Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman have each received $1.5- million contracts from the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency for work on the unmanned combat armed rotorcraft. The money will keep the teams working while Darpa and the Army sort out plans for the next phase of the program. The Army wants to stop funding UCAR, but Pentagon officials are expected to overrule the service.
The disagreement between Boeing and Airbus about the balance of the flagship airliner market during the next few decades has been well publicized and although the numbers have changed moderately during the past year or so, the difference of opinion between the world's two suppliers of front-line airliners has been predictable. Boeing claims the major market is for aircraft of the 7E7 size; Airbus aims to follow the historical trend--that each new front-line aircraft generation, in this case the A380, must be significantly larger than its predecessor.
The Pentagon should consider adding a second Small-Diameter Bomb supplier and it needs to focus more on establishing technology leadership in hypersonic weapons propulsion. These are among the findings of a new Pentagon industry base assessment.
Scott Fera has been promoted to vice president from managing director of worldwide sales and Greg Wedding to vice president-personnel development from manager of the Savannah (Ga.) Learning Center for New York-based FlightSafety International. Wedding has been succeeded by Jim Dolle, who was promoted from assistant manager in Savannah.
Germany has flown its first production single-seat Eurofighter. The aircraft, designated GS002, is intended to validate the Eurofighter's automatic low-speed recovery system, which is designed to prevent departure from controlled flight at very low speeds and high angles of attack.
Sam B. Williams and the late Elmer Hansen have been inducted into Seattle-based Museum of Flight's Pathfinder Hall of Fame. The annual Pathfinder Award recognizes individuals with ties to the Pacific Northwest who have made contributions to the development of aviation or aerospace. Williams was recognized as "the unrivaled pioneer of small, efficient gas-turbine engines. His work has made both the modern cruise missile and the light business jet possible." Hansen, a Seattle-area flight instructor, was honored for mentoring generations of Northwest U.S.
DNW, a Dutch-German wind tunnel venture, says it has concluded high-speed testing of China's ARJ21 regional jet. Tests on a 1:20-scale model in Amsterdam were performed on a wide attitude and speed range throughout the flight envelope, examining both Mach and Reynolds number effects. Qualitative flow visualization and sting interference evaluations also were run, according to DNW, which worked on the Embraer 170/190 regional jet program.
The fourth pre-production Cessna Citation CJ3 business jet flies over northern Oklahoma. Cessna has given the CJ3 an advanced, fully integrated avionic suite, a larger cabin and more powerful engines. The airplane flies farther, higher and faster than any of the company's entry-level airplanes and is a logical next step up for owners of smaller jets. Paul Bowen photo.
Airbus' efforts to snag an A380 order from China last month were nixed by the Europeans' failure to cement more cordial relations with Beijing. But a deal is now anticipated by mid-2005. Looking to consolidate its position, Airbus also aims to attract China as a significant risk-sharing partner on a still unspecified future program. As a prelude to this, Airbus announced at Air Show China, held here Nov. 1-7, it is to set up an engineering research and development center in-country next year. The target is to have the center employ 200 engineers by 2008.
Sukhoi has completed preliminary design of its fifth-generation fighter, officially known as the PAK FA. According to company sources, the Russian air force is reviewing the project and by the end of the year will decide whether to start full-scale development of a flight prototype.
Network-centric warfare has now taken on enough form that its connections to virtually every aspect of the military are becoming apparent. In this second installment on advancements in network centricity, we consider some of its influences on the development of new, high-volume communications schemes and improved signals intelligence. In addition, there is a look at an alternative platform--the blimp--that combines endurance, large payloads and lots of room for dispersal of antenna arrays, all crucial requirements for net-centric operations. (See part one, Oct. 25, p.
The Navy will make a final decision in December about whether to formally join the Army's Aerial Common Sensor (ACS) aircraft program to produce a replacement for its aged, overweight EP-3 intelligence-gathering aircraft. Navy officials say the service has invested too much to back out of the deal now. However, Boeing is continuing to plan for an electronic intelligence version of its new Multirole Maritime Aircraft, a program expansion that would increase the 108-150-aircraft production run planned to replace 180 standard P-3s.
Phillip Cavallo asked why the "Corona" recovery system was not used on Genesis (AW&ST Oct. 11, p. 12). I was design engineer on the JC-130B aerial recovery system, project engineer on the CH-37, CH3-C and CH-53C mid-air recovery systems (MARS) and manager of aerial recovery systems at the All American Engineering Co. (AAE) from 1969 until retirement in 1991. I was also consultant through Vertigo Inc., the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Lockheed Martin to NASA for the Genesis recovery program, as related to the helicopter/parafoil subsystem.
Arthur F. McMahon has been named vice president-marketing for Aerospace Composite Structures, based at New York John F. Kennedy International Airport. He has been executive director of Terminal One Management at JFK and an aviation consultant with Airline Capital Associates.
The Pentagon is coming to realize that it remains extremely difficult for small companies to become players in the defense business. The Defense Dept.'s industrial policy organization has taken a second look at several companies it identified previously as potential sources of interesting technology that are outside the military supplier base. The findings are mixed. Eight of 24 such firms increased revenue 131% and employment 34% in the past two years. But 86% of the revenue increase was generated through commercial and other non-defense business.
The size of the U.S. military aircraft market in Fiscal 2006 is very much in flux, according to a new assessment by the Government Electronics and Information Technology Assn. A low-ball estimate puts spending at $45 billion, but GEIA's annual 10-year forecast also sees $9 billion in upside potential. Either way, the association's survey finds "there will be significant growth in aircraft programs in the next five years," according to GEIA President Dan Heinemeier.
Study of the carbon isotope C-14 in ancient tree trunks for evidence of past solar activity reveals the Sun has been more active during the past 60 years than in the preceding 8,000. A group led by Germany's Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research analyzed C-14 in buried tree trunks dating back to the end of the last ice age some 11,400 years ago, producing the blue curve on the graph (above, center). The red curve represents observed sunspot activity since 1610.
The FAA needs to streamline its air traffic control operations to trim rising costs, and may have to discontinue some legacy services to avoid a funding shortfall, according to FAA and industry officials. Trimming expenses and redundancies alone may not be able to close the gap on a looming shortfall in money. But if it comes down to tough choices on which services to discontinue, it's unclear what process the FAA will follow and how it will reconcile the competing needs of various users.
USAF will almost certainly be forced into a competition for its KC-135 tanker replacement program, industry officials say. Congress killed the idea of leasing up to 100 Boeing 767 tankers, but members from both sides had different interpretations of the road ahead. House supporters of a 767 acquisition argue that the service can simply award a contract; no competition is needed. Not so, say senior members of the Senate Armed Services Committee. Industry officials close to Boeing expect the Pentagon to choose the competition route--USAF remains silent on the issue.
It's amazing to see the different attitudes and cultures at Southwest Airlines versus the legacy airlines. I have friends who fly for America West, United, American and Southwest. You can easily tell who flies for which airline within 2 min. of meeting them.
The Faster, Better, Cheaper (FBC) mantra has caused the U.S. to lose the lead in building reliable national security satellite payloads, as well as manned space and major science/interplanetary payloads that affect national prestige and security. This happened because U.S. leaders in the early 1990s switched to a global mindset that put free trade and cheap products as national priorities over "Made in the U.S.A." and U.S. national security.
EADS' revenues in the first nine months of this year increased 16% to 21.4 billion euros ($27.4 billion). Earnings before interest, taxes and exceptionals soared 39% to 2.61 billion euros, and net profit rose to 597 million euros, up from 242 million euros last year. Airbus posted 1.38 billion euros in earnings on 14.4 billion euros in revenues.
E.J. Callaghan's comments that physicians haven't lost 30-50% of their incomes in the past few years means he doesn't follow health care much (AW&ST Oct. 11, p. 14).
Committing its early-2005 deliveries of Boeing 737-700 airplanes, Southwest Airlines will boost its service at Chicago Midway Airport by adding 16 nonstop round trips per day to 13 of its existing destinations. Responding to ATA Airlines' Chapter 11 filing and AirTran Airways' deal to acquire ATA's gates at Midway (AW&ST Nov. 1, p. 24), Southwest will add two flights per day to three points--Orlando, Fort Lauderdale and Manchester (N.H.), and one per day to Las Vegas, Raleigh-Durham, Tampa, Los Angeles, Oakland, Phoenix, Seattle, Providence, Philadelphia and Columbus.
Gen. Ralph (Ed) Eberhart was expected to transfer leadership of the North American Aerospace Defense Command (Norad) and U.S. Northern Command (Northcom) to Adm. Timothy Keating on Nov. 5. Keating is the first non-U.S. Air Force commander of the binational Norad and only the second officer to head Northcom, which was created after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Eberhart plans to retire later this year.
