THE F/A-18E/F completed its first lifetime of testing through the full- scale fatigue test airframe (FT50) in St. Louis, Boeing reported yesterday. One lifetime of fatigue testing is equal to 6,000 flight hours, or about 20 years of operational use. FT50, a structurally complete airframe without internal subsystems, began fatigue cycling on June 30, 1997, and reached the one-lifetime milestone one month earlier than scheduled. Completion of the first lifetime is an exit criterion for Navy Program Review III, which is scheduled for November.
Russia is paying special attention to development of advanced systems for air defense missile troops and radiotechnical troops, which are now also part of the Air Force, as it adjusts to the post-Soviet era. "Given finances, we will put into service the first samples [of new air defense systems] as soon as next year," said Col.-Gen. Anatoliy Kornukov, Russian Air Force commander in chief, on the eve of the service's 86th anniversary.
Applied Dynamics International Inc. (ADI), Ann Arbor, Mich., won a contract from British Aerospace Military Aircraft and Aerostructures for ADI's Beacon software to design the General Systems Utility Systems Management System (USMS) software on the Nimrod MRA4, ADI reported yesterday. BAE will upgrade the Royal Air Force's current fleet of 21 MR Mk2 maritime patrol aircraft to MRA4 standards.
Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.) criticized Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Henry H. Shelton for rejecting the findings of the Rumsfeld Commission. The commission in July warned the threat to the U.S. of a ballistic missile attack is greater than the intelligence community has reported (DAILY, 17). Proponents of deployment of a U.S. national missile defense system pointed to the report as evidence that NMD development and fielding should be accelerated.
L-3 Communications, New York, named Gen. John Shalikashvili (USA-ret.) to its board of directors. The appointment increased board membership to 11. Shalikashvili served as the 13th chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff for two terms from 1993 to 1997.
THE SECOND F-22 prototype arrived yesterday at Edwards AFB, Calif., following a non-stop flight from Dobbins ARB, Ga., an Air Force spokesman said. The aircraft will be used for high angle of attack (AOA) testing. Lockheed Martin and the Air Force have expanded the F-22's AOA to 16 degrees, but want to reach at least 18 degrees by the end of the year. After completing its AOA work, the aircraft, known as Raptor 4002, will be used for weapons separation tests.
The U.S. Army is taking its first look at the utility that Micro Air Vehicles may have for future scout missions. The effort is part of a larger computer simulation experiment by the service's Mounted Maneuver Battlespace Lab at Ft. Knox, Ky., that is playing unmanned ground vehicles and future scout vehicles in brigade and battalion-level reconnaissance missions.
Howmet Corp., Greenwich, Conn., will expand its manufacturing capacity, building a new aero-airfoil plant and expanding three plants that make industrial gas turbine (IGT) components. "We are taking these steps with full awareness of aircraft cycle projections and long-term IGT needs," David Squier, president and chief executive officer, said in a statement. "After evaluating all market factors, we are convinced that this is the right time to take actions which will show our customers they can count on us to meet their needs."
AMERICAN TRANS AIR announced orders for two Boeing 757s to be delivered in the fall of 1999. ATA currently operates eight 757s with a ninth scheduled to be delivered in December. The company also recently signed a purchase agreement for five L-1011-500s to support growth in its charter service. These are to be added to its fleet over the next 15 months.
The Ballistic Missile Defense Organization and the Army are expected as early as this week to present options to a high-level Pentagon board on how to proceed with the troubled Theater High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missile program, industry sources said. Included in those options is one that would cancel the program, sources said. However, program officials within BMDO and industry sources believe that is very unlikely.
British Airways' order Tuesday for a new fleet of Airbus A320s and the extended range version of the Boeing 777 (DAILY, Aug. 26) gives it new operating flexibility that will change the way it serves some markets. The airline plans to extend its decision to buy A320 family planes to include its Deutsche BA and Air Liberte divisions, giving it fleet commonality, cost and maintenance efficiencies across its European operation. The eventual inclusion of DBA and Air Liberte also will make the A320 order much larger than the 59 firm aircraft ordered Tuesday.
The U.S. Air Force is looking with great interest toward acquisition of a space-based synthetic aperture radar (SAR) system that could augment a relatively small fleet of Joint STARS aircraft and reduce the footprint of Air Expeditionary Forces, Lt. Gen. Marvin R. Esmond, the deputy chief of staff for air and space operations, said yesterday.
European Space Agency controllers working out of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center finished thawing the hydrazine fuel in the ESA/NASA Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) Tuesday night, but it could be "weeks" before it is known whether the spacecraft spinning out of control at the Lagrangian point can be rescued.
Taiwan's Aerospace Industrial Development Corp., which hopes to become privatized before the end of the year, has invited strategic investors to purchase its shares. An AIDC spokesman said the organization hopes to release at least 50% of its 905.59 million outstanding shares for sale to qualified domestic and foreign companies in the aviation, shipping, electronics, metal and financial industries. A screening team is expected to meet during the first half of 1999 to select qualified investors.
An Ariane 44P launch vehicle orbited the ST-1 direct-to-home broadcast satellite for a Taiwan/Singapore joint venture Tuesday night. Liftoff of the European rocket, assisted by four solid-fuel strap-on boosters, came at 7:07 p.m. EDT from the Guiana Space Center in Kourou. At third-stage injection into geostationary transfer orbit the launch was on target, according to the Arianespace launch consortium.
Russia's air forces are trying to get as much as they can out of their aircraft as they downsize for lean years ahead, developing versatile planes capable of handling more than one mission and upgrading existing aircraft for maximum service. On the eve of the 86th anniversary of the Russian Air Force, its Commander-in-Chief, Col.-Gen. Anatoliy Kornukov, outlined the shape the service will take after its merger with part of the disbanded Air Defense Forces is completed later this year.
Northrop Grumman is aiming to replace the AlliedSignal Aerospace AN/APS-133(V) radar used on the C-17 airlifter with a variant of its AN/APN-241 used on the C-130J and some C-130Hs. The company has developed a Block B variant of the APN-241 with a 22- inch aperture for use on aircraft, like the C-17, that can't house the standard model which has a 36-inch aperture, Robert W. DuBeau, vice president for avionics systems at Northrop Grumman's Electronic Sensors and Systems Div., said in an interview here.
ASTRONAUT WILLIAM F. READDY has taken over as deputy associate administrator for Space Shuttle at NASA headquarters, a temporary "rotational" assignment that will leave the three-time space veteran eligible for future Shuttle missions. Readdy will be responsible for top-level Shuttle policy planning and coordinating Shuttle safety across the agency. He replaces Astronaut Steve Oswald, who has returned to the active astronaut corps at JSC.
Harris Corp., Melbourne, Fla., won a contract from the U.S. Navy Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command for high frequency radio communications systems. Harris' RF Communications Div., Rochester, N.Y., will supply high frequency broadband communications systems for Navy warships. The contract is initially valued at $18 million, with options that could increase the value to $91 million.
AEROQUIP-VICKERS said John H. Weber resigned as its executive vice president and president of Vickers to take a position in another industry. The two companies make components for industrial, aerospace and automotive markets.
HUGHES SPACE AND COMMUNICATIONS has rescheduled launch of the U.S. Navy's UHF Follow-On F9 satellite for Oct. 19. The launch was originally scheduled for Sept. 15, but was postponed to give engineers time to replace a capacitor in the satellites communications payload that was found to exhibit poor workmanship (DAILY, Aug. 11). The launch window will open at 3:11 a.m. EDT and close at 4:26 a.m. EDT. The satellite, which transmits to small mobile terminals and includes the Global Broadcast Service payload, will be launched on a Lockheed Martin Atlas IIA vehicle.
British Airways, which has ordered U.S.-built aircraft since 1956, broke what an Airbus official called a "long-established purchasing pattern" yesterday by announcing a decision to buy up to 188 A320-family regional aircraft valued at $9 billion. BA placed firm orders for 59 of the Airbus planes and options for another 129, passing on next-generation 737s from Boeing.
Titan Corp., San Diego, completed its acquisition of VisiCom Inc., San Diego, acquiring all the outstanding shares of the company for about $25 million of Titan stock in a tax free exchange.
Japan's Defense Agency, which had planned to request about $7 million in its fiscal year 1999 budget for joint study of theater missile defense (TMD) with the U.S., has decided to postpone the request to avoid potential diplomatic problems with China. Many Japanese politicians and even some officials in the Defense Agency are skeptical about the TMD study, with some leading Defense Agency officials expressing concern that the program is not only unnecessary but also will press other weapons procurement programs.
