Estimates and production schedules for its planned 777-200X and -300X transports, anticipating a launch by year-end of one of the versions. The -200X will have an increased maximum gross weight of 735,000 lb. and carry 300 passengers in three classes on flights up to 8,780 naut. mi., depending on engine type. The -300X would have a maximum gross weight of 715,000 lb. and comfortably carry 350 passengers in triclass configuration about 6,700 naut. mi. Both types would use powerplants rated up to 102,000 lb. of thrust.
Air traffic control improvements in the near future should be structured around ground-based navigation aids and wireless radio communications, according to Alcatel. Those terrestrial systems will have benefits even as the world moves toward the new satellite-based systems of communication, navigation and surveillance/air traffic management. Moreover, modifying existing systems could be an inexpensive way to add capability.
The forthcoming entry into service of the Meteosat 7, which was orbited by an Ariane 44LP booster on Sept. 2, will mark the transition between the first generation of European weather satellites and a new fleet that is designed to put Europe in the forefront of meteorological observation.
The Qatar air force is preparing to form its first Mirage 2000-5 operational unit. Last week, Dassault Aviation handed over three Mirage 2000-5s to the Persian Gulf emirate. The remaining nine aircraft will be delivered by the end of 1998. Qatar's order for 12 Mirage 2000-5s, which includes three two-seat models, was concluded in July 1994. It is valued at about $1.25 billion, according to French industry officials. Qatar's 2000-5s will be equipped with Matra BAe Dynamics Mica and Magic missiles.
Carol Comer (see photo) has been promoted to marketing manager from marketing services representative for BFGoodrich Avionics Systems Inc., Grand Rapids, Mich.
Abe Silverstein, a former director of the NASA Lewis Research Center in Cleveland, has received the Guggenheim Medal from the Guggenheim Medal Fund and American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. He was cited for ``leadership in advancing technology of aircraft and propulsion performance, and foresight in establishing the Mercury and Gemini manned space flight activities.''
Can now produce a radiation-hardened family of application-specific integrated circuits for high-reliability space applications in a commercial fabrication facility. This is the first time chips with a radiation hardness of 100 krads and virtual immunity from single-event upsets have been fabricated with a commercial process, and will make them lower cost than traditional rad-hard chips, according to UTMC. The chips are fabricated on AMI's commercial 0.6-micron silicon gate line in Pocatello, Idaho.
The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board is urging the FAA to require inspections of Bell Helicopter Textron Model 204/205 and UH-1H-series aircraft to prevent failure and separation of the vertical fin during heavy lift operations. It also is recommending that the FAA mandate wear limits for Lockheed L-1011 slat drive systems to prevent hard landings.
Peter Quantrill has been appointed vice president-international of Emery Worldwide, Redwood City, Calif. He succeeds Chutta Ratnathicam, who has been named vice president/chief financial officer of Emery parent CNF Transportation Inc. Quantrill was vice president-Europe, Middle East and Africa.
B.J. Rone has been named senior vice president-finance and administration/chief financial officer of Reno Air Inc. He was a principal of the JHM Executive Alliance.
As if the Administration didn't have enough headaches with the station, Rep. Dave Weldon (R-Fla.) is demanding that Gore investigate a report that Russian space czar Yuri Koptev helped transfer Russian missile technology to Iran. The Washington Times said an Israeli intelligence report given to the CIA alleges Koptev was ``directly involved'' in the sale of missile technology to Iran. If so, Weldon wrote, the White House should ``immediately insist on his removal from his Russian Space Agency post.''
Safety investigators are pulling data out of computer memory devices from a Federal Express MD-11 freighter in a search for clues to why that aircraft crashed on landing at Newark International Airport in late July.
At a mere 31/2 years old, the Defense Airborne Reconnaissance Office is threatened with extinction. Congress is considering giving its functions to the Defense Intelligence Agency. The threat has triggered a strong show of support by senior Pentagon civilians for DARO. As a result, DARO ``appears to be out of the woods'' for this year, a Hill staffer said. The real gripe may be bloated Pentagon bureaucracy, not DARO per se. Still, the death threat reveals a broader issue of defining what intelligence is today--a support function or an operations function.
Mars Global Surveyor program officials have made changes to the aerobraking profile to compensate for incomplete deployment of one of the spacecraft's solar wings. They expect the science mission to remain unaffected. The solar wing pointing in the ``-y'' direction is 19 deg. short of full latched opening at the hinge between the inboard solar panel and the attachment yoke. The +y wing is properly deployed.
James C. Malas, a materials research engineer at the Wright Laboratory, Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, has been named a fellow of the Dearborn, Mich.-based Society of Manufacturing Engineers.
John Wade (see photos) has been appointed vice president/general manager and Troy G. Pithoud director of maintenance of Dimension Aviation, Goodyear, Ariz. Wade was senior director of maintenance for America West Airlines.
Russia's conventional military is facing a crisis of massive obsolescence in most major weapons, according to a new congressional report. Procurement has fallen so steeply since 1992--and has never been restored--that recovery might have to wait until 2005, even 2010. In a report billed as the first comprehensive review in the West of Russia's post-Soviet conventional forces, author Stuart D. Goldman of the Congressional Research Service says inventory will continue to atrophy.
A Federal Communications Commission deadline is looming for U.S. companies to submit proposals for future-generation satellite systems that would push the technological limits of the radio spectrum to transmit vast quantities of data around the globe at high speeds.
Was zeroing in on a launch date between Oct. 12-15 for the nuclear powered Cassini mission to Saturn. The launch was delayed from Oct. 6, in order to unstack Cassini from its Titan 4B/Centaur booster to remove insulation debris inside its European Huygens probe--scheduled to land on Saturn's moon Titan. The insulation was shredded by an improperly set airflow system. Cassini and Huygens were set to be returned to Launch Complex 40 by Sept. 14.
An expeditionary role with service members living more and more out of tents and suitcases is the near-term future for the U.S. Air Force. Personnel will be kept far from major population centers. Such urban sites have been successfully used by terrorists to launch attacks on U.S. forces in recent years. The tent city at Al Kharj, an isolated base near Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, now houses about 4,000 U.S. military. More often than not, that will be the look of future Air Force deployments, military planners say.
Expects to complete negotiations with OAO Corp. of Greenbelt, Md., by Oct. 31 for OAO to assume management of hardware and software functions for 7,000 of its 12,000 desktop computer stations. JPL, which is managed by NASA, has already used OAO to provide IT functions for the Pathfinder, Galileo and the upcoming Cassini missions. With extensions, the new desktop and network services agreement could run for 10 years and be worth more than $200 million, making it JPL's largest outsourcing contract.
