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UPDATE 
Week ending December 19, 1999
+++ Boeing unveils both X-32 JSF demonstrators +++ Eurocontrol monitors transition to the Year 2000 +++ Dasa to provide support for Bulgarian and Romanian MiG-29s +++ Shuttle launch delayed several times +++ Boeing unveils more orders for 1999 +++ Raytheon signs UK ASTOR contract +++ News in brief +++

Boeing unveils both X-32 JSF demonstrators
X-32 im Palmdale vorgestellt

On December 14, Boeing unveiled not one - but both - of its X-32 concept demonstrators for the JointStrike Fighter program at Palmdale. Boeing surprised observers by introducing its X-32B model along with the X-32A. The X-32B was started three months after work began on the A-model. The company will use both aircraft to demonstrate certain requirements for the operational JSF. The X-32 aircraft symbolize how affordable military aircraft will bedesigned and built in the 21st century. Boeing credited its team of employees, suppliers and customer officials -which it calls the "JSF One Team" - for their success in keeping the X-32s on track for first flight next spring and summer, respectively. One Team members also were commended for their financial and technical performance throughout the Boeing JSF program. "This is a great day," said Boeing Chairman and Chief Executive OfficerPhil Condit. "It's about people and processes. The JSF One Team is thefuture. This is a day that's about a design more efficient than anything done before. It's about international cooperation. It's about affordable products, lean manufacturing and first-time quality. It's about complete solutions. The Boeing JSF is the 21st-century tactical fighter."
An estimated 5,500 One Team members watched the ceremony as it was broadcast live via satellite and Webcast to Boeing, supplier and customer sites throughout the United States and in Great Britain and The Netherlands. The X-32 concept demonstrators will meet the JSF program's three concept-demonstration objectives: 1) demonstrate commonality across the variants, including design/build processes; 2) demonstrate the Boeing direct-lift propulsion concept for short takeoff/vertical landing (STOVL) hover and transition; and 3) demonstrate low-speed carrier approach flying qualities.

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Eurocontrol monitors transition to the Year 2000
Flugsicherung zum Milleniumswechsel

There is currently every indication from the 37 European Civil Aviation Conference (ECAC) States that they have all taken measures to minimise Y2K-related risks and to guarantee the safe and continuous provision of their Air Traffic Management services during and after the millennium changeover, Eurocontrol has claimed. Although each State is responsible, through its respective air traffic service provider, for making its systems Y2K-compliant, the importance of the joint measures undertaken by Eurocontrol, ECAC, IATA and ICAO to face this common challenge must be recognised, says the organisation. These organisations have helped to raise the level of Y2K awareness within the international aviation community by assessing States' progress in dealing with the issue and assisting them with the development of contingency plans and coordinating these at European level.
In this respect, Eurocontrol, ICAO and IATA have jointly established a European Regional Year 2000 Coordination Unit. This Unit, located at Eurocontrol's premises in Brussels, Belgium, will be monitoring the status of civil aviation operations and, in particular, air traffic services throughout the changeover period. It will facilitate the coordination of corrective action to make it possible to react with the minimum delay and with the least impact on air traffic service units and aircraft operators, should the need arise. To this end, it will liaise with the various Year 2000 National Coordination Units established by States in Europe and the other ICAO worldwide Coordination Units.
Traffic patterns over the transition period are expected to be significantly lower than in previous years. On New Year's Eve about 50 aircraft are expected to be airborne over Europe during the critical rollover period: less than half the number recorded in 1998 and about one twentieth of the peak hourly traffic on a winter's day.

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Dasa to provide support for Bulgarian and Romanian MiG-29s
Unterstützung für MiG-29 durch die Dasa

With the signing of a product support agreement for initially four Romanian MiG-29 fighter aircraft, the German-Russian joint venture MAPS (MiG Aircraft Product Support GmbH) has succeeded in breaking into the central and south-east European market. This was announced by the German member of the consortium, DaimlerChrysler Aerospace AG (Dasa, Munich), on December 13. The aim of the agreement concluded with the Romanian partner company Aerostar is to achieve a three-year increase in the times between overhauls for the aircraft of the Romanian Air Force by employing Western state-of-the-art test and maintenance procedures.
On December 2, 1999, Dasa's Military Aircraft Division, actingon behalf of MAPS, and TEREM SHC, the largest Bulgarianmilitary machine and appliance stock company, have reached a teaming agreement to jointly bid for the modernisation and life-extension of the MiG-29 fleet of the Bulgarian Air Force. The document was signed at the Bulgarian Ministry ofDefense in Sofia and is based on the cooperation agreement on military and economic matters between the Bulgarian and German Ministries of Defense which became valid in June 1999.The Russian-built aircraft of the NATO and EU applicants Bulgaria and Romania will profit from the enormous know-how that has been gathered since MAPS was founded in 1993 to provide support for the 24 MiG-29 aircraft in service with the German Air Force.

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Shuttle launch delayed several times
NASA muss Shutle-Start mehrmals verschieben

The US space agency had no luck with its last Shuttle mission of the century. On Saturday, December 18, it was lousy weather which once again forced a deay in Discovery's flight to the Hubble Space Telescope. A last attempt could now to be made on Sunday. The mission has now been postponed no less than nine times, for reasons like faulty wiring, damaged engine and weather. In the last three days, every attempt was stopped. NASA called off Saturday night's launch attempt before fueling had even begun. Dark rain clouds hovered over the Kennedy Space Center as the announcement boomed over radios. Liftoff tentatively was rescheduled for 7:50 p.m. Sunday, with a final decision on whether to proceed expected in late morning. Forecasters put the chance of good weather at 60 percent.

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Boeing unveils more orders for 1999
Weitere Bestellungen für Boeing

On December 15, Boeing surprised the industry by unveiling 163 aircraft orders, boosting its total for 1999 to 368 orders, according to reports from the company. Boeing said the 163 orders, worth 9.5 billion U.S. dollars, had not been disclosed before at the request of customers. The announcement from the company's commercial airplanes division also includes a 2.6 billion-dollar-order for 20 airplanes placed by General Electric Co.'s GE Capital Aviation Services unit. Boeing's move appears designed to reduce Airbus's huge lead in jet orders for this year. Airbus has about 417 firm orders so far, nearly a 60 percent share of the companies' combined total. Of the 163 plane orders by unidentified customers, 132 are for 737s, 14 for 757s, 12 for 767s, four 777s and one 747.
The company said it expects to end the year with a record delivery of about 620 jetliners, compared with 563 deliveries last year. However, Boeing expects its production to drop by about 23 percent to about 480 planes in 2000.

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Raytheon signs UK ASTOR contract
ASTOR-Vertrag unterzeichnet

On December 17, Raytheon Systems Limited, the UK subsidiary of Raytheon, signed a contract for the UK Ministry of Defence's Airborne Stand Off Radar (ASTOR) program in a ceremony at the MoD's Defence Procurement Agency facility at Abbey Wood in Bristol. The contract signing follows nearly six months of detailed negotiations since the announcement in June that Raytheon had been selected as the preferred bidder for this (pound)800 million (US $1.3 billion) program. ASTOR is a radar surveillance system that provides day/night and all-weather imagery of the ground over a large area. The imagery can be analysed on board the aircraft and passed in near real-time to ground stations and other military systems. Sir Robert Walmsley, chief of Defence Procurement, said, "The right information delivered to the right place at the right time is crucial to the success of any military task. ASTOR will hugely improve our ability to know the situation on the ground." Approximately 2,500 jobs will be created or sustained in the UK under the Raytheon ASTOR program, with a potential for an additional 4,000 jobs created or sustained as a result of potential export opportunities. Approximately 100 companies throughout the UK, and particularly in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales, will participate in the program.

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NEWS IN BRIEF / KURZMELDUNGEN

Dr. Karl-Heinz Hartmann (48) has been appointed the new President of Military Aircraft at DaimlerChrysler Aerospace AG (Dasa, Munich). As Dasa announced , Hartmann, who is currently President of Mercedes-Benz of Argentina, will enter his new post at Ottobrunn on 1 January 2000. Dr. Karl-Heinz Hartmann will succeed Aloysius Rauen (42), who will leave Dasa on 1 January 2000 after five years as President of the Military Aircraft business unit to take up hisnew position as Head of Corporate Strategy at DaimlerChrysler AG in Stuttgart.Hartmann studied Mechanical Engineering at the Technical University of Hanover and subsequently worked as a scientific assistant at the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Materials Research. He was awarded a doctorate in Engineering by the University of Dortmund in 1980.Hartmann started in the aeronautical engineering business by joining Messerschmitt-Bölkow-Blohm (MBB) at Bremen in 1981.
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On December 14, SPACEHAB, Inc. SPACEHAB received a $4.2 million award from NASA for the launch of an Integrated Cargo Carrier (ICC) and two SPACEHAB Oceaneering Space Systems (SHOSS) boxes on ISS assembly flight 7A.1, currently scheduled for February 2001. This mission will mark the third flight of the ICC; the carrier's first flight was on NASA's Space Shuttle mission STS-96 earlier this year. With this award, NASA is exercising the first of six options added to the Research and Logistics Mission Support (REALMS) contract with SPACEHAB in October. The ICC, an externally mounted flat-bed pallet and associated flight support equipment, expands the Space Shuttle's capability to transport unpressurized cargo. SPACEHAB's SHOSS is an unpressurized "tool box" that is attached to the top of the ICC. ISS assembly flight 7A.1 will be the first flight of the ICC without a SPACEHAB pressurized module.
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SPACEHAB has announced an historic agreement with RSC Energia of Russia to establish the first permanent commercial presence in space. SPACEHAB and Energia will build a pressurized module, named Enterprise(TM), which will be attached to the ISS and dedicated to commercial uses. The first use will be an independent commercial television and Internet company providing a unique blend of space-originated news, information, education and entertainment programming, broadcasting from Enterprise(TM).
+++
On December 12, the U.S. Air Force launched the first of a new generation of military weather satellites aboard a Titan II rocket. Lockheed Martin provided both the satellite and the Titan II space launch vehicle. Lockheed Martin Missiles & Space, headquartered in Sunnyvale, Calif., built the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) Block 5D-3 spacecraft under contract to the U.S. Air Force and Denver, Colo.-based Lockheed Martin Astronautics provided the booster. The Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center at Los Angeles Air Force Base, Calif., manages the DMSP and Titan programs. This was the ninth consecutive successful launch of a Titan II space launch vehicle and the first since June 19, 1999. Titan IIs formerly served as intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), key elements of the nation's strategic deterrent for more than two decades. Titan IIs also launched 10 manned and two unmanned missions for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) during the Gemini program in the 1960s. The Titan II rocket launched today was one of 14 two-stage, liquid-fueled former ICBMs Astronautics refurbished for Air Force space launches. The DMSP Block 5D-3 series can accommodate larger sensor payloads than earlier generations. They also feature a larger power supply; a more powerful on-board computer with increased memory -- allowing greater spacecraft autonomy -- and increased battery power that will extend the mean mission duration.
+++
Empresa Brasileira de Aeronautica (Embraer) has announced the signature of a 200-million-dollar contract to provide China's Sichuan Airlines with 10 ERJ-145 commercial airliners. According to the terms of the contract, Sichuan will buy five airplanes and retain an option to purchase an additional five. The first delivery will take place on April 2000, according to Embraer officials, who added that the contract had special significance for the company since it was the first one with a Chinese company. The 50-passenger ERJ-145 has been Embraer's most successful model, and the company has sold 156 of them since 1996.
+++
LTU is on the search for furhter economies to improve financial performance. It will look at a closer cooperation with the SAir Group, which is part-owner of the company. Besides buying fuel together, a link with the Swissport subsidiary in ground handling is possible.
+++
Arianespace has ordered another 20 Ariane 5 launchers from Aerospatiale Matra. This boosts productin to 36 units. Deliveries will begin at the end of 2001. Most of the new rockets will be Ariane 5-E/CA with a payload capability of ten tonnes.
+++
The EU Commission has approved the 80 per cent loan guarantees of the Federal German Government and the State Government of Bavaria for two credits of 270 million and 80 million US-Dollars to Fairchild (i.e. Dornier Luftfahrt GmbH at Oberpfaffenhofen). The money will be used in the development of the 528/729/928 regional jet family.
+++
Dick James, president of Boeing Europe, has called for a halt of subsidies to Airbus. Now that the company is on a par with the US giant in the marketplace, these should no longer be necessary.
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The US Drug Enforcement Agency Aviatin Division has taken delivery of its first Pilatus PC-12. "This is a landmark day for Pilatus", said Chris Finoff, President of the US Pilatus Business Aircraft company. "Also noteworthy is that this acquisition followed the federal government mandated streamlined acquisition process. Total time from contract signing to pilot training to aircraft delivery was a remarkabel two months." The PC-12 will replace a Turbo Commander. More orders could come as the DEA updates its fleet.
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On December 15, Alenia Aerospazio delivered the first ATR 42MP to the Italian Customs Service. The aircraft is fully mission-ready in its maritime search and patrol operational configuratin. A second aircraft, presently in service with the Customs in its passenger configuration, will also be converted to an operational version next year. An additional aircraft, plus an option, has been ordered by the Italian Ports Authorities.
+++
Brazil failed again in its attempt to launch a satellite with nationally-made rockets, postponing the country's dream of joining the select group of nations that dominate the world aerospace market. The Satellite Launch Vehicle (SLV) lifted off on Dec. 11 from Alcantara base in northern Brazil, but three and a half minutes later, problems were detected in one of its engines and officials had to destroy it, redirecting it to crash-land in safety in the Atlantic Ocean. Along with the rocket, Brazil lost its second Scientific Applications Satellite (SACI-2), which was to carry out four space experiments and collect data for several research projects. The first satellite, SACI-1, was already lost. It was placed in orbit Oct. 14 by a Chinese launcher, along with a Chinese-Brazilian satellite to track land resources, but the SACI-1 never established communications with its bases on earth. The two satellites, both manufactured entirely in Brazil, represent $6.3 million in losses for the program known as the Brazilian Complete Space Mission.
+++
On December 18 at 1.57 pm EST, a Lockheed Martin Atlas 2AS rocket launched the NASA Terra Earth Observation System satellite into orbit. The 4650 kg spacecraft will scan the Earth with five science instruments, studying the environment. Cost of Terra is put at 1,3 billion US-Dollars. It is the first in a series of spacecraft that the agency intends to launch during the next fe years to make a complete study of the planets atmosphere, oceans, land, weather and climate. The launch was the first 2AS from the west coast. It had to be stopped on December 16 just 39 seconds before lift-off. On Saturday, all went well and the Terra separated from the Atlas booster 14 minutes into the mission. Terra is in a polar orbit some 700 km above the Earth.
+++
Lockheed Martin has landed a new foreign buyer for its C-130J cargo plane, a boost for the company's Marietta plant. Kuwait plans to buy four of the updated military airlifters, Lockheed Martin has said. The Kuwaiti Higher Defense Council approved the purchase, said Peter Simmons, a spokesman at the Marietta plant. Kuwait and Lockheed Martin still must negotiate an order contract, but council approval "represents a major step in Kuwait's acquisition process," Simmons said. The deal would likely be worth more than $200 million.
+++
Hong Kong-based Cathay Pacific Airways has placed a firm order with Airbus Industrie for the purchase of three additional A330-300 aircraft, for delivery in the first quarter of 2001. The contract increases the airline's total firm orders for Airbus Industrie's new generation A330/A340 family to 26, comprising 15 twin engine A330s and 11 four engine A340s. The additional aircraft ordered by Cathay Pacific Airways will be the latest version of the twin engine A330-300, with an increased maximum take off weight of 233 tonnes, providing additional range or payload carrying capability. The airline will fly the aircraft on medium-to-long range services out of Hong Kong, including flights to Australia.
+++
Team ABL has been given the green light by the U.S. Air Force to begin the next major step for the Airborne Laser (ABL) program: extensive modifications on a prototype 747-400 Freighter aircraft. The Air Force certified to Congress last week that the Airborne Laser program is on track and ready to begin the 18-month modification work once the aircraft flies to Wichita, Kan., next month. The prototype, which will use a basic Boeing 747-400 Freighter airframe as the flying platform, rolled off the assembly line this week in Everett, Wash. The aircraft has been designated the YAL-1A Attack Laser.
+++
As part of an ongoing effort to expand aftermarket services, Boeing announced that KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, Transavia Airlines of the Netherlands, and Braathens of Norway are the launch customers for a new program that frees the carriers from costly fleet-support tasks while maintaining high levels of airplane schedule reliability. The new Spares Exchange Program reduces the costs of providing what are known in the air transport industry as line replaceable units, or LRUs. These are high-value items such as complex avionics boxes or precision mechanical assemblies. The program is being offered to operators of Next-Generation 737 airplanes (737-600 through -900 models).
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The government of Spain has awarded a contract to Boeing to modernize five Boeing 414 International Chinook helicopters to the Spanish Army's CH-47D configuration. This order represents the final installment in a modernization program that began in 1991. The CH-47D Chinook is the standard for heavy-lift helicopters worldwide and is in service with the U.S. Army and nearly 20 international customers. Boeing produces the Chinook at its facility in Philadelphia.
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On December 15, Boeing Commercial Airplanes Group President Alan Mulally confirmed that GE Capital Aviation Services (GECAS) has placed an order for 20 airplanes with an estimated value of $2.6 billion. GECAS, a unit of GE Capital Services, will begin taking delivery of theairplanes in fourth quarter of 2000. The announcement includes orders for 15 767-300ERs (extended range) and five 747-400 Freighters. GECAS has the option of substituting the newest Boeing 767 derivative, the 767-400ER jetliner, for 767-300ERs. Today's announcement brings GECAS orders for Boeing jetliners to 160. GECAS owns or manages a fleet of 850 airplanes, providing a full range of aircraft financing products and services to 175 airline companies in more than 60 countries. With 898 orders placed by 63 customers, the 767 is the most widely used airplane over the North Atlantic and has reshaped the industry by increasing point-to-point service.
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The 100th AS 350 B3 Ecureuil single engine helicopter manufactured by Eurocopter and intended for a Japanese operator has been handed over to their distributor; Kawasho. Patrick GAVIN, Chairman of Eurocopter Board, symbolically gave the helicopter keys to Mr Kohzu in Marignane. This delivery less than 2 years after certification evidences the success of this high performance version of the Ecureuil helicopter which today is a best-seller since it has already been delivered to almost 50 customers in 22 countries. It is to be noted that 4 Ecureuil B3 helicopters were ordered in Japan and 2 already are in service. Even before it was certificated, some 20 B3 helicopters had already been booked by a clientèle trusting the product, and the VFR type certificate was granted by DirectionGénérale de l'Aviation Civile only 9 months after first flight, thus proving the maturity of the Ecureuil family helicopters.
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Ericsson Saab Avionics has received an order from Saab AB in Linköping for an electronic warfare suite, EWS 39, for the Swedish Air Force JAS 39 Gripen. The order is valued at 1.2 billion kronor (142 MUSD). The system represents the second generation of EW suites for Gripen and is basically the same version as the one offered to the overseas market. The EWS 39 plays a decisive role in the aircraft's ability to operate in areas with hostile aircraft and AAA units. Accordingly, the system includes means to discover threats from radar, analyze the signals, validate them against known data, present the threats to the pilot and take proper counteractions. Ericsson Saab Avionics is responsible for the overall system design and the electronic jammer. CelsiusTech Electronics is responsible for the Radar Warning Receiver, RWR. In addition, CelsiusTech Electronics delivers the chaff and flare dispenser. Saab is responsible for the system integration in the aircraft.
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Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation and General Dynamics Information Systems have teamed to develop MARINER, an unmanned aerial vehicle system designed to meet a U.S. Navy/Marine Corps requirement for Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) missions. The Vertical Takeoff and Landing Tactical Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (VTUAV) system is designed to operate from all aviation-capable ships and greatly improve the Navy/Marine Corps' capability to acquire and engage land targets in the extended littoral battlespace. Dubbed MARINER (MARIne-Navy Extended-range Reconnaissance), the Sikorsky/General Dynamics ship-based VTUAV system will replace the Navy's older Conventional Take Off and Landing (CTOL) Pioneer UAV that requires rocket assistance.
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Swissair is introducing a new interactive service that allows customers to check-in for a flight via the latest communication technology. Passengers need only use their wireless application protocol, or WAP (WAP =Wireless Application Protol), mobile phone. It's that simple. Swissair is the first airline in the world to offer this service to customers. It is available as of December 16. The system was developed by Swissair in close cooperation with the IBM ZurichResearch Laboratory and initially allows selected frequent flyers the possibility to check-in for flights departing from Zurich (including any connecting and/or returnflights). Check-in is confirmed on the telephone display window - including flight number, exact time of departure, gate and seat assignment. Once the customer has checked-in they will automatically be kept up-to-date if there are any changes to the flight. These updates will also appear on the phone's display window.
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Previous updates are still available:
Die News der letzten Wochen sind weiter abrufbar:

*December 12, 1999 *December 5, 1999

*November 28, 1999 *November 21, 1999 *November 14, 1999 *November 7, 1999

*October 31, 1999 *October 24, 1999 *October 17, 1999 *October 10, 1999 *October 3, 1999

*January to September 1999 *January to December 1998 *January to December 1997 *September to December 1996

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