James C. Bobick (Brig. General USAF) has been appointed acting commander, Air Force Auxiliary at the semiannual meeting in Washington, D.C. He succeeds Brig. Gen. Paul M. Bergman, who resigned.
General Atomics is considering installing a turboprop engine on its Predator unmanned aerial vehicle to make it attractive to commercial users, according to an industry official. The San Diego company has not yet briefed the concept to the Air Force's Air Combat Command, the largest Predator customer. The new configuration is intended to allow commercial operators to use Predator for missions such as telecommunications relay.
The U.S. Air National Guard is still interested in replacing the C- 22s, or Boeing 727s, operated by the Washington, D.C., Air Guard as well as increasing the number of C-38As the organization will have, Maj. Gen. Paul A. Weaver, director of the Air National Guard, said yesterday. The D.C. Air Guard yesterday accepted two C-38s that assume the mission formerly conducted by the unit's C-21 Learjets. Congress provided funds for two C-21 replacement aircraft. Tracor beat Lear by bidding the Israel Aircraft Industries-built Astra SPX business jet, or C-38.
Samuel J. Greene, Brig. General USAF (Ret.), has been appointed director, Air Force Programs of Burdeshaw in Bethesda, Md. John E. Longhouser Maj. General USA (Ret.), has been appointed senior vice president, Army Programs.
David A. Savner has been named senior vice president-law. He will also resume responsibility for coordinating the legal function throughout the company's business units. The following appointments have been made to the board of directors: James I. Finley, president General Dynamics Information systems and vice president of General Dynamics Corporation. George A. Joulwan, General U.S. Army (Ret.). David E. Scott, president of General Dynamics Computing Devices Canada and vice president of General Dynamics.
Banning the launch of U.S. satellites on Chinese launch vehicles will hamper the U.S. satellite services industry by shutting off an important source of space launches, according to the Motorola executive who negotiated the contract that saw China launch six Iridium low Earth orbit communications satellites over a five-month period.
Lew Lancaster has been named controller for Honeywell Sensor and Guidance Products' Guidance and Navigation Operation (GNO). He succeeds Patricia A. Martin, who was named controller for Honeywell's Defense Avionics Systems in Albuquerque, N.M.
CESSNA delivered the 250th CitationJet aircraft on June 1 at its Wichita plant. The company said the plane - the 250th unit of Cessna model 525, bearing the tail number N250CJ - has gone into service as a Cessna marketing demonstrator and will be used in a tour of the U.S. The program was announced in 1989, and first flight was in April 1991.
Dan Collins has been promoted to program director for Delta III. Mike Kennedy has been named vice president for the Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) and Delta IV programs. Jay Witzling has been promoted to vice president, Delta II and Titan programs. Frank C. Weaver has joined Boeing as director, Business Development for satellite services in the Washington, D.C. office.
Frances L. Shill has been appointed vice president and project director for Computer Sciences Raytheon (CSR) at Patrick Air Force Base, Fla. Roy R. Willis has been named vice president for strategic planning for Logistics at its Federal Sector based in Falls Church, Va.
A prototype AH-64D Apache helicopter on loan from the U.S. Army to Boeing flew for the first time May 29 with the Rolls-Royce Turbomeca RTM322 engines that will be installed in production WAH-64s for the British Army. The flight, at Boeing's Mesa, Ariz., facility, lasted 35 minutes and the helicopter reached a top speed of about 100 knots, according to GKN Westland, prime contractor for the WAH-64. Boeing test pilot Jim Adkins praised the engine performance and said "The full authority digital engine control system proved exceptionally responsive."
Kenn Kopf has been named general counsel, vice president and assistant secretary. He will oversee the functions of the Legal Department including managing the activities of the legal staff and providing legal advice and assistance to the corporation.
Aerospatiale's goals of developing and tightening partnerships in the civilian and defense sectors "will be met while maintaining a majority state ownership," French Defense Minister Alain Richard said in an interview published yesterday in French daily newspaper Liberation. Last week, the French government commissioned Aerospatiale Chairman Yves Michot to look into the "opening" of his company's capital to private investors and asked him to draw up plans to float Aerospatiale shares.
Gordon R. Dierks has been named senior vice president aerospace responsible for the company's various design, engineering, manufacturing and marketing activities in the aerospace sector.
DIRECTOR OF CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE George J. Tenet said yesterday that Adm. David Jeremiah has completed his review of the intelligence community's performance on India's nuclear tests May 11 and 13. "He identified problems that impeded our performance on India and warned us of weaknesses that could reduce our effectiveness in the future - if we do not correct them now," Tenet said in a prepared statement.
TAIWAN may purchase 28 LANTIRN (Low Altitude Navigation and Targeting Infrared system for Night) sets for its F-16A/B fighters, the Pentagon said Monday. The foreign military sale would cost about $160 million, which includes integration of the pods.
An enhanced version of the U.S./Israeli Arrow anti-missile system may be a good alternative to the problem-plagued Theater High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missile, Rep. Curt Weldon (R-Pa.) told Israeli government officials this week at a theater missile defense conference in Monterey, Calif. "When I was in Monterey I did talk to the Israelis about the Arrow," Weldon told The DAILY yesterday in a brief telephone interview. "If this is what it's going to take to get the problem solved - some stiff competition from the Arrow program - then so be it."
Steve Masse has been appointed vice president-finance and treasurer of British Aerospace North America, Inc. This position has overall financial management responsibility for all British Aerospace operations in the U.S.
Boeing officials said they have decided on the firm design configuration for the 747-400X - the company's competitor for the Airbus A3XX - and will offer it in both passenger and combi versions with first deliveries targeted, respectively, for October 2000 and June 2001. Options for a freighter are being explored for the 8,869 nautical mile-range aircraft.
