ROCKWELL COLLINS PLANS an enhanced TCAS-2 late in 1997 to add an automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast (ADS-B) capability and more than double the range of its TCAS surveillance to over 100 naut. mi. The ADS-B addition will include integration of GPS navigation capability and Mode-S improvements including Communication D/Level 4, required in Europe in January, 1999, according to Collins. Users will be able to update GPS flight management processor and navigation data base software with an existing data loader.
Boeing is having trouble recruiting and retaining engineers, computing professionals and research scientists as it gears up for several key space, defense and civil programs. Job offer acceptance rate in certain skill areas, such as structural engineers, is as low as 9%, according to the Seattle Professional Engineering Employees Assn. The hiring effort is part of a company-wide plan to add 13,200 workers by year-end, largely to accommodate surging transport orders (AW&ST Aug. 26, p. 22). Boeing has filled almost 10,000 of these positions.
The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), which has 184 nation-members, is scheduled to move next month to new offices within Montreal. The new 15-story building, built by the Canadian government, offers expanded meeting facilities over the current Sherbrooke Street facility, home to ICAO since 1975. A five-story conference block, where assemblies will be held, is part of the new structure. ICAO gained members with the formation of nations from one-time Soviet republics and in Central Europe.
LUFTHANSA CARGO HAS ORDERED five MD-11F freighters from McDonnell Douglas, with options for seven additional aircraft. Value of the firm orders is more than $550 million. Delivery of the firm-order aircraft is scheduled to begin in June, 1998, and continue through the remainder of the year. The option aircraft deliveries would begin in 2000.
John W. Vitale has been appointed vice president-asset valuation, Noel Petrie asset value analyst and John F. Elias and Kevin L. Archambault managers of technical services and technical projects, respectively, of Avitas Inc. of Washington.
LOCKHEED MARTIN FEDERAL SYSTEMS will keep a significant element of the U.S. Air Force's Satellite Control Network (SCN) operating while also integrating a newer-technology replacement system. Under a seven-year contract that could be worth $368 million with options, the company is responsible for ``sustaining'' the existing Command and Control Segment (CCS) of the SCN. CCS is a ground-based system used for controlling communications, weather, surveillance and ``special mission'' satellites operated by the Defense Dept., NATO and NASA.
For the second time this year, the AlliedSignal Aerospace Co. has reached a major agreement with aircraft leasing concerns-- an increasingly important group of customers in the current stage of the aircraft purchase cycle. AlliedSignal last week received a contract valued at about $40 million to supply auxiliary power units, avionics and wheels and brakes to the GATX Capital Corp. for 33 Boeing 737 and 757 and Airbus A320 family aircraft.
The proliferation of portable electronics devices among passengers--and rapid advances in the technology used--makes interference with aircraft electronics increasingly possible in the not too distant future, an RTCA report to the FAA administrator warns.
Mel Le Vine and Stephen M. Soukoup (see photos) have been named principal directors, respectively, of the Contracts and Global Broadcast Service Directorates of the Aerospace Corp. of Los Angeles. Le Vine was vice president-contracts of the Teledyne Corp., while Soukoup was promoted from senior project engineer.
Chester Wheeler has been appointed executive vice president-business operations and Frank Cappuccio vice president-surveillance and command of Lockheed Martin Aeronautical Systems, Marietta, Ga. Wheeler has been vice president-business management of Lockheed Martin Astronautics in Denver, while Cappuccio was vice president-Orion 2000 programs. Cappuccio succeeds Tom Burbage, who now heads the Lockheed Martin/Boeing F-22 program.
Lockheed Martin's Tactical Aircraft Systems shipped the first F-22 mid-fuselage section last week from Ft. Worth to the company's Marietta, Ga., plant, where it will be mated with a forward section to complete final assembly and checkout. The largest and most complex assembly of the new fighter, the mid-fuselage measures approximately 17 ft. long, 15 ft. wide and 6 ft. high, and weighs about 8,500 lb. The aft fuselage will be shipped from Boeing in October (AW&ST Aug. 26, p. 16).
China Eastern Airlines of Shanghai says it will offer stock on exchanges in Hong Kong and New York by the end of the year. Hainan Airlines, a regional carrier, said earlier that it was ready to list on the Shanghai exchange. But China Eastern is one of the country's three main airlines, so its success will be more closely watched. Chinese aviation authorities have encouraged foreign investment in airlines and airports, but a lack of transparency in their accounts and uncertain return on investment have hampered the drive.
Steven Brechter has been named vice president/general manager of flight operations for the United Technologies Corp., Hartford, Conn. He was vice president-quality and environment for the company's Hamilton Standard Unit.
Indian Air Force Air Chief Marshal S.K. Sareen and Deputy Chief Air Marshal M.S. Vasudev recently visited Israel, which is pressing hard to interest India in a range of special airborne equipment and electronic warfare systems. New Delhi reports say the Indian defense establishment is particularly interested in Israel's Airborne Early Warning system and unmanned aerial vehicles. But the new Indian government, elected in May, has ruled out even modest defense spending increases. Next year's military budget will be increased by only $262 million (AW&ST Aug. 12, p. 30).
The scheduled arrival of the proto-flight Italian Space Agency high-gain antenna for the Cassini spacecraft on Sept. 8 on board an Antonov An-124 transport was to be a highlight of the continuing spacecraft integration process at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The 4-meter-dia., fixed-shape antenna is a complex, composite structure made of graphite epoxy face sheets and aluminum honeycomb that can handle the transmission and reception of four different frequencies.
THE EUROPEAN SPACE AGENCY (ESA) plans to terminate operations of a highly successful astrophysics satellite at the end of the month. The International Ultraviolet Explorer (IUE) was launched in 1978 as a joint effort of NASA, ESA and the U.K. IUE used a 45-cm. ultraviolet telescope for spectroscopic observations in the 115-320 nanometer waveband. More than 3,500 scientific papers have been based on the results of its spectrographs. The satellite has already exceeded its 3-year design life by more than 15 years, but the reason for its shutdown is budgetary.
Space shuttle Mission 79, set for liftoff in mid-September on a flight to Mir, will involve the largest logistics transfer ever conducted with the station and perform the first direct orbital exchange of NASA long-duration mission astronauts. A threat posed by Hurricane Fran forced NASA to roll the Shuttle Atlantis back to the Vehicle Assembly Building Sept. 4, delaying launch until about Sept. 16-18.
Patrick Cowell has been named president/chief executive officer of Airport Group International Inc., Glendale, Calif. He held the same positions at Sun International-Americas and Caribbean. Maj. Gen. James J. LeClier (USAF, Ret.) has been named AGI's manager at the Albany (N.Y.) Airport. He succeeds Robert I. Burke, who is overseeing AGI business development in South America from Buenos Aires.
LOCKHEED MARTIN FEDERAL SYSTEMS in Gaithersburg, Md., will lead a team studying GPS vulnerability in the battlefield environment, and how to deny its accuracy to hostile forces. The U.S. Air Force intends the 13-month, $3.6-million, navigation warfare study as the first step toward a new system that will protect the GPS signal for friendly use and minimize the disruption to civil and commercial users. The Air Force expects to establish an acquisition strategy based on the study results.
William L. Peltola has become London-based European operations manager of GTE Airfone. He was senior marketing manager for GEC Marconi Inflight Systems, also of London.
Lockheed Martin is developing an alternative explosive detection system for airline baggage, to provide competition to the Invision CTX 5000 that is the only such device certified by the FAA.
British Airways' announcement that it was ordering four additional Boeing 747-400s and confirming existing orders for 10 more pointedly left out the name of the engine supplier. It's still up in the air.
