EADS is planning a worldwide undertaking aimed at increasing the company's ability to draw on private and institutional research worldwide, and to help decrease the huge gap in research and development spending between Europe and the U.S.
Steven J. Brown has been appointed senior vice president-operations of the Washington-based National Business Aviation Assn. He succeeds Robert P. Blouin, who has resigned last month. Brown was vice president-operations planning for the FAA.
Test versions of inflatable space modules at the Bigelow Aerospace plant in North Las Vegas, Nev., show progress toward a privately funded space outpost. Full-scale 45 X 22-ft. Nautilus module (right) could be launched by 2008. Genesis 10 X 8-ft. one-third scale flight test module (center) is set for launch in 2005. Quarter-scale module (bottom) aids technology with features such as the woven fabric restraint system covering each 10-psi. laminate polymer bladder (see p. 54). AW&ST photo by William G. Hartenstein.
Bigelow Aerospace is working with about two dozen major subcontractors for its inflatable space module program, often issuing 3-5 subcontracts for the same component.
The French government plans to sharply scale back purchases of the twin-seat version of the Rafale fourth-generation fighter in an effort to give procurement managers more flexibility and prevent program funding difficulties from affecting other high-priority hardware items.
Satellite service provider SES Global reported a 7.6% decline in consolidated revenues for the first half of 2004 to 593 million euros ($729 million), and a 14.6% drop in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBIDTA) to 439.5 million euros, but that was largely due to unfavorable dollar-euro exchange rates. Net earnings, on the other hand, rose 41% to 162 million euros and the contract backlog climbed 8% to 6.9 billion euros, on the strength of big SES Americom awards from Echostar and Connexion by Boeing.
The saying "wings in space are like wheels on a duck" came from a man-in-space program at McDonnell when Sputnik flew. I didn't make a mistake by asking NASA not to build the shuttle. I don't have to try to explain how we went to the Moon in 1969 and can't go back until 2020 (AW&ST Aug. 9, p. 6; July 26, p. 6). The shuttle was designed to be reusable without regard to cost, performance, maintenance or safety.
Hispasat says a propellant leak detected in Amazonas-1, a K u-/C-band satellite launched on Aug. 5 for a Brazilian affiliate, Hispamar, will not endanger the project. According to a report issued last week, the satellite is provisionally estimated to remain operational for more than 10 years, despite a slight pressure drop in one of the two oxidizer tanks, caused by a small helium leak, and demands and deadlines for service entry under Brazilian operating rules are not at risk (AW&ST Sept. 13, p. 19).
Thanks to heavy subsidies, forced sales, trade blackmail and political leverage, Airbus--under the guidance of the French government--has overcome Boeing in the jetliner market and soon will do so in military aviation special missions in spite of inferior products. Then-Boeing CEO Phil Condit a long time ago should have done what his successor, the outspoken Harry Stonecipher, has decided to do.
Northrop Grumman has captured a $308-million contract to develop the Battle Management Command and Control (BMC2) segment of the E-10A multisensor command-and-control aircraft program. The BMC2 capability on the aircraft will constitute the heart of cruise missile defense in any theater of operations or regional conflict. First flight of the system is set for 2008-09 with the software package to be completed by 2007-08. First delivery is scheduled for 2010. Company officials said the program was won in part by offering 68% reuse of software for the program.
Rockwell Collins is coming full circle with a security hardened, embedded real-time operating system it is applying to the U.S. Army's drive for a common architecture for manned and unmanned aircraft.
The Russian/U.S. crew on board the International Space Station has repaired the station's Elektron oxygen generation system after two weeks of troubleshooting. While the Russian regeneration system was inoperative, cosmonaut and mission commander Gennady Padalka and astronaut Mike Fincke drew from an ample supply of bottled oxygen to maintain proper levels on the orbital complex. Using the bottled oxygen is no problem, but it can create complications if bottled supplies need to be replaced earlier than scheduled.
Janis G. Pamiljans (see photo) has become vice president/program manager for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter for the Northrop Grumman Corp.'s Integrated Systems Sector, El Segundo, Calif. He succeeds Steve Briggs, who remains vice president/deputy for the ISS' Air Combat Systems business. Pamiljans was the ISS' vice president-production.
Darrell Mooney has become program manager and Cheryl Jardine human resources specialist at Reliance Aerotech Services Inc., Nashville, Tenn. Mooney was an aviation contract manager for the U.S. Navy, and Jardine was a staffing coordinator at Dell Inc.
A FOLDING-REFLECTOR DESIGN PROVIDES A LOW-DRAG satellite antenna that will give airlines access to Arinc's Commercial SKYLink satellite broadband service. SKYLink's K u-band coverage of North America became operational in April, providing e-mail, the Internet, and real-time TV for passengers, as well as applications for the pilots in the cockpit. Satellite signals can be simultaneously received at 5 Mbps., and transmitted from the aircraft at 256 Kbps.
Commercial flight deck design is progressing steadily with improved processors, memory, higher bandwidth data links and networking technology spinning out of the information technology and telecommunications sectors. Avionics specialists say flight deck design is probably five years behind the leading edge of information technology developments, in part because any technology used in cockpits has to be flight qualified and tested. Safety and security requirements are stringent for flight-critical systems.
I agree with Robert Mustic's letter (AW&ST Aug. 9, p. 6) and the one from Paul Havis. It is becoming clear that the most effective legal and operational long-range operations solution is a crew configuration consisting of two captains and one or two first officers. This arrangement will nullify potential legal issues of "sleeping culpability."
The U.S. Marine Corps plans to place a bulk order for 384 GAU-21 (M3M) guns for use on CH-53 heavy-lift helicopters. The contract for the 0.50-caliber weapon, with Belgian arms maker FN Herstal, is being awarded on a sole-source basis to expedite the process. The guns will form part of the common defense weapon systems program and be installed on CH-53Es.
Boeing plans to dip heavily into IBM's commercial expertise in supercomputing, networking and high-speed communications in a 10-year partnership aimed at winning more network-centric operations contracts for both companies.
ADVANCES IN ELECTRONICS FROM SOME OF THE WORLD'S leading researchers will be described at the 2004 International Electron Devices Meeting (IEDM). Special sessions on emerging technologies will focus on topics such as nanocomputing devices, and possible solutions to some of the interconnect and manufacturing challenges. Responding to the demand for smaller, faster integrated circuits will be a preview of the next-generation 65-nanometer integrated circuits, shrinking from the current 90-nanometer chips.
Another option for what to do with the HST may be a storage consideration. The article "Full Service" (AW&ST Aug. 16, p. 32) relates the latest NASA ideas involving a robotic servicing mission to change out science and flight modules, and states it would attach a retro-rocket for deorbiting the spacecraft at the end of its life. A better option may be to turn the spacecraft 180 deg. and fire the rocket twice to place it in a high storage orbit. Future generations with better budgets and more capabilities will decide what to do.
World News Roundup 18 JIMO pact propels Northrop Grum- man into new technology work 19 Irkut funds development of Yak-130 trainer/attack aircraft 20 Alcatel studying further expansion, this time in Russia World News & Analysis 26 Commercial space lifting off, thanks to more business-like approaches 28 Edusat launch shows India can go it alone 29 Kill-vehicle, booster centerpieces of U.S. missile defense plan
Chris Toffales has been appointed to the board of directors of the Irvine Sensors Corp., Costa Mesa, Calif. He is vice chairman of Communications Power Industries and was a senior executive with DRS Technologies.
French Defense Minister Michele Alliot-Marie says France has agreed to provide two battle groups for the European Union's new multinational tactical brigades, which are intended to deploy as many as 1,500 troops up to 5,000 km. (3,100 mi.) on two weeks' notice for peacekeeping and crisis-management missions, and may add a third later. The commitment means the goal of fielding nine battle groups by 2007 will be attained, with initial units becoming operational in 2005.
Sarkis Garabetian has become sales manager for the turbine fuel control overhaul and repair operation of Precision Engines, Everett, Wash. He was director of sales and marketing for FDC Aerofilter.
