Communications, navigation and flight control systems will assume greater importance in Rockwell International's future as the company prepares to divest its $3.1-billion automotive business. Following the spin-off, which should be completed within the next six months, Rockwell will focus exclusively on three segments of the electronics market.
Ann Miller has been appointed director of information technologies in the U.S. Defense Dept. Office of the Director of Defense Research and Engineering. She was chief software engineer for Motorola's Iridium program.
LUXEMBOURG-BASED Societe Europeenne des Satellites and Intel Corp. formed the European Satellite Multimedia Services (ESM) company, which is scheduled to operate the Astra-Net personal computer linkup network. ESM plans to offer Astra-Net initially to the business market such as retail chains, banking, automotive industry and oil-gas companies.
Aero International to Italian customs' Guardia di Finanza. The aircraft is a derivative of the ATR 42-400 commercial transport equipped with two bubble windows, search lights and flare launcher. The cargo door can be opened in flight to drop rescue packages. The ATR 42MP's Mission Management System includes a Texas Instruments' SV2022 5-meter (16.4-ft.) resolution pulse-compression radar with a 32-target capability. The radar's antenna is installed in a radome located under the fuselage's central section.
Support for an ``open skies'' bilateral air services agreement between the U.S. and Japan came last week from Philippe Bruggisser, president and CEO of the SAirGroup, parent company of Swissair. Why, you ask? ``If the U.S.
William S. Cohen became U.S. Defense secretary earlier this year. He spoke about the importance of defense acquisition reform and his commitment to making it happen, at the Pentagon last week. Excerpts follow:
THE KENNEDY SPACE CENTER'S advanced space life support program is initiating a research project in which 18 volunteers will take showers and wash laundry with special soaps such as that planned for use on the international space station. The exercise will generate large quantities of specialized waste water that will then be used to grow wheat and potato plants. The objective of the 12-week test is to see how plants in a semi-closed life support system in space will respond to a steady diet of the specialized ``gray'' water from bathing and clothes washing in space.
By the chairman's admission, poor aircraft acquisition decisions and a flawed operating plan sent costs soaring in 1996 at Trans World Airlines. The consequences, including a $284.8-million net loss for the year, were reported last week.
Test ranges within the continental U.S.--critical for the development of new missiles, aircraft and weaponry--are in trouble. The encroachment of air lanes and shipping routes, urban sprawl and environmental restrictions are limiting the type of aerospace technology that can be tested and the flight profiles that can be used at many ranges--such key sites as the Air Force's Edwards AFB, Calif., Eglin AFB, Fla., and Nellis AFB, Nev.; the Army's White Sands Missile Range, N.M., and its Green River extension; and the Navy's Point Mugu test range, Calif.
PRESIDENT CLINTON NOMINATED George J. Tenet as director of central intelligence after his previous nominee, former National Security Adviser Anthony Lake, withdrew in the midst of a bitter Senate confirmation battle. The 44-year-old Tenet has served as deputy DCI since 1995 and acting DCI since last December.
German-based Deutsche BA has ordered seven Boeing 737-300s, valued at $287 million. First delivery of the new jets, which will be configured to seat 136 passengers each, is scheduled for August. Deutsche BA is 49% owned by British Airways. The new aircraft will replace a fleet of Fokker 100s and join a fleet of nine 737s flying primarily German domestic routes.
AEROSPATIALE AND South Africa's Denel group concluded a far-reaching industrial partnership agreement on Mar. 17. It is expected to lead to business links involving a variety of programs in the aircraft and missile market segments, as well as other areas to be selected on a case-by-case basis, an Aerospatiale official said.
William F. Compton has been appointed executive vice president-operations of Trans World Airlines. Compton, an MD-80 pilot and former chairman of the Air Line Pilots Assn. TWA Master Executive Council, will remain on the board of directors, but in a management position.
Turkey is planning to purchase four airborne early warning and control aircraft in a program valued at nearly $800 million. Boeing's E-3 AWACS, the Northrop Grumman E-2C Hawkeye, an airborne early warning version of Lockheed Martin's C-130J and Israel Aircraft Industries' Phalcon are candidates. Bids are to open in July with selection scheduled for early 1998. Turkey is home to a NATO AWACS base at Konya, but that aircraft's $500-million price tag is a major obstacle.
Raytheon E-Systems will produce three Long Range Lineup Systems (LRLS) for the U.S. Navy's Naval Air Warfare Center, Lakehurst, N.J., under a $4.5-million engineering and development contract. The laser-based technology is expected to significantly improve the safety and reliability of difficult shipboard landings by enhancing visual cues available to the pilot. At-sea demonstrations, including a six-month deployment in the Western Pacific and Persian Gulf, confirmed the effectiveness of the eyesafe, highly visible laser beam system, Raytheon E-Systems said.
A BOEING/TRW/LOCKHEED MARTIN TEAM is poised to build the first laser for USAF's Airborne Laser system. The go-ahead followed a successful critical design review. The laser module, built to flight weight, will be a building block for ABL's mega-watt chemical oxygen iodine laser. Mounted in a 747-400F, ABL is designed to shoot down theater ballistic missiles.
NASA chief Daniel S. Goldin has drawn up an ambitious blueprint to carry the U.S. aviation and space industries into the 21st century. ``We can't be a nation of wimps always looking for marginal improvements,'' Goldin told the Aero Club of Washington. During the next decade, Goldin wants to reduce aircraft accident rates by a factor of five, triple the aviation system's all-weather capability, reduce the cost of air travel by 25%, and cut emissions by a factor of three and noise levels by a factor of two. Goldin's long-term goals are even bolder.
THOMSON RADAR AUSTRALIA CORP., a Thomson-CSF subsidiary, concluded an order with Indonesia's civil aviation authority to provide a new approach air traffic management system for Yogyakarta airport. The system will comprise an approach surveillance radar station, data processing and displays.
AN ARMY/RAYTHEON PATRIOT PAC-2 interceptor destroyed a Scud missile target at the Kwajalein missile range on Mar. 19, and preliminary data show there may have been body-to-body contact. The interceptor was the guidance enhanced missile (GEM) version, and was launched from Meck Island in the Pacific Ocean (AW&ST Feb. 24, p. 59). The Scud was launched from Aur Atoll and reentered in one piece, unlike the modified Al-Hussein missiles used by Iraq during the gulf war, which often disintegrated into confusing targets.
The U.S. Air Force's B-2 bomber will be declared fully ready for both conventional and nuclear combat missions next week. The actual Initial Operational Capability date is classified. A ``limited'' B-2 operational capability was achieved Jan. 1 (AW&ST Dec. 16, 1996, p. 74). A ceremony marking the IOC milestone--full activation of the nation's newest bomber--is tentatively planned to be held at the Pentagon.
