August 12, 1996

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HEADLINE NEWS

1998 Budget Plan Favors High Tech Over Upgrades

WASHINGTON The Pentagon’s still-classified budget planning documents for Fiscal 1998 sacrifice or delay upgrades to existing aircraft in order to hold the funding baseline for next-generation programs like the F-22, Joint Strike Fighter, unmanned aerial vehicles and the Joint Airborne Sigint Architecture.

By DAVID A. FULGHUM7 min

HEADLINE NEWS

Trust But Verify Mars Life Forms

CAPE CANAVERAL The scientific foundation on which the Martian life findings will either wither or prevail will be an international peer review process unprecedented in modern science. Until now, no individual, no team or government has ever laid on the table such hard data for the existence of life on another planet.

By CRAIG COVAULT5 min

HEADLINE NEWS

New Skyhawk, Gemini Twin Debut at Eaa Show

OSHKOSH, WIS. The rebirth of Cessna Aircraft Company’s 172 Skyhawk and the introduction of Zenith Aircraft Co.’s twin-engine, kit-built Gemini CH260 highlighted the 44th Annual Experimental Aircraft Assn. Convention and Sport Aircraft Exposition held here last week.

By EDWARD H. PHILLIPS4 min

COVER STORY

India Sees Commercial Future for New Booster

BANGALORE India plans to begin offering commercial launches by the end of the decade from a new Ariane-class booster now in development. Called the Geostationary Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV), the launcher is largely a derivative of the Indian Space Research Organization’s (ISRO) Polar SLV, which completed its development testing last March and has now entered service with three launches scheduled over the next three years.

By MICHAEL MECHAM4 min

COVER STORY

Cost-Conscious Indians Find Profits in Imaging Satellites

BANGALORE India’s Earth imaging program was born 20 years ago when Hasselblad cameras loaded with infrared film were flown on aircraft to study coconut wilt disease. Today, with five Earth-imaging satellites in operation and plans for at least twice that many, India has become a major supplier of multispectral imaging data throughout the world.

By MICHAEL MECHAM4 min

HEADLINE NEWS

New Aerospatiale Ceo to Boost Consolidation

PARIS Yves Michot’s appointment as the new chief of Aerospatiale signals the French government’s resolve to complete the consolidation of the domestic aerospace sector, French industry experts say. Departing from the customary practice of naming “politically correct” outsiders to head state-owned companies, the government elevated Michot, an insider and former executive vice president, to be the chairman and chief executive officer of France’s biggest aerospace group.

By PIERRE SPARACO3 min

HEADLINE NEWS

Indian Defense Hike Less Than Expected

New Delhi The new United Front government of India has disappointed its defense establishment’s hopes of a sizable spending increase in the next fiscal year. With a marginal hike of $262 million, India’s fiscal 1996-97 military budget will total the equivalent of $7.94 billion.

By Pushpindar Singh3 min

August 51996

August 191996

August 12, 1996

August 12, 1996

Life on Mars? Evidence Emerges

By JOSEPH C. ANSELMO7 min