Thomas F. Fallon, Jr. (see photo) has become vice president-mission assurance for the Northrop Grumman Corp.'s Technical Services Sector, Herndon, Va. He was director of quality assurance for the Electronic Systems Sector.
Regarding the 747 water bomber (AW&ST July 31, p. 64), there are already two supertankers working in British Columbia. They are Martin Mars bombers and have impressive numbers for quantity of water (7,200 U.S. gal.) and turnaround time (15 min.). Although not on par with 20,000 U.S. gal., the 747 turnaround time was not stated. Two Mars working together can drop up to 57,600 U.S. gal. per hour on a fire.
Richard C. Lambert is correct in stating that passenger evacuation is another design issue in introducing a blended-wing body into commercial service. However, a major point of my letter was to point out the increasing irrelevance of academic research in aeronautics (AW&ST Sept. 11, p. 6; July 31, p. 10).
In her article on where aerospace and defense (A&D) professionals decide to work (AW&ST Sept. 4, p. 50), Carole Hedden touches on several key issues but fails to address some important points.
Despite all the effort toward improving communications among military personnel, first responders and humanitarian aid groups since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, connecting them is still a major problem. The situation was made clear in the early stages of the Strong Angel III exercise in August, designed around a simulated humanitarian disaster in San Diego. On day one, the participants lost all connectivity. On day two, they had to shut down and reboot. Strong Angel Director U.S. Navy Cdr.
Boeing will get a $14-million NASA contract for work on the heat-shield for the planned Orion crew exploration vehicle (see p. 36). Under the 16-month, hybrid, firm fixed-price and cost-plus-fixed-fee contract, Boeing is to design an Orion heat shield using phenolic impregnated carbon ablator (PICA) material and build a full-scale manufacturing demonstration unit.
The Indian Navy, long starved for resources, appears set for a revival as the growing country pours money into modernization while looking abroad to expand cooperation. Yet India's 7,500-km. (4,660-mi.) coastline poses numerous challenges, as the navy structures its force levels across the spectrum of sea control, local naval defense and aid to neighbors.
Successful flight tests are sometimes an easy ticket to the On the Edge side of this column, but it's hard not to be skeptical when a company claims that, in just two short years, an aircraft that can now stay in flight for 18 hr. will be able to stay in the air for three straight months, a significant world record. U.K. defense contractor Qinetiq says its Zephyr high-altitude, seriously long-endurance unmanned aerial vehicle will operate for months at a time at an altitude of more than 50,000 ft., on nothing but batteries and solar power. Sounds like a pretty tall order.
The new administration that will soon take power in Sweden suggests that it will sell off the government's stake in SAS Group. The government is the largest shareholder with 21.4%, followed by the Norwegian and Danish governments, each of which hold 14.3%. The latter have no plans to follow Sweden's lead. Stockholm has not revealed a timeline regarding a decision whether to shed its stake.
Avio has handed over the propulsion unit for the Sicral 1b military communications satellite to prime contractor Alcatel Alenia Space. No launch date has been set. The new spacecraft is to provide additional SHF, UHF and EHF bandwidth to support Italy's growing overseas forces and meet an Italian commitment, with France and Italy, to supply SHF and UHF capacity to NATO.
Near-Earth objects (NEOs) are potential objectives for NASA's planned new generation of human space exploration vehicles, along with the Moon and Mars. Jeff Hanley, manager of the Constellation Program overseeing development of the exploration fleet, says a comet or asteroid in Earth's neighborhood could be a worthy objective for the Orion crew exploration vehicle (CEV) and its Ares I launcher, even though the Ares/Orion stack is being developed for a lunar return.
Techsphere Systems International has tested a paint-on antenna applied to one of its SA-60 spherical airships. The antenna is a combination of polymer-based dielectrics and highly conductive paint and is to be used on high-altitude (67,000-70,000-ft.) communications and surveillance platforms. During the flight, the paint-on electromagnetic antennas communicated voice and data to an Iridium Global satellite. Later, the material will be applied directly to the airship. For this test, the antenna nodes were applied to airship fabric and painted over.
After nine months of taking aviation's temperature, the Transportation Dept. believes current price-advertising rules are working just fine. Last December, the department launched a rulemaking that put a bulls-eye on the system in place--airlines may advertise their fares and, as exceptions to the rules' strict requirements, treat some per-passenger charges separately as long as the total cost is made clear. Of some 700 individuals outside the airline and travel business who submitted comments, nearly 500 wanted strict enforcement, no exceptions.
French Finance Minister Thierry Breton says France will back EADS in its attempt to ward off any move by Russia to take a minority controlling stake in the aerospace and defense company. "The company is governed by a shareholders' pact, and there's no question of changing that pact," he said last week, echoing an earlier statement by German finance officials.
BAE SYSTEMS IS DEVELOPING A RADAR-CAPABLE DETECTION SYSTEM for helicopters that is based on its low probability of intercept altimeter (LPIA). This product will rely on a wideband radar altimeter with advanced signal processing algorithms to achieve high processing gain capability. The system will also be a low probability of intercept and detection device. The forward looking antenna will distinguish cables and obstacles ahead of the aircraft and display these obstructions, along with heading from the aircraft and distance in order to allow pilots to take evasive action.
The Dnepr light launcher is expected to return to flight at the end of November, and to do so carrying Germany's new dual-use, high-resolution radar satellite, TerraSAR-X. A preliminary report issued last week by a Russian state committee investigating a July 26 Dnepr failure, which grounded the booster, says the incident was caused by defective heat insulation on a heptil line between the motor and pump hydraulic drive serving a first-stage thrust vector combustion chamber.
Daniel S. Goldberg has been appointed president/CEO of Ottawa-based Telesat Canada. He was president/CEO of SES New Skies. Goldberg succeeds Larry Boisvert, who will be retiring.
NASA has picked principals to run its planned Red Planet Capital fund, a government-backed venture capital pool designed to spur development of technologies the agency can use in its ambitious Solar System exploration program. After receiving a "strong response" to their request for information from potential partners earlier this year, NASA managers selected Peter Banks, a partner in XR Ventures of Grand Rapids, Mich.; Graham Burnette, a partner in EA-Capital Funds of San Mateo, Calif., and Jacques Vallee, a co-founder of EA-Capital, to manage the fund.
NIGHT-VISION GOGGLE BUSINESS IS BOOMING FOR ITT DEFENSE, according to the defense unit's president, Steve Gaffney. The company has doubled its night-vision goggle (NVG) production capacity in Roanoke, Va., during the past three years and will add 30% more NVG capacity this year. Meanwhile, employment at the long-time ITT facility has grown to 1,200 from 800, with lean processes enabling the company to double production without having to double the work force. ITT is manufacturing up to 600 NVG tubes a day for seven different NVG products.
USAF has awarded the second of two risk-reduction contracts last week for the alternate sensor program to the beleaguered Space-Based Infrared System-High (Sbirs) early missile warning satellite system. The Alternative Infrared Satellite System (Airss) is structured to fund both Raytheon, through a $54.4-million contract, and now SAIC, through a $26-million contract, to build a sensor assembly using technology that has matured since Sbirs was conceptualized.
Ed Bolen, President/CEO (National Business Aviation Assn., Washington, D.C.)
In his Viewpoint article "Urgent Need for Consensus on ATC User Fees" (AW&ST Aug. 21/28, p. 94), Robert W. Poole, Jr., advocates for privatization of the U.S. aviation system with user fee financing. Poole is a longtime advocate for privatization of most everything and in this case, is wrong.
Neelam Mathews (New Delhi), Alexey Komarov (Moscow)
India and Russia will collaborate on updating Russia's Global Navigation Satellite System (Glonass) as part of a broad space cooperation plan. The agreement, signed two years ago on a visit to India by Russian President Vladimir Putin, parallels initiatives by the two countries to jointly develop new weapons systems for their respective arsenals. "The [improved Glonass] system will function in parallel with the American Global Positioning System," says Kanwal Sibal, India's ambassador to Russia.
Michael A. Taverna (Cherbourg and Biscarrosse, France)
France's next-generation M51 intercontinental ballistic missile is on track to meet its scheduled 2010 in-service date, but delivery of the country's new ASMPA nuclear cruise weapon will be deferred to late 2008.
Air France-KLM will increase seat capacity for the winter season compared to the same period last year, adding 3.6%, with the highest growth--5.7%--planned for the medium-haul network. Growth is up virtually throughout the airline's schedule, except for a 1.9% decrease in seat capacity on long-haul routes to French Caribbean and Indian Ocean destinations. The main increase in long-haul is on flights to Latin America, with seat capacity set to increase 9.5%, followed by Asia traffic with 6.1%. Medium-haul growth is chiefly driven by greater focus on Eastern Europe.
