With the retirement this month of Gen. Lance Lord, head of Air Force Space Command, some in Washington say the service will have to turn to a heavy-handed officer as his successor, to right its troubled space program. USAF has yet to announce its choice, but there is speculation that the service will downgrade the position to a three-star post.
The U.S. Defense Dept. has postponed the purchase of five aircraft equipped with megawatt-class chemical lasers, keeping the program in technology demonstration status through 2008. The Airborne Laser has suffered schedule delays and cost increases since its first risk reduction and development contract was awarded in 1996. The speed-of-light weapon is designed to take out ballistic missiles in their vulnerable boost phase.
Cessna Aircraft Co. flew its upgraded Citation Encore+ for the first time on Mar. 22 from Rockwell Collins' facilities in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. The twin-engine business jet is equipped with new Pro Line 21 avionics. The Pratt & Whitney Canada PW535Bs are fitted with dual-channel full-authority digital engine controls. Maximum takeoff weight has been increased by 200 lb. over that for the standard Encore. FAA certification is set for the fourth quarter.
A U.S. Marine battalion deploying to Iraq this spring will monitor insurgents hiding among civilians using methods honed by police departments to track gang activity. The system to be tested in Iraq combines a new device from Lockheed Martin with off-the-shelf technology, including cameras for surveillance and a database for collecting information such as known associates, body markings and addresses. The database is a customized version of one developed by the Chicago Police Dept. for anti-gang and counter-drug operations. Lockheed Martin's 8-oz.
The U.S. military perfected naval surface fire support, along with close air support, during World War II, says Bob Work, of the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments. Battleships and cruisers supplied general artillery support, the bombardment of area targets such as supply depots, with 8-in. and 16-in. guns. Direct support for troops engaged with enemy forces came from 5-in. guns.
The Pentagon is shifting resources from its unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV) program to accelerate development of a next-generation bomber. The fate of Northrop Grumman's X-47B and Boeing's X-45C designs for the Joint Unmanned Combat Air System (J-UCAS) program is left in doubt by the decision. The U.S. Air Force dropped out of the J-UCAS program after allocating $304 million for it in Fiscal 2006.
British Airways is proposing to raise the retirement age of flight and cabin crewmembers from 55 as part of an effort to clear a 1-billion-pound ($1.73-billion) pension deficit. For pilots, the age would go to 60, and for cabin crew, 65. The change for cabin crew would be instituted in two stages, to 60 for five years, and then 65.
LynuxWorks received approval from the FAA for the reusability of its LynxOS-178 software by embedded system integrators and developers for avionics that involve safety-critical applications. Based in San Jose, Calif., LynuxWorks has been seeking the regulatory approval for nine months and received it in Advisory Circular AC 20-148 this month. Joe Wlad, director of product marketing, notes that there usually is a tight coupling between an operating system (OS) and its application.
The "parting of the ways" between the U.S. Air Force and Navy over the joint unmanned combat air systems (J-UCAS) program has triggered a surge in new competition and plans for large, long-endurance aircraft.
Russia's announcement in the early 1990s that it had deployed the 200-kt. supercavitating Shkval torpedo stunned Western intelligence agencies and prompted several NATO countries to begin development of a similar weapon. Supercavitation--surrounding an object with a bubble that allows it to travel at high speed--is now getting attention from the Pentagon's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (Darpa), which is jump-starting work to develop a supercavitating submarine that would travel at 100 kt. under water and still be stealthy.
The National Transportation Safety Board's preliminary 2005 statistics offer discouraging news: an increase in aviation accidents for scheduled airline and general aviation operations compared with 2004. And encouraging news: the total number of fatalities decreased.
Joseph D'Amato (see photos) has been promoted to vice president-engineering from chief engineer of Arkwin Industries Inc., Westbury, N.Y. He has been succeeded by Eric Pratt, who was promoted from design engineering manager. Brian Grunthal has been promoted to controller from assistant controller.
The International Air Transport Assn. has brightened its economic forecast, raising 2007 profit projections by $1 billion, and now its leader is challenging world governments to bring the "cautious optimism" emerging in industry to reality.
The first operational CV-22 Osprey tiltrotor aircraft has been delivered to the U.S. Air Force 58th Special Operations Wing at Kirtland AFB, N.M. It is the first of four CV-22s scheduled for delivery to the 58th this year. The unit provides advanced training to Air Force special ops aircrews. Procurement plans are to deliver 50 CV-22s by 2017.
Canadian satcom startup Ciel has ordered an initial all-K u-band spacecraft from Alcatel Alenia Space. The 38-transponder satellite, designated Ciel-2, will weigh around 6 metric tons and have a power output of 11-12 kw., making it one of the largest telecom satellites ordered to date. It will be launched in late 2008 to 129 deg. W.
Larry Knauer (see photo) has been appointed director of small launch vehicles integration at Lockheed Martin Space Systems Michoud Operations in New Orleans. He was president of Pratt & Whitney Space Propulsion.
Air navigation service providers in Africa, reviewing options in a Nairobi meeting, agreed that the inflight broadcast procedure for air traffic control is badly outmoded and new communications and surveillance technologies should be implemented. Pilots use the procedure by VHF radio or long-range HF voice communications to obtain air traffic control clearances or report their aircraft position.
Lockheed Martin has completed the first kill vehicle pathfinder seeker for the U.S. Missile Defense Agency's Multiple Kill Vehicle System. It is testing the pathfinder seeker in its hardware-in-the-loop facility, creating a vibration environment similar to the one the kill vehicle will experience during its mission. Pathfinder seeker and associated kill vehicle electronics have been demonstrating full functionality under sophisticated optical and electrical testing.
By June, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) will begin using unmanned ground vehicles, or UGVs, to help patrol the Separation Zone between Israel and the West Bank, says a military officer leading part of the project.
A couple of wide-eyed entrepreneurs with no formal training have developed armor designed to prevent facial injuries caused by explosives. The Predator Facial Armor System Technology, or FAST, weighs 1.3 lb. and is designed for vehicle-mounted personnel. The duo who developed the armor, operating under the company name MTek Weapon Systems, is working on a version that will be less than 1 lb. Benjamin Mahan, a Marine Corps reservist who served in Iraq in 2003, says he got the idea after observing the lack of facial protection for troops.
The Italian government will raise space spending by nearly 10% over the next three years, continuing an upward trend that contrasts with tendencies elsewhere in Europe. The government last week approved total expenditures of close to 2.5 billion euros ($3 billion) for 2006-08, an increase of 8% over the previous three-year plan. The hike was in line with projections by Sergio Vetrella, head of national space agency ASI, which will implement the plan, and on top of unspent funding from past authorizations (AW&ST Jan. 16, p. 420).
Jim O'Connell (see photo) has been named general manager of CAE's North East Training Center near Morristown (N.J.) Airport. He was senior manager of training for CAE SimuFlite in Dallas.
The 10 advanced concept and joint capability technology demonstrations selected for a Fiscal 2006 start focus strongly on changing mountains of data into useable molehills of information. The choices also reflect still-unresolved problems from World War II. Event Management Framework will try to figure out how to share information, recognize change, make associations with related events and quickly develop action plans.
