USN Vice Adm. Timothy J. Keating has been nominated for promotion to admiral and assignment as commander of the U.S. Northern Command/commander of the North American Aerospace Defense Command, Peterson AFB, Colo. He has been director of the Joint Staff at the Pentagon. U.S. Army Lt. Gen. Joseph R. Inge has been named deputy commander of the U.S. Northern Command/vice commander of the U.S. Element of the North American Aerospace Defense Command. He has been commanding general of the First United States Army, Ft. Gillem, Ga.
Jonathan Buff has become vice president/general manager of SheltAir Aviation Services' facility at Jacksonville (Fla.) International Airport. He was general manager of Signature Flight Support's facility there.
Charles T. Nash has been named to the board of directors of Guardian Technologies International Inc., Dulles, Va. He succeeds William Ludwig, who has resigned. Nash is president of Emerging Technologies International Inc.
U.S. suggestions that it wants an open skies agreement with India are receiving a positive response from the managing director of Air-India, the government-owned carrier that has long sought protection against foreign competition.
Alan Strom in a letter recommended that NASA consider using a hybrid nuclear-thermal/nuclear-electric approach to prevent the need for radiators (AW&ST June 21, p. 8). Although I suspect this approach leads to a reduction of the total system specific impulse (Isp) down to unacceptable levels, his idea highlights a key technology issue that needs to be worked.
India's fiscal 2004 defense budget jumped $2.3 billion to a record $16.8 billion and is likely to be stepped-up even further later this year as Defense Minister Pranab Mukherjee seeks additional funds to pay for deals let by the former government.
Space shuttle return-to-flight recommendations from two different blue-ribbon panels do not preclude a human mission to service the Hubble Space Telescope, and NASA shouldn't close the door on one for at least another year, according to an interim report by a third advisory group.
Sandy Stedman has been promoted to vice president-quality, standards and industry relations/flight safety officer from director of flight information development at Englewood, Colo.-based Jeppesen.
Pinpoint Laser Systems is a precision angular measuring and alignment kit for industrial use. The alignment system delivers highly accurate alignment capability in a compact, affordable package, according to the company. With an angular measuring sensitivity of 1 arc-sec., the system is suited for aligning precision mounts and fixtures, antenna array and molding machine platens. Precision angles can be measured and checked over surfaces up to 20 ft. long. The kit includes the microgage 2000 laser transmitter.
Brian Sauer has been appointed vice president-operations for JetBlue Airways subsidiary LiveTV, Orlando, Fla. He was vice president/general manager of Timco's Goodyear facility in Arizona.
In a report on Aviation Week & Space Technology's Top-Performing Companies study, the position of Smiths Group plc was incorrectly stated (AW&ST July 5, p. 43). Thales, not Smiths, was the third-largest generator of cash flow return on investment among the major aerospace contractors.
USAF Lt. Gen. Duncan J. McNabb has been named director for logistics, J-4, for the Joint Staff at the Pentagon. He has been deputy chief of staff for plans and programs at USAF Headquarters at the Pentagon.
Final design review of a next-generation, airborne radar--built to detect stealthy cruise missiles--has been completed by Northrop Grumman and the U.S. Air Force. This baseline version of the MP-RTIP active electronically scanned radar is to fly on the Global Hawk unmanned reconnaissance aircraft. Later, a manned, wide-body aircraft--possibly the E-10 (a Boeing 767 derivative)--is to carry a larger, second version of the radar with the ability to target stealthy cruise missiles.
Alitalia will receive a bit of badly needed breathing room following Italian government approval of a loan to keep the troubled carrier afloat while it implements a recovery plan. The government last week approved a 400-million-euro ($496-million) credit line for the airline, which saw available cash decline from 515 million euros at the end of 2003 to 150 million euros on June 30. The carrier is likely to run out of cash by September, when the loan is to become available.
Confident that it will get government approval for a five-year, $2.2-billion fleet renewal plan, Air-India is in a second stage of expansion. The current plan calls for acquiring 10 Airbus A340s and 18 Boeing 737-800s. "We expect government approval to go beyond the 28 planned aircraft," says Chairman and Managing Director Vasudevan Thulasidas. "We are now looking at the next phase of induction." The first phase calls for purchases, but terms of the second phase are unsettled.
Italy is set to open a master control center on July 13 at Ciampino, near Rome, for the European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service (Egnos), a Galileo precursor. By year's end the completed Egnos will consist of three satellites in geostationary orbit and almost 40 ground stations to augment navigation signals from the U.S. Global Positioning System and Russia's Glonass constellation.
Even as the European Union/U.S. Summit in Ireland produced a cooperation agreement on satellite navigation system frequency sharing and interoperability rules, enabling engineering details to be finalized, differences are brewing anew with India over its role in Europe's Galileo satellite navigation system. India insists on some degree of operational control if it is to take a 300-million-euro ($369-million) stake in Galileo, with access to Galileo's public regulated service channel and an agreement on how to run the system during a crisis or war its main demands.
Kevin Darrenkamp has become general counsel, Wendy Underwood vice president-business development, Michael LaRouche senior executive for Navy C4ISR and Venkat Ramnath director of program quality, all for the Lockheed Martin Corp.'s Maritime Systems & Sensors Tactical Systems, Eagan, Minn. Darrenkamp was associate general counsel at Lockheed Martin Simulation, Training and Support, Orlando, Fla. Underwood was director of Navy Command and Control and Advanced Sensors Programs at Lockheed Martin Integrated Systems and Solutions, Gaithersburg, Md. Larouche was head of U.S.
Regarding "Into the Crater" (AW&ST June 14, p. 31), why not include a winch on future rovers to improve their ability to extract themselves from craters? A winch (yes, at the expense of added weight) could be added to rovers to help extract them from craters or other difficult situations. To reduce electrical power consumption, a gas generator-powered motor or other such device would extend the winch. The cable end would be anchored to the (Martian) soil with a spike or grappling hook.
Finnair will replace aging MD-80s and ATR 72 twin turboprops with Embraer 170 twinjets. Finnair Aircraft Finance, the carrier's aircraft purchasing and financing arm, signed a contract covering the delivery of 12 76-seat 170s between September 2005 and May 2007. At list price, they are valued at $306 million. Finnair also optioned eight additional aircraft, either 170s or stretched-fuselage 175s or 190s. The 170's production rate is being increased to seven aircraft a month (AW&ST June 28, p. 61).
David A. Fulghum (Rio De Janeiro and Manaus, Brazil)
One of the world's largest environmental programs--at $1.4 billion--is managed by the Brazilian air force and called the System for the Vigilance of the Amazon (Sivam). Brazil is about the size of the U.S., and the Amazon region is about the size of the U.S. west of the Mississippi River. In all, about 2 million sq. mi. are monitored by Sivam. The area contains about 20% of the world's freshwater. There are at least 17 tributaries of the Amazon that are the size of the Mississippi River.
Thomas W. Schaff, Jr., is correct. I was the only reporter who endured Accuracy in Media's hours-long, January 1997 TWA Flight 800 press conference (AW&ST May 31, p. 8).
Rolls-Royce's 80,000-lb.-thrust Trent 900 engine has completed a fan blade-off trial at the company's Hucknall, England, facility. During the test, a hollow titanium blade from the engine's 116-in.-dia. fan was explosively separated from the powerplant while the engine ran at full speed. The powerplant then was put through a controlled shutdown. Company officials said inspections indicate the separated blade, and associated debris, were contained by the engine.
South African Airways' (SAA) future is in doubt after Chief Executive Officer Andre Viljoen, in a surprise move, resigned early last week. The action left most observers pondering whether he was forced to step down or did so voluntarily and what might have led to that decision. SAA merely stated that Viljoen will leave the airline by September and be replaced by his deputy, Oyama Mabandla, who joined the airline only eight months ago from the banking community. He was named acting CEO.
