WASHINGTON A member of a panel charged by Congress with overseeing the Pentagon’s recent review of its long-range needs says the resulting decision to cut production of the E-8 Joint-STARS long-range radar aircraft is a major blunder and may be reversed.

WASHINGTON Fire detection and suppression systems would be installed in the sealed cargo compartments of commercial aircraft by the year 2001 under a proposed rule issued last week by the FAA. The FAA estimates about 3,000 passenger aircraft, primarily narrow-bodies, and another 300 all-cargo aircraft would be affected by the proposal.

WASHINGTON Pulling on technology developed for advanced classified programs, the B-2 bomber and unmanned aerial vehicles, Northrop Grumman has entered the still-undeclared competition for unmanned combat aircraft. Officials at Northrop Grumman’s military aircraft systems division at El Segundo, Calif., acknowledge they are working on a number of uninhabited combat air vehicles (UCAVs).