Despite a need to transform themselves, the military services remain focused on centerpiece acquisition efforts rooted in the Cold War, such as the Navy's DDG-1000 destroyer and the Army's Future Combat Systems, says Peter Singer, Brookings Institution senior fellow and director of the 21st Century Defense Initiative.
When Rockwell Collins needed to know more about thunderstorm characteristics in different parts of the world, the company found someone who had already been down this path. Research meteorologist Ed Zipser, a professor at the University of Utah, was enlisted in the company’s radar project in 2004, and his knowledge of thunderstorms played a key role in perfecting the automatic MultiScan radar (see p. 44).
The shuttle orbiter Endeavour is being prepared for rollout from the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) to Launch Complex 39A about July 11, in preparation for its STS-118 launch to the International Space Station scheduled for Aug. 7. Endeavour, which has not been flown since 2002, was moved into the VAB from Bay 2 of the Orbiter Processing Facility on July 2 as Atlantis was in the midst of its return to KSC from Edward AFB, Calif., on its Boeing 747 carrier aircraft.
The French Senate defense and armed forces committee has strongly recommended construction of a second aircraft carrier. New Defense Minister Herve Morin said in late June that the vessel, which France is studying as a cooperative venture with the U.K., probably will be approved.
Rockwell Collins leased a Boeing Business Jet to gather data of MultiScan radar as it detected storms in June in North and South America, over the Atlantic, in Europe and over Africa (see p. 44). The cover is filled with clouds from a June 16 photo taken at 39,000 ft. over Cameroon by engineer Roy Robertson. One inset photo is a still frame from a video camera in the tail showing an anvil cloud near Luxembourg on June 8. The second inset photo, which was taken on June 21, shows the radar display in the cockpit, as taken by Capt. Dick Smith at 31,000 ft.
The Thai cabinet has agreed to an air force purchase of six Saab JAS 39 Gripen fighters; six more are to follow after at least five years. This overturns earlier plans for Sukhoi Su-30s.
EADS has completed ground tests of its air refueling boom, which has been installed on an Airbus A310. The boom development has hit some difficulties, but wrapping up ground testing before the U.S. tanker program goes into its final source-selection phase was seen as important. EADS's lack of boom experience was seen as a potential handicap for the bidder, which is allied with Northrop Grumman in its KC-30 bid. Flight trials will follow. Australia's five KC-30B A330-based tankers will receive the refueling probe.
The first of 23 VH-71 U.S. presidential helicopters had its maiden flight July 3. Delivery of the VH-71 variant of the AgustaWestland EH101 is scheduled to begin in October 2009. Test Vehicle 2, as the first VH-71 is known, will be joined by a further three test aircraft in early 2008. The first VH-71 is due to be delivered to NAS Patuxent River, Md., by Sept. 30. Four test VH-71s and five pilot production aircraft will be built and delivered by the end of 2009.
Germany has launched its second SarLupe X-band reconnaissance satellite. The spacecraft, orbited by a Cosmo 3M booster from Plesetsk, Russia, on July 3, will join the first satellite, which was launched in December. The two units will enable the system to become operational this fall.
Cessna Aircraft Co. and Germany's Thielert Aircraft Engines plan to collaborate on future aircraft programs that would use Thielert's diesel engine. John Doman, Cessna's vice president of worldwide propeller aircraft sales, says the engine "may provide a very worthwhile power option . . . and we think the time is right to move forward." One potential candidate for the engine is Cessna's Next Generation Piston airplane, now under development.
The U.S. Air Force has been authorized to pursue multi-year agreements for F-22 Lots 7-9 with the Aeronautical Systems Center at Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, predicting potential savings in the $100 millions. Contracts with Lockheed Martin and Pratt & Whitney are to be awarded later this summer. Deliveries, managed by the 478th Aeronautical Systems Wing, are approaching 100 aircraft, and the first of four modernization upgrades, including both hardware and software changes, is close to being fielded. Rand Corp.
The two Orbital Express spacecraft are expected to be decommissioned this week, after demonstrating on-orbit satellite servicing techniques, according to the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (Darpa).
Seven European rail operators have launched an alliance to facilitate interlining and set up a common frequent traveler plan that would allow them to compete more effectively with the airlines for intercity traffic. The alliance is led by Deutsche Bahn (DB) of Germany and France's SNCF, which have pioneered in establishing high-speed rail interconnections with big airline hubs like Paris Charles de Gaulle and Frankfurt. Other team members include Britain, the Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland and Austria. Over 4,700 km.
From a line approximately 180 naut. mi. south of Iceland to the North Pole, the air navigation service provider Isavia rules the northern tier of the North Atlantic sky and guides nearly 100,000 civil and military aircraft each year.
A team of scientists at the U.S. Air Force's Arnold Engineering Development Center (AEDC) are evaluating performance of a Towed Airborne Plume Simulator (TAPS) before flight tests begin later this year.
This winter, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency will launch what it calls the world’s fastest telecommunications satellite, a demonstrator for technology that would allow spacecraft to greatly outperform commonly used terrestrial systems of Internet delivery.
Vesna Radisic (see photo), an electrical engineer at the Northrop Grumman Corp.'s Space Technology Sector, Redondo Beach, Calif., has received the Outstanding Young Engineer Award for 2007 from the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers' Microwave Theory and Techniques Society. She was recognized for leadership in microwave applications of defected ground structures, active antennas and millimeter-wave electronics.
General Electric reports completion last week of fan-blade containment tests of the composite-fan casing for the GEnx for Boeing's 787 and 747-8. The composite-fan case provides an additional weight-savings measure in the GEnx, which uses composite fan blades developed for the GE90.
Boeing has won a contract for manufacturing 242 sets of improved wings for the U.S. Air Force's A-10s--a deal that could be worth $2.015 billion. The wings are expected to extend the Thunderbolt's life by 20 years and be completed by 2016. Boeing also received a contract add-on of $248.4 million for C-17 sustainment, labor and materials to Australia and Canada.
If China succeeds in setting up a commercial aircraft industry, aerospace management know-how learned from BHA Aero Composite Parts Co. Ltd. will help. The Chinese firm, a joint venture of Boeing, U.S. materials supplier Hexcel and local aerospace group Avic I, is overcoming the challenges of competing in global aircraft manufacturing from a Chinese base, including critical cultural issues.
Scientists at Georgia Tech Research Institute have patented a digital crystal video receiver (DCVR) that could significantly increase reliability while lowering the cost of radar warning receivers. The institute, working with the U.S. Air Force, has developed a way to use digital circuitry instead of analog chips to perform functions in the receivers. Researchers have shifted the logarithmic transfer function that coordinates input/output of a receiver's signal processing system, thereby improving the stability of circuit, says Michael J.
The first flight of Turkey's maritime surveillance aircraft project was completed last month, according to system integrator Thales. The nine CN-235s and 10 ATR 72s are part of the Meltem II program that will support the Turkish navy and coast guard in monitoring territorial waters.
Unbowed by political turmoil shaking Lebanon, Beirut-based Middle East Airlines (MEA) is moving ahead with a plan to grow its fleet to 14 aircraft, and it has secured a 10-year financing deal with Fransabank to buy two new Airbus A320s as a first step. Of the nine aircraft in service, three will be retired and a total of eight bought, the first of which is to be fielded next year. With that fleet, MEA wants to operate to Paris three times a day, and to Dubai, Cairo, Riyadh and Jeddah twice daily.
The British Royal Navy has test-fired a Block IV variant of the Raytheon Tomahawk land-attack cruise missile. The launch, carried out from the submarine HMS Trenchant, took place in the Gulf of Mexico. The U.K. has 64 of the long-range strike weapons on order and is scheduled to place the missile in service next year. The Block IV features increased range compared with the Block III version and can be retargeted in flight.
