September 7, 1998

September 7, 1998

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HEADLINE NEWS

Nuclear Risks Mount In Besieged Russia

By PAUL MANN8 min

HEADLINE NEWS

Failure Board Looks At Delta 3 Control

By CRAIG COVAULT6 min

HEADLINE NEWS

Missile Test Extends North Korea’s Reach

By JOSEPH C. ANSELMO,ROBERT WALL,EIICHIRO SEKIGAWA5 min

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HEADLINE NEWS

Nuclear Risks Mount In Besieged Russia

WASHINGTON The hemorrhage of authority in Russia is the gravest test of the nation’s nuclear security, and of the military’s allegiance to the government, since the Soviet Union collapsed seven years ago, U.S. defense experts say. The likeliest nuclear security breach at the moment, they believe, is the diversion by corrupt insiders of a few feebly protected and easily transported tactical nuclear weapons, of which the Russian military has thousands.

By PAUL MANN8 min

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HEADLINE NEWS

Failure Board Looks At Delta 3 Control

CAPE CANAVERAL The Boeing investigation into the failure of its first commercial Delta 3 booster will center on whether the vehicle’s flight characteristics were modeled incorrectly by the company or whether more specific flight control hardware or software errors sent bad commands to the Delta’s steering systems.

By CRAIG COVAULT6 min

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HEADLINE NEWS

Missile Test Extends North Korea’s Reach

Two-stage technology is a leap, but big hurdles remain in bid for ICBMs. Proliferation worries abound

By JOSEPH C. ANSELMO,ROBERT WALL,EIICHIRO SEKIGAWA5 min

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HEADLINE NEWS

Russian Armory Remains Huge

WASHINGTON Russia retains thousands of nuclear weapons, despite considerable reductions under the first U.S./Soviet Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START 1), signed in 1991 but not brought into force until late 1994. By the end of last year, Russia’s START 1 drawdown had cut the number of intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) launchers to 750 from just under 1,100, according to voluminous data in Tracking Nuclear Proliferation, a book published by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

By PAUL MANN4 min

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HEADLINE NEWS

Eurofighter Typhoon Hits Farnborough

FARNBOROUGH The Eurofighter consortium, which has renamed its aircraft the Eurofighter Typhoon to better appeal to potential export customers, expects to sign a fixed-price contract for production of the first 148 aircraft in the next few weeks.

By JOHN D. MORROCCO4 min

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HEADLINE NEWS

Anti-Missile Effort Faces Big Problems

WASHINGTON The U.S. Defense Dept. is considering delaying by two years a key missile defense system being developed to ward off medium-range ballistic missiles, such as those fired recently by North Korea and Iran, so troubleplagued missile interceptors can be replaced.

By JOSEPH C. ANSELMO3 min

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HEADLINE NEWS

Electrical Fault Cited In Titan 4A Accident

Cape Canaveral U.S. Air Force investigators probing the cause of the Aug. 12 Titan 4A failure here believe the accident was caused by a momentary electrical fault that shut down, then restarted, the vehicle’s Litton guidance system in the Titan core vehicle.

By Craig Covault3 min

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HEADLINE NEWS

E-767 AWACS Flight Tested Prior to Japanese Operations

The third Boeing E-767 Airborne Warning and Control System aircraft made its first flight last week with its 30-ft. rotodome installed. This aircraft, plus a fourth, is scheduled to be delivered to the Japanese Defense Agency next year. The first two were delivered in March.
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International Product News

New Tools Aid Developers Of General Aviation Aircraft

By MICHAEL O. LAVITT16 min

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FARNBOROUGH '98

New GEC HUD Aims For Transport Market Growth

SEATTLE GEC is targeting the rapidly expanding airline market for head-up displays with an advanced, lightweight unit based on its military head-up display technology. A prototype is scheduled to fly this month in a Boeing 737-200 transport testbed from Mojave, Calif.

By PAUL PROCTOR13 min

August 311998 September 141998