Two U.S. ventures want to use Canadian direct broadcast satellite (DBS) orbital slots to beam programming to the American market, but they are meeting stiff opposition from telecommunications giants. A subsidiary of Denver-based Tele-Communications Inc. (TCI) wants to use a Canadian slot to offer programming to U.S. customers via one of two DBS satellites it has ordered from Space Systems/Loral.
Continuing its long heritage, the German aerospace industry is maintaining its lead in the development of advanced technologies. These range from Differential-GPS tests currently underway at Munich airport to research in radar and electro-optics that may establish new directions for future avionics. The D-GPS trials will run over a year to establish a baseline for accuracy and perhaps reveal any hidden problems that come with the use of D-GPS for precision instrument approaches at a major and busy airport.
U.S. airlines are experiencing higher ``no-fault-found'' removal rates for new-technology avionics rather than the increased reliability promised by equipment manufacturers.
LOCKHEED IS DEVELOPING AN ADVANCED autonomous control logic for underwater unmanned vehicles that should allow them to operate alone for weeks at a time. The system, also applicable to unmanned air and ground vehicles, uses artificial intelligence to minimize risk of vehicle loss or premature return due to unanticipated problems or system false alarms. As envisioned, the hybrid rule- and model-based software will constantly monitor mission progress and the health of on-board systems.
POLAR RESEARCHERS ARE expected to pore over the original diary of explorer Richard E. Byrd that turned up unexpectedly this year in the collection at Ohio State University's Byrd Polar Research Center. Center officials have already shared the diary with Dennis Rawlins, an astronomer who has long questioned whether Byrd actually reached the North Pole in a Fokker trimotor on May 9, 1926, as claimed. Rawlins found a partially erased sextant reading in the original diary that differs from the data filed by Byrd in his official report.
THE HOUSE NATIONAL Security Committee is boosting the Fiscal 1997 U.S. Defense bill by $17 million for the stealthy Lockheed Martin/Boeing DarkStar unmanned aerial vehicle program. Of this amount, $4 million is for investigation of a larger, $20-million version of the UAV. The redesigned aircraft would have two engines, giving it the power and size to carry boost phase interceptor missiles.
BETTER RISK MANAGEMENT techniques, including the use of technology demonstrators, are needed to reduce delays and performance shortfalls in new military equipment, according to the U.K.'s independent National Audit Office. The NAO report says the Ministry of Defense has introduced reforms that have minimized cost overruns on hardware programs. But NAO found an average 11-month slip in the 28 programs it reviewed, mainly due to hardware rather than software or integration problems.
A successful mid-April demonstration for senior Pentagon officials cleared the way for implementing an advanced communications network that relies on direct broadcast and other commercial satellites to deliver imagery and classified information to U.S. and allied forces in Bosnia.
THIS WEEK WILL BE BUSY in the reusable launch vehicle (RLV) world. On Monday, the teams led by Lockheed Martin, McDonnell Douglas and Rockwell are due to hand in their proposals for the X-33, a subscale single-stage-to-orbit (SSTO) demonstrator (see p. 17). The DC-XA may fly at White Sands, N.M., as early as May 17 (see p. 58). Meanwhile, an influential group at the Johnson Space Center is arguing that the X-33 shouldn't fly at all. In memos circulating at NASA headquarters, Mission Operations Directorate officials in Houston say plans to overfly several western U.S.
Henri-Paul Puel has been appointed chairman/chief executive officer of Sogerma-Socea, an Aerospatiale subsidiary, effective Nov. 1. Puel, outgoing managing director of Aero International Regional, will succeed Pierre Vallies who is scheduled to retire on Oct. 31.
Success has thrust America's low-fare, startup airlines into the spotlight on two fronts, electoral politics and labor politics. In this presidential election year, the Clinton Administration is touting what it claims are billions of dollars in flight savings to millions of consumers--and voters. The savings are attributed to the competition brought into play by new, low-fare, low-cost carriers. Southwest Airlines is considered the pioneer, and carriers such as ValuJet and Western Pacific are attempting to follow suit.
HELIPRO CORP. HAS GARNERED five sales for its new ``Shortsky'' conversion program for the venerable Sikorsky S-61 helicopter. The Bellingham, Wash.-based firm shortens the S-61 forward fuselage by 50 in., which improves performance and agility and increases the helicopter's external load capability by 1,000 lb. to 11,000 lb. Five Shortskys already have been ordered for heli-logging in Canada and Alaska.
Despite a recent softening in airline stock prices, some industry analysts look for another rally within the next several months. Thus, they say the current weakness should be viewed as a buying opportunity. Their bullishness is based on several factors. The economy is healthy, and advanced bookings for the second quarter are favorable. Also carriers are continuing to do a good job of controlling costs and keeping a lid on capacity. ``They all are undervalued,'' Furman Selz analyst Raymond Neidl said.
A HIGHLY-SENSITIVE, HAND-HELD infrared camera technology developed to help defense forces identify rocket types from their plumes is being offered for commercial use. A 10-lb. prototype was developed by the Center for Space Microelectronics at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., in partnership with Amber, a Raytheon company. The 110-v- or battery-powered camera uses an array of over 65,000 quantum-well infrared photodetectors (Qwips) tuned to detect infrared radiation in the 8-9-micron wavelength.
AIRBUS MARKETING WILL GET A BOOST IN CHINA with the acquisition of an A320 simulator by China Southern Airlines, Airbus' newest customer. Negotiations for the simulator are underway. Airbus is to install the country's first A320 simulator at the support center it is building in cooperation with China Aviation Supplies Corp. (CASC) in Beijing, which is to begin operations early next year. Buying its own simulator leads to speculation that China Southern will order more A320s.
C-17 SPENDING WOULD BE front-loaded to save $300 million seven years from now, if some House lawmakers had their way. They want to spend an extra $280 million to increase 1997 purchases from eight C-17s to 10. Production in 1998 would remain at 10, while increasing to 13 from 10 in 1999. The final year's production of five C-17s would be eliminated. Despite the attempt to fiddle with Air Force plans, staffers insist there is total support for C-17 and the concept of a multi-year buy. ``We just thought there was gross inefficiency at the end,'' one staffer said.
NEW, HIGHER-PERFORMANCE PLASTIC TUBING has been developed by USAF Wright Laboratory's Materials Directorate and Superex Polymer, Waltham, Mass. Potential applications include aircraft- and space-based structures, cryogenic containers and rocket motor cases. Extruded from liquid crystal polymer, the new tubing is lighter with double the crush resistance of today's conventional rigid plastic tubing, according to Rick Lusignea, Superex president. It also is noncorrosive, nonconductive, can withstand temperatures over 200C, and costs up to 60% less to produce.
Jeanette M. Thomas has been named corporate vice president/assistant general counsel of Litton Industries, Woodland Hills, Calif. She was corporate secretary.
UNITED AIRLINES AND LUFTHANSA German Airlines would get immunity from U.S. antitrust laws for five years under a tentative Transportation Dept. decision. The department says the action will allow the carriers ``to establish a network of new pro-competitive and pro-consumer worldwide aviation services.'' Nonsense, critics say; an exemption from U.S. competition laws is a license to fix prices and reduce capacity. In competition, U.S.
WITH CAYMAN AIRWAYS' NEW FLIGHTS from Orlando to Grand Cayman, the Cayman Islands now enjoys nonstop service from six U.S. gateways. Orlando is Cayman Airways' fourth U.S. gateway. The Caribbean destination also is served nonstop from Houston and Tampa by Cayman; Miami by Cayman, American and Northwest airlines, and Baltimore and Charlotte by USAir. Aviation authorities hope the new services will add to tourism. While air arrivals to the Caymans rose almost 6% last year, arrivals from the U.S., which represent about 75% of the overall market, rose just 1.2%.
Endeavour's six astronauts are poised for 10 busy days of chasing technology demonstration satellites and performing biological and materials science experiments during space shuttle Mission 77. The astronauts are to deploy and fly formation with two satellites demonstrating low-cost spacecraft systems, including one that is to form the most complex large inflated object flown on a civil space mission to date. If all goes well, Endeavour's crew will rendezvous with the satellites four times, a record for a single civilian shuttle mission.
Nearly 40 U.S. Air Force F-16s deployed to Europe for close air support patrols over Bosnia are going operational with a new data link to enable NATO forward air controllers to send GPS-derived target coordinates directly into the aircraft's fire control computer, head-up display and Lantirn targeting system. The new Lockheed Martin ``Sure Strike'' system utilizes an improved data modem (IDM) installed in F-16Cs (AW&ST Jan. 1, p. 68).
U.S. airlines should experience a second straight year of record profits during 1996, boosted by the expiration of the federal 10% domestic ticket tax, according to the Air Transport Assn. Strong traffic growth will outpace about a 1.7% system-wide rise in capacity, boosting load factors to 68-69% in 1996, also a record, according to David Swierenga, chief economist for the Air Transport Assn.
U.S. Air Force Maj. Gen. Kenneth E. Eickmann will be promoted to lieutenant general and has been named commander of the Aeronautical Systems Center at Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio. He will succeed Lt. Gen. Dick Scofield, who has retired. Eickmann has been commander of the Oklahoma City Air Logistics Center at Tinker AFB, Okla.
