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.
Boeing has conducted the first captive carry test of a Standoff Land Attack Missile-Expanded Response that has been upgraded with moving-target, network-centric software. Tests were conducted at the Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Range at China Lake, Calif. The weapon was carried on an F/A-18 Hornet operated by a VX-13 air test and evaluation squadron. It received real-time data via Link-16 messages sent from an orbiting E-8 Joint-STARS aircraft. The weapon then trained its seeker on the moving target and assessed its speed.
The Transportation Security Administration is partnering with U.S. funeral homes to ensure remains are more securely led through checkpoints. Documentation from a funeral home vouching for the contents of a crematory container--a possible hiding spot for explosives--is no longer sufficient to pass a checkpoint. Since February, all containers have had to pass through X-ray equipment. If the vessel is made of material that prevents screeners from seeing the contents, it will not be allowed through a checkpoint.
The Link Simulation and Training Div. of L-3 Communications will build a Tactical Operational Readiness Trainer (TORT) for the U.S. Navy's P-3C. Delivery to NAS Jacksonville, Fla., is set for August 2006. The trainer will allow P-3C crews to practice acquiring information from onboard sensor systems and sharing that information with other aircraft and command centers, and train across the full mission spectrum, including anti-submarine and Anti-Surface Warfare.
Bidders for the future presidential helicopter are putting heavy emphasis on engine integration and production readiness as they jockey for position in the Marine Corps One White House rotorcraft competition.
The Indian Space Research Organization plans a $66.7-million plant at its spaceport at Sriharikota in South India to produce 2,500 tons of solid propellants annually. The new plant should be ready within three years, according to ISRO Chairman G. Madhavan Nair. A second launch pad at Sriharikota, 80 km. (50 mi.) north of Chennai, built at a cost of $88.9 million, is ready for its first launch in the first quarter of 2005, Nair says.
NATO needs to get on with it and adapt to new security requirements, argues Hans Binnendijk, a longtime defense analyst and director of the Center for Technology and National Security Policy and the National Defense University. The security alliance still has not internalized the need for new missions, he argues.
A potent combination of punishing fuel prices, unrelenting competition from discount carriers and outmoded business models is propelling U.S. legacy hub-and-spoke carriers toward inevitable restructuring on a massive scale. "This fall, many airlines will be determining their optimal size and shape," Merrill Lynch analyst Michael Linenberg predicts. Chances are, some also will be struggling just to survive.
Dunlop Aerospace Equipment has developed a new low-noise bleed valve to replace an earlier design in the V2500 engine. The contract to develop the new bleed valves, which was issued by Rolls-Royce, includes extensive support for the IAE engine partnership and its customers. The after-market support program is designed to provide equally for the requirements of the engine constructor and aircraft operators.
Invention Machine Corp. offers Goldfire Innovator software. The product brings simplicity and predictability to the innovation process--from idea generation, product development and renovation of existing products through improvement of production processes, according to the company.
U.S. Air Force officials have finally admitted to the successful demonstration of a new radar that is to be the heart of Pentagon defenses against small and stealthy cruise missiles. It is a crucial initial step in an $888-million program that is to provide a cruise missile defense capability for the E-10A wide-area surveillance aircraft and an improved moving target detection capability for the Global Hawk.
Brazil and the Pentagon are in discussions about the sale of 10 Sikorsky UH-60L Black Hawks and related equipment. The potential $250-million deal would cover 25 T700-GE-701C engines, 22 7.62 mm. guns, search-and-rescue equipment, litters, hoists and other support elements. Brazil would use the helicopters for search-and-rescue and to enhance mobility.
THE NATIONAL BUSINESS AVIATION ASSN. (NBAA) IS OBJECTING to the reinstatement of the Airport Reservation Office slot program for general aviation aircraft operating at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport. The program, scheduled to become effective Nov. 1, restricts the number of small airplanes that can take off and land at the airport. NBAA officials are trying to determine details, such as hours of operation and number of slots available per hour. Interim President/CEO Don Baldwin has sent letters to Transportation Secretary Norman Y.
South Korea has requested information on a potential $70-million depot maintenance support deal for the RC-1800 signals intelligence aircraft bought under the Peace Pioneer program. L-3 Communications, which integrated the intelligence systems on four Hawker 800s, would provide the support. The contract extends an existing deal and provides eight more years of depot maintenance.
OFFICIALS OF KAMAN AEROSPACE CORP. PLAN TO CONTINUE marketing the K-MAX helicopter designed specifically for medium- to heavy-lift operations. The company will support the aircraft and evaluate reopening the production line if a sufficient number of orders are received. This year Kaman has sold or leased seven of the helicopters to a mix of new and repeat customers, according to Roger Wassmuth, director of the K-MAX program. There are 27 aircraft serving worldwide that fly an average of 2,000 hr. annually.
