Already developing a solid-state laser weapon under the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s (Darpa’s) Hellads program, General Atomics Aeronautical Systems has been funded to work on a different kind of high-power laser. The company has received a $667,000-U.S. Air Force contract for diode-pumped alkali-vapor laser (DPAL) technology development. Like a solid-state laser, the DPAL uses diodes to pump light into a gain medium, but instead of semiconductor slabs it uses a gas to amplify the laser beam.
The U.S. Navy has declared initial operational capability for the Lockheed Martin Paveway II Dual-Mode Laser Guided Bomb. This weapon is part of the Navy’s push to dual-mode its existing weapons, which have been single mode using laser guidance or a GPS/INS guidance kit. In this case, laser-guided Paveway IIs were modified with GPS/INS kits, and this weapon has been deployed for use on the Marine Corps AV-8B fleet. Integration onto F/A-18 fighters is expected.
The FAA on Jan. 15 awarded Thales ATM the first contract to install and test a low-cost ($500,000 or less) ground surveillance system that the agency plans for small- and medium-size airports. Kansas-based Thales ATM is among several companies that submitted proposals in response to FAA’s August 2007 Call to Action to reduce risk of runway incursions. In the next month, the FAA plans to announce similar contract awards to other companies.
William C. McMullen, 3rd, has been promoted to president/CEO from chief operating officer of WBB Consulting , Reston, Va. He succeeds Kevin T. Moore, who has retired.
The European Parliament last week approved a new defense procurement directive to ease competition within the European Union. But the Aerospace and Defense Industries Assn. says the wording represents a “mixed blessing.” One concern is that the language will weaken government interest in defense and security research and development spending. The European Defense Agency applauded the legislation.
Air National Guard Lt. Gen. Craig R. McKinley has been promoted to general and appointed chief of the National Guard Bureau. He succeeds Army Lt. Gen. H. Steven Blum, who has been named deputy commander of U.S. Northern Command. McKinley was director of the Air National Guard.
British Defense Minister John Hutton last week renewed government calls for NATO allies to contribute more to operations in Afghanistan. Hutton said it was wrong for European NATO members to rely on the U.S. to do “all the heavy lifting.” The U.K. has around 8,000 personnel in Afghanistan.
New, active, electronic warfare suites offer additional layers of defense to combat aviators (see p. 48). In this artist’s concept, a BAE Systems EW suite generates three barriers to attack. A data stream of algorithms fired into an air defense system’s antennas can deny the missile launch. If already airborne, a missile can be fooled with false targets and other misleading information. In the final stage of an engagement, the missile can be lured to an active jamming device—a quantum leap from the standard decoy—that is towed behind the strike aircraft.
Shoukry Shokralla has been appointed United Arab Emirates-based sales representative for the Middle East and North Africa for U.K.-based AD Aerospace’s FlightVu Video Systems .
SAS has unloaded another stakeholding in a smaller airline. The Scandinavian carrier announced it has divested its shares in AeBal, a small operator of flights for Spanair. The transaction results in a net loss for SAS of around 200 million Swedish kronor ($24 million).
Ph.D. research student Dhanapala Jayakody-Arachchige (see photo), working in the Air Transport Dept. at Cranfield University in England, has won the $25,000 Walter H. Johnson, Jr., Scholarship from The International Air Cargo Assn. His research project into airworthiness risk assessment, focusing on associated safety issues for large cargo and passenger aircraft, aims to design, test and validate a model that can be used in a continuing airworthiness environment under European Aviation Safety Agency guidelines.
The first tests of a common turbo-ramjet flowpath at Mach 4 and beyond are getting underway at Arnold Engineering Development Center, setting the stage for a reusable air-breathing hypersonic propulsion system.
Airbus says that despite talk of narrow-body production rate cutbacks, demand for the wide-body A330 is so strong that it will defer delivery of the -200 freighter version to permit more passenger aircraft to roll off the assembly line (AW&ST Jan. 12, p. 35). Delivery of the first -200F will now be postponed to the first half of 2010 from the end of 2009. Officials insist the move does not imply a development snag, and that the prototype will fly by year-end as expected.
Your recent article “RNP With a Difference” (AW&ST Dec. 15, 2008, p. 46) does not mention that American Airlines is already FAA certified for Required Navigation Performance (RNP) operations. We are certified as low as RNP 0.15 in Quito, Ecuador. I was the pilot on the FAA certification flight more than a year ago. American Airlines was the first airline to fly a Boeing 757 RNP SAAR (special aircraft and aircrew authorization) approach into a domestic U.S. airport, Jackson Hole, Wyo.
NASA is planning its first environmental science research campaign with the Northrop Grumman Global Hawk high-altitude, long-endurance unmanned aircraft for late spring and early summer.
Rep. Neil Abercrombie (D-Hawaii) tells the 12 new members of the House Armed Services Committee that it’s their job—not the administration’s—to authorize and fund defense policy, and they shouldn’t be afraid to assert themselves. “We don’t leave the defense of this country to political appointees of either party,” Abercrombie, chair of the air and land forces subcommittee, tells the newcomers. He says he was irritated by the tone of a news report that former Rep.
The proposed new rule change for ultra-long-haul flying was dreamed up by some FAA lawyer who has never flown long haul, and doesn’t understand that the longer we fly, the more rested we are (AW&ST Jan. 12, p. 38).
Federal Express has exercised options on Boeing 777 Freighters that will double—and with add-on options, potentially triple—its initial 15-aircraft order. The Memphis, Tenn.-based air cargo integrator became Boeing’s largest customer for the twin-engine freighter when it placed its original order in November 2006. At the same time, it canceled an order for 10 A380Fs when the Airbus program fell behind schedule (AW&ST Nov. 13, 2006, p. 24). Ironically, so has Boeing’s newest freighter.
Bob Yancey has been appointed president of the Charlotte, N.C.-based Goodrich Corp. ’s Engine Control and Electrical Power Systems unit. He was president of the Engine Components business. Yancey succeeds Mike Gardiner, who now leads Aero Engine Controls.
International Air Transport Assn. (IATA) executives are right when they emphasize that the airline industry is entering into “the worst revenue environment in 50 years.” The U.S. financial crisis in the last few months rapidly expanded around the world in a dramatic illustration of the so-called domino effect. No economy seems immune to the soured state that originated in Wall Street and is now impinging on all developed countries.
Telesat says Space Systems/Loral has shipped Telstar 11N, a 39-transponder Ku-band telecom satellite, to the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan where it will be orbited in the first quarter atop a Land Launch Zenit 3SLB booster. From its perch at 37.5 deg. W. Long., Telstar 11N will interconnect markets in North America, Western Europe and Africa and provide mobile maritime and aeronautical service across the Atlantic.
A. William Higgins has been named to succeed David A. Bloss, Sr., as chairman of Circor International Inc. , Burlington, Mass., upon his retirement in February. Higgins has been president/CEO.
Lawrence G. Kuntz has become sales director for the Park Electrochemical Corp. , Melville, N.Y. He was a consultant for Adhesive Product Development, South Hadley, Mass.
Avic has secured lines of credit totaling 176 billion yuan ($26 billion). The purpose of the funding has not been spelled out, but the specialist subsidiaries that Avic is forming, such as Avicopter, all have ambitious and costly plans to develop more advanced, commercially oriented products.
Pinnacle Airlines subsidiary Colgan Air will be adding 15 Bombardier Q400 NextGen turboprop aircraft to its fleet. In a contract valued at $432 million, Colgan on Jan. 15 converted 10 conditional orders and exercised five options placed by Pinnacle in 2007 with the Toronto-based aircraft manufacturer.
