Oct. 11-14—Airports Council International-North America 18th Annual Conference and Exhibition. Austin (Tex.) Convention Center. Call +1 (202) 293-8500 or see www.aci-na.org/conferences Oct. 14-15—Technology Training Corp.’s Defense Finance & Cost Management Conference. Also, Oct. 19-20—Military Energy & Alternative Fuels Conference. Both at Holiday Inn Hotel & Suites, Alexandria, Va. Call +1 (310) 563-1210 or see www.ttcus.com
Boeing is testing the chaff and flare elements of the Royal Australian Air Force 737 Airborne Early Warning and Control self-protection system as it wraps up final evaluations before delivering the first two aircraft in November.
Engineers have finished installing TP400 turboprop engines on the first prototype of Europe’s A400M airlifter. They also have completed engine flight-test trials on board a C-130 flying testbed, moving the A400M a step closer to a planned year-end first flight. The test program at Marshall Aerospace totaled 54 hr. in 18 flights and 110 hr. of total engine run time.
Pratt & Whitney Canada Customer Service Centers Europe, a joint venture between PWC and MTU Aero Engines, has given Motorflug Baden-Baden recognized maintenance facility status to provide support for PTST and PW200 series engines. Motorflug is one of the largest helicopter repair stations in Europe. (Parmalee)
EchoStar is moving into broadband and Internet television and pondering its next step in mobile satellite services as it seeks to gain maximum leverage from its direct broadcasting and fixed satellite service assets.
Early this year, the USS John Stennis Carrier Strike Group deployed for the first time with a full complement of next-generation Seahawks—11 MH-60R Romeo and eight MH-60S Sierra helicopters. And judging by the 95% sortie completion rate during the 135 days at sea, the experiment in helicopter operations was a resounding success.
VT Group and BAE Systems last month signed a binding agreement covering the sale of VT’s 45% stake in their joint venture, BVT Surface Fleet Ltd. The shareholding is worth a total of £346 million ($553 million), but the deal also includes VT contributing £43 million into the capital of BV, leaving the cash proceeds from the disposal of the shareholding at £303 million. VT has suggested it could use the funds for acquisition purposes.
The new, heftier Boeing/U.S. Navy MH-60R Seahawk helicopter went to sea for the first time with its sibling, the MH-60S armed helicopter, early in 2009. The anti-surface, anti-submarine warfare aircraft is loaded with sensors, making it ideal for operating as a network node miles from a ship or in the littoral environment (see p. 48). Photo by Ted Carlson/Fotodynamics.
While the missile-defense spotlight is still on Obama’s decision to cancel plans for 10 silo-based interceptors in Poland in favor of a mobile, SM-3-based architecture, a less prominent European ballistic missile defense effort is having its own problems. And, the vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff is not helping Lockheed Martin’s effort to push forward with the Medium Extended Air Defense System (Meads), a missile- and air-defense system that incorporates a 360-deg. radar and new, more-capable missile than today’s Patriot systems. Marine Corps Gen.
The Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) has awarded Lockheed Martin a Phase 3 contract covering a new series of flight tests of the Advanced Composite Cargo Aircraft (ACCA), a heavily modified Dornier 328JET. AFRL says envelope expansion under Phase 3 is “planned for a 20-month effort.” Although retaining the wings and engines of the 328JET, the fuselage aft of the cockpit and the vertical tail represent new structural designs made of MTM45-1 composite materials fabricated using out-of-autoclave curing.
The Israeli air force will add $9.6 million in buildings, installation and infrastructures to its Ramon AB as part of a U.S. Corps of Engineers, Europe District contract to the M&W Zander Co.’s U.S. Operations in Plano, Tex. Work is to be completed by March 2011.
In a News Breaks item in last week’s issue (p. 21), the worth of the MiG order book should have been stated as $4 billion, while the transfer of shares to the United Aircraft Corp. should have been for 3.5 cents.
Despite the industry downturn that has slammed premium traffic, British Airways CEO Willie Walsh believes a unique all-premium transatlantic operation—using Airbus A318s—can quickly prove a success.
The South Korean defense ministry is seeking a 29.6-trillion-won ($25-billion) budget for 2010, cutting its original request because of the country’s economic problems. The proposal is 3.8% greater than this year’s allocation. In June, the ministry asked for a 7.9% increase, similar to what it received for 2009.
China Lake, where the U.S. Navy comes to test its weapons, has a stunning diversity of terrain. One of its ranges can simultaneously offer snow, mountains and forest and—a bit farther along—heat, Joshua trees and desert. Nearby Etcheron Valley (also known as Junction Ranch) is big enough to fly an aircraft through with a 3,500-ft. vertical gradient on one side and 7,000 ft. on the other.
Space Systems/Loral has shipped NSS-12, a C-band and Ku-band communications satellite equipped with antennas able to beam signals to two-thirds of the world’s population. No liftoff date has been set, but launch of NSS-12 on an Ariane 5 from Kourou, French Guiana, is expected late this year. The satellite was ordered by SES World Skies as a replacement for NSS-8, which was lost in a January 2007 launch-pad explosion of a Sea Launch Zenit 3SL booster.
Some U.S. airports are reviewing whether they should get into the business of providing ground-handling services for airlines, especially at small- to medium-size facilities. Chattanooga (Tenn.) Metropolitan Airport, Springfield/Branson (Mo.) National Airport and Quad City International at Moline, Ill., offer “below wing” services such as push-back and baggage handling. Deicing and fueling also can be on the agenda, and even “above-wing” jobs such as providing manpower for gate duty and passenger boarding.
There are several reasons we are not producing as many scientists, technologists, engineers and mathematicians (STEM) as we once were (or as many as we need). In the 15 years since I became an engineer I have heard every excuse: Science is too hard; Educators aren’t doing their jobs; It’s not glamorous; It is all political; There’s no real money in it; Business owners (and managers) regard science types as just geeky resources . . . .” All of these reasons and many more can be valid.
Unexpected payoffs flowed from the strikes that spread among Air India and Jet Airways—India’s two biggest carriers. By temporarily shrinking the overall sector’s capacity by about 20%, the work stoppages underscored long-held assertions of numerous industry observers that the country simply is putting too many seats into the air to be profitable.
President Barack Obama on Sept. 30 nominated fatigue expert Mark R. Rosekind as a member of the NTSB. Rosekind is president and chief scientist of Alertness Solutions. The 10-year-old Cupertino, Calif.-based company provides services and products aimed at reducing fatigue-related human error, such as its AvAlert Alertness Management Program training course.
I applaud Charles J. Pellerin for taking responsibility for the Hubble Space Telescope mirror failure (AW&ST Aug. 24/31, p. 74). However, I am frustrated by the implication that “soft skills” have much to do with leadership, and find this to be a perfect example of why large companies are losing the next generation. Buzz words are obscuring a deficit in real leadership.
The House and Senate are in intense negotiations and racing to finalize spending for the fiscal year that began Oct. 1, after the Senate passed its version of the Fiscal 2010 defense appropriations bill that same day. The Senate’s measure largely hews to the Obama administration’s recommendations from earlier this year, but nonetheless includes unrequested funds for several more Boeing C-17s that critics on the Senate floor failed to strip out. Since the House also appropriated money for unrequested C-17s, conference negotiators will likely just decide how many.
Meanwhile, Gates remains squarely on the fence about what to do in Afghanistan. “Two areas where it is clearly worse are in the north, particularly in Kunduz, and in the west, particularly in Herat,” says Defense Dept. spokesman Geoff Morrell. “But I know of no decision that would mark a clear change of strategy toward those areas.” Gates has expressed opposition to “a limited offshore, remote counterterrorism operation,” Morrell says. But the Pentagon chief is also concerned about placing too many U.S. troops in Afghanistan.
