The rampant threat of improvised explosive devices (IEDs) in Iraq has inspired the defense industry to look for cheap ways to armor humvees and other military vehicles. Enter Caracal, a modified Ford sport utility vehicle unveiled by Israeli company Plasan Sasa at the Assn. of the U.S. Army's annual convention in Washington. Caracal, which means desert fox in Hebrew, uses a commercial chassis that makes it cheaper than a conventional armored vehicle. The company pegs the price of the full system at $150,000, but says cost depends on the options.
The Pentagon's second-in-command is shifting the focus of the Defense Dept.'s work to counter improvised explosive devices away from short-term solutions toward more basic research to mimic the effort focused on developing the first atomic bomb.
Boeing's forecast for the Asia-Pacific region over the next 20 years shows demand for 7,000 new aircraft worth $770 billion. It's no surprise that the region remains the largest market outside the U.S. for commercial aircraft. The detailed outlook looks much like Boeing's world forecast released earlier this year: Single-aisle aircraft dominate, with 3,690 deliveries expected. Intermediate twins will account for about 2,430 deliveries; regional jets, 540; and Boeing 747/Airbus A380-size jumbo jets, 510.
As the Pentagon prepared for a November meeting to decide how to proceed with a $32-billion program to deploy its next generation of secure, software-defined radios, many troops in Iraq have their own solution: commercial handheld radios that cost less than $100 a set.
Is the airline lobby trying to drive a wedge between business-jet operators and private pilots as the 2007 FAA reauthorization bill debate approaches? National Business Aviation Assn. President and CEO Ed Bolen fears that it might be. He is wary of recent comments by Jim May, president and CEO of the Air Transport Assn. (ATA), that the business-jet community should pay more for the ATC services it consumes while fees don't need to be increased for general aviation.
Now that Northwest Airlines, Delta Air Lines and Independence Air have joined the Chapter 11 ranks, almost half of the U.S. airline capacity is operated by carriers in U.S. Bankruptcy Court. United, Aloha and ATA airlines are still reorganizing. US Airways and Hawaiian Airlines recently exited the process, but others are likely to join this parade of failure for a lot of reasons.
Darpa wants to develop software that can analyze strange maritime behavior, alerting the U.S. Navy when terrorists might be transporting weapons of mass destruction or pirates, contraband. Predictive Analysis for Naval Deployment Activities (Panda) would track local and global patterns of behavior by commercial vessels including shipping routes and routine detours for fuel or paperwork. If a ship that always travels between Malaysia and Japan winds up in the Indian Ocean, authorities would be alerted.
USN Rear Adm. John C. Harvey, Jr., has been nominated for promotion to vice admiral and appointment as deputy chief of naval operations for manpower, personnel, training and education. He is director of Warfare Integration and Assessment Div. in the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations.
Evergreen Helicopters has taken delivery of an Agusta/Bell AB-139 and a Bell 412, bringing the company's fleet of rotorcraft to more than 75. The McMinnville, Ore.-based company already operates one AB139 and uses the medium-lift aircraft for transporting workers to offshore oil platforms, emergency medical services and search-and-rescue missions.
Finmeccanica has seen revenue grow 17% during the first nine months of 2005 compared to last year, reaching 7.5 billion euros ($8.78 billion) and a net profit of 180 million euros (up 22% from 148 million euros). The operating profit jumped 51% to 406 million euros. Finmeccanica is riding a wave of new orders, worth 10.6 billion euros, boosted by the U.S. presidential helicopter and Eurofighter Typhoon programs.
Major aerospace companies are now projecting that the defense budget will stay flat for two years and then start a sharp 2-3% annual decline for the foreseeable future.
NASA employees have greater satisfaction about their jobs than those at any other federal agency or military service, according to new data from an Office of Personnel Management survey. Workers at the National Science Foundation came in a close second, according to a study of the survey by The Center for American Progress, an education-research think tank. Both NASA and the NSF put research, exploration and advanced technology high on the list of their agency objectives. NASA received a combined score of 72.8, the highest total in the government. The NSF score was 70.6.
M7 AEROSPACE IS OFFERING A NEW PROGRAM to refurbish Fairchild Merlin IIIB- or IIIC-series business aircraft. Owners can bring their airplanes to the San Antonio-based MRO company where the airframes are inspected and new interiors and avionics are installed. In addition, the turboprop engines and propellers are overhauled to zero-time standards. M7 officials say the company plans to buy Merlins and offer them for resale at a cost of $900,000-1.5 million.
Under a one-year, $1.35-million contract with the FAA, AeroSat Airborne Internet LLC is to demonstrate and evaluate basic concepts and components of the Airborne Internet System intended for use in the Next-Generation Air Transportation System. Airborne Internet would provide pilots with automatic updates of data such as weather and turbulence conditions. Aerosat is to conduct demonstrations on FAA test aircraft at the William J. Hughes Technical Center in New Jersey. Air/ground data will be exchanged at 45 Mbps.
NASA Glenn Research Center is beginning to analyze engine exhaust and plume development from emissions data gathered for 10 days early this month at Cleveland Hopkins International Airport. The Aircraft Particle Emission Experiment 3 (APEX 3) is focusing on improving understanding of such phenomena. Continental Airlines, Continental Express and FedEx supplied Embraer ERJ 135/145 regional jets, Boeing 737 and 757s, and Airbus A300-600 aircraft, respectively. Researchers are interested in exhaust dispersion during normal operations.
NASA's twin Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory (Stereo) spacecraft have arrived at the Goddard Space Flight Center for advanced testing after being assembled at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (see photo). They will undergo spin and thermal vacuum tests. The two vehicles are to be shipped to Cape Canaveral in March for a Boeing Delta II launch later in the spring.
The Aug. 14 crash of the Helios Airways Boeing 737-300 near Athens, like the October 1999 Learjet 35 crash near Mina, S.D., points out the danger of slow depressurization (AW&ST Aug. 22/29, p. 49). In a rapid decompression, the problem is obvious. But crashes occur when depressurization isn't recognized, and the signs of hypoxia will not be noticed if one has never experienced them. There is no substitude for at least one encounter with hypoxia in the altitude chamber.
Finland is planning to spend 20% of its defense-procurement budget on network-centric warfare and intelligence-gathering projects by 2012, according to the country's defense chief, Adm. Juhani Kaskeala. The country has ambitious plans to create a network linking military and civilian agencies, allowing government leaders to manage effectively any military or terrorist threat or to deal with the aftermath of natural disasters.
Robin Adshead, a freelance photographer for Aviation Week & Space Technology in the 1980s and '90s, died Nov. 10 of an aneurism. He was 71. Adshead served in the British Army as a fixed-wing and helicopter pilot and as a member of the 6th Queen Elizabeth's Own Gurkha Rifles. For AW&ST, Adshead provided numerous cover photos, was a staple of Paris and Farnborough air show coverage during both decades and provided the imagery for many pilot reports.
Unlucky timing plagued Japan's Hayabusa asteroid mission, causing the probable loss of its robotic Minerva mini-lander, but flight controllers were preparing late last week for the main event--a quick touchdown to collect samples for return to Earth.
Stuart Matthews, who is president/ CEO of the Alexandria, Va.-based Flight Safety Foundation, has received the 2005 Cumberbatch Trophy by the Guild of Air Pilots and Air Navigators in London. The trophy recognizes contributions to aviation safety.
Plans by the U.S. Army to radically upgrade its Boeing AH-64D attack helicopter fleet are expected to attract international customers. The Block III upgrade and rebuild effort is designed to transform the Apache, with the first fielded upgrades ready by 2010. Enhancements include new General Electric T700-701D engines, composite main rotor blades, a Boeing/NorthStar Aerospace transmission, a new mission computer based on open architecture and the ability to conduct "Level IV" control and monitoring of UAVs.
David P. Storch, who has been president/CEO of the AAR Corp., Wood Dale, Ill., now also will be chairman. He succeeds company founder Ira A. Eichner, who has retired.
Although the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) completed an air cargo strategic plan in 2003 and an updated threat assessment in April, the agency still isn't doing enough to secure cargo carried on passenger airplanes, a congressional study finds. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) says TSA relies on a risk-based approach that physically screens or inspects only a small percentage of the nearly 6 billion lb. of cargo shipped annually on airlines.
The latest company to enter the market for armored personnel carriers is Blackwater USA, the private military contractor best known for its well-paid security personnel working in Iraq and Afghanistan. Blackwater, a newcomer to the vehicle market, says it developed the design of its vehicle, the Grizzly, from "experience on the ground in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iraq." That's a good pedigree, but Blackwater will be going up against more-experienced armor specialists, like Israel's Plasan Sasa (see p.
