Transportation Security Administration Administrator Edmund Hawley says: "The agency spends $6 million a year on hazardous materials removal just to get rid of the 30,000 lighters a day it confiscates. . . . the money (and time) could be better spent on security measures" (AW&ST May 29, p. 13). I'm sure BIC is pleased. Perhaps Hawley should direct his agency to get rid of the confiscated lighters the same way it acquires them. Upon arrival at baggage claim, a smoker takes a lighter confiscated from a departing traveler.
Efforts to tie together disparate radar pictures to get a clearer understanding of the battlefield took a step forward in the recent U.S.-Polish Iron Blue Skies exercise in Germany. The U.S. Army deployed a Sentinel radar system to Poland to work in cooperation with that country's N-22 air defense radar. The challenge: The U.S. system is three-dimensional, the Polish set-up, two-dimensional. Integrating them to track targets over the exercise area presented hurdles, U.S. Army officials say, but eventually the correlation challenges were overcome.
Robert Wall and Michael A. Taverna (Paris), Douglas Barrie (London)
With critical decisions looming on production, product and management strategies to be adopted by EADS and its Airbus affiliate, controversy regarding alleged insider trading seems to be fading into the background, for now. But calls for the company to bring in a new management team are growing louder.
Brazil's largest airline, TAM, is expanding its fleet of Airbus aircraft with the purchase of a mix of 37 narrowbodies and widebodies. TAM is taking 15 A319s, 16 A320s and six A330s, all to be delivered by 2010. TAM last year also signed for 29 A320s. TAM expects an all-Airbus fleet of 127 aircraft in 2010. c
David Hughes (Melbourne, Fla. and Cedar Rapids, Iowa)
The configurable integrated surveillance system (CISS) under development for the Boeing 787 is the largest effort of its type Rockwell Collins has ever undertaken for the commercial market. "This is very big for the company," says Andy Vesel, director of communications, navigation and surveillance engineering. The investment was so large that it needed approval from the Rockwell Collins board, and Vesel notes that the avionics company has a "shared fate" on this team with Boeing. "If the 787 were not successful, we would have a lot to lose," he notes.
Boeing is getting ready to commence flight testing of a ramjet- powered missile demonstrator, which could represent a large step toward achieving the Pentagon's goal to be able to quickly strike fleeting targets at great distances.
Three Boeing 787-8s from International Lease Finance Corp. will make Aeromexico the first carrier in Latin America to operate the new long-range jet. The aircraft will come from the pool of 20 that ILFC has ordered and expects to be delivered in early 2010. Separately, SkyEurope Airlines, which follows a multi-hub strategy from Central Europe, has converted purchase rights for five 737-700s for delivery in 2008. That action raises SkyEurope's total order commitment to 21 aircraft. Five have been delivered.
Raytheon has won a $45-million contract to test and manufacture six AN/AQS-22 Airborne Low Frequency Sonar systems. This is the primary sensor for the U.S. Navy's MH-60R submarine-hunting helicopter.
With an eye on achieving 80% of what larger spacecraft can do at 20-30% of the cost, NASA's Ames Research Center is taking on the role as the space agency's go-to shop for developing small satellites that can be put into space quickly. The small satellite mandate is part of a larger realignment of center priorities to support NASA's Constellation Program for space exploration. In selecting Ames for that role, NASA Administrator Michael Griffin is tapping into a center with a tradition of quick-fix, off-the-shelf programs.
Alcatel Alenia Space will supply full safeguard subsystems for Soyuz Fregat medium-lift boosters to be launched from the European spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana. Included will be switching and power supply units designed to shut down engines in the event of a mishap, along with a test and acceptance bench to be provided for the TsSKB Progress in Samara, Russia, where the Soyuz boosters are manufactured. Alcatel already supplies safeguard subsystems for the Ariane 5 heavy-lift booster.
After years of disuse, the Space Launch Complex-6 pad at Vandenberg AFB has come into full use for high-inclination launches from California with the successful liftoff of a Delta IV carrying a classified payload for the National Reconnaissance Office. The 8:33 p.m. PDT liftoff on June 27 of the NROL-22 mission was delayed 19 min. by strong winds, but once the launch go-ahead was given, the countdown went smoothly. The liftoff track took the Delta IV Medium+ (4,2) launcher in a clearly visible track at dusk along the Southern California coastline.
NASA's space exploration program is a little stronger in the House despite the resignation of the agency's most powerful backer. Last year Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Tex.) used his clout to thwart a move that would have shifted $200 million of exploration funds into grants for state and local law enforcement. The vote was 230-196. This year a similar House amendment to the $16.7-billion Fiscal 2007 NASA appropriations bill failed 236-185, even though the pot for cops was sweetened to the tune of $476 million.
Sikorsky has selected Rockwell Collins's avionics management system for the CH-53K heavy-lift helicopter being developed for the U.S. Marine Corps. The Pentagon is spending $3 billion on the development and plans to buy 156 of the aircraft for a total of roughly $14.5 billion.
RUSSELL CHEW, THE FAA'S CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER, told the U.S. House aviation subcommittee on June 21 that the "recovery plan" for the FAA Telecommunications Infrastructure (FTI) network is on track. The project, designed to save the FAA $820 million in operating costs over 15 years, fell behind in the early going as Harris Corp. ramped up to switch 25,000 telecommunications services at 4,400 FAA facilities to a modernized network (AW&ST May 29, p. 62).
AIR TRAFFIC OVER THE NORTH ATLANTIC could nearly double movements per year in the next 15 years, to 820,000 by 2020 from about 420,000 today, according to Anders Hallgren, manager of air traffic management procedures for Eurocontrol. At an Air Traffic Control Assn. conference in Brussels recently, Hallgren said the tremendous expected growth will require ATC authorities to eliminate regional differences in systems and procedures to handle additional flights.
Gazpromavia, the aviation affiliate of giant Russian gas utility Gazprom, and Eurocopter have agreed to set up a maintenance, repair and overhaul center for Eurocopter rotary-wing aircraft in Russia. The facility will be at Ostafievo airport near Moscow. The agreement follows Eurocopter's decision two months ago to create a fully owned subsidiary, Eurocopter Vostok. MRO centers in St. Petersburg and Tumen are to be established later this year, to be followed by three others in 2007.
U.S. Air Force Space Command has its first leader who actually has been there. Gen. Kevin Chilton, a three-time space shuttle astronaut, took over the Colorado Springs-based command last week, replacing Gen. Lance W. Lord, who retired Apr. 1. The first astronaut to win a fourth star, Chilton had been commander of the 8th Air Force, which encompasses the service's strategic intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance fleets as well as the nuclear bombers. Chilton took over from acting commander Lt. Gen. Frank Klotz, who resumes his duties as vice commander.
Aerojet will receive as much as $4.25 million to help NASA's Langley Research Center study a rocket-powered landing system for the planned Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV) that is scheduled to replace the space shuttle. The contract includes options for fabrication, system development and testing, drawing on the company's solid-rocket technology for hardware that would slow the capsule's downward and side-to-side motion before touchdown.
International Space Station crews will have a little more space for the clutter that is gradually filling their living spaces, now that Russian Progress M-57--designated P22 by NASA--has arrived. The supply vehicle docked automatically at 12:25 p.m. EDT June 26, delivering about 2,600 kg. (5,720 lb.) of cargo, including U.S. and Russian food containers for crewmates Pavel Vinogradov and Jeffrey Williams; batteries and other spare parts; clothing; experiments; 1,900 lb. of propellant; a little more than 100 lb. of air and oxygen; and almost 250 lb. of water.
Chel Stromgren, a chief scientist in the Research, Development, Test and Evaluation Group of the San Diego-based Science Applications International Corp., has received the Exceptional Achievement in Engineering Medal from NASA.
A recent Air Force Space Command (AFSPC) study says the existing Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missiles, first deployed more than 30 years ago, will last beyond their predicted service life around 2020. This has officials anticipating savings in the near term by delaying development of a replacement and instead focusing on needed upgrades.
The Senate wants to authorize more money for missile defense and long-term fighter procurement in Fiscal 2007, but its version of the defense authorization bill also eases requirements for U.S.-made specialty metals in military hardware--setting up a showdown with the House of Representatives. However, any reckoning between the two legislative bodies will have to wait until Congress returns from this week's July 4 holiday break.
Thomas E. Ferguson (see photo), who is vice president of the Dallas-based Flowserve Corp. and president of Flowserve Pumps, has been elected president of the Hydraulic Institute for 2006-07.
Robert Behler has been named senior vice president in the Command and Control Center of the Mitre Corp., Bedford, Mass. He was general manager for precision engagement for the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory.
