The Lockheed Martin Space Based Infrared System (Sbirs) ground segment has achieved two milestones. During a “day-in-the-life” test, officials validated the performance of the ground system for operational use with the Sbirs geosynchronous spacecraft, which will be delivered in late 2010 in preparation for launch. The 17-day test included exercises that will support launch and early checkout of the satellite once in orbit. This led to the System Integration Readiness Review.
Hot demand for high-speed Internet access in remote and rural areas of Canada is prompting operators to turn to satellite-based links. OmniGlobe Networks, a Montreal-based provider of very-small-aperture terminals and voice-over-Internet protocol services, says it is in advanced discussions with several suppliers to buy, launch and operate a new medium-sized Ka-band satellite. The satellite, Canuk-1, is to be launched in the third quarter of 2013.
The University of Illinois last week commmissioned a new advanced bird tracking system using avian radars at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. The system, deployed by the FAA-designated Center of Excellence for Airport Technology at the university, is now “live.” It provides wildlife managers patrolling airport bird hazard “hot spots” with access to real-time data from avian radars. Displays of bird activity on and around an airport are displayed on laptop computers as overlays on Google Earth maps.
Sherman Mullin in his letter “Innovation Examined” asserts that the shaft-driven lift-fan propulsion system leading to the F-35 was invented by two engineers in the back room, whom he managed from 1990-94 (AW&ST Nov. 9, 2009, p. 10). I assume he means the two Lockheed engineers who hold a 1993 patent. Unfortunately, this was only a refinement of earlier work. Their patent (No. 5,209,428) references a prior one (No. 2,918,232) by Alexander Lippisch, dated 1959. It shows an aircraft with an aft-mounted engine driving a long shaft leading to a front-mounted lift fan.
Delta has finalized a deal to acquire nine MD-90 aircraft from China Eastern Airlines. Delta said it will take delivery of the nine aircraft from February to July, and this year also will be receiving two MD-90s it previously acquired from Boeing Capital. That will give Delta 28 MD-90s, which it said will be second only to the 29 operated by Saudi Arabian Airlines. The new acquisitions are not being used to increase capacity: a Delta spokesman said the MD-90 growth will be offset by MD-80 retirements and CRJ fleet reductions.
Heath Tecna, a U.S. maker of aircraft interior components, will supply Mitsubishi Aircraft with parts for the Mitsubishi Regional Jet. The company, based in Bellingham, Wash., will make interior linings, galley units, lavatories, emergency escape slides and the waste and water system for the MRJ. Mitsubishi says it has also contracted with EADS unit Eurocopter to supply baggage, service and passenger doors.
Attack, not defense, will reshape electronic warfare. A magazine filled with electron pulses, information scrambling data streams and invasive algorithms may arm the Next-Generation Jammer (NGJ).
Qatar Airways has put its synthetic fuel program on a dual-track with its announcement last week of a joint move to develop and produce a sustainable biofuel. The carrier, together with Qatar Science & Technology Park and Qatar Petroleum, says it will start seriously exploring biomass-to-liquid projects.
Opposing camps within the U.K. Defense Ministry are debating the extent of procurement reform, a fight that advocates of implementing radical change previously lost.
Long, long ago in a galaxy far, far away, accountants and lawyers were waging war against the peace-loving and productive engineers and entrepreneurs. They were outflanked by documentation and the bottom line with coordinated frontal assaults of overhead, which were eating up any extra hours designated for design improvements and visionary thinking. The planet of Economics 101 was buckling under the stress and unable to sustain the large amount of paper that was being generated.
USN Rear Adm. (lower half) Joseph P. Aucoin has been appointed commander of Carrier Strike Group Three, Bremerton, Wash. He was deputy director of the Air Warfare Div. in the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations in Washington.
MDA Corp.’s unmanned air systems, too, uses the IAI Heron, in this case for a Royal Australian Air Force mission. Flight operations are now officially underway from Kandahar Airfield in Afghanistan, where is it supplying the RAAF with intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance information directly to ground commanders in real time.
Flavio Renfer has been named Frankfurt-based vice president-business development and customer relations of European Cargo Services . He was director for Western Europe for Delta Air Lines.
U.S. airports have managed to dodge the credit market’s woes, raising billions of dollars for upgrades and expansions. But the environment could become much more challenging after 2010 if a tax exemption on airport bonds is not extended.
Analyst Michael Derchin’s comment (AW&ST Dec. 14, 2009, p. 42) that United Airlines has always selected Boeing aircraft for its twin-aisle fleet is not correct. In the 1970s, United purchased dozens of McDonnell Douglas DC-10s that it operated for years. During the late 1980s, United also operated a few Lockheed L-1011s for a brief time, obtaining them along with some routes from ailing Pan Am. United didn’t really want the L‑1011s, but they came in the package.
Patrick DeWitt (see photo) has become chairman and retired as CEO of Space Systems/Loral , Palo Alto, Calif. He has been succeeded by John Celli, who was president/chief operating officer.
Engineers at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center are sifting ideas received last week on applying in-space servicing techniques pioneered with the Hubble Space Telescope to “previously impossible” science, exploration and other space missions.
Italy will deploy to Afghanistan three additional AW129 attack helicopters, for a total of nine, and three more AB412/212 helos for medical evacuation, bringing that fleet to seven rotorcraft. Moreover, three C-27J airlifters will be detached to augment Italy’s single C-130J in the region, with a plan also to add two further Predator unmanned aircraft. But additional fixed-wing strike or reconnaissance assets are not being dispatched.
Remembering the late 1970s, the Ariane space booster’s early history looks like a fairy tale. Today, aging pioneers only remember where the heavy-lift launcher came from: It resulted from the costly failure of an early attempt to give Europe independent access to space. Arianespace, the cross-border company in charge of marketing and selling Ariane, will soon celebrate its 30th anniversary. However, the first Ariane was launched on Dec. 24, 1979, several months before Arianespace was established.
Lockheed Martin has delivered the first two of seven upgraded P-3C Orion maritime surveillance aircraft to the Pakistan navy. The ex-U.S. Navy aircraft have updated mission computers, electro-optical and infrared sensors, communications, data management and acoustic processing systems. The first of 17 new C-130J Hercules transports for the Canadian Forces, meanwhile, has rolled out of the paint shop at the company’s Marietta, Ga., plant.
Jim Gaughan (see photo) has become senior vice president/general manager of advanced research and engineering services for Metron Aviation , Dulles, Va. He was director of the MTA IESS/C3 Program for the Lockheed Martin Corp.
The USAF KC-X tanker program appears to be a disaster in the making. After reading the report on Pentagon acquisition czar Ashton Carter and the Pentagon civilian KC-X procurment board, there are too many people in high places making questionable decisions on the procurement of this airplane, which will drive the cost higher (AW&ST Nov. 30, 2009, p. 30).
Intense use and limited control of communications, radar and jamming of explosive devices in Iraq, particularly around Baghdad, have turned the electronic environment toxic. Communication link ranges for coalition unmanned aircraft and other uses have been cut to a fraction. Introduction of new devices regularly interferes with those already in operation. The volume of communications has clogged the airwaves.
