Vietnam Posts and Telecommunications Group, assigned the task of implementing high-speed broadband services for the Southeast Asian nation, has taken its first step toward meeting that goal with satellite communications by buying a turnkey system from Lockheed Martin Commercial Space Systems. Called Vinasat-1, the spacecraft is to be a C/K u-band hybrid based on the A2100A platform. Set for launch in 2008, it is to transmit radio, television and telephone communications to all of Vietnam.
An F-22 Raptor assigned to the U.S. Air Force's 1st Fighter Wing at Langley AFB, Va., suffered a stuck canopy on Apr. 10. A rescue crew eventually cut the canopy open to free the pilot.
Robert Jacobsen has been appointed director of airspace systems for Washington-based Crown Consulting Inc. He was a manager of aeronautics research programs at NASA facilities.
A computer network security startup, bankrolled by Novak Biddle Venture Partners, claims to have developed a "breakthrough, self-healing" approach to system reliability with a patent-pending technology that automatically creates fixes for previously unknown worms and malicious content. Currently, software vendors can take days or longer to develop a patch for a known virus or worm. Revive Systems of McLean, Va., secured $2 million in seed money in April for the technology, which originated at Columbia University.
The new Ho Chi Minh air traffic management system began operations in Vietnam last week with a Eurocat system supplied to the Civil Aviation Administration of Vietnam by Thales. The system interfaces primary and secondary radar, automatic dependent surveillance and controller to pilot data link communication over oceanic airspace, meteorological radars and aeronautical fixed telecommunications networks. Thales's Melbourne, Australia, office conducted extensive training of Vietnamese technical staff.
Success doesn't come easy, especially to regional carriers. Operators, manufacturers and suppliers are all exploring efficient ways to meet market challenges--and gain a fighting chance to survive in a turbulent environment.
YOU WOULDN'T EXPECT ALLAN McARTOR, now chairman of Airbus North America Holdings Inc., to be in a horror film, but that was how it felt to see him as FAA administrator in 1989 talking about the makeover of the U.S. air traffic control network. He was describing a system very much like the one being planned again in 2006 as the Next Generation Air Transportation System (NGATS) for 2025. The satellite-based navigation system McArtor outlined never got built--and that's the worry that struck many ATC specialists at a recent Air Traffic Control Assn.
The Australian defense department has inaugurated the Australian Defense and Security Applications Research Center. It is the country's first university-affiliated research center focused on defense and security matters.
The Transportation Security Administration is stepping up security measures for air cargo, applying a risk-based approach as it has done at airport security checkpoints. TSA Administrator Edmund (Kip) Hawley notes, for example, that if the TSA focuses too many resources on individual packages, it could miss other threats such as a bomb placed on an aircraft at the last minute by someone with access.
Greg Martin (see photo) has become England-based director of business development for the Dallas Airmotive division of the BAA Aviation Services Group. He was sales director for Europe and Africa for BAA subsidiary H+S Aviation, Portsmouth, England.
To submit Aerospace Calendar Listings, Call +1 (212) 904-2421 Fax +1 (212) 904-6068 e-mail: [email protected] June 1--Bank of America's Aerospace and Defense Supplier Conference. Supported by McAleese & Associates, P.C., Four Seasons Hotel, Boston. Call +1 (646) 366-4600. June 1-2--Assn. of the U.S. Army Greater Los Angeles Chapter Symposium: "Joint C 4 and Space Operations: Balancing Warfighter Needs & Future Force Capabilities." Hilton Hotel, Long Beach, Calif. See www.ausa.org/glac
Jacqueline K. Collier has been promoted to senior vice president/chief accounting officer/controller from vice president/controller of Dallas-based Aviall Inc.
Michael C. Ruettgers has been appointed lead director of the board of directors of the Raytheon Co., Waltham, Mass. Warren B. Rudman and Thomas E. Everhart have retired from the board. Ruettgers is special adviser/retired chairman of the EMC Corp.
With no single technique proving to be universally effective against improvised explosive devices (IEDs), European researchers are touting an array of methods, coupled with a keen eye for observation, as the most successful means of detecting and defeating the bombs.
Donald Rumsfeld, diplomat. The Defense secretary declines to be dragged into a dispute about whether the FAA is impeding application of UAVs to homeland security missions. When Sen. Pete Domenici (R-N.M.) asks Rumsfeld if he agrees that UAVs "are not given a fair chance to participate within the National Airspace System" and that "the FAA holds things up," Rumsfeld abstains.
Boeing will deliver the first 767 tanker to the Italian air force for acceptance testing in mid-2007--eight months later than scheduled. The delay is the result of an unexpected vibration--at high refueling speeds--from the pylons connecting the aircraft's two probe-and-drogue refueling pods to the wings.
Vision Systems International LLC, a joint venture between Rockwell Collins and EFW Inc. (an Elbit Systems of America Co.), has won contracts worth $80 million including an order from Boeing for 400 additional Joint Helmet Mounted Cueing Systems as well as direct orders from the U.S. Navy and Air Force for JHMCS spares and support. The helmets are being used on a wide variety of U.S. frontline fighters and on aircraft flown by allies of the U.S.
I'm somewhat surprised that I haven't seen anything recently in Aviation Week about the retirement of the F-14D from the fleet. The photo (right) shows the F-14Ds of squadrons VF-31 and VF-213 on the deck of the Theodore Roosevelt, returning from their final deployment (I'm assuming from the Persian Gulf area) on or about Mar. 10. I also received a video file showing the 22 F-14Ds doing a final flyover at Oceana NAS. Apparently, an F-14D squadron will remain active at Oceana until September.
In reading "Forewarned" (AW&ST May 1, p. 24), I began to reflect on the resignation of astronaut Eileen Collins. Will we begin to see a flood of astronaut resignations? After all, the Space Shuttle has cost the lives of 14 astronauts and is unsafe.
The Bush administration is asking Congress for $1.95 billion to boost border security. The request seeks $1.17 billion for the Homeland Security Dept., including $95 million for two additional Customs and Border Protection unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and 13 additional helicopters.
Britain's next substantial air-to-surface weapons procurement is emerging as a potential litmus test for government policy on the guided-weapons sector. The Royal Air Force is looking to plug a capability gap with its Selective Precision Effect at Range (Spear) program. Politicians could also use elements of Spear to plug a gap in European missile house MBDA's medium-to-long-term order book.
Before you can take the fight to the enemy, you have to get there. U.S. Special Operations Forces and troops going after the most elusive enemies are revisiting a mobility option that many believed was on the way out--combat parachute insertions. "Operations in Afghanistan and Iraq have been driving forces in many of our company's activities and the search for new solutions," says Fred Williams, vice president of manufacturing and technical relations for Complete Parachute Solutions (CPS) of DeLand, Fla.
Edward H. Phillips's well-written article on the G36 Bonanza (AW&ST Apr. 3, p. 60) presents a good representation of G1000's capabilities. The new "glass-cockpit" aircraft are marvelous applications of display and navigation technology.
Bargains abounded at Miami and Tampa airport auctions of confiscated and lost-and-found items May 13. Buyers bid on everything from luggage to iPods to jewelry. Miami International's auction featured more than 500 suitcases and items, including laptop computers, a jackhammer, four acoustic guitars and a Mexican sombrero. Among the items sold at the Tampa auction were 2,000 pieces of clothing in five lots, 984 pieces of jewelry in four lots and a group of 800 miscellaneous items that included a chandelier and a caution sign.
The U.S. Marine Corps is in the process of developing requirements for a Tier II unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) that is aimed to bridge the capabilities gap between the hand-launched Tier I Dragon Eye and Tier III Pioneer models by 2010. The Marine Corps Warfighting Laboratory in Quantico, Va., plans to buy a Tier II concept-demonstrator system off the shelf this summer. Industry proposals for the aircraft were due May 11. The demonstrator will serve as a testbed for refining Tier II requirements and developing operating concepts and tactics, techniques and procedures.
