European telecommunications satellite operators have called on the European Union to protect access of satellite communications services to required spectrum and ensure they do not suffer from unwarranted interference from other users. Unless amended, a new regulatory framework for electronic communications currently being debated within the European Parliament could jeopardize the long-term stability of satcom services, the operators said during a meeting of space ministers in Kourou, French Guiana.
The rapid growth in Indian air traffic during the past eight years has become a bane, not a boon, to the existence of airlines here. Domestic air services have mushroomed to about 7,000 weekly departures in 2007 from slightly more than 1,000 a decade ago, according to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), India’s air regulator. Last year’s growth rate was 23%. But it shrank to 8% last month and is expected to enter negative territory as the year progresses. Cumulatively, India’s airlines have already cut 10% of their flights.
The next two leaders of the U.S. Air Force are pledging to take a fresh look at the service’s aircraft fleet requirements, as well as providing full cooperation to meet intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) demands from combat commanders and the nascent ISR Task Force set up by Defense Secretary Robert Gates.
B. Zane Faught (see photos) has been promoted to general manager of the Computers and Software Div. from principal director of Control Systems in the Navigation Div. and Randolph L. Kendall general manager of the Launch Systems Div. from principal director of the Launch Directorate in the National Systems Group for The Aerospace Corp. , El Segundo, Calif. Edward B. Diamond has been appointed principal director of the Facilities Directorate and Douglas L.
The screening of airline and cruise ship passengers arriving in Bermuda is expected to go faster now with the installation of an Advance Passenger Information System (APIS) data connection using the company’s global AviNet network. Annapolis, Md.-based Arinc is also providing a backup data connection via the Internet and custom software capability to accommodate private and charter vessels.
Build a new aircraft and Oshkoshers will come. Barring weather or operating problems, Cirrus Design Corp. plans to show off the newest addition to its family, the Vision SJ50 single-engine personal jet, at EAA AirVenture ’08. “Oshkosh is the perfect place to bring our new airplane,” says Mike Van Staagen, Cirrus vice president of advanced development group-design. It will be the first time the public catches a glimpse of the v-tailed Vision SJ50, formerly known as “the jet” (see cover).
Arianespace has been selected to launch the fourth MSG-4 weather satellite for Eumetsat, in the second half of 2013. Arianespace had been chosen for MSG-3, set for launch in 2010, and the first two MSG spacecraft, currently in orbit. It was the third launch deal for the Ariane 5 operator this year.
Bombardier plans to give its new CSeries the best of both Boeing and Airbus approaches to fly-by-wire systems and a cockpit with all of the latest situational awareness systems, including some not yet flying on any commercial passenger jets. When it comes to fly-by-wire, Bombardier is going to avoid having to choose between the Airbus philosophy that focuses on envelope protection and the Boeing philosophy that gives pilots full access to all-control authority. It’s going to give its customers both.
Qantas CEO Geoff Dixon told government and business executives in Australia on July 22 that the global aviation industry faces more than a mere crisis. What is occurring now is a “permanent transformation” driven by “permanent high fuel prices.” Dixon says Qantas is well positioned with a five-year cost-reduction program making it possible to raise the capital to purchase $30 billion in new, fuel-efficient jets. But Qantas has been forced to suspend recruiting, cut jobs and reduce capacity as it pays $2 billion more for fuel this year than in 2007.
Good news for general aviation safety—the number of fatal accidents and fatalities has been in a steady downward trend since 1989, and advanced technology and training will continue driving that number down.
French defense minister Herve Morin says the government will push a string of measures to facilitate the creation of a functioning European defense industry during its six-month stint at the head of the European Union presidency (see p. 32). The measures include launching new defense initiatives through the European Defense Agency (EDA); consolidating the defense industry base, in particular in the fragmented naval and ground-systems sectors; and establishing new regulatory mechanisms.
The U.S. Agriculture Dept. will conduct plant research on the International Space Station under a memorandum of understanding signed July 23 by NASA Adminstrator Michael Griffin and Agriculture Secretary Edward T. Schafer. The MOU, part of NASA’s effort to develop the U.S.-controlled facilities on the ISS as a national laboratory (AW&ST June 16, p. 38), will make experiment racks available to the Agricultural Research Service for research into biological cellular mechanisms.
As a high-profile defense contractor, General Dynamics Corp. has been shielded from the investor sell-off that led to sharp declines in the prices of commercial aerospace stocks (AW&ST July 21, p. 12). So it’s ironic that the standout in the company’s impressive second-quarter financial results is its commercial Gulfstream Aerospace unit, which accounts for about one-fifth of overall sales. GD reported a 25% increase in net income from a year earlier amid an 11% sales gain (see earnings summary, p. 26).
Michael A. Taverna (Farnborough), Douglas Barrie (Farnborough)
Eurocopter’s hopes of using a newly acquired local affiliate as a springboard into the British military helicopter market—the largest in Europe—could suffer a setback if the government cannot get a better handle on rotorcaft acquisition programs.
The Republic of Singapore Air Force has begun its first basic wings training course in Pearce, Australia, using the PC-21 turboprop. The first 12 PC-21s have been delivered, with the remaining seven to follow next month.
Boeing is moving to secure a foothold in the unmanned aerial vehicle market with a deal to acquire Insitu Inc., a privately owned manufacturer of small, low-cost UAVs. Terms were not disclosed. Insitu was founded in 1994 as an entrepreneurial startup and built the first UAV to cross the Atlantic Ocean. The Bingen, Wash., company has 360 employees and anticipates $150 million in revenues this year, up 70% from 2007. It will operate as an independent subsidiary in the military aircraft unit of Boeing’s Integrated Defense Systems.
After more than a year of posturing, the U.S. State Dept. has given the nod for Northrop Grumman to market its Global Hawk unmanned aerial vehicle to Spain. The country hopes to employ the high-flying, long-endurance UAV on maritime and overland surveillance missions. Deliveries would take about two years after a contract is signed. The deal was initially rejected by the U.S. because of the Missile Technology Control Regime restrictions. As was done for foreign sales of Tomahawk missiles, however, those limits were waived.
A relatively nearby galaxy may hold clues to conditions that exist in the most distant—and ancient—galaxies that can be observed from Earth. Astronomers using NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope have found a ring around the Pinwheel Galaxy that lacks the organic molecules found closer to its center. Those polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) also were scarce in the early Universe, giving scientists an idea of the conditions that existed when the first stars and galaxies were formed.
Italy is conducting plasma wind-tunnel tests of wing-box structures using advanced materials, in an effort to develop technology applicable to high Mach-number flight. Trials of a first design were conducted in June, with a second concept to be tested in September. The first wing-box to be tested was from Thales Alenia Space, with financing from the Italian Space Agency, as part of the Advanced Structural Assembly Program.
Regarding math and science education as discussed in your June 30 Presidential Special Report, there are some silent roadblocks our society erects in pursuing a technical career that have yet to be addressed.
French plans to completely redefine its military strategy and integrate it more tightly with that of its NATO and European allies could help reinvigorate transatlantic defense cooperation, and serve as a model for other nations of the alliance. But the ability to follow through with the project will depend on whether Paris can generate the operating economies needed to underwrite the new strategy in a difficult budget environment, and on a bit of luck from the economic front, too.
Tucked behind a low ridge the first permanent Pacific-theater home for the Global Hawk is reshaping the flightline here. The facility, with its soaring arches, will be large enough to hold up to six of the high-altitude, long-endurance, unmanned reconnaissance aircraft.
USN Adm. (ret.) Thomas B. Fargo (see photo) has been named to the board of directors of the Los Angeles-based Northrop Grumman Corp. He is president/CEO of Hawaii Superferry as part of his duties as managing director of J.F. Lehman & Co., and was commander of the U.S. Pacific Command.
Cirrus Design Corp.’s Vision SJ50 prototype flies over Duluth, Minn., during its July 3 inaugural flight. Powered by a Williams International FJ33-4A-19, the single-engine personal jet performed flawlessly in the 45-min. flight from company headquarters at Duluth International Airport, according to Cirrus. If weather and operating conditions are favorable, Cirrus this week will fly the aircraft to EAA AirVenture 2008 at Oshkosh, Wis., where it will be on public display for the first time.
Low-cost carriers are once again being presented with market openings to exploit as the major U.S. airlines scramble to slash service across their networks. But the pickings won’t be so easy for the LCCs this time, since most are feeling just as much pain as their legacy brethren.
