Israel's Plasan Sasa is building a technology demonstrator for a six-passenger, wheeled armored vehicle it plans to unveil at a closed U.S. Army event in September. Designed for low-intensity conflicts and urban warfare, it will be a larger version of a prototype vehicle Plasan Sasa built as a potential replacement for the Israel Defense Force's (IDF) Storm jeeps. Earlier models were four- and five-passenger multimission vehicles based on the Ford F350 truck chassis (November/December DTI, p. 40).
Pure hydrogen in its various forms may be the answer to the military's growing power needs in a range of applications large and small. In the future, tactical trucks, utility vehicles and aircraft could be powered by hydrogen fuel cells, if they can be engineered to provide safe, reliable performance under harsh conditions. A great deal of research is also underway to develop small fuel cells that supplement or replace mil-spec batteries in the growing number of hand-held electronic devices on the battlefield.
I find the Air Force's study of a partially-reusable launch system (AW&ST Apr. 24, p. 35) (see photo) personally gratifying as the concept echoes the semi-expendable architecture I advocated in 1994 (AW&ST Feb. 14 ,1994, p. 6). The study, however, carries an embedded assumption that should be revisited.
sharon weinberger is editor-in-chief of Defense Technology International and author of the book Imaginary Weapons: A Journey Through the Pentagon's Scientific Underworld (Nation Books, June 2006). She writes in this issue about the future of electric lasers, based on interviews conducted in Washington, Los Angeles, Albuquerque, N.M., and Livermore, Calif. michael dumiak reports on efforts in Europe, Scandinavia and the U.S. to convert armored vehicles to hybrid power. He covers a range of science and technology issues from Berlin.
A South Korean company has developed and ground-tested a regeneratively-cooled, liquid oxygen/methane rocket engine that produces 20,000-30,000 lb. of thrust, bringing quick-response space-launch vehicles closer to reality.
A quiet revolution is underway at BAE Systems: An adversarial relationship with the customer is not--after all--inevitable. Top-level relations between the company and the British Defense Ministry in recent years have more often resembled a bout of full-contact sparring. But the ministry's Defense Logistics Organization (DLO) is a key customer for BAE Systems in the U.K.
The U.S. Army and British Army may launch cooperative logistics and survivability projects under a memorandum of understanding, according to Julia Vollmers, senior engineer for the project manager of the U.S. Army's Future Combat Systems (FCS) program. Speaking at the IDEEA Common Defense West 2006 symposium in San Diego in March, Vollmers said the projects are pending, but declined to provide details. Her briefing slides indicated nonetheless that the logistics project is to be conducted in both countries, over 1-3 years.
A Kaman Aerospace Corp. K-MAX completed an unrefueled endurance flight of 12 hr. 17 min. on Apr. 28 as part of a resupply demonstration initiative sponsored by the U.S. Army involving autonomously-operated helicopters. The aircraft carried more than 600 gal. of fuel in a special conformal tank mounted under the cabin section. The tank, originally designed for fire retardant chemicals, was modified by manufacturer Kamak to contain turbine fuel and certified for use by Superior Helicopter. Both companies are based in Oregon.
Boeing's push into aftermarket services has prompted launch of a GoldCare plan that will charge 787 operators a per-hour fee for guaranteed maintenance. The program is an extension of its Integrated Materials Management (IMM) program and includes reliability and availability guarantees. GoldCare will give subscribers the equivalent of a 24-hr. help desk on maintenance issues. That's similar to the Operations Center it opened here last December to allow airlines all-day telephone access to company engineers for airplane-on-ground emergencies.
Aeronautical engineering and physics cadets at the U.S. Air Force Academy are working on aircraft control via "plasma actuators." By charging electrodes mounted on the wings of a toy balsa-wood glider (see photo), the resulting plasma (ionized air particles) will create enough force to move surfaces. Momentum is imparted by ionized air particles accelerating within the electric field and colliding with non-ionized particles, according to Cadet First Class Chris Avery. "It's a nice, no-moving-parts, high-bandwidth actuator.
So Boeing has copped a plea. For $615 million, the world's largest aerospace company and centerpiece of the U.S. defense industry has restored its good name--well, its name, anyway--and is free to do further business with the Pentagon. If its executives can stay out of trouble for two years, or if Boeing reports the ones who don't, the U.S. Justice Dept. won't prosecute the company for lapses in business ethics (see p. 32).
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Robert Gray has been promoted to vice president from senior director of regulatory compliance and government affairs for ABX Air Inc., Wilmington, Ohio.
Your cover and appreciation of Scott Crossfield (AW&ST May 1, p. 62) was spot on. In my memory of aviation spanning 60 years I can think of only one other engineer/pilot of his caliber: Kurt Tank, designer/developer/pilot at Focke Wulf for the FW190, superior to the U.K.'s early Spitfire Vs and always to be respected. So great was his standing that the subsequent fighters developed from the 190 bore the designation Tank, thus the Ta152 high-altitude interceptor.
In the wake of the U.S. Justice Dept.'s settlement with Boeing, the space side of Lockheed Martin is left with a weakened civil case against its rival for using stolen documents during a rocket competition nearly a decade ago. But even as the clouds are lifting over a a raft of defense and space programs Boeing unfairly won, Lockheed may stand to garner more work related to one of them--C-130 avionics upgrades (see p. 33).
European airline representatives fear the door is closing on a chance to strike a transatlantic open-skies agreement, although they aren't giving up hope just yet. After talks this month between U.S. and European regulators, it has become clear the U.S. will not have done enough to ease ownership limits for European Union officials to pursue an open aviation agreement in June. With a U.S. proposal not expected until year-end, a deal won't be in force until at least the spring, notes the Assn. of European Airlines (AEA). "The issue is whether the U.S.
Joseph M. Kolly, who is deputy director of the Office of Research and Engineering for the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board, has been named a fellow in the Commerce Dept. Science and Technology Fellowship Program. Recipients study how the legislative branch of the federal government interacts with leaders in science and technology leadership to form legislation.
Launch of the new Boeing/U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) GOES-N weather satellite (see photo) from Cape Canaveral on a Boeing Delta IV will slip several days, to no earlier than May 24, to allow replacement of two actuators on the launch vehicle's first stage. Acceptance testing of an actuator component at a vendor facility turned up a technical problem, and when it could not be conclusively determined that the actuators on the launch vehicle were healthy, Boeing decided to replace them as a precaution.
Ian Patterson has become vice president/director of government relations, William (Doc) Syers vice president/director of congressional relations, Robert Hammerle director of business development for homeland security and John Kefaliotis director of business development for FAA and air traffic control programs, all for ITT Industries, White Plains, N.Y.
Zachary Grasley, a civil engineering doctoral student at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, has been named FAA Air Transportation Centers of Excellence Outstanding Student of the Year by the Transportation Dept.'s Research and Innovative Technology Administration. Grasley works with the FAA's Center of Excellence for Airport Technology. He is researching the behavior and characteristics of concrete when used in airport pavements and structures.
Mexicana is not willing to wait and see if all of the new low-cost airlines launching in its backyard are going to survive this year and instead is taking aggressive measures to cut its annual costs by 20%, grow its network and boost its own no-frills subsidiary.
As NASA and the White House work to develop the aeronautics research and development policy Congress has ordered, they should be careful to ensure the ultimate R&D program matches the needs of its potential users in industry, an ad hoc committee of the National Academies of Sciences recommends. The panel, set up at the request of NASA's aeronautics mission directorate, calls for "close relationships with external customers and users, engaging them very early" in planning.
The Russian civil defense ministry has agreed to set up a joint emergency response unit with Germany to provide search-and-rescue services using the new Beriev Be-200 jet-powered amphibian. The unit will be supported by EADS, which has a 10% stake in Be-200 developer Irkut.
European armaments agency Occar has issued a contract to a Franco-Italian team led by Armaris and Orizzonte for the development and production of the first two Fremm frigates intended for Italy. The contract for the first eight French vessels was let in November 2005. Italy is to receive 10 of the multimission frigates and France, 17.
