Such a plane would be highly maneuverable, less expensive than manned aircraft and capable of delivering high-tech weapons in even the most dangerous conditions. Rendering of Teranis from BAE Systems. Rendering of Teranis from BAE Systems.

Sensors Lead Unmanned Fighters Into Battle

WASHINGTON – Inside a command center, an Air Force technician studies a radar screen as the unmanned fighter he is controlling flies into air space considered too dangerous for U.S pilots. Using data from the aircraft’s sensors, bounced by satellite to the command center, the controller detects three concealed surface-to-air missile sites.

Lawmakers have been searching for ways to deal with the bills the Pentagon will face just after 2000 when it will attempt to produce three fighters at the same time, the Joint Strike Fighter, the F-22 stealth fighter and the F/A-18E/F. The combined cost of producing the Joint Strike Fighter and the other two planes has been estimated at $400 billion.

While Ford, Chevy and GMC once ruled in full-size trucks, entries from Dodge and Toyota will fuel competition and maybe even force other companies to enter the battle. Photo: Chrysler/FCA

If GD sells all the assets it has put on the block, it will go from an $8.75 billion company (by 1991 sales) to a $6 billion company – if its remaining businesses continue at their current sales rate, which is unlikely in today’s defense spending climate.

Satellite service providers such as DirecTV and EchoStar, the biggest satellite broadcasters, have tens of millions of subscribers across America.

Even the youngest of the U-2s is expected to have reached the end of its structural lifespan around 2020.

The prospect of Supreme Court vacancies is worrying some conservatives, legal experts say, because Republican presidents appointed the three jurists who are considered most likely to retire – Rehnquist, 72; Stevens, 76; and O’Connor, 66.

Acme Brick Co.

In November 1989, GD acknowledged that F-16 production had fallen as many as 20 planes behind schedule because of production problems. The problems cost GD millions of dollars in delayed government payments, contract adjustments and overtime pay. Photo: U.S. Air Force

Chevy Volt

Joint Strike Fighter. Photo: U.S. Air Force

Texans bought more than 621,000 light trucks in 1997, tops in the nation. Photo: Ford Motor Co.

The Air Force has begun to give all its personnel more time off after lengthy assignments abroad. For example, a 90-day stay in Bosnia will now earn a two-week vacation upon return. A 45-day deployment will result in a week off.

Emmitt Smith

Yesterday’s event in Texas Stadium drew more than 140 dealers from the Southwest region, which includes Texas, Louisiana, Kansas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and New Mexico. Photo: General Motors Corp.

The Arlington and Willow Run plants, GM sources and analysts say, are the subject of an internal review at GM to find out which facility could end up producing the company’s full-size, rear-wheel-drive cars. Photo: General Motors Corp.

To equal or surpass the F-22, the Russians would have had to have made significant advances in their fighter technology.

The two defense companies said the Justice Department had informed them that it was “fundamentally opposed” to the merger.

The controversy is rooted in part in the high cost of launching multimillion-dollar satellites.

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Sensors Lead Unmanned Fighters Into Battle