APPLIED RADAR IS EXPANDING its antenna capabilities beyond patch and conformal devices into the field of electronic textiles. The company, based in North Kingstown, R.I., says manufacturing methods now permit lightweight, flexible antennas to be produced with performance surpassing current solutions and at drastic cost reduction. Textiles could displace printed circuit antenna technology for many applications. After structural integrity and microwave performance issues are satisfied, antennas could be embedded in composite airframes.
Increasing competition has prompted Temasek Holdings, the Singapore government's investment arm, to sell its entire stake of 78.4% in Changi International Airport Services to Dnata, the airport and air travel services division of Emirates Group. CIAS is one of two ground-handling concessions at Changi. Temasek also controls the other one, Singapore Airport Terminal Services, which is a division of Singapore Airlines.
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An ultimatum which may decide the fate of Alitalia runs out this week, with the airline unions faced with accepting severe job-cuts or dealing with even more dire consequences. Alitalia Chairman Gianfranco Cimoli has given the unions until Sept. 15 to accept what management says is its final offer. The airline is looking to cut almost one in four jobs, with 5,000 to be axed, including 450 pilots, from the 22,000 staff by 2008. Any pretense of remaining a global carrier has been shed, with the survival plan built around a regional network.
Patrick J. Walsh has been named vice president-new retail development, Rob Hale development manager and Bridget White concessions manager for BAA Maryland Inc. at Baltimore-Washington International Airport.
FORECAST INTERNATIONAL SAYS THAT ONLY A MAJOR breakthrough in aircraft design manufacturing technology will be able to reverse the gloomy outlook it sees for the general aviation/utility market during the next 10 years.
Rolls-Royce and the U.S. Air Force have identified, and begun implementing, a number of improvements to the T56 turboprop that should boost the engine's average time-on-wing, now at 1,400 hr., by more than 20%.
British Airways is upping capacity on its winter schedule by 2% compared with 2003. BA is increasing services to Croatia, Greece, Lithuania and Switzerland. Some long-haul frequencies also are being increased. Two flights are being added on the Heathrow-Cape Town route, for 12 per week. Frequencies to Dubai, Miami and the Bahamas are also increased. The airline's London Gatwick-Paris Charles de Gaulle service is to be suspended.
U.S. Army Gen. (ret.) Henry Hugh Shelton, Kurt M. Campbell and Christopher A. Williams have been named to the board of advisers of the Cincinnati-based O'Gara Group Inc. Shelton is a former chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff. Campbell is senior vice president/director of the International Security Program at the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies and former deputy assistant Defense secretary. Williams is a partner in Johnston and Associates and former acting undersecretary of Defense for policy.
U.K. aerospace and engineering company Meggitt saw turnover and profit rise for the six-month period ended June 30. Turnover rose 8% in the period for 2003, totaling 206 million pounds ($365.5 million), while pre-tax profit more than doubled, to 27.8 million pounds. Within the aerospace business unit turnover was up by 12%, to 171.1 million pounds. The comparative strength of defense and weakness of the civil market is reflected in military business now accounting for 48% of the group's total, compared with 39% for 2003.
USN Rear Adms. Mark P. Fitzgerald and Joseph A. Sestak, Jr., have been nominated for promotion to vice admiral. Fitzgerald would become commander of the Second Fleet, Norfolk, Va. He is director of the Air Warfare Div. in the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) at the Pentagon. Sestak would be assigned as deputy CNO for warfare requirements and programs. He has been director of the Assessment Div. in the Office of the CNO. Vice Adm. Gary Roughead has been named deputy commander of the U.S. Pacific Command in Honolulu.
Huntingdon Fusion Techniques Ltd.'s Argweld Titanium Purge Monitor measures oxygen content to 10 ppm. and shows results on an alphanumeric LED display that can be switched to display oxygen content as a percentage. The unit can be interlocked to isolated welding equipment or a power supply. Operators follow a menu-driven display. An internal alarm can be set to alert when minimum/maximum oxygen levels are reached; authorized users can change settings with a security code.
Pakistan is looking to buy Harris Corp. HF/VHF radios that its military would use to link ground forces on patrol with higher headquarters. Moreover, the Pentagon says the purchase would improve interoperability with U.S. forces and aid the hunt for terrorists in remote parts of Pakistan. The proposed $78-million Foreign Military Sales package includes 1,635 20-watt HF manpack radios, with an equal number for vehicles.
The U.S. Transportation Dept., completing its initial batch of U.S.-China authority-and-allocation awards, is launching what's certain to be spirited competition for the next round.
Buoyed by positive interim financial results, BAE Systems is pressing politicians and potential industrial partners on fundamental decisions that will shape its future business strategy. The company is targeting a raft of efforts, including establishing a company with Finmeccanica and completing the contract for the next batch of Eurofighter Typhoons. Executives are also determining the fate of BAE's U.K. shipbuilding business and, in the longer term, aiming to maximize involvement in the Lockheed Martin F-35 Joint Strike Fighter.
After tackling outsourcing, India is now setting its sights on developing nanomaterials and advanced components. V.K. Aatre, outgoing chief of India's Defense Research and Development Organization, says R&D will require partners. India and Israel, a likely choice, are already collaborating on development of various weapons systems.
Thomas (Tim) Bailey has been named manager of the Component Application Architecture (CAA) V5 Business Unit for Dassault Systemes subsidiary Spatial Corp., Westminster, Colo. Bailey was founder of Alliance-Strategies Inc. and had been president/CEO of Metagraphics.
Gascom is studying expansion of its satellite communications network to include remote sensing and digital mobile radio/data services, probably in partnership with a Western company. The six-satellite, 1-meter resolution imaging system ultimately would include day/night optical, radar and other sensors, and cost $1 billion to develop and deploy. The mobile network, whose definition is not as far along, would comprise three spacecraft in a highly elliptical orbit.
FlightSafety International Chairman A.L. Ueltschi has received American Business Media's Grand Littleford Award for corporate community service for his support of Orbis International. Orbis operates a DC-10 as a flying eye hospital staffed by volunteer physicians and pilots. It has trained more than 63,000 ophthalmologists and other health-care workers in Third World countries and has been credited with making it possible for more than 17 million people to see better.
Neighbor to the north Air Canada says its 83.2% August load factor was an all-time monthly high, rising 2.6 percentage points compared with the same month in 2003. Preliminary traffic figures indicate the mainline operated 9.8% more revenue passenger miles (RPM) in August, to 4.4 billion from 4 billion. This is based on a capacity increase of 6.5%, to 5.3 billion available seat miles (ASM) from 4.9 ASM.
The U.S. Air Force plans to fund both Northrop Grumman and Raytheon to reduce the cost of modern radar systems. The service plans to spend almost $14 million on an "affordability thrust" that aims to cut the cost of active electronically scanned arrays by around 50% for future systems. The focus is on manufacturing technology. Foreign contractors are expressly barred from the work. The spending plan follows a Pentagon assessment last year that the U.S. needs to do more to keep its AESA contractor vibrant.
Delta Air Lines' reconstruction will leave deep scars--the loss of nearly 7,000 jobs, pay and benefits cuts, and network restructuring--but will be bearable if the extreme makeover means long-term survival.
Japan's initial buy of Patriot PAC-3 missile defense equipment would cost about $79 million, under the proposed Foreign Military Sales package the Pentagon has put forward. The package would include 20 missiles, kits to upgrade launchers and other associated equipment. It would be the second international sale of PAC-3, following the Netherlands' purchase of the Lockheed Martin equipment.
