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.
The U.S. Energy Dept.'s National Nuclear Security Administration expects to award a new seven-year contract by Dec. 1 for the management and operation of Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL). Two teams are competing for a first-term contract that could pay as much as $79 million a year, if all targets are met. Outstanding performance ratings could extend the pact to 20 years.
Bombardier Aerospace plans to "temporarily" suspend production of its 50-seat CRJ200 regional jet in January. Bombardier's 50-seat jets created the regional jet market in the 1990s, but demand has plummeted as airlines have migrated to larger RJs (AW&ST Dec. 6, 2004, p. 44). The Canadian aircraft builder says it will lay off 660 workers at facilities in Montreal and Belfast, Ireland, as part of 1,135 job reductions announced in August.
The chief scientist for the U.S. Air Force's Air Combat Command (ACC) says the destructive effects of new radar technologies are "truly transformational"--a longtime goal of the Pentagon's current leadership--and open "an interesting and flexible trade space to the military" for designing a new arsenal of nonkinetic weapons.
Top European airline officials are warning that the industry's development is being distorted by continued government meddling, although they quibble over which political interference is most nefarious. Executives for Air France, British Airways and EasyJet all blame government intrusion into the marketplace for harming air transport's growth. But in the same breath, they accuse one another of benefiting from these actions.
James K. Bass has been appointed president/CEO of The New Piper Aircraft Inc., Vero Beach, Fla. He succeeds Chuck Suma, who is now vice chairman. Bass was president/CEO of the Suntron Corp. of Phoenix.
Pentagon acquisition chief Ken Krieg tells House lawmakers he is withholding approval for two major programs to move into the design and development phase because their sponsor services have not fully funded the efforts. Krieg declined to identify them and wouldn't confirm or deny to reporters that they are the Marine Corps-led Joint Heavy Lift helicopter and the Navy's DD(X) future destroyer, which were among the few programs directly addressed during the House Armed Services Committee's acquisition reform hearing.
