The launch of the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite GOES-N aboard a Boeing Delta IV has been postponed from June 23 to June 24 to give technicians time to replace a hydraulic pump on the rocket. NASA is managing the launch of GOES-N for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Although Boeing felt comfortable with the pump's performance during a recent "wet" launch rehearsal, NASA requested the unit be replaced as a precaution because of a small deviation in pump speed compared with previous Delta IV missions, Boeing said.
Honeywell Aerospace's reorganization, announced June 1, is about making it easier for customers all over the globe to interact with the company, but cutting bureaucracy also likely will translate into staff reductions and related cost savings.
Northrop Grumman Corp. said it has been successful in trying out its "Hawkeye" port and coastal surveillance system in U.S. demonstrations, and is installing a variant overseas to support a Defense Threat Reduction Agency program. The U.S. Coast Guard installed the Northrop Grumman equipment and software aboard its vessels and those of other law-enforcement agencies to coordinate maritime security during the Organization of American States General Assembly in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., earlier this month.
Brandon R. "Randy" Belote III has been appointed vice president of corporate and international communications. John F. Daegele has been named vice president and program manager of the Advanced Extremely High Frequency communications system. David M. DiCarlo has been appointed vice president of programs. Clayton K.S. Kau has been named vice president of engineering.
TESTING: Initial flight trials were started in early June by EADS Defense Electronics of its latest AN/AAR-60(V)2 version of the missile-launch detection system (MILDS-F) in a Danish air force F-16 from Aalborg Air Base. MILDS is an advanced sensor system that detects and tracks UV emissions of approaching missiles, particularly shoulder-launched heat-seeking SAMs.
The worldwide military surface communications market of the next decade will be dominated by General Dynamics, Rockwell Collins and Thales, according to a new study. The three companies together will represent more than 47% of a $12.8 billion market projected between now and 2015, said the study, by Forecast International, a market research company based in Newtown, Conn.
LE BOURGET, France - Pakistan hopes to conclude a deal quickly to acquire a mix of new and used Lockheed Martin F-16 Fighting Falcons, a U.S. defense official said June 15. Air Force Lt. Gen. Jeffrey Kohler, director of the U.S. Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA), said he recently discussed the matter with Pakistani officials, who hope to take advantage of a new U.S. willingness to ease longtime restrictions on defense trade with Pakistan.
Lockheed Martin Corp. has awarded General Electric Co. a $50 million contract to provide CT7-8E engines for use during the system development and demonstration phase of the U.S. Navy's VXX presidential helicopter replacement program. The work under the contract, announced June 15, will begin immediately and continue through 2008. The engines will be assembled at GE's facility in Lynn, Mass. The CT7-8E is a derivative of GE's T700/CT7 family of turboprop and turboshaft engines.
The U.S. Coast Guard's HH-65 Dolphin helicopters were the focus of renewed attention June 15 when a House subcommittee met to learn more about pressures related to the Guard's law-enforcement duties, including whether it is affecting the aging helicopters. Luis Fortuno, the resident commissioner for Puerto Rico and a nonvoting member of the House of Representatives, said that during a recent visit to Coast Guard operations in the Mona Passage, he was expecting to fly in one of the Dolphins. Instead, he was flown aboard an airplane.
The space shuttle Discovery rolled back out to Launch Pad 39B at Kennedy Space Center on June 15, where it will await launch during a window lasting from July 13 to 31. The shuttle began rolling out from the Vehicle Assembly Building at 1:58 a.m. and arrived at the pad at 12:17 p.m.
LE BOURGET, France - Charles Edelstenne, Dassault Aviation's chairman and CEO, is celebrating qualified success as his firm rebounds with strong sales evenly split between its Falcon Jet and military product lines from the down times of the late 1990s and earlier this decade.
Language in a congressional report has spurred at least one company to pursue the idea of using ground-based high power microwave technology to defend commercial airliners from shoulder-fired missiles.
LE BOURGET, France - Many European aerospace companies, including Safran, which owns Snecma, and Rolls-Royce are keenly awaiting the outcome of a World Trade Organization subsidies dispute between Boeing and Airbus. "It definitely could affect us," Safran executive board chairman Jean-Paul Bechat told Aviation Week's ShowNews.
Peter B. Teets has been elected to the board of trustees. Teets retired as president and chief operating officer of Lockheed Martin Corp. and is a former undersecretary of the Air Force and director of the National Reconnaissance Office.
LE BOURGET, France - AgustaWestland has made a public commitment that there will be no further job cuts at its Westland facility in Yeovil, United Kingdom. At the same time, the company has once more pointed a finger at the British Ministry of Defence for not placing promised contracts and therefore putting jobs at risk, according to Aviation Week's ShowNews.
NEW DELHI - India and Ukraine have signed a memorandum of understanding calling for cooperation in outer space research for civil purposes. The decision follows President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam's visit to the Ukrainian space agency. G. Madhvan Nair, chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation, accompanied Kalam on the trip. The two space agencies are to develop an action plan by October. Ukraine also has sought collaboration with India on developing a 150- to 200-seat transport aircraft.
The United States is unlikely to regain its prominence in the global commercial expendable launch market given continued flat launch demand and the introduction of potential new competitors such as Japan, according to a new study by Futron Corp.
LE BOURGET, France - Northrop Grumman Corp., prime contractor for the U.S. Navy's E-2D Advanced Hawkeye, has begun talks with foreign industry about possibly including them in building the airborne early-warning (AEW) system.
