The Navy's version of the Joint Strike Fighter--with an expandable weapons bay--may provide the basis for an export version of the next-generation, multirole aircraft, according to McDonnell Douglas officials. There is a need emerging for a JSF export derivative that duplicates much of U.S. aircraft's performance without violating a host of technology transfer prohibitions. The combination of requirements has posed a problem for military planners who would like U.S. allies to operate the aircraft and contractors who need sales to survive.
PAN AMERICAN WORLD AIRWAYS received Transportation Dept. approval last week to begin daily flights Sept. 26 between John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York and Los Angeles and Miami. The low-fare airline will operate Airbus A300s configured with 24 first-class and 230 economy-class seats.
A TIGHTENING OF CERTIFICATION procedures and increased surveillance of new airlines during their first five years of operation were two key recommendations of an internal FAA task force report released last week. It also called for an immediate increase in the number of safety inspectors. The document, forwarded to Vice President Al Gore and the White House Commission on Aviation Safety and Security, was the result of a 90-day safety review ordered by FAA Administrator David R. Hinson following the ValuJet Airlines DC-9 crash in May.
SPACE DEBRIS RESEARCHERS at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston are updating the agency's guidelines on cataloguing, characterizing and preventing space debris that could be a hazard to the space shuttle, international space station and unmanned satellites. One objective of the effort is to establish better guidelines that would also be used by the U.S. Air Force. This would enable the space agency and Air Force to use similar standards when they cooperate on space debris studies.
D. Bradford Loggans has been appointed vice president-human resources of Sanders, a Lockheed Martin Co., Nashua, N.H. He succeeds Ken Hagerstrom, who has retired. Loggins was director of human resources for Lockheed Martin Armament Services, Burlington, Vt.
Trans World Airlines, which operates the U.S. commercial air transport industry's least fuel-efficient fleet, last week approved the acquisition of 10 new McDonnell Douglas MD-83 aircraft. The decision by TWA's board of directors completes the exercise of options for the aircraft under an agreement originally announced in July. The long-term leasing arrangement provides for deliveries between June, 1998, and April, 1999.
Degraded performance of AsiaSat-2's K (subscript) u-band transponders has prompted Asia Satellite Telecommunications Co. to seek a claim for insurance that could be worth up to $58 million. The cause of the problem is unclear, AsiaSat CEO Peter Jackson said, but the spacecraft, a Lockheed Martin Series 7000, is producing a weak signal that has changed the shape of its K (subscript) u-band footprint over China.
High fuel prices are taking a big bite out of U.S. airline profits--but not enough to keep the industry from achieving what will be another quarterly record for the three months ending Sept. 30. ``On an operating basis, this will be the most profitable quarterly period the [U.S.] airline industry has ever experienced,'' PaineWebber analyst Samuel Buttrick said. He's expecting the group to log profits of about $2.8 billion, up from $2.4 billion for the same period a year ago.
Work on a key Russian element for the international space station is falling so far behind that the U.S. has laid backup plans to replace it with a new U.S. vehicle--possibly one derived from the secret design for CIA/Lockheed Martin KH-11-type reconnaissance satellites. The 20-ton Russian Service Module is supposed to be launched by a Russian Proton in April, 1998.
Laurence Geller has been named to the board of directors of Sky Games International Ltd., Hamilton, Bermuda. He is chairman/chief executive officer of Geller&Co. of Chicago.
Horizon Airlines' recent decision to consolidate its fleet around the de Havilland Dash 8 transport for economic reasons could foreshadow future plans at Alaska Airlines, its jet-powered sister airline. Alaska, which operates about 25 Boeing 737-400s and 42 McDonnell Douglas MD-80s, recently ordered Nordam hushkits for its eight 737-200 Combis used to service remote airports. Hushkit deliveries are scheduled through 1999. Alaska Air Group Chairman and CEO John Kelly has confirmed the airline is studying a one-type fleet.
A TEAM LED BY ALLIEDSIGNAL AEROSPACE will develop software to determine the routing for data communications on the Aeronautical Telecommunications Network (ATN). It will connect diverse air-ground/ground-ground communications, including VHF, Mode S and satcoms. ATN will connect air traffic management, operations, service providers and passengers. Teammates are Honeywell and Vertel of the U.S., Sextant Avionique, Sofreavia and Thomson-CSF of France. Work is set to begin in December with first deliveries in May, 1998.
The House Science Committee was knee deep in techno-babble about bomb detection at airports last week. After listening intently to descriptions of high-tech systems and deployment schemes to thwart terrorists, the panel wanted to know which technologies were best suited to the task. Much to members' surprise, they were told what may be most effective is a hairy, four-legged machine with a super-sensitive olfactory equipment--a bomb-sniffing dog. The FAA already has 95 dogs at work at U.S. airports, and plans to acquire another 56, according to FAA Administrator David R.
D.C. Iain Glendinning has been appointed vice president-customer service and program development of SabreTech Inc. of St. Louis. He was president of Sterling Enterprises.
In a joint acquisition by the FAA and the Defense Dept., Raytheon will supply new computers, displays and software for up to 199 military and 172 FAA approach control and tower radar facilities beginning in 1998.
Experiments have confirmed that even minor temperature variations occurring during the processing of advanced plastics, metal alloys and composites can have major effects on the mechanical properties of the finished materials. Because it may not be possible to maintain a constant or optimal temperature when manufacturing, the effects of shifting thermodynamics should be included when designing materials and manufacturing techniques, according to Steve Granick, a materials scientist at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Corporate flight departments looking for a mid-size cabin aircraft with a high cruise speed and mission flexibility over various range requirements will find it in Cessna Aircraft's newest jet offering, the Citation 10. Cessna first announced the development of its largest corporate aircraft at the National Business Aircraft Assn. meeting in 1990. Some six years later, Cessna started deliveries of the Citation 10, with the first aircraft received this summer.
Dennis J. Reed has become vice president/general manager of Lambda Electronics Inc., Melville, N.Y. He was president/general manager of the Military/ Aeronautical and Fiber Optic Group of ITT Cannon, Santa Ana, Calif.
Motorola has completed integration on three small satellites that represent the first of more than 100 spacecraft slated to be put in orbit over the next few years to provide mobile voice communications anywhere on the globe. The Iridium venture's three 1,500-lb. satellites are scheduled to be launched on a Delta 2 in November or December from Vandenberg AFB, Calif.
Lockheed Martin says hardware tests show that its control system for an airborne anti-missile laser can overcome aircraft jitter, optical component distortion and atmospheric turbulence to place the required lethal dose of energy on a target. The company is part of the Boeing/Lockheed Martin/TRW team that is competing against a Rockwell/Hughes/E-Systems team for the program definition and risk reduction phase of the Air Force's airborne laser (ABL) contract, which is to be awarded in mid-November.
Eurocopter, reeling from slashed military procurement spending in its ``home countries,'' France and Germany, is completing a downsizing effort scheduled to restore profitability in 1997.
A fast and reliable plane-side jet fuel freeze point analyzer has been developed by Phase Technology of Vancouver, British Columbia. In addition to being more practical and precise than traditional refinery or fuel farm-based laboratory checks, the self-contained device could allow pilots to plot more direct long-haul cold-weather routes. The 35-lb., briefcase-size analyzer can be powered by household current or a 12-v car battery, according to Charles Tsang, vice president of engineering.
One prime candidate for NATO, Poland, should decide by the end of 1997 which Western aircraft to buy to modernize its fleet. The Lockheed Martin F-16, the McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 and Sweden's Saab Gripen are contenders. U.S. officials helpfully point out that, since Sweden is not part of NATO, the Gripen won't improve Warsaw's compatibility with NATO forces as much as U.S.-built birds would. Last week, Lockheed Martin made presentations to the Poles, the Czechs and the Hungarians. One pitch was to begin by leasing each country seven modernized F-16A/Bs in 2000.
