U.S. military contractors are responding to a thaw in political relations with India by pursuing defense bids, but the Indians, mindful of the harm that past embargoes have done to their own programs, are proceeding with caution. As India increasingly turns to producers in Europe, Israel, the U.S. and Russia for major weapons systems, its own experts are worried that, without development contracts, their participation will be overlooked.
Boeing will use Evergreen Aviation Technologies Corp. of Taiwan and an international team of engineers and designers to create the three largest 747-400s ever flown as transports for its just-in-time wing and fuselage assemblies for the 787. The project involves a complete remake of the upper fuselages of three passenger 747-400s, tripling their volume with a bulbous top that stretches from the Sec. 41 nose to the Sec. 47 tail.
Joint Forces Command head Adm. Edmund Giambastiani and Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. John Jumper have signed an agreement to broaden the E-10 long-range surveillance aircraft program into the joint service arena. It awaits final Pentagon approval, but officials say the move is planned to add top-level advocacy of the financially struggling aircraft program and to better advertise its links to other high-profile, next-generation battle management systems.
Ask five people in the global aerospace industry to define information technology, and you'll likely get five different answers, along with a confused look or two.
Canadian-U.S. skies may soon open wider. At the Feb. 23-24 Canadian Airports Council Open Skies Forum in Ottawa, U.S. Transportation Secretary Norman Y. Mineta and Canadian Prime Minister Jean LaPierre mutually declared a commitment to expanding their countries' 1995 open skies pact. The agreement ". . . risks being entirely out of step with current market realities and airline policy in competing jurisdictions," says Robert Milton, CEO of Air Canada's parent, ACE Aviation Holdings.
To submit Aerospace Calendar Listings, Call +1 (212) 904-2421 Fax +1 (212) 904-6068 e-mail: [email protected] Mar. 6--Royal Australian Air Force "Roulettes" Display for the F1 Grand Prix. Melbourne. Call +61 (35) 146-7341 or see www.defence.gov.au/raaf/roulettes
The Elite Line Services division of G&T Conveyor Co. Inc. of Tavares, Fla., has acquired Ameribridge Inc. of Indianapolis, a specialist in refurbishing passenger boarding bridges. The acquisition will expand G&T services to include the manufacture, installation, maintenance and rehabbing of passenger boarding bridges. In 2004, G&T acquired the equipment manufacturer Horsley of Ogden, Utah. G&T equipment is in place at 25 U.S. airports.
Airbus executives are defining their A350 work-packages strategy with a firm eye on maintaining cost competitiveness despite continued dollar exchange-rate pressures. For the short-term, however, company leaders are trying to hold-off pressure to start implementing another major cost-cutting plan. At the same time, Airbus is starting to recognize that its long-held plan to reach breakeven on the A380 with the 250th delivery will likely not be the case, largely due to cost overruns that could reach $1.9 billion.
Neil Williams has been appointed director of company communications for Internatational Aero Engines, East Hartford, Conn. He has been communications manager for civil aerospace for Rolls-Royce. Williams succeeds Peter Isendahl, who has returned to Rolls-Royce Deutschland.
The University of Southern California received an $11.2-million contract from the Air Force Research Laboratory at Rome, N.Y., to design and build software for the Coordination Decision Support Assistants program. The goal is to develop software that can reason about implications of changes in available information, generate options for dealing with the changes and make decisions for humans when they are occupied with other tasks. Work is to be completed in 2009.
In a similar development, the Swedish National Space Board, French space agency CNES, Canadian Space Agency and the National Technology Agency of Finland have agreed to extend the life of the Swedish scientific satellite Odin until February 2006. Launched in February 2001, Odin alternates observations toward and away from Earth to study atmospheric ozone concentrations and planetary, comet and interstellar physical-chemical processes. It carries a microwave radiometer, the first to use the 485-580-GHz.
A decade ago, the term "information technology" conjured up images of office computer networks. Today, IT has assumed a critical role in the aerospace industry, enabling advances in weapons systems, space exploration and supply chain management while helping cash-strapped airlines cut costs (see p. 50). But companies and federal agencies plugging into the new era should be cautious. The aerospace industry is littered with examples of IT initiatives that have blown up, sometimes literally. Getty Images photo.
Members of Congress remain skeptical of the reasoning behind NASA's decision to drop the final space shuttle servicing mission to the Hubble Space Telescope, and they want to see something in writing. Rep. Vernon Ehlers (R-Mich.), a nuclear physicist on the House Science Committee, bluntly tells top NASA managers they have been trying to defend a decision "made in haste" instead of "really going back and honestly reexamining whether it was right." He gets backing from Rep.
NASA and the U.S. National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) have released the final unclassified volume of the worldwide topographic mapping data generated by the joint NASA/NGA Shuttle Radar Topography Mission in February 2000. The latest release includes Australia, New Zealand and more than 1,000 islands in the South Pacific, many of which never have been mapped for elevation. The digital maps produced by a synthetic aperture radar in the cargo bay of the shuttle Endeavour cover 80% of the world's surface. The NGA, part of the U.S.
BAE Systems' order book stands at a record of 50.1 billion pounds ($95.2 billion), with the company's 2004 preliminary results showing a cash increase but a loss for the year. Sales grew to 13.48 billion pounds, a 7.2% increase over 2003, while profit before interest stood at 1.013 billion pounds. A charge of 1.038 billion pounds related to the acquisition of the defense elements of Marconi in 1999 caused BAE to post a loss of 467 million pounds.
The U.S. Transportation Dept. tentatively awarded Delta Air Lines seven weekly U.S.-Brazil frequencies, two of them previously unallocated and five stripped from United Airlines, for daily round trips between Atlanta and Rio de Janeiro. United tried unsuccessfully to retain the frequencies and then argued that the shift to Delta should be temporary, not permanent. But with 16 unused United frequencies out of a total of 28, this argument didn't sway the department, which cited its policy of trying to make sure operating rights are used.
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Boeing officials are exploring options--including a production line that complies with the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR)--in order to keep building 767 tankers even if the company shuts down the commercial line in Everett, Wash. Boeing Integrated Defense Systems CEO James Albaugh tells reporters the ITAR concept for 767 could mirror the company's approach to creating an ITAR-compliant line for the 737 as part of the Navy's Multimission Maritime Aircraft program. A decision on the future of the commercial 767 line is expected midyear.
Jack Kies has been appointed vice president-strategic alliances of Metron Aviation, Herndon, Va. He was director of tactical operations at the FAA Command Center.
U.S. Army Gen. (ret.) Carl E. Vuono has become president of the New York-based L-3 Government Services Group. He will remain president of L-3's MPRI Inc.
While a cause for unease among European government representatives, the Pentagon's decision to reduce funding for the NATO Alliance Ground Surveillance system is being viewed as a renewed opportunity by some U.S. industry officials. As part of its budget-trimming exercise, the Pentagon has cut several hundred million dollars from the AGS project through 2011, although much of the reduction is "back-loaded." Near-term cuts, in 2006 and 2007, total less than $50 million, but in later years the number jumps quickly to annual cuts of more than $100 million.
Last spring, then-Hewlett-Packard Co. CEO Carly Fiorina journeyed to Lockheed Martin Corp.'s headquarters near Washington for a chat with her counterpart, Robert J. Stevens. The topic: How computer giant HP could expand its collaboration with weapons and system-integration powerhouse Lockheed Martin.
Northwest Airlines is seeking U.S. Transportation Dept. authority to operate service from Minneapolis/St. Paul International Airport to Bangalore (via Amsterdam) beginning in October. Northwest, through its joint-venture partnership with KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, offers two daily flights from Minneapolis/St. Paul to Mumbai, via Amsterdam, and daily flights from Amsterdam to New Delhi.
Acting Air Force Secretary Peter Teets is set to appear before the Senate Armed Services Committee this week for the first time in his new role--he took over after predecessor James Roche left office in January. As undersecretary, Teets has largely steered clear of the handful of controversies facing the service, but he is likely to face skepticism from senators rankled over Roche's conduct in pushing the $23-billion KC-767 tanker lease for Boeing. The Pentagon has yet to turn loose thousands of e-mails requested by Sen.
In your article "Building Up" (AW&ST Feb. 7, p. 26), you identified Qantas as a fellow Star Alliance member of ANA. I believe Qantas is still a member of Oneworld. (The reader is correct.--Ed.)
