HUGHES AIRCRAFT CO., El Segundo, Calif., said it has received three technology maturation contracts, valued at $9.4 million, for the Joint Advanced Strike Technology program, bringing to six the number of JAST contracts it has received.
The Pentagon may temporarily fall short of being able to fill a requirement to airlift 49-52 million ton miles a day in the early days of a war once the C-141 is retired, Gen. Robert Rutherford, U.S. Transportation Command chief, said Friday.
An Ariane 40 rocket operating without strap-on boosters successfully launched the European Space Agency's second remote sensing satellite into a sunsynchronous Thursday evening from Kourou, French Guiana, the Arianespace launch consortium reported. The ERS-2 satellite is designed to provide space-based observation of ocean environments, ice caps, coastal and land areas. The 5,535-pound spacecraft was built in Germany by Daimler-Benz Aerospace and is based on the multimission platform developed for France's Spot observation program.
BRITAIN's Defense Research Agency, Farnborough, U.K., has ordered the three-processor 200 megahertz version of Concurrent Computer Corp.'s Maxion multiprocessor, Concurrent said. It will be used to evaluate missile system tests and aide in the R&D of advanced systems. The agency will link the processor to a missile simulator to provide the real-time responses that are required in missile simulations.
Richard Hyman, formerly vice president for Noise Cancellation Technologies, Inc. in Stamford, Conn., has been named to the newly created position vice president, corporate accounts.
The Navy is eager to replace Joint Advanced Strike Technology Director Air Force Brig. Gen. George Muellner, who is expected to become the Air Force principal acquisition deputy by the end of the summer, with another Air Force official, industry sources say.
The U.S. Navy is launching a study to determine the real cost per flight hour of the aircraft it operates, according to a Naval Air Systems Command official. Lou Fusco, NavAir's director of Business Operations Logistics Competency, said the Air Force's figure of about $12,000 per flight hour is probably more accurate than the figure of about $4,300 used by the Navy today. The study will try to assess the "true cost," Fusco said Thursday at a conference in Arlington, Va.
NASA and the Chicago Fire Dept. have signed an agreement that will transfer technology developed for space exploration to firefighting applications. Potential emergency devices that could result include a personnel locator to keep track of firefighters during operations; sensors to read the vibration "signature" of damaged structures to warn if collapse is imminent, and possibly a portable breathing device based on liquid oxygen.
Hawley also denies that the AF is worried about the F- 22's energy maneuverability, saying he expects this performance characteristic to improve throughout development because the engine produces more thrust that the specification requires. "We can trade that [thrust] off with other things like specific fuel consumption and weight," Hawley said. Last week, he defended the aircraft's weight growth and said the AF was thinking about relaxing subsonic range and sustain turn performance requirements (DAILY, April 20, page 106).
Donald E. Scott was appointed vice president of government relations for the government sector organization of GTE Government Systems Corp. Scott succeeds Richard W. "Corky" Smartt who retired in February.
David J. Matthews III was promoted to vice president, government and international operations, replacing William R. McClain who has retired from the company.
Don't expect much out of the bi-partisan commission reviewing the future of U.S. intelligence until after the summer. The 17- member commission, headed by former Defense Secretary Les Aspin, is undergoing closed briefings, and isn't planning public hearings until the fall. Sources say some of the members need to be brought up to full speed on all issues facing the intelligence community today before they recommend how it should be restructured. The panel's report is due in March 1996.
David W. Welp, former senior vice president, has been appointed executive vice president. Lawrence G. Schmidt, former vice president, was appointed senior vice president.
McDonnell Douglas' F-15D demonstrator last week showed off the F-15E Eagle's manned tactical reconnaissance capability by flying an ATARS suite in a conformal pod, according to MDC. The 1.6-hour test last Wednesday from St. Louis, the first of six or eight company-funded flights, proved the airframe's compatibility with electro-optical (EO) linear array-type recce systems and gathered several high-resolution tactical images, MDC said.
The Teal Group, a defense and aerospace market analysis firm, has faulted the Chinese government for making "unsubstantiated accusations of sabotage" following the Jan. 26 failure of the Long March CZ-2E booster to launch the Apstar 2 satellite. In a new historical report on space launch and payload failures, Teal didn't take sides in the dispute over whether the satellite or Long March launcher was to blame for the Dec. 21, 1992, loss of the Optus B2 satellite.
Aerospace companies which reported their quarterly financial results last week are turning in not only profit growth-now familiar to aerospace- watchers as companies have attacked costs-but revenue growth, which the industry's bankers think is an encouraging sign. "Everyone's happy with profit growth, but after years of profits from efficiencies, you like to see your clients actually make some money," quipped a VP with a major aerospace lender.
First firing of the Theater High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missile was conducted Friday at White Sands Missile Range, N.M., the U.S. Army said. "It flew, and it flew perfectly," an Army spokesman said, adding that it was an "exceptionally clean test." The test was initially scheduled for last September but problems, including integration incompatibilities between Lockheed's THAAD missile and launcher, delayed the launch (DAILY, April 10, page 45).
Ron Whillock has been named vice president-human resources. Whillock replaces Terry Powell, who has been named vice president-human resources for the Lockheed Martin Information and Technology Services Sector, Bethesda, Md.
Due out this week is the long-delayed NASA safety report on the severe allergic reaction astronaut Bonnie Dunbar suffered last October when she was administered two chemicals designed to trace kidney function (DAILY, Nov. 4, 1994, page 185). Laurie Boeder, NASA's chief spokesperson, said Friday that officials at Johnson Space Center, where the chemicals were administered, have returned the draft report to agency headquarters with their comments, and the team of safety and spaceflight managers who drafted it expect to finish their work by the end of the month.
Andreas Breitsprecher has been appointed vice-president press and information. Breitsprecher succeeds Christian Poppe, who was appointed senior vice-president communications as part of the change in the presidency of Daimler-Benz Aerospace AG.
