For the first time in 15 years, Thailand had an army coup that ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra. Bangkok's Don Muang Airport, one of Asia's busiest terminals, remained open, with no reports of canceled flights. The opening of the new Suwarnabhoomi International Airport was still on schedule for Sept. 28.
VeraTech Aero of Minneapolis has been granted patents on an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) that the company claims is virtually invisible. The Phantom Sentinel series of UAVs was designed for military and law enforcement to conduct surveillance over dense crowds in urban settings with a high-speed camera to capture live-action video even in adverse weather, says VeraTech President Dean Tangren. The UAV achieves its "invisibility" through the phenomenon of persistence of vision.
The U.S. Air Force is planning to reduce funding for pilot training and construction around the globe, although Chief of Staff Gen. T. Michael Moseley says he hopes to keep procurement and research accounts intact as the Pentagon builds its Fiscal 2008 budget.
The British Army's Future Rapid Effects Systems (FRES) project, designed to field new medium-weight armored vehicles, appears to be at a major turning point. It could be broken into segments, with some earmarked for entry into service earlier than planned.
The depth of Airbus assembly problems on the A380 is far greater than even managers first thought, forcing the aircraft maker's largest shareholder, EADS, to concede more delays are in store. But company officials don't know yet what the financial and schedule impacts will be.
Task-saturated U.S. Air Force pilots forgot to put down the landing gear at a forward operating base and crashed their B-1 with a resulting $7.9 million in damages to the aircraft, $14,000 to the runway and a minor back injury to the co-pilot, says an USAF investigation report. The B-1s are now in Qatar, but have operated from Oman and Diego Garcia. Investigators say the failure to lower the landing gear was both pilots' fault.
Chicago will end up paying $1.6 million for "illegally tearing up Meigs Field airport," according to the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Assn. The city has already spent $550,000 fighting a fine and repayment, but will now have to fork over a $33,000 fine and repay $1 million of airport funds diverted to contractors to tear up the airfield in the middle of the night in 2003.
I am surprised I haven't heard more of a positive reaction from the aviation industry that Robert L. Sumwalt, 3rd, has become National Transportation Safety Board vice chairman. As past chairman of the Air Transport Assn.'s Human Factors Committee and member of the team that pioneered Crew Resource Management at Continental Airlines in the early 1980s, I am encouraged by his appointment. Sumwalt brings a host of talents, which along with expertise in human factors, will bolster an understanding of the roles that humans play in accidents.
NATO is moving toward implementing the first concrete element of its theater missile defense plan, and in the process is reopening political discussion regarding the pursuit of a larger missile shield.
Saudi Arabia prepared a number of huge military procurement orders this past summer to modernize its armed forces on the back of surging oil prices. The desert kingdom edged closer to formally ordering up to 72 Eurofighter Typhoon aircraft with the Aug. 18 announcement of the signing of an "understanding document" with the U.K. government. The deal, code-named Project Rohan, is expected to be worth between $12-20 billion. The signing followed closely on the heels of moves to secure U.S.
Airbus and South Africa's Science & Technology Dept. have signed an agreement to cooperate on aerospace research and technology. South Africa became a partner in the A400M program last year, bringing about the arrangement, which will examine issues such as the application of synthetic fuels, in which South Africa is a leader, natural fibers and light alloys component technologies.
SITA has activated a system for filtering passenger information for European Union airlines and other carriers flying from Europe to North America. The Canadian government hired Geneva-based SITA to transfer passenger name record data from booking records, and SITA has developed this service that is now in use at Alitalia, CSA, KLM, Martinair, Olympic and Swiss, plus one major U.S. carrier. The system allows the airlines to protect passenger privacy and meet national and international legal stipulations while providing the information that security services require.
India is developing an indigenous wide area augmentation system called Geo-Aided GPS Augmented Navigation (Gagan) designed to help tackle what appears to be a monumental task: Keeping up with air traffic movements that have mushroomed since India began allowing private carriers to challenge its old state-owned airlines.
The shuttle's unprecedented late self inspection for missing parts when debris was spotted floating near Atlantis a day before scheduled reentry demonstrates the autonomous capability required to support approval in mid-October of a Hubble Space Telescope mission. STS-115 commander Navy Capt. Brent Jett, Jr., piloted Atlantis to a 6:21 a.m. EDT pre-dawn touchdown on Runway 33 at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC).
The European Union is providing €154 million ($196 million) to the European Maritime Safety Agency, a large chunk of which will go to buy satellite imagery services. The funding is to run 2007-13. The agency formally was stood up Sept. 14 with a mandate to establish a centralized satellite imagery service to detect pollution and polluting ships.
Bmi regional is increasing flights to Scotland from its Manchester, England, operating base and is adding two flights daily on the Manchester-Aberdeen route. An additional flight is being scheduled weekdays on the Manchester-Glasgow route, bringing daily frequency to five. Airline officials say the increase is a "direct response to an increasing demand in business-related traffic."
U.K. Minister for Defense Procurement Paul Drayson last week officially opened the Airbus A400M military transport wing assembly center at Filton, England. The Royal Air Force is slated to acquire 25 of the aircraft.
Air Methods Corp., a Denver-based air medical transportation provider, has signed a memorandum of understanding with American Eurocopter to acquire 10 AS350 B2/B3 "AStar" helicopters annually for an "indefinite" period to meet growing demand, mainly in the field of emergency medical services. Air Methods plans to replace aging helicopters in that mission role. The company operates a mixed fleet of about 200 fixed- and rotary-wing aircraft.
The Indian air force has issued a request for proposal for anti-ship weapons for integration on some of its Jaguars. Boeing Integrated Defense Systems and France's MBDA are among the competitors for the contract. Boeing is offering the Harpoon active radar-homing and low-level sea-skimming missiles; the French are proposing Exocet missiles. This is the first time Boeing has participated in a missile order from India.
Air China has signed a $15-million agreement with Sabre Airline Solutions to implement a Flight Operations Control Center for aircraft utilization and fuel efficiency. The system will also automate the management of more than 6,000 cabin and cockpit crewmembers as the airline prepares for the Olympic Games to be held in Beijing. Sabre also provides integrated flight operations capability to China Southern and China Eastern Airlines. When the latest contract is completed, 89% of all mainland Chinese flights will be planned using Sabre software.
The long-awaited federal approval of a Boeing-Lockheed Martin merger of U.S. Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) operations is nearing completion, according to officials close to the discussions. Details could be wrapped up by the end of the month. The massive merger of operations for Boeing's Delta IV and Lockheed Martin's Atlas V, which includes production of both at Boeing's Decatur, Ala., facility, is expected to produce savings for the government.
glenn goodman, Defense Technology International's managing editor, reports on how a new U.S. Air Force high-speed wideband data link will create airborne networks on the fly and turn front-line fighter aircraft into "non-traditional" intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance platforms over the battlefield. michael dumiak, DTI's Berlin-based European correspondent, outlines the separate dismounted soldier-of-the-future programs underway in the U.K., France, Germany and Sweden, and the prospects for cross-border collaboration.
The world's 10 largest airlines increased their operating earnings by 23% in the first half of 2006, despite a 30% increase in fuel costs. They also are well positioned to weather a looming slowdown in the U.S. and global economies, states a report by UBS Investment Research. "The strength of corporate travel will continue to surprise both airlines managers and investors, and this will drive upside (within airlines) earnings," writes Tim Marshall, a UBS analyst in London.
