D’Agostino, whose agency is responsible for designing, producing and maintaining safe, secure and reliable nuclear weapons, denies emphatically that the U.S. is developing nuclear penetrating devices to go after deeply buried sites, or that it is likely to do so in the foreseeable future. “I have no requirement for an underground nuclear penetrator,” he says. “I don’t expect a requirement for an earth penetrator, even given what I understand is going on [in Iran].” But D’Agostino doesn’t dismiss the idea that some kind of deep penetrator is on the way.
The Pentagaon will wait until at least spring 2008—a rare yearlong pause—to certify that its newest cruise missile is ready to move forward following myriad technical problems and a 42% failure rate this year.
The U.K. House of Commons Defense Committee says the reluctance of other NATO countries to commit more ground troops to Afghanistan, particularly in the south, is undermining the credibility of the NATO effort there, and wants the Defense Ministry to show it can persuade neighboring nations to take up the slack. The committee also found that NATO nations have met its call for more helicopters, but the provision of sufficiently trained air and ground crews remains a problem.
As aerospace and airline companies work on “green” initiatives, executives may want to read the latest National Petroleum Council (NPC) study detailing the tight supply and growing demand for energy expected worldwide through 2030. The study group consulted 1,000 specialists and analyzed 100 energy forecasts. A subgroup examined the fuel needs of air, land and sea transportation and outlines the requirements in a paper that is yet to be released. Included in the paper is a table estimating how much fuel can be saved in air transport using identified technologies.
Leading U.S. aerospace industry and Air Force researchers and developers are stepping up calls for the creation of a dedicated reusable “X” vehicle to demonstrate sustained hypersonic flight performance, which they say is pivotal to the development of real-world, deployable systems.
BAE Systems will restart production of radiation-hardened field-programmable gate arrays for use in space after a manufacturing hiatus since 2006. The Pentagon decided in 2001 to upgrade facilities for these parts at the company’s manufacturing plant in Manassas, Va. The semiconductors will be used on a host of military satellite systems as well as some commercial systems. They will be hardened against a dose of 300K rads (Si). The FPGAs will be produced under a licensing agreement with Actel Corp., a legacy producer of the semiconductors.
I find all of this hysteria to “do something” about “global warming” to be alarming (AW&ST June 25, p. 66). The primary goal of the environmental movement is socialism on an international scale, not environmental protection. There is too much data out there that does not support the hypothesis that we are suffering from human-induced global warming such as: •Most of the recently recorded temperature increases occurred before most of the rise in CO2 levels.
In his letter, former US Airways Master Executive Council member John A. Crocker blames the recent seniority arbitration award on the majority of pilots that voted to take wage and benefit reductions to save our airline. The award that was handed to US Airways is the result of a confusing policy by the Air Line Pilots Assn. that required 18 days of hearings before an 80-plus-year-old lawyer. This arbitrator ignored policies that said no pilot’s career is enhanced at the expense of another’s. Now it is up to ALPA to throw out the award.
Canadian carrier WestJet plans to log a $31.9-million non-cash write-down for the quarter ending June 30 as a result of “discontinuing” contract negotiations with Travelport subsidiary aiRES to power its reservation system. WestJet initially struck a deal with aiRES in 2005, but froze implementation earlier this year, and started talks to amend the contract. The two sides had hoped to reach a deal by the end of May. WestJet earlier this year reached an agreement with current reservation system supplier Navitaire to extend that contract to December 2008.
The Pentagon’s nominee to be the first chief of Africa Command, Gen. William E. Ward, if confirmed, will have his headquarters in Stuttgart, Germany. He is currently deputy commander of U.S. European Command. Africa Command will initially be a sub-unified command subordinate to European Command that is operational by October. It is then to become a separate unified command by the end of Fiscal 2008.
Virgin America has targeted 1 million seat sales for travel through next February as it opens twice-daily services from San Francisco International Airport to John F. Kennedy International in New York on Aug. 8. Twice-daily flights from SFO to Washington Dulles International Airport are to begin Sept. 26, and flights are expected to build from then on to include Las Vegas and nine other cities within a year. The startup will be flying Airbus A320s.
Healthy competition from low-cost carriers is impacting first- and business-class traffic in Europe, which was down 10.5% in May over May 2006, following an 8% decline in April, according to the International Air Transport Assn.’s Premium Traffic Monitor. Europe accounts for 28% of all international premium traffic. Without the European decline, the world’s premium traffic would have risen 4.1% in May; it grew 3.9% in April. However, when adding in Europe, premium traffic overall fell by 0.7%, the first decline in almost 2.5 years.
Your article on conformal radar arrays being prototyped (AW&ST June 25, p. 51) only scratches the surface of what such array technology might do, driven by the advances created for consumer goods such as cell phones and wireless computer networks.
Northrop Grumman has begun a seven-month, $2.5-million project to upgrade the B-2 to carry a new 30,000-lb. penetrator weapon that is designed to threaten an expanded set of hardened, deeply buried targets. This comes as new satellite images show a new tunnel complex being built at Iran’s Natanz nuclear facility. The Massive Ordnance Penetrator bomb, developed by Boeing, contains 5,300 lb. of explosives in a 20.5-ft. steel casing. The B-2, when modified, would carry two MOPs, one in each weapons bay.
The faces of two Southwest Airlines veterans will be absent from the airline’s management team after next May’s annual shareholders meeting. Executive Chairman Herb Kelleher, 76, a lawyer and founder of the 36-year-old low-cost carrier, spent five years in litigation that ended up in the U.S. Supreme Court before his vision of an LCC got off the ground. With a fleet of more than 500 aircraft, the Southwest business model irrevocably changed the airline industry, and it is now the U.S.’s largest domestic carrier.
Universal Technology Corp. has won a $24.9-million contract for collaborative research and development with the Air Force Research Laboratory through 2013. The idea is to evaluate new ideas, systems, devices and concepts for USAF that involve micro-electromechanical systems, nanotechnology, biotechnology, polymers, ceramics, composites and metallurgy.
Air Force Special Operations Command (Afsoc) is planning to buy a fleet of bombers to house its future gunship, breaking with a decades-old tradition of using C-130 transports to carry heavy fires into the sky.
Space Adventures has bought two more seats on upcoming Russian Soyuz flights to the International Space Station. The Vienna, Va.-based travel agency will sell the seats to space tourists, and expects to announce the candidates to fill them soon. The so-called “taxi seats” that are available when two ISS crewmembers are rotated in the three-seat vehicles reportedly have sold for $20-25 million. Space Adventures has purchased one seat on Soyuz TMA-13 in the fall of 2008, and one in the spring of 2009 on Soyuz TMA-14.
The ranks of special operations forces are increasing to handle the war on terrorism, and they are going to need a ride and some cover. Planners at Air Force Special Operations Command (Afsoc) headquarters here are trying to nail down just what the future requirements will be for special operations transports, gunships and vertical-lift aircraft.
EAA AirVenture is a unique place, where analog meets glass, ultralights ramp next to very light jets, and designers, builders and aviators share knowledge and nurture the seeds of aviation’s future. “Technology and innovation are at the core of what we do,” says Experimental Aircraft Assn. President and Chairman Tom Poberezny, who’s been the guiding hand at every show but one since 1976.
Does Capt. (ret.) John Crocker not realize that its pay, work rules, benefits and retirement costs had something to do with US Airways’ two bankruptcies, and the fact that it was static or shrinking for at least 15 years? US Airways could not continue to be the highest cost airline in a world of low-cost, low-fare airlines forever. America West was probably the only airline that would have considered buying all of US Airways, including its people. Where would the employees have been then?
The U.S. Air Force is laying the groundwork to declare its CV-22 operationally ready through a cooperative arrangement with the Marine Corps, which will make its first deployment to Iraq with the tiltrotor this summer. At least one pilot and maintainer from Air Force Special Operations Command (Afsoc) plan to accompany the Marines on the upcoming deployment. With multiple deadly accidents in its past, the Bell/Boeing program is clearly under close scrutiny.
Dassault Aviation is expanding its Little Rock, Ark., completion center. Plans call for 16,000 sq. ft. to be added, bringing total space to 827,000 sq. ft. Upgrades will include a four-bay EPA-approved paint area, more space for warehouse and storage, and new engineering facilities. The $20-million project is scheduled to be completed early in 2008.
Cruise missile defenses and the proliferation of advanced strike aircraft that carry them are becoming a hot topic. Lockheed Martin is demonstrating that its Patriot can handle those threats as well as traditional ballistic missiles by using a PAC-3 missile to destroy a “low-flying, air-breathing target.” What the Patriot still needs is a view of approaching aircraft and cruise missiles that are over the ground-based, radar horizon. The plan is to link Patriot sensors with airborne sensors.
