ARPA and the Army's Medical Advanced Technology Management Office, Ft. Detrick, Md., are developing personal status monitors (PSMs) to track the health of soldiers on the battlefield. The wristwatch-like devices monitor body temperature, heart rate and movement and transmit the data, along with GPS-derived position coordinates, by radio to field commanders - much the way the biomedical telemetry units work for the astronauts. Why aren't they being used in Bosnia? "They weren't ready in time," said a Ft. Detrick spokesman.
Discussion of a business plan for 1996 by the Board of Directors of Perm Motors Joint Stock Company, manufacturer of first- stage engines for the Proton launcher and of the PS-90A aircraft engine, has erupted into a power struggle among leaders of the company.
Transportation Secretary Federico Pena will make a major announcement about the Administration's position on developing an intelligent transportation system for surface vehicles this afternoon at the 75th annual meeting of the Transportation Research Board. According to the National Research Council, the speech will deal with a deployment strategy and system goals.
Singapore's Channel KTV has signed up with PanAmSat to beam its unique Chinese-language Karaoke service across Asia via the U.S. commercial satellite company's PAS-2 satellite. KTV will supply voice- optional music videos two separate Chinese feeds in Mandarin and Cantonese to markets in Taiwan, Hong Kong and the People's Republic. Beginning in February he service will uplink from Singapore for relay via PanAmSat's high-power Ku band Northeast Asia spot beam to sing-along customers using small antennas, according to PanAmSat.
REFLECTONE INC., Tampa, Fla., has won a $2 million contract from the U.S. Air Force Air Combat Command for academic and simulator instruction to German Air Force F-4E aircrews at Holloman AFB, N.M. The contract includes courseware development and performance options for five years.
The Pentagon still is mulling the idea of mounting lasers on unmanned aerial vehicles to carry out ballistic missile defenses, but the concept still isn't practicable, according to Col. Bruce Gillett, Air Force requirements chief for theater missile defense. "We're not ready yet to have something out there that has a speed-of-light killing mechanism that operates on its own," he says in an interview Friday.
A sobered Airbus Industrie will look hard this year at how to fill gaps in its product line quickly - particularly in the large, long-range segment where rival Boeing went unchallenged in 1995 - in the wake of last week's embarrassing slide against Boeing in the year-end tally of new aircraft orders.
McDonnell Douglas is preparing for drop testing of F/A-18E/F ground test articles and is flying its early prototypes in preparation of the flight test program to begin in February at Naval Air Warfare Center, Patuxent River, Md. MDC laid out its test schedule for the F/A-18E/F Super Hornets in a press release announcing the first flight of its second prototype, designated E-2 (DAILY, Jan. 2), which took place Dec. 26 at MDC's St. Louis facility. It flew for one hour and 45 minutes piloted by Fred Madenwald, who also piloted E-1 during its first flight.
LEIGH AEROSYSTEM CORP., Carlsbad, Calif., won an $8.2 million contract Dec. 22 for a subscale system of an explosive neutralization advanced technology demonstration beach zone array system. The contract was awarded by Naval Sea Systems Command. The Dept. of Defense said 44 proposals were solicited and one offer was received.
Boeing booked more than three times the new jetliner orders as rival Airbus Industrie in 1995, even though the European consortium enjoyed the strongest revenue performance of its 25-year history. Delivering 124 aircraft to 30 customers, Airbus posted $9.6 billion in sales for 1995, more than $1 billion ahead of 1994's pace. But Airbus only won $7 billion in new orders for 106 aircraft, compared with 346 jetliners worth more than $31 billion for Boeing.
LORAL FEDERAL SYSTEMS CO., Manassas, Va., won a competition to supply one AN/BQG-5(V) passive sonar receiving set and related equipment and services. The effort, under an $18.5 million contract announced by the Dept. of Defense on Dec. 27, will be completed by December 1998. Twenty-five proposals were solicited and two offers received. The contract was awarded by U.S. Naval Sea Systems Command.
McDONNELL DOUGLAS is scheduled to launch the Republic of Korea's second telecommunications satellite Jan. 14 atop a Delta II booster, the company reported. Liftoff of the Koreasat-2 payload is scheduled for 5:27 a.m. EST from Cape Canaveral Air Station, Fla. The new platform will join Koreasat- 1, launched in August 1995 (DAILY, Aug. 11, 1995; Sept. 1, 1995).
OCEANEERING TECHNOLOGIES INC., Upper Marlboro, Md., has won a $5.2 million contract for operation and maintenance of the U.S. Navy's deep ocean search and recovery and remotely operated vehicle assets. If all options are exercised, the cumulative value of the contract would be $26 million, according to the Dept. of Defense. The contract, announced by the Dept. of Defense on Dec. 22, was awarded by U.S. Naval Sea Systems Command.
Germany's struggling Daimler-Benz hopes to return to profitability this year, after two years of hemorrhaging at the hands of a weak dollar and bloated corporate structure. Company executives quoted in Bonn press reports repeated forecasts of huge 1995 losses, but contended that restructuring plans already underway, coupled with the beginnings of recovery in the aerospace market, should improve 1996 results.
Officials on the FAA's Reliability Assessment Board - the body that gives thumbs-up or down to enginemakers' requests for extended twin operations (ETOPS) clearance - will probably give General Electric the go- ahead this month to begin its crucial 1,000-cycle flight test series on the GE90, but early ETOPS probably won't be granted without additional ground test runs, sources told DAILY affiliate Aerospace Propulsion.
GENERAL DYNAMICS' Electric Boat Div., Groton, Conn., received a $30 million modification to a previously awarded contract from Naval Sea Systems Command to fabricate hull structures and assemblies for the Seawolf class attack submarine. The Dept. of Defense announced the contract on Dec. 22.
The U.S. Air Force is asking contractors to propose different approaches to attacking an enemy's tactical missile launch capability from approximately 500 miles away. The Air Force Wright Laboratory's armament directorate, Eglin AFB, Fla., has asked contractors to respond by Feb. 12 to its request for trade studies on rapid-reaction counter weapons, or time-critical target technology, that can be fired at short notice, according to a Commerce Business Daily announcement published today.
Stephen R. Hardis has been elected chairman of the board. Hardis, succeeds William E. Butler, who has announced his retirement at the end of 1995. Brian R. Bachman was named to the newly created position of senior vice president-semiconductor and specialty systems. Bachman joins the company from Philips Electronics N. V., where he was vice president and general manager for the Standard Products Business Group of Philips Semiconductor, Sunnyvale, Calif.
