Mesa, Ariz.-based parts specialist Extex will permit exchange of any used Extex nozzle or Allison's MAR-M-247 nozzle on the Model 250 helicopter engine for $500 credit toward the purchase of a new Extex nozzle under a program launched this month. "The program offers A250 operators greatly reduced downtimes, better reliability, and will completely eliminate delays associated with traditional repair programs," says Extex's Scott Livingston, VP for A250 customer support.
A California startup company has joined with two venerable Russian firms to develop, build and market fuel cell power systems commercially. Power Technologies Corp. (PTC) of Fair Oaks, Calif., has joined RSC Energia and Urals Electrochemical Integrated Plant (UEIP) to produce a variety of fuel cell systems ranging in output from 2.5 kilowatts to 100 kw for such applications as submersibles, mining, seawater desalination and terrestrial transport.
Orbital Sciences Corp. filed a registration statement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for a public offering of 2.75 million shares of common stock.
Raytheon said yesterday it will sell its European-based Raytheon Electronic Controls business to the EGO Group of Germany for $38 million, including assumption of debt. The sale of the business, which makes controls for appliances, tools, automotive and other applications in Germany and Spain, will be the last action resulting from Raytheon's strategic assessment of its appliance business. Raytheon will realize a total of about $1.2 billion from the sale of the units of its former appliance business.
Russian President Boris Yeltsin, French President Jacques Chirac and German Chancellor Helmut Kohl discussed a program yesterday to develop a European military transport plane based on Russia's Antonov An-70, according to the Itar-Tass news agency. The three European leaders met in an informal summit outside Moscow to discuss several issues, including development of cooperation between Russia and the European Union and Russia and NATO.
United Technologies' Hamilton Standard controls unit in Windsor Locks, Conn., last week acquired full ownership of France's Ratier-Figeac from the French industrial company Bertrand Faure. Hamilton Standard held a minority interest in the French company for more than a decade. And the two companies already were jointly involved in a composite propeller business, making the commercial six-bladed 568F system, which is used on the ATR 42-500 and ATR 72-210.
A private space tourism industry worth tens of billions a year could grow out of government-funded research already underway and facilities like the U.S. Space Shuttle and planned International Space Station that exist or are soon to be built, a joint study by NASA and a variety of private aerospace and tourism industry representatives has concluded.
The U.S. Air Force's 509th Bomb Wing is getting ready for the first operational readiness inspections of its B-2 bombers. A nuclear ORI is slated for later this year, and a conventional ORI is planned in about 14 months. The ORIs will determine if the Air Combat Command unit is capable of performing its nuclear and conventional missions. Successful completion will "give a great deal of confidence and credibility to the system" and prove it can do its job, said Brig. Gen. Tom Goslin, commander of the 509th.
Ballistic Missile Defense Organization Director Lt. Gen. Lester L. Lyles insisted yesterday that "we are not backing off" from the Clinton Administration's "three-plus-three" strategy for the National Missile Defense program. The strategy calls for a decision to deploy the system in 2000, and deployment itself in 2003 if the decision is favorable. "We are sticking by three-plus-three," Lyles told a Capitol Hill breakfast meeting on missile defense sponsored by the National Defense University Foundation and the National Defense Industrial Association.
ODETICS COMMUNICATIONS DIV. will supply the solid state recorder for Japan's Unmanned Space Experiment Recovery System (USERS) under a contract awarded by Mitsubishi Electric Corp. (MELCO). Odetics will provide an SSR- 1600 recorder that will be mounted in the USERS Service Module, which will orbit the Earth for three years after its launch aboard an H-2A rocket. The mission will also carry a Reentry Module that will return to Earth.
A mission planning error forced one of two B-2 bombers deploying to this Pacific island base from the U.S. on March 23-24 to jettison half its bombs rather than dispensing them as planned.
Toronto-based Orenda Recip, Inc., won Transport Canada certification for its OE-600A high-output V-8 aviation engine, clearing the way for rapid action on a host of Supplemental Type Certificate (STC) mods built around the new power plant within the next six months. Certification had slipped twice before, to solve early teething problems - including troubles with the crankshaft - as well as to add features requested by potential customers (DAILY, Aug. 22, 1995, AP, Nov. 21, 1996).
PANAMSAT has picked Hughes to build its PAS-6B direct-to-home platform, which will serve South America with a 7-kilowatt payload of 32 Ku-band transponders. The HS 601HP satellite will carry a xenon ion propulsion system and dual-junction gallium arsenide solar cells, which will provide a 15-year service life. The satellite will be launched on an Ariane 4 vehicle before the end of the year.
RAYTHEON CO. has sold two more of its Highly Integrated Surveillance and Reconnaissance System (HISAR) radars to the U.S. Army to support its Airborne Reconnaissance Low-Multi-mission (ARL-M) program. The Army fielded the first two Moving Target Indicator/Synthetic Aperture Radar (MTI/SAR) systems for the ARL-M program in Korea in September 1996. The service has bought a total of five HISAR radars for the ARL-M program to date. Another HISAR variant currently is in flight test for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency's Global Hawk unmanned aerial vehicle.
HUGHES SPACE AND COMMUNICATIONS International will supply two HS 702 model satellites to American Mobile Radio Corp., which will use them to beam high-quality digital radio signals to receivers in the U.S. The satellites will be delivered on orbit in April and August 2000, carrying high-power digital S-band Digital Audio Radio Service (DARS) payloads built by France's Alcatel Espace. American Mobile Radio also has an option for a third satellite, Hughes said. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
First demonstrations of an unmanned aerial vehicle at a major air show are underway at the FIDAE 98 show in Chile. Israel Aircraft Industries' Malat unit is demonstrating the Eye-View tactical UAV at the show near Santiago. An IAI spokesman said yesterday that the company has tried for some time to demonstrate UAVs at such shows, and that it scored a first at FIDAE.
The handful of Block 30 B-2 bombers in the U.S. Air Force's inventory have far fewer maintenance problems with their low observable materials than earlier model B-2s. The older Block 20s average about 40 write-ups per mission, while the newer Block 30s have between 10 and 15, an AF official told The DAILY here Wednesday. A write-up is a material anomaly that must be treated because it can increase the bomber's radar cross section.
The House Appropriations Committee approved a $2.29 billion fiscal 1998 defense and disaster supplemental, with the Republican majority putting it over by a vote of 29-21 but in a form that could make it difficult for the Administration to accept. Before passage Tuesday, the House voted for offsetting cuts in domestic discretionary funds with Republicans supporting and Democrats opposing the cuts. The Administration had proposed that there be no offsets.
Members of the Senate Armed Services airland subcommittee yesterday were clearly rattled by the U.S. Air Force's intention to award the contract for production of the first two F-22 fighters in December with only 4% of the development flight test program completed. The General Accounting Office says the award, for the two F-22s in Lot I and long-lead for the six in Lot II, should start almost a year later, in October 1999.
Australia's federal government has granted Kistler Aerospace Corp. "environmental approval" to launch its K-1 reusable launch vehicle from Woomera, South Australia, Kistler reported. Kistler plans to test fly the two-stage-to-orbit K-1, which is recovered by a combination of parachute and airbag, later this year. The Kirtland, Wash.-based company also may conduct launches from Woomera (DAILY, Feb. 23).
CHINA LAUNCHED two more Iridium low Earth orbit communications satellites yesterday, bringing to 51 the total number of operational Iridium satellites in orbit. Liftoff of the Long march 2C/SD vehicle carrying the satellites came 12:01 p.m. Wednesday EST, or 1:01 a.m. today local time at the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center. It was China's second Iridium launch.
Russia's Ministry of Economy announced a plan to reorganize a conglomerate of enterprises involved in development and production of Sukhoi combat aircraft The plan, unveiled last week, is geared towards ending a years-long dispute between the Moscow-based Sukhoi Design Bureau and remote production plants, as well as mollifying local authorities where the production plants are located.
Saab AB and Ericsson Saab Avionics AB have signed an agreement to develop and manufacture an advanced electronic warfare suite for the export version of the Saab British Aerospace Gripen multi-role fighter.
NORTHROP GRUMMAN'S Commercial Aircraft Div. signed an agreement with Boeing Commercial Aircraft Group extending through 2006 its contract for production of the center wing box section of the 767 jetliner at current production levels. The company has been producing the 16-by-24-foot center wing box since the program began in 1979.
