U.S. airworthiness regulators Wednesday moved to formalize a repetitive inspection requirement on BMW Rolls-Royce BR700 series turbofans recommended by the joint venture in a November service bulletin. A report of an engine compressor core fairing failure during engine ground runs on a Gulfstream V business jet prompted the action, FAA says, noting that "preliminary investigation indicates that the upper right compressor core fairing became detached and lodged in the engine bypass duct."
ARIANESPACE Flight 116, an Ariane 44L rocket carrying two satellites, is scheduled for the night of Feb. 26-27 between 22:44 and 00:21 GMT, according to Arianespace. It said the satellites are Arabsat 3A for the Arab League and Skynet 4E for the British Ministry of Defense. The launch will take place at Guiana Space Center in Kourou, French Guiana.
National Transportation Safety Board investigators are trying to determine whether flight control anomalies experienced this week by a MetroJet 737-200 are related to two unexplained crashes of 737s. The MetroJet 737, en route from Orlando, Fla., to Hartford, Conn., on Tuesday, was cruising about 260 knots at 33,000 feet on autopilot when the crew experienced an unintended control wheel deflection, the safety board said. The crew declared an emergency and landed at Baltimore/Washington International. No one was injured.
REGULUS LLC, a subsidiary of Lockheed Martin, extended its offer to buy up to 49% of the outstanding shares of common stock of Comsat Corp. for a third time. The new deadline is midnight EST on Monday, May 3, Lockheed Martin said yesterday. The offer originally was set to expire on Nov. 24, 1998, and has been extended twice. The extension was made because certain regulatory and shareholder approvals must still be obtained. Terms of the offer remain the same.
U.S. Navy Secretary Richard Danzig affirmed his commitment to aircraft acquisition plans yesterday but said he wants to balance research and development budgets for airplanes and ships. He told reporters at a breakfast in Washington that he plans to increase investments in ships. The fiscal year 2000 Navy budget asks $1.5 billion in R&D for aircraft carriers, up significantly from the 1970s, but still short of the $7 billion invested to date in the F/A-18E/F and $28 billion in the Joint Strike Fighter.
Aviall, the onetime overhauler now turned to parts distribution, may be a takeover target, institutional investment research firm JSA Research cautions.
The U.S. has invited Russian defense officials to Colorado to man a joint early warning center, Edward L. Warner, assistant secretary of defense for strategy and threat reduction, said yesterday. He returned earlier this week from a ten-day visit to Russia where he talked with defense officials about preparedness for Year 2000 computer problems and possible shared early warning of long-range missile launches.
Express package carrier United Parcel Service gave Pratt&Whitney the nod to power as many as 75 new Airbus Industrie A300 freighters, a deal worth about $3 billion including a long-term engine maintenance agreement, P&W reported yesterday. Deliveries of the PW4158-powered A300F4-600Rs start in mid-2000. Firm orders cover 30 twin-engine aircraft, and UPS holds options for another 45 planes. Options would extend the delivery timetable into 2009.
Moody's Investors Service said it has upgraded $200 million in United Defense Industries' notes, as well as $725 million in bank facilities. It also upgraded the company's senior implied rating. Moody's said the outlook for the company, which supplies tracked armored combat vehicles and weappon delivery system to the U.S. Army, is stable.
Expressions of interest were invited by the U.K. Ministry of Defense this month in a follow-on five-year contract for "an airborne parachuting platform service." The effort it part of the MOD's competitive tender and privatization policy. Although unlikely to attract widespread interest, the proposed renewal acknowledges the cost-effectiveness of the initial contract, won by Hunting Commercial Services (HCS) nearly five years ago for support of No. 1 Parachute Training School at RAF Brize Norton.
The first group of AH-64A Apache helicopter maintainers from the Royal Netherlands Air Force (RNLAF) has completed its training, Boeing reported. Seven maintainers began classes in Mesa, Ariz., in mid-January and completed their hands-on training this month, Boeing said yesterday. Six pilots from the Netherlands began training on Jan. 25 and will finish in March. These are the first international pilots and maintainers to be trained on the next generation AH-64D.
ASIASAT 3S SATELLITE has arrived at Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, and is scheduled for launch by a Russian Proton rocket on March 17, according to Asia Satellite Telecommunications Co. Ltd of Hong Kong. The company said the satellite, its fourth, arrived at Baikonur on Feb. 20 aboard a chartered heavy-lift aircraft. It said launch is planned for 23:57 GMT on March 17. The satellite, a Hughes HS601HP model, will be deployed at 105.5 degrees East longitude to replace AsiaSat 1.
More than 2,700 fighter and attack aircraft with a value of $129.1 billion are expected to be built worldwide between 1999 and 2008, Teal Group analysts predict. The world fighter market has seen some grim years recently, but predictions of a drastic collapse have not taken place, analysts of the Fairfax, Va., consulting firm said in their latest world fighter/attack aircraft production forecast.
Orbital Sciences Corp. has been selected by the University of Colorado at Boulder to develop and build the $22.8 million Total Irradiance Mission (TSIM) satellite.
Ballistic Missile Defense Organization Director Lt. Gen. Lester Lyles yesterday testified that the realignment of the National Missile Defense program from the original "three-plus-three" plan to a "one-plus-five" approach with the addition of funds and testing has changed the outlook for the system from "exceedingly high risk" to "still high risk."
BFGoodrich said it has formed an independent team to review activities and conditions at its Everett, Wash., aircraft maintenance facility, which some media reports have said could contribute to an airliner accident. Seattle newspapers quoted an FAA inspector as saying conditions at the facility were "ripe for setting up a catastrophic air carrier accident."
POLAND'S LOT airline has placed firm orders for six Embraer ERJ-145 regional jets and six options in a transaction valued at about US$200 million, Embraer announced. First delivery is set for July 1999. Embraer Chief Executive Mauricio Botelho said the deal was the company's first ERJ-145 transaction involving an Eastern European country. LOT becomes the seventh European operator of the aircraft.
Replacement of the British Aerospace Bulldog primary trainer in the Royal Air Force's 15 University Air Squadrons (UAS) and 12 Air Experience Flights (AEF) is scheduled to start later this year with the Grob G-115E. The Ministry of Defense on Jan. 30 awarded a 10-year Private Finance Initiative contract for the new aircraft worth over $165 million to the Bombardier Services (U.K.) group, which was selected for the job last year (DAILY, June 19).
Aeromet International Corp., a U.K.-based unit of Pacific Aerospace&Electronics Inc., Wenatchee, Wash., received orders valued at more than $6 million for complex, lightweight metal products. Aeromet's Foundry and Forming Divisions will provide products for European aerospace customers such as British Aerospace, Rolls-Royce, DaimlerChrysler, Aerospatiale, Shorts and Aermacchi, Pacific Aerospace said yesterday
The U.S. military service chiefs yesterday told the House Armed Services Committee that even after the Clinton Administration's $12.6 billion plus-up of national security funds in fiscal year 2000, they still have about $8.3 billion in unmet needs, $3.2 billion of which is in modernization. But Rep. John Spratt (S.C.), a senior member of HASC who is also ranking Democrat on the House Budget Committee, said it would be "extremely difficult" to increase defense spending beyond President Clinton's request.
Boeing passed the third formal review of its Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) program with "flying colors" last week, company executives said yesterday. "The program is on schedule, on budget and has the ability and will to fly two demonstrators," said Richard D. Hearney, Boeing's vice president of military aircraft and missile systems group.
Boeing Co. has begun a review of all its programs against a common baseline measure, looking to maximize the value of profitable programs and fix or jettison those it considers to be "value destroying," company executives told reporters yesterday.
LOCKHEED MARTIN said it has delivered the Landsat-7 satellite to NASA at Vandenberg AFB, Calif. Launch is planned for April 15. Sal Capodici, VP Delaware Valley Operations for Lockheed Martin Missiles&Space, said "It is very satisfying to have completed work on the Landsat-7 spacecraft and moved it to Vandenberg in preparation for launch." Delaware Valley employees have built all seven Landsats since the program started in 1972.
