The U.S. and U.K. have agreed to assist each other on homeland security science and technology projects by cooperating on the development, testing and evaluation of technologies, sharing capabilities and experts, developing threat assessments and working on best practices.
LOCKHEED MARTIN HAS ADDED A NIGHT VISION goggle feature to F-16 mission training centers it produces for the U.S. Air Force, and the new equipment has passed a critical design review. The NVG simulation capability provides pilots with night sensory and visual cue training in goggles fitted with an NVG channel that correlates with the cockpit visual scene. The hardware and sensor system package was developed under a $3.7-million USAF contract in which Lockheed Martin teamed with MultiGen-Paradigm and Silicon Graphics. The NVG training capability is in use at U.S.
Legacy U.S. airlines have embarked on a solid recovery--at least on Wall Street. Their stocks have seen a nice bounce in recent weeks, wiping out some of the losses that decimated prices earlier in the year. But investors beware: Analysts caution that the industry's woes are far from over.
Surging government spending on defense and anti-terrorism efforts pumped up U.S. aerospace sales by an estimated $12 billion this year, and the civil aircraft market is poised on a recovery that should drive similar growth in 2005, according to the Aerospace Industries Assn.
In keeping with the "transformation" of NASA to carry out President Bush's exploration plans, the NASA Advisory Council (NAC) is being transformed into an outside advisory organization like the one the Pentagon uses. Henceforth the panel will be split into sub-panels for policy and for science and technology, on the model of the Defense Policy and Defense Science boards, which advise the secretary of Defense on what to do and how to do it. Each NASA panel will have its own chairman, one of whom will chair the overall NAC while the other waits in the wings to take over.
Representatives of 27 European Union members and the European Space Agency will meet this spring to set down governance principles for the joint Space Council that will define a common European space program. The meeting also will draw up program priorities and industrial principles. The council, created under the EU Constitutional Treaty signed on Oct. 29, met for the first time on Nov. 25 and plans to have a blueprint ready by the end of next year.
General Electric's Boeing 747 served as the testbed for the first flight of the GE/Pratt & Whitney Engine Alliance's GP7200, which is mounted inboard on the left wing. The engine is on track for certification in 2005 and for powering the first flight of the Airbus A380 in November.
Raytheon has received a $158-million contract for continued production of the new, high off-boresight AIM-9X air-to-air missile. The order involves 442 tactical missiles, 153 training missiles and support equipment.
The British Defense Ministry wants to take steps to assure it can certify software on the Joint Strike Fighter and declare the system operationally safe once it is delivered, avoiding problems that have kept new Chinooks effectively grounded in the U.K.
Virgin Atlantic is beginning to flesh out its strategy for pushing into the Asia-Pacific market on the strength of substantial fleet growth. It plans to expand routes and has ambitions either to partner with regional carriers or launch further low-cost airline subsidiaries.
The demise on Dec. 5 of Poland's Air Polonia confirms that the European low-fare carrier's excess capacity could lead to multiple bankruptcies and consolidation initiatives. The Warsaw-based airline, which was serving Western European points such as London, Paris and Rome with Boeing 737-300/400s, was undercapitalized and could not find new investors. Its failure affects an estimated 50,000 travelers who had booked seats for the next several months.
Mark Niehaus (see photo) has become general manager of Stevens Aviation's Denver service center. He was director of service sales support and engine programs for Bombardier Business Aviation Services.
Newark Liberty International Airport will undergo a major expansion to accommodate a projected 40% increase in passengers who are expected to use the facility by 2021. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey approved nearly $280 million to modernize Terminal B and related facilities so passengers can be screened and baggage handled more efficiently. Planning and design work will begin in 2005.
GE Infrastructure, a unit of General Electric Co., has completed its acquisition of InVision Technologies Inc., one of two suppliers of Transportation Security Administration-certified explosives detection systems to screen checked bags at U.S. airports.
A Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. High-Resolution Imaging Experiment (HiRISE) camera will begin mission-scenario testing following its delivery to Lockheed Martin Space Systems in Denver last week. The camera is part of a six-instrument suite to be integrated into the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO), which is now scheduled for an August 2005 launch.
The first of several key reports is now complete, and soon to be followed by others that should allow Pentagon leaders to repair the U.S. Air Force tanker program and other tainted acquisitions. But industry officials warn areas remain where future acquisition abuses can fester.
Singapore Defense Minister Rear Adm. Teo Chee Hean has inaugurated Changi Air Base (East), a 494-acre extension to existing facilities, to house the 145th Sqdn.'s F-16D Block 52+ aircraft. He says the new area provides better access to training grounds over the South China Sea.
LUFTHANSA SYSTEMS GROUP MANAGING DIRECTOR Gunter Kuchler says route planning systems such as Lido Operation Center could help airlines save billions of dollars in fuel costs. Lido OC covers all aspects of flight planning and uses state-of-the-art processes for calculating optimum routes for saving fuel while also cutting costs linked to flight time, ATC charges and dispatch personnel. A Lufthansa Systems simulation of an intercontinental flight showed 1,230 euros ($1,636) in total savings per leg, including 450 euros in fuel.
Reversing the F-15's course with a tight turn, the Pacific Air Forces team's flight lead looked across the width of the 85-mi. air combat range and with his advanced radar--one of only 18 in the Pentagon's entire arsenal--saw two aggressor aircraft racing down its far western boundary.
Years of controversy over who gets to serve Linate Airport, located 6 mi. from Milan's city center, and who is relegated to Malpensa Airport 29 mi. away, is kicking up more dust. American Airlines and United Airlines are asking the U.S. Transportation Dept. to bar Alitalia from operating service to or from the U.S. that involves Linate because the Italian government has turned down their bids to serve the airport in code shares with European alliance partners. Alitalia operates on its own between Linate and the U.S.
European astronaut Andrew Kuipers (shown in Russian Orlan spacesuit) spent 3-hr. underwater, testing the Weightless Environment Test (WET) model of the European Robotic Arm, intended for installation on the Russian side of the International Space Station. Kuipers and Russian diver Dmitry Verba dismantled and reassembled the WET model in the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center's neutral buoyancy tank near Moscow.
The Pentagon is wrestling with how to assure its long-term supply of computer chips. Production increasingly is shifting to China and acting acquisition chief Michael Wynne notes that China has offered considerable tax breaks to attract chip foundries. Even as the Defense Dept. asks the Commerce Dept. to look at the issue, the military wants to take steps to assure its supply. Another problem for the military is that its demands are dwarfed by commercial industry.
India and Russia reportedly are continuing to discuss the transfer of a handful of Tupolev Tu-22M Backfire C bomber aircraft, according to press reports.
Astronaut Eileen Collins and Charles Elachi, director of the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, are among the 2004 Fellows of the Springfield, Va.-based American Astronautical Society. The others are: Paul Cefola of the Massachuetts Institute of Technology; Margaret Finarelli of the International Space University; Frederick Hauck of AXA Space; John Klineberg, formerly of Space Systems/Loral; Arun Misra of McGill University; Roald Sagdeev of the University of Maryland; astrodynamicist Malcolm Shuster; W.
