Radar System

The local Westinghouse Electric Corp. division has won federal approval to market a radar system designed to detect and warn pilots of wind shear, which has been the cause of several commercial airline crashes.James Reinhard, a Westinghouse spokesman, said the "preventive" system can detect wind shear from a distance of up to 10 miles, which would give pilots up to 90 seconds to steer a new course.Some planes are currently equipped with "reactive" systems that warn pilots when they are caught in wind shear.

WASHINGTON -- The Iraqi missile that slammed into an American military barracks in Saudi Arabia during the Persian Gulf war, killing 28 people, penetrated air defenses because a computer failure shut down the American missile system designed to counter it, two Army investigations have concluded.The Iraqi Scud missile hit the barracks in Al Khobar near Dhahran on Feb. 25, causing the war's single worst casualty toll for Americans. The allied Central Command said the next day that no Patriot missile had been fired to intercept the Scud, adding that the Scud had broken into pieces as it descended and was not identified as a threat by the Patriot radar system.

The Linthicum-based Westinghouse Electronic Systems Group and another local company played a key role in saving the royal family of Kuwait from the Iraqi forces in August.A tethered balloon produced by Columbia-based TCOM L.P. and equipped with a radar system made by Westinghouse alerted the emir and his family to the pending invasion.Westinghouse chairman and chief executive officer Paul E. Lego yesterday cited the incident as an example of the importance of producing reliable products for customers.

A backup radar system that severely malfunctioned at Baltimore-Washington International Airport in late August -- leaving air controllers blind to hundreds of planes flying through the air for 27 hours -- failed again during a test Sunday, according to air traffic employees. The system, known as CENRAP, performed so poorly during the test early Sunday morning that it was shut down after about 20 minutes. During the test, controllers temporarily lost track of both flights they were trying to monitor on the airport's backup radar system: a MedEvac helicopter headed for the Eastern Shore and a US Airways flight that had lifted off from the airport's primary departure runway, according to tower employees.

At first, Army Pvt. Joseph Lockard thought something was wrong with his equipment. Never in the six months he had been operating the Signal Corps Radio-270 Radio Detection and Ranging (read: radar) system in Hawaii had he seen such a large indication on the screen."But I made some checks and everything was working," Mr. Lockard recalled last week. "Then I saw [the line] moving and I knew something was there."The time was shortly after 7 a.m. on Dec. 7, 1941. What was there turned out to be a wave of Japanese bombers, heading for the U.S. naval station at Pearl Harbor.

WASHINGTON -- The United States has decided to sell an early warning radar system to Taiwan that would allow the Taiwanese to monitor the launch of Chinese ballistic missiles or manned bombers, Clinton administration officials said yesterday.The sale has drawn protests from Beijing and was opposed by a group of mid-level administration officials who believed that it would worsen recent tensions between Washington and Beijing.The administration approved the sale at the recommendation of senior policy-makers from the White House, the State Department and the Pentagon who believed that China's deployment of large numbers of short-range missiles along its coastline posed a serious military threat to Taiwan, officials said.

TAIPEI, Taiwan - A confidential review by U.S. naval officers has concluded that Taiwan needs a significant infusion of new weapons, including a sophisticated ship-borne radar system that China has put at the top of the list of arms it does not want Taiwan to have. The assessment was carried out by officers from the U.S. Pacific Fleet, who visited Taiwan to assess its naval requirements in light of China's military buildup. While military factors are not the only consideration, the still-secret review is an important element of the deliberations about whether to sell Taiwan the radar system, known as Aegis, and other naval weapons.

Kmart cutting headquarters jobsKmart Corp., in an effort to slash expenses, said it is cutting 900 jobs at its Troy, Mich., headquarters -- about 18 percent of the 5,000 full-time jobs at the location.The nation's second-largest retailer also said it is consolidating its North Bergen, N.J., fashion facility as part of the cost-cutting efforts. The company didn't say how many jobs would be cut at the North Bergen operation.The layoffs are part of the company's previously announced plan to reduce annual expenses by $600 million to $800 million by 1996.

Nynex to eliminate 16,000 jobsNynex Corp. joined other local phone companies yesterday in beginning to shed its monopolist's bulk, saying it would eliminate 16,800 jobs during the next three years.The company attributed most of a $1.6 billion accounting charge in the fourth quarter to the restructuring. The charge resulted in a $1.2 billion fourth-quarter loss for Nynex.Japan's auto output falls 10.2%Japan's auto production in 1993 fell by 10.2 percent -- the largest decline in 46 years -- and the nation will likely be toppled by the United States this year as the world's No. 1 automaker, the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association said yesterday.

A radar contract that Westinghouse Electric Corp. was counting on to help stabilize its Maryland work force for years was awarded yesterday to Raytheon Co. of Lexington, Mass.The contract, which could lead to billions of dollars in business for Raytheon, is for the development of a ground-based radar system to be used with a missile defense system similar to the Patriot."For defense contractors, there are not many big ones [contracts] left, and we are delighted to win it," said Raytheon spokesman Pat Coulter.