The Turkish navy is preparing to buy four more Sikorsky S-70 Sea Hawks from the U.S. to boost its fleet following Congress' recent approval of a long-stalled naval arms package. U.S. and Turkish officials are currently discussing the deal whereby Turkey would procure four S-70B-28 Sea Hawks to supplement the four it already has on order. The second order is expected to be worth roughly the same as the $115 million paid for the first batch of Sea Hawks, now scheduled for delivery in 2000.
Wanda Reiss has been appointed vice president-engineering of Sky Computers Inc., Chelmsford, Mass. She was a technical product manager in the imaging products group of the Polaroid Corp.
The U.S./Russian crew on Mir dealt with another serious computer breakdown in space last week as managers on the ground continued to assess how to patch the depressurized Spektr module following an external inspection by the crew. Cosmonauts Anatoly Solovyev and Paval Vinogradov, along with U.S. astronaut Michael Foale, returned Mir's attitude control system to full operation Sept. 9, a day after its computer shut down because of the apparent failure of an electronic component.
Systems (JPALS) Group will recommend several different precision approach/landing techniques that show promise of meeting the diverse needs of the U.S. military services when it briefs the Air Force Requirements Oversight Committee on Sept. 16. Whereas the FAA opted for a Differential-GPS based technique for its future civil landing aids, the JPALS study concludes that GPS is too vulnerable to jamming for some military applications.
Initial trials of prototype engine hardware are planned this fall for a proposed NASA solar thermal propulsion system for satellite upper stages. NASA is investigating solar thermal propulsion to help reduce space vehicle weights, complexity and, ultimately, cost, according to Leslie Curtis, project manager at NASA Marshall Space Flight Center. Performance gain could be up to double that of current, conventional upper stages, with a specific impulse goal of 1,050 sec. for enhanced, operation-sized test versions by 2006, she said.
Aeropostale, an Air France subsidiary, is considering partnership agreements with foreign carriers and postal services in an effort to acquire additional business. Aeropostale is Europe's second biggest cargo carrier, behind DHL WorldWide Express. Over the years it acquired unique expertise in operating a large passenger-cargo ``quick-change'' fleet, company officials said.
Yielding to months of pressure from the President's Office of Management and Budget, NASA has concocted a $12.4-billion budget proposal for Fiscal 1999--$1 billion less than what it will get in 1998. How does NASA meet the mark? By killing the X-33 and other reusable launch vehicle efforts it has been professing are essential to the nation's future. Nobody's falling for the ploy, however. ``It's a game of chicken,'' said one congressional source.
The FAA amended an airworthiness directive covering the Airbus A300-600 and A310 autopilots, requiring a disconnect whenever the pilot applies significant control forces (AW&ST Apr. 8, 1996, p. 34). The airworthiness directive previously mandated control force disconnect above 400 ft. The amendment also requires testing the disconnect every 18 months. U.S.-registered operators have until October 1999 to implement the change.
Will use Dassault's CATIA-CADCAM Drafting products and IBM's ProductManager data management system as tools in the reengineering and design/manufacturing of the C-130J, upgrading the program from documents distributed on paper and aperture cards.
Keith Hagerich has been appointed director of operations for the Miami Service Center of the BFGoodrich Aerospace Component Services Div. He was director of quality for the Transport Repair and Maintenance Div.
Pentagon officials are becoming quite blunt and self-critical about the punishing schedule they have set for aircrews in the 1990s. ``It's not a reasonable career choice right now, the way we are pushing our crews,'' a senior military planner and veteran combat pilot said. ``The world's not how we predicted it would be. We couldn't predict Somalia and Bosnia, and we can't predict how long we're going to be in some of these places.''
Bill Knudsen (see photo) has been appointed president of the Colorado Springs-based United States Space Foundation. He was president of the Easter Seal Society and Easter Seal Foundation of Dallas. Knudsen succeeds Richard P. MacLeod, who has resigned and joined the foundation's board of directors.
Cutting the E-8 Joint-STARS fleet to 13 aircraft from 19 has left a big hole in plans for expanding real-time, battlefield reconnaissance. Yet the demand for all-weather recon is growing. So the Pentagon is examining cheaper ways to fly synthetic aperture radars and moving target indicators (SAR/MTI)--which can spot mobile targets even through heavy clouds.
Flir Systems Inc., of Portland, Ore., has optimized its Safire thermal imaging system for maritime and humid conditions. The enhanced system, called Star Safire, uses a 3-5-micron indium antimonide focal plane array detector with three fields of view. Advantages include increased range and improved performance when there are high concentrations of water droplets in the atmosphere, according to Blaise Dagilaitis, military sales manager.
Technical Service Order for a multimode receiver for its Series 900 MMR approach guidance system. The MMR combines instrument landing system, microwave landing system and GPS in a single integrated unit. Six months of hardware and software evaluation and flight tests led up to the TSO award, which will permit airframe manufacturers to gain certification on specific aircraft types. Boeing plans its first delivery of a Collins GLU-920 (ILS/GPS) to Copenhagen-based Maersk Air this fall. Airbus plans its first delivery to Air France on a new A340 transport this fall.
Meccanica per l'Ettronica e Servomeccanismi (MES) is not following the usual pattern of small Italian companies of concentrating on domestic business, but instead has established a number of international supplier relationships. Texas Instruments qualified the 150-employee company to produce brackets, gears, housings and latch assemblies for HARM missiles. MES also is working with Raytheon on upgrades to the Hawk missile system.
More than 795 active duty and 235 Defense Dept. civilian jobs at Tyndall AFB, Fla., will be converted to civilian contractor positions by year-end. These include jobs in military aircraft maintenance, civil engineering, fuel supply and transportation. At the end of Fiscal 1996, Tyndall listed more than 950 civilian contract employees, 980 government-employed civilian workers and 4,580 permanent active duty assigned personnel.
The Air Force's Air Education and Training Command faces daunting challenges as it tries to spool up pilot production by 75% through 2003 and expand ``mission ready'' training to all personnel despite budget cuts as high as 25% in some areas. Exacerbating the problem are aging training aircraft and a limited training infrastructure. Pilot retention now is at a record low, with only 36% of USAF pilots choosing to take the available bonus and sign on for another five years.
In the wake of the Aug. 6 Korean Air accident in Guam, which killed 229, Flight Safety Foundation is urging worldwide implementation of ground-based Minimum Safe Altitude Warning systems. The lack of a functioning MSAW is believed to have been a factor in that accident. MSAW, using software in air traffic control computers, warns controllers when radar returns indicate an aircraft is flying too close to terrain during approach to, or takeoff from, an airport. According to Alexandria, Va.-based FSF, MSAW currently is used only in the U.S.
Charlie J. Arcilesi has become deputy manager of the Flight Projects Office, Armis L. Worlund chief engineer for space shuttle main engine projects, Harry G. Craft assistant director of the Science and Engineering Directorate and Robert J. Jackson manager of the Microgravity and Science Applications Office, all at the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala. Arcilesi was deputy director of the Program Development Directorate and Worlund chief engineer for reusable launch vehicles.
Ralph M. Francis, who has been a Beechcraft flight test certification pilot, has joined the San Antonio, Tex.-based Sino Swearingen Aircraft Co. as chief test pilot for the SJ30-2 business jet program.
U.S. major airlines ran afoul of their own competitive instincts last week as they raised fares, rescinded them and then restored them within a matter of days. The confusion may have cost them several millions of dollars in lost revenue. The cause of the embarrassing flip-flop has been traced to an error at the Airline Tariff Publishing Co. (ATPCO) of Herndon, Va., the airlines' agent for electronic posting of fares. ATPCO acknowledged the error in a public statement.
Command and Control Technologies of Titusville, Fla., has been awarded a contract to assist I-Net Inc., in applying new Internet technology to space shuttle operations.
A new commercial venture has announced plans to land a small, privately funded spacecraft on a near-Earth asteroid in 2000 to gain scientific data and ``stake a claim'' for future mining rights. SpaceDev is hoping the sale of scientific data will pay for the cost of the mission, which is estimated at ``under $50 million.'' The Steamboat Springs, Colo., company plans to follow with more ambitious sample return missions in the coming decade.
