French space agency CNES has selected Thales to supply the image ground segment, image processing chain and ground-based encryption/ decryption system for France's Pleiades remote-sensing satellites. The award is worth 16 million euros ($19.2 million). The two 70-cm.-resolution Pleiades spacecraft are to be launched in 2008-09.
David Hughes has outlined in "Just an Outline" a primary source of resistance to effective airport screening of passengers for explosives, weapons and drugs. Most of us believed the problem of rational screening of passengers came from the hang-up of Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta over racial (ethnic) profiling. Now we learn that the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is a primary part of the problem in establishing and utilizing backscatter X-ray at U.S. airports.
In his thoughtful analysis as to why unmanned aerial vehicles are the wrong aviation asset for border patrol surveillance (AW&ST Sept. 26, p. 6), reader John Cottrell suggests a more effective alternative. I believe there exists an even better solution, measured in terms of both mission capability and cost containment.
It may seem counterintuitive, but the ever-present threat of terrorism probably won't produce the kind of U.S. defense spending spikes seen during the Cold War. Competing domestic priorities, a ballooning federal deficit and a threat of a completely different nature all stand in the way. More likely is a stable, perhaps even declining, military budget for the foreseeable future. Indeed, the Pentagon is bracing for a reduction of up to $15 billion from its Fiscal 2007 proposal alone.
Spot Image has been granted exclusive rights to distribute imagery from South Korea's 1-meter-resolution Kompsat-2 remote-sensing satellite, except for South Korea, the U.S. and the Middle East. The agreement, which follows a similar one for Taiwan's Formosat-2, is part of a strategy aimed at expanding Spot Image's product base (AW&ST Feb. 14, p. 70). Kompsat-2 is to be launched late this year.
M/A-COM, a business unit of Tyco Electronics and provider of wireless radio frequency (RF), microwave and millimeter- wave components, has a new MATM-090007-SA00XX 1W S-band telemetry transmitter. The programmable lower S-band FM telemetry transmitter is suited for rugged, space-limited uses including smart munitions, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), missiles and other harsh environment commercial and industrial testing applications, the company says. The transmitter is fully customizable in functionality and form for each end-user application. The 31.8 X 41.4 X 5.1mm.
Switzerland and Luxembourg have signed agreements with France allowing combat aircraft to track hijacked planes across their common border. Spain, Italy and Belgium have concluded such accords.
The British Defense Ministry has secured an extra 1 billion pounds ($1.77 billion) for helicopter procurement over the next 10 years. When first announced in 2003, the budget for the Future Rotorcraft Capability was 3 billion pounds, but delays in program launch have caused the figure to increase.
The government has approved a long-term space spending plan, drafted by the Russian Space Agency (Roscosmos) last July, that calls for an end to the underfunding that has plagued the industry since the end of the Soviet Union (AW&ST July 25, p. 30). Though details of the plan will not be released until later, it is known that the government approved a 305-billion-ruble ($10.67-billion) space budget line for the next decade, 23 billion rubles of which are to be allocated in 2006.
General aviation shipping and billing results in the first nine months of the year reflect positive growth for the sector, but high fuel prices and other obstacles threaten sustained recovery. Shipments of civil aircraft manufactured worldwide increased 25.7% to 2,423 in the first nine months of the year, compared to the same period last year, according to the General Aviation Manufacturers Assn. (GAMA).
Christian Breyton has become group vice president-supply chain management and Jean-Marie Jacquet group vice president-production for Messier-Dowty, Velizy, France. They succeed Laurent Schneider-Maunoury, who was vice president-operations and has new duties within the Safran Group. Breyton was vice president-operations for airborne systems for Thales, while Jacquet was vice president of the A380 "ETRAS" program at Aircelle. Pierre Lescure has been appointed head of the Stepchange in Quality task force.
After more than a year of study, the U.S. Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has decided to launch a public-private, fee-based Registered Traveler (RT) program to improve aviation security and checkpoint efficiency. Starting June 20, the government-supervised, privately run program will let prescreened frequent fliers bypass airport security hassles in exchange for submitting to a background check, providing biometric identification data and paying an annual fee.
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.
