NASA next week will ask several new space tourism and commercial space launch companies for data on their horizontally launched/runway-recovered suborbital and orbital concepts to evaluate opening the Kennedy Space Center shuttle runway for use by innovative space business operations. The hope is to lure commercial companies like Virgin Galactic and Space Adventures to Kennedy facilities vacated by the shuttle program starting 2010.
Tim Fedrigon (see photo) has been appointed vice president-human resources for FKI Logistex of St. Louis. He was director of human resources for the Cabot Corp.
The European Commission has cleared a French government measure to provide €100-million ($127 million) in reimbursable loans to underpin development of the EC175, a medium-lift helicopter to be undertaken jointly by Eurocopter and AVIC 2 of China. The EC says the loans will cover 29% of Eurocopter's share of development cost, which puts the project price tag at nearly €690 million, compared with the €600-million initial estimate (AW&ST Dec. 12, 2005, p. 32). The EC175 is set to fly in 2009 and to enter service in 2011.
Despite delays and tempered expectations, development of the high-concept "soldier-as-the-system" fighting ensemble under the U.S. Army's Land Warrior program today is generally proceeding smoothly. Or at least that's the message of its developers, who have weathered ups and downs in their quest to outfit the Army's dismounted soldier of the future.
If all goes as planned, on Sept. 30, the Homeland Security Dept. will award a contract worth upward of $2 billion to integrate a wide range of technology to protect U.S. borders. A critical component of that contract is a network of sensors designed to detect incursions.
NASA Administrator Michael Griffin recently spoke at the Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., which employs more scientists than any other of the agency's centers. This piece is adapted from his talk. There has been a lot of hyperbole flung about in the media during the past several weeks about NASA's "decimated science program," how NASA has rejected its responsibilities in the study of Earth science and how we're not listening to our advisory committee. Nothing could be further from the truth.
The U.K.'s Royal Air Force Air Warfare Center is to integrate the BAE Systems Herti unmanned aerial vehicle into military exercises. The program will see the center's UAV Battlelab and BAE use the Herti in increasingly complex exercises.
In September 2001, then-U.K. Defense Secretary Geoff Hoon announced a review of British defense strategy in the light of the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington. Increasing the strategic agility of the British Army's armored forces was a key aim of this process.
The pressurized water reactor for India's long-gestating, indigenous nuclear-powered submarine project --the Advanced Technology Vessel (ATV)--has reached its full capacity of 100 megawatts, moving the country closer to plans to build as many as five nuclear submarines capable of carrying cruise missiles with nuclear warheads. The land-based prototype reactor is located at Kalpakkam, near the southern city of Chennai. The reactor went critical near the end of 2004. It was inspected by India's defense minister, Pranab Mukherjee, in July.
Letters 10-11 Who's Where 12 Industry Outlook 17 Airline Outlook 19 In Orbit 21 News Breaks 22-26 Washington Outlook 27 Inside Avionics 51 Classified ........................................63 Contact Us 64 Aerospace Calendar 65
As to Pierre Sparaco's column "Ready for Prime Time?" (AW&ST Aug. 14, p. 45), Mitsubishi had a follow-on program called the Diamond 1A, which was introduced in the early 1980s. It was so successful that when Beech/Raytheon wanted to join the business jet market, it purchased the manufacturing rights in the mid 1980s and renamed it the Beechjet 400.
Lockheed Martin, BAE Systems and Israeli defense contractor Rafael Armament Development introduced their Protector unmanned surface vehicle (USV) to U.S. customers in August during a demonstration in San Diego Bay. The companies are hoping to interest the U.S. Navy, Coast Guard and nonmilitary maritime security agencies such as local law enforcement. The vessel, which provides high-speed, unmanned but armed port security and force protection, has already been used in the Persian Gulf and Mediterranean Sea.
Bruce Margon (see photo) has become vice chancellor for research at the University of California, Santa Cruz. He was associate director for science at the Space Telescope Science Institute.
The venerable B-52 bomber may get another shot at putting the Air Force back into the jamming business, which has been handled exclusively by Navy EA-6B Prowler aircraft since 1996. Pentagon and U.S. Air Force officials killed the nascent B-52 Stand-Off Jammer (SOJ) program last December after its price tag became unaffordable as a result of excessive capability requirements being tacked on its original mission.
George Ferito has been named director of business development for rotor-wing aircraft for New York-based FlightSafety International. He will remain manager of the company's Bell Learning Center and was also manager of the Dallas-Fort Worth Learning Center. Ferito will be succeeded at the Dallas-Fort Worth center by Daniel MacLellan, who has been assistant director of the Greater Philadelphia/Wilmington Learning Center. MacLellan, in turn, will be followed by Pete Nily, who has been director of standards at the Savannah, Ga., Learning Center.
Central Command Chief Gen. John Abizaid fears that a number of U.S. vulnerabilities in the Middle East could be important in a conflict with Iran. For example, U.S. network-centric capabilities have become a target. "The longer we fight in the Middle East, the more our enemies go to school on us," Abizaid says. "They understand how we fight, what we do, where our linkages are. In the event of a more serious conflict in the region with a major power, I would expect our networks to come under attack." Intelligence-gathering is limited.
The defense IT sector may be hot, but its stocks most certainly are not. Shares in defense technical services companies have turned in anemic performances in recent months, shrinking their price premium over better performing defense primes such as Lockheed Martin Corp. and General Dynamics Corp.
The first required navigation performance approach into this new airport in a mountainous valley is a sign of things to come as China plans to certify up to 50 more RNP procedures at terrain-challenged airports in a five-year period.
Singapore Airlines and Smiths Aerospace have agreed on a long-term program of integrated logistic management for the Airbus A380, for which the carrier is the launch customer. Smiths Aerospace will provide global support for the large transport via inventory pooling and maintenance services for all 88 part numbers of Smith's products used in Singapore's A380 fleet of 19 aircraft. Smiths builds the landing gear actuation, extension and retraction, wing flap and slat actuation systems.
The French Defense Ministry will meet with finance ministry counterparts at a cabinet showdown this week in a final attempt to repel attempts to cut its 2007 hardware budget. For four years running, Defense Minister Michele Alliot-Marie has defeated proposals to pare back defense spending. This year, however, with a presidential election approaching, the outcome may be different. Among the items at risk are a 34-unit NH90 transport helicopter buy for the army. Reports say the government may choose to purchase just 12 NH90s next year and leave the balance for 2008.
Rockwell Collins has joined the supplier list of Boeing's GoldCare life-cycle maintenance, engineering and materials management program for the 787. The Cedar Rapids, Iowa-based avionics manufacturer provides the 787's displays, communications and surveillance systems, pilot controls and the core network cabinet--more than 25% of all systems by value on board. Boeing has begun the marketing campaign for the GoldCare system but doesn't expect any airlines to sign on until 12-18 months before it enters service in May 2008.
The U.S. Transportation Security Administration issued draft standards on security, privacy and compliance for Registered Traveler program operators and their vendors. Launching a two-week public-comment period, TSA said it developed the draft by researching government regulations and standards used by other public-private partnerships and conducting its own vulnerability assessment to identify high-risk areas.
A "genius grant" has gone to Claire Tomlin, 37, an associate professor in the Aeronautics and Astronautics Dept. at Stanford University. She was among 25 scholars, artists and others who were each awarded an unrestricted MacArthur Fellowship of $500,000 last week. Tomlin focuses on developing methods for analyzing hybrid control systems and applying these results to practical problems. She has worked on air traffic conflict resolution, aircraft flight controls and feedback control laws for a hybrid system guaranteed to remain within a safe subset of all possible states.
The aerospace and defense job market overview did not address many serious problems with the growing U.S. military aerospace engineering crisis (AW&ST Sept. 4. p. 50). I manage a military aerospace manufacturing company. While I am not an engineer, I am worried about how the U.S. and its military sector will be able to maintain its technology design and engineering infrastructure if we do not encourage, develop and train more schoolchildren, who will be designing tomorrow's weapons.
