ESA 'BRIDGE': Members of the European Space Agency Council are expected to approve "bridge" funding for the Vega small space launch vehicle this week, says Gerard Brachet, director general of the French space agency (CNES). The stop-gap funding is necessary because a planned meeting of ESA ministers has been postponed until early next year, and ministerial approval is required to begin a new development effort.
The House Appropriations Committee recommended withholding all fiscal 1999 funds for the Starlite project of the U.S. Air Force, National Reconnaissance Office, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency because it wasn't appropriately notified of the new start. The failure Congress drew particular criticism because Starlite, also known as Discoverer II, will cost $592.4 million. As a result, the HAC recommends rescission of $6 million of the FY '98 money and withholding all funds for FY '99.
Final assembly of the first production F/A-18E/F Super Hornet began Friday in St. Louis when the center/aft fuselage was joined with the forward fuselage, Boeing announced. The forward section is built by Boeing in St. Louis, while the center/aft fuselage is made by Northrop Grumman in El Segundo, Calif. Seven developmental Super Hornets are undergoing flight tests at the Naval Air Warfare Centers at Patuxent River, Md., and China Lake, Calif.
European Union transport ministers agreed in a meeting here to establish next year a European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) to certify compliance of aircraft, equipment and procedures with international safety standards and make sure the standards are applied uniformly by all 15 EU members. The agency will supplant national authorities that currently are responsible for certification and control. Some common decisions are made through the Joint Aviation Authorities, but JAA operates informally and all of its decisions require unanimity.
Denmark plans to buy the Raytheon-built AGM-88 High Speed Anti- Radiation Missile for its F-16 fighters and expects to buy the HARM Targeting System once the F-16s are upgraded to the point where they can use the system, according to Kai E. Poulsen, F-16 branch chief for Denmark's Air Material Command.
TRIMBLE PREPS FOR FUTURE: Trimble plans to stay at the forefront of an expected boom in the Global Positioning System market by licensing its technology and building alliances with other market leaders, according to Mike Gagliardi, vice president for aerospace. The U.S. GPS Industry Council forecasts industry revenues exceeding $8 billion by 2000, up from $3 billion in 1997. Trimble says its list of strategic partners includes Bosch, Caterpillar, Case, Honeywell, Intel, Microsoft and Siemens.
Commercial remote sensing companies will have a hard time cracking the military and intelligence government markets until they have capabilities to sell that match government needs, and even then the near-term market is likely to be limited to low resolution, slow-delivery imagery, according to a former U.S. National Reconnaissance Office official.
The HGS-1 communications satellite has arrived in geosynchronous orbit over the Pacific Ocean after completing its second trip around the moon. The satellite was initially placed in the wrong earth orbit, and was rescued by sending it on two unique loops around the moon. Controllers at Hughes Global Services fired the on-board motor for 12 minutes on June 17, placing HGS-1 into a circular orbit 22,300 miles above the equator. The satellite will be parked in a dormant state until customers are found.
Boeing Co. predicted that seven out of 10 jet transports delivered during the next 20 years will be single-aisle models, and that the type will account for 43% of the money spent on new airplanes in that period.
Textron's Cessna Aircraft Co. hopes to boost sales of single-engine piston-powered aircraft with a new financing program that lets individuals make mortgage-sized payments on Skyhawks, Skylanes and Stationairs. "We want to offer new single-engine aircraft customers the kind of financing that puts an end to the myth that new aircraft ownership is 'high cost' ownership," says Leon Metzinger, president of the company's Cessna Finance Corp. unit.
Though Dassault Falcon Jet is still looking for industrial partners and customer input, top executives unveiled a scale model of a three- engine, Mach 1.8 business jet during a Falcon Maintenance and Operations seminar in Nice, France, AP affiliate Business Aviation reports. Three non- afterburning engines, derived either from General Electric's F414 Super Hornet fighter engine or SNECMA's M88 Rafale engine series and producing roughly 12,000 lbst., power the aircraft under study, which also has a delta wing and a forward canard surface.
EDO CORP., New York, agreed to acquire the assets of the Technical Services Group of Falls Church, Va., a unit of Global Associated Ltd., for $4.8 million in cash. Global Associated is operating under Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, and a hearing on the acquisition by the Federal Bankruptcy Court is expected in early summer. Technical Services Group, which recorded sales of $12 million last year, provides operations and systems analysis to the Dept. of Defense and other governmental agencies.
China could use even the limited military deliveries from the U.S. and the European Union since the Tiananmen Square arms embargo to improve its military capabilities, according to the General Accounting Office. Since the embargo in June 1989, President Clinton has issued waivers allowing delivery to Beijing of military items valued at $36.3 million, and the licensing of commercial military exports worth about $313 million, the GAO reported in "Military Imports from the United States and the European Union since the 1998 Embargoes" (GAO/NSIAD-98-176).
Bombardier's Business JetSolutions fractional aircraft ownership plan chose AlliedSignal's fixed-cost Maintenance Service Plan (MSP) as the maintenance plan for its four existing Learjet 31As, as well as for 31As slated for delivery later this year.
ORDERS...Korean Air and Boeing have put the finishing touches on an expected order for 11 CFM International CFM56-7-powered Boeing 737-800s and 11 737-900s, slated for delivery between August 2000 and July 2005....Corsair, a subsidiary of France's largest tour operator Nouvelles Frontieres, chose Rolls-Royce Trents to power two Airbus Industrie A330-200 twins for delivery in July 1999 and February 2000. The deal is worth about $60 million to Rolls-Royce.
The 10-year-old policy allowing U.S. satellite-makers to launch their spacecraft on Chinese rockets has been an effective tool in encouraging China to follow international guidelines on the proliferation of ballistic missile technology, the present uproar over that policy notwithstanding, a senior National Security Agency aide argued yesterday.
Bombardier Services has been named preferred bidder in the U.K. Royal Air Force's Light Aircraft Flying Task (LAFT) competition, a ten-year program under which aircraft and related services will be provided for elementary flight training.
A U.K. procurement official described the U.S. foreign military sales program as "cumbersome" and urged a rethinking of the FMS process. Ken Perou, the British Defense Ministry's director of procurement and its main buyer in the U.S., told a meeting of the Association of Old Crows in Washington on Wednesday that the Pentagon should consider "a bit of business engineering" in the FMS arena, particularly as it draws down its civilian workforce. "What I hope will happen is that there will be a review of how FMS is managed," Perou said.
HEICO CORP., Hollywood, Fla., will acquire all of the stock of McClain International, a privately-held jet engine parts company based in Atlanta for $41 million in cash. Heico also agreed to buy the company's headquarters for an additional $2.5 million. McClain designs, makes and overhauls jet engine replacements.
ALLIEDSIGNAL said it has completed its acquisition of a 52% interest in Normalair-Garrett Limited (NGL) from GKN plc of the U.K. The deal was announced on May 7. AlliedSignal also acquired from GKN 100% of Hermetic Aircraft International Corp., a repair and overhaul facility based in Holtsville, N.Y. NGL will become part of AlliedSignal's Aerospace Equipment Systems business, and Hermetic will become part of its Aerospace Marketing, Sales&Service business.
NASA and France's CNES have agreed to study joint activity for the planned 2005 Mars Sample Return mission, using an Ariane 5 launch vehicle and a French-built Mars orbiter. The agencies agreed to explore the idea at a meeting in Washington yesterday that also covered cooperation in telemedicine and distance education. France first suggested using an Ariane 5, which would permit collection of a larger payload of Martian samples than the baselined Delta II, last fall (DAILY, Nov. 24, 1997).
AlliedSignal completed its acquisition of a controlling interest in Yeovil, England-based environmental controls specialist Normalair-Garrett Ltd. and now holds 52% of the company. AlliedSignal has the option to buy the rest of the company from parent GKN on or after Dec. 31, 1999. AlliedSignal has held 48% of Normalair-Garrett since 1967. As part of this week's deal, AlliedSignal also picked up 100% of GKN's Hermetic Aircraft International Corp., of Holtsville, N.Y., which repairs and overhauls aircraft systems.
Chester M. Lewis, an engine specialist with Boeing for more than 35 years, was named to FAA's National Resource Specialist team. Lewis will advise the agency on engine system dynamics and safety relating to certification requirements, policy and research into improving engine reliability and safety.
NATIONAL RECONNAISSANCE OFFICE has added two senior Pentagon officials to its staff. Maj. Gen. Robert S. Dickman, formerly the space architect for DOD, becomes director of plans and analysis with NRO. In that role he'll also act as the "System of Systems Architect," NRO said yesterday. Gil Klinger, formerly the acting deputy under secretary of defense for space, will be the NRO's new policy director.
