Wide-ranging applications of security systems are playing a key role in Sagem's strategy. For example, it is developing a gate-to-gate airport security system and, with Airbus, considering embedded biometrics.
The consolidation of air and marine operations from the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) unit and the Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has created the largest air element in the U.S. Homeland Security Dept., according to a department official. ICE's Air and Marine Office has 42 helicopters and 92 fixed-wing aircraft that will be combined in one organization with CBP's 84 helicopters and 36 fixed-wing aircraft. The combined fleet of 254 aircraft is 25% larger than that of the other Homeland Security aviation organization, the U.S. Coast Guard.
Growing concerns for preserving the integrity of pharmaceutical products has generated interest in the KelvinBox--a specialized air cargo container that protects shipments from temperature extremes for up to seven days. Aerospace Composite Structures and Kelvin Technologies Inc. recently introduced the LD-3-sized container at the Pharma IQ Cold Chain Distribution meeting in Philadelphia. The unit uses composite honeycomb construction and is equipped with a device that controls heating and cooling within ±2C, even when temperatures fall to -30C or rise to 55C.
Chinese airpower is in the midst of a difficult transformation as its military attempts to modernize. Part of this renewal involves buying foreign technology like Russia's Su-27 family of aircraft and SA-20 strategic surface-to-air missiles. A parallel, harder-to-track trend is the effort by China's defense industries to stretch themselves by developing more sophisticated indigenous aircraft and missiles. This is a key concept for revitalizing the nation's aging line of military exports, which--if successful--would help fund modernization.
Si Xian Min has been named president of China Southern Airlines. He succeeds Wang Chang Shun, who has resigned. Si was party secretary of China Northern Airlines.
You can now register ONLINE for Aviation Week Events. Go to www.AviationNow.com/conferences or call Lydia Janow at +1 (212) 904-3225/+1 (800) 240-7645 ext. 5 (U.S. and Canada Only) Nov. 16-17--A&D Programs. Biltmore Hotel, Phoenix. Feb. 16-17--World Aerospace Symposium/Toulouse. Pierre Baudis Toulouse Congress Center, Toulouse, France. Apr. 19-20--MRO Military Conference. Also, Apr. 20-21--MRO USA Conference & Exhibition. Gaylord Texan Resort & Convention Center, Dallas.
To cut fuel costs, Japan Airlines has begun taking delivery of cargo aircraft in a bare-aluminum finish, as did American Airlines. JAL received its first bare 747-400 freighter late last month. JAL calculates that such aircraft weigh about 150 kg. (330 lb.) less, which means an annual savings of 10,560 gal. of fuel.
The need to concentrate on recovery of the H-IIA launcher program has prompted the Japanese space agency JAXA to postpone the Astro E2 X-ray observatory mission until next year's summer launch season. It had been scheduled to fly on an M-5 rocket from the Uchinoura site at Kagoshima during the winter (January-February) season. While the M-5/Astro E2 flight is on hold, JAXA is preparing two separate hot-fire tests this month and in December of the H-IIA's strap-on solid motor.
U.S. crash investigators, criticizing American Airlines and Airbus for withholding important safety data, said both were partly responsible for the November 2001 crash of an American A300 in New York. The National Transportation Safety Board urged U.S. and French regulators to particularly consider changes that would prevent severe aircraft damage from the kind of rapid rudder movements that brought down Flight 587. The NTSB's recommendations also call for a review of such factors in approving future jetliner designs.
Kenneth J. Ringler, Jr., has been appointed executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. He succeeds Joseph J. Seymour, who has retired. Ringler was New York state commissioner of general services.
Range scheduling problems, along with weather concerns, also have forced a delay in the planned Mach 10 flight of NASA's X-43A hypersonic testbed, staging out of Dryden Flight Research Center, Calif. Originally set for Nov. 13, the flight has shifted to no earlier than Nov. 15, with a Nov. 16 fallback. The testbed and its modified Pegasus booster will be drop-launched from NASA's B-52B carrier aircraft.
As spacecraft continue to provide valuable data on the melting Arctic ice cap, use of Canadian satellite radar imaging data in Russia is expected to expand with a new agreement among Radarsat International (RSI), the Canadian Space Agency and Russia's Research and Development Center ScanEx. Under the deal, ScanEx will receive Radarsat-1 data at its Moscow ground station and process it for users it already serves as a commercial Radarsat data distributor in Russia and 12 other former Soviet republics. The Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute in St.
Air Berlin and Niki Luftfahrt, its Austrian partner, late last week jointly ordered 70 Airbus A320 twinjets to be equipped in a single-class, 174-seat cabin configuration. First delivery is scheduled for next September. The carriers optioned another 40 aircraft.
The first of three prototype L-15 advanced jet trainers is expected to fly before the end of next year. Chinese manufacturer Hongdu unveiled a full-scale mockup of its proposed L-15 at Air Show China (below). The layout of the Mach 1.4 twin-engine advanced jet trainer/light fighter has been modified considerably, reflecting a collaboration with Russia's Yakovlev.
Valerie I. Lang (see photos) has been promoted to principal director of the Systems Acquisition Support Subdivision at the El Segundo, Calif., headquarters of The Aerospace Corp. from systems director in the Systems Engineering Directorate. J. Bruce Chudoba was promoted to associate principal director in the Electronic Programs Div. in the Chantilly, Va., office, also from systems director in the Systems Engineering Directorate.
The blimp offers tempting advantages for intelligence-gathering by virtue of its persistence over the battlefield and ability to carry large payloads. Moreover, advocates of the technology say that if properly managed, an airship also can provide some degree of stealth through reduced sound, sight, infrared signature and reflectivity that might attract enemy antiaircraft fire.
Boeing has won a $20-million contract to develop and test the Massive Ordnance Penetrator under a Defense Threat Reduction Agency-funded program. The weapon is expected to be a roughly 30,000-lb. GPS-guided bomb aimed at destroying deeply buried targets.
Supporters of missile defense and nuclear and space weapon development are the Pentagon communities most at ease with President Bush's reelection and the strengthened Republican position in Congress. All three areas were seen as likely targets for funding cuts in a John Kerry administration. The biggest questions ahead center on increasing the size of the Army and Marine Corps.
A three-way battle is emerging in a potential radar upgrade for China's Sukhoi Su-27 and Su-30 combat aircraft, pitting domestic and Russian manufacturers against one another.
L-3 Communications Holdings continues its shopping spree, inking its third acquisition deal in three weeks. The New York-based defense electronics company agreed to acquire the Marine Controls division of Montreal-based CAE for $225 million (C$272 million) in cash and the assumption of $42 million in debt. The CAE unit specializes in integration of military shipboard control systems and posted revenue of $130 million in the fiscal year ended Mar. 31. The deal, subject to regulatory approvals, is expected to close by March 2005.
The planned launch of NASA's $95-million Demonstration of Autono- mous Rendezvous Technology (DART) spacecraft was postponed from Nov. 4 because of range-availability issues and solar activity above permissible levels for the mission. The Pegasus launch from Vandenberg AFB, Calif., was set for Nov. 9 at 1:07 p.m. EST. DART is designed to rendezvous with a target satellite and conduct completely autonomous proximity operations in its vicinity (AW&ST Oct. 25, p. 42).
At dawn on a December day in 1965, the USS Independence, the first Atlantic Fleet aircraft carrier to see combat in Vietnam, was steaming homeward off the U.S. East Coast. The aircraft of Air Wing Seven were poised for a mass "fly off," its aviators anxious to launch. A big welcoming ceremony awaited us at Naval Air Station (NAS) Oceana, Va.
Robert L. Crandall's plan in the article "Man With a Plan" left me incredulous (AW&ST Sept. 27, p. 45). Crandall attempts to save legacy airlines with a combination of government bailouts and special laws and regulations. He would change labor laws to "better balance the power of unions and management." Crandall would change laws/regulations to get "regulators willing to strictly enforce reasonable fiduciary rules." He would change "bankruptcy laws to incentivize success and penalize failure." He tries to equate user fees/taxes with sin levies.
Carol Fernandez and Lori Fox have become managers of government affairs for the Eastern Region and Mountain Region, respectively, for United Airlines. Fernandez was general manager of customer service at Ronald Reagan National Airport in Washington, while Fox was a senior associate at GBSM in Denver.
U.S. officials are closely studying what was displayed at the Zhuhai air show. They're looking for clues about what China is selling and buying, and how those transactions may change the makeup and tactics of its military forces.
