A National Academies panel says the Hubble Space Telescope is too valuable for gambling on a long-shot robotic mission to extend its service life, and urges NASA to slot in a space shuttle mission to do the job instead.
Rumsfeld is coy about how long into President Bush's second term he plans to stay. "I'm not going to get into this staying long," he says. "I have good health, I don't have young children. I'm able to do this, as a lot of people aren't able to do it. So, here I go." Some senior Air Force officials predict that Rumsfeld will stay as little as one more year. One reason is that it would be hard to find a high-quality replacement for only a two-year assignment. Another is that the battle over tanker replacement that began between Air Force Secretary James Roche and Sen.
The Airborne Laser's return to flight was cut short earlier this month because of a faulty pressure reading on aircraft instrumentation. The aircraft flew for the first time since December 2002. The Dec. 3 flight from Edwards AFB, Calif., lasted only 22 min. owing to the anomaly, which has been fixed. Late last week, ABL was expected to resume flight testing soon.
After two trips to the Moon and four Earth-orbit missions, Navy Capt. (ret.) John W. Young, 74, NASA's longest-serving astronaut, is retiring from the agency this month. He was honored last week at the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum for his 40+ years of service, which included a career-long aggressive emphasis on flight safety. Young was the first of the second group of U.S.
Clashing political and military imperatives are confounding South Africa's efforts to select a short-range air-to-air missile for its Gripen fighter aircraft. The Defense Ministry is now looking at a straight choice between the German-led IRIS-T and South African missile maker Denel Aerospace's Agile-Darter. But there's growing concern among some in industry that a decision will be pushed back several years because of a lack of funds and different views within the government on how to proceed.
The U.S. Air Force is buying too many of the enlarged RQ-4B Global Hawk unmanned surveillance aircraft before development is complete, warns the Government Accountability Office. GAO notes that development is behind schedule, which USAF attributes to the operational use of Global Hawk.
As Boeing loses ground to Airbus in orders and deliveries, CEO Harry Stonecipher has called in a veteran executive to "strengthen and improve our global sales effectiveness." But Scott Carson, the new top salesman at Boeing Commercial Airplanes, will face a continuing challenge: how to make money selling aircraft against an aggressive, market-share-dominated competitor.
A top management reshuffling is being envisioned by EADS and Airbus in the midst of a Franco-German controversy. Airbus Chief Executive Noel Forgeard is campaigning to replace EADS Co-CEO Philippe Camus. Rainer Hertrich, EADS' German co-CEO, criticizes French political interference and says he will refuse to be reappointed in mid-2005. Hertrich is expected to be succeeded by Thomas Enders, head of EADS Defense & Security Systems Div.
Lockheed Martin has gathered in $112 million for the first full-rate production batch (Lot 4) of 288 stealthy Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missiles. The last of the Lot 2 missiles will be delivered this month. Lot 3 delivery will begin in January. USAF expects to buy 4,900 Jassms, while the Navy will opt for 450. The additional production was needed to restock inventories depleted by military operations.
European Union member states, for now, are holding off on lifting the arms embargo against China, but they're looking for ways to make the policy switch while minimizing the backlash from Washington. On Dec. 8, an EU-China political summit failed to forge an agreement on the highly sensitive case. European officials stressed that they're "not ready" to lift the ban immediately. The EU nevertheless hopes to devise a strategy to resolve the issue without worsening relations with the U.S., which remains sharply opposed to the envisioned move.
Fernando Pinto has been elected president of the Assn. of European Airlines. He is chief executive of TAP Air Portugal. Pinto succeeds Vagn Soerensen, who is chairman/CEO of Austrian Airlines.
The Deep Impact probe will blast a crater in Comet Tempel-1 and analyze the resulting cloud of primordial material. Believed to be from the distant Oort Cloud, Tempel-1 should contribute to a growing body of science about the outer Solar System. A Saturn orbiter, a landing on Titan, and missions to Pluto and Jupiter will add volumes to the deep-space data bank. Uranus and Neptune also beckon, but the Bush administration has ambitious goals closer to Earth, and resources are limited (see p. 56). In this Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp.
The U.S. Transportation Dept. has authorized hundreds of low-fare seats per week in markets currently controlled by Northwest Airlines and American Airlines.
Goodrich Corp. has won its seventh 7E7 supplier contract, with Boeing choosing its Hella Aerospace Lighting Systems unit of Lippstadt, Germany, to provide runway turnoff, taxi, wing illumination, cargo handling and airline logo lights. This is the first application of Helas' High Intensity Discharge technology, which is designed to lower maintenance costs by stretching time between unscheduled repairs. Honeywell won a fourth 7E7 contract to provide navigation and anti-collision emergency lights using its Astreon light-emitting diodes.
There's a growing sense among industry executives that the Senate should move forward with the long-stalled confirmation of acting Pentagon acquisition chief Michael Wynne. His nomination has essentially been on hold as a result of the tanker controversy. Stuck with the "acting" title, Wynne can't do "coherent planning" and be effective, warns former Deputy Defense Secretary John Hamre, currently the president of the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
The European Aviation Safety Agency has granted FlightSafety International Part 147 certification for aircraft maintenance technician training programs. FSI is the first non-European-based training organization to win the approval. The program covers 12 training center facilities and is administered out of Cologne, Germany. The training encompasses business aviation, regional airlines and a few military aircraft.
Emirates has placed a $26-million order for full-flight simulators from CAE for its Boeing 777 and Airbus A320 fleets. The simulators will be installed in the spring of 2006 and are the 10th and 11th units ordered from CAE. They will be located in a 14-bay training center operated by Emirates and CAE Flight Training. The center already operates simulators for the Airbus A319/A320/A321 series, the A330/A340 and Boeing 737NG and the Boeing Business Jet.
Shimon Eckhaus has been appointed executive corporate vice president-marketing and business development and Menahem Shmul corporate vice president-quality management for Israel Aircraft Industries. Shmul has been corporate vice president/general manager of the Military Aircraft Group and been succeeded by Brig. Gen. (Res.) Miki Bar. David Dagan, who has been general manager of IAI's Lahav Div. within the Military Aircraft Group, has been named deputy general manager of IAI's Bedek Aviation Group and general manager of its Aircraft Div.
The J-10 fighter of the Chinese air force is indeed an Israeli Lavi design (AW&ST Nov. 8, p. 52). This Israel Aircraft Industries design was funded by U.S. taxpayer billions during the mid-1980s. Since Israel receives about $3 billion a year in U.S. aid, how odd that it can still sell military equipment and designs to a country that U.S. manufacturers are prohibited from contacting. U.S. taxpayers are due a refund from Israel, because it never made the Lavi but used our money to pay for the design and then sold it to the Chinese.
George S. Schairer, the Boeing aerodynamicist who was key to bringing about the swept wing in America, died Oct. 28 in Kirkland, Wash., of complications of Alzheimer's disease. He was 91. Schairer (right in photo of a prototype B-52 flutter model) joined Boeing in 1939 to head the aerodynamics staff and retired as vice president of research in 1978.
Flight test units are wringing out software upgrades to transport aircraft missile warning and countermeasures systems in record time, ensuring C-17 and C-130 crews can survive missile attacks in Iraq and Afghanistan. Tests conducted by units at Edwards AFB, Calif., verified changes on the C-17's AAR-47 missile warning system (MWS) and C-130J's AN/ALE-47 flare-countermeasures dispenser. The C-17's MWS pilot-vehicle interface was tested in three weeks instead of the normal 90 days. The C-130J upgrades improved flare-dispensing options.
Eiichiro Sekigawa (Tokyo), Robert Wall (Washington)
In an apparent break with a 52-year-old non-aggression policy, Japan's Defense Agency says it will begin work on a guidance system for a ballistic missile. Built for Japan's army, the proposed missile is expected to have a range of 200-300 km. (125-188 mi.), making it only a tactical ballistic vehicle. As such, it would not pose much of a threat to its most prominent likely target, North Korea's Taepo-Dong missile sites.
World News Roundup 18 Low-cost carriers taking on North- west, American for Cancun service 18 High-resolution camera to explore Martian surface in rover 19 First flight for GE/Pratt & Whitney GP7200 engine for A380 20 First of France's next-generation recon satellites set for launch 20 George Schairer dies, aerodynamicist who was key to swept wing in U.S. World News & Analysis 24 Shuttle's pace toward return faces orbital repair challenges
Virgin Atlantic Airways Chairman Richard Branson is appealing the U.K. Civil Aviation Authority's decision to grant the airline only 10 of the 21 new weekly flights to India (AW&ST Nov. 22, p. 17). Virgin was using three code-share flights with Air-India and received permission for daily service to New Delhi and three weekly flights to Mumbai, where it had sought to provide daily service. The airline failed to gain authority to serve Bangalore, which is highly desirable because it's India's software capital.
