Although the European Union has yet to attribute the first license for a hybrid mobile satellite service offering, the first operator to market such a service is already gearing up to test it out.
Neelam Mathews (Bangalore), Douglas Barrie (Bangalore), Andy Nativi (Genoa)
Final assembly of the AgustaWestland AW119 is to shift to India, as the European manufacturer aims to tap further into a rich seam of helicopter requirements in that country. The move, however, also raises a question over the long-term future of its U.S. AW119 line. The European manufacturer last week signed a memorandum of understanding with Tata Sons to establish a joint venture company for final assembly. Production of the type would get underway in 2011, with the site reaching a 30-helicopter-per-year target by 2013.
Drastic shifts in the axis of rotation on Mars over time could have created polar ice sheets that flowed in some areas, shaping the terrain below in ways that can be seen from orbit today. Scientists examining erosion in mid-latitude craters on both sides of the planet’s equator see differences that suggest local warming from sunlight was a factor in the direction that ice-rich material, or perhaps liquid water, flowed.
I had every confidence that the VAX-11/780 would do its job without any problems as related in the testing system for the Hubble Space Telescope replacement Science Instrument Command and Data Handling unit (AW&ST Feb. 2, p. 40). My experience with this computer goes back to the mid-1980s on the Columbia University research vessel R/V Robert D. Conrad. We were off New York in a gale and rolling 45 deg. when the VAX-11/780, which was mounted in an electronic rack (and not secured properly) jumped out of the rack about 5.5 ft. up. It hit a table and then the deck.
The U.S. Energy Dept.’s National Nuclear Security Administration has contracted with IBM to build a new supercomputer to ensure the safety and reliability of the country’s aging nuclear arsenal. The computer will resolve time-urgent and complex scientific problems to preserve the weapons’ serviceability.
The ATR 72-500 twin-engine turboprop aircraft, after successfully completing steep-approach trials and noise tests, has been approved to operate at London City. Irish carrier Aer Arann on Feb. 10 became the first operator of the ATR 72-500 at the airport, which, due to obstacles, requires a 5.5-deg. approach angle. The downtown airport also has strict noise limitations. The ATR 42-300 and -500 are already approved for service at London City.
The U.S. Army is exploring options to put wide-area staring sensors for “persistent surveillance” in Iraq and Afghanistan on unmanned aerial vehicles, says Tim Owings, deputy Army project manager for the unmanned aircraft system (UAS). Day-only versions of these sensors are now deployed on manned Army Constant Hawk aircraft and day-night options are in development by the U.S. Air Force for future use on Hawker Beechcraft King Air 350s.
On Feb. 3, United Airlines became the third U.S. carrier in a three-week period to encounter a bird strike—and third in which all occupants survived. Shortly after United Flight 77’s departure from Denver with 151 people on board, a bird hit and disabled the Boeing 757’s right Pratt & Whitney PW2000 engine. The 757 returned to the airport for a safe landing.
The Senate Armed Services Committee has approved the Obama administration’s nominations for high-level Defense Dept. leadership. The SASC on Feb. 5 forwarded the nominations of William Lynn, 3rd, to be deputy secretary, Robert Hale chief financial officer, Michele Flournoy undersecretary for policy and Jeh Charles Johnson to be the Pentagon’s top lawyer. The full Senate will decide whether to confirm the nominations. .
With India’s fledgling independent airlines cash-strapped, foreign airlines no longer view them as smart investment moves. But some still regard code-shares as a way to boost their presence in the domestic market. India’s policy of limiting foreign direct investment in domestic airlines to 49% is one reason outside carriers are cautious about sinking money into the country’s airline industry.
Fuel hedging is starting to look attractive again to some European airlines, even though others placed bad bets that have left them paying higher-than-needed prices at the pump.
Baruch Mevorach (see photos) has been appointed corporate vice president-planning and strategy for Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) . He was deputy vice president/assistant to the president. Jehezkel Grizim has been named corporate vice president-special projects. He was corporate vice president/general manager of the Military Aircraft Group. Grizim has been succeeded on an acting basis by Aharon Segal, who has been vice president-operations at IAI subsidiary Elta Systems Ltd. And, Yair Sherman has become deputy corporate vice president-security matters.
After years of delay, the F-22 is finally going to appear at the Paris air show (see p. 24). The stealth fighter was supposed to wow the Europeans in 2003, but the Bush administration quashed that plan when the French wouldn’t sign up to invade Iraq. There was also the long-standing pique about the extended and intensive “customs” inspection when the F-117 visited Paris for an earlier show. More recently, the French air force was criticized for collecting intelligence on the Indian air force’s Su-30MKIs during a 2008 Red Flag exercise at Nellis AFB, Nev.
The Feb. 2 Washington Outlook (p. 18) mischaracterized the Next-Generation Jammer (NGJ) program. The Navy’s NGJ is an active electronic warfare (EW) system to be installed internally in fighter-size aircraft or in external pods. It is to replace the current ALQ-99 tactical jamming system on the EA-6B Prowler and EA-18G Growler or, possibly, an EW variant of the F-35 or an unmanned combat aircraft. The idea would be to allow fighters to penetrate next-generation air defenses.
The U.S. Army has exercised a $41.7-million option for an additional AeroVironment RQ-11B Raven small unmanned aircraft system, which typically includes three of the 4.2-lb., hand-launched aircraft, two ground control stations and spares.
And in another Boeing/USAF arrangement, the service has tapped the manufacturer for upgrades relating to the B-1 long-range heavy bomber. It is Sustainment Block 15 of a program that began in 2003. Under the $45-million follow-on, avionics software will be upgraded on the fleet’s 66 B-1s. Boeing engineers in Long Beach, Calif., and Oklahoma City produce the software. The multimission B-1 has been carrying the largest strike payload in the Air Force inventory since its combat debut in 1999.
The air force has resumed MiG-29 Fulcrum flights, following a grounding after a fatal crash in December, according to news agency Novosti. Tail-section corrosion is the suspected cause.
J.A. Donoghue, director of publications for Flight Safety Foundation, has won the 2008 Lauren D. Lyman Award for achievement in aviation journalism, which is administered by the Arlington, Va.-based Aerospace Industries Assn. The award is named for Lauren (Deac) Lyman, a Pulitzer-prize winning aviation reporter for The New York Times who later was a public relations executive for United Aircraft, a predecessor to the United Technologies Corp. The prize goes to a journalist or public relations professional in aviation who exhibits Lyman’s standard of excellence.
Thank you for your bold, confident vision of the future. Your pragmatic approach to the many challenges facing our nation is the only approach: We must roll up our sleeves, stop complaining and get moving on solutions.
The first Aviation Partners Boeing (APB) winglet-equipped 757-300 is set to enter service with Continental Airlines following delivery from Seattle to Los Angeles on Feb 3. The airline, which operates 17 of the stretched 757 models, declines to say where the upgraded variants will be deployed, though they are widely expected to be featured on both transcontinental U.S. and transatlantic routes. Continental also plans to lease four additional 757-300s from Boeing Capital Corp., and expects to place these aircraft in service in the first half of 2010.
At Bagram AB, the destination for much of the Manas-generated traffic, USAF blocked the main runway for two days after landing a $200-million C-17 with the wheels up. Using a 120-ton crane and six 26-ton airbags, the transport was lifted high enough to lower the wheels.
Four new science teams are joining the official list of observers for the Lcross lunar-battering-ram experiment. The Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite is a companion to NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) that is due for launch in late April. The Northrop Grumman-built Lcross and its Centaur upper stage will be fired from lunar orbit into a polar lunar crater that’s in permanent shadow, in the hope observers on the ground will be able to spot water ice or other volatiles that may lurk there in the resulting debris plume.
Virgin Galactic’s Scaled Composite WhiteKnightTwo (WK2) carrier aircraft resumed flight tests at Mojave, Calif. on Feb 5. The flight, which lasted 1.5 hr., comes 47 days after the unconventional aircraft’s maiden flight in late December. Flight testing originally was due to resume in early January and although Scaled Composites does not comment on development programs, it is thought the prolonged break was due to flight control surface modifications aimed at improving directional stability. Initial space tourism flights are planned to start in 2011.
