Boeing Commercial Airplanes has signed a technology agreement with Alenia Aeronautica of Italy for structural materials technology development work on the company's proposed Sonic Cruiser. Alenia, owned by Finmeccanica, will bring structural expertise to the Sonic Cruiser program, according to Boeing.
NASA'S GLENN RESEARCH CENTER in Ohio has awarded 15 fixed-price contracts for new aircraft propulsion technologies. The contracts total $1.5 million over nine months and will focus on establishing the scientific or technical merit, feasibility, benefits and challenges of the proposed technologies. A two-year phase II period may follow the initial awards, to be funded at no more than $250,000 per year. Awards went to M-DOT Aerospace of Phoenix, Ariz.; Nielsen Engineering&Research of Mountain View, Calif.; Technology in Blacksburg Inc.
The Air Force's Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Battle Lab at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida has been experimenting with a number of new applications for the Predator unmanned aerial vehicle, including linking it with tactical fighters.
HASC APPOINTMENT: Rep. Joe Wilson (R-S.C.), a new member of the House Armed Services Committee (DAILY, Jan. 28), said Feb. 11 that he has picked up a seat on the committee's research and development subcommittee. Wilson represents a district that includes Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort and McEntire Air National Guard Station.
AEROJET of Sacramento, Calif., has finished construction of an engine facility that will enable development of rocket engines containing hydrogen peroxide propellants, which the company says are environmentally friendly. The company will use the facility to test subscale components of the hydrogen peroxide Advanced Reusable Rocket Engine (ARRE) it is developing for the Air Force's Space Maneuver Vehicle, an unmanned space vehicle that could be used as a satellite bus.
India, which has been plagued by terrorism for years, may gain access to U.S. technology that can help in fighting it under new military protocols signed by both nations last month. Already, the two countries have agreed to carry out periodic security inspections of each other's defense installations to ensure protection and safety of technology. India had resisted the agreement, which is similar to those the U.S. has made with more than 50 nations.
THE BOEING CO. has completed the composite wings for NASA's X-37 reusable spaceplane technology demonstrator at its Huntington Beach, Calif., and delivered them to the High Desert Assembly Integration&Test Facility in Palmdale, Calif.
While most CIA military operations in Afghanistan are coordinated with the U.S. military, the CIA's Predator unmanned aerial vehicles are not under Central Command's control, according to Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. The "overwhelming" majority of CIA military operations are under the control of Central Command, Rumsfeld told reporters at the Pentagon Feb. 12, but not the CIA's Predators, including those armed with Hellfire missiles.
Retired U.S. Marine Corps Lt. Gen. Jefferson Davis Howell has been named director of NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe announced Feb. 12. Howell currently serves as SAIC's senior vice president and program manager for the Safety, Reliability and Quality Assurance contract, which focuses on safety and mission assurance for the space shuttle and the International Space Station. He will become director of the Johnson Center April 1.
F-22 CONTRACT: The Lockheed Martin-led F-22 Raptor team will build 13 additional fighters under a $2.68 billion contract from the U.S. Air Force, the company announced Feb. 12. The aircraft to be built under the contract are to be delivered by the end of 2004.
INMARSAT VENTURES, a mobile satellite communications company based in London, announced it will open an office in Washington, D.C. to carry out its North American operations strategy. As a former intergovernmental organization, Inmarsat was limited in providing service to mainland North America, but in October the Federal Communications Commission gave some Inmarsat partners the rights to provide telecommunications service in the U.S.
Air Force Secretary James Roche said Feb. 12 that he would welcome a proposal from the European Aeronautics Defence and Space Co. (EADS) and its Airbus subsidiary to supply the service with a new wide-body aerial refueling plane, even though Congress has passed legislation favoring the Chicago-based Boeing Co.
The Commerce and Defense departments are developing an electronic licensing system to allow them to process technology export applications faster, Administration officials told the Commission on the Future of the U.S. Aerospace Industry Feb. 12. The first prototype was tested last week, said Lisa Bronson, deputy undersecretary of Defense for Technology Security Policy and Counter Proliferation, the division within the DOD that reviews license export applications.
INTEL REP: Rep. Porter Goss (R-Fla.), chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, announced Feb. 8 that he is dropping his retirement plans and will seek re-election to Congress in November. Goss, who is serving his sixth year as committee chairman, said he wants to continue working to improve the nation's intelligence capabilities, which took on a much higher profile after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
International Space Station Expedition Four crewmembers have prepared six dosimeters that will measure how much radiation they will absorb during next week's spacewalk, scheduled for Feb. 20. Flight Engineers Carl Walz and Dan Bursch will wear three dosimeters each during the spacewalk, which will be the second spacewalk conducted through the Joint Airlock Quest (DAILY, Jan. 25). The dosimeters are part of the EVARM experiment, aimed at developing better radiation shielding for future space suits.
After suffering programmatic setbacks in the late 1990s, the Airborne Standoff Minefield Detection System (ASTAMIDS) effort is expected to resume in fiscal year 2003, using the Army's Shadow Tactical Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (TUAV). In late 1997, Congress eliminated the $13.9 million FY '98 request, which was intended for the program's engineering and manufacturing development (EMD) phase, instead providing $7 million for technology base work (DAILY, Dec. 3, 1997).
INTELSAT has signed a 10-year contract to provide satellite connections between World Bank Organization headquarters in Washington, D.C. to regional offices in 64 countries in Africa, Central America, South America and the Middle East. Intelsat will primarily provide videoconferencing services to allow the World Bank to hold nearly 700 videoconferences per month between regional offices and headquarters. The network will also support voice and data communications, according to Intelsat.
Airbus' long-range A340-500 made its first flight Feb. 11, completing a five hour, 52-minute mission from the Blagnac international airport in Toulouse, France, according to the company. The aircraft is slated to enter service in the fourth quarter of this year, allowing nonstop service between distant locations such as Los Angeles and Singapore.
ASTRIUM, owned by the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Co. and BAE Systems, will build the European environmental and climate satellite CryoSat, planned for launch in April 2004. European Space Agency Director of Earth Observation, Jose Achache, signed the contract for the work Feb. 8. CryoSat will be launched to a polar orbit and will measure changes in the thickness of ice sheets and polar ocean sea-ice cover for at least three years, according to the European Space Agency.
SATELLITES LAUNCHED: A Boeing Delta II launch vehicle deployed five communications satellites on Feb. 11 after taking off from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., Boeing announced. The satellites will be spares for Iridium Satellite's global communications network.
LICENSE AGREEMENT: Harris Corp. has entered into a licensing agreement with Spirent Systems Group in Wichita, Kan., for patents for wirelessly transferring high-speed data to and from an aircraft while it is on the ground. Data to be transferred by the patented capability could be used to support flight safety, flight operations, engineering and maintenance, and cabin and passenger services, according to the company.
Having completed the final flight test for the first prototype of the RAH-66 Comanche, officials from the Boeing Co. and Sikorsky Aircraft are waiting to hear from the Army about how the program will be restructured. In a statement released Feb. 11, officials from both companies said Prototype 1 will be retired after completing more than 387 flight hours during 318 sorties over six years. The aircraft, which completed its first flight test on Jan. 4, 1996, was designed to test the flight control software and handling qualities.
A "sectoral" federal budget for aerospace could provide valuable guidance for financiers who have been leery of investing in the industry, according to Aerospace Commission Chairman Robert Walker.
