Work is expected to begin soon in India on construction of diesel-powered submarines based on French design and technology. President Jacques Chirac announced recently that India selected Armaris, a joint venture between Thales, Europe's largest electronics firm, and DCN, a French submarine and shipbuilder, as the prime contractor for a technology-transfer program under which six stealthy Scorpène submarines will be built in India at the state-owned Mazagon Docks in Mumbai.
editorial director Anthony L. Velocci, Jr. editor-in-chief Sharon Weinberger managing editor Pat Toensmeier assistant managing editor Michael Stearns contributing editors Peter A. Buxbaum Ann Finkbeiner B.C. Kessner Ron Laurenzo Catherine McRae Hockmuth Jefferson Morris Tim Ripley Rich Tuttle art director
Experiments flown on the European Space Agency's Biopan experiment on a recent Russian Foton recoverable spacecraft suggest that elemental life--in this case, lichens--could survive on the surface of Mars. Follow-up research will include experiments to see if lichens could ride a meteorite to Mars or Earth and survive reentry unprotected--another question relating to how life could have spread in the solar system. Two different species of lichen survived more than 14 days of exposure to the space environment during the Foton mission.
Boeing Integrated Defense Systems has achieved the Capability Maturity Model Integration Level 5 benchmark in all four areas of assessment at seven of the company's major U.S. sites. CMMI "is becoming a competitive discriminator in today's market," says IDS Vice President of Engineering John Tracy. It is a rating process that addresses integration and improvement in a number of areas, including systems and software engineering, integrated product and process development, and supplier-selection management process disciplines.
The future of a large Royal Navy helicopter upgrade program is in doubt because of a top government official's refusal to endorse the effort. Paul Drayson, the minister for defense procurement, is the stumbling block for the 800-million-pound ($1.38-billion) project. He declined to sign off on the Merlin capability sustainment plus program (CSP) and is questioning whether the endeavor represents good value. Drayson's reluctance runs counter to the Defense Ministry's Investment Approval Board, which had backed the plan.
A radio-frequency device designed to prevent "friendly fire" incidents among coalition forces was demonstrated during the recent Urgent Request exercise in the U.K. A team comprising Sandia National Laboratories, General Atomics Aeronautical Systems and Sierra Monolithics developed the Athena Radar-Responsive Tag, which was attached to military ground vehicles participating in the exercise. The tags cause a unique identifier to appear on cockpit displays when "painted" by a tactical aircraft's radar, warning the pilot that a friendly combatant is in his target zone.
The FAA and Eurocontrol have agreed to a new action plan on global air traffic management interoperability to build on previous agreements as both agencies begin to plan revolutionary changes in ATC. The Single European Single Sky project in Europe and the Next-Generation Air Transportation System project in the U.S. aim to double or triple air traffic capacity on both continents over the next two decades. On Oct.
Boeing's campaign to keep the C-17 production line open received an unintentional boost from the Pentagon last week. A new study released by the Defense Science Board suggests the need for an "insurance buy" of additional airplanes. The report was completed in September and was conducted in parallel with the Mobility Capabilities Study that proposes capping production this year. That document, which has not been released, says existing orders for 180 C-17s and 60 C-130Js are sufficient for the U.S. (AW&ST Oct. 31, p. 22).
The NTSB welcomes the FAA's proposed rule that would require transport operators and manufacturers to mitigate risks of fuel tank explosions--although it comes nearly 9.5 years after the crash of TWA Flight 800. Reduction of flammability of fuel tank vapors has appeared on its Most Wanted List of aviation safety recommendations since the July 1996 TWA accident, which investigators determined was likely caused by an explosion of the 747's center wing fuel tank (see p. 43). The crash killed 230 people (AW&ST July 7, p. 43).
NASA will soon begin negotiating with Russia for seats on future Soyuz flights to the International Space Station, once President Bush signs an amendment to the Iran Non-Proliferation Act of 2000 adopted by Congress. Although Bush last week formally extended a national emergency regarding Iran dating back to the hostage crisis of 1979, his administration pushed for the change in the non-proliferation law that he was expected to sign. As adopted by Congress Nov.
The Delta Air Line Pilots Assn. plans to outline strike preparation efforts at a Nov. 15 rally in Atlanta. Union officials also will provide pilots and their families with updates on retirement and insurance packages, as well as the status of negotiations with the airline.
Slow federal response to Hurricane Katrina? Not by the military's lights, a panel of Pentagon officials--in and out of uniform--tells two congressional subcommittees. Witnesses tell the House Homeland Security Committee's emergency preparedness subcommittee and the House Armed Services' terrorism and unconventional threats panels that the military wasn't at all slow to react to the Aug. 29 storm. National Guard presence in the Gulf Coast region grew from 11,000 to 50,000 in four and a half days.
EUROCONTROL IS WORKING ON THREE HIGH-PRIORITY EFFORTS addressing issues that are not as critical in the U.S. The first is to improve civil and military coordination to reduce the number of airspace zones that are restricted to civil traffic. This is particularly important in France, Germany, the Netherlands and the U.K., where civil traffic is the heaviest, according to Eurocontrol Director General Victor Aguado.
Peter Goelz has been appointed senior vice president of O'Neill and Associates in Washington. He has been a public relations executive for aviation clients and was managing director of the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board.
Thomas A. Hennig has been named Washington-based senior director of U.S. defense business development for DigitalGlobe, Longmont, Colo. He was liaison between the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency and NASA.
The British Defense Ministry's Defense Aviation Repair Agency is falling victim to the shake-up in the military maintenance, repair and overhaul market. Unable to find a buyer for the complete business, the ministry intends now to sell off or close the units piecemeal. The decision to sell the viable elements of its Defense Aviation Repair Agency (DARA) comes only six years after the agency was set up amid much fanfare.
Owen Williams has been appointed vice president-sales for DefenseWeb Technologies of San Diego. He was vice president-business development for the Science Applications International Corp.
Michael L. Coats, a veteran shuttle astronaut and aerospace executive, is the new director of NASA's Johnson Space Center. He replaces Jefferson D. Howell, Jr., who is moving on to teach at the University of Texas. A Navy combat pilot, Coats joined NASA as an astronaut in 1978 and flew three shuttle missions, the most recent in 1991. In his new job, he will have a key role in overseeing development of the Crew Exploration Vehicle and other Project Constellation systems that will replace the shuttle and explore the Moon.
You can now register ONLINE for Aviation Week Events. Go to www.AviationNow.com/conferences or call Lydia Janow at +1 (212) 904-3225/+1 (800) 240-7645 ext. 5 (U.S. and Canada Only) Dec. 6-8--Aerospace & Defense Finance Conference, New York. Apr. 5-6--U.S. Defense Budgets and Programs Conference, Arlington, Va. Apr. 25-26--MRO Military Conference, Phoenix. Apr. 25-27--MRO USA Conference & Exhibition 2006, Phoenix. May 17-18--MRO Military Europe, Berlin.
Senior Editor Craig Covault (left) and Steve Squyres, Cornell University principal investigator for the Mars rover program, review the rover Spirit's Mars surface plans in the Ithaca, N.Y., university's rover coordination facility. Covault participated with Squyres and other Cornell science team members as they planned and carried out Spirit's final critical investigations at mountain summit on Mars. The Cornell team is linked real time to the rover engineering team at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. (see p. 48).
The high-resolution panoramic Pancam systems on Spirit are being used to image the night sky on Mars, much as 18th century astronomers began to document Earth's sky using the rudimentary instruments of the time. "We're trying to imagine being 18th century astronomers, but with equipment on another planet, documenting the most simple things that can produce good science," says Jim Bell, who heads the rover Pancam team at Cornell. "It has also been invigorating for the Pancam team to do something entirely different and novel."
