Charles H. Kaman, president/chairman/chief executive officer of the Kaman Corp., Bloomfield, Conn., will be among the recipients of the U.S.' 1996 National Medal of Technology. He will be honored at the White House in Washington for his ``pioneering work in helicopter technology and for making present-day helicopters more stable and easier to fly.''
Rivet Joint is largely the product of E-System's Greenville, Tex., Div. which designs and integrates the the RC-135's electronics. There are two main components to the electronic reconnaissance package in the Rivet Joint--the 55000 system used by the electronic warfare officers and the 85000 system operated by the airborne intelligence technicians. Major components of the ``55K'' system include:
Bob Dole may have embarrassed Lockheed Martin executives during his visit to Sunnyvale, Calif., last week. According to a Lockheed Martin official, Dole's people had pledged he would not use the appearance for ``Clinton bashing.'' But Dole, standing with executives in front of a large company banner, said, ``The Administration's hostility to defense has been like a Stinger missile aimed at the heart of the California economy, destroying some 215,000 jobs in this state.'' California Gov. Pete Wilson (R.) had said earlier that 215,000 jobs were lost in the last 10 years.
The RC-135 Rivet Joint, with some twists of electronic wizardry, is substantially improving the radar-killing ability of Lockheed Martin's newest F-16s, according to U.S. Air Force officials.
Karen C. Tripp has been appointed an account supervisor at Sullivan Higdon and Sink, Wichita, Kan. She was marketing manager for the Air Transport Div. of Rockwell International's Collins Commercial Avionics Div., Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
Richard R. Goodmanson has been named executive vice president/chief operating officer and Edward Methot vice president-flight operations of America West Airlines. Goodmanson was senior vice president-operations for Frito-Lay Inc., and Methot was managing director of flight operations for United Airlines.
DOPPLER WEATHER RADAR IMAGES from over 120 radar sites across the U.S. are currently available over the Internet from American Weather Concepts. Working with Doppler radar manufacturer Unisys, the company is now providing Doppler updates every 15 min. The company's ``One Stop Weather Shop,'' which includes satellite weather images and a variety of forecasting services, is located at http://www.amerwxcncpt.com/ with monthly subscriptions from $2.50 to $5.00.
A year before the next Paris air show, all major U.S. aerospace companies have told organizers they plan to participate, generally with the same or larger exhibition and chalet space than they had in 1995. Jean-Luc Joly, the new director general of Salons Internationaux de l'Aeronautique et de l'Espace, said the show would retain the shorter duration--three public days and five trade days--instituted last year. The Le Bourget show will take place June 15-22, 1997.
Success sometimes breeds failure. The U.S. successfully negotiated arrangements helping the former Soviet Union dispose of many of its nuclear weapons. Washington also supplied money and expertise under the Nunn-Lugar law to help Russia protect and monitor the sprawling, 1956-vintage military/civilian nuclear complex it inherited from the fallen Soviet empire.
Capitalizing on stealthy designs, good past performance and the two lowest development bids, Lockheed Martin and McDonnell Douglas became the finalists in the Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile (JASSM) competition, estimated to be worth $3-8 billion. For the 24-month program-definition and risk-reduction phase of the program, Lockheed snagged a cost plus fixed fee contract of $110.9 million, while McDonnell Douglas was awarded $126.5 million. The contracts were signed only 9 1/2 months after the need for the missile was validated by the Pentagon.
U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe (R.-Okla.) has received the Distinguished Service Award of the Washington-based General Aviation Manufacturers Assn. Inhofe was cited for his dedication to general aviation and assistance in securing passage of the federal General Aviation Revitalization Act.
A Pentagon decision is expected in August as to whether the U.S. Air Force should upgrade the B-1B's defenses against radar-guided missiles with a version of the Navy's Integrated Defensive Electronic Countermeasures (IDECM) system being developed for the F/A-18E/F. The B-1B's Defensive System Upgrade Program (DSUP) is projected to cost about $500 million if production is funded (AW&ST Apr. 1, p. 62).
The European accident investigation team formed to determine why the first Ariane 5 qualification flight failed is focusing on the booster's inertial reference system. In the last few days, a ``large part'' of the booster's equipment bay was recovered at Kourou, French Guiana, and flown to France for inspection which ``revealed the existence of a malfunction relating to the inertial platforms in the Ariane 5 operating mode,'' European Space Agency and CNES French space agency officials said. They declined to comment further on the new evidence.
Prof. Edward F. Crawley has been named head of the Aeronautics and Astronautics Dept. at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge. He has been director of MIT's Space Engineering Research Center and co-director of the Systems Design and Management Program.
The U.S. Air Force Weapons School here is a prestigious institution that for many years has honed and polished the skills of the nation's top aviators. Within the last decade it has begun reaching beyond the fighter pilot community. AWACS crews and intelligence specialists first diversified the classes, followed most recently by EC-130 Compass Call, Combat Search and Rescue and RC-135 Rivet Joint electronic warfare officers.
William Weber, 3rd (see photos), has been appointed director for engineering and science, Daryal Gant director for business operations and Paul Westmoreland director for telecommunications and mission operations, at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
U.S. and U.K. negotiators are scheduled to meet June 24 on neutral ground--in Paris--for their first informal discussions of a new bilateral air services agreement since American Airlines and British Airways unveiled plans for a new worldwide alliance. The one-day meeting is being described as ``extremely informal'' and will involve a small delegation from the U.S. State Dept. and Transportation Dept. and an equivalent number from the U.K. Dept. of Transport.
The European Commission has won the right to negotiate a multilateral aviation accord with the U.S. on behalf of European Union member states, but any such agreement would not affect bilateral ``open skies'' pacts already in place or under negotiation. EU transport ministers approved the move to seek a ``common aviation area'' with the U.S. at a meeting in Luxembourg last week, where the Commission also presented a plan to tighten safety standards.
British Airways is expanding its franchising network outside of Europe, signing an agreement with the South African regional carrier Comair. Under the agreement, which is scheduled to become effective in October, no equity investment is involved. Comair will remain independent, but its aircraft will be repainted in BA livery. Passengers will be eligible for BA's frequent-flier program, and the airlines will cooperate in marketing and sales.
The General Accounting Office's criticism of the F/A-18E/F is finally public after months of congressional review. The GAO says the Pentagon could save ``almost $17 billion'' if it would abandon the $89-billion, 1,000-aircraft F/A-18E/F program and instead buy additional F/A-18C/Ds until the lower-cost Joint Strike Fighter goes into production. The GAO says operational deficiencies used to justify the E/Fs either have not materialized or could be corrected with changes to the C/Ds.
THE U.S. NAVAL RESEARCH LAB deployed a 118-lb. (53-kg.) experimental tether satellite in a circular orbit at an altitude of 1,022 km. (552 naut. mi.) and inclination of 63.4 deg. The Tether Physics and Survivability (TiPS) spacecraft consists of two small end-masses connected by a 4-km. (2.5-mi.) nonconductive braided tether. The satellite was carried into space this spring with a classified payload that was launched on a Titan 4 booster. TiPS was then jettisoned from its ``host vehicle'' on June 20, the NRL said.
Better air traffic control has prompted China to approve shorter routes for Japan Airlines and All Nippon Airways on routes from Tokyo, Osaka and Nagoya to Beijing, Dalian and Qingdao. Under the old routing, JAL and ANA were directed to fly south to Shanghai and then north so the flights came within China's main air traffic corridor. Now China is offering more direct routing to the north that saves 35-45 min. JAL and ANA have switched all 25 of their Chinese services as a result.
An FAA Boeing 727 traveling at 55 kt. was brought to a halt in 300 ft. after entering a soft arrestor bed. The 332-ft.-long, 40-ft.-wide arrestor bed was constructed from a cellular cement matrix. The test took place last month at the agency's Technical Center near Atlantic City. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey plans to install as many as five of the arrestor beds at its airports including JFK International, a major hub in New York City.
Japan's ship builders expect to complete a $95-million, 3,300-ft. floating runway for tests with light aircraft by 2001 to demonstrate the concept's use for Tokyo's third metropolitan airport. The Japan Shipbuilding Industry Assn. and the Megafloat Technology Research Corp. are in the second phase of their effort to demonstrate that building floating runways will be more cost-effective than landfills. Their target is Tokyo area's third airport, which is expected to be built in Yokohama Bay.
FRANCE AND THE U.S. have agreed to cooperate more closely on nuclear weapon issues. The two countries will share information on the safety, security and reliability of their nuclear arsenals. The agreement, signed this month, comes as international negotiations to institute a global nuclear test ban are reaching their final stages.
