Officials claim that the new AIM-120 variants, once fielded, will provide significant improvement over current versions. But development of the Pentagon's new advanced air-to-air missile has slipped 15 months.
After decades of downplaying the role of Africa in geopolitics, the Defense Dept. is giving serious consideration to creating a sixth unified combatant command focused on the continent. Army Gen. Bantz Craddock, head of U.S. Southern Command, tells the Senate Armed Services Committee the Pentagon has put planning for a new Africa command on a "fast track," with the first proposal due in a few weeks. Currently, responsibility for Africa is split among three commands: Pacific, Central and European Command (EUCOM).
During the recent fighting in Lebanon, the Israel Defense Force's (IDF's) coveted Merkava Mk 4 tank saw its first combat. More than 50 of the 350 Merkava Mk 2, 3 and 4 tanks used in the military operations in Lebanon were damaged by Hezbollah, resulting in the deaths of 23 crewmen. Toward the end of the fighting, Brig. Gen. Halutzi Rodoi, the senior officer of Israel's armored corps, was asked to assess the performance of his tank force and, especially, the lessons drawn from the fighting against advanced anti-tank missiles fired by Hezbollah.
Japan Airlines, Hungary's Malev and Royal Jordanian are on schedule to join the Oneworld alliance early next year. The carriers are implementing interline electronic-ticket (IET) capability with prospective alliance partners, allowing passengers to make connections between flights using only e-tickets. When all three airlines join Oneworld, the alliance will have 27 interline e-ticketing partners, with 13 already implemented.
Danny Di Perna has been appointed senior vice president-operations and supply chain management, Philippe Burton vice president-human resources and Alan Long director of airframe maintenance at the Vancouver site, for Montreal-based ACE Aviation Holdings Inc. subsidiary ACTS. Di Perna was vice president-operations for Pratt & Whitney Canada's United Technologies Div. Burton was general manager for human resources at Bell Canada, and succeeds Brian Burge, who is now director of airframe scheduling and strategic initiatives.
Iran has its forces training to cripple an invader--envisioned as the U.S.--by attacking vulnerable lines of communications, avoiding the foe's combat forces and, through terrorist groups, by striking back at soft, non-military international targets, says the senior U.S. commandeer in the Middle East.
Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. T. Michael Moseley orders a study that could affect the size and shape of the service's unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) force. A central question is the future of the medium-altitude UAV mission, now handled by the General Atomics Predator. After years of unfettered support on Capitol Hill--Congress earmarked money for both the A and more powerful B models exceeding USAF requests--some question whether the service has put the cart before the horse. Moseley is interested in exploring a larger view of UAV operations.
Korean Air will form a cargo joint venture company in China with Sinotrans Air Transportation Development. The company is to be capitalized with $65 million. The deal gives Sinotrans access to Korean Air's worldwide cargo fleet and gives greater access to the China market to Korean Air, the world's largest freight hauler.
The U.S. Air Force says Boeing is now meeting some key testing milestones after a delay caused by management and technical problems last year in the development of the GPS IIF satellite program. It is unclear when the first IIF will launch, but the Pentagon eyes spacecraft availability by January 2009, a slip from the planned availability of November 2006. Boeing aims for delivery in December 2007 to prepare for launch potential in May 2008.
Luigi Mattia (see photo) has been named vice president for Messier-Dowty's Toronto-based Business and Regional Aircraft Unit and president of Canadian subsidiary Messier-Dowty Inc. He was the company's Seattle-based vice president for the Boeing 787 program.
U.S. Homeland Security Dept. officials say small unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) will be part of the technology mix in the Secure Border Initiative program to secure the U.S. borders with Canada and Mexico. The department last week awarded an initial $67-million contract to a Boeing-headed team to secure a heavily trafficked, 28-mi. stretch of the Arizona-Mexico border. SBInet will build a "21st century virtual fence" along the border that includes sensor- and camera-equipped portable towers, as well as man-portable UAVs.
I found it a little worrisome, and maybe ironic, that another large, government-related R&D-style organization--NASA--didn't rank among the top places to work in terms of "technological challenge." In the same Sept. 4 issue, there are articles covering the challenges of getting the space shuttle up to finish the International Space Station and the continued execution of the Vision for Space Exploration, with the first Aries suborbital mission three short years away.
UNITED STATES Editor-In-Chief: Anthony L. Velocci, Jr. [email protected] Managing Editor: James R. Asker [email protected] Assistant Managing Editor: Michael Stearns [email protected] Senior Editors: Craig Covault [email protected], David Hughes [email protected] Editor-at-Large: William Readdy NEW YORK 2 Penn Plaza, 25th Floor, New York, N.Y. 10121 Phone: +1 (212) 904-2000, Fax: +1 (212) 904-6068 Senior News Editor: Nora Titterington
FedEx Corp. reported improved financial results for its first fiscal quarter, which ended Aug. 31, but revised near-term profit forecasts downward because of up-front costs in the newly negotiated tentative contract with its Air Line Pilots Assn. unit. Led by FedEx Express, the company logged $8.4 billion in revenue, up 11% from the year-earlier quarter; $784 million in operating income, up 34%; and $475 million in net income, up 40%. FedEx issued earnings guidance of $1.45-1.60 per share for the second quarter and $6.30-6.65 for the year.
*The main radar sensor on the French frigates is the Thales Herakles Multi-Function Radar (MFR) operating in S band, with an integrated identification friend-or-foe system. There are two navigation and helicopter approach radars. Both the land-attack and the ASW ships will be fitted with the Thales 4110 CL, a bow medium-frequency sonar system with mine-avoidance capability; the ASW ships also will have a low-frequency Thales 4249 towed-array sonar.
Three weeks of ground tests at General Electric's Peebles, Ohio, test facility on a GE90-115B engine have demonstrated noise reduction improvements that are being sought for the GEnx-2Bs that will power the Boeing 747-8. The improvements have grown out of NASA-GE-Boeing noise suppression research and show projected reduction in noise levels on the order of 10 dB. below International Civil Aviation Organization Chapter 4 standards as well as the noise footprint produced by the 747-400 that the 747-8 will succeed, according to Boeing.
A special panel of U.S. scientists who convened to set priorities for lunar exploration says NASA's new program can answer some basic questions on the origins of the Solar System if it is properly organized. "The Moon today presents a record of geologic processes of early planetary evolution in the purest form," states an interim report of the Space Studies Board (SSB) of the National Research Council.
The Australian government is extending its rapid prototyping program after a year-long trial period. Formally called the Rapid Prototyping, Development and Evaluation Program, the government has decided to put in A$60 million ($45.2 million) more to cover costs for the next three years. Under the effort, the defense establishment and industry work together to solve problems quickly, rather than be handicapped by traditional contracting schemes.
Amy Butler (Washington), Edward H. Phillips (Dallas)
U.S. Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. T. Michael Moseley says a slight delay in first flight of the multinational F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) should not impact confidence in the program, although he acknowledges that achieving the milestone sooner rather than later will be a major step forward.
The Federal Communications Commission has concluded a one-month auction of 90 MHz. of 2 GHz. intended for next-generation mobile broadband applications. The auction brought in almost $14 billion, nearly as much as expected. The big winners were mobile-phone and cable operators, and the big losers were the satellite television operators EchoStar and DirecTV. High prices forced these two out of the bidding.
At NATO's June 2004 Istanbul summit, allied leaders launched the Defense Against Terrorism (DAT) program, designed to come up with cutting-edge technologies to counter future attacks. Defense Technology International's contributing editor in Brussels, Nicholas Fiorenza, spoke with Italian Adm. (ret.) Mario Bartoli, who heads the program. Bartoli is NATO's deputy assistant secretary general for armaments and the NATO counterterrorism technology coordinator. DTI: What is your role in DAT?
Capt. Zhang Jian Qiang (right), director of flight operations for the Flight Standards Div. of the Civil Aviation Administration of China, explains the value of RNP procedures at mountainous airports to Senior Editor David Hughes at the new airport in Linzhi, Tibet, on Sept. 1. The two arrived on the first revenue flight by an Air China Boeing 757 to use the new procedures. Air China and Naverus Inc. of Kent, Wash., developed the RNP procedures for Linzhi with CAAC and Air Traffic Management Bureau backing (see p. 52).
In a major development for the involvement of established aerospace companies in commercial space tourism, Lockheed Martin and Bigelow Aerospace have signed an agreement for Lockheed Martin to study man-rating the Atlas V for the launch of space tourists from Cape Canaveral to Bigelow inflatable modules in orbit. The two companies could also work together on a commercial crew module to carry passengers to Bigelow inflatable habitats.
The British Transport Dept. has relaxed restrictions on the size of the one item of hand baggage that passengers are allowed to take on commercial flights. The ban on liquids--with the exception of essential medicines and baby milk--remains in place.
