UAE To Buy U.S. F-16 Warplanes
     WASHINGTON - MAY 12, 16:52 EDT - Selecting a proven U.S. fighter
 jet over newer European competitors, the United Arab Emirates
 announced Tuesday that it will buy 80 F-16s from the United States
 in a deal valued at $7 billion.
     The announcement, made at the White House, came after the deputy
 supreme commander of the UAE's armed forces, Sheik Khalifa bin Zayed
 Al Nahyan, met with President Clinton and Vice President Al Gore.
     "Today we are setting the seal on a strategic partnership," Gore
 said in a joint briefing with the sheik, who is crown prince of Abu
 Dhabi.
     Adding the F-16 to the Persian Gulf nation's air force "opens the
 door to enhanced cooperation in training and operations," Gore said.
 "This ... will give our forces a tremendous advantage in preserving
 the security and stability of the Gulf region to which we are firmly
 committed."
     Gore and officials at Lockheed Martin Corp., maker of the F-16,
 hailed the UAE's decision as an economic boon for Texas and the 43
 other states where the fighter's components are manufactured. They
 estimate the contract will add 30,000 direct and indirect jobs.
     The biggest beneficiary may be Fort Worth, Texas, where Lockheed
 Martin assembles the F-16.
     The defense giant, which earlier announced plans to lay off as
 many as 2,000 of its 11,000 Fort Worth workers, instead will add jobs
 as a result of the UAE deal, said Dain Hancock, president of Lockheed
 Martin Tactical Aircraft Systems.
     In the short term, Hancock said, the newest F-16 buy will reduce
 layoffs. In the long term, the Fort Worth plant's work force could
 rise to as many as 13,000 people in 2001, the peak year of the UAE
 contract, he told reporters.
     The UAE's decision is a coup for Lockheed Martin, which earlier
 in the competition was viewed as lagging behind a new French entry,
 Dassault Aviation's Rafale. The Eurofighter, which is being developed
 by a European consortium, also was considered despite being a late-
 comer to the competition. McDonnell Douglas' F-15 also was evaluated.
     Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, predicted the UAE deal could
 stimulate other foreign sales.
     The sale comes at a pivotal time for the F-16 production line,
 which has been churning out the fighters since the mid-1970s. Cur-
 rently, the last delivery for the U.S. Air Force is scheduled for
 2001, meaning the line will be sustained only by foreign sales
 unless Congress decides to purchase more.
      Sales to the UAE would keep the line running through 2004.
 Lockheed Martin is competing to build the Joint Strike Fighter, the
 next-generation replacement for the F-16 and other fighters.
 --------------------------------------------------------------------
          39 feared dead in Mauritania military plane crash
     NOUAKCHOTT - May 12, 1998 11:08 p.m. EDT - A Mauritanian military
 transport plane crashed in the eastern part of the West African
 state. Early reports indicated only three of the 42 people on board
 survived, military sources said on Wednesday.
     Mauritanian Air Force sources said the Chinese-built Y7 crashed
 as it tried to take off on Tuesday night from the eastern town of
 Nema, close to the border with Mali. The cause of the accident was
 not clear.
     Most of those on the plane were believed to be military, travel-
 ing to the capital Nouakchott from the country's military command
 region around Nema. Civilians, usually families of the military, also
 travel on such flights.
     The three known survivors were said to be two military and a
 civilian.
     The accident was Mauritania's worst air disaster since July 1994
 when 80 people were killed in the crash of an Air Mauritanie Fokker
 28 passenger plane at Tidjika in the center of the country, officials
 said.
 ---------------------------------------------------------------------
        An airline captain was breaking in a very pretty new blond
 stewardess. The route they were flying had a stay-over in another
 city, so upon their arrival, the captain showed the stewardess the
 best place for airline personnel to eat, shop and stay overnight.
     The next morning as the pilot was preparing the crew for the
 day's route, he noticed the new stewardess was missing. He knew
 which room she was in at the hotel and called her up wondering what
 happened to her. She answered the phone, sobbing, and said she
 couldn't get out of her room.
     "You can't get out of your room?" the captain asked, "Why
 not?" The stewardess replied: "There are only three doors in
 here," she cried, "one is the bathroom, one is the closet, and
 one has a sign on it that says 'Do Not Disturb'!"
 --------------------------------------------------------------------
 British Aerospace has won a 350 million Pound contract to supply 18
 Hawk jet trainers to Canada.
     The contract will secure hundreds of jobs at its plants in
 Warton, Lancashire, and Brough, East Yorkshire.
     It also covers initial spares and support for the two-seater
 aircraft which will be used in a new Nato training programme.
     Canada has an option on a further eight Hawk 100s which, if
 taken up, will increase the contract to more than 450 million.
     Ray Marsh, Brisbane, Australia.        raymarsh@hotmail.com
 ===
--- DB 1.39/004487
---------------