WASHINGTON The temporary grounding of three types of U.S. Marine Corps aircraft in the same week has raised some troubling questions about the state of the service’s aviation program, although senior service officials say their worries lie with modernization and not the here-and-now.

NEW YORK BAE Systems Canada Inc. is pursuing radar- and infrared-based enhanced vision systems as a major growth opportunity, with plans initially to field an IR system within a year. Enhanced vision systems (EVS) could go a long way toward improving both revenues and income at BAE Systems Canada, formerly known as Canadian Marconi. The company recently reported a drop in operating income due to eroding profit margins in several product lines.

SEATTLE Boeing has completed 70 missions and more than 150 hr. of flight testing on the avionics suite for its Joint Strike Fighter candidate using a 737 transport modified as a flying lab. The effort is part of a coordinated Boeing approach to reduce risk in the JSF program as it heads toward down-select and the engineering and manufacturing development (EMD) stage in mid-2001, according to Rod Leitch, AFL systems manager for software and sensors.