The U.S. Air Force says it's buying 25 F/A-22s in the Fiscal 2006 budget, but the Pentagon shows only 24 in its procurement tables--so where has the missing stealth fighter gone? Not all the F/A-22s the Air Force is asking to buy are operational aircraft. One of them is being reassigned for testing. When the Air Force submitted its budget plan to the Pentagon last year, it asked to modify one aircraft bought with production funds for use in weapons certification and then restore it to operational status.
Michael Mecham and Michael A. Dornheim (Everett, Wash.)
Boeing has become comfortable with the idea of moving assembly lines. At its narrow-body factory in Renton, assembly times have been cut in half since the factory was remade and the process initiated in 1999. Here at the home of Boeing's wide-body aircraft, the goals remain the same: eliminate wasted motion by using task-time-based processes, visual controls and support cells to enhance the moving line. More ambitiously, the need for large tooling--such as wing-level walkways and cranes--is to be reduced or eliminated.
The German aerospace industries association (BDLI) is taking aim at a trial balloon floated by the European Union finance minister, which would impose a tax on kerosene and use the generated funds to fight poverty worldwide. The proposal was made by EU representatives during a recent G7 finance ministers meeting. "You can't fight poverty by destroying jobs," BDLI President Hans-Joachim Gante argues. Job losses resulting from the tax could reach 50,000, BDLI contends, citing a European Commission study.
Like a long-lived cat, the buy-sell slot rule has survived another challenge, this one from the Air Carrier Assn. of America (ACAA), comprising AirTran Airways, Spirit Airlines and a few other low-cost, low-fare carriers. The U.S. Transportation Dept. turned aside an ACAA challenge of the rule, which has governed slot sales and leases at limited-access airports since 1985.
The European Space Agency and French space agency CNES are leading an effort to free Europe of strategic dependence on outside supply sources, especially the U.S., for key electronic components. The undertaking, known as the European Component Initiative, aims to ensure access to key technologies "not tied to political constraints," ESA Director General Jean-Jacques Dordain said last month when the measure was first revealed. Electronic components is only the first of several technologies, including gyroscopes, it will address.
Sidney E. Fuchs has been named to the Joint Military Intelligence College Foundation's board of directors for 2005. He is president of the Herndon, Va.-based TASC unit of the Northrop Grumman's Information Technology Sector.
Jerry Bemis has been appointed vice president-maintenance for Cleveland-based Flight Options. He was vice president-line maintenance operations for Delta Air Lines.
A consolidated Russian airframe manufacturer may emerge as early as the first quarter of 2006, as government and industry attempt to end years of too little funding spread among too many companies. Industry restructuring is a key element of a planning document briefed to President Vladimir Putin at the beginning of February entitled "Strategy of Aviation Industry Development Until 2015." It sets out ambitious goals of improving Russia's competitiveness in the military and commercial sectors.
Rep. Ken Calvert, the new chairman of the House Science space and aeronautics subcommittee, looks likely to continue the strong push for commercial space transportation established by his predecessor and fellow California Republican, Rep. Dana Rohrabacher. Speaking to the annual FAA commercial space transportation conference here last week, Calvert argued that the potential for space tourism offered by Burt Rutan's SpaceShipOne is only the beginning. "In 2010, the shuttle will be retired," he said.
Rapidly growing interest in tapping "near-space" for military purposes is fueling myriad studies, concept developments and prototype vehicle designs to assess the feasibility of operating on the atmosphere's upper fringes.
In the Star Wars movies, the humanoid robot C-3PO routinely did tasks for his human masters. Now robotics studies on future lunar and Mars exploration are showing the need for hybrid robotic systems where the humanoids will do tasks--for other robots. One concept that emerged at the exploration conference held recently in Orlando, Fla., was the combination of a humanoid robot that would step off its rover transporter to do more detailed tasks in areas the rover is too cumbersome to reach.
The U.S. aerospace industry posted its first net gain in jobs in six years in 2004. Aerospace Industries Assn. economist David Napier reports that the industry ended the year with 593,000 jobs--an increase of 5,400 from a year earlier. That's still, however, barely half the number of people who were employed at the end of the Cold War in 1990.
The 2004 Business & Convention Travelers Report offers good news for airlines: Business travel is showing signs of recovery, with growth forecast for the next 2-3 years. The survey says business travel remains a vital part of the U.S. economy. The segment, which represents only 18% of the total, generated 31% or $153 billion of all domestic travel spending.
Infrared measurements of Saturn's southern hemisphere made with the Keck I Observatory in Hawaii will shape future operations of the Cassini Saturn orbiter, following discovery of an unexpected warm polar vortex over the planet's south pole. In this mosaic of 35 separate exposures collected on Feb. 4, 2004, not only is the polar vortex warmer than its surroundings, but it enclosed a compact region right over the pole that is even warmer still. "There is nothing like this compact warm 'cap' in the Earth's atmosphere," says Glenn S.
Peter J. Bunce has been named president/CEO of the Washington-based General Aviation Manufacturers Assn., effective Apr. 1. He has been director of the Air Force Congressional Budget and Appropriations Liaison Office with Congress and was Defense Dept. representative to the International Council of Air Shows' board of directors and safety committee.
Patrick S. Sharp of Modern Technology Solutions Inc. of Las Vegas has received the National Defense Industrial Assn.'s Combat Survivability Award for Lifetime Achievement. He was recognized for service to the U.S. Air Force in the development and testing of low-observable aircraft, unmanned aerial vehicles and advanced weapons. Richard A. (Tim) Horton of the Survice Engineering Co. of China Lake, Calif., has received the Combat Survivability Award for Leadership.
With this issue, Amy Butler joins Aviation Week & Space Technology as a Military Editor based in the Washington Bureau. Butler has reported on defense for newspapers and newsletters in Washington and Warner Robbins, Ga.
EMIRATES HAS PLACED THE LARGEST order to date for Boeing's Class 3 electronic flight bag (EFB) for its fleet of 30 777-300ERs. Adel Al Rheda, Emirates' executive vice president for engineering and operations, says the new equipment will provide integration with a variety of other systems, in addition to replacing paper documents. KLM also has ordered the Class 3 EFB for its 10 777-200ERs (AW&ST Feb. 2, 2004, p. 52). Both airlines envision introducing new EFB features over time. Al Rheda says software will be developed and tested by third parties for use by Emirates.
Dan Murphy, who has been president/CEO of Minneapolis-based Alliant Techsystems, also will be chairman as of Apr. 1. He will succeed Paul David Miller, who will retire.
Two Boeing X-45A unmanned combat air vehicle demonstrators have made the 49th and 50th flights for the design while demonstrating their ability to work together in attacking surface-to-air missile sites. Simulated electronic emissions from the first site got the aircraft (separated by 25 mi.) talking to each other on a machine-to-machine basis to decide which would make the attack. The time from emission through simulated attack was less than 5 min., say Boeing officials. The mission was repeated at a second SAM site and the attack was made by the other UCAV.
International Launch Services says it has been authorized to start work on launching a U.S. National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) payload on an Atlas V in mid-2007. Designated NROL-24, the launch would be the sixth of seven government launches initially assigned to the Atlas V under the Air Force's Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) program. To launch the classified payload, ILS will use the Atlas V 401 configuration, with a 4-meter fairing, a single Atlas Common Core Booster with no solid-fuel boosters, and a single-engine Centaur upper stage.
The Bush administration again is trying to fob off more of the cost of airline security on someone other than the government. This year, it's the passengers' turn. Doubling the fee from $2.50 per flight segment to $5-and-change (see p. 52) is expected to raise $1.5 billion. Predictably, passenger and travel associations are opposed to the idea, as is the Air Transport Assn.
The European Space Agency will attempt to deploy a sounding radar/altimeter on Mars Express whose operation was delayed after the orbiter entered service early last year.
Some proposed defense budget cuts, like ending the Air Force's C-130J purchases in 2005, at first blush might provide some relief to the military, but there seem to be problems in the fine print. "The Air Force was never a big fan of the C-130J," says a senior service official. "They didn't invent it, and they're paying a lot for it. They won't object to a cut so long as funding for the F/A-22, C-17 and [existing] C-130s continue." However, Chief of Staff Gen.
