Infrared detector specialist Sofradir is seeking a U.S. beachhead to take advantage of North American business opportunities, as well as calling for more French government support to ensure coherence between new weapons and the components on which they depend.
Australia's planners anticipate buying a fleet of at least 70 F-35 Joint Strike Fighters. However, instead of buying a final 30--that would bring the total to 100--the RAAF has the option of choosing an unmanned combat air vehicle, say top service officials.
Air Wales is to cease scheduled passenger operations Apr. 23. The low-fare carrier was established in 1999 and serves 17 domestic destinations and one on the continent. Air Wales will continue charter and cargo flights.
French space agency CNES will develop the 6-8-metric ton AlphaBus very large satellite platform, providing 12-18 kw. of power, for the European Space Agency under a final agreement signed last week. CNES will manage overall development of the new bus, which will be built by EADS Astrium and Alcatel Alenia Space. The two manufacturers plan to market the spacecraft bus jointly beginning in 2007. ESA and CNES will share financing of the first flight model, ordered last year for delivery around 2009 (AW&ST June 27, 2005, p. 33).
President Bush wants to retire the F-117 stealth fighters, sending most to the boneyard over the next year, rather than by 2011. The fighters, which cost about $45 million each, were a revolution in technology when they were unveiled in 1988 following a classified development program. Their radar-evading technology and ability to drop precision-guided bombs at night were a major asset in the 1991 Persian Gulf war. Bush's plan would retire 10 F-117s in 2007 and the remainder in 2008.
Raytheon Technical Services Co. has been awarded a U.S. Air Force contract to repair air traffic control radar system components worldwide. The $15.5-million contract with the Oklahoma City Air Logistics Center at Tinker AFB, covers the base year and four option years. RTSC will provide repair services, technical assistance and data in support of components applicable to the AN/TPN-19 and the AN/GPN-22 landing control centers for one year. Work will be performed in Chula Vista, Calif., and at USAF installations around the world.
Concluding a deal for procurement of the Future Lynx for the British Army and Royal Navy is being slowed, a result of discussions being caught up in negotiations for a wide-ranging partnering pact between the Defense Ministry and AgustaWestland. An accord on both the Future Lynx acquisition and the partnering agreement is now expected within the next two months.
Fascinating as it may sound, the BlackStar article does not meet the test of credibility (AW&ST Mar. 6, p. 48). Based upon some quick analysis by my colleague Chuck Deiterich, a vehicle launching due east (to take advantage of the Earth's rotation) at Mach 3.3 would still require a delta velocity of about 21,700 ft./sec. to reach orbit. This doesn't account for drag losses, which even at that altitude probably would be 200 ft./sec.
Air Hokkaido (ADK), a subsidiary of ANA's Air Nippon Network, will be disbanded this July. The company used its two de Havilland DHC-6-300 Twin Otters to fly a single route between Okushiri Island and Hakodate at the southern tip of Hokkaido. Launched in 1994, ADK will make its final flight on July 31. Meanwhile, ANA plans to enter a cargo code-share agreement with Asiana on freighter flights between Japan and South Korea, starting next month. A total of 18 weekly flights will carry the codes of both airlines.
Rover controllers at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory are in a race with the Sun as they maneuver Spirit toward a spot where it can catch rays for its power system during the coming Martian winter. The problem is complicated because one of Spirit's wheels stalled earlier this month after displaying intermittent problems since mid-2004, five months after landing. Controllers reversed the rover's direction of travel so it could drag the wheel, one of six that operate independently, and engineers continued to troubleshoot the problem.
"Battlestar Galacticas" is what Dan Goldin, the former NASA administrator, called them--the large, heavy triumphs of 20th century space science. These spacecraft, such as Hubble Space Telescope, Chandra X-ray Observatory and Cassini, continue today to yield enormous scientific return. But they also caused endless management heartburn and budget tensions during their decades of development. Goldin believed the era of these giants was closing, and the spectacular demise of the Superconducting Supercollider seemed to support this view.
UNITED STATES Editor-In-Chief: Anthony L. Velocci, Jr. [email protected] Managing Editor: James R. Asker [email protected] Assistant Managing Editor: Michael Stearns [email protected] Senior Editors: Craig Covault [email protected], David Hughes [email protected] NEW YORK 2 Penn Plaza, 25th Floor, New York, N.Y. 10121 Phone: +1 (212) 904-2000, Fax: +1 (212) 904-6068 Senior News Editor: Nora Titterington
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.
