For companies interested in the vast field of homeland security, it's a tricky proposition. The market appears massive, but airports and government customers still have no clear idea of the direction to take or of the tools necessary to take them there.
Four of Japan's foremost defense contractors accounted for 73% of the $8 billion in contracts held by the country's top 10 contractors during fiscal 2004. As it has for years, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries led the list, followed by Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Mitsubishi Electric Co. (a separate company) and NEC. License-built aircraft, helicopters and missiles from U.S. companies comprised the bulk of MHI's work.
Meanwhile, EADS Astrium and Alcatel Space received a contract to undertake full development of a new bus for very large 12-18-kw., 6-8-metric-ton-class communications satellites. AlphaBus is to be on the market by 2007.
Aircraft parts produced by third-party manufacturers under the FAA's Parts Manufacturer Approval authority are growing in stature and will receive additional attention when the FAA issues a revision of Order 8110.42. The revision has been underway since federal officials met two years ago with the Modification and Replacement Parts Assn. (Marpa) and requested a dialogue on chief concerns of manufacturers. David Hempe, manager of FAA's Aircraft Engineering Div., says the revision will be written in plain language and offer expanded guidance and clarity.
Brian C. Voegele has been appointed chief financial officer of Offshore Logistics Inc., Lafayette, La. He was vice president-corporate planning and development for Transocean Inc.
A Russian capsule bearing 600 kg. (1,320 lb.) of microgravity experiments landed safely in Kazakhstan on June 16 after 16 days in orbit. The payload of the Foton M-2 vehicle included replacements for some European Space Agency experiments lost with the space shuttle Columbia, and on an earlier Foton mission that failed in October 2002 (AW&ST June 6, p. 17).
Mary Anne Stevens, a balloon pilot and instructor who is president of the Aero Club of Canada, has been named the representative of the Federation Aeronautique Internationale to the International Civil Aviation Organization. She succeeds Andre Dumas, who has retired.
A distant, diminished Sun sets behind the rim of the Martian crater Gusev in this Panoramic Camera mosaic from NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit. Three filters on the camera combined to give a rough approximation of the natural colors on the planet, with the bluish glow in the sky roughly what a human eye would see but the redness at the perimeter mildly exaggerated. The rock outcrop "Jibsheet" is in the foreground, and the Sun appears about two-thirds of the size it would be on Earth. The crater wall is 50 mi. distant, across the Gusev floor.
Nick Frisch, who is director of flight training for Galvin Flying Services Inc. of Seattle, has been named to receive the National Assn. of Flight Instructors' Jack J. Eggspuehler Award. The award recognizes contributions to aviation education and training and is named for one of the NAFI's founders and a member of the Flight Instructor Hall of Fame.
NASA's Balloon-borne Large Aperture Submillimeter Telescope (Blast) lifted off from the Swedish Space Corp.'s Arctic Esrange facility June 12 at the beginning of what astronomers hope will be a 6-9-day stratospheric circuit around the high latitudes. It is to survey distant galaxies at the far infrared and submillimeter wavelengths using a bolometric focal-plane array developed for the Herschel space telescope the European Space Agency hopes to launch at the end of the decade. At almost three tons, the two-meter telescope--shown as crews began filling its 462-ft.-dia.
Five-week-old Kingfisher Airlines will order five each of Airbus' double-decker A380s, planned midsized A350-800s, and A330-200s, raising questions about whether India is en route to changing its policy on domestic carriers being permitted to fly abroad. The present policy says a domestic airline must have completed five years of operations and have a fleet strength of 20 aircraft before it can operate international flights, except into the Middle East.
Grob Aerospace is taking on rivals Cessna and Embraer with its newly unveiled G180 SPn utility jet. The Germany-based aircraft maker has accomplished an increasingly rare air show feat, springing an aircraft on its competitors, catching them completely unawares. The carbon-fiber twinjet, the company's first, is slated to fly soon, with certification targeted first in Europe, then the U.S. in 2007.
Virgin Atlantic is now offering bilingual Japanese language studies on London-Tokyo routes. English-speaking travelers may learn Japanese, and vice versa. The airline teamed with Univerb, a Swedish company that offers self-study language courses using audio-based methodology. The course, geared to both business and leisure travelers, covers basic to fluent conversation skills and is available to passengers through the airline's inflight entertainment systems.
The FAA Joint Advanced Materials and Structures (JAMS) Center of Excellence and the Materials and Structures Branch Technical Meeting, held recently at the National Institute for Aviation Research (NIAR) at Wichita State University in Kansas, was a broad-based peer review of materials and structures research sponsored by the FAA. JAMS comprises two groups: the Centers for Advanced Materials in Transport Aircraft Structures and for Composites and Advanced Materials.
Major engine manufacturers are revving up their research efforts in a bid to achieve significant performance improvements as they anticipate demand for a new generation of 100-200-seat jets early in the next decade.
Peter B. Teets (see photos), retired president/chief operating officer of the Lockheed Martin Corp. and formerly undersecretary of the U.S. Air Force and director of the National Reconnaissance Office, has been appointed to the board of trustees of The Aerospace Corp., El Segundo, Calif. Rami R. Razouk has been promoted to senior vice president of the Engineering and Technology Group from associate general manager of the Space Support Div. He succeeds John R. Parsons, who is retiring. Lawrence T. Greenberg has been appointed vice president-technology.
As the U.S. Air Force prepares to take over a joint program with the Navy to develop a family of armed drones, questions are surfacing about how the project should be managed in the future. The Pentagon's leadership is pulling the Joint Unmanned Combat Air System (J-UCAS) program from the oversight of its research arm, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (Darpa), after less than two years of its leadership. Officials last December abruptly opted to place J-UCAS under the control of the Air Force with the turn of the fiscal year in October.
The Bell/Agusta BA609 civil tiltrotor flew for the first time with landing gear retracted and nacelles at 60 deg., on June 13. Maximum speed attained was 125 kt. Conversion to full airplane mode with nacelles at 0 deg. was planned for late last week.
To submit Aerospace Calendar Listings, Call +1 (212) 904-2421 Fax +1 (212) 904-6068 e-mail: [email protected] July 2--Air Museum Planes of Fame. Military Observation Aircraft, Chino (Calif.) Airport. Call +1 (909) 597-372 or see planesoffame.org July 5-6--International Quality and Productivity Center's Military Satellites 2005. Holiday Inn, Toulouse. Call +44 (207) 368-9300, fax +44 (207) 368-9301 or see www.iqpc.co.uk
USN Vice Adm. (ret.) Michael L. Bowman has been promoted to executive vice president from senior vice president of DRS Technologies Inc.'s Washington operations.
Frank W. Moore (see photos) has been named director of communications and Eric Howell vice president-contracts, pricing and procurement for the Northrop Grumman Corp.'s Information Technology Sector, McLean, Va. Moore was corporate director of media relations, while Howell was director of contracts and pricing at Northrop Grumman's corporate office in Los Angeles.
Finding the cause of an accident often leads to a cure--and the ongoing probe of Pinnacle Airlines Flight 3701 is highlighting the need for enhanced high-altitude training and safety management programs at regional airlines.
U.S. Rep. Jerry F. Costello (D-Ill.), Ranking Democratic Member (House Subcommittee on Aviation, Washington, D.C.)
I agree on a number of points in the Com- mentary by House Aviation Subcommittee Chairman John Mica (R-Fla.) entitled "Screening Reform" (AW&ST June 6, p. 33), but I do not agree that we should bring back private screeners. No evidence has been offered to justify reprivatizing this workforce.
After years of watching the U.S. run away with development of unmanned combat air vehicles, Europe is finally attempting to catch up using its own indigenous design. Dassault Aviation unveiled a full-scale mockup of a UCAV demonstrator, the Neuron, here in the presence of French President Jacques Chirac and high-level representatives from other partner nations. Dassault leads the 400-million-euro ($482-million) effort, which is managed by the French armaments agency DGA.
NASA's four main activities all will get new top managers as fledgling Administrator Michael D. Griffin takes control at agency headquarters with a push to replace the space shuttle.
