Alcatel has delivered the second flight-article Helios II high-resolution optical imager to EADS Astrium for the Helios IIB satellite set for launch late in 2009. The second-generation instrument duplicates the imaging system to be launched by the end of the year on the Helios IIA spacecraft. Program manager on the twin defense satellites is France's DGA procurement agency, with the French space agency CNES as system prime contractor and EADS Astrium as prime on the two satellites. Belgium and Spain are partners in the system.
Think of aviation maintenance, think of John J. Goglia. Think of safety, think of John J. Goglia. In 1995, he became the first licensed mechanic to become an NTSB member. Since then, the outspoken Goglia's voice has been heard above the others in safety board probes, doggedly raising industry awareness of the role of maintenance in accidents. Anyone who's attended an NTSB accident hearing is familiar with how he sizzles witnesses in the quest to find out what went wrong and how to make it right again.
Having reached what was earlier believed unreachable, the Mars rover Spirit--clawing its way up a Martian hillside--is beginning a high-resolution panorama of the Gusev valley floor below and using its robotic arm to sample high-terrain bedrock in search of evidence of water. "We are doing 'Martian mountaineering,'" says Steve Squyres, the rover principal investigator from Cornell University. "We are doing some pretty serious rock climbing with this vehicle."
A group of four investment funds has tentatively acquired Intelsat Ltd. for $3 billion cash, or $18.75 a share, and about $2 billion in existing debt, continuing a trend that has seen two other satellite operators picked up by private equity funds this year.
Aerospace has long recognized the potential of putting a portable computer in the hands of inspectors and technicians as they work the flight lines of military and civil aircraft. For inspectors, particularly when they must contend with unexpected issues that arise in non-routine inspections, such units offer the immediate luxury of being able to quantify labor and parts requirements as they arise and feed them directly into the company's maintenance management computing system.
The head of Boeing's airport security program, Tony Swansson, says the company is interested in developing fully integrated airport systems. Boeing was hired by the Transportation Security Administration to get all of the explosives detection system (EDS) machines installed at airports by the Dec. 31, 2002, deadline.
Japan's Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport is trying to limit a shift of larger aircraft types from the Osaka-Kyoto-Kobe region's unpopular Kansai International Airport to Osaka's old Itami airport, which is considered more user-friendly.
The Pentagon may have done a good job emphasizing the need to establish a cadre of space experts, but it lacks a detailed implementation plan to see that its vision comes to fruition, the Government Accountability Office argues. Such a strategy is in work, says the Pentagon. But the GAO is concerned that some of the services' efforts are not coordinated well or integrated with overarching Defense Dept. goals.
Boeing Australia has received a $47-million contract for long-term operations and maintenance support of the Australian Defense Signals Directorate. The three sites to be supported are the headquarters operation in Canberra, Shoal Bay Receiving Station in Darwin, and the Geraldton-based Australian Defense Satellite Communications Station.
The presidential campaign warms up, and it isn't even Labor Day. The AFL-CIO Transportation Trades Dept. (TTD) condemns the Bush administration's "all talk, no action approach to transportation security," and its web site leaves no doubt where it stands. "Kerry on Transportation" reproduces the Massachusetts senator's answers to a TTD questionnaire, while a "Bush Watch" section compiles the President's "anti-worker actions," searchable by issue, date or keyword.
Andrew Ponzoni has become public relations and communications manager for Dassault FalconJet, Teterboro, N.J. He was vice president-media services for Sports Systems Services.
The Pentagon plans in the coming days to conduct the next flight test for its missile defense system, labeled IFT-13C. Although not billed as an intercept, the engagement scenario has been devised to allow failures. It will be the first system-level test since December 2002, when a failure caused the Missile Defense Agency to suspend testing. The target will be fired from Kodiak, Alaska, a first, with the interceptor to be launched from the Kwajalein missile test range.
A recent letter advocated junking the manned space program along with the Hubble telescope (AW&ST July 26, p. 6). The space program has problems but the solution is not to kill everything.
Russia's fifth largest airline, Siberia-based UTair, will acquire five ATR 42-300 turboprops. The aircraft are to be delivered by the end of the first quarter of 2005 by Ireland's Magellan Air leasing company. The ATR/Magellan Air bid won over Bombardier's Dash-8 and Ukrainian manufacturer Kharkov's An-140 (AW&ST July 12, p. 39). UTair, which combines long-haul and frequent regional services, is aiming to replace 12 Antonov An-24s in its fleet with more efficient Western-made aircraft.
Israel has shifted its view on how to employ its Arrow anti-missile system. But more changes lie ahead as upgrades emerge and policy makers adjust to a new regional political landscape.
Demand for travel in the Asia-Pacific region is likely to grow an average of 5.4% a year through 2007, according to the International Air Transport Assn. The growth of startups is already putting demands on Asia's airports, raising questions as to whether the present infrastructure can sustain it.
Singapore's newest low-cost carrier has agreed to lease eight Airbus A320s for intra-Asia operations set start by year-end, according to Con Korfiatis, chief operating officer (AW&ST July 12, p. 42). The first aircraft is scheduled for delivery at the end of October.
World News Roundup 14 Runway tail strike leads to emergency landing 15 JAL captain faces more legal action after pitchup/pitchdown incident World News & Analysis 22 Pentagon worries that profitability may be detriment to ideas 24 U.S. in major push to advance technology for very small UAVs 24 Desert operations reveal new weapons for war on terrorism 27 Future Combat Systems boosted by shift in out-year spending plans
The Lufthansa group has extended its joint venture Ameco (Aircraft Maintenance & Engineering Co.) with Air China for China's largest aircraft maintenance operation in Beijing for 25 years, following the completion of the 15-year agreement signed in 1989. "Our Asian business has an excellent future. We want to strengthen our position there and, working with our partners, expand it," says Lufthansa Executive Board Chairman Wolfgang Mayrhuber.
PanAmSat will accelerate its replacement of the Galaxy 10R satellite that lost its backup electric propulsion system earlier this month. The company will use an Alcatel spacecraft already on order or build a new satellite for launch by about 2007. The secondary xenon ion propulsion system on Galaxy 10R failed permanently on Aug. 3, but PanAmSat says there's enough bipropellant fuel on board to stationkeep for another three years. The primary electric propulsion system was already out of commission.
It was good news for out-of-work aircraft workers when Boeing Commercial Airplanes announced last month that it would need to hire 3,000 employees, mainly in the Puget Sound area around Seattle. But less noticed has been a Boeing drive for the past 18 months to fill another 8,000 jobs throughout the country, mostly involving technical workers to be placed in the company's Integrated Defense Systems and Homeland Security government contracts area.
Northrop Grumman has snagged the first U.S. order for its APG-68(V)9 radar upgrade kit. The $22-million contract is for supplying 280 kits for F-16C/Ds, primarily Block 50s and a few Block 40s. The upgrade was initially targeted at the export market and has been sold to six other countries.
Mark Burdette has become vice president-employee relations for American Airlines. He succeeds Jeff Brundage, who has been promoted to senior vice president-human resources. Burdette was managing director of employee relations.
A team led by Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co. in Palmdale, Calif., will spend six months on preliminary design of a hypersonic technology testbed under the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency/U.S. Air Force Falcon space access effort. The team, which includes Lockheed Martin's space systems and missiles and fire control units, Aerojet, Pyrodyne Inc., and Alliant Techsystems GASL, won an $8,360,394 preliminary design contract for the work, which could lead to an additional 30-month contract worth as much as $97,069,875 to build and flight-test the testbed vehicle.
