Moisture barrier bags by Protective Packaging protect sensitive equipment and machinery of all sizes (helicopters, above, to ball bearings) from a wide range of vapor or humidity hazards. Several materials are available (Mylar, Tyvek, composites and others). The bags are certified to protect corrosion-sensitive items such as generators that can be transported on the decks of oceangoing freighters. Some mil-spec-qualified bags are used to shield weapons systems that wait in storage for 10 years or more in concrete bunkers, according to the company.
AirDat is equipping 64 Saab 340 turboprop aircraft flown by Mesaba Airlines with Tropospheric Airborne Meteorological Data Report sensors in a program being conducted in cooperation with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, National Weather Service and Forecast Systems Lab. NASA and the FAA are providing some of the funding. The sensors will measure humidity, wind, pressure, temperature, icing and turbulence conditions every 300 ft. during the climb to cruise altitude.
BAE Systems has delivered the first fully functional JAS 39 Gripen helmet-mounted display system, including a high-speed optical head tracker, to Saab. Denel Optronics of South Africa led development of the electronics unit that incorporates the optical head tracker. The display offers binocular day/night views, 360-deg. visibility in a lightweight system. Full-scale production is set for mid-2006.
Germany for the first time will use the Eurofighter in an exercise, as part of the so-called European Challenge, which is slated to begin Apr. 19. The joint maneuver also will involve the Tiger attack helicopter and Luna reconnaissance drone. The drill will involve 17 countries and 4,000 troops, most of them German.
Sentiment against European launch-aid subsidies for Airbus is running high on Capitol Hill. The Senate passes a nonbinding resolution, 96-0, calling on European governments to pass up helping Airbus develop the A350 transport as competition against Boeing's 787. The resolution also calls for the Bush administration to take subsidies to the World Trade Organization if the Europeans continue them.
The sudden announcement that Transportation Security Administration chief David M. Stone would be leaving in June has aviation officials wondering if the third change of TSA leadership in four years will mean more delays in deploying new programs such as Secure Flight and Registered Traveler. The agency tersely announced Stone's departure Apr. 8, stating he had agreed to stay until June, at the request of the Homeland Security Dept. (DHS), TSA's parent organization, "to assist with the transition of a successor." No reason for Stone's departure was given.
Lufthansa Cargo managed a return to profitability in 2004 after weathering a slump in the international air cargo market. Although yield was down 10%, the freight carrier posted a 34-million-euro ($44-million) gain on sales of 2.47 billion euros, revenues increased by 14.2% over 2003 and more positive results are expected this year. In 2004, the company launched a cost-cutting program aimed at boosting earnings by 233 million euros in 2006.
One of the largest and most important commercial spacecraft launched by China is completing transfer to its geosynchronous orbit slot this week under the control of APT Satellite Holdings and Alcatel. The five-ton APStar 6 was launched Apr. 12 from Xichang on board a Chinese Long March 3B with four liquid strap-on boosters and a Chinese oxygen/hydrogen upper stage. The spacecraft carries 38 C-band and 12 K u-band transponders. Alcatel built the spacecraft without using U.S. components, to avoid U.S. trade restrictions.
AOptix Technologies, a supplier of electro-optical systems and technologies that enable next-generation laser communications, imaging and directed-energy systems announced the availability of the company's first production product, the GT1.0 communicator. Its patented, bi-directional adaptive optics method of beam control achieves a range of more than 20 km. with virtually zero probability of intercept or detection, according to the company.
6-9 Correspondence 10 Who's Where 15 Market Focus 17 Industry Outlook 19 Airline Outlook 21 In Orbit 22-24 World News Roundup 27 Washington Outlook 68 Inside Avionics 77-79 Classified 80 Contact Us 81 Aerospace Calendar
The Pentagon's long-awaited Mobility Capabilities Study (MCS), which will outline future requirements for sealift and airlift, is expected "in the next month or so," Martin says. The study was expected earlier this year to enable Pentagon officials to fold its recommendations into the Fiscal 2007 budget plan and the Quadrennial Defense Review, now underway.
The U.S. attorney who prosecuted former U.S. Air Force acquisition official Darleen Druyun and former Boeing Chief Financial Officer Michael Sears says his office is still looking at Boeing. "Anytime something like that occurs, that obviously raises the question about the corporation's responsibilities as well," says Paul J. McNulty, U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia. "Beyond that, what might happen is speculation," he says.
L-3 Communications' Link Simulation and Training will build two F/A-18C/D Hornet Aircrew Flight Trainers (AFT) for the U.S. Marine Corps. The units will be used for combat training and feature two independent cockpits for the pilot and weapons sensor operator. Each crew station will have a Link-built SimuSphere visual display system to support single-seat F/A-18C or two-seat F/A-18D training. Each SimuSphere has nine display panels that surround each station and provide a 360-deg. field of view.
Airbus formally began work on the first A380 freighter last week, starting with the center wing box, which is primarily made of carbon-fiber reinforced plastic. The freighter is to carry 330,000 lb. of cargo. Airbus has 27 firm orders for the A380F.
Aurora Flight Sciences has delivered the first aft fuselage for the Northrop Grumman Global Hawk RQ-4B unmanned aerial vehicle, which is now in development. Aurora officials say they were a "scrappy" company when they started work on the Global Hawk program and have since grown into a "mature design and manufacturing" outfit. The RQ-4B will carry 50% more payload than its RQ-4A predecessor, including a variety of electro-optical, infrared, radar and signals intelligence systems.
The world's most populous nations and fastest growing economies have ended a four-decades-old border dispute and taken steps, so they say, that will help Asia become more peaceful. Agreed to last week when Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao visited Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh here, the agreement came just two weeks after the U.S. made its own strategic headlines in the region by agreeing to sell F-16s to Pakistan and then told India it could have its own fighter deal, plus help in its civilian nuclear program (AW&ST Apr. 4, p. 28).
Crane lowers a 4-million-lb. X-band radar assembly onto a converted offshore oil rig at the Kiewit Offshore Services shipyard in Corpus Christi, Tex. After testing in the Gulf of Mexico, the 282-ft.-tall, self-propelled Sea-Based X-Band Radar will travel around South America to its homeport of U.S. Missile Defense Agency's Ballistic Missile Defense System (BMDS) with the ability to distinguish between incoming hostile missile warheads and decoys.
World News Roundup 14 German army gets first UH-Tiger attack helicopter 15 Tests underway for variable-speed refueling drogue for V-22 16 X-band radar to assist Ballistic Missile Defense System 16 Operators of some Boeing aircraft face big bill to replace insulation World News & Analysis 18 Europe gives space, security special billing in seven-year R&D aid plan 20 Industry fears Europe in danger of losing launcher expertise
Emirates is building a new $353-million engineering center at Dubai International Airport. Planned for completion early next year, the eight-hangar facility (seven for light and heavy aircraft maintenance and one paint hangar) is to service Emirates' current and expanding fleet. The airline has about 100 aircraft on order, including 45 Airbus A380-800 superjumbos and 29 Boeing 777-300ERs (AW&ST Apr. 4, p. 42). The facility will also offer third-party maintenance.
SkyWest Airlines just placed a firm order valued at about $637 million for 20 additional Bombardier CRJ700 regional jets. The airline--which operates as a United Express, Delta Connection and Continental Connection carrier--now has 32 CRJ700s as well as 125 50-seat CRJ200 regional jets in its fleet. All SkyWest CRJ700s operate as United Express from Chicago, Denver, Los Angeles and San Francisco.
Russian International Space Station managers are studying the use of an old Orlan space suit as a pressurized housing for student experiments that could be thrown overboard at the ISS. Low-cost experiments could function longer in a pressurized suit that has outlived its usefulness for extravehicular activities (EVAs) by station crewmembers. The Russians are studying the hand release of the inflated suit by station crewmembers during an EVA as early as the fall of 2006.
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Kudos for the outstanding articles on the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds and Navy Blue Angels. I have been an admirer and follower of both teams since the "Birds" flew North American F-100 Super Sabres and "Blues" flew Grumman F11F Tigers in the late 1950s. Your articles captured the essence of what makes these teams successful. You also effectively answered some persistent questions (e.g., why the "Blues" don't wear g-suits) plus confirmed some rumors (e.g., hidden beneath that shiny paint, both teams fly some old airframes).
This year, the high cost of fuel is likely to lead to probably more than $5.5 billion in losses for the airline industry. The figure provided by International Air Transport Assn. Director General Giovanni Bisignani assumes a $43 per barrel oil price, lower than currently being witnessed. The total losses for 2001-05 would reach a staggering $40 billion, Bisignani notes.
In a bid to strengthen its position in the homeland security communications market, EADS is looking to buy Nokia's professional mobile radio operations. Negotiations are in the advanced stage, according to EADS. The deal, one of a series in recent months intended to beef up EADS' secure communications, would include systems operating on the Tetra and Tetrapol secure communications standards.
