The U.S. holds the lead in arms transfer agreements with countries in the Near East, which continues to be the largest developing world arms market even though overall arms sales there have shrunk since the late 1980s, according to a Congressional Research Service (CRS) report. The U.S. between 1993 and 1996 had 52% of arms transfer agreements with the Near East, with its closest competitor, France, holding 27.9% and Russia 10.7%, CRS reported in "Conventional Arms Transfers to Developing Nations, 1989-1996."
Leo S. Mackay, Jr. has been appointed vice president of business development&strategic planning at Bell Helicopter Textron, a subsidiary of Textron Inc.
Rockwell International Corp. will close its regional corporate office in Pittsburgh over the next two years and move personnel and operations to California and Wisconsin. Don Davis, president and chief operating officer and CEO-designate, said the divestiture of Rockwell's aerospace and defense and graphic systems business, and the spinoff of the automotive unit in September, sparked the move. He said Rockwell, based in Seal Beach, Calif., will become "an electronics company focused on control and communications products."
Mir's crew repaired the central computer on the aging Russian space station yesterday and began restarting the systems knocked out when it failed on Monday, setting the stage for a Friday attempt to restore power generated by the damaged Spektr module. Cosmonauts Anatoly Solovyev and Pavel Vinogradov and U.S. Astronaut Michael Foale replaced a faulty data processing unit with a spare and reinitialized the central computer, bringing Mir's automatic attitude control system back on line, U.S. and Russian officials said.
The U.S. Navy's procurement of off-the-shelf technology to modernize its fleet of F-14 fighters got a positive review from the General Accounting Office. In a report to Defense Secretary William Cohen titled "Navy Aviation: F-14 Modernization Initiatives Should Enhance the Aircraft's Operational Performance" (GAO/NSIAD-97-233R), GAO said the LANTIRN program for precision-strike capability, a digital flight control system and enhanced reconnaissance capability were all effective, and made no recommendations for further action.
The U.S. Air Force's first C-32A, a slightly modified Boeing 757-200, entered its first stage of manufacturing late last month at Boeing's production facility in Wichita, Kans. The assembly of section 41, the forward fuselage, has been completed. Following completion of the other aircraft components, the fuselage sections will be shipped to Renton, Wash., for final assembly.
Terry R. Lee has been named to the position of country manager in India. Keith Linwood Young has been appointed to the position of country manager and business development manager in Korea.
Motorola Space and Systems Technology Group (SSTG), Scottsdale, Ariz., won a $7.1 million contract from the U.S. Army to design, develop, build and test 148 stand-alone Combat Identification-Dismounted Soldier (CIDDS) systems over 24 months. Motorola said the system, used to distinguish between friendly and unfriendly forces, is composed of two components.
Richard P. Burrell has been named president of Dynamic Controls HS and vice president of Flight Systems. Arthur W. Lucas has been named vice president of engineering. Mohammed A. Sattar has been named vice president propulsion systems. Joseph E. Triompo has been named vice president engine controls and accessories. Donald R. Tetreault has been named vice president, business development and marketing.
China's Long March 3B orbited a Philippine communications satellite yesterday in its first launch attempt since a deadly on-pad explosion killed a number of villagers and destroyed the Intelsat 708 spacecraft. Space Systems/Loral, which built the Agila 2 satellite for Mabuhay Philippines Satellite Corp., said the launch came at 1:50 a.m. local time Aug. 20 (1:50 p.m. EDT yesterday) from the Xichang launch site in China's Sichuan Province, and declared the launch a success.
Litton's Laser Systems unit, Woodland Hills, Calif., has received a $9.2 million U.S. Army contract to proceed with development of the Lightweight Laser Designator Rangefinder (LLDR) for the U.S. Army and Marine Corps. Litton said the contract is for a 30-month engineering and manufacturing development (EMD) program, which will be carried out at its facility in Apopka, Fla. The order could exceed more than 1,000 systems, with production to begin in fiscal year 2000.
Brunei agreed to buy three more Indonesian-made CN-235 aircraft, bringing its total order to eight, according to press reports from Jakarta over the weekend. Brunei took delivery of its fifth CN-235 Thursday. The agreement was reached Friday during a meeting between Brunei Armed Forces Commander Dato Paduka Seri Haji Husin Ahmad and Indonesian State Minister for Research and Technology Bj. Habibie. The aircraft is jointly produced by Indonesia's Nusantara Aircraft Industry and Casa of Spain.
