Nov. 17-19—American Astronautical Society National Conference: “Space Science and Exploration in the Next Decade.” Pasadena (Calif.) Hilton. Call +1 (703) 866-0020, fax +1 (703) 866-3526 or see www.astronautical.org
More flight testing is to come later this year and early next year as a Boeing/Lockheed Martin team refines its design for the U.S. Air Force’s Small Diameter Bomb II competition, says Dan Jaspering, director of direct attack weapons at Boeing. To date, the team has executed two subsystem flight tests, including checks on the airframe. The team also has tested the seeker, which is being provided by Lockheed Martin. The Air Force is expected to downselect between this design and Raytheon’s proposal next October.
The photo accompanying your enlightened article on the buffet and flow separation issues for the Italian air force’s KC-767 refueling pod is worth “a thousand words” (AW&ST Oct. 020, p. 27).
Better not wait too long to send that resume or program proposal to President-elect Barack Obama because the Obama camp isn’t wasting any time shifting from campaign mode to organizing the next administration. The transition team combines Clinton administration types, such as former Chief of Staff John Podesta and ex-Transportation Secretary Federico Pena, with longtime Obama advisers from Chicago and Harvard Law School. Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano is also on the team. Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-Ill.), the No.
Donald E. McHugh, Jr. (see photos) has become vice president/controller and John A. Macel, Jr., vice president-international operations of the Northrop Grumman Corp. ’s Technical Services Sector, Herndon, Va., and David Reith director of business operations/chief financial officer of National Security Technologies, of which Northrop Grumman is managing partner. McHugh has been CFO of the Civilian Agencies Group in the company’s Information Technology Sector and succeeds Reith. Macel was vice president-international business development for the ITT Corp.’s Systems Div.
The U.S. aerospace and defense industry is facing an unusual paradox: National security threats haven’t been greater since the height of the Cold War, yet the next President is expected to make drastic changes to the Pentagon’s budget in light of fiscal pressures inside and out of the Defense Dept. Being the world’s largest defense market, the implications could reverberate worldwide.
A Los Angeles Superior Court jury has ruled that Boeing and its Boeing Satellite Systems International (BSSI) unit will be liable for $236 million in punitive damages in relation to a suit for fraud and breach of contract brought by ICO Global Communications.
Meanwhile, Thales, a major A400M supplier, says it is making a €60-million ($78-million) provision in the second half of this year because of expected additional costs related to the A400M program, and suggests it may have to plan for future write-offs in connection with the aircraft’s flight management system (FMS), which Thales supplies. Although the FMS was delivered and accepted last spring, its close interaction with all other essential onboard systems means the company will have to keep development teams active much longer than originally envisaged.
The young Afghanistan National Army Air Corps is expected to grow nearly fivefold in the next five years, according to Maj. Gen. Jay Lindell, the U.S. Air Force deputy commander in charge of the Combined Air Power Transition Force in Kabul. Already, the air corps has about 26 aircraft under its command. However, growing the number and types of aircraft, as well as the manpower and leadership to manage them, is expected to be a challenge for Afghan and international security leaders, according to U.S. officials there.
Chinese air-to-air missile manufacturer Luoyang Optoelectro Technology Development Center (LOEC) is taking a leaf out of Raytheon’s and Rafael’s books, and offering its systems for surface-to-air applications. LOEC showed a vehicle-mounted combination of its SD-10 (PL-12) radar-guided air-to-air missile and the PL-9C infrared-guided missile, which is similar in concept to Rafael’s Spyder system. The SD-10 has apparently been test-fired in the air-to-surface role.
Avic’s Wing Loong medium-altitude, long-endurance unmanned aerial vehicle was scheduled to complete performance and payload trials last month. The 1,150-kg. (2,535-lb.) UAV has an endurance of up to 20 hr. and mission payload of up to 200 kg. The system is designed to be capable of fully autonomous operation. Military and civil applications are being explored.
Nearly 20 airports will be as congested by 2030 as London Heathrow is today, and there will be insufficient air traffic capacity in Europe to head off systemic delays, according to a new Eurocontrol air traffic growth study due out soon.
The second Mercury flyby of NASA’s Messenger probe has filled in more blanks that should help scientists understand the closest planet to the Sun, and other rocky planets as well. The October flyby produced imagery and other data of terrain previously unseen at such close quarters (AW&ST Oct. 20, p. 59). New information from the Mercury Laser Altimeter (MLA) matches high-resolution imagery collected by Messenger and by Mariner 10. This should enable scientists to correlate high-resolution topography measurements with high-resolution images for the first time.
An International Launch Services Proton Breeze M rocket has lofted into orbit Astra 1M, a Ku-band telecom spacecraft intended to deliver direct-to-home broadcasting capacity to continental Europe from SES Astra’s 19.2 deg. E. Long. position. The 32-transponder satellite, built by EADS Astrium, marked the third Proton M mission for ILS—and the fourth overall—since the vehicle returned to service in mid-August after a five-month shutdown.
Karl J. Krapek, Bruce S. Gordon and Madeleine Kleiner have been appointed to the board of directors of the Los Angeles-based Northrop Grumman Corp. Krapek is retired president/chief operating officer of United Technologies Corp., while Gordon is retired as president of the Retail Markets Group for Verizon Communications Inc. He also is lead director of Tyco International Ltd. and a director of the CBS Corp. Kleiner is former executive vice president/general counsel of the Hilton Hotels Corp.
China’s Avicopter and Russia’s Oboronprom plan to co-develop a heavy-lift helicopter. The program may well be based on Mil’s Mi-46 design, which was first proposed in the early 1990s.
The U.S. military and allies are heavily involved in rebuilding the Iraqi air force (see p. 48) and the air arm of the Afghanistan national army (see p. 56), both of which are being created from almost nothing. One of the priorities in Iraq is to build an effective helicopter force that can support the Iraqi army’s counter-insurgency operations. The Mi-17 is becoming the backbone of the air force’s rotorcraft fleet. Photo by U.S. Army Capt. R. Shawn Herron.
Dr. Ira Blumen of the University of Chicago Medical Center has won the second annual Vision Zero Aviation Safety Award from American Eurocopter for his “tireless work in leading the Opportunities for Safety Improvement in Helicopter EMS research project.” OSI-HEMS has brought together more than 40 aviation and medical experts to review the estimated 120 helicopter EMS accidents since 1998. The project was conceived after a 2005 conference at which Blumen presented a lecture entitled “Safety: Evidence-Based Decision Making.”
Sahib Ajjam has been named head of aircraft maintenance for southern Germany for Lufthansa Technik . He succeeds Wolfgang Diefenbach, who is now technical director of Lufthansa CityLine. Ajjam was head of VIP completions for Airbus and Boeing aircraft at the Lufthansa Technik Completion Center.
NASA Kennedy Space Center has selected off-the-shelf Harris Corp. telemetry, tracking and command software for the Constellation Launch Control System that will be used to process and countdown the Ares booster and Orion spacecraft. Designated OS/Comet, the software is less complex than the highly specialized Launch Processing System software used for the space shuttle.
Embraer on Nov. 4 released its first market forecast for China. In the next two decades, the Brazilian manufacturer sees a demand for 875 new regional aircraft, 120 with 30-60 seats, 295 with 61-90 seats and 460 with 91-120 seats. In addition, there will be a continuing industry push for greater fuel efficiency and environment-friendly equipment.
Robert Wall (Kirkuk Regional AB and New al-Muthana AB)
Airborne intelligence-gathering in the Iraqi air force is moving into a new stage as more advanced systems come on line and the service moves to becoming more independent. But perhaps more importantly, the IQAF is set to field its first armed reconnaissance capability. Besides allowing the service to move beyond just imaging potential hot spots, forces will be able to intervene directly and stop hostile action as it’s detected.
Mission: STS-126 International Space Station (ISS) Utilization flight ULA-2. The 126th launch of the shuttle program. Orbiter: Endeavour, 22nd flight Launch date: Nov. 14 at 7:55 p.m. EST off Launch Complex 39A
