The Missile Defense Agency is planning a shootdown attempt by the Boeing 747-400F-based Airborne Laser against a solid-fuel target by the end of this month. The likely target is a Terrier Black Brant unguided sounding rocket, which was the first target engaged in February by ABL and mimics the early flight phases of a short-range ballistic missile.
Delta Air Lines’ plan to reduce Comair’s regional jet fleet to 44 aircraft by the end of 2012 is raising questions about the future of air service at Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport (CVG), which serves the Ohio Valley.
The Inside Track column (AW&ST Aug. 23/30, p. 18) is on the mark regarding an additive manufacturing process being “an offshoot of stereo lithography from the 1980s.”
Mark Leary (see photo) has been appointed chief information security officer of TASC Inc. , Chantilly, Va. He was deputy chief information security officer at the Northrop Grumman Corp.
Charles Yawn has become Savannah-based senior sales manager for product support sales for the Eastern U.S. for the General Dynamics subsidiary Gulfstream Aerospace Corp. Nick Chantorn has been named senior scheduler for Gulfstream Product Support at Long Beach, Calif. He was an owner services representative for NetJets Inc.
Andy Johnson (see photo) has been promoted to manager of the FlightSafety International Learning Center in Orlando, Fla., from assistant manager of the company’s Cessna Learning Center in Wichita, Kan.
The impasse over human spaceflight is not likely to be resolved this year. Backroom talks on the House and Senate authorization bills for NASA remain stalled. Neither side is willing to yield ground in advance of the midterm elections in November. NASA staffers have started on round two of the Human Exploration Framework Team (HEFT) exercise, which over the summer produced a something-for-everyone plan to use space shuttle parts for a near-term heavy-lift rocket (AW&ST Sept. 13, p. 26).
Russell J. Anarde (see photo) has been appointed the Northrop Grumman Corp. ’s lead executive for company business in Colorado Springs. He was director of business development for the Military Systems unit of Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems.
Clarence “Sy” Syvertson, an expert on hypersonic airflow who was director of NASA Ames Research Center from 1977-84, died Sept. 13. He was 84. Syvertson began his career at Ames in 1948 and led development of its 3.5 hypersonic wind tunnel branch that was used for North American’s XB-70 Valkyrie prototype for a deep-penetration bomber, the Martin M2 lifting body and other advanced designs. “His fundamental work on reentry vehicles contributed to the design of the space shuttle,” says Ames Director S. Pete Worden.
For aviation, two major questions about biofuels shadow its use: how much will they reduce greenhouse gas emissions and can they be produced in enough volume to meet the airlines’ goal of carbon-neutral growth? The answers depend not only on the feedstock-to-fuel pathways used, but on decisions ranging from where renewable feedstocks are grown to how they are processed into biofuel.
Concerns are growing in Germany that adjustments in the size and scope of the country’s armed forces could threaten its defense industrial capabilities and jeopardize a multinational agreement on the A400M military transport.
William Collins has been named vice president-base maintenance for American Airlines , effective Oct. 1. He has been vice president-electric power for GE Aviation.
The Italian air force is about to receive the latest upgrade of the Panavia Tornado, effectively assuring its extended life in Europe even as other countries are looking at retiring the fighter-bomber soon.
One would hope the aerospace and defense (A&D) industry has learned its lesson from the across-the-board layoffs of the last downturn. U.S. contractors cut about 40% of their employees between 1990-95 and stopped hiring. The result was a loss of technical skills and knowledge that was felt for years—and a dearth of new talent that would now be filling middle management posts.
Superjet has ticked another box on the list of to-be-completed tasks before regulators grant the type certificate for the SSJ100 regional jet, with the completion of static testing. It included ultimate limit load trials on the wing, exposing the structure to 150% of its design load.
Controllers at the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) are edging the first of at least three advanced navigation spacecraft into a highly elliptical orbit after its launch Sept. 11. Nicknamed Michibiki, which means “showing the way” in Japanese, the spacecraft will augment GPS signals in a quasi-zenith constellation able to provide coverage in Japan’s mountains and the “urban canyons” of Tokyo and other cities. A third apogee-engine firing went off as planned Sept. 14, and the satellite continued on its way toward a final 39,000 X 32,000-km.
USAF Gen. Claude R. Kehler has been named commander of U.S. Strategic Command, Offutt AFB, Neb. He was commander of Air Force Space Command, Peterson AFB, Colo. Maj. Gen. Gregory A. Feest has been appointed chief of safety at USAF Headquarters at the Pentagon and commander of the Air Force Safety Center, Kirtland AFB, N.M. He has been commander of the 19th Air Force of Air Education and Training Command, Randolph AFB, Texas. Feest has been succeeded by Maj. Gen. Mark S.
The sorry accident record of helicopters used in emergency medical service (EMS)—85 crashes killing 77 people between 2003-08—has drawn the attention of the FAA, Congress, the media and public, among others. In early 2009 the National Transportation Safety Board conducted a special hearing on the matter, resulting in a slew of recommendations, many of which focused on pilot training.
The U.S. Navy plans to resume flight testing of the MQ-8 Fire Scout unmanned rotorcraft on Sept. 20. The trials on the Northrop Grumman aircraft will begin first in Yuma, Ariz., “since the area is sparsely populated and range is large,” says Capt. Tim Dunigan, who manages the Navy’s multi-mission UAS programs. Flight testing was halted Aug. 2 after a Fire Scout lost its communications link and traveled 40 mi. away from Washington.
XCOR Aerospace is finalizing the structure of the Lynx suborbital spacecraft following the completion of primary supersonic wind tunnel tests that confirmed design changes to increase stability.
France will make a new push to expand defense cooperation with the U.K. as both countries endeavor to sustain industrial capabilities in an area of shrinking defense budgets.
Killing tactical ballistic missiles so that explosive, biological or radioactive debris fall near a foe’s launch sites is a key problem for those mapping out defenses in an era of proliferating, short-range missiles and long-range rockets.
There appear to be no remaining obstacles to the merger of Safran’s Snecma unit with the solid rocket business of SNPE, following a French government decision to privatize the state-owned chemical and solid propulsion producer.
