Singapore Technologies Aerospace (STA) and China Eastern Airlines (CEA) have completed formation of a joint-venture overhaul and maintenance affiliate, Shanghai Technologies Aerospace Co. (Starco), they first discussed in 2003. Starco expects to take its first aircraft in at Shanghai's Hongqiao International Airport next month, when it is to receive approval to operate from the Civil Aviation Authority of China.
Inspector General says the Transportation Security Administration overpaid Boeing more than $49 million for installing thousands of explosives detection systems (EDS) in U.S. airports. The IG criticizes TSA for not following sound contracting policies. In fact, TSA apparently paid Boeing Services Co. $44 million in award fees without conducting performance reviews. The contract involved installation of 1,100 EDS and up to 6,000 explosives trace detection machines over a seven-month period. This was to meet a deadline of Dec.
Air Canada's first Airbus A340-500 cruises over the Toulouse region of southwest France on a pre-delivery flight. The carrier launched A340-500 service on Aug. 1, with daily nonstop flights from Toronto to Hong Kong (see p. 68). The airline has installed lie-flat seats in first-class cabin and personal video monitors at each economy-class seat of the ultra long-range jetliner. Airbus photo.
The U.S. military may have a huge advantage in weaponry in battling insurgents in Iraq, but when it comes to using cellular communications they are "at least as good as we," says Lt. Gen. William Wallace, commanding general of the Army Combined Arms Center and former commander of V Corps. Adversaries may actually be using networks more effectively to collaborate and to build hard-to-detect communications, he adds. Wallace believes others are probably monitoring to see what can be learned from these activities. The U.S. is learning on the fly as well.
American Express forecasts that global business travel will see a steady revival next year and that published prices for air travel and hotel lodgings will "rise incrementally." In its global business travel forecast, the company estimates the price for international business-class seats will rise 2-5% with the highest rate of growth of 4-5% occurring in the Asia-Pacific region versus 2-5% in North America and 2-4% in Europe. Low-cost carriers will continue to place a dampening effect on industry attempts to raise fares, however, according to the just released report.
It is increasingly apparent to Defense Dept. officials that there is a gaping hole in the Pentagon's aviation force structure. There are no light transports with sufficient power to lift cargo at high altitudes and with the rugged construction to survive the short, rough runways that dot Africa or South and Central Americas.
Northrop Grumman has snagged a $207.7-million contract to provide low- rate initial production of another Global Hawk RQ-4A unmanned reconnaissance aircraft with a basic integrated sensor suite, an additional two RQ-4B with signals intelligence and moving target indicator capability, a fourth aircraft with an enhanced integrated sensor suite and a clip-in hyperwide sensor. Also included is a mission control element, launch recovery element, spare basic integrated sensor suite and support equipment and spares.
Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi has initiated talks with the U.S. aimed at finding an inexpensive way to create more airport capacity for Tokyo. The immediate focus is the U.S. Air Force Yokota AB outside Tokyo. But the talks have wider implications, including reducing the footprint of U.S. military operations in Okinawa. For several years, Tokyo Mayor Shintaro Ishihara has proposed that Yokota be turned into a joint civil-military airport as a way to relieve traffic strain at Tokyo's Haneda airport, the nation's most important hub.
It bodes well that the NASA Langley Research Center will be working with the National Institute for Aviation Research (NIAR) to develop standards for composites used in aircraft (AW&ST Sept. 6, p. 15). But also desperately needed are recommendations for crucial testing methods to be used in manufacturing and maintenance.
The U.S. Navy and the Italian government are discussing potential cooperation on the next-generation anti-radar missile and extending a long-running relationship in this arena.
According to George Hamlin, the pedigree of being a former regulated airline has a direct correlation with bankruptcy. He notes that only three of 19 have not gone bankrupt. Having been a pilot for TWA, Eastern and United during the past 25 years, one might think I would agree. I do not.
The germinating Airbus-Boeing trade case reflects--and in a sense arises from--long-standing and growing differences between the companies on how intercontinental air travel will evolve in the early decades of the 21st century.
A simple nano-scale device developed by Sandia National Laboratories researchers can detect microscopic-level motion, opening the possibility of building extremely sensitive accelerometers and inertial navigation systems. The device capitalizes on a previously unrecognized property of optics: light diffracted by tiny gratings that move very small lateral distances prompt a relatively large, easily measured change in the reflection of bright light. The phenomenon enables a human eye to detect a 10-nanometer movement.
To compete or not to compete? The U.S. Air Force is considering its options when it comes to tanker-selection while also facing the delicate decision of how to deal with projects tainted by the guilty plea of a former acquisition official.
French defense officials have cautioned that plans developed by NATO ministers in Poiana Brasov, Romania, last week to expedite the deployment of instructors to Iraq should focus not just on the size of units committed, but on mission duration, funding and training goals. NATO members, including France, have agreed to send about 3,000 instructors to Iraq, 300 of them by year-end. French officials also say calls for integrating the NATO-led security mission in Afghanistan with the U.S.
A sweeping corporate tax overhaul passed by Congress will eliminate a controversial credit for exports, but critics say a slew of new tax breaks that lawmakers substituted in its place will keep hefty subsidies flowing to aerospace companies and other U.S. manufacturers.
All Nippon Airways and Japan Airlines will raise fares from Japan to Europe by 5% as of Jan. 15. That follows an agreement reached at an International Air Transport Assn. conference last month in Switzerland. Separately, the carriers say they expect to raise domestic fares soon to compensate for increasing fuel prices.
Space leaders in Europe, led by France, are recommending the launch of an expanded space imaging effort to ensure long-term viability of its military and commercial imagery capability. Concern over this matter has grown of late, with the emergence of the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency (NGIA) as a major bankroller of U.S. civil imaging companies, and the continuing stagnation of European military space expenditures, now estimated to be 20 times below U.S. levels.
Congress approved $5 billion for transportation security out of the $32 billion in discretionary funds appropriated for the Homeland Security Dept. for Fiscal 2005, which began Oct. 1. The department's allotment was $896 million more than President Bush's request and a $2.8-billion increase over the previous year's appropriation. TSA funding includes $2.6 billion for passenger and baggage screeners, $180 million for explosives detection equipment and $45 million for airport security modifications. The Federal Air Marshal service receives $662 million.
Investors who bet on defense and aerospace stocks are looking pretty prescient these days. The Aviation Week Aerospace 25 index is up 29.6% from a year ago, outperforming the S&P 500, which rose just 6.4% over the same period. And with an estimated $17 billion in defense contracts having been awarded since July, Wall Street is expecting generally positive news when companies start rolling out their third-quarter financial results this week.
ITT INDUSTRIES PLANS A LABORATORY demonstration in December of its advanced digital radar warning receiver integrated with a laser warning receiver. Both one-on-one and multiple-threat scenarios are scheduled. The Army Aviation and Missile Command contract allows ITT to complete the RWR/LWR development. Sharing a central processor between four radio-frequency sensors and the four laser sensors will reduce system weight. The demonstration system, including the AVR-2 LWR, will be a variant of ITT's ALQ-211 RF countermeasures family.
The myth of the lazy, overpaid airline pilot must be stopped! In "Man With a Plan" (AW&ST Sept. 27, p. 45), Frances Fiorino reports the Bureau of Labor Statistics states that pilots average 22 hr. of work per week. That statement should say 22 hr. of pay per week. To earn that pay, a pilot will be away from home for 60-96 hr. and spend 10-14 hr. on duty each day.
TWO PARABOLIC ANTENNAS THAT WERE ONCE USED by the Soviet Union to spy on the West by intercepting unencrypted satellite transmissions are now available for other uses, including radio-astronomy. The 32-meter- and 16-meter-dia. dish antennas are located in the village of Irbene, 30 km. (19 mi.) north of the port of Ventspils, Latvia. A scientist working at the site says these antennas have the best capabilities in Northern Europe, based on performance measurements and the Russian technical specifications. The larger antenna has a pointing accuracy of 20 arc-sec.
A NASA investigation board has found that a lack of procedures and discipline by a Lockheed Martin Space Systems team at its Sunnyvale, Calif., plant were to blame for a September 2003 incident in which a 2-ton polar-orbit weather satellite was dropped onto the floor from its mount (AW&ST Sept. 30, 2003, p. 30). The $240-million NOAA-N spacecraft was heavily damaged in the accident that was caused by a "lack of discipline in following procedures, evolved from complacent attitudes toward routine spacecraft handling, poor communications and coordination . . .
The NATO agency managing the NH90 transport/frigate helicopter program has concluded an agreement with four of its five founding members--France, Germany, the Nether- lands and Portugal--for supply of spare RTM 322 engines, modules and parts. The NH90 operators are attempting to agree on common support and training programs.
