An Arrow missile was successfully launched against a simulated target in a test at Israel's Palmachim Test Range, the U.S. Army said. The missile, designed to defeat attacking ballistic missiles, was launched at 2:45 p.m. local time, and 97 seconds later the flight was completed as planned, according to the Program Executive Office for Air and Missile Defense at Redstone Arsenal, Ala.
Congressional sources say the fiscal 1999 defense authorization conference still hasn't closed out the three potential conference-buster issues - gender integration in the military, tritium production and export controls on missile and satellite components and technology. The F/A-18E/F issue is still said to be unsettled, although not considered veto bait. The defense appropriations conference may get underway this week.
James R. Wilson, chairman and CEO of Cordant Technologies stresses the technological scope of his company, renamed in May from Thiokol Corp., famous for solid rocket propulsion. "The name change ... is a reflection of the fact the company has evolved from a single product into a much diversified entity," he told Aviation Week's Farnborough Show News. Seven years ago Thiokol acquired the Huck International fasteners and Howmet Corp. metal forging companies.
ARTHUR STEPHENSON has been picked as the director of NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, replacing Carolyn Griner who has served as acting director since Wayne Little resigned last October. Stephenson is president of Oceaneering Advanced Technologies of Houston. Before joining Oceaneering International, the parent company, in 1992, Stephenson spent 28 years at the same TRW facility in Redondo Beach, Calif., where NASA Administrator Daniel Goldin worked before he was named administrator in 1992.
Top U.S. and Japanese foreign policy and defense officials, slated to meet next weekend in New York for regularly scheduled talks on a range of issues, may address cooperation on missile defense. One Pentagon official says that while the agenda hasn't been released, this subject is seen as highly likely to come up. Tokyo and Washington have already had a series of discussions on the issue, but North Korea's Aug. 31 launch of a missile over Japan may add new urgency.
LOCKHEED MARTIN Control Systems, Johnson City, Tex., said that as of August, its engine-control fleet had accumulated 200 million hours of operating time. The controls are used on engines that power more than 5,000 aircraft, including the Boeing 737, 747, 757, 767, 777 and MD-11; and Airbus 310, 320, 330 and 340.
MESSIER-BUGATTI, citing increasing demand in the U.S. market, said it will build a plant in Covington, Ky., to manufacture carbon disks for Airbus and Boeing aircraft brakes. The new, wholly-owned unit will be called A-Carb. The $30 million project is expected to be completed within 18 months and employ over 50 people.
Lopez says he has rigged command and control functions to see the air picture over both Greece and Turkey, with the aim of reducing tension between the dueling NATO members. Since establishment of the capability, air incidents have dropped by more than 75%.
Matra BAe Dynamics may be in line to rationalize some of its product lines in coming months to eliminate overlaps in certain areas. The company, formed on Nov. 1, 1996, is Europe's largest guided-weapons business, owned equally by British Aerospace plc in the U.K. and France's Lagardere Groupe SCA. It brings together the complementary range of products of Matra Defense and BAe Dynamics, and with about 6,000 employees, had first-year sales estimated at about $1.55 billion and a funded backlog of around $4 billion.
The rate of commercial space launches licensed by the U.S. government is increasing, according to the FAA's Office of Commercial Space Transportation. Between March 1989 and August 1995 the office - then under the Transportation Dept. - licensed 50 launches. Last week's Delta II launch with five Iridium replenishment satellites aboard (DAILY, Sept. 9) was the 100th U.S.-licensed launch "and the pace continues to accelerate," according to OCST.
House Appropriations Committee approves fiscal 1999 foreign military financing request without any funding for Turkey and Greece, which follows a similar action by the Senate Appropriations Committee. This means that for the first time in more than 20 years, no FMF funds are provided for either country.
The AF won't have to replace the Pratt&Whitney F119 turbofan engine it removed from an F-22 fighter after vibration was detected during flight testing. The service now says the vibration wasn't caused by the engine itself, but by the way it was installed.
The U.S. Air Force has just completed a dress rehearsal for EFX '98, the first annual Expeditionary Force Experiment, and plans to work the last bugs out before the experiment begins this week.
NASA and its subcontractors continue to wrestle with the Earth Observing System Data and Information System (EOSDIS), an ambitious plan to collect and archive as much data as the Library of Congress holds every two years. Changing technology and a sellers market for software engineers has hampered the effort, the space subcommittee is told. Now planning is underway to transfer responsibility for the task to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which has been collecting and storing data from the nation's weather satellites for 30 years.
U.S. Defense Secretary William Cohen, in a last ditch plea to congressional appropriators, asked for approval of a $1.8 billion supplemental for the cost of Bosnia operations and restoration of proposed cuts in weapons accounts for fiscal year 1999.
EDWARD STIMPSON, president and chief executive of the General Aviation Manufacturers Association for 25 years and currently its vice chairman, will receive the 1998 Wright Brothers Memorial Trophy, the National Aeronautic Association said Friday.
EGYPT has received a letter of offer from the U.S. government for initial F-16 depot level maintenance at a cost of $200 million. The foreign military sales arrangement would include repair of landing gear, hydraulics, pneumatics, fuel and electrical equipment on the F-16s, the Pentagon said. It would also include other support, such as training and training equipment. The support program would last about five years.
Lockheed Martin Control Systems (LMCS) and Woodward Governor Co. have formed a limited-liability corporation to provide aero-engine control systems design, integration, manufacturing and product support. The joint venture, called AESYS, is part of a strategic relationship between the companies first announced at Farnborough '96.
The U.S. Air Force will put its fleet of 112 Slingsby T-3A trainer aircraft into "minimum maintenance" status because of slow progress in resolving problems last year that caused engine stoppages and resulted in the deaths of three people.
The U.S. Navy has taken nine F/A-19B/C strike fighters to Laage, Germany, to test their capabilities against German MiG-29s inherited from the former East Germany. The purpose of "Operation Ambitious Venture" is to test the Hornet's APG-73 fire control radar, ALE-47 countermeasures dispenser, ALR-67 radar warning receiver and 11C-plus software against the MiG-29 Fulcrum, the U.S. Navy said Friday. Engagements will include one-on-one and four-on-four scenarios.
Gulfstream Aerospace said it has entered into a joint venture with Lockheed Martin to study the feasibility a Mach 1.6- to 2.0 supersonic business jet. The proposed SSBJ would be able to carry eight passengers more than 4,000 n.m. As envisioned, the SSBJ would have the airport performance and noise characteristics of today's business jets.
The U.S. Navy's Office of Naval Research is funding duPont Aerospace Co. to develop and build a transport aircraft that would be capable of operating in either vertical or conventional takeoff and landing modes. DuPont Aerospace is building a 53% scale prototype of an operational aircraft under a multi-year demonstration program. First flight of the prototype is expected in about a year. The demonstration will run through March 2001 and include about 100 flight hours.
