Young parachutist survives free fall
PRAGUE (September 2, 1997 8:27 p.m. EDT) - An 18-year-old Czech
woman making her first parachute jump, survived an 850-yard free
fall on Sunday after her parachute failed to open, Nova television
channel reported Tuesday.
The woman panicked and failed to release her back-up parachute
in the accident which happened at Hoskovice in central Bohemia, the
television said.
She fell into a field and was rushed to hospital in critical
condition.
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Is this aviation or Long range artillery. Remote controlled A/C?
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Navy wants to build new Tomahawk missile
WASHINGTON (September 2, 1997 8:15 p.m. EDT) -- The Navy is
seeking funding for a new type of Tomahawk cruise missile that could
take pictures of the battlefield, loiter over targets and get its
commands from ships at sea before striking, officials said Tuesday.
The Tomahawk gained fame in the Persian Gulf War and later in
Bosnia for its ability to strike at enemy targets -- such as specific
buildings -- with pinpoint accuracy.
In a briefing with reporters at the Pentagon, Navy officials said
they need Congressional approval to shift $23.1 million from an older
account that pays for an older version of the missile to a new
account that would pay for the research and development of the
new version.
Besides being outfitted with a camera to do "battle damage
assessment" tasks -- flying over bombed targets to see effects
of the strike -- the new version should also be able to get its
commands from the submarines, destroyers or cruisers that fire them,
the Navy officials said. Such commands now are programmed at bases
in the United States. The new missile would also be given the ability
to loiter over an intended target for several hours, the officials
said.
Even though the new missile is expected to do more, Navy
officials said the current $1-million-per-weapon price tag would
drop because of the insertion of more modern, smaller technologies
and because it would be built on a modular assembly line. That could
drop the price to $575,000 a piece, the Navy said.
The change would call for some 1,300 newer versions of the
missile to be built by Hughes Missile Systems Co. by 2002.
At present, the missiles are capable of traveling up to 500 mph
and hitting targets 700 miles away. They find targets by using
signals from Earth-orbiting satellites.
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