Ameco-Beijing has performed the first strut modification in China as part of Boeing's worldwide upgrade program that began last year in the wake of three 747 incidents involving engine separations from the wing during flight, two of them leading to fatal crashes.
ROGUE NATIONS WITH ONLY A FEW NUCLEAR WEAPONS could choose to attack their larger, better armed foes indirectly, according to Air Force Maj. Gen. Kenneth Hagemann, director of the Defense Nuclear Agency. He claims a 50-kiloton nuclear weapon exploded 62 mi. above the Earth would ``pump up the Van Allen radiation belt[s]`` to the extent that increased exposure would cause satellites to ``die in hours, days or weeks.
THE U.S. NAVY'S SEALIFT COMMAND is planning this fall to conduct a one- to two-month sea demonstration of medium-lift helicopters in an airborne cargo delivery and vertical replenishment role. Only FAA-certificated helicopters will be considered, and candidates must supply their own pilots, maintenance, spares and other support. A variety of candidates, including Kaman's K-Max, are expected to participate. A related Navy request for proposals is expected to be issued in mid-May.
While military analysts continue to debate whether the world is on the verge, or indeed already in the midst, of a revolution in the way wars are fought, Pentagon and defense industry planners are beginning to prepare for such an eventuality.
Atlantic Southeast Airlines, Inc., one of Wall Street's favorite air transport issues because of its long-running profitability and measured by steady growth, is looking ahead to better days than it experienced in the first three months of 1995.
The Rescor 972 Selector Kit contains six high-temperature, specialty adhesives packaged in trial sizes. The adhesives vary in viscosity, compressive strength, dielectric strength, thermal conductivity and thermal expansion. All materials cure at room temperature and will withstand temperatures of up to 3,200F. Applications include coating, bonding and potting insulator parts for electrical components, radio equipment and thermocouples. Cotronics Corp., 3379 Shore Pkwy., Brooklyn, N.Y. 11235.
Final assembly of the first Boeing 737-400 transport for Japan Airlines is performed at Boeing's Renton, Wash., narrow-body aircraft factory. The aircraft is to be delivered this month. Japan Airlines ordered four 737-400s to operate on domestic routes in conjunction with 51%-owned subsidiary Japan TransOcean Air.
The CNS-12 is an updated version of the Magellan CNS-10. The new receiver for the Globalink/CNS worldwide two-way data link features two channels for receiving Wide Area Augmentation System correction signals. They are in addition to the 10 channels in the CNS-10 for GPS position and navigation and receiver autonomous integrity monitoring. The CNS-12 also has a dedicated ground-to-air, two-way data link for communication via Arinc's Globalink/CNS digital communications service. Hardware includes an Acars VHF modem controller/transceiver using the Arinc 618 format.
Series 9204 instruments (right) ``fill the same hole'' as the 1960s technology Model 2150 but utilize LED technology. The noise-free 9204 meets the electromagnetic interference requirements of Mil-Std-461C, Class A-4. The new line of receiver instruments employs cloning capability, averaging of multiple transmitters and sufficient memory to store fill/tank curves used on board a modern aircraft carrier. Applications include fire, ballast, tank level and navigational control. International Instruments, Twin Lakes Road, P.O. Box 185, North Branford, Conn. 06471.
The U.S. Army's Theater High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missile successfully completed its first test flight, but critics say the test was undemanding and did little more than prove the vehicle could launch, fly to the designated altitude and self destruct. The real challenge will begin in the third test later this year when the Lockheed Martin-built system tries to intercept a target missile, Air Force and Navy officials said.
The first of a new generation of U.S. weather satellites is on the verge of being declared fully operational, and the second is at Cape Canaveral being readied for a May 19 launch.
U.S. military planners are at least temporarily downplaying the quest to strike enemy short- and medium-range ballistic missiles early in flight. They are turning instead to finding and destroying these mobile weapons and their logistics sinews before launch, or at least limiting them only to the first shot.
JAPAN'S NASDA SAYS IT IS SATISFIED with splashdown trials of its Hyflex experimental spaceplane. Hyflex, short for Hypersonic Flight Experiment, is to be launched next year on the National Space Development Agency's new three-stage J-1 booster as part of preparations for Hope shuttle missions. A test vehicle was dropped from a crane in January to simulate the splashdown shock Hyflex will experience in its final parachute descent. Modified automobile airbag system shock sensors released an airbag from the test vehicle when it hit the ocean.
As part of its zero-accident initiative, in August the FAA will require airline captains and first officers to have at least 100 hours of line operating experience in the type of aircraft they will fly. The new ruling issued last week is designed to avoid pairing two pilots with lower experience levels in a particular type of aircraft. It will apply to crews flying for regional airlines and major air carriers certificated under FAR Part 121 and Part 135 operators required to adhere to Part 121 training and qualification criteria.
United Airlines, as part of Boeing 777 certification, is demonstrating its mechanics are adequately trained to change a Pratt&Whitney PW4084, using unique support equipment built especially for handling the large powerplant at remote sites.
A new Air Force Space Command squadron that evolved from a Talon Shield project can now provide theater ballistic missile warning information to field units within seconds. During the gulf war in 1991, alerts reached theater commanders several minutes after launch detection.
Russian upgrades to the Indian air force's MiG-21bis aircraft will provide the aging fighters with some of the world's most modern air-to-air missiles and a helmet-mounted sight that even the most sophisticated U.S. fighters do not have.
Rising fuel prices and the threat of new taxes on Jet A have dampened the 1995 financial outlook for U.S. airlines. The carriers are bracing for a 7-cent/gal. increase after crude oil prices rose $2 per barrel in recent weeks. If the new prices are sustained, airline fuel costs could increase $1 billion this year (AW&ST Mar. 13, p. 66).
THE TRANSPORTATION DEPT.'S JUST-COMPLETED International Air Transportation Policy Statement makes it clear the Administration is serious about expanding competitive air service, liberalizing international airline markets and not stepping on the Pentagon's toes in the process. Promoting the U.S. agreement with Canada as illustrative, Transportation Secretary Federico Pena last week reaffirmed Administration intentions to ``move forward, never backward'' in its efforts to forge additional Open Skies agreements with other nations.
Sync Roll software allows an operator of a Windows-based personal computer to search up to six videotapes and play them together with accuracies of 2 frames. Multiple video images from an entire squadron could thus be reviewed in sync to assess training and readiness. In addition, inputs from a head-up display camera, an over-the-shoulder camera and a forward looking infrared could be time synchronized. The program is designed to work with Hi-8 mm. videotapes encoded with Vertical Interval Time Code during recording in lines 16 and 18.
Most major U.S. aerospace/defense contractors are posting sizable gains in overall first-quarter profits, helped in many cases by substantial improvements in commercial operations. Notable exceptions thus far in the reporting cycle are the Boeing Co., whose earnings plunged 38%, and Hughes Electronics Corp. (formerly GM Hughes Electronics Corp.), whose earnings slipped 4.7%. In addition, Sundstrand reported a net loss of $18 million, or 59 cents per share.
The Model 9200B radio frequency voltmeter now has additional stored program memory and a separate, nonvolatile memory that expand capability in systems requirements and manual operation. Low noise circuitry gives the Model 9200B 200 millivolt sensitivity in the 10 KHz.-1.2 GHz. and 10 Hz.-100 MHz. frequency ranges. Measurements can be taken at 50 or 75-ohm characteristic impedance. Results can be displayed in voltage or power. Data from up to eight probes can be stored in nonvolatile memory. Boonton Electronics Corp., 25 Eastmans Road, Parsippany, N.J. 07054-0465.
THE FAA HAS OPTED to stick with Loral to develop a limited capability portion of the Advanced Automation System that had experienced major delays and cost overruns under an original contract with IBM's Federal Systems Div., which Loral acquired last year. Under a new, $898-million fixed-price incentive contract, Loral will develop the Display System Replacement (DSR) for use in the FAA's traffic control centers. The first is scheduled for installation in the Seattle center by late 1997.
