CESSNA AIRCRAFT CO.'S SUCCESS IN SELLING its turboprop-powered Caravan utility airplane has spread to Spain and Russia. According to Mark Bloomfield of MB Aviation, which acts as Cessna's agent in Spain, in April the company will deliver four Super Cargomasters to a cargo operator based in Madrid. The airplanes will be used to transport freight between Madrid and financial business centers in Spain. In March, Cessna is scheduled to deliver a Grand Caravan to a Moscow-based company.
U.S. officials expect the European Union to lift its arms embargo against China soon. The Europeans will wait for President Bush to complete his visit to Europe this month, rather than inflame relations by lifting the embargo in the runup. But soon after Bush leaves, the embargo is expected to go, according to senior U.S. industry officials. They are warning their European partners there will be a severe backlash in Congress if such a move occurs, but they doubt that it's changing anyone's mind in Europe.
Senior British defense officials are cautioning that no further big-ticket unmanned aerial vehicle programs, beyond the ongoing Watchkeeper effort, may emerge earlier than 2015, irrespective of the Defense Ministry's considerable interest.
Northrop Grumman/Boeing's proprietary plan to integrate Italy's Alenia into its Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV) proposal to NASA will give Northrop Grumman and Boeing a European partner to counterbalance EADS teaming with Lockheed Martin to create a shuttle replacement that can also return astronauts to the Moon.
Uncertainty over homeland security funding is prompting local law enforcement agencies for the second straight year to ratchet back their plans to purchase civil use helicopters, but the industry continues to rebound from a downturn that followed the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
Alison M. Brink has been named vice president-marketing strategy for DHL Americas, Plantation, Fla. She was head of global marketing communications for DHL in Brussels and had been international marketing director for DHL Oceania.
The conflict in Afghanistan is changing. Warlords are being co-opted or removed, cross-border traffic limited and cooperation with the Pakistan military improved to the point that they are now spotting for artillery bombardments fired from U.S. weapons in Afghanistan at insurgents in Pakistan. Afghan warlords are generally assuming a less belligerent stance, often at the urging of the Afghan National Army (ANA). "They understand that the way of the gun is over," says Col.
Meanwhile, France continues to study about 12 applications where ownership could be shifted to the private sector and utilization shared for non-defense purposes, under a PFI-type arrangement (AW&ST June 24, 2004, p. 24). Among these applications, Lureau said, is the Syracuse 2/3 milsatcom network, which could foreseeably be ceded to a private operator, as the U.K.'s Skynet 4-5 system, run by EADS/Paradigm. A good occasion might be the upcoming award for the third Syracuse 3 spacecraft, to be deployed in 2010.
RAYTHEON AIRCRAFT CO. HAS DELIVERED THE 6,000TH King Air since manufacture of the series began in 1964. During its 41-year production run, the King Air has been produced in 20 commercial versions including unique configurations for civil and military special missions ops. First flown in January 1964, the then-$320,000 Model 90 King Air evolved from Beech Aircraft Corp.'s Model 120 concept aircraft and featured Pratt & Whitney PT6A turboprop engines and a cabin pressurized by a single Roots-type supercharger located in the left nacelle.
I am a pilot for American Airlines and am amazed at the misunderstanding of the Advanced Aircraft Maneuvering Program (AAMP) and how it relates to the AA587 accident of November 2001.
Five-year-old BAE Systems North America Inc. is proof that a European aerospace company can thrive in the U.S. defense market. Revenue at the wholly owned subsidiary of Britain's BAE Systems plc. grew nearly 25% last year, bolstered by five acquisitions in the U.S., and is on pace to reach $6 billion this year. President and CEO Mark Ronald met at the company's Arlington, Va., office with Aviation Week & Space Technology Editor-In-Chief Anthony L. Velocci, Jr., and Business Editor Joseph C. Anselmo to talk about his plans for carving out a bigger share of the U.S.
Alcatel Space has signed a 150-million-euro ($195-million) deal to build a second dual-use C-Series spacecraft for Star One, a Brazilian operator 20%-owned by SES Global. Like Star One C1, also under construction at Alcatel, the C2 unit will sport a mix of C-band (28) and K u-band (16) transponders and a single X-band military payload. The spacecraft will replace C-band capacity on Star One B2 at 65 deg. W. Long., while providing K u-band telecom coverage for Brazil and Mexico, where new satellite capacity has failed to materialize as planned.
Boeing and the Air Traffic Alliance--which includes Airbus, EADS and Thales--are talking about expanding their four-dimensional (4D) trajectory management flight trials from Australia to span oceanic routes over the Pacific and North Atlantic. Last year, the partners cooperated with Airservices Australia and Qantas to show how an Airbus A330 and a Boeing 747-400 could receive an uplinked clearance to the aircraft's flight management computer and then fly an automatic approach from cruise altitude to a fix on short final within ±2 sec.
Michel Mathieu (see photos) has been named CEO of Paris-based ThalesRaytheonSystems Ltd. (TRS), succeeding Terry Heil, who has been appointed chairman of the joint venture. Lou Laroche has become chief financial officer, succeeding Pierre Didierjean, who has moved elsewhere in the Thales Group. Mathieu has been senior vice president of Thales Air Defense and Laroche CFO of the Raytheon Technical Services Co., Reston, Va.
While NASA is giving a lot of attention to an "evolved launch vehicle" based on existing shuttle and other hardware to meet heavy-lift requirements for exploration (see p. 28), commercial launch options remain on the table.
While reading "A New Dawn" (AW&ST Nov. 29, 2004, p. 54), I was surprised at the statement about the F/A-22 that "fuel is pumped throughout the aircraft to remove heat from avionics and other systems." I don't doubt the need to cool the equipment, and the easy availability of fuel saves weight and other issues. I know the aircraft is designed so it is hard to find. But if one hot round going through the avionics and other systems causes fuel to be released, the aftermath (fire) will negatively impact the aircraft. Is this the best we can do?
The U.S. Air Force's Space Warfare Center's third biennial wargame is underway Feb. 5-11 at Nellis AFB, Nev., to explore critical space issues and assess the military value of new systems. Set in 2020, the Schriever III game will explore ways to employ and command/control space forces, and examine concepts and space technologies that could be available by then. About 250 uniformed and civilian experts from approximately 20 agencies, plus representatives from Australia, Canada and the U.K., are expected to participate.
The U.S. Missile Defense Agency has opted to absorb its Fiscal 2006 budget cut of $1 billion over a series of programs, rather than terminating one. Victims include the Northrop Grumman Kinetic Energy Interceptor. Boeing's ground-based mid-course interceptor program is losing funding for about 10 additional interceptors, as well as money for a third site, which was slated to be in Europe. The Airborne Laser project also takes a cut. The MDA has decided to make an "intercept" the objective of the next integrated flight test of its ground-based missile defense system.
Despite a relatively flat market in the past few years, there is optimism within the U.S. and European commercial rotary wing industries that the 2005 economic climate will favor increased utilization of vertical lift assets and stronger sales of new aircraft.
The National Security Agency and others involved in military and intelligence space projects are initiating several programs to improve "information assurance." But industry officials caution that hurdles loom in designing new cryptographic gear and radiation-hardened electronics and that these could complicate development of future spacecraft.
After 20 years of trying, NASA still has not produced a method for in-orbit repair of damage to the reinforced carbon composite (RCC) wing leading-edge box on the space shuttle. The obvious solution has never been mentioned: provide redundant secondary thermal protection inside the box.
Michael A. Taverna and Pierre Sparaco (Paris), Andy Nativi (Rome)
A long-awaited agreement to merge the space businesses of Alcatel and Finmeccanica will create a global force in end-to-end satellite telecom solutions, and ensure a credible alternative source for institutional buyers in Europe and abroad.
Spanish air force pilots soon will begin flying the country's first EF-18 with mid-life upgrades. Officials on Feb. 2 took the first delivery of what eventually will be 67 aircraft upgraded by EADS Military Aircraft facilities in Spain. The attack aircraft will be stationed with the 12th and 15th Wings at Torrejon and Zaragoza Air Bases. The 186-million-euro ($242-million) package is designed to allow Spain more interoperability with allied forces during international missions.
France has selected EADS and its Astrium unit to build an experimental ground-based electromagnetic intelligence system. The nearly 80-million-euro system, dubbed Picaros and intended to pick up long-range radar signals, is to be ready by 2008-09. An award for a space-based elint demonstrator is expected in the next few months as part of a buildup to an operational system later in the decade.
Researchers at the National Space Biomedical Research Institute in Houston are developing a lightweight ultrasound scanner with a software package that provides tissue and bone images clear enough for flight surgeons to monitor bone loss in space. Called the Scanning Confocal Acoustic Diagnostic (SCAD) system, the device will be able to transmit images to the ground for analysis of bone loss and stiffness and for diagnosis of injuries. Humans lose 1-2% of bone mass a month in microgravity, leaving them at greater risk of fracture.
