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.
US AIRWAYS HAS PLACED a $1.4-billion order for 120 CFM56-5B/P engines to power the first of as many as 400 Airbus Industrie transports, but contracts for the engines and aircraft are contingent upon the ratification of a new labor agreement with the airline's pilot union that could occur by the end of this month. The contract with CFM International also includes reconfirmable options for another 120 powerplants, and options to acquire up to 160 additional engines. They would power A319, A320 and A322 transports.
This highly modified Sikorsky S-55T was recently delivered to Lockheed Martin Corp. It features a Garrett TSI-331 powerplant derated to 650 shp. for hot day/high altitude performance. The cabin has nine seats and a newly certified left side door. Other modifications include composite fairings and panels, solid-state electrical components, a new fuel gauging system, and an instrument panel with upgraded flight and navigation equipment. The S-55T has a 3,400-lb. payload and 340-naut.-mi. range. Vertical Aviation Technologies Inc., 1642 Hangar Road, Sanford, Fla. 32773.
A NUMBER OF TECHNIQUES TO REDUCE the vulnerability of GPS navigation satellite receivers to hostile jamming have been developed by Northrop Grumman's Electronics and Sensor Systems Div. in Baltimore. Some of the antijam techniques can be retrofitted into existing GPS receivers. One technique, adapted from the ALQ-165 airborne self-protection jammer (ASPJ), can filter out a stronger jamming signal. Another would use a miniature cesium-type atomic clock to facilitate acquiring the Y-type encrypted GPS signal if the C/A (coarse/acquisition) signal is being jammed.
The third series of NASA/Boeing X-36 flight tests were scheduled to begin late last week, aimed at evaluating agility at low speeds, where the remotely piloted aircraft's stability and performance will depend heavily on thrust vectoring. A fourth phase will expand the flight envelope to its design limit speed and explore stability margins in that area. Having no vertical tail, the X-36 uses split drag rudders and thrust vectoring for directional stability and control. Another 6-10 flights are planned in the program.
International airline pilots are cataloguing aviation safety deficiencies in Argentina and other Latin American countries and documenting apparent efforts by government officials to pressure pilots in their nations to keep quiet about such problems. Those efforts come as investigators in Uruguay search for clues to why an Argentinean airline's DC-9-32 plunged more than 24,000 ft. into a swamp on the border between the countries on Oct. 10. All 74 passengers and crewmembers on board were killed.
The ability of Italian aircraft EW systems to fingerprint and locate a target today is approaching that of special purpose electronic intelligence collection systems of the recent past, according to Elettronica. Those capabilities are now available in lightweight, small-size ESM systems that can be packaged into standard avionics boxes--a far cry from earlier bulky, heavy specialized systems.
Aviation Scholarships, Your No. 1 Guide to Financial Assistance for College and Flight Training by Sedgwick D. Hines has information on scholarships, grants and awards for aviation students. The author says that despite the high cost of education and a shortage of financial aid, some sources of funding go untapped each year. The book is divided into a workbook designed to help students apply for aid and listings of scholarship opportunities. Flight Time Publishing, 8526 Drexel Ave., Suite 3B, Chicago, Ill. 60619.
The French government's decision earlier this month to combine the defense electronics businesses of Thomson-CSF and Dassault Electronique is expected to create the world's third largest integrated electronic warfare (EW) company, one capable of rivaling U.S. manufacturers.
The Goleta division of Raytheon E-Systems is leading the implementation of airborne towed decoys with the December go-ahead for full-rate production of the Navy-developed ALE-50 decoy for the U.S. Air Force. The company is also developing a more sophisticated fiber-optic towed decoy for the U.K.'s Nimrods under a contract received in June.
USAF F-16 AND T-38 AIRCRAFT had a mid-air collision at Edwards AFB, Calif., on Oct. 22, killing both crewmen in the T-38. The two crew in the F-16 were safe after an emergency landing on Rogers Dry Lakebed at Edwards. The accident occurred on base property at about 10 a.m. as the aircraft were providing photographic support of a B-1B weapons drop test of BDU-33 training bombs, and were flying at about 500 kt. and 2,700 ft. AGL. Killed were Lt. Col. William R. Nusz of the 419th Flight Test Sqdn. and RAF Flight Lt. Leigh Alexander Fox.
FLIGHT TESTS OF TWO NEW TYPES OF EXPENDABLE airborne decoys, developed by Tracor under the joint USAF/Navy Advanced Strategic/Tactical Expendables (ASTE) program, are scheduled to begin next spring. One of the expendables, MJU-10-size (2 X 2.5 X 8 in.), is a rocket-boosted flare designed to fly a forward trajectory to make it easier to fool a heat-seeking missile. The other is a nonburning flare, MJU-7-size (1 X 2 X 8 in.), that can be safely ejected over populated areas.
GERMANY HAS TESTED Europe's first recoverable spacecraft by successfully returning the 340-lb. Mirka satellite to Earth for a parachute landing after it spent two weeks in space following launch Oct. 9 from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome on board a Russian booster. The mission represents a major technological success for Europe, which now joins the U. S., Russia, and China with recoverable satellite capability. Kayser-Threde developed the 3-ft.-dia. vehicle launched as a piggyback payload attached to the Russian Vostok Foton 11 spacecraft.
THE FIRST BOEING 777-300 flies over the Olympic Mountains on its maiden flight Oct. 16. The 4-hr., incident-free flight reached a peak altitude of 17,000 ft. Route was north over the Puget Sound, then west through the Strait of Juan de Fuca and out over the Pacific. Five aircraft will be used in a flight test program planned to exceed 1,400 hr. The first -300 is powered by two Rolls-Royce Trent 892 engines. FAA certification is set for May with delivery to Hong Kong's Cathay Pacific Airways set for later that month.
Kathi Cupery has been named chief operations officer of the Aircraft Windows Repair Co., Torrance, Calif. She will remain corporate senior vice president/secretary of the board of directors.
Northrop Grumman researchers 10 years ago began work on a ``dilution'' drone as proof they could build an electronic warfare weapon that could fly close to enemy air defenses and fool them with false signals or overpower them with jamming.
The UCO Criterion Standard tester uses two laser beams for on-wing evaluation of aircraft strobe lights. The hand-held tester relies on a silicon detector and photo-optic sensor. It is powered by a 9 volt rechargeable battery. Testing can be accomplished in less than 30 sec. Results are displayed on a digital readout. UCO Aerospace Inc., 7000 Merrill Ave., P.O. Box 34, Hangar 31, Chino, Calif. 91710.
