Separately, the EU and the U.S. agreed on a final design for the common signal to be used by their new Galileo and GPS IIIA satellite navigation systems. The design permits the L1F signal on Galileo, to go into service in 2012, and the L1C signal on GPS IIIA, expected to begin operation a year later, to use a multiplexed binary offset carrier waveform. The waveform will make it possible to track the signals with higher accuracy. The design is the outgrowth of work by joint working groups set up after an initial compatibility and interoperability agreement in June 2004.
Nine months into the job, L-3 Communications Holdings CEO Michael Strianese is executing on his pledge to be more cautious about making acquisitions. Not long ago, the company was known for its voracious buying appetite. But L-3 has made just two small deals during Strianese's tenure, adding companies with a combined $102 million in annual revenues. In an earnings call with Wall Street analysts July 26, he disclosed that L-3 had considered a number of other acquisitions during the second quarter--including two multi-billion-dollar properties--and took a pass.
Icelandair plans to begin flights to Toronto in the spring of 2008, adding to its service to Halifax, Nova Scotia, as it takes advantage of a new open skies accord between Canada and Iceland. The airline will offer 5-7 flights each day and aims to attract both business and leisure travelers to Iceland, where it operates from Keflavik International Airport. The flight to Iceland is 5 hr. from Toronto, and passengers can continue on to destinations including London, Paris and cities in Northern Europe.
Australia will negotiate with the U.S. Navy to buy Boeing P-8 Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft following a government decision to grant initial approval for the A$4 billion ($3.5 billion) program. The aircraft are to partially replace Lockheed Martin P-3Cs due for retirement in 2018. Australia is looking to participate in development of the 737-based maritime aircraft, following its work on the airborne early warning development of the jetliner, which the country has also ordered. The Royal Australian Air Force also operates 737s as government transports. Like the U.S.
Paris airport authority ADP says it is investing €26 million to enhance international arrival and departure areas at the South Terminal of Orly Airport. Some facilities, including a common departure security checkpoint capable of processing up to 2,000 departing passengers an hour, compared with 1,500 now; 7,000-sq.-meter boarding concourse; new business lounge; and 5,600-sq.-meter baggage claim area, will be in service this summer. A new service and duty free area will open in May 2008.
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (Darpa) program to develop an integrated avionics system to help U.S. Army helicopter pilots land in brownout situations is aiming for a life-saving solution to a long-standing problem.
Francisco Hernandez has become worldwide director of sales for Universal Avionics products for Fairchild Corp. subsidiary DAC International Inc. , Austin, Tex. He was head of Universal Avionics sales for Latin America.
Britain’s Royal Air Force will equip several of its Nimrod MR2 surveillance aircraft with a Terma-supplied Enhanced Defensive Aids Suite to meet an urgent operational requirement to improve the MR2’s infrared self-protection performance. The aircraft routinely fly electro-optical surveillance missions over Afghanistan and Iraq. The RAF plans to start flight testing the system soon, following work with Denmark’s Terma to design and install the suite. The upgrade involves an under-wing modular countermeasures pod (MCP) on each side of the aircraft.
Airbus has formally rejected the bid by Chinese aerospace group Avic I to purchase the six plants that the European aircraft maker has put up for sale. Li Yuhai, Avic I’s deputy general manager, tells China Business News that the bid was rejected because it was late. Acceptance never seemed likely, however. Buying the six plants would have fitted perfectly with Chinese industry’s plans to adopt Western know-how and emerge as a competitor in building large commercial aircraft next decade—and that’s exactly why Airbus was always expected to reject it.
The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) plans to test millimeter wave X-ray technology and compare it with a backscatter X-ray system now being tested to screen passengers at Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport. TSA Administrator Kip Hawley says the agency plans to conduct a virtual “side-by-side” of the two advanced screening technologies, which can detect weapons and other contraband better than conventional X-ray machines now in use at airport security checkpoints.
The FAA plans to select an Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast contractor by Aug. 30 from a field of three bidders, says FAA Administrator Marion Blakey. The prime contractors vying for the $1-billion contract include Lockheed Martin, Raytheon and ITT, all of whom have ADS-B specialists on their teams. The winning contractor will be expected to finance and build a nationwide network of ADS-B receivers to process data-linked GPS position reports from aircraft flying overhead. ADS-B will move the U.S.
Ron (Skip) Bradford has become product manager for inflation systems for the Survival Engineering Inc. subsidiary of Circor Aerospace-Aerodyne, Corona, Calif. He was operations manager for SEI.
Rolls-Royce reported a 17% increase in underlying profits to £380 million for the first half, on underlying sales of £3.75 billion (up 10%). Orders surged 34% to £35.1 billion. The company predicted earnings would rise for the full year, despite the weakening dollar and rising unit costs. It also forecast positive cash flow for the year, before cash injections for employee pension schemes are taken into account. It injected £500 million into the schemes in the first half and expects to transfer another £368 million by year’s end.
The House Appropriations defense subcommittee is trying to rein in the Air Force’s push to gain control of acquisition and operations of unmanned aerial vehicles. In its Fiscal 2008 spending bill, the committee “strongly cautions against” changes in existing UAV management structures. Before any changes are made, the committee directs the Pentagon to analyze the issue and brief Congress on its findings. Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. T. Michael Moseley proposed to assume executive-agency authority over all UAVs flying above 3,500 ft.
FedEx recently took delivery of the final Airbus A300-600F twinjet, marking the end of an era for the European pioneer. The freighter, the last of the line of the original A300Bs, has officially been withdrawn from the manufacturer’s product range, along with the shortened-fuselage A310.
Japan’s Selene lunar orbiters will be the first in a series of four advanced robotic Moon missions that should enrich human understanding of Earth’s nearest neighbor in ways that may extend far beyond its dust and deep craters.
The relentlessly rising value of the yuan is boosting Chinese airline profits, by devaluing their dollar-denominated debt. Air says its first-half 2007 profit will be 20 times greater than that of a year earlier, partly due to the yuan’s appreciation, which will also help struggling China Eastern to post a profit for its first half instead of a loss. Air China meanwhile hopes to lift its share of traffic at Beijing Capital International Airport to 50% from its present 44% once new facilities are available to it.
U.S. low-cost carriers JetBlue and AirTran are predicting far more favorable conditions in the second half of the year after weak pricing eroded average fares in the second quarter. Still, both carriers posted impressive profits despite their sluggish fares.
The NTSB cited flight crewmember’s failure to verify the airplane was on the assigned runway before takeoff as the probable cause in the crash of a Comair Bombardier CRJ-100 at Blue Grass Airport, Lexington, Ky., on Aug. 27, 2006. All 47 passengers were killed, as well as two of the three crewmembers. According to the Board, mitigating factors included about 40 sec. of non-pertinent conversation between the captain and first officer during taxi, construction work on taxiways leading to Runway 22 and only one air traffic controller on duty in the tower.
Goodrich has been tapped by Singapore Airlines to provide asset management services, which cover component and system maintenance and technical support for the airline’s fleet of 19 Airbus A380s. The long-term customized agreement marks the first selection of Goodrich’s team for A380 support.
Southwest Airlines is about 60% through its second stock repurchase of the year and may replenish cash by borrowing. The carrier finished the first buyback in May—20.5 million shares for about $300 million—and the airline says in a Securities and Exchange Commission report that as of July 17 it had added 20 million shares for $295 million as part of an additional repurchase of as much as $500 million.
The U.S. Defense Dept. and the British Defense Ministry say they have made a major advance for improved interoperability by demonstrating that their newest tactical communications technology—the U.K.’s Bowman advanced digital radio and the U.S. Joint Tactical Radio System—can share voice and data. The experiment was conducted at ITT’s Clifton, N.J., facility and used a software waveform that is being tested for both systems. The demonstration was repeated using JTRS crypto equipment.
Many of the people working on Deepwater at the U.S. Coast Guard Engineering Center in Maryland—particularly the naval architect engineering specialists—have risked or damaged their careers to bring to light the unseaworthy vessels being designed and built by the integrators (AW&ST July 2, p. 66). In the aftermath of the Deepwater meltdown, what has been their reward for speaking out? Nothing. There has been no additional staff to help them perform an almost impossible job.
Astronomers using the Hubble Space Telescope and the Keck telescope in Hawaii to study debris disks around distant stars believe a gigantic, lopsided, needle-shaped disk around a star designated HD 15115 holds clues to the formation of our Solar System. The Hubble imagery (above) also suggests that the feature could be analogous to the Kuiper Belt, the region of rock and ice fragments extending beyond the orbit of Neptune.
