Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. has delivered nine twin-seat Jaguars to the Indian air force, upgraded with an indigenous avionics/targeting suite that includes a night-attack and precision-bombing capability. The suite uses a Sagem ring-laser gyro inertial navigation system with an integrated GPS. Its twin mission computers were developed in India.
Singapore's Center for Remote Imaging, Sensing and Processing will create a joint venture with Spot Asia, a regional Spot Image subsidiary that distributes imagery from Ikonos, QuickBird, Landsat and other systems in addition to Spot. The new company will develop and market new products and services for regional needs. Spot already has affiliates in China, Australia, Japan and the U.S., in addition to Singapore. Spot Image says its Australian distributor, Raytheon Australia, has been selected to supply high-resolution imagery for the entire state of New South Wales.
ESA and the consortium developing the European Galileo satellite precision timing and navigation system have tapped Thales to devise the requisite security policy for the constellation. The broad work order includes the design of communications security (for both the network and signal), multi-level authentication and access control for the different types of service (there's a public signal and a higher precision, publicly regulated version), data confidentiality and integrity control, and attack prevention.
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Senior Editor Craig Covault (right) interviews Kevin McNeill, Lockheed Martin's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) project manager, in front of the $700-million spacecraft. The 4,796-lb. NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory orbiter is undergoing final checkout at the Kennedy Space Center before its planned liftoff from Cape Canaveral Aug. 10 on a Lockheed Martin Atlas V booster (see p. 27). The MRO sensor suite will be the most advanced ever launched on a planetary spacecraft (AW&ST Jan. 31, p. 48).
Love him or hate him, Virgin Atlantic Chairman Sir Richard Branson has been a powerful force in the global airline industry. Branson never thought of launching an airline until a lawyer named Randolph Fields called in early 1984 with a proposal to start an all-business-class carrier called British Atlantic. After putting his own strategic touch on the business plan, Branson decided to start an international airline that would raise the bar of inflight service and spread his Virgin brand across the world.
World News Roundup 18 Commercial aerospace recovery fuels growth in sales and profits 18 Japan, U.S. agree not to move USMC helos to Camp Schwab on Okinawa 19 Flight testing begins in Germany for Grob SP Utility Jet 20 Eurofighter Typhoon breaks display altitude 'floor' at air show 20 Frank Homan, ex-GE general manag- er of CFM engine program, dies World News & Analysis 22 Into the black for American and Continental; Delta still sees red
The fight for dominance of the new very light jet segment is heating up this summer as competitors push development and flight-test programs forward in a race to reach the marketplace ahead of their adversaries.
Wynn D. Peterson has been promoted to senior vice president-Jetride Services from vice president-strategic planning and analysis for AirNet Systems Inc., Columbus, Ohio. Ray L. Druseikis has become vice president-finance/controller. Druseikis was an accountant and consultant to several companies.
The Russian government's new space spending plan marks the latest attempt to halt the decline of the country's industrial base. But money alone won't help. Industry-wide structural change is also needed, government representatives suggest.
First-half 2005 accident results show the continued decline that has been evident for the airline industry since the end of 2001, according to compiled data from Airclaims Special Bulletins. But that's not true for insurance claims. "From the insurers' point of view, it is perhaps worrying that the cost of losses still amounts to about $1 billion in a 12-month period in which nothing much happened," says Airclaims Safety Director Paul Hayes.
Honeywell Aerospace plans to cut 2,000 jobs--about 4% of its worldwide workforce of 43,000--by year-end as part of a sweeping reorganization. The company is being realigned under three business lines: defense and space, commercial and regional, and business and general aviation. A spokesman said details were still being worked out on what facilities would lose jobs and how many cuts could be achieved through attrition. Honeywell aerospace's largest operations are in Phoenix, where it employs 11,000 (AW&ST June 13, p. 194).
The FAA is proposing a $1.5-million civil penalty against Atlantic Coast Airlines, now known as low-fare carrier Independence Air. The reason: operating aircraft for thousands of flights in September and October last year without completing required maintenance and inspections. ACA has taken corrective actions to address the issues, according to the FAA, and is now in compliance with regulations.
The NASA Kennedy Space Center Shuttle Landing Facility runway is one of several sites around North America being fitted with additional weather equipment to support the Climate Reference Network being established by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The sites are planned to operate for 50 years to provide decade-level climate data. The new sensor site will include solar radiation measuring and infrared surface temperature equipment providing data that Kennedy can plug into real-time weather assessments.
The long-time opposition by local residents seems to have paid off on Okinawa as the Japanese and U.S. governments have agreed not to move U.S. Marine Corps CH-53 heavy lift helicopters from Futema to a new facility at Camp Schwab, according to a Japan Defense Agency official.
Raytheon received its first manufacturing contract worth $124 million for the Standard Missile-3 Block IA, which is used in concert with Aegis ships as a ballistic missile interceptor. The company has delivered six SM-3 Block I missiles to the Missile Defense Agency; the A is an upgrade.
There's something special in the air over Murfreesboro--fledgling flight students setting the pace for next-generation pilot training. The Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU) students are participating in a novel program that grew from the NASA Small Aircraft Transportation System project. SATS is aimed at building the future air transportation system--where skies are filled with small aircraft providing point-to-point service at small airports (see p. 50).
Grob initiated flight testing of its SP Utility Jet with a 66-min. flight on July 20 from Allgau Airport in southern Germany (see related story, p. 47). System functionality and handling were the flight's main objectives, with test pilots Gerard Guillaumaud and Tore Reimers reporting no problems. Envelope expansion should be completed by year-end. The company is aiming for EASA certification in early 2007, followed shortly after by FAA approval. An SP Utility Jet carrying six passengers with a single pilot should have a range of 1,800 naut. mi.
Northrop Grumman officials have no plans to protest as the losing team to Lockheed Martin for the Aerial Common Sensor program. Northrop Grumman was teamed with Embraer and bid the EMB-145 for the intelligence-gathering aircraft. Lockheed Martin is now said to be looking at Gulfstream, possibly the 550, and the Embraer 190 as possible solutions.
Ladies and gentlemen, ready to start your jet engines? Albuquerque, N.M.-based Eclipse Aviation has partnered with United Airlines to offer owners of the $1.3-million aircraft a seven-day course that will earn them an Eclipse 500 type rating. "Early on, the FAA said it could likely waive the type rating because the Eclipse 500 is such a light jet--but we felt it something our pilots wanted to have, and we opted for it," says Don Taylor, Eclipse vice president of safety, training and flight operations.
Textron Lycoming has issued Service Bulletin 566 that requires removal of crankshafts from certain engines within the next 50 hr. or within six months, whichever comes first. These crankshafts were not affected by a service bulletin issued in 2002 that required removal of 950 crankshafts in turbo-charged engines because of forging processes. Lycoming and the FAA have determined, however, that the same condition that prompted the earlier bulletins could be adversely affecting the performance of engines outside the scope of those directives.
Germany has joined the European Space Agency's Aurora solar system exploration program, easing a tight budget situation and perhaps enabling a more vigorous Mars program in the near future. Long a holdout on joining the ambitious project, which includes the potential for human exploration of the red planet, Germany's decision to become the 12th ESA member to join Aurora was received "warmly" by the other participating states, according to an ESA announcement.
Peggy Nelson (see photos) has become vice president-mission assurance/chief engineer, Sonya Sepahban vice president-system engineering and David L. Ryan vice president of payloads and sensors, all for the Northrop Grumman Corp.'s Space Technology Sector, Redondo Beach, Calif. Nelson succeeds Dick Croxall, who is retiring. She was vice president-Prometheus 1 program. Sepahban was vice president/deputy of technology development.
Andrew Stein has become vice president-marketing, product and business development for Raindrop Geomagic, Research Triangle Park, N.C. He held a similar position at Leica Geosystems HDS.
Anne McGinley has been named director of the Airports Council International bureau in Montreal. She has been head of the Air Navigation Services Div. in Ireland's Public Enterprise Dept., Irish representative to the International Civil Aviation Organization Council and chair of ICAO's Air Transport Committee.
