The camera which will track ballistic missiles at long range for the Airborne Laser (ABL) aircraft was delivered Sept. 21 by Intevac of Santa Clara, Calif. Labeled the world's most sensitive camera by the U.S. Air Force, the electron bombarded charge-coupled device system can operate at a high camera frame rate in extremely low-light conditions. It runs at a 20-kilohertz frame rate - 40 million times faster than most home film cameras.
The House Transportation Committee yesterday followed its aviation subcommittee and gave overwhelming voice vote approval to a resolution that calls the European Commission ban on hushkitted aircraft unfair to the U.S. House approval is expected soon, perhaps as early as next week.
U.S. and foreign carriers flying to the U.S. are ahead of mandatory noise and emissions reduction deadlines for aircraft weighing more than 75,000 pounds, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration reports. FAA says 7,438 airplanes are affected by the Stage 3 regulations. The regulation required all affected carriers to have 75% of their fleets in compliance by the end of last year. So far, 86% comply and the agency expects all to be Stage 3-compliant by the Jan. 1, 2000, deadline for 100% compliance.
Rotary Rocket's Roton Atmospheric Test Vehicle (ATV) has completed a second piloted flight test, hovering 20 feet above a California runway with its tip-powered rotors as the startup launch services company continues development of its unique reusable launch vehicle concept. The ATV flew for four-and-a-half minutes Sept. 16, Rotary Rocket announced yesterday. During the test the pilot and co-pilot evaluated the performance of higher-thrust rotor tip rockets and a newly installed automatic throttle designed to reduce cockpit workload.
Stellex Technologies Inc., New York, entered into an agreement to act as a preferred strategic supplier to multiple divisions of Raytheon, Stellex reported. Orders under separate agreement are expected to total at least $115 million over four years. The companies will work together to identify products to be made by Stellex. The companies also will share related business information and technology in order to develop and expand new business opportunities. Initiatives will include identifying cost reduction opportunities and quality initiatives.
Japan's National Space Development Agency has postponed the next flight of the H-2 rocket until November to give time for repairs on two malfunctioning systems and a "special review" to ensure the success of the mission. Engineers discovered an out-of-position sensor in the first stage liquid hydrogen tank, which had caused a delay earlier this month (DAILY, Sept. 14), and also found a short circuit in a second stage control battery. Agency managers have decided to replace the batteries, which will require new batteries to be manufactured, NASDA said.
British Airways will be the launch customer for a new Boeing service to manage airline supply chains for expendable spare parts used on aircraft built by the Seattle manufacturer, Boeing and BA announced yesterday. The new service, called the "Global Airline Inventory Network," is "designed to attack costly inventory inefficiencies in the airline industry, where both airlines and suppliers incur extra costs because of duplicated distribution channels and unnecessary inventory levels," Boeing said.
CORDANT TECHNOLOGIES said 1999 earnings will be below analysts' estimates due to a drop in business from the commercial aircraft market. James Wilson, chairman and chief executive officer, said that "at Huck and Howmet, the decline in the commercial aircraft markets, primarily as a result of significant inventory adjustments at our OEM customers, has exceeded our internal estimates." The company's stock dropped $7.25 to close at $34.88.
AlliedSignal Inc. has won a 10-year, $175 million contract for auxiliary power unit (APU) repair and overhaul services for Continental Airlines current and future fleet of 737, 757, 767, 777 and DC-10 model aircraft. The company said yesterday that the maintenance service agreement will cover more than 400 existing APUs in the present Continental fleet as well as new APUs on future aircraft purchases.
Boeing is investigating two possible failure modes for its Delta III space launch vehicle as part of a return-to-flight plan designed to get the big new rocket off the ground in the first quarter of 2000, a company spokesman said yesterday.
The U.S. Army's Enhanced Fiber Optic Guided Missile (EFOGM), intended to defeat tanks, helicopters and other high value targets, underwent its first full flight test Monday with soldier gunner and a live tactical warhead. In the night test at White Sands Missile Range, N.M., the weapon's imaging infrared seeker detected and tracked the target and the warhead detonated on impact after a flight of 6.2 kilometers, according to Raytheon Co., which is developing the system.
The Senate yesterday passed, by a vote of 93-5, the fiscal year 2000 defense authorization bill with a provision that could result in a White House veto. The bill provides $288.8 billion, $8.3 billion more than the Administration's request. The Senate, like the House, left intact a controversial provision reorganizing the Dept. of Energy. The White House has threatened to veto the bill because of the provision.
Pratt&Whitney will absorb about 40% of the $1.15 billion in United Technologies restructuring charges for 1999, UTC Chairman and Chief Executive Officer George David said yesterday.
Boeing executives told suppliers of products for the company's commercial airplanes that they and the company will benefit by working more closely. "Fifty percent of our total production costs come from our suppliers," said Russ Bunio, vice president and general manager of Boeing Commercial Airp-lanes Group's Material Div. "Without a doubt, you are integral to the success of our business. Your products must continue to provide Boeing and our airline customers with the greatest value at an affordable price."
A SOYUZ ROCKET operated by the Franco-Russian Starsem partnership launched four more Globalstar low-Earth orbit satellites from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan yesterday, bringing to 40 the number of spacecraft in orbit for the "Big LEO" operator founded by Loral Space&Communications. Liftoff came at 10:33 a.m. EDT.
BFGoodrich has acquired a small satellite-component manufacturer in Ithaca, N.Y., in what it calls a "strategic move" toward a larger role for its space systems business. The Charlotte, N.C.-based company said yesterday Ithaco Space Systems will operate as part of the BFGoodrich Aerospace Data Systems, designing and manufacturing torque rods, reaction wheels and other spacecraft control hardware. The New York firm employs about 100 people and has sales in the $10-$15-million range.
The Fairchild Defense Div. of Orbital Sciences Corp., Dulles, Va., won a $23.6 million contract to supply an advanced version of its Data Transfer Equipment (DTE) to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) Air Force and Air Defense for their new Mirage 2000/9 aircraft.
U.S. Air Force F-16 fighters need about $800 million in structural repairs if they are to meet their life expectancy of 8,000 flight hours and the work will have to begin no later than 2002, according Maj. Gen. Claude Bolton, head of fighter and bomber programs in the AF acquisition office.
Fiscal 2000 NASA appropriations language expected to clear the Senate today would allow the U.S. space agency to tap International Space Station funds to pay for upgrades to the Space Shuttle, in recognition of the likelihood both that a replacement for the Shuttle won't be ready until the end of the next decade and that the lagging Station assembly schedule won't be hurt by the loss of funds in the coming fiscal year.
FIRST COMMERCIAL LAUNCH of the Boeing-led Sea Launch venture has been set for Oct. 10 from a point on the Equator 1,400 miles south of Hawaii, according to a spokesman for KB Yuzhnoye, the Ukrainian partner in the venture and designer of the Zenit rocket it launches from a converted ocean-going oil platform. The Reuters news agency reported the date yesterday, as Sea Launch prepared to announce it this afternoon at Long Beach, Calif.
Boeing mechanics have attached the single-piece wing of the X-32B aircraft to its fuselage, marking a major step in assembly of the company's Joint Strike Fighter concept demonstrator plane. The wing mate took place Sept. 20 at the company's Palmdale, Calif., facility. Boeing said assembly of the wing for the X-32B took one-third less time than its predecessor, the X-32A.
CORRECTION: A Defense Support Program satellite wound up in an improper orbit during an April 9 launch of a Titan IVB rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Station, Fla., because tape around an interstage connector did not permit proper separation of the connector. The Aerospace Daily monthly letter to subscribers, dated Sept. 15, failed to mention the tape, and said incorrectly that the connector failed to separate.
