FOR NOW, EL AL HAS NO INTENTION TO FLY AIRCRAFT equipped with missile self-protection systems into or over the U.S., according to the FAA. The Israeli carrier is the first commercial airline to protect its aircraft from shoulder-fired missiles. Israel Aircraft Industries' Elta Group developed the Flight Guard system now installed on El Al aircraft. This unit uses Doppler radar for detection and tracking of shoulder-fired missiles and a dispenser that ejects "dark flares" that emit mainly in the infrared rather than the visible spectrum and burn briefly.
Goodrich's Aircraft Interior Products will provide 16g-certified seating for cabin attendants for the Boeing 787. Goodrich will also produce an LED-based lighting system for the aircraft's flight deck, a cargo system, wheels, electric brakes, exterior lighting, nacelles, thrust reversers, proximity sensing system, fuel quantity indicating system and fuel management software.
International Launch Services has won a contract to orbit a big geostationary communications satellite on an Atlas V vehicle for ICO North America in mid-2007. Built by Space Systems/ Loral on its 1300 spacecraft bus, the satellite will anchor ICO's planned satellite/terrestrial hybrid mobile satellite service, which is scheduled to begin operations in July 2007.
Boeing has been awarded a $240-million contract from the U.S. Air Force to produce 10,000 Joint Direct Attack Munition tail kits for 500-, 1,000- and 2,000-lb. bombs, some of them for the Navy.
Fuji Heavy Industries has delivered the first AH-64D Apache Longbow combat helicopter to the Japanese Ground Self-Defense Force. The helicopters are being produced under license from Boeing. Unique configurations will include an air-to-air Stinger missile launcher.
Engineers across NASA are running more trade studies on Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne's big RS-68 rocket engine as a potential powerplant for the Cargo Launch Vehicle (CaLV) the agency sees as the heavy lifter on missions to the Moon and Mars. A throwaway version of the reusable Space Shuttle Main Engine (SSME) was the original choice for the job, but tight money may make the RS-68 more attractive. "From a recurring-cost standpoint [the RS-68] is a reduction," says Daniel Dumbacher, deputy director of the exploration launch office at Marshall Space Flight Center.
Barely 15 weeks after it started services, Australian startup OzJet Airlines has suspended flights between Melbourne and Sydney--its only route and the country's busiest. "OzJet will focus its future flying around ad hoc and VIP charters, something for which there's clearly a demand in Australia, as little, if any, competition exists in that market," says Chairman Paul Stoddart. OzJet operated Boeing 737-200s, competing with Qantas and Virgin Blue.
Rex Geveden, NASA's associate administrator, expects to report this week on his review of the agency's Mar. 2 decision to terminate the Dawn asteroid-exploration mission. Geveden, formerly NASA's chief engineer, has been evaluating new information provided by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in the wake of the cancellation, as well as the work of the independent assessment team that triggered the cancellation.
Qinetiq has been selected by the British Defense Ministry as a preferred bidder for its Combined Aerial Target System requirement to provide subsonic targets for a range of air-to-air and surface-to-air missile systems. Target drones in the Qinetiq bid include the Galileo Avionica Mirach 100/5 and the Meggitt Banshee and Voodoo. Previous Defense Ministry figures estimate the value of the program at 750 million pounds ($1.31 billion) over a 20-year period.
Data from three more years of observations with the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotrophy Probe (WMAP) at the L-2 Sun-Earth Lagrange Point support the idea that the Universe expanded trillions of times over in the first trillionth of a second after the Big Bang. Earlier WMAP results reached back to only 380,000 years after the Big Bang (AW&ST Feb. 17, 2003, p. 17).
Constantino de Oliviera, Jr., the CEO of GOL, has won the 2005 Federico Bloch Award from the Latin American Airline Assn. (Aital). The award honors the late CEO of Grupo Taca. In other activity, Santiago International Airport General Manager Carlos Plass accepted the first Rolim Amaro Award. That honor remembers the founder of TAM and is given to the Latin American airport with best service to Aital member airlines.
Turkey has received its first green 737-700 for conversion to an airborne early warning and control aircraft under the Peace Eagle program. It will be modified by Tusas Aerospace Industries of Ankara. The aircraft will be much the same as the six Wedgetail aircraft being built for Australia. The Turkish air force will have four of the aircraft by the end of 2008.
The SAS Group has completed the sale of 67% of its SAS component business to Singapore Technologies Engineering, which was announced in December. The transaction is valued at 260 million euros ($309.4 million). As part of the deal, the airline group has signed a multi-year component supply contract.
FAA is proposing a new airworthiness directive for certain Boeing 747 aircraft. The AD would require repetitive mid- and low-frequency eddy current inspections to detect and correct any cracks in the overlapped skin panels in the fuselage skin lap joints in Sections 41, 42, 44 and 46. The AD proposal is prompted by a report from an operator who found multiple small cracks in the panels. If cracks in overlapped panels join together, they could result in reduced structural capability in the skin and rapid decompression.
With the first test satellite for Europe's Galileo satellite navigation system, Giove A, operating flawlessly, the European Space Agency has decided to push back the launch date for the second unit from April until autumn.
Anne Roosevelt has become vice president-community and education relations for Boeing at its Chicago headquarters. She succeeds Antoinette Bailey, who has retired. Roosevelt was director of Boeing's community and education activities in Chicago. She will be succeeded by Angel Ysaguirre.
Space weather forecasters see a stronger-than-usual "hurricane season" coming up on the Sun, based on past experience and new solar observations. Beginning next year or in early 2008, sunspots, solar flares and coronal mass ejections should increase 30-50% over the most recent solar cycle, with the potential for corresponding disruptions in space and terrestrial systems. Those include both communications and navigation satellites, as well as power grids and ground-based communications networks.
Pierre Sparaco's European Perspective, "California Dreamin'"(AW&ST Feb. 27, p. 50), is an excellent summary of California's premier role in aviation history, and the probable demise of the state's dominance in the near future.
Gas heated to 2,600F pours from a space shuttle Reusable Solid Rocket Motor at 8,400 ft./sec. in this Mar. 9 test. Four RSRM motor segments that had undergone "extended exposure" to the Ken- nedy Space Center environment were fired at ATK Thiokol's Promontory, Utah, facility to gauge post-aging performance.
Northwest Airlines confirms it has entered an agreement with FLYi, parent company of Independence Air, to purchase the carrier's operating certificate and related assets for $2 million.
The outcome of this month's elections in Israel just might give impetus to the government's near-stalled efforts to further consol- idate its defense sector. Senior echelons of government and industry have long aspired to restructure the country's predominantly state-owned aerospace and defense sector. For top industrialists the ideal would be to have two--or at the most three--major companies. Parliamentary elections will be held Mar. 28.
The recent announcement that Saudi Arabia is in discussions with the U.K. Defense Ministry to provide final assembly capability for the Eurofighter Typhoon as a condition of purchasing 72 advanced fighter jets is the latest news in an old game--the game of bargaining. The world's leading providers of defense arms have built their foreign military sales by enticing customers in this way for years--but at what cost?
One of Australia's new Wedgetail airborne early warning and control aircraft cruises over Washington state's Cascade Mountains during its test flight program, the second phase of which has just started (see p. 66). The Boeing 737 has been modified with the insertion of the first 360-deg. scan, L-band active electronically scanned array radar. A fleet of six aircraft will become the centerpiece of Australia's strategic, network-centric force. With the new Northrop Grumman-built radar, the aircraft can maneuver at 6g and still maintain tracking of targets.
Kenneth C. Dahlberg has been named to the board of directors of Los Angeles-based Teledyne Technologies. He is chairman/ president/CEO of the Science Applications International Corp. and former executive vice president of General Dynamics.
