The Pentagon recorded $13.5 billion in foreign military sales in Fiscal 2004, reaching the goal the Defense Security Cooperation Agency set for itself even though one anticipated deal, the sale of E-2C Hawkeyes to the United Arab Emirates, has failed to materialize. The agency hopes to achieve $13.8 billion in FMS accords this fiscal year.
Martin-Baker and Goodrich are squaring off in a USAF competition to deliver several hundred ejection seats under the T-38C upgrade project. Contract award is planned by July 2005. The new seat is supposed to accommodate a wider range of pilots and provide higher degrees of protection.
As flight testing of the YAL-1A Airborne Laser system resumes, pilots and engineers expect to see significant improvements in airflow around a new nose turret (AW&ST Nov. 22, p. 29). The ball-like turret points a high-energy laser beam at an ascending missile target, but the turret's shape disturbs airflow aft of the aircraft's nose (see photo).
Lufthansa Systems is poised to become a serious competitor in the market for air navigation charts as it works to complete a global electronic database being used initially to print paper products for a few airlines.
The Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace has filed a complaint with the U.S. National Labor Relations Board over the wording of an article that appeared in the current issue of Boeing Frontiers magazine. The article refers to cash bonuses offered under Boeing's Employee Incentive Plan to non-union employees. In an NLRB settlement in August, Boeing agreed not to refer to non-union employees when mentioning the EIP because union members can join the program as part of the collective bargaining process.
Rainbow Media, the satellite division of Cablevision System Corp., said it will buy five K a-band satellites from Lockheed Martin in a follow-on deal to its purchase of the Rainbow-1 HDTV spacecraft launched last year. Based on Lockheed Martin's A-2100 spacecraft bus, the first of the five K a-band spacecraft will be launched in the final quarter of 2007. Ultimately, the satellites will be located at 62 deg. W. Long., 71 W., 77 W., 119 W. and 129 W., to provide more than 5,000 high-definition channels through Rainbow's VOOM satellite service.
Lockheed Martin has won a $112.3-million contract from the U.S. Air Force to build 288 Lot 4 AGM-158 Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missiles. They are being paired with a new line of stealthy weapons pylons for carriage on aircraft such as the F/A-22 and FB-22.
Michael Cirillo (see photo) has been named vice president-system operations for the FAA's Air Traffic Organization. He succeeds Linda Schuessler, who has retired. Cirillo was director of terminal safety and operations support for FAA Terminal Services.
Centrair, the new Nagoya International Airport due to open in February, has told the International Air Transport Assn. (IATA) that typical landing fees for a Boeing 747-class transport will be $6,366. Centrair responded to an IATA request to lower its initial $6,750 rate in view of high fuel prices. That 6% discount compares to $9,223 at Tokyo's Narita International Airport and $8,058 at Osaka's Kansai International Airport. Centrair won't replace Narita as Japan's primary gateway, but it could knock Kansai out of the No.
The outriders have skirmished, the larger force has taken minor casualties, and the battle is developing slowly. The six airlines seeking antitrust immunity (ATI) for an enlarged U.S.-Europe portion of the SkyTeam global alliance lost out on their argument that the application is a routine matter involving airlines from countries with which the U.S. has open skies aviation agreements.
Boeing has delivered its seventh C-40A Clipper, a combination transport and passenger design, to the U.S. Navy Reserve. The 737-700-based aircraft offers superior performance and range to the C-9Bs it is to replace.
Andris Zvejnieks has become director of corporate communications at SAS Scandinavian Airlines Sweden. He held the same position at IBM Svenska. Timothy Pfeil has been appointed sales manager for North America for SAS Cargo. He succeeds Howard Jones, who has resigned. Pfeil has held a similar position at Lufthansa Cargo.
The Air France-KLM group's revenues in the first half of the 2004-05 fiscal year increased a healthy 9.1% to 9.6 billion euros ($12.4 billion) while operating profit doubled to 451 million euros. Passenger traffic increased 11.6% and yields remained unchanged.
Air Berlin seems poised to become Europe's third-largest low-fare airline along with Ryanair and EasyJet, after the company placed a massive 110-aircraft order to replace and expand its current fleet.
The fourth prototype PV-II "Tejas," India's indigenous light combat aircraft (LCA) designed and developed by the Aeronautical Development Agency, will fly by February 2005, a senior official says. He indicated all four will be flown during Aero India at Bangalore (Feb. 9-13, 2005). The tailless, delta-wing, fly-by-wire Tejas is being tested with a General Electric GE-404, eventually to be replaced by the indigenous Kaveri engine, being built by the Defense Research Development Organization. The first 10-20 LCAs will be fitted with GE-404s, he indicated.
The omnibus spending bills Congress passes as a last-ditch measure at the end of the fiscal year are notorious for being padded by special interests. But some Bush administration-desired weapons projects didn't make the cut as Congress completed its work earlier this month. No money was provided in the Energy Dept.'s budget for the robust nuclear earth penetrator. Also left bereft is research for advanced nuclear weapon concepts.
The advent of highly integrated aircraft and weapon systems has flight test professionals scrambling to devise new evaluation techniques in the midst of complex development programs. This new era's challenges have proven to be far more demanding than anticipated about a decade ago, when tightly integrated systems started to appear. Consequently, programs have suffered from steep learning curves.
Taiwan's EVA Air has added another Airbus A330-200 to its current commitment for 10 of the aircraft type, eight of which are to be leased from GE Capital Aviation Services and two purchased directly from Airbus.
I have been following the AA587 crash controversy with amazement but am largely satisfied with the investigation outcome. Fifty years ago, on Tiger Moth, we used and abused the rudder because it was built to be flown that way. From the DC-3 onward, however, we were taught never to use full rudder except on an engine-fail at V r and never to reverse it without a stop at neutral, letting the yaw settle. On early Boeing 707s, we were shown that riding it and not fighting it was the answer.
The difficulty of replicating the electronic environment flight crews are likely to face on a future battlefield is leading to more testing in sophisticated ground facilities. However, simulators, systems integration labs, hardware-in-the-loop benches and anechoic chambers must accurately emulate threat systems test aircraft subsequently encounter during flights on open-air ranges.
World News Roundup 20 Spain selects Taurus, boosts missile's chances in Australia 21 Second terminal gives ANA and JAL separate facilities at Haneda 22 Air France-KLM group's revenues 9.1% in first half of fiscal year World News & Analysis 26 USAF weighing four designs for inter- im strike capability to augment B-2 30 USAF shows how bombers find, destroy maritime targets 31 Aerial Common Sensor presents Army with promise and hurdles
U.S. Air Force heavy bomber crews are demonstrating they can use precision weapons and triangulated radar pictures to identify and strike moving ships at standoff ranges. Operation Resultant Fury, being held on the Pacific Missile Range off Hawaii, is designed to show the service's reinvigoration of the heavy bomber force's ability to be a major weapon for finding and striking maritime targets in the Pacific region.
Independence Air, beset with monetary woes, last week went ahead with its planned launch of Airbus A319 service, offering daily nonstop service from its hub at Washington Dulles International Airport to Tampa and Orlando, Fla. On Feb. 1, it plans to add similar service to West Palm Beach, Fla. In June, Independence changed its identify from regional airline Atlantic Coast Airlines to that of a low-fare carrier, operating a fleet of Canadair Regional Jets. The carrier's initial plan was to add A319s to the fleet as service expanded across the U.S.
Northwest has exercised 10 of its 175 CRJ200 regional jet options, increasing its CRJ fleet to 139 aircraft, of which 109 have been delivered, says manufac-turer Bombardier. The CRJ200s will be operated by Pinnacle Airlines.
Bigelow Aerospace has passed additional milestones en route to the flight test of unmanned, subscale versions of its planned Nautilus inflatable manned space station modules. The FAA's Office of Commercial Space Transportation has given the Las Vegas-based company approval for its plan to launch one-third scale Genesis inflatable modules on the SpaceX Falcon V U.S. commercial vehicle or the Russian Dnepr, a commercial version of the SS-18 ballistic missile. The first of two planned flights would be in late 2005.
