Five U.S. Army/Navy Joint Tactical Ground Station (JTAGS) units will soon be available for deployment in any theater of operations where Defense Support Program (DSP) satellite sensor data are needed to provide a warning of tactical ballistic missile attack.
Robin Bailey has become head of product support for BR700 engines for BMW Rolls-Royce, Oberusel, Germany. He succeeds Sandy Aitken. Bailey held the same position within GKN Westland's EH 101 helicopter program.
The Israeli-U.S. Arrow missile program is on track for a second intercept test in the next few months employing an Arrow 2, an operationally configured version, leading to tests of the fully integrated weapon system next year. Israel plans to have an evaluation system, with a limited operational capability, available for emergency contingency use next year. The first fully operational Arrow battery is not scheduled to be fielded until shortly after 2000.
Satellite television's challenge to the huge cable TV industry has gained new momentum with international media mogul Rupert Murdoch's plan to create a direct broadcast satellite (DBS) network with unprecedented capacity. Murdoch's News Corp. agreed last week to pay $1 billion in cash and assets for a 50% stake in EchoStar Communications Corp., a Colorado-based DBS system that began national service last year and had been seeking a cash infusion.
The new Pan American World Airways will begin using the designation ``PA'' for use in computer reservation systems, effective Mar. 27. Since the start-up carrier entered revenue service last September, it has been using using a nondescript designation, which management believed diminished the marketing value of the world-famous Pan Am name used by the commercial aviation pioneer carrier from 1927-91. ``It will make it easier to access the airline's inventory,'' President and CEO Martin R. Shugrue, Jr., said.
Canadian charter operator Royal Airlines is scheduled to start operations in May with Airbus A310s from Toronto and Vancouver to U.K. destinations through the summer. A four-times-weekly service between Glasgow and Toronto will be followed by thrice-weekly service from London Gatwick and Manchester to Toronto. On June 23, Royal is to start operating a weekly flight from Gatwick to Vancouver via Winnipeg. Another weekly service from Birmingham to Toronto via Manchester is to begin on June 25.
Nearing the end of its 29-mo. investigation into the crash of USAir Flight 427 in September, 1994, the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board is urging the FAA to expedite upgrades to Boeing 737 rudder control units, and train pilots to cope with unexpected rudder reversals that can lead to a loss of control.
Japan's Ministry of Transport will replace some of its 30-year-old Nihon YS-11s used for low-altitude navigational aid checks with Saab 2000 transports. The ministry has ordered two of the new Saabs for a total of $57 million, including navaid flight check equipment. The aircraft are to be delivered in February. Japan has 64 YS-11s in operation, including 30 at Air Nippon and Japan Trans-Ocean Airlines. The Defense Agency operates 24, and the Transport Ministry and Maritime Safety agency five each.
Brenton C. Fischmann has been named managing director of Northrop Grumman Corp.'s European office in Bonn. He was an executive in the office of U.S. Navy Vice Adm. Norm Ray (Ret.), who was assistant NATO secretary-general for defense support.
Stephanie Campbell and Scott Nordhaus have been promoted to senior vice president from vice president-programming and sales and distribution, respectively, at DirecTV of Los Angeles. Richard Goldberg has been named vice president-program acquisitions and Jeffrey Torkelson director of communications.
Robert W. Harrison (see photo) has been named director of Washington operations for Cubic Defense Systems. He succeeds Alex Balberde, who has retired. Harrison was senior regional manager for naval programs.
In the worldwide competition to sell ballistic missile defense systems, the Russian Antey Corp.'s S-300V is a main contender. Also known by its NATO designation of SA-12A/B Gladiator/Giant, the point-defense interceptor has hit more than 60 ballistic and maneuvering missiles in tests, company officials say. And even the U.S. is a customer, according to Veniamin Yefremov, the Antey general designer.
Meanwhile, Rep. F. James Sensenbrenner, Jr. (R.-Wis.), on a recent fact-finding trip to Russia, discovered a disturbing twist to Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin's recent pledge to Vice President Al Gore to give the Russian Space Agency (RSA) $100 million by the end of February to resume work on the service module. Sensenbrenner found that a decree signed by Chernomyrdin merely guarantees the government will back bonds issued by the space agency. But RSA's credit is so poor, he said, that it will have to pay a 42% discount to purchasers of the bonds.
A U.S. NAVY/MCDONNELL DOUGLAS F/A-18E Super Hornet made its first flight with external wing stores on Feb 21. Weighing 62,400 lb., the twin-engine aircraft carried three, 480-gal. external fuel tanks, Mk.-84 bombs and two AIM-9 missiles. The 2.5-hr. flight took place at NAS Patuxent River, Md., and was flown by Northrop Grumman test pilot James Sandberg. The Navy's Super Hornet is scheduled to achieve initial operating capability in 2001.
The Thaad ballistic missile defense program is facing major changes, and the outcome may hinge on a politically important test that was scheduled for late last week.
Darryl E. Mazow has been named vice president of the Pemco Capital Corp. of Denver. Kathleen S. Page has become corporate counsel for the parent company, Precision Standard Inc.
Boeing has developed a training aid designed to help eliminate controlled flight into terrain (CFIT) accidents. Called the CFIT Education and Training Aid, the two-volume package contains audio-visual and written materials that aircraft operators can convey to flight crews through classroom and simulator training. Flight departments may start their CFIT training using the program or adopt portions to enhance existing programs, according to Capt. David Carbaugh, chief pilot for flight safety at Boeing Commercial Airplane Group.
Ballistic Missile Defense Organization officials have defined a national missile defense architecture that could defend all 50 U.S. states from a single site in North Dakota, but the system would be capable of handling with confidence only small numbers of simple threats--such as a few warheads from a ``rogue nation.''
SABRELINER CORP. has reorganized its SabreTech subsidiary and replaced that unit's management in an attempt to ``begin a new chapter in its [commercial aircraft maintenance] business,'' Sabreliner Chairman F. Holmes Lamoreux said. St. Louis-based Sabreliner named Thomas F. Derieg to the new post of group vice president for commercial aviation and charged him with overseeing SabreTech and the company's pending DC-10 upgrade partnership with McDonnell Douglas.
Robert S. Iversen (see photo) has been appointed executive vice president/chief operating officer for the Americas for Air France. He succeeds John W. Power, who has been named deputy chief executive-commercial affairs. Iversen was president of Laker Airways.
British Aerospace Australia says it won A$100 million ($74 million) in military export contracts last year that were in addition to the nearly $800 million it won in contracts to built 40 Hawk fighter/trainers for the Royal Australian Air Force.
