The U.K. Defense Ministry is increasing its effort to understand the implications of the use of commercial chip sets in military platforms when exposed to background radiation, particularly at high altitude. Defense technology company Qinetiq has been contracted to conduct a five-year study of the vulnerability of computer components such as high-density memory, processors and micro-electromechanical systems. Areas where the research could be applicable may include high-altitude-endurance UAVs. At 60,000 ft.
India is seeking international partners for its space industry, and plans to use the upcoming International Astronautical Congress in Hyderabad for some serious matchmaking. The Sept. 24-28 gathering will include a heavier-than-usual focus on space business, and Indian space leaders hope they parlay that into new contracts. India developed its space infrastructure in relative isolation, frequently blocked from meaningful cooperation by missile-proliferation concerns and Cold War politics.
Boeing added 11 more 787 orders last week, bringing its total to 491 from 39 customers. Colombia's Avianca became the first South American carrier to join Boeing's list and eventually placed the twinjet on every populated continent. The order is for 10 787-8s with purchase rights for 10 more. Additionally, Prague-based charter carrier Travel Service ordered a single -8 with purchase rights for one more.
USN Adm. Timothy J. Keating has been appointed commander of U.S. Pacific Command, Camp H.M. Smith, Hawaii. He was commander of North American Aerospace Defense Command and U.S. Northern Command, both at Peterson AFB, Colo. Keating has been succeeded by USAF Lt. Gen. Victor E. Renuart, Jr., who has been senior military assistant to Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates and is scheduled to be promoted to general.
The Israel Defense Force conducted a second flight test of the U.S.-Israeli Arrow II anti-missile interceptor on Mar. 26. The fly-out only trial to collect engineering data follows the Feb. 11 interception of a target missile.
BAE Systems has received a $37-million production contract from the U.S. Air Force to provide 41 ALR-56M radar-warning receiver systems for Air Force and Marine Corps C-130J transports. The system detects a broad range of radar signals and identifies and characterizes their origin as friend or foe.
Jon Armstrong has been named vice president of Jetera One-to-One Media, Ridgefield, Conn. He was a director of strategic planning at the Lockheed Martin Corp.
Tiger Airways says it hopes to order aircraft to supplement its thinly stretched fleet by the middle of the year. The company, which has 20 Airbus A320s in service or on order but plans a network stretching from China to Southeast Asia and across Australia, tells Dow Jones Newswires that, since Airbus can't produce enough narrowbodies, it might have to "look elsewhere."
A decades-old debate on roles and missions at the Pentagon is heating up with a renewed push by the Air Force to take over control of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and concern the service may walk away from an agreement to jointly buy cargo aircraft with the Army. Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. T. Michael Moseley's proposal to name his service as the Pentagon executive agent for UAVs has sparked sharp criticism from the Army, which, according to a Pentagon source, is flying more UAV hours in Iraq than the Air Force.
Andy Rish has been promoted to quality assurance manager from maintenance planner for Empire Airlines, Hayden, Idaho. He will be succeeded by Jan Vernon, who has been head of engine performance monitoring and reliability for FedEx.
The first-phase U.S.-European Union agreement toward an open aviation area, approved unanimously Mar. 22 by EU transport ministers, is a small though hard-won step for the diplomats who negotiated it. It will take a few years to find out whether it is the giant leap for international aviation its backers hope it is.
Construction of the 40,000-sq.-meter (431,000-sq.-ft.) exhibition hall for the Singapore Airshow has begun with the launch of five 72-meter free-span beams. The air show will be held next Feb. 19-24 on a new 30-hectare (74- acre) site.
The record $100-million fine and guilty plea ITT Corp. agreed to for sending classified material to China is the kind of publicity the defense industry doesn't need as it seeks to liberalize U.S. export restrictions. The Aerospace Industries Assn. has been pushing for years to streamline technology control regulations and review processes. AIA believes it has been making some progress lately in the bowels of the bureaucracy.
Edward K. Ruth (see photos) has been promoted to principal director of the Launch Engineering and Analysis Directorate from systems director in the Space Launch Projects Directorate of The Aerospace Corp., El Segundo, Calif. Former U.S. Rep. Robert S. Walker has been reelected to the board of trustees. He is chairman of Wexler and Walker Public Policy Associates of Washington and was a Republican congressman from Pennsylvania.
The European Commission has approved the acquisition of Nera Satcom of Norway by Danish-based Thrane & Thrane. Nera, a maker of terminals and Earth stations for mobile satellite systems, will expand Thrane & Thrane's portfolio land-based, maritime and aeronautical satellite communications systems, chiefly linked to Inmarsat.
Tuxedoed, mess-dressed and bejeweled luminaries from the aerospace industry gathered at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center of the Smithsonian Institution's National Air and Space Museum Mar. 20 for the presentation of Aviation Week & Space Technology's 2007 Laureate Awards. With icons such as Boeing's "Dash 80" 707 prototype and the space shuttle Enterprise as backdrops within the museum's soaring annex outside Washington, this 50th annual Laureate Awards presentation drew more than 400 nominees and guests from around the world.
A small telecom satellite to enable European manufacturers to compete more effectively against overseas suppliers is entering the detailed design phase in view to an end-of-decade launch.
USAF Lt. Gen. (ret.) Richard T. Swope has been appointed to the board of directors of the Kreisler Manufacturing Corp., Elmwood Park, N.J. He is vice president-Air Force programs at Cypress International Inc.
Japan's first reconnaissance satellite, launched in March 2003, has been having electrical problems since Mar. 25 and is likely to be abandoned, a year before the end of its planned five-year service life. With the launch of a second radar satellite last month, Japan had only just completed its long-standing plan to operate two radar and two optical satellites that together would be able to take at least one daily picture of any place in the world.
The British government is to establish an Office of Security and Counter-Terrorism as part of a shake-up of the Home Office. The changes will also see the creation of a Ministry of Justice.
International demand for the C-17 may not be enough to keep the transport's production line open for long. Worries for U.S. Air Force Gen. Lance Smith, Supreme Allied Commander for Transformation, include "strategic airlift as we change the level of ambition in NATO to be able to respond out of the area." NATO's effort to buy into C-17 "will help keep the line open some short amount of time.
Embraer's first Phenom 100 very light jet is ready for fuselage-wing mating and final assembly at the manufacturer's Sao Jose dos Campos, Brazil, facility. The wing and fuselage were completed at another Embraer facility in March. The manufacturer plans to install the four-passenger aircraft's two 1,615-lb.-thrust Pratt & Whitney Canada PW617Fs this month. Initial assembly of main fuselage sections and structures of the second production Phenom 100 is underway, according to Embraer Executive Vice President Luis Carlos Affonso.
The Australian MRH90 helicopter has completed its first flight. The hour-long flight took place at Eurocopter's Marignane facility. The first four MRH90s are being built in France, with the remaining 42 to be assembled in Brisbane, Australia. Additionally, Eurocopter has inaugurated its facility in Albacete, Spain. The site will produce composite rear fuselage sections for the EC 135 and Tiger helos, along with NH90 forward fuselage sections. Final assembly of the three helicopter types for the Spanish market will also be performed there.
NATO problems in Afghanistan mirror those of the U.S. in Iraq. USAF Gen. Lance Smith, supreme allied commander for transformation, who is responsible for NATO defense planning, sees technology gaps. "We showed up in Iraq with seven different blue [friendly] force trackers that didn't talk to one another. So an Army commander knew where his forces were, but wouldn't necessarily know where the Marine forces right next to him were.
Russia has agreed to provide a gamma ray and neutron spectrometer for the European Space Agency's BepiColombo Mercury probe, to be built by EADS Astrium and launched in 2013, in cooperation with Japan. Russian scientists were also invited to respond to the next call for proposals for ESA's new Cosmic Vision science program, to be submitted by the end of June (AW&ST Feb. 12, p. 33). The decisions were part of an expanded Tripartite cooperation between ESA, the EC and Russian Space Agency Roscosmos.
