Daily News Briefs

BAE Systems announced it has delivered its first Gripen helmet-mounted display system, including a high-speed optical head tracker, to Saab AB as part of a contract it received in 2003. It has been developing the system in close cooperation with Saab and partners including Denel Optronics of South Africa, which led the development of the electronics unit that incorporates the optical head tracker. The Gripen helmet is based on technology now being used in the Eurofighter Typhoon combat aircraft. The second development model helmet will be installed in a Gripen simulator in Linkoping, Sweden. Full-scale production is anticipated to begin by mid-2006 with delivery to Saab for integration into the Gripen for the South African Air Force. A variant of the Typhoon/Gripen helmet system is under development for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter; this technology has also been adapted for rotary-wing applications and is in flight test in the UK as part of the Condor II helicopter program. . . . Michael Weber has joined Nanometrics Inc., a Milpitas, Calif., supplier of metrology equipment for the semiconductor industry, as vice president of engineering. Weber, who has been issued eight patents in metrology and instrumentation, was formerly vice president of KLA-Tencor's surface metrology division. Before that, he was vice president of engineering at Sensys Instruments and previously held several positions at KLA-Tencor, including director of engineering and director of technical marketing. Weber began his career in 1983 developing mass spectrometer instruments for San Jose, Calif.-based Finnigan MAT. . . . The University of Arizona (UA) now offers a dual master's degree in management and optical sciences for professionals working in the optics field. UA said graduates will be prepared for leadership or entrepreneurial ventures in optical design and engineering, hardware design, medical technology, lasers and electro-optics, fiber optics, communications, electronics and a number of other optical specialties. Professionals with at least three years of work experience are encouraged to apply for the the two-year program; enrollment is limited. For more information, visit: www.optics.arizona.edu/Academics/Degrees/MSplusMBA.htm