December 4, 1995

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HEADLINE NEWS

GALILEO ENTERING MISSION'S MOST CRITICAL PHASE THIS WEEK

LOS ANGELES Galileo project engineers and scientists will be on edge Dec. 7 waiting for signs of success or failure of the most critical, and dangerous, part of the space-craft's mission to Jupiter. At 5:05 p.m. EST, the mission's probe will hit the planet's atmosphere at 106,000 mph. and be subject to an unprecedented heat flux—nearly 10 times greater than the surface of the Sun for a 1015-sec. pulse, while experiencing 230g deceleration.

By MICHAEL A. DORNHEIM

HEADLINE NEWS

LONG MARCH SUCCESSFUL IN CRUCIAL ASIASAT-2 LAUNCH

XICHANG, CHINA The launch of AsiaSat-2, with nominal performance throughout, has returned the Long March program to commercial service and successfully demonstrated the first use of a new, Chinese-made perigee kick motor. The 7:30:05 p.m. (local time) liftoff Nov. 28 from this southern Sichuan Province spaceport was the first for China Great Wall Industry's LM-2E since the Apstar-2 explosion last January.

By MICHAEL MECHAM

HEADLINE NEWS

U.S. RECONNAISSANCE ROLE LOOMS LARGE IN BOSNIA

WASHINGTON The U.S. is expected to exercise its aerial peacekeeping skills in resupplying, warning and protecting the 60,000 troops being readied to police the region in compliance with the fragile treaty established by the leaders of Bosnia, Croatia and Serbia.

By DAVID A. FULGHUM

HEADLINE NEWS

U.S. MISSILE DEFENSE PLANS NARROWED

WASHINGTON The Pentagon is expected to abandon any future planning for fast, fighterbased air-to-air weapons designed to shoot down ballistic missiles soon after launch. While there has been no official decision, an analysis of investment strategies and projected budgets has doomed the concept, an Air Force official said.

By DAVID A. FULGHUM

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HEADLINE NEWS

LIMA '95 STRESSES TECHNOLOGY LINKAGES

HONG KONG Independent-minded Malaysia will cap the year's air show activities, and perhaps the year's order books, this week with the third Langkawi International Maritime & Aerospace Exhibition. Called LIMA '95, the biennial exhibition reflects the interest of Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad in a strong defense.

By MICHAEL MECHAM

100

HEADLINE NEWS

SKUNK WORKS CITES PLETHORA OF SECRECY RULES

WASHINGTON Lockheed Martin Skunk Works, which led development of some of the most successful black aircraft programs in history, is now asking the U.S. government to loosen its grip on classified information. In a white paper submitted to a U.S. government commission studying reform of classification policies, Skunk Works officials argue that the U.S. is being overly cautious in its classification of information, resulting in added expenses to industry and inflated procurement costs to the government.

By JOSEPH C. ANSELMO

100

HEADLINE NEWS

GULFSTREAM 5 BEGINS FLIGHT TEST PROGRAM

SEATTLE The Gulfstream 5 made its maiden flight last week, ushering in an era of 6,500-naut.-mi.-range business jets. The takeoff also marked initial use of BMW Rolls-Royce's BR700-series turbofan engine. The flight maintained Gulfstream's critical one-year lead in the limited ultra-long-haul market.

By PAUL PROCTOR

HEADLINE NEWS

AIRLIFT FACES TIGHT LIMITS

LONDON Poor weather conditions and the limited capabilities of airfields in war-torn, former Yugoslavia pose tough challenges for U.S. airlift planners tasked with supporting NATO peace implementation forces. Col. David Sloan, Air Operations Sqdn. commander at U.S. Air Forces Europe, said his unit is putting the final touches on U.S. theater airlift plans.

November 271995

December 111995

December 4, 1995

December 4, 1995

NATO AIR POWER TO ENFORCE PEACE

By CRAIG COVAULT