Italy, France and several neighboring countries are discussing a military/civil broadband satellite mission that could be Europe's first common milsatcom program.
International Aero Engines is launching an engine initiative that marries upgrades and maintenance support. The so-called V2500 "Select" effort is designed with an eye toward capturing business particularly from aircraft lessors and low-cost carriers, says IAE President Mark King. Those are seen as the increasingly dominant forces in the large narrow-body market, where IAE with its V2500 versions competes against CFM International's CFM56 engine family. IAE argues its venture should maintain the engine's asset value and thus its appeal to lessors.
The Air Transportation Stabilization Board approved new terms for the government-guaranteed loans of prospective merger partners US Airways and America West Airlines. America West has a balance of $300 million remaining on its $429-million January 2002 loan, backed by a $380-million federal guarantee. Its payments will continue without change at $42.9 million every six months through Sept. 30, 2008. US Airways' billion-dollar loan from March 2003, with $900 million guaranteed, stands at $708 million.
Despite billions spent on aviation security since Sept. 11, 2001, U.S. airports remain vulnerable to explosives in carry-on luggage or hidden under a passenger's clothing, according to some industry and government officials.
Korean Air, which runs the world's largest commercial airline cargo operation, reported a 57% increase in cargo traffic to China during June and a 10% rise to Europe, compared with the same period a year earlier. But overall cargo traffic decreased 2% because of lower shipments to Japan, the U.S. and Southeast Asia. The carrier's passenger traffic was up 12% in June, thanks to strong international traffic, led by a 28% increase on China routes.
Southwest Airlines is adding an online reservations tool that includes a Senior Fares category. Fares are capped at $129 one-way for travelers more than 65 years old to all 60 destinations, not counting taxes or airport and security fees.
At Lockheed Martin Corp.'s headquarters in Bethesda, Md., executives rolled out second-quarter results that wowed Wall Street. Net income was up 56% from a year earlier, to $461 million ($1.02 a share), profit margins rose, and the company increased its earnings estimate for the full year. "What a quarter," marveled JSA Research analyst Peter J. Arment. "Way above expectations."
Orbiter Discovery and the STS-114 crew lift off July 26 from the Kennedy Space Center, bound for the International Space Station and returning the space shuttle to flight 2.5 years after the Columbia accident. At 3,700 mph. and 28 mi. altitude, an Ecliptic Enterprises television camera mounted on the Lockheed Martin external tank imaged (inset photo) a large chunk of debris separating from the tank, a serious flight safety risk. (See p. 20.) Liftoff photo by William G. Hartenstein; inset from AP/Wide World.
Northrop Grumman's RQ-8 Fire Scout UAV has fired two test rockets, a key step toward arming the autonomous unmanned helicopter. The company wants to prove the UAV's ability to perform strike missions in addition to intelligence-gathering and combat rescue missions.
The European Defense Agency in September expects to invite up to five bidders for each of its two unmanned aircraft technology studies. The relatively modestly funded initiatives--each contract will be worth no more than 750,000 euros ($904,000)--are the first in a series of UAV activities EDA is expected to take on. One focuses on digital line-of-sight and beyond-line-of-sight communication for long-endurance UAVs, the other on so-called sense-and-avoid technologies to allow unmanned aircraft to operate in civil airspace.
John Hamre, CEO of the Center for Strategic and International Studies and a well-regarded former deputy Defense secretary, says it's time for a new set of defense reforms. The think tank has rolled out a new study--"Beyond Goldwater-Nichols," done in league with the Pentagon and other agencies--that says service chiefs ought to be given back acquisition authority and the up-or-out policy (get promoted or leave the military) should give way to a more flexible system for retaining talented military people.
Charles H.W. Edwards has become president/ CEO of AeroBox Composite Structures, Rio Rancho, N.M. He was executive vice president/chief operating officer.
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Low-cost Brazilian airline Gol Linhas Aereas Inteligentes has ordered 30 additional Boeing 737-800s, increasing its firm orders for the 737s to 60. Gol says it plans to use the new jets to expand routes in Brazil and to other South American nations. Deliveries are scheduled over six years starting in 2006. Gol, which has captured more than one-quarter of the domestic passenger market in Brazil, also is a partner in a project to start a low-cost domestic airline in Mexico next year (AW&ST July 11, p. 48).
The European Union and Canada will be exchanging air passenger data under a new agreement approved by the EU's General Affairs and External Relations Council. The accord, which should be in full force in the fall, is intended to give airlines guidelines on how to meet Canadian rules on providing data on passengers bound for Canada, while still complying with EU privacy restrictions. Under the arrangement, passengers will be able to dispute the handling of their data.
Connecticut-based PanAmSat has agreed to buy EuropeStar, a small communications satellite operator based in London, from France's Alcatel. Like a deal with JSAT Corp. of Japan a month earlier, the purchase reflects a desire to invest excess cash flow in underserved or high-demand markets that can provide scope for future growth at a minimal cost--a strategy increasingly shared with other satellite operators (AW&ST June 6, p. 53; July 4, p. 17).
France is introducing a "seal of approval" for poorly regulated foreign airlines, which it hopes can become a model as Europe seeks to tighten safety standards of non-European carriers serving its market.
UPS IS INTENT ON STARTING OPERATIONS WITH CONTINUOUS descent approaches (CDAs) at Louisville (Ky.) International Airport as early as 2007 using a variety of tools to perform sequencing and merging tasks. The aim is to have freighters begin an idle descent from cruise to touchdown as demonstrated by Airbus and Boeing in their tailored arrival trials in Australia last year. An A330 and a 747 arrived at a final approach fix within 2 sec. of estimates after descending at idle power all the way from cruise altitude (AW&ST Apr. 25, p. 36).
As the World Trade Organization establishes the Dispute Settlement Board to hear the Airbus-Boeing subsidy case between the European Union and U.S., several countries have raised their hands to be given third-party rights, which means their voice will be heard. Among them are Brazil and Canada, which have sparred over aircraft subsidies; Japan, whose support for the Boeing 787 irks the Europeans; as well as China and South Korea.
French defense research agency Onera and the Saint Louis Institute, a Franco-German R&D facility, have inked a three-year agreement to cooperate on weapon micro-actuators, laser beam formation and related matters, in cooperation with German aerospace center DLR.
China's military buildup has U.S. lawmakers mulling the economic and political price of new defense programs to protect Taiwan. "I think we're past the point of being alarmed. China's military buildup is fairly straightforward," House Armed Services Committee Chairman Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.) tells Aviation Week & Space Technology. The question, says Hunter, is, against whom does China expect to use all these weapons? In its recent annual report on Chinese military power (AW&ST July 25, p.
With its Peacekeeper force nearly deactivated and its Minuteman III fleet expected to expire in a little more than 10 years, the Pentagon is looking for a new intercontinental ballistic missile for the strategic nuclear deterrence mission. At the top of the wish list for the new weapon are flexible targeting, high reliability, longer range and better targeting precision, according to Brig. Gen. Mark Shackelford, requirements director at Air Force Space Command. So far, industry has offered roughly 30 different concepts, he says.
GRINTEK TCI AVIATION SYSTEMS OF SOUTH AFRICA IS UPGRADING the ground-based navigation infrastructure in that nation for the Air Traffic Navigation Services Co. Ltd. (ATNS) under a recently signed 30-year contract valued at $11.3 million. ATNS was created in 1993 as a state-owned limited-liability company to provide ATC services to be paid for by commercial service fees. Grintek will install new navaid equipment at 36 sites where current systems are nearing the end of their service lives. The upgrades include remote control and monitoring capability.
In light of the growing threat of terrorism around the globe, the U.S. Air Force is reassessing the security posture and tools needed to protect the nuclear weapons it deploys on its intercontinental ballistic missile force. Half of the 9,600 people in Maj. Gen. Frank Klotz's command at the 20th Air Force--which operates the nation's ICBMs--are dedicated to security. This mission includes patrols around the massive missile fields, stationary guards at the silos and launch control facilities, and helicopter-borne support for transfer of nuclear warheads.
John M. Lydiard, 3rd, (see photo) has been named chief of staff for the BAE Systems Electronics and Integrated Solutions Operating Group, Nashua, N.H. He has been president of BAE Systems Mission Electronics.
