NASA's latest set of target space shuttle launch dates for the remainder of the year suggests Europe's long-awaited Columbus laboratory module could make it to the International Space Station before the end of 2007, but a couple of key issues remain unresolved. The first is whether Atlantis actually can fly in June as now planned with repairs to its hail-damaged external tank.
Boeing has begun a 62-flight test program for Block 40/45 upgrades to the E-3 AWACS fleet. The program is to measure performance of enhanced navigation, communications, radar and mission computing subsystems. The upgrades include improved automation, human computer interface and lower life-cycle costs that are to drive network-enabled battle management and command-and-control capability.
Cessna Aircraft Co. is scheduled this year to deliver 46 Skyhawks to Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University and 31 Skylanes to the Civil Air Patrol. ERAU is replacing its entire fleet at Prescott, Ariz., with 17 Skyhawks. Another 29 will be based at the Daytona Beach, Fla., campus. All the airplanes will be equipped with the Garmin G1000 avionics package. CAP's order includes 29 naturally aspirated Skylanes and two turbocharged versions, all equipped with G1000 avionics. CAP operates more than 500 Cessnas for search-and-rescue missions and cadet training.
Anthony J. DiNota has been appointed chief operating officer and Kenneth Ashworth vice president-maintenance and engineering for Atlantic Southeast Airlines. DiNota has been vice president-Atlanta airport operations for ASA, while Ashworth was director of maintenance at SkyWest Airlines.
Midwest Air Group's snub of the latest offer from AirTran Airways of $15 a share positions the hostile acquisition of Midwest Airlines and its subsidiaries on the agenda of the group's June 14 annual meeting.
Brian O'Keeffe, an Australian expert on satellite navigation who was instrumental in changing how air navigation is conducted in his country and in the Asia-Pacific region, has won Aviation Week & Space Technology's Welch Pogue Award.
A Braunschweig-based division of the German aerospace research center (DLR) has inaugurated what it says is the first microwave-based autoclave, to be used in the development of carbon-fiber composites. Microwaves could improve the speed and efficiency of autoclaves, according to some. The device should meet aerospace industry calls for faster development times, DLR says. Test results indicate the device leads to uniform curing of composites. DLR has been working with Fa. Scholz Maschinenbau and Fa. Fricke and Mallah Microwave Technology.
Turning to current operations, Pace says that Iranian-manufactured weapons continue to be smuggled to insurgents in Iraq and Afghanistan. A shipment of mortars and C-4-type explosives was captured in the Kandahar region within the last month. "It's not as clear in Afghanistan which Iranian entity is responsible, but we have intercepted weapons in Afghanistan headed for the Taliban that were made in Iran," Pace says. "What we know is that in going after the IED networks in Iraq, we policed up some Iranian Quds Force members.
Scandinavian companies are said to have an aptitude for melding cutting-edge technology and design, but one of those skills may be diminishing as academic patterns change--at least that seems to be the case in Sweden. "Fewer young people in Sweden are choosing to study natural sciences and engineering," notes Saab President and CEO Ake Svensson.
Following an incident at the end of last year, Raytheon has been forced to introduce changes to the radar gimbal system on the second of the British Royal Air Force's (RAF) Sentinel R1 airborne stand-off radar (Astor) aircraft. During the planned test program for that aircraft, "we stressed the servo loop, which caused the gimbal to hit the antenna stops. We did a root-cause analysis and modified the gimbal firmware," says a company executive. The impact caused the "aircraft to rattle a bit," says another company official.
With the nuclear proliferation threat from Iran and North Korea, senior Pentagon officials say the U.S. must revitalize its own nuclear weapons capability. Moreover, those weapons will only deter potential enemies if U.S. forces are trained, equipped and politically prepared to fight and win a tactical nuclear battle. The U.S. is studying an upgraded weapon for fielding in 2010-15 that can be applied to submarine, aircraft or cruise missile delivery.
Airbus is trying to reverse history with the A380 this summer by beating its October delivery commitment to Singapore Airlines. After suffering highly public and financially devastating delays on the mega-transport because of problems in the assembly process, program officials in Toulouse and Hamburg are being pressed to complete assembly of the first aircraft ahead of the schedule announced last October, the last time the plan was revised.
Arinc and Thales Security Solutions & Services unit have won a $75-million contract for information technology security and telecommunications system at the new Doha International Airport being built in Qatar. The airport is expected to handle 12 million passengers a year when it opens in 2009, growing to 24 million by 2015.
Boeing is calling Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne's hand in an attempt to drum up more work for its C-17 production line. The company proposes to sell the service 30 of the transports at a reduced production rate--12 per year instead of 15--that could extend C-17 work nearly three years. The new deal is a direct response to Wynne's accusation that Boeing overstepped its bounds by demanding a 15-aircraft annual production rate.
SpaceX, the other company that won seed money under NASA's COTS program, has completed the primary structure for the first-stage tank for the Falcon 9 rocket it plans to use in its bid to provide ISS services. The tank will go to the company's test facility in Texas for integration of the propulsion system and a full-stage hotfire test before year's end. SpaceX has six Falcon 9 flights under contract, beginning with a demo flight for a U.S. government customer in third-quarter 2008.
Japan's Advanced Land Observing Satellite "Daichi" produced this image depicting a rise of as much as 45 cm. (18 in.) in land-surface levels following the Noto Peninsula earthquake of Mar. 25. From the offshore epicenter, each cycle of colors represents a rise of 11.8 cm., as measured by the spacecraft's Phased Array L-Band Synthetic Aperture Radar (Palsar) on Feb. 23 (before the earthquake)and after it on Apr. 10. The land rose over a 40-km. (25-mi.) radius around the town of Monzen in the city of Wajima.
Gerald Weber has become head of operations for Toulouse-bas- ed Airbus. He was head of truck product creation at DaimlerChrysler. Weber succeeds Karl-Heinz Hartmann. Tom Williams has been named acting head of procurement while remaining executive vice president-programs. He succeeds Henri Courpron.
To submit Aerospace Calendar Listings, Call +1 (212) 904-2421 Fax +1 (212) 904-6068 e-mail: [email protected] May 1-3--American Helicopter Society's 63rd International Annual Forum & Technology Display. Virginia Beach Conference Center. Also, June 4-6-AHS/IHST Latin American Regional International Helicopter Safety Symposium. Renaissance Hotel, Sao Paulo, Brazil. Call +1 (703) 684-6777, fax +1 (703) 739-9279 or see www.vtol.org
LION AIR OF INDONESIA PLANS to equip its fleet of Boeing 737-900ERs with the Honeywell RDR-4000 and a range of Honeywell communications, navigation and surveillance equipment including Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B). The RDR-4000 is a new all-digital radar that provides automatic warnings to pilots of turbulence ahead based on a minimum operational performance standard developed by the FAA. Honeywell and others who have studied inflight upsets note that turbulence is the leading cause of injuries to passengers and crew on airline aircraft.
Aviation and aerospace usually produce their heroes in flight operations, less frequently in the halls of academia. But last week's shooting rampage at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University brought forth extraordinary heroism by an aeronautics professor. It resulted in his being one of the 32 people murdered, but almost certainly kept others alive.
Spirit AeroSystems, the former Wichita Div. of Boeing that is now an independent non-OEM designer and manufacturer of aerostructures, expects to complete the first composite Section 41 forward fuselage of a 787 Dreamliner by late this month and deliver it to Boeing's final assembly facility in Everett, Wash. The almost-finished section was rolled out for employees and Boeing officials on Apr. 16, after the facility here faced design and manufacturing constraints and an accelerated production schedule.
I find the comments of Rosemary Vassiliadis--defending the ramp control system at the Las Vegas airport--predictable, standard empire-protection bureaucratic doubletalk (AW&ST Apr. 2, p. 8). My airline operates hundreds of flights a day out of LAS. The only response I get after contacting ramp control is "taxi to the gate." With current technology, a digitized voice, coupled with an iPod and pilot-controlled by keying the microphone, would be much more cost-effective.
The military aircraft trainer market is not for the faint of heart. Although potentially huge, defense ministries rarely put trainer purchases high on their priority lists. And there are myriad competitors contesting the field. The trick is to devise a standout offering, both in terms of aircraft performance and industrial package. Finmeccanica AleniaAermacchi hopes it has developed the mix right with the M-346 advanced jet trainer (p. 62). AleniaAermacchi photo.
The French military is looking for new equipment for its special ops forces. Although only at the study phase, the defense ministry has asked industry for ideas for demonstrators on issues such as reduced lethality munitions, area surveillance, improved imaging and a long-range identification capability that can penetrate masks or disguises. The program has a completion date of late 2010.
Prospects for fast expansion in space systems are expected to help drive renewed growth at Thales, following recent approval for a takeover of Alcatel Lucent's satellite activities.
