Jim Lovell is going to be surprised to find out he walked on the Moon on Apollo 17 (AW&ST Aug. 10, p. 29). I think you meant Eugene Cernan. Despite going to the Moon twice, Lovell never made it to the surface. (The reader is correct—Ed.)
France will begin a new-generation laser designator technology program under a €31-million ($45-million) project funded by the country’s fiscal stimulus plan. The demonstrator, dubbed Mastrid (Multi-context Airborne System for Targeting, Recognition and IDentification), will be derived from the Damocles pod and feature an improved daylight camera, enhanced detection/identification algorithms and a new geo-location function.
Peter K. Chapman (see photo), vice president/chief commercial officer of the AAR Corp., Wood Dale, Ill., has been awarded the French Medaille de l’Aeronautique (Medal of Aeronautics). The medal rewards the accomplishments of civilian and military personnel who have contributed to the development of aviation. Chapman has been president/CEO of United Technologies International and executive vice president of Pratt & Whitney Commercial Engines; president/CEO of Dalfort Aviation; and president of Asia-Pacific operations for the then-McDonnell Douglas Corp.
Shanghai Airlines has begun operating Panasonic’s eFX inflight, fully digital entertainment system in 10 Airbus A321 aircraft on routes within China. The IFE installation, which features audio and video on demand, games and other entertainment options, is scalable with the capability to add advanced functions, according to the airline. In related news, Panasonic Avionics Corp. will maintain IFE systems on Singapore Airlines’ fleet for the next 10 years. Panasonic now supplies the carrier with IFE equipment and will work with SIA Engineering Co.
A new initiative at the FAA’s Joint Advanced Materials and Structures Center of Excellence (JAMS) located within the National Institute for Aviation Research at Wichita (Kan.) State University, is focusing on nine technical areas for ongoing study of aerospace metal and composite structures.
As summarized in your spot-on editorial “Aerospace’s Perfect Storm” (AW&ST Aug. 10, p. 70), money managers are now at the helm of competitors making proposals for aerospace products. Companies are obsessed with low-cost offerings to NASA, the U.S. Army, Air Force and Navy.
More than two decades after first being pitched—unsuccessfully—as a military airlifter, the BAe 146 is once again being touted for the role. This time, however, the cost is way below the initial asking price of $20-25 million. BAE Systems revisited offering a military transport version of existing BAe 146 regional jets at last week’s Defense Systems & Equipment International exhibition in London.
A year after the 2008 fight between Russia and Georgia, the shadow it casts on future wars continues to grow as details surface about the use of 21st-century weaponry—in this case, computer network attacks—in the conflict. New studies reveal that cyber-attacks orchestrated from Russia created a strategic economic impact. Civilians and criminal organizations in several countries were recruited to aid the military effort. Analysts also suspect that digital time bombs were embedded in Georgian networks to cause future damage.
A United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V orbited the U.S. government’s classified “PAN” communications satellite following a picture-perfect countdown and launch Sept. 8 from Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral AFS, Fla.
Falling demand and the concomitant decline in revenues, combined with expensive loans, is placing some Russian carriers in a tenuous financial position. The bankruptcy of KD Avia airlines highlights the fact that even government efforts to support the domestic airline industry cannot ensure its survival. As funding from disillusioned creditors dries up, the state’s involvement in the airline industry is growing.
The payload module for Europe’s second Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV), Johannes Kepler, has been completed and is ready for shipment to Bremen, Germany, for integration and testing. The 4.6-meter-dia., 4-meter-long module, which weighs 4 metric tons, was produced at the Turin, Italy, plant of Thales Alenia Space. It will be integrated with the ATV propulsion and avionics bays at the Bremen site of EADS Astrium. The module is to be launched to the International Space Station (ISS) in mid-2010.
James S. Ross has been named vice president-preowned aircraft sales for the Gulfstream Aerospace Corp. , Savannah, Ga. He was head of preowned aircraft sales in the Western U.S. and Latin America. Ross succeeds Matt Hartnett, who has retired.
Don’t expect the Senate to vote on an FAA reauthorization bill before the new fiscal year begins on Oct. 1. The Commerce Committee approved an FAA bill in July, and staffers now hope for a floor vote in six to eight weeks. The holdup is the Finance Committee, which must add its proposals on any changes to taxes and fees. That committee, however, has been tied up with the health care debate. The House passed its own version of the FAA bill in May, but there are significant differences between the two bills that could take time to reconcile after the floor votes.
Washington and Riyadh are near setting a framework that could ease the way for the Royal Saudi Air Force (RSAF) to acquire a further 72 Boeing F-15E Strike Eagles. Saudi Arabia has been seeking replacements for its F-15C/Ds for some time, with one area of sensitivity believed to cover what standard of Strike Eagle would be made available. It remains to be determined whether Saudi Arabia will commit to a single purchase, or acquire the replacement aircraft in batches.
The China National Space Administration says it will produce a space launcher called Long March 6 by 2013, around the time that it had been expected to deliver the Long March 5. The timing suggests the new rocket will be a relative of the Long March 5; in unconfirmed reports, the name Long March 6 has been associated with a lightweight launcher based on the side-mounted booster for the planned Long March 5. Officially, the Long March 5 is slated to go into service in 2014.
Hawker Beechcraft has flown the prototype AT-6 light-attack/reconnaissance derivative of its T-6A/B Texan II turboprop trainer. The company has also just received a contract for eight T-6As for the Iraqi air force, but the potential sale of up to 36 structurally strengthened and armed AT-6s to Iraq is still pending. The company recently began delivery of 25 T-6As to Israel and the first of 260 glass-cockpit T-6Bs to the U.S. Navy.
In an effort to boost attendance at its upcoming annual convention, scheduled for Oct. 20-22 in Orlando, Fla., the National Business Aviation Assn. told exhibitors to extend invitations to their guests to attend free of charge; registration normally costs $150 for NBAA members and $250 for non-members. The association later admitted its initial communication did not clearly note the offer was intended to be limited to double the number of free passes historically provided each exhibitor, a figure that increases with booth size.
The White House on Sept. 10 announced its intent to nominate Erroll G. Southers as the next administrator of the Transportation Security Administration and assistant Homeland Security secretary. This selection has been widely anticipated for weeks, but the White House was waiting until Congress returned from its late-summer break to make the announcement. Senior lawmakers have apparently been briefed and have given their approval. Southers is assistant chief of the Los Angeles World Airports Police Dept.’s Office of Homeland Security and Intelligence.
A number of U.S. and European air and missile defense programs could see their development pace adjusted in the near future as a result of ongoing or pending reviews. The fortunes are likely to be mixed, with some efforts postured to bolster their technology bases, while others may see deployment times moved to the right.
The U.S. Air Force’s Arnold Engineering and Development Center (AEDC) near Tullahoma, Tenn., has begun operating a Silicon Graphics International HPC System that will be shared with the Air Force Seek Eagle program office (Afseo) at Eglin AFB, Fla. Lance Baxter, director of the 649th Test System Sqdn. at AEDC, says the computer’s capabilities are a “powerful computational and modeling tool” that will help both organizations solve complex physics problems typically encountered in weapons systems stores separation test environments.
The U.K.’s Ministry of Defense has selected Rockwell Collins to supply additional Firestorm targeting systems to assist forward air controllers and forward artillery observers to accurately direct weapons on their targets in Afghanistan. The order, which includes spares to support overall system deployments in Afghanistan, is the second this year.
Astronomers and astrophysicists are looking forward to several more years of advancing human understanding of the Universe with the Hubble Space Telescope, after taking a look at the first images from the upgraded observatory. This image of the group of galaxies known as Stephan’s Quintet illustrates the resolution available with the Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC 3) installed during the fifth and final servicing mission in May (AW&ST May 25, p. 26).
Oct. 6-7—Human Capital and Talent Acquisition/Labor Management Forum. Chicago. Oct. 13-14—Crew Fatigue Management Forum. Miami. Oct. 21-22—Supply Chain Management Forum. San Diego. Nov. 2-4—A&D Programs Conference. Phoenix. Nov. 4-5—Lean Six Sigma for MRO. Miami. Dec. 2-3—A&D Finance Conference. New York. Dec. 8-10—MRO Asia Conference & Exhibition. Hong Kong. You can now register ONLINE for Aviation Week Events.
