do the job, not of concerns about the Houston-based carrier's maintenance practices.
Business travelers who want to follow their flight's progress can do so with a new software package called FlightTracker from TheTrip.com. FlightTracker produces a high-resolution topographical map that is generated from FAA radar data using Java programming language. Travelers will need a wireless modem. The connection is to http://www.thetrip.com . . . Engineous Software and General Electric are teaming on development of a collaborative optimization environment tool for Darpa's Rapid Design Exploration and Optimization (RaDEO) program.
Beginning with this issue, the Aerobyte column will run in the front of Aviation Week&Space Technology with the other news columns, such as Industry Outlook and Airline Outlook. The frequency of Aerobyte, which reports breaking news in the information technology industry, has been increased to biweekly from monthly.
The Command&Control Systems division of Hughes Aircraft Co. is as software-intensive as any in aerospace. More than half of its 1,500 employees are involved in software development, so it has been seeking better ways to find and retain computer scientists.
The recent midair collision of a U.S. Air Force C-141 and a Luftwaffe Tu-154 off the coast of Namibia tragically demonstrates that no transports--military or civil--should be operating in African airspace without traffic-alert and collision avoidance systems.
John J. Nokleberg has been named chief financial officer of the Teledesic Corp., Kirkland, Wash. He was a vice president in the global media and telecommunications group of Chase Securities Inc.
Natalie W. Crawford has been promoted to vice president/director of Project Air Force from associate director of Rand, Santa Monica, Calif. She succeeds Brent D. Bradley, who has been reassigned. Succeeding Crawford is C. Richard Neu.
Smiths Industries will update the weapons management and control (WMC) system on the U.S. Marine Corps' AV-8B Harrier attack aircraft under the Open Systems Core Avionics Requirements (OSCAR) program. OSCAR calls for replacing the existing proprietary avionics system with one using COTS software and hardware, including processors. The new WMC system is to integrate control of current air-air and air-ground weapons, and have upgrade provisions to accommodate future weapons.
Aided by advanced kinematic analysis of the flight data recorder, reveals no evidence of mechanical failure in the Sept. 8, 1994, crash of USAir Flight 427 near Pittsburgh, according to Boeing. Boeing says the simulation technique, validated by the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board, also indicates the rudder and lateral flight controls were not a factor in the earlier crash of United Airlines Flight 585 near Colorado Springs.
Filed applications with the Federal Communications Commission to use the new V-band portion of the radio spectrum--36-51.4 GHz.--for future-generation satellite systems. Lockheed Martin, Loral, Orbital Sciences, PanAmSat, Spectrum Astro and Teledesic filed proposals totaling more than $20 billion. Applications had previously been received from Motorola, Hughes and TRW (AW&ST Sept. 15, p. 27). The FCC also received applications from Globalstar, Iridium and Mobile Communications Holdings to use the 2-GHz.
Sky Games inflight gaming software has been certified for Matsushita 2000E passenger entertainment systems. Written by Interactive Entertainment Ltd. of Memphis, Tenn., the software allows passengers to play blackjack, poker and slots either in a wagering capacity or as ``entertainment only.'' Singapore Airlines is to test the system on a Boeing 747-400. Airlines can set their own rules for wagering, but the system will allow credit card bets of up to $350, with winnings capped at $3,500.
German Army Gen. Klaus Naumann, the chairman of NATO's military committee, says the U.S. military is becoming high-tech with such ``unparalleled velocity [that] one day we will see a disconnect between the U.S. and its European allies.'' Because most NATO members maintain traditional arms procurement practices, ``they can no longer cope with the speed of the revolution'' in reconnaissance, command and control, information systems and precision weapons. The problem is exacerbated by a steep decline in European R&D spending, he says.
The FAA is investigating operational errors made by air traffic controllers earlier this month at the Dallas-Fort Worth Air Route Traffic Control Center that resulted in violations of minimum separation standards, but did not constitute a near midair collision threat, according to the agency.
Research Organization (ISRO) controllers are hoping to use the propulsion system on board Indian Remote Sensing Satellite-1D to gradually raise its perigee following the poor performance of a Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV). A shortfall of about 130 ft. per sec. in the fourth stage of a PSLV-C1 launcher was blamed for leaving the imaging satellite in a 817 X 300-km. elliptical orbit, instead of the intended 817-km. circular orbit. The indigenously developed booster lifted off from Sriharikota Space Center in southern India at 10:17 a.m. local time on Sept. 29.
Honeywell is planning a new version of its HUD 2020 head-up display aimed at the cockpits of midsize corporate turboprop and business jet aircraft. The HUD 2022 incorporates a smaller overhead mounting, engineered and built by HUD 2020 program partner GEC-Marconi. First prototypes are scheduled to be ready in early 1998, according to Dan Stockfisch, Honeywell manager of head-up displays. The company's Phoenix-based Business and Commuter Aviation Systems Div. also is adapting ``vertical tape'' symbology to its HUD displays.
Lawrence Livermore, Sandia and the E.O. Lawrence Berkeley national laboratories have joined forces with a private industry consortium led by Intel, Advanced Micro Devices and Motorola, to launch an advanced lithography research project aimed at making chips that are 100 times faster and have 1,000 times as much memory as current chips. Called Extreme Ultra Violet (EUV), the advanced lithography technology involves etching circuit lines smaller than 0.1 microns in width.
Congressional Republicans achieved their goal of bolstering national missile defense in the Fiscal 1998 defense appropriations budget, but effectively failed to finance additional B-2 bombers or cut off U.S. peacekeeping operations in Bosnia.
Conditionally approved Raytheon Co.'s $9.5-billion acquisition of Hughes Electronics Corp. defense business from General Motors Corp. Raytheon must divest the Dallas-based infrared sensor operation it recently acquired from Texas Instruments and portions of the ground electro-optical (EO) systems business in California and Georgia it proposed to buy from Hughes. The businesses to be jettisoned represent about one-half of 1% of the revenues of Raytheon's defense electronics business.
Increasing dynamic pressure from continuing aerobraking maneuvers has almost fully deployed the balky solar panel on the Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft, according to project officials. Glenn E. Cunningham, MGS project manager at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, said last week that the panel has been pushed to within about 2 deg. of its fully deployed position, although it still is not locked in place.
ARINC will purchase vhf digital radios from Park Air Electronics, a British subsidiary of Northrop Grumman, for its ground-air data link network. The software-programmable radios can be remotely reconfigured to provide data communication in either analog minimum-shift key form or differential eight-phase shift key (D8PSK) VHF data link, recently selected as an ICAO standard. The radios will augment the existing aircraft communications addressing and reporting system (ACARS) network across the U.S. and Europe.
British Airways, as part of an effort to streamline its engineering department, has agreed to sell its wheel and brake repair and overhaul operations to AlliedSignal Aerospace. The deal, to be concluded by year-end, will include a 10-year contract with AlliedSignal to perform the work on BA aircraft. BA, meanwhile, is on track to open its new 250-million pound ($403-million) cargo center at London Heathrow airport in January. The automated center will allow BA's capacity for freight and mail to double to 800,000 metric tons (88,000 tons) a year.
The creation of ``clusters'' of consolidated companies is likely to be the best way for the European aerospace industry to improve its competitive position vis-a-vis the U.S., according to the European Commission.
Lima, Peru's Jorge Chavez international airport is receiving a new ASR-12 solid-state primary surveillance radar from Northrop Grumman's Electronic Sensors and Systems Div., formerly Westinghouse. The company's newest primary radar, along with a monopulse secondary surveillance radar (MSSR), has been delivered and should be installed and integrated into the airport before the end of the year. The company's Park Air Electronics subsidiary is also providing ground-air communications equipment for the airport.
By shifting most of its flights to Denver, Western Pacific has left Colorado Springs airport's expansion in a state of uncertainty. The airport had experienced extremely rapid growth since Western Pacific brought low fares to southern Colorado, quickly surpassing its design capacity of 1.5 million annual enplanements. The airport had started expanding its terminal and parking facilities to keep up with Westpac's growth plans. The airline's sudden move to Denver has had a significant impact on traffic at its former hub.
