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Aviation History
1997
1997 - 3251.PDF
INDUSTRY Honeywell is close to gaining DGPS system certification ANDRZEJ JEZIORSKI/MUNICH HONEYWELL HAS carried out a flight inspection of its SLS-2000 satellite landing system (SLS) and expects to gain approval for initial Special Category I (SCAT I) operations by January 1998. Flight inspection will take place at Newark, using a Honeywell- owned Cessna Citation V business jet. The first user will be Cont inental Airlines, which will initially operate one specially equipped Boeing MD-80 to Minneapolis and Newark airports, where the necessary ground stations have already been installed. Continental will have to fly a series of satellite approaches with its MD-80 at both these airports to qualify for standard type certifica tion before operational approval, says Honeywell. Although the initial approval will only cover the airline's use of the equipment at these two air ports, it will be a significant mile stone towards eventual public-use approval, says Honeywell, which is working widi United Airlines on a programme to equip the airline's fleet and validate the system. United will be the first airline to use a multi-mode receiver. Honeywell's SLS became the first satellite landing system to win FAA type acceptance on 6 August. The system is based on a differen tial global-positioning system (DGPS), developed jointly with Pelorus of Canada, which increas es the accuracy of satellite-signals fornavigation signals received by the aircraft with signals from the airport-based ground station. The system provides SCAT 1 guidance "to all runway ends with in a 30nm [55km| radius" of the ground station. In future, the sys tem will be Category I and II capa ble with growth to Category III, enabling variable-geometry preci sion approaches and departures. Honeywell hopes to begin broad casting public-use signals in 1998.U Raytheon trims its missile expenses RAYTHEON'S recently ac quired Texas Instruments (TI) defence division is to join forces with the group's existing Elec tronic Systems unit to work on die latest phase of a US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) effort to cut the cost of producing missiles. TI and Raytheon had completed the earlier concept-definition and risk-reduction phases indepen dently, but their efforts have been combined for the demonstration phase following Raytheon's $3 bil lion acquisition of TI, which won US Government approval in July. The two divisions will now join to provide 60% of the funding for the $100 million implementation and demonstration phase of DARPAs Affordable Multi-Missile Manufacturing (AM3) pro gramme, which aims to reduce the cost of ongoing missile-production projects by 25%, while reducing the development and production costs for new missiles by at least 50%. Halving development cycle- time is another programme goal. The AM3 project is focused on seekers and guidance-and-control units, which account for more than 60% of missile unit costs. • The second Comanche is approaching completion New alloy used in Comanche casting STARMFT AEROCAST has produced castings for the Boeing Sikorsky RAH-66 Coman che helicopter using its new Beral- cast beryllium-aluminium alloy. The complex investment castings will be used in the Comanche's Lockheed Martin electro-optical sensor system (EOSS). Massachusetts-based Stannet, which is under contract to produce diree ship-sets of 58 Beralcast parts for the Comanche EOSS, says that the new castable alloy is 25% lighter and three times stronger than aluminium. The alloy is mixed and cast at the same time using an induction- heated vacuum tilt/pour furnace. Development of the alloy, which has been co-funded by Lockheed Martin, was started under the US "Star Wars" ballistic-missile defence programme in an effort to find an alternative to beryllium for use in mirrors. Meanwhile, final assembly of the second scout-attack RAH-66 Comanche helicopter prototype is approaching completion at Sikorsky's plant in Stratford, Connecticut The aircraft will be delivered in December to the company's Development Flight Center in West Palm Beach, Florida, where it will join die first aircraft as a back up machine. • NEWS IN BRIEF M AVCORP ROBOTICS DEAL Canada's Avcorp Industries has signed a deal with Dassault's CRTI Robotique to develop and market the French automation unit's anthropometric assembly robots. In April 1998, Avcorp will install a robotic cell to automate the assembly of the fin and horizontal stabiliser of the Bombardier Canadair Regional Jet (CRJ) Series 700, allowing simultaneous riveting operations on both sides of the assembly. Boeing is also said to be "interested". • ATS RAN CONTROLLER Aerospace Technical Ser vices (ATS) has been con tracted by the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) to provide Smiths Industries night vision goggles-com patible standby attitude indi cators for its 15 Sikorsky S-70B-2 helicopters in a con tract worth AS 1.1 million ($764,000). • HAWK SIGHT-TESTED British Aerospace has started flight-testing a new helmet- mounted sight on a Hawk 200. The sight and optical tracker, respectively pro duced by UK companies Pilk- ington and Kentron, successfully performed sev eral target lock-ons, says BAe. • BOLD ENGINE DATA Boeing is to extend its Boeing On-Line Data (BOLD) system to engine maintenance. Digitised ver sions of the engine makers' shop manuals, illustrated parts catalogues and service bulletins for selected engine types will soon be accessible to airlines. • INMARSAT APPROVAL Canadian Marconi has re ceived Inmarsat approval for its CMA-2200 top-mounted Aero-I satellite-communica tions antenna, and installa tions are under way on Boeing 737-800s. FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 26 November - 2 December 1997 39
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