The Pentagon's undersecretary for intelligence, Steve Cambone, isn't in any rush to support "near-space" reconnaissance. Concepts for super-high-flying UAVs don't represent a major gap in military capability, he says, as much as "making airframes and sensor packages [in a] combination that allows for greater flexibility in changing out payloads . . . so that the effects we would like to have are easier to come by.
The Eurofighter type acceptance agreement for the Batch 2 Typhoons has cleared the way for fielding of the series-production single-seat aircraft to Germany, Italy, Spain and the U.K. (see box, right). The aircraft are cleared for operation with the self-protection Defensive Aids Sub-System and the Multiple Information Distribution System datalink.
United Airlines faces default on the loans it is using for operating funds during its two-year-old bankruptcy proceeding unless pay and pension relief from employees kicks in by January, the carrier told the judge supervising its reorganization.
The Joint Planning and Development Office (JPDO) blueprint for transforming the U.S. air transportation system by 2025 will be delivered to Congress by year's end, but how it will be financed remains in question. The JPDO is being run on a $10-million budget during the current fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30, 2005. This is chicken feed as federal spending goes, and the JPDO has no authority to ask Congress for the billions of dollars a makeover of the ATC system will require.
Orbital Sciences Corp. tested the GQM-163A Coyote supersonic sea-skimming target for the third time Dec. 14, achieving primary test objectives in a rail-launched flight from the Pt. Mugu range in California.
The A350's launch could provide a new opportunity for Italy to increase its share in Airbus transports. Finmeccanica/Alenia Aeronautica is angling for a significant share in the proposed program. The aerospace/defense group could invest up to 400 million euros ($532 million) to obtain work packages for up to 10% of the long-range twinjet.
"Sweep and Smoke, Turn and Burn, Rock and Roll" RICHARD ALLISON "Cub" TOM ANDERSON "Century of Powered Flight" ROBERT McCALL "1910 Dominguez Air Show" PHIL WEISGERBER "Lighting the Candle" BARRY BICHLER "Air Show Air Force One" ARDELL BOURGEOIS "Global Express" ROSS BUCKLAND "Focused" PAUL BURROWS "Loaded for Bear Under the Sea & in the Air" HANK CARUSO "Mogadishu, Somalia-1993" GIL COHEN "No Quarry Today" DOMENIC DeNARDO "Holy Lands" JIM DIETZ
F-16C from South Dakota ANG's 114th FW releases flares as it climbs during an air-to-air training sortie. --Jim Haseltine, Omaha, Neb. NASA pilots Frank Frank Batteas and Jim Smolka fly a C-17 over the NASA Dryden Flight Research Center. --Jim Ross, California City, Calif. Wing Cdr. Ron Thacker of Royal New Zealand Air Force Sqdn. 3 leads his Iriquois formation over Lake Wanaka. --Mike Jorgensen, Carterton, England Finnish Air Force BAE Hawk flies on a combat training mission.
A new White House policy on U.S. Space-Based Position, Navigation and Timing commits the government to maintaining the Global Positioning System as the premier service even in the face of growing competition from the likes of Europe's future Galileo system.
Alcoa Howmet Castings and GE Transportation have agreed to a new set of turbine blade inspections as a result of a determination that an older-design blade was mistakenly packaged with new-configuration turbine blades sent to GE for final processing. The G11 blade, the initial design for the GE90's second-stage, high-pressure turbine, is suspect in a fire that occurred in the left engine of a British Airways Boeing 777 on takeoff Aug. 11 at Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston. The crew declared an emergency and returned for an overweight landing.
By many measures, EADS has a bright future. Its Airbus commercial aircraft business, which accounts for about 80% of revenue, will surpass rival Boeing Co. in deliveries for the second straight year. EADS and minority Airbus owner BAE Systems have just given the go-ahead to offer the long-range A350 twinjet to counter Boeing's new 7E7 jetliner (see p. 20).
International Aviation Magazine of China held its photo contest this year, following an Aviation Week & Space Technology tradition. The Beijing-based magazine has been a joint venture partner with The McGraw-Hill Companies for a number of years. Over the beach. --Luo Chongxian F-7MG at night. -- Li Yong, Chengdu Aircraft Industry Ltd. Spacecraft in wind tunnel. --Wang Qi Shenzhou No.5 after launch. --Qiao Tianfu British UB Air display at Airshow China 2004.
South Africa has concluded a declaration of intent to become the first non-European partner in the Airbus A400M airlifter program. The 8-14 aircraft deal must be completed within three months. Proposed purchases by Norway and Malaysia for up to six aircraft each are also in discussion.
Eumetsat says its second next-generation geostationary Earth orbit weather satellite, Meteosat 9 (formerly MSG-2), will be launched on an Ariane booster in June 2005. The organization's first polar spacecraft, Metop-1, will be orbited in April 2006 by a Soyuz launcher from Baikonur, Kazakhstan.
Astronaut Mike Melvill pilots "The White Night" carrier aircraft in a low-altitude pass to celebrate the Oct. 4 landing of Brian Binnie and SpaceShipOne. Melvill was the pilot of the Sept. 29 SpaceShipOne flight. --Don Ramey Logan, Jr.
Dubai-based Emirates has ordered three A310-300Fs--becoming the launch customer for Airbus freighters with side-by-side loading capability of 96 X 125-in. pallets. The aircraft are scheduled to be delivered between July 2005 and January 2006.
ATA Airlines chose an asset bid from Southwest Airlines over an offer from AirTran Airways as part of its bankruptcy restructuring. The $117-million deal, subject to U.S. Bankruptcy Court approval at a hearing set for Dec. 21, would bring ATA $80 million in cash at closing--$40 million for rights to lease six of ATA's 14 gates at Chicago Midway Airport and $40 million in additional debtor-in-possession financing for ATA's operations in bankruptcy.
European industry executives believe the proposed Airbus A350 long-range twinjet has already won its first marketing battle by slowing initial sales of Boeing's 7E7. The U.S. manufacturer fell short of its 200-by-year-end goal.
