Photograph: The U.S. Air Force plans to award a contract to private industry to oversee its Minuteman 3 and Peacekeeper ICBMs. A Peacekeeper launch is shown here. Alliant Techsystems and TRW are involved in a high stakes competition for a contract to manage and upgrade the U.S. Air Force's fleet of intercontinental ballistic missiles over the next decade and a half. The Air Force is planning to transfer responsibility for maintaining the readiness of its 500 Minuteman 3 ICBMs and 50 Peacekeepers to a prime contractor early next year.
Business jets would be permitted to fly routes up to 180 min. from an airport if operators can meet specific requirements yet to be determined, according to a proposal submitted by the Joint Airworthiness Requirements Operations committee of the European Joint Aviation Authorities.
Photograph: The Senate put a cost cap of $43 billion on the F-22, assuming a production run of 339 aircraft. Insiders believe that figure may sink to 100. The U.S. Senate's proposed military budget for next year shuns additional B-2 bombers, but would preserve all three of the Pentagon's new fighter aircraft programs, at least for the time being. These spending decisions are part of the Senate's $268-billion military authorization bill for Fiscal 1998. The total is just fractionally higher--$2.6 billion--than the Clinton Administration's request.
Returned to Earth July 17 carrying experiment results likely to rewrite models and theories on the physics of combustion and other processes important to a wide variety of industries. The 16-day Microgravity Sciences Laboratory (MSL) flight, led by the Marshall Space Flight Center, set a new Spacelab program record of more than 26,000 commands issued from the seven astronauts and scientists on the ground to experiment equipment on the flight. Mission commander USAF Lt. Col. James D. Halsell and Navy Lt. Cdr.
First approved for commercial carriers by the FAA in 1992, have proven so reliable that Norton Performance Plastics Corp. will warranty its radomes for 10 years--3-4 times the normal life for fiber radomes. Quartz fiber skins in a sandwich composite have improved durability and electromagnetic performance compared with fiberglass, Kevlar or Spectra material, according to the company. The first quartz radome installed on a Northwest Airlines Airbus A320 has been in continuous service for more than 15,000 flight hours without removal.
What's it take to approve go-ahead for an aircraft derivative program? Airbus suppliers indicate the European transport manufacturing consortium has set a target of 25 total orders to launch its new A340-500 and -600 derivatives, a goal that industry sources say should easily be reached by year-end. Airbus Managing Director Jean Pierson has estimated A340-500/-600 program investment at $2.5 billion, if both models are launched. Each will be powered by new Rolls-Royce Trent 500s rated at about 56,000-lb. thrust.
Nina Laserson Dunn has become executive vice president/general counsel/corporate secretary of DRS Technologies, Parsippany, N.J. She was a partner in the law firm Hannoch Weisman.
Sabre Group has combined Sabre Decision Technologies and Sabre Computer Services, making one IT division for consulting, outsourcing, applications development and data center operations.
Virtual Prototypes also has released new versions of its reconfigurable simulation software for helicopters (Helisim vl.1.) and fixed-wing aircraft (FLSIM v5.1).
Said it has finished raising the $4.715 billion needed to fund its 66-satellite mobile satellite system through commercial operation. Seventeen Iridium spacecraft have been orbited to date (see p. 58).
Photograph: Pathfinder lander and its deployed rear ramp (top left) are in this image made by one of the two cameras on the front of the rover while it was near the rock Yogi. Pathfinder project officials believe they have solved a troublesome problem that caused three computer resets that sharply cut into lander and microrover science data collection on the surface of Mars during a four-day period.
Efrain Pineres has been named Latin American sales manager and Luis Angulo senior technologist for Philips Communication and Security Systems Inc., Lancaster, Pa.
U.S. scientists are perfecting an Advanced Unitary Penetrator for destroying targets buried ``10s of feet'' into solid granite or heavily reinforced concrete, say officials of the Defense Special Weapons Agency. The 2,000-lb. bomb has a long, thin core for piercing solid rock with a small charge. Still, planners aren't counting on being able to smash all underground targets. If they're deep enough, notes the agency's director, Air Force Maj. Gen. Gary Curtin, underground facilities can withstand even nuclear penetrating weapons.
Struggling to restore full services last week at Heathrow after a crippling, three-day strike by cabin crew workers which the airline said had cost ``tens of millions of pounds.'' BA continued to face staff shortages as a number of cabin crew workers who had gone on sick leave during the strike still had not returned to work. The airline agreed to reopen negotiations over a pay dispute with the cabin crew's union which is offering alternative proposals to BA's plans to find $42 million pounds ($70.5 million) in savings.
Has called for the NTSB and the FAA to stop airing disagreements in public and work together on finding the cause of the TWA Flight 800 crash. Foundation officials noted that the NTSB and FAA checks and balances system works--80% of all NTSB recommendations are adopted by the FAA.
15 member states have unanimously endorsed rejecting the proposed merger between Boeing and McDonnell Douglas, saying pro-posals from the Seattle-based Boeing did not address competition concerns adequately. Boeing's top negotiator left Brussels last week following failed efforts to reach a compromise with the European Commission's merger task force. A Boeing official said the company was willing to engage in further talks with the EC, but as of late last week none were planned. ``We are studying all our options,'' he said.
Photograph: Astronaut Foale dons Russian Orlan space suit (left photo) during EVA training at Star City Cosmonaut Training Center prior to his launch. Once in suit (right), he was readied for lowering into water tank. During Mir EVA, suit will utilize both umbilicals and backpack. The Russian Mir team is again scrambling to modify strategy for repair of the space station, following disqualification of the Mir commander from the effort due to a heart rhythm problem and another serious power disruption on the orbiting base.
With Republicans unable to add as many billions to the defense budget this year as in the past, the compromises that must be hammered out between House and Senate promise to be tough. The House is sniping at the F-22 and the Senate is prepared to savage the F/A-18E/F. Plans are still afoot to build more B-2s and accelerate the construction of the next aircraft carrier. And worries about when the U.S. commitment to Bosnia and its drain on the budget will end haven't gone away.
Illustration: Chart: Objective Inc. compares efficiency of its MacroScope software programming tool with a traditional language-Cobol A lawsuit underway in U.S. District Court here pits a large travel agency, owned by the 11 major U.S. airlines, against a small software company. On the surface it's a breach of contract suit for failure to deliver a fully operating system, but underneath are counterclaims and allegations that the travel firm is trying to steal proprietary software used to develop sophisticated travel reservation and management systems.
And Samsung Aerospace of South Korea have agreed to joint development and production of 94 supersonic KTX-2 Advanced Trainer/Fighter Lead-in aircraft for the Republic of Korea. Lockheed Martin will develop the avionics, flight control systems and the wing at its Fort Worth facilities. Full-scale development will begin this year and continue through 2005, and the first flight of a KTX-2 is tentatively scheduled for 2001, according to Lockheed Martin officials. Deliveries will continue through 2009.
Rosemount Aerospace, McDonnell Douglas and Northwest Airlines, is evaluating the HALO Ground Ice Detection System which uses two ultrasonic-based sensors on each wing, a system processor and a cockpit display. Rosemount and Northwest evaluated the HALO system last winter on two MD-82s. Those tests verified that the system can detect and warn pilots of initial ice accretion. Plans call for Rosemount to eventually obtain FAA certification of the installation.
When it comes to stock-price performance, few aerospace companies in the last few years have fallen short of expectations as much as Orbital Sciences Corp. (OSC).
Some uncertainties still surround Lockheed Martin Corp.'s proposed acquisition of Northrop Grumman Corp. (see p. 63)--most notably how it will account for the deal.
