USAF Gen. (ret.) Alfred G. Hansen, who is president/CEO of EMS Technologies Inc. of Atlanta, has been named to the board of directors of the Georgia Technology Authority.
Spirit Airlines, Atlantic Southeast Airlines and Northwest Airlines (for code-share regional partner Pinnacle Airlines) are competing for two slot exemptions at Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA), reclaimed by the U.S. Transportation Dept. after AirTran Airways suspended using them on July 1. Spirit proposes a daily nonstop round trip between DCA and Fort Lauderdale, Fort Myers or West Palm Beach, Fla., the points AirTran was authorized to serve using 150-seat MD-80 aircraft.
Development of an environmental control and life-support system that can provide air, water and carbon dioxide removal for a Nautilus inflatable module crew of 5-7 is underway at Bigelow Aerospace. Private development of a station life-support system is one of the biggest challenges ever faced by a private space company.
The U.S. Army has accelerated the Warfighter Information Network-Tactical by merging competitive thrusts led by General Dynamics and Lockheed Martin. A single supplier was to be selected in late 2005, but now a formal WIN-T architecture should be agreed upon by early next year. The effort will be led by General Dynamics, although Lockheed Martin will be responsible for about 50% of the work. Longer-term schedule impacts are still being assessed, although developers believe troops will see more capability earlier under this new scheme.
U.S. trade officials believe follow-up talks could pave the way for an agreement with the European Commission to further curtail or eliminate the governments' role in commercial transport funding. However, both parties still disagree on the definition of subsidies and remain unable to reconcile stands on "indirect" state aid.
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James P. Schear has been named vice president-restructuring for US Airways. He has been vice president-safety for the FAA's Air Traffic Organization and had been the airline's director of business planning for flight operations.
Antitrust laws aren't changing, but their application to aviation mergers might morph as market conditions deteriorate for the endangered network airlines, Roger Fones, transportation section chief in the Justice Dept.'s Antitrust Div., tells attendees at a George Washington University forum. As low-cost competitors expand their operations, the network carriers' market power wanes and they become less threatening to competition, Fones notes. Aircraft parked in the desert make it easier for start-ups to challenge the establishment.
The U.S. Army is about to formally kick off its dialogue with industry to buy more than 360 off-the-shelf helicopters for armed reconnaissance to replace OH-58D Kiowa Warriors and fill the requirement left vacant by this year's cancellation of the RAH-66 Comanche.
U.S. Air Force leaders are favorably disposed to the idea of developing an interim long-range strike system to span today's bombers and a more futuristic system, but know that fiscal realities could undercut this ambition. Earlier this year the service asked aerospace companies to propose ideas for a new strike aircraft. No specific action has been taken, however. Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. John P. Jumper thinks a mid-term system is needed, though no time line was imposed.
The Pentagon wants to buy short- takeoff-and-landing fixed-wing passenger and cargo services for operations in the Horn of Africa. Up to seven passengers would be transported, and 2-5 missions per month are foreseen.
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.
