FEATURES armor's new look 14 New designs improve coverage and reduce casualties. The latest includes a body suit that takes its cue from the Middle Ages. marines eyeing space 21 Visionaries tout a space vehicle for troop deployment that can land in trouble spots within two hours. million-rounds-a-minute gun 25 Electronic weapon with the highest rate of fire in the world seeks a buyer.
Investors who want to own a piece of information technology powerhouse SAIC (Science Applications International Corp.) won't need to get a job there anymore. The employee-owned company has filed plans for an initial public offering of stock in early 2006.
U.S. Army divisional and corps commanders will have their own armed UAVs to seek out and strike high-value targets, such as suspected terrorist leaders, by 2009. This comes after General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, along with its "Team Warrior" partners AAI and Sparta, was awarded a $214-million systems development and demonstration (SDD) contract to field an advanced version of the Predator UAV.
Rob Binns has become chief marketing officer, Charles Addison chief information officer and Mark McMillin general counsel and corporate secretary, all of World Air Holdings Inc. Binns was senior vice president-marketing and planning, while Addison was senior vice president-operational support. McMillin was assistant general counsel. Virginia Clark has been appointed vice president/corporate controller. She was director of accounting/controller for AirTran Airways for four years.
The first Royal Saudi Air Force Tornado strike aircraft could begin an in-country upgrade as early as 2006, with the final details of the program now being nailed down. Three Saudi Tornados are being used to test various elements of the proposed package, with the installation work being carried out by BAE Systems at its Warton site in the north of England.
With so many groups ordering hundreds of very light jets for their air taxi operations, they had better talk with the FAA first. Part 135 on-demand charter rules limit operators to four flights per week, between the same two locations. These operators need total flexibility to fly as many flights per day as there is demand. They cannot do that under FAA rules unless they become commuter operators. But you cannot operate very light jets under Part 135 either.
Satellite operators think Hurricane Katrina, like the Indian Ocean tsunami late last year, will convince more public agencies to include fixed and mobile satellite services as part of their strategic first-response capability. Inmarsat Chairman/CEO Andrew Sukawaty says the tsunami generated more than $2.5 million of business--over and above donated resources--in the first quarter, and a similar impact is expected from Katrina.
WorldSpace Europe has changed its name to Viatis. According to CEO Bill Chereau, the change is intended to give a European identity to the WorldSpace unit, which is tasked with establishing a mobile digital radio venture along the lines of XM and Sirius in the U.S. Chereau said money from a recent WorldSpace IPO and stock purchase by XM will be available to kick off the European initiative, and that the regulatory environment necessary to obtain necessary licenses "is much more favorable than before" (AW&ST Aug. 15, p. 33; Aug. 1, p. 26).
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administation forecasters reported the fourth largest solar flare on record for the past 15 years on Sept. 7 and predicted significant solar eruptions over the next two weeks. This may disrupt spacecraft operations, high-frequency communications and low-frequency navigation systems. The event on Sept. 7 caused a complete blackout of HF communications on the daylight side of Earth, including the entire U.S.
The European Commission has taken the next in a series of steps to broaden its authority on international air transport matters. It is proposing formal negotiations with Australia, Chile and India to further open air markets and boost cooperation on regulatory matters. Chile and Australia recently inked so-called horizontal agreements with the European Union, which supplant bilateral accords the two had with individual EU members. The new effort would broaden the talks to areas such as market liberalization.
6 Correspondence 8 Who's Where 10 Market Focus 13 Industry Outlook 14 Airline Outlook 15 In Orbit 16-18 World News Roundup 19 Washington Outlook 62-63 Classified 64 Contact Us 65 Aerospace Calendar
Aerospace industry profits and cash balances are at historically high levels, but they are not excessive when compared with other manufacturing industries, according to an Aerospace Industries Assn. analysis. AIA also finds that the industry's return on assets lags other sectors, outpacing only plastics, rubber and motor vehicles.
In a feat comparable to gift-wrapping a basketball without wrinkles, Spirit Aerosystems has produced a composite Section 41 forward fuselage for the 787 in a single wind. Now it has to figure out how to stuff it. Formerly Boeing's Wichita fabrication factory, Spirit Aerosystems has become Boeing's largest aerostructures supplier since being spun off to Canada's Onex Corp. in June. The factory is best known for producing the aluminum alloy fuselages for Boeing's 737, but its product list also includes Section 41 noses for 747s, 767s and 777s.
Jordan Aerospace Industries (JAI) has delivered six two-seat Sama single-engine CH2000s to the Iraqi air force under a deal to supply 16. The agreement is part of a U.S. assistance package. The aircraft will be used for surveillance, including missions designed to prevent sabotage on infrastructure. JAI will train Iraqi pilots on this advanced model.
When it comes to buying weapons, what Beijing wants, Beijing gets. Its biggest supplier is Russia, whose arms and technologies have extended China's capabilities and objectives. China's air force, for example, is buying two variants of the Sukhoi Su-27 Flanker (including licensed manufacture as the J-11), and is pursuing "indigenous" development of the Chengdu J-10. These air-superiority fighters are seen countering Taiwan's air force.
For those who know and care about what aviation--its men, women and machines--can do in a crisis, the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina has been the proverbial best of times, worst of times. Thousands of sorties by fixed- and rotary-wing aircraft, civil and military, have been flown within a vast area of devastation. They have brought in millions of pounds of food, water, ice and other supplies--and rescued thousands of people, many of them stranded in the most precarious of conditions (see pp. 20-28).
Jim Royston has been named deputy general manager of Astrotech Space Operations for Houston-based Spacehab Inc. He has been head of Florida ground operations and will be succeeded by Don M. White, Jr.
staff editorial director Anthony L. Velocci, Jr. editor-in-chief Sharon Weinberger managing editor Pat Toensmeier assistant managing editor Michael Stearns contributing editors Joseph C. Anselmo Douglas Barrie Amy Butler B.C. Kessner Tim Ripley Robert Wall art director Christine Krol associate art directors
French procurement agency DGA has successfully completed an initial qualification firing of the Franco-Italian SAMP/T ground-launched air defense missile, using a long-range Aster 30 missile. The target simulated a conventional threat flying at medium altitude. DGA also has completed the first round of test firings of the AASM precision-guided weapon using a Mirage 2000 testbed.
The Army's vice chief of staff was briefed earlier this summer on a possible follow-on to the Mobile Tactical High-Energy Laser (MTHEL) program, but there's still no final decision on whether the service will proceed with the proposal. MTHEL began as a joint effort between Israel and the U.S. to develop a laser that would shoot down rockets and mortar rounds, but Israel eventually lost interest in the weapon and now the U.S. Army also looks set to bury it.
The Pentagon was totally unprepared to find and collect radiological threats in Iraq during and after the initial ground war in 2003, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) says. In fact, it took six months, until September 2003, to finalize the criteria and procedures for collecting radiological sources, which include medical, industrial and research devices.
The maintenance joint venture Ameco Beijing--comprising Air China (60%) and Lufthansa Technik (40%)--is headed for blue skies, businesswise, bolstered by United Airlines' decision to have the unit perform heavy maintenance on its 52 Boeing 777s for at least the next five years. Moreover, as part of Beijing's airport expansion in the run-up to the 2008 Olympics, Ameco will replace an old maintenance hangar with a grander structure that will facilitate line maintenance for two Airbus A380s.
The Hubble Space Telescope may have gained as much as eight months of useful life from a shift in operating procedures designed to preserve its fragile gyroscopes. Controllers at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center have switched the telescope from three-gyro control to a mode that requires only two of the four functional gyros remaining. Engineers believe the Hubble can now continue to deliver the highly precise pointing control needed for scientific observations through mid-2008.
The French military is preparing to finally launch its first dedicated EHF satellite communications spacecraft, with the hope of being ready to support deployed forces around year-end.
The continuing insurgency in Iraq is reshaping battle tactics and focusing attention on ways to keep U.S. forces out of harm's way. With troops vulnerable to attack from small-arms fire and explosive devices almost anywhere they go, the Pentagon is scurrying to protect soldiers with a new style of body armor that draws inspiration from the Middle Ages. The armor--slated for delivery to Iraq by the end of September--is called QuadGard, and it resembles medieval armor designed to protect legs and arms, not just the torso.
