The Transportation Security Administration is testing the merits of an explosives detection device that could scan airline passengers' shoes as they pass through security checkpoints. TSA Administrator Edmund (Kip) Hawley says the shoe-scanner, manufactured by GE Security, is being tested at the TSA's Atlantic City, N.J., labs.
British Airways is sending its strongest signals yet that the Airbus A380 could work well in its fleet, although in the near term BA's focus will remain on the Boeing 777 for long-haul fleet additions. For Airbus, British Airways' willingness even to consider the A380 is welcome news, since the carrier's standoffishness has raised questions about the aircraft's market potential. BA is showing signs it will soon join some of its rivals back in the aircraft acquisition mode. However, purchases beyond additional 777s may still be a few years off.
I enjoyed the article about the potential Blackstar program (AW&ST Mar. 6, p. 48), realizing that much of what was presented was speculative. The article and subsequent letters raise serious concerns about the potential for the vehicle as presented. But I wonder if the major discrepancies can't be explained by a simple misinterpretation about the upper stage vehicle. Perhaps the upper stage isn't an orbital vehicle, but rather a skip jet.
Perhaps U.S. defense contractors should be cheering the high price of oil. While not directly relevant to their business models, the political and media obsession with oil company windfall profits has delayed attention from an inevitable shift to the record profits of defense contractors during a period of unprecedented cost overruns on major weapon system developments.
Upgrade of the GE T700-type engines powering U.S. Army Boeing AH-64 Apache and Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters is underway at the Corpus Christi (Tex.) Army Depot. If all 5,700 engines are retrofitted, the program could take five years to complete and cost $1.5-2 billion.
Cathay Pacific has ordered a 777-300ER full-flight simulator from CAE of Montreal along with an integrated procedures trainer and seven virtual maintenance trainers for use at the airline's training center in Hong Kong. Delivery will begin in the fall of 2007. CAE will also upgrade a Cathay simulator.
The first Boeing KC-767A tanker, slated for delivery to the Italian air force in mid-2007, has completed ground vibration testing at the company's Everett, Wash., facility. A particular focus was the structural interaction between the aircraft and its aerial-refueling boom, a crucial step toward flight testing of the system. The aircraft has now made about 70 flights and flown 250 hr. since first flight in May 2005. Japan will receive the first of its four 767 tankers in late 2006.
Sukhoi and the Rosoboron export sales agency are to establish a service center in Malaysia to be operated by the Royal Malaysian Air Force in advance of the delivery of the first six of 18 Su-30MKM multirole fighters in early 2007. Sukhoi is discussing a training schedule for the initial group of Su-30 pilots. It also is developing a simulator for the program with Malaysian HeiTech Padu. Malaysia has signed a letter of intent with Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. to train Su-30 mechanics.
EADS Astrium has acquired 42% of Brazilian satellite payload supplier Equatorial Sistemas as it continues to expand its base beyond Europe. Astrium also agreed to provide engineering assistance and optical and radar equipment to Equatorial, which was prime contractor for the wide-field imager on the China-Brazil Earth-observation satellite program and the humidity sounder on NASA's Aqua.
Northrop Grumman's Integrated Systems sector expects that the recent offset pact with France will help cement ties with smaller companies. In the wake of the French navy's 1995 decision to procure E-2C Hawkeyes, the U.S. aerospace-defense group gradually transformed economic offset obligations into ongoing orders with French suppliers, vendors and subcontractors.
Lufthansa regional airline partners Augsburg Airways, Contact Air, Eurowings and Lufthansa CityLines are equipping their aircraft with Lido Route Manual electronic charts from Lufthansa Systems. Lido software relies on an onboard navigation database to generate custom charts for en-route and terminal area guidance. Rather than having to consult overlapping paper charts, pilots can call up a single display of the route ahead.
Autonomous unmanned aerial vehicles are seen by Australian military planners as fundamental to the nation's network-centric, warfighting capabilities beyond 2020. In fact, they may buy fewer of the next-generation, Lockheed Martin-designed Joint Strike Fighters in order to field a stealthy, unmanned reconnaissance aircraft.
The Pentagon Inspector General's office says the state of Virginia and municipality of Virginia Beach have not met all the requirements of the 2005 base closure and realignment commission to keep NAS Oceana open. As a result, Florida now has the right to show it can meet those conditions at Cecil Field, Fla., to support Navy F/A-18 strike fighter wings, aviation operations and other support activities of a Master Jet Base by Dec. 31.
The primary engine for the F-35B Joint Strike Fighter is suffering growing pains and currently "running 190 degrees above our desired temperature," say Pratt & Whitney specialists as they work to squeeze more power out of the design in the test program.
The U.S. Navy plans to upgrade VH-3D presidential helicopters to boost their lift performance while it waits for a new VH-71 to be fielded. Sikorsky will replace existing main rotor blades with composite ones.
Precision Castparts is about to bulk up. The aerospace metals supplier has finally won approval from U.S. antitrust regulators to close a $540-million deal to acquire Specialty Metals Corp., a leading supplier of high-performance and nickel-based alloys. This is expected to add about $1 billion to Precision Castparts' annual sales, which were $3.5 billion in the fiscal year ended Apr. 2. Although announced last August, it took nearly nine months to clear a Federal Trade Commission review.
NASA's early plans to use a cost-saving "shuttle-derived" philosophy for the return to the Moon envisioned by President Bush are dropping by the wayside as closer analysis suggests other approaches may be cheaper still. Cost--and not its shuttle-derived first stage--will determine where the new Crew Launch Vehicle (CLV) ultimately will be launched, even though a test flight due in as little as two years probably will fly from shuttle facilities.
Australia's military planners are skirting the limits imposed by shrinking manpower and defense budgets through the widening use of unmanned vehicles (see p. 48). They also are working on innovations that allow a single person to control many unmanned craft--air, ground or undersea--at once. On the cover, F-35 Joint Strike Fighters cooperate with unmanned combat aircraft. The latter can better penetrate enemy air defenses and use directed-energy weapons that could endanger manned aircraft. Northrop Grumman image by Senior Illustrator Kent Rump.
BAE Systems engineers envision a day when military helicopters are equipped to operate at low level in all types of day/night visibility using multiple sensors and image fusion to guide the way.
Orbital Sciences Corp. will launch TacSat-2 and -3 for the U.S. Air Force under a $23-million contract awarded by its Rocket System Launch Program. Drafted to demonstrate operationally responsive launchers, the contract requires Orbital to use a Minotaur I to launch TacSat-2 within six months of the award. TacSat-3 must follow that flight within a year. The second launch is scheduled for September 2007.
House and Senate negotiators, who left for the Memorial Day recess about $14 billion apart in their versions of war and hurricane supplemental funding bills, will get back to work next week. With funds for military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan at stake, as well as Gulf Coast hurricane relief, the Senate calls for $109 billion, while the House matches the Bush administration's $94.5-billion request. President Bush threatens to veto a bloated bill. Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Thad Cochran (R-Miss.) says congressional leaders are "very close" to agreement.
An initial public offering for a minority stake in Aeroports de Paris will take place this summer, says French Finance Minister Thierry Breton. About 30% of the shares are expected to be floated. Additionally, ADP plans to increase to raise 500-600 million euros via a capital increase.
Jay Donoghue has been appointed director of publications for the Alexandria, Va.-based Flight Safety Foundation. He was editorial director of Air Transport World magazine.
Despite government and union pressure to reconsider, EADS management has confirmed a decision to close the main plant and headquarters of Sogerma at Merignac, near Bordeaux--part of a deep restructuring plan aimed at turning around the deficit-producing maintenance, repair and overhaul affiliate (AW&ST May 22, p. 26). EADS reaffirmed promises to reposition as many of the plant's 1,050 employees as possible, and said it would help support efforts to attract other aerospace operations to the site.
Missile defense programs may become a victim of their own success, says a senior House Armed Services Committee member. Program supporters have convinced lawmakers of the seriousness of the threat, says Rep. Curt Weldon (R-Pa.), but missile defense could become the "bill payer" as defense budgets tighten. "Your area of the budget will get the most scrutiny by members looking to pay for other programs," Weldon tells a National Defense University Foundation audience on Capitol Hill.
