NATO and the European Union last week signed a contract with Ruslan Salis for the availability of up to six Antonov An-124 aircraft to meet the need for an interim European strategic airlift capability until the Airbus Military A400M enters service. The contract is for three years with options for extension. Ruslan Salis is a German subsidiary of Volga- Dnepr.
Boeing's commercial transport products may not be the only U.S. business at risk in the wake of the Dubai Ports World brouhaha. Also at stake could be a lucrative deal to supply an intelligence satellite system to the Gulf Cooperation Council, for which a Lockheed Martin-led team is in the running. This twin-satellite optical/radar system, known as Hud-hud and to be bid jointly by the UAE, Qatar and Saudi Arabia through the GCC, is one of the few spysat deals for which U.S.
Despite Pentagon assertions that it really doesn't want any more C-17 airlifters, the U.S. House of Representatives has inserted $100 million into the emergency supplemental appropriations bill to keep Boeing's endangered Globemaster production line in business.
The U.S. Air Force plans to begin testing a new weapons delivery system designed by Lockheed Martin that will allow its A-10Cs to dispatch smart weapons for close air support missions as early as next year. The Digital Stores Management System will automate functions handled manually by pilots today and will integrate with the Sniper and Litening targeting pods on the Thunderbolt, a.k.a. Warthog.
Singapore Technologies Engi-neering Ltd. is offering international customers an alternative to the latest generation of detection systems providing anatomically revealing images of the body. Recent publicity over full-body X-ray systems raises concerns among privacy advocates. Singapore Technology's People Portal, which debuted in February at the Singapore air show, uses microwave energy in the 600-MHz. frequency range to detect drugs and explosives, without providing anatomical details. Programmed to detect anomalies in the body, the device is fully automated.
In June 2005, Continental Airlines and two of its wholly owned subsidiaries, Air Micronesia and Continental Micronesia, closed on a deal in which they borrowed $350 million. The complex transaction is a microcosm of what cash preservation is like in mid-decade among U.S. network airlines, particularly the few that have managed to stay out of Chapter 11.
Controllers at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center are preparing the three Space Technology 5 (ST5) spacecraft for 90 days of engineering checkout and aurora measurements to validate operating concepts for future "swarms" of small, cheap satellites for science.
Roger Lough, Australia's chief defense scientist, heads a staff of about 2,300--primarily scientists, engineers and IT experts--at the Defense Science Technology Organization (DSTO). Headquartered in Canberra, DSTO has an annual budget of A$300 million (U.S. $220 million) and a portfolio that spans land, sea and air technologies. DSTO, part of Australia's Defense Dept., provides scientific and technology analysis and support for everything from counterterrorism to advanced materials research.
Lockheed Martin would locate Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV) avionics and software development, along with spacecraft life support system buildup, near the Johnson Space Center if the company wins the CEV contract. Overall management of the program and key subsystem qualification also would be based there with NASA. The company announced earlier that the NASA Kennedy Space Center would be its combined hardware integration and assembly hub in addition to the launch site if it wins the CEV program (AW&ST Feb. 27, p. 41).
When the price of titanium surged 317% last year on a wave of strong demand and limited supply, deliveries stretched out to 70 weeks, and the Pentagon's favored metal for high-performance aircraft and top-end weapons seemed on the fast track to becoming scarce.
Not all space-program risks occur in space. The death of a roofer at NASA's Kennedy Space Center Mar. 17, just one day after the center held a safety "standdown" to review safety procedures, underscores the need for safety consciousness during the upcoming transition from the space shuttle to its replacement (see p. 54). The day before the accident claimed the life of contract worker Steven Owens, center Director James Kennedy halted all work for two hours to allow managers and quality control personnel to reemphasize the need for safe operations.
Spacehab Inc., whose stock price fell below the $1 requirement for listing on the Nasdaq last year and failed to rise above $1 during a 180-day grace period, has won approval to transfer its common stock listing from the Nasdaq National Market to the Nasdaq Capital Market, effective Mar. 22. Spacehab's stock will continue to trade under the symbol SPAB. The Houston-based commercial space services provider has proposed a vehicle dubbed Apex for NASA's Commercial Orbital Transpor-tation Services demonstration to resupply the International Space Station.
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Jeff Rolf (see photo) has become group marketing director for Europe for Parker Aerospace, Irvine, Calif. He was a business team leader at Parker's Aircraft Wheel & Brake Div.
With member-state backing exceeding expectations, the European Space Agency is readying requests for proposals for the first three spacecraft for its Global Monitoring for Environment and Security network. The spacecraft are considered vital to ensure data continuity with the Envisat Earth-observation satellite and the Spot-5 imaging spacecraft, launched in 2002 for a five-year nominal life span.
French authorities' attitude toward low-fare carriers remains largely negative in an indication that the dinosaur flag carrier ideology is still flourishing. The time has come to adopt modern-day thinking.
Montreal-based CAE has won a five-year maintenance contract valued at approximately C$17 million ($14.5 million) from JetBlue Airways to service its four Airbus A320 full-flight simulators, two Embraer 190 simulators and six flight training devices at the airline's training center at Orlando, Fla.
Italy and Russia are expected to conclude by May the second phase of a joint research and development project that could lead to a new class of diesel submarine. The S1000 advanced attack submarine, a mid-sized boat displacing about 1,000 tons, would be affordable for a burgeoning export market, and a candidate for the navies of both countries.
The Homeland Security Dept. wants to integrate satellite imagery with ground sensors and other high-tech capabilities to create a "virtual fence" for guarding U.S. borders. The department plans to issue a request for proposals (RFP) Mar. 31 and award a contract by Sept. 30, with the aim of deploying new technology in Fiscal 2007. Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman and Raytheon are among the large contractors forming teams or seeking suppliers in their bid for the multi-billion-dollar contract.
British government and senior defense officials are less than happy to be fingered in a recent U.S. briefing identifying the U.K. as a "third site candidate" for ground-based ballistic missile interceptors. Lt. Gen. Trey Obering, director of the Pentagon's Missile Defense Agency, listed the U.K. as a potential site among his international-activity highlights. It was not considered a highlight by the U.K., which has been trying to keep the lid on the issue of whether it would consider playing host to anti-missile missile batteries.
Sea Launch has signed a fourth payload for its Baikonur Cosmodrome-based Land Launch system, which is set to go into service at the Zenit facilities there in mid-2007. The September 2007 mission for Malaysia's Measat 1R will be subcontracted through PanAmSat under a $44.2-million launch management contract. The 24-transponder C-/K u-band spacecraft was ordered late last year from Orbital Sciences Corp.
Propulsion engineers at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center are leaning toward an older version of the Rocketdyne J2 engine that powered Apollo missions to the Moon for the upper stage on a new generation of exploration launch vehicles.
The German army is taking delivery of its first new infantry fighting vehicle (IFV) since the Marder in the early 1970s. The builder, Rheinmetall AG, claims the Puma is the world's "safest, most secure IFV." The design includes a remotely controlled turret that allows the three-person crew to sit with up to six soldiers in the main chassis. As a result, only one compartment requires maximum protection against explosions and personnel are kept out of the turret, the vehicle's most vulnerable area.
Allan Cameron has become chairman/CEO of Thales North America, Alexandria, Va. He succeeds Lawrence Cavaiola, who plans to retire. Cameron has been managing director of Thales U.K.'s naval business.
