Northrop Grumman hopes to capture U.S. Air Force attention--and dollars--by demonstrating this summer a "Bluetooth" Internet-like capability to push updated mission information to combat aircraft from orbiting refuelers.
Michael L. Ivins (MLI Turbine Management, Phoenix, Ariz.)
I read with disgust your article "Sea Change." It's hard to understand why we as a nation would award our presidential helicopter to a foreign company/design. The article states that 90% of the program's value remains in the U.S. but goes on to say that fuselage, rotor blades, transmission and dynamic parts will be supplied by AgustaWestland. So basically all the main airframe parts except the engines will be supplied from Italy and the U.K.
United Airlines CEO Glenn Tilton foresees an early merger among the Big Six network airlines, perhaps involving his own carrier if and when it emerges from more than two years in Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Speaking at the JPMorgan 2005 Airline Conference, Tilton likens commercial aviation to the merger-happy telecommunications industry, suffering overcapacity and "commoditization." He says the government needn't fear that an airline merger would concentrate pricing power, as the failed United-US Airways merger might have done in 2001.
TWA Capt. (ret.) Hugh Schoelzel (Litchfield, Conn.)
As "The Aviator" is being hailed in movie theaters worldwide, we should take a moment to reflect on a key aviation event of 2004--the final day of TWA as it became AA after 79 years of pioneering the skies.
Inmarsat has concluded a $3.8-million agreement with Nera SatCom of Norway to develop new software and hardware for ground stations providing Inmarsat aeronautical services. The upgrade is intended to boost the capacity of Inmarsat's traditional services and facilitate upgrades to its new 64-Kbps. Swift64 offering and planned 432-Kbps. SwiftBroadband network. The company currently has 130 ground stations in service, and virtually all Airbus and Boeing long-haul aircraft are equipped to receive Inmarsat aero signals.
This year's Paris air show promises to be a more lively affair than two years ago, when transatlantic differences over Iraq kept much of the U.S. delegation away. But that experience hasn't turned off attendees, it appears. The company running the event is adding a temporary facility, "Hall 6," to meet the demand that exceeds its fixed hall space. The growth is being attributed to all sectors--commercial, military and space.
Incomplete planning has left NASA and its congressional overseers without much material for a full and open debate on President Bush's deep-space exploration program, and some of the touchiest questions don't look likely to be answered in the current budget cycle.
Director of Central Intelligence Porter J. Goss told a Senate panel last week that enough nuclear material is unaccounted for in Russia to make a nuclear weapon. Goss, FBI Director Robert Mueller and Adm. James Loy, deputy secretary of the Homeland Security Dept., all note that Al Qaeda still seeks weapons of mass destruction including nuclear, radiological, chemical and biological materials (such as anthrax). And the terrorist group continues to try to circumvent enhanced security measures in the U.S. to strike again on American soil.
In a new twist in the ongoing debate over large civil aircraft subsidies, Airbus is signaling it would welcome a revised financial-assistance framework built around the type of indirect government research-and-development grants that Boeing has received.
Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, in his state of the state address, endorsed the third Chicago area airport at Peotone. He praised the work of Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr. (D-Ill.), who is seeking private investment to build the proposed Abraham Lincoln National Airport south of his congressional district. Blagojevich said growth in the south suburban area has created a need for the third airport. Since it will be funded by private investment, the airport will not compete with Chicago O'Hare for federal funding, he said.
Boeing is preparing a range of Delta IV Heavy launcher options for NASA Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV) and unmanned cargo transportation architectures to the Moon and Mars, now that the massive new rocket has been flight tested. The Dec. 21 launch of the 232-ft. vehicle on 2 million lb. thrust marked the largest all-liquid expendable booster flown since the last Saturn V in 1973. A second Delta IV Heavy mission is scheduled for this summer carrying a U.S. Air Force missile warning satellite. The first launch carried a dummy payload (AW&ST Jan. 3, p. 23).
The first 232-ft.-tall U.S. Air Force/Boeing Delta IV Heavy booster is propelled off Launch Complex 37 at Cape Canaveral by three Rocketdyne RS-68 oxygen/hydrogen engines generating a total of 2 million lb. thrust. Lightning tower at left is nearly 400 ft. tall. The RS-68 is the first large new rocket engine developed in the U.S. in 25 years and is a propulsion option for future Moon/Mars missions, either as part of an upgraded Delta IV Heavy or other vehicle concepts (see p. 48). Boeing photo by Carleton Bailie.
India's largest domestic carrier, Jet Airways, plans to raise up to $443 million and acquire 10 Boeing 737-800/900s between March 2006-September 2007. At its initial public offering last week, Jet set out to offload 20% of its equity, or 17.2 million shares, to retail and institutional investors. The money is to repay debt, build facilities for training and maintenance, repair and overhaul as air travel builds in an economy forecast to grow 6.9% by the fiscal year ending March 2005.
Doppler data collected during the descent of the Huygens probe Jan. 14 by a network of giant radio telescopes around the world have generated the first wind profiles from Saturn's moon Titan. Based on the path Huygens took as it parachuted to the surface, scientists have deduced the wind blows west to east on Titan, gradually tapering off below an altitude of about 37 mi. Above that, what is believed to be a region of vertical wind shear produces variable winds, some of them quite strong. The highest wind measured during the descent was almost 270 mph. at about 75-mi.
Clues are emerging, particularly from the Fiscal 2005 defense budget supplement, about how the U.S. military is battling hidden or buried improvised explosive devices (IEDs) in Iraq. They often are triggered remotely by electronic equipment, such as garage door openers or mobile phones, and the Air Force already is employing the EC-130 Compass Call electronic jamming aircraft for the mission. The aircraft was designed to jam enemy communications and radar.
Bob Eriksen has become vice president-sales and marketing and Bill Pugliese vice president-operations for Otto Instrument & Avionics, Ontario, Calif. Eriksen was sales program manager for Boeing in Seattle, while Pugliese was general manager of the Honeywell Avionics Repair Center at Sun Valley, Calif.
Aman Khan has been appointed vice president-information technology for the Frankfurt-based Star Alliance. He has been head of the PSINet business in Germany.
The Nigerian government says it concluded an agreement with China Great Wall Industry to build and launch a communications satellite next year. If confirmed, it would be the first export contract for the Chinese satellite industry. The government said the value of the deal, probably including ground segment and a spare, will be $250-300 million. Nigeria already operates a small disaster-warning satellite, Nigeriasat 1, launched in September 2003.
Andy Nativi (Genoa), David A. Fulghum (Washington)
Lockheed Martin is bowing out as Alenia's co-prime contractor on the C-27J, but L-3 Communications has stepped in to pursue future light transport buys for the U.S. Army and Air Force that are expected to be worth more than $3.5 billion and perhaps twice that in 3-5 years across a world-wide market.
Eclipse Aviation Corp. last week completed wing mate of the second and third Eclipse 500 certification flight test aircraft, N502EA and N504EA, at the company's facility at Albuquerque, N.M. Eclipse expects the two very light jet aircraft to enter certification flight test in late first quarter. The first FAA confirming aircraft entered flight test Dec. 31. A fourth aircraft will be used in Eclipse's beta test program.
John G. Denison has been appointed co-chief restructuring officer of the ATA Holdings Corp. He was executive vice president-corporate services for Southwest Airlines before retiring. Douglas F. Yakola has been named senior vice president-customers and ground operations, Capt. John W. Graber senior vice president-flight operations and maintenance, Glen A. Baker vice president/chief information officer and Rick A. Barnett vice president-strategic sourcing. Yakola has been vice president-station operations, while Graber was chief pilot.
A true-color image of Saturn's northern latitudes shows the hemisphere's upper atmosphere is relatively cloud-free, which scientists believe accounts for its rich blue hue as sunlight is scattered at shorter wavelengths. In this image, collected by Cassini on Jan. 18--four days after it relayed imagery and other data from the Huygens probe to Earth--the icy moon Mimas shows up against the backdrop of the planet, which is laced by shadows of its famous rings.
UNITED STATES Editor-In-Chief: Anthony L. Velocci, Jr. [email protected] Managing Editor: James R. Asker [email protected] Assistant Managing Editors: Stanley W. Kandebo--Technology [email protected] Michael Stearns--Production [email protected] Senior Editors: Craig Covault [email protected], David Hughes [email protected] NEW YORK 2 Penn Plaza, Fifth Floor, New York, N.Y. 10121 Phone: +1 (212) 904-2000, Fax: +1 (212) 904-6068
FLYi Inc., Independence Air's parent company, missed its Feb. 15 interest payment on $125 million of 6% convertible notes, due in 2034--but promised to pay within a 30-day grace period, dependent on ongoing restructuring efforts with aircraft lenders and lessors. Earlier this month, an aircraft lessor sued FLYi for failure to make a lease payment.
