March 16, 1998

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HEADLINE NEWS

Airbus Growth Boosts Aerospatiale’s Profits

PARIS Aerospatiale’s swift recovery and good financial results for 1997 suggest that a state-controlled company can be efficiently managed, make healthy profits and be comparable to private enterprises, according to company executives.

By PIERRE SPARACO

HEADLINE NEWS

Joint Strike Fighter Price Creep Triggers Pentagon Review

WASHINGTON The Pentagon is moving quickly to put the brakes on escalating Joint Strike Fighter requirements, which industry officials say have pushed the projected cost of the next-generation stealthy fighter to more than $40 million per copy.

By DAVID A. FULGHUM,ROBERT WALL

HEADLINE NEWS

Battlelab Testing Merits Of New Space Concepts

FALCON AFB, COLO. The U.S. Air Force’s Space Battlelab is launching innovative, pragmatic demonstration projects that range from placing hyperspectral imagers on top of Pikes Peak to using a commercial telescope for tracking objects in geosynchronous orbit.

By WILLIAM B. SCOTT

HEADLINE NEWS

NASDA Seeks Cause of LE-5A Motor Casing Burn-through

Tokyo The premature shutdown of the Mitsubishi/IHI LE-5A second-stage motor that put Japan’s $375-million Comets satellite into a bad orbit is believed to have been caused by a hole in the outer casing of the motor’s exhaust nozzle. Officials in Japan’s National Space Development Agency (NASDA) are uncertain why exhaust gases burned through a 0.77-sq.-in. hole in the LE5A’s nickel alloy casing during the second of the engine's two planned burns on Feb.21.

By Eiichiro Sekigawa

HEADLINE NEWS

Boeing: NASA Funds for New Launcher Should Go to Shuttle

WASHINGTON Boeing is urging NASA to reconsider plans to spend $750 million to spur development of a next-generation reusable launch vehicle (RLV), saying the money would be better spent on space shuttle upgrades that could significantly lower the cost of operating the four orbiters and enable them to fly for another three decades.

By JOSEPH C. ANSELMO

March 91998

March 231998

March 16, 1998

March 16, 1998

Face-off Over Merger Leaves Industry Reeling

By ANTHONY L. VELOCCI