Michael A. Taverna (Paris), David Hughes (Washington)
After popularizing the use of head-up displays, business jet manufacturers are now moving to broaden the impact of HUDs by combining them with enhanced flight vision systems. An EFVS superimposes a video image provided by an infrared camera on the combiner of a HUD and/or head-down display (HDD), giving pilots a clear black-and-white image of the runway ahead at night and in some types of low-visibility conditions.
The business aviation community is surfing a wave of prosperity that could continue well into 2007 despite deepening concerns about weak corporate profits, high fuel prices and onerous user fees that threaten future expansion.
Vision Systems International, a U.S. subsidiary of Elbit Systems Ltd. and Rockwell Collins, has received $100 million worth of new contracts including an order from Boeing for more than 500 additional Joint Helmet-Mounted Cueing Systems as well as direct orders from the U.S. Navy and Air Force for JHMCS shipsets for use on the F-15, F-16 and F/A-18.
German aerospace and defense industry officials are hoping to learn soon what the new government in Berlin will mean for them, but there's little expectation of relief for the severe funding shortfall long bedeviling the sector.
The FAA, in an effort to lower the risk of runway incursions, plans to install Airport Surface Detection Equipment, Model X (ASDE-X) at 15 major U.S. airports. The first installation is scheduled in January at Seattle-Tacoma. Other airports include Boston Logan, Chicago's O'Hare and Midway, and New York's JFK, Newark Liberty and LaGuardia. ASDE-X integrates data from multiple sources, to create a continuously updated map of airport surface operations. This enables controllers to better spot potential collisions and prevent them.
USAF Brig. Gen. (ret.) Duane W. Deal (see photo) has been appointed director of national security space programs at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Laurel, Md. Deal was commander of operations at Cheyenne Mountain Air Station, Colo.
National policy-makers are considering a major shift in the U.S. nuclear weapons program, possibly expanding a 13-year-old Science-Based Stockpile Stewardship effort that was established to extend the life of an aging inventory. A study now underway could clear the path for a Reliable Replacement Warhead (RRW) initiative and lead to a smaller weapons complex building new warheads based on older, previously tested and more-conservative designs.
U.S. and European authorities risk a legal collision over measures to curb the environmental impact of commercial aviation. U.S. officials are warning the government will consider legal action against the European Union should it try to implement emissions charges on all airlines departing from commercial airports within the EU. They are also opposed to any U.S. airline operating from the EU being drawn into the proposed extension to aviation of the EU's emissions trading scheme.
Japan's Star Flyer will have its three Airbus A320s maintained and repaired by Lufthansa Technik once it commences operations in mid-March. Star Flyer has signed on to the MRO provider's Total Technical Support package.
AirLaunch will proceed with the next step of developing its two-stage Quick Reach I rocket following the receipt of a Phase 2B contract from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency on Oct. 28. The launcher is for Darpa's Falcon Small Launch Vehicle project, and a full-scale dummy was successfully dropped out of a USAF/Boeing C-17 on Sept. 29 in Phase 2A to demonstrate the air launch technique (AW&ST Oct. 24, p. 56).
Rod Eddington has been appointed non-executive chairman for Australia and New Zealand for JPMorgan, effective Jan. 1. He retired recently as chief executive of British Airways and had been managing director of Cathay Pacific Airways and executive chairman of Ansett Airlines.
Sikorsky Aircraft Corp. will grow its helicopter completion and custom installation business by acquiring Keystone Ranger Holdings and Keystone Helicopters. Keystone, which specializes in engineering, technical and completion operations, is a "great strategic fit for Sikorsky," says Steve Finger, president of the Stratford, Conn., airframe manufacturer. Dave Ford, president of Keystone Ranger, will be retained.
With warnings of more attacks to come, security at airports and railway stations has been beefed up across India, following the Oct. 29 terrorist bombings that killed more than 60 people and injured 210 in New Delhi.
Two months after reaching a parking orbit, Japan's Hayabusa explorer has used its ion propulsion system to make a painstaking survey of the asteroid Itokawa. Now comes the hardest part: touching down, gathering samples and returning home.
3M Aerospace for its preformed polyurethane protective tape "boots." Aitech Defense Systems's C106 rugged single-board computer. Chorus Motors, a subsidiary of Borealis Exploration, for its electric motor that can power nosewheels. CMC Electronics Inc. for its second-generation Class 2 Electronic Flight Bag for airlines and business jets. Dunlop Aerospace Equipment for its low-noise bleed valve to replace earlier design in the V2500 engine.
Britain's Watchkeeper unmanned aerial vehicle reconnaissance system development continues with the award of a 317-million-pound ($559-million) contract for UAV airframe and ground-station procurement. Prime contractor Thales placed the contract with UAV Tactical Systems, its joint venture with Israel's Elbit Systems. Elbit's Hermes 450 is being used as the basis for the initial Watchkeeper. The first batch of Watchkeeper 450s will be manufactured in Israel, with production then transferring to the joint-venture manufacturing site in Leicester, England.
Pat Norris (see photo), business development manager of U.K.-based LogicaCMG, has been appointed a Fellow of the Royal Institute of Navigation. His career in satellite navigation began in 1966 as a contractor supporting NASA's National Geodetic Satellite at the Goddard Space Flight Center and then the Apollo program. Norris has been involved with major European space programs for the last 25 years, including European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Services, Galileo, Cassini-Huygens, Skynet 5 and MTSAT.
BAE Systems has climbed up a notch in the government's rankings on research and development spending. Expenditure of 1.11 billion pounds ($1.56 billion) places it third, behind two pharmaceutical companies in terms of U.K. R&D investment. The Trade and Industry Dept.'s 2005 R&D scorecard placed Airbus (U.K.) seventh, with 345 million pounds, and Rolls-Royce ninth, with 282 million pounds. Rolls-Royce was 12th in 2000. The government target is to see R&D investment rise to 2.5% of national income by 2014. This figure stood at 1.86% in 2003.
Interconnect, a wafer bumping service company, announced qualification of its Ni/Au pad resurfacing process for high-temperature wire bond applications, producing bonds that are stable at high temperatures with a thinner gold layer. These special high-temperature wire bonds are useful in avionics applications, and require no additional lead time for production, according to the company. IC Interconnect's process eliminates the Kirkendall voiding that takes place in an Al/Au interface at 200C thermal exposures.
Finnair Cargo has selected SITA's Champ cargo management software under a multimillion-euro contract to manage its fleet of 70 aircraft worldwide. The carrier handles 86,000 tons of cargo a year.
Northwest and United Airlines' third-quarter financial results are appropriate to their status as carriers entering and preparing to leave Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Northwest, which filed for Chapter 11 little more than two weeks before the quarter ended, turned in a $167-million operating loss, compared with a $79-million operating profit a year earlier. Its net loss grew from $38 million to $469 million.
Pulse Research Lab's PRL-425 Series Universal Differential Receivers and Line Drivers are self-contained buffer pods that can receive differential signals with a minimum amplitude of 100 mV. and a common-mode range (CMR) between -2.4 to +4 volts. The differential TTL and RS-422 outputs can run up to 300 MHz., the NECL outputs up to 1.8 GHz. The PRL-425s can translate and/or buffer signals from satellite receivers, optical transceivers, military and telecommunications equipment. Pulse Research Lab, 1234 Francisco St., Torrance, Calif. 90502-1200.
SpaceDev Inc. and Starsys Research Corp. signed a merger agreement late last month, joining two companies known for developing innovative space systems. The smaller of the two, SpaceDev, will absorb the 130-person Starsys as a subsidiary, paying about $9 million in cash and common stock, and assuming some Starsys debt. Privately held Starsys recorded roughly $15 million in revenues last year and $11 million for the first six months of 2005.
Terry Bacola (see photo) has become general manager of the Little Rock (Ark.) Service Center of Dassault Aircraft Services. He succeeds Ken Root, who has been named maintenance manager. Root, in turn, succeeds Dennis Cockrell, who has become customer service manager. Cockrell was president of Dassault Falcon Jet subsidiary Midway Aircraft Instrument Corp.
The U.S. Army is planning to test the Raytheon Patriot Advance Capability-3 system on Nov. 11, the final trial for 2005. Testers will demonstrate a shoot-look-shoot scenario. Further testing is expected next spring.
