Airbus last week delivered the first A310 Multi-Role Transport Tanker (MRTT) twinjets to the German and Canadian air forces (see p. 15). Four others are ready to be delivered. The European manufacturer and Lufthansa Technik are jointly marketing the MRTT conversion package, an upgraded derivative of an earlier A310-based tanker. The inflight hose-drogue refueling system can be connected to all in-service military fighters.
Bellevue, Wash.-based Esterline Technologies will integrate and provide the majority of engine sensors on the European A400M airlifter under a new agreement through Europrop International GmbH., the consortium developing the TP400-D6.
The parabolic airplane flights that produce weightlessness are not in microgravity. The force of gravity is reduced little at that altitude. "Physics Including Human Applications" by Fuller, Fuller and Fuller states that the force of gravity is reduced only about 10% at the altitude of orbiting satellites. It is reduced less at the altitude of the weightless flights. The students are accelerating toward Earth due to gravity. There is no resistance to the acceleration, so they feel weightless.
Vic Lebacqz, the new associate administrator for NASA's revamped aeronautics research organization, says the "first A in NASA" is doing well under the new priorities. But he makes clear it must support the new space exploration objectives as well as do its traditional "public good" work aimed at making flying safer, more efficient and more environmentally friendly. To support exploration beyond low-Earth orbit, Lebacqz says aeronautics can help develop "system of systems" technology, like control autonomy, that works just as well outside the atmosphere.
The optimistic view of our future by Suzanne D. Patrick, deputy U.S. under secretary of Defense, is heartening; especially since it was presented by the organization that planned so well our undertakings in the Middle East (AW&ST Sept. 13, p. 86).
The structure of a planned Indian purchase of 126 Dassault Mirage 2000-5 fighters from France, which has been in discussion on a bilateral basis for nearly three years, apparently has changed as part of a commitment by the Indian government to make arms procurement more transparent and avoid single-sourcing. The 126 aircraft will replace seven squadrons of older MiG-21s, -23s and -27s. Bids have been received for the Mirage as well as the Saab/BAE Systems JAS 39 Gripen, MiG-29M and Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 50.
Cessna Aircraft Co. delivered the first two Model 680 Sovereign business jets last week to customers in Mexico City and Green Bay, Wis. Cessna has an order backlog worth $1.5 billion for more than 100 Sovereigns.
Space tourism came closer to critical mass last week with Sir Richard Branson's new Virgin Galactic venture earmarking $100 million to develop Burt Rutan's SpaceShipOne rocket glider into a viable suborbital tour bus.
General Electric modified the configuration of high-pressure turbine blades in the GE-P&W Engine Alliance GP7200 to prevent recurrence of a distressed blade condition which was found during earlier testing at GE's Peebles, Ohio, facility. The engine is competing with Rolls-Royce's Trent 900 for the Airbus A380 powerplant.
EADS Co-CEO Philippe Camus says he expects an agreement on the U.K.'s Future Strategic Tanker Aircraft (FSTA) program by year-end, but thinks a contract is unlikely before 2005. He notes that it took 18 months to conclude contract negotiations for Britain's Skynet 5 military satellite communications system, awarded to EADS affiliate Paradigm. The U.K. sent the FSTA team, led by EADS, back to revise its tender after an initial bid was deemed unsatisfactory (AW&ST June 28, p. 35).
The North Atlantic mega-alliance set in motion by the Air France-KLM merger has reached the U.S. Transportation Dept., which will consider in coming months whether to extend antitrust immunity to the newly linked partners.
U.S. Army officials are setting an ambitious plan for fielding a new light utility helicopter, which will shape much of the dialogue with industry that's starting this month. "My intention is to put airplanes on the ground for the Army this fiscal year," says Col. Cory Mahanna, project manager for utility helicopters. The Army hasn't even released its formal solicitation to industry, so achieving the goal of delivering a helicopter before October 2005 would essentially require the first of the systems to already be under construction.
Network-centric operations are a mushy subject, but the U.S. Air Force and a Lockheed Martin team say that for the first time it has demonstrated an architecture that pulled together parts of USAF's global network of command and control and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance systems. Six months into the three-year, $50-million project, a number of systems were horizontally integrated with the ultimate goal of building a battlefield Internet that links hundreds of systems, sensors and warfighters.
Mojave Aerospace Ventures is halfway to winning the suborbital Ansari X-Prize after its flight to 103 km. (337,500 ft.) on Sept. 29, and was planning to finish the task early this week with another flight here above 100 km. by its SpaceShipOne rocket glider. Like the previous flight on June 21, control difficulties kept the apogee roughly 20,000 ft. lower than planned, but nonetheless high enough to just scrape by the 100-km. requirement.
It is difficult to read Robert L. Crandall's description of the dire straits of the U.S. airline industry as the "consequences of a long series of flawed policy choices" (AW&ST Sept. 27, p. 45) without wondering if this comment emanated from a parallel universe.
Some 28 non-metro airports in India have been allotted $733.5 million for upgrades over the next three years, according to Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel. The government plans to seek financing to help meet its funding requirements. Greenfield projects are underway in Bangalore and Hyderabad. The government has a separate fund for airports at Mumbai and Delhi.
The Pentagon plans to greatly boost the bandwidth available to troops operating in cities and other difficult terrain when it fields the Mobile User Objective System (MUOS) recently awarded to Lockheed Martin. But the program's success or failure will hinge, in part, on efforts outside the immediate control of managers.
The prospect of a fourth version of the Joint Strike Fighter specialized by the U.S. Air Force for close air support is probably dead for at least a decade. Informal talks between Pentagon planners and congressional staffers have quashed the idea.
Moving to pare down debt, Raytheon Co. has begun a series of tender offers for up to $1 billion of its notes. The offers, which will run through Oct. 28, are part of a six-month plan to cut the company's debt to $5.2 billion by year-end, down from $5.9 billion in late June. Credit Suisse First Boston and Morgan Stanley are the dealer-managers for the offers.
A Boeing-led team will develop innovative parachute guidance system technology for possible use on future NASA Mars missions under a $1.5-million contract from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The combined parachute/guidance system configuration would use computer commands to regulate airflow by opening and closing three slots on the periphery of the Mars parachute. Boeing believes that by alternately opening and closing the slots, thruster-like propulsion could be achieved to steer the chutes with enough accuracy to deliver Mars surface payloads within 2.5 mi.
F-15C fighter pilots of the 12th and 19th squadrons here are flying the radar of the future. It uses sensor technology that is to be operational on the F/A-22 Raptor, F/A-18E/F Super Hornet, F-35 Joint Strike Fighter and upgraded F-15E Strike Eagle.
Bettina Eckerle has been named general counsel/secretary and Yancey Spruill chief financial officer of DigitalGlobe, Longmont, Colo. Eckerle was a lawyer with the New York firm of Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz. Spruill was a principal in the investment banking group at Thomas Weisel Partners.
World News Roundup 22 First flight for USAF's Joined- Wing Technology Demonstrator 23 Curators recover full set of solar-wind samples from Genesis 23 Airbus begins deliveries of Multi-Role Transport Tanker 24 Irkut chief moves into top spot at MiG World News & Analysis 28 Mojave Aerospace Ventures halfway to winning Ansari X-Prize 30 Virgin earmarks $100 million to de- velop SpaceShipOne into tour bus
The National Transportation Safety Board's final report on the Nov. 12, 2001, crash of American Airlines Flight 587 is scheduled to be presented on Oct. 26 in Washington. The Airbus A300-600's vertical stabilizer separated from the fuselage shortly after departure from New York John F. Kennedy International Airport. The resulting crash killed all 260 people on board and five on the ground.
