Russian arms trade agency Rosoboronexport has signed a deal with Peru's air force to overhaul 13 Mil Mi-17 helicopters. The deal is estimated to be worth $18 million and paves the way for follow-on contracts for support and upgrade of other Russian-made hardware, including Su-22 and MiG-29 combat aircraft.
Sharp divisions that have opened up within the European Union since French and Dutch voters rejected the new EU constitutional treaty may force planners to scale back grand schemes for an expanded European space program, at least for now. The EU entered the space realm big time five years ago through a cooperation agreement with the European Space Agency and a white paper laying out a road map for future joint undertakings. The first of these, the Galileo satellite navigation system, is now in development (see p. 33).
Mattias Mountain has been appointed director of the Space Telescope Science Institute of Baltimore. He succeeds Steven V.W. Beckwith, who will end his term Sept. 1. Mountain was director of the Gemini Observatory, Hilo, Hawaii.
Craig E. Steidle has been appointed vice president-international affairs of the Washington-based Aerospace Industries Assn. He has been associate NASA administrator for the Exploration Systems Mission Directorate. Steidle will succeed Joel L. Johnson, who has resigned.
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency/Boeing X-37 made its first captive-carry flight last week under the Scaled Composites White Knight carrier aircraft. Another captive-carry flight is expected before the first drop occurs.
A U.S. U-2S intelligence-gathering and surveillance aircraft crashed last week while attempting to land at the growing Middle East reconnaissance center at Al Dhafra AB, United Arab Emirates, after a mission to Afghanistan. The pilot was killed.
American Airlines and Cathay Pacific Airways plan to augment their two-year-old code-sharing program with expanded service to and through key destinations in Japan. Cathay notified the U.S. Transportation Dept. in April that it would begin carrying American's U.S.-Japan passengers between Hong Kong, Nagoya and Osaka. Now, Cathay tells the department it plans to carry those passengers between Hong King and Osaka to connect with American flights between Osaka and Dallas/Fort Worth, beginning around Nov. 1.
AeroVironment is seeking to at least quadruple the endurance of high-altitude drones with its proposed Global Observer electric aircraft, and has already started flying a subscale demonstrator. The company intends for Global Observer to stay up for 7-10 days carrying up to 1,000 lb. of payload at 65,000 ft., operating as a fixed, near-space satellite for reconnaissance or communications relay. Unlike its recent Helios solar-powered aircraft, the proposed drone does not have solar cells, but is powered by fuel cells driven by liquid hydrogen.
EADS has confirmed it is working on an unmanned combat aerial vehicle demonstrator program for the German defense ministry. The UCAV, known as Barrakuda, could be flown before year-end. The vehicle is expected to help base design for the French-led Neuron UCAV demonstration program, in which EADS' CASA is partnering (AW&ST Mar. 21, p. 26).
Capt. Friedrich Janser (Lufthansa German Airlines, Sulzbach, Germany)
In the article "High Expectations for RNAV" (AW&ST May 16, p. 61), I do not agree with the statement: "STARs also save fuel, but not as much as SIDs, where power settings are higher." The operational savings (fuel, time, etc.) associated with the shortening of standard instrument departures (SIDs) or standard terminal arrival routes (STARs) comes from the resulting shortening of the cruise segments. To climb or descend to or from cruise altitude requires the same distance irrespective of the length of the SID or STAR.
The Russian space world was in turmoil last week following two launch failures on June 21, and brash statements by the Russian Space Agency that became inoperative in the face of data the next day.
Weather forecasters are using a new airborne tool, Tamdar, to assess the severity of thunderstorms that routinely disrupt summer airline schedules in the U.S. Midwest region. Tamdar probes are installed on 63 Saab aircraft operated by the Northwest Airlines regional partner Mesaba Airlines. The instruments provide up to 16,000 observations daily as the Saab aircraft fly at altitudes and in areas where information is scarce.
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U.S. Air Force space programs still face challenges in the near-term because programs created in the 1990s to streamline the acquisition process "have not worked out well," says the department's top civilian. Acting Air Force Secretary Michael Dominguez says the service relied on the private sector to generate efficiencies. But when a competitive marketplace for space assets failed to emerge, "we lost those bets," he tells a Capitol Hill seminar. Cost overruns and schedule delays have plagued several space systems.
Madeline Hamill has been appointed to the board of directors of Atlanta-based World Air Holdings. She is managing director of Hildebrand Hammill and Associates and was vice president-worldwide strategic planning for the Coca-Cola Co.
Airlines face conflicting requirements and unjustifiably high compliance costs unless the FAA harmonizes with European regulators its proposed rules for cockpit voice and digital flight data recorders before making them final, Boeing Commercial Airplanes has told the agency. In their current form, the prospective U.S. and European regulations differ significantly and harmonizing the two standards is critical for DFDR parameter and data-link requirements. According to Boeing, trying to satisfy two sets of rules could lead to complex, expensive system designs.
USAF Gen. (ret.) Bernard A. Schriever, who is considered to be the father of U.S. military space and missile forces, died on June 20 at his Washington home. He was 94. A German immigrant who was commissioned as an Army Air Corps pilot in 1933, Schriever flew bombers in World War II and served briefly as a test pilot.
As the C-17 production line shutdown nears, Boeing is making an aggressive push for the next sale with the U.S. Air Force, offering up the possibility of improving the performance of future jets with minor tweaks. A redesign of the C-17's flaps, improvements to the landing gear and a boost to its engines could allow the massive airlifter to land on shorter, more austere runways while carrying more payload, says Ron Marcotte, Boeing's vice president of airlift and tankers.
World News Roundup 18 First captive-carry flight for Darpa/Boeing X-37 19 American U-2 crashes while attempt- ing to land in United Arab Emirates 19 U.S. Army rolls out High Mobility Artillery Rocket System 20 Bernard Schriever dies, called father of U.S. milspace and missile forces World News & Analysis 22 SSME flaws being corrected that could have caused pad abort 23 Problems also found in SSME monitoring systems
The Society of British Aerospace Companies took the opportunity of the show to launch its Scottish office. Previously Scotland was the only part of the U.K. lacking a representative aerospace and defense lobby group. Scotland has 140 aerospace and defense sector companies supporting 30,000 workers. The SBAC and the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Systems Assn. are also to set up an Autonomy and UAV Systems Policy Group.
Bob Joseph, three weeks into his new job succeeding John Bolton as undersecretary of State for arms control and international security, doesn't trust Iran's proclaimed lack of interest in weapons of mass destruction (WMD). The axis-of-evil charter member "hasn't made the strategic decision to give up nuclear weapons," Joseph tells reporters. "We have seen a commitment, across the board, to nuclear programs in Iran.
Ah ha, another (former Lockheed Martin Skunk Works chief) Clarence (Kelly) Johnson! Were I but 30 years younger I'd volunteer to work for Tom Cassidy as well. Let's just hope he can avoid being swallowed by one of the "biggies" and thus see another "can-do" company degenerate into a mega-bureaucracy.
Airbus North America will install a high-capacity Wide Area Network fiber "ring" linking its headquarters in Washington with the company's worldwide data transport network. The system will be designed and managed by Global Internetworking Inc., a telecom carrier and network solutions provider. It will connect facilities in Herndon, Va., with an office in Washington and a spare parts center in Ashburn, Va., that serves Airbus customers in the U.S., Canada and a majority of Latin America, as well as supporting spares stored in Hamburg and Beijing.
European satellite manufacturers are moving to reinforce their offerings at the top and bottom of their product lines to remain competitive with U.S. players.
