Col. Cicero Ceccato (left), commander of Anapolis AFB, Brazil, Senior Military Editor David A. Fulghum and the 2/6 squadron commander, Lt. Col. Maximo Ballatore Holland (right), pause in front of an R-99B remote-sensing, intelligence-gathering aircraft at the home station for the Brazilian air force's fleet of new surveillance aircraft. Fulghum is the first journalist allowed to fly in the aircraft and accompanied air force crews on two sorties. His report begins on p. 46.
Greg Anderson (see photo) has become president/CEO of the Aviation and Space Center of the Rockies in Denver. He was executive vice president of the Experimental Aircraft Assn., Oshkosh, Wis.
Bell Helicopter Textron's XworX initiative is working on a number of commercial and military projects aimed at moving the company's research and development capabilities forward through rapid prototyping and validation of new technologies.
The International Civil Aviation Organization security audit program set up after Sept. 11, 2001, has completed reviews in 41 member nations, and audits of the remaining 147 should be completed by the end of 2007. The program will continue after that with periodic audits. The reports go just to the ICAO members being audited, and that nation can decide how much, if any, of the information on deficiencies and recommended improvements to share with the public or other countries, according to Penny J. Anderson, acting chief of the aviation security audit unit at ICAO.
U.S. citizens may no longer be able to use the law designed to pry open government files to get a look at unclassified commercial satellite imagery when the U.S. military would rather hold it to itself. Under language in the Senate's Fiscal 2005 defense authorization bill, commercial satellite imagery would be exempt from the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) if the government has an exclusive licensing agreement with vendors such as Digital Globe, Orbimage and Space Imaging.
Embraer R-99A flies over Rio de Janeiro, where offices of the Amazon surveillance and protection operations staff are located. Eight new surveillance aircraft (five air-to-air and three air-to-ground) have taken posts on the front lines of the battle to save the Amazon region from uncontrolled development (see p. 46). In this photo, the basic EMB-145 airframe has been modified with an Ericsson active electronically scanned array radar mounted as a fin on the main fuselage. Embraer photo.
Paul Kennedy, who is J. Richardson Dilworth professor of history and director of international security studies at Yale University, has received the Gen. James H. Doolittle Award for "furthering public understanding of air power" from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Security Studies Program.
Robert J. Keady has become senior vice president-customer business and Greg Gernhardt vice president-customer support for International Aero Engines, East Hartford, Conn. Keady succeeds Jack Phillips, who is retiring. Keady was Asia-Pacific vice president-sales and marketing for Pratt & Whitney. Gernhardt succeeds Joe Dunne, who is now with Rolls-Royce North America in Indianapolis. Gernhardt was director of core customer service for Pratt & Whitney.
Government and industry homeland security specialists question the country's readiness in the face of another terrorist attack, according to a survey conducted by The McGraw-Hill Companies at a recent conference in Washington. There were 1,200 officials attending, including first responders. Of these, 95% said they think there will be another terrorist attack in the U.S. within 4-5 years; 65% view the current alert and warning systems as inadequate. Some (38%) listed conventional explosives as the probable weapon of choice; 13% thought biological weapons loom.
Your editorial "Reagan's Aerospace Legacy" rightly acknowledged the 40th U.S. President's profound impact on "our community" (AW&ST June 14, p. 58). Ronald Reagan came to power promising to reverse President Jimmy Carter's cancellation of the B-1 bomber program. This and deployment of a new generation of strategic and intermediate-range nuclear missiles (MX, Pershing and Cruise) forced the hand of the Soviets on arms control, achieving real reductions for the first time.
The Royal Danish Air Force has signed a contract with the Pentagon's Foreign Military Sales program to buy the AIM-9X short-range, infrared air-to-air missile for its F-16 fleet. The design involves a fifth-generation staring focal plane array seeker and infra- red countermeasures to overcome defensive flares and other decoy heat sources. Deliveries are scheduled to begin in 2006.
Alexey Komarov (Moscow), Michael A. Taverna (Paris)
The growing appetite of Russian carriers for comfortable, fuel-efficient Western aircraft, combined with Moscow's desire to join the World Trade Organization, is pushing political officials to scrutinize tariff barriers. Looming tenders for new regional aircraft could speed the review.
Boullioun Aviation Services has transferred its 35.5% stake in Singapore Aircraft Leasing Enterprise (SALE) to Boullioun's parent company, the German bank WestLB. Klaus-Michael Geiger, a member of WestLB's board, said the transfer reflect's the bank's decision to play a direct role in the development of SALE, whose other shareholders are Singapore Airlines, the Singapore government's Temasek Holdings investment arm and GIC.
David A. Fulghum (Anapolis AFB and Manaus, Brazil)
Senior Military Editor David A. Fulghum was the first journalist to fly on the Brazilian air force's new R-99A and R-99B surveillance and intelligence-gathering aircraft. Even top executives of the companies that provided the sensors and integrated the aircraft have not been allowed on board in flight. To do so, Aviation Week & Space Technology agreed to withhold aircrew names, not to take their pictures and not to write about certain classified details of the operation.
FedEx will expand in Japan to include Central Japan International Airport in Nagoya, which is to open in February. Called Centrair, the new facility is in the heart of industrial Japan and will make 24-hr. freight operations a priority (AW&ST June 14, p. 40). FedEx, which already uses Tokyo Narita and Osaka Kansai airports, expects to operate six nights a week.
Mark Nappi has been named associate program manager for ground operations for the United Space Alliance at the Kennedy Space Center. He has been deputy program manager. Nappi succeeds Andrew M. Allen, who has been appointed vice president/program manager for Honeywell for its engineering and science contract at the Johnson Space Center.
Here on the ramp at the Embraer plant sits a lineup of airborne surveillance aircraft newly built for the Greek air force and due for delivery in time for this summer's Olympic Games. Another was just delivered to the air force of Mexico for maritime patrol. They are the latest version of Embraer's twin-jet EMB-145 regional airliner, and part of a series that is offering the world's air forces an inexpensive alternative, perhaps 20-30% of the $5,000 per hr. operating cost of conventional four-engine jet and turboprop surveillance aircraft.
A French parliamentary commission reported that a plan put forward last month by French Transport Minister Gilles de Robien to provide safety labeling for charter airlines is a step in the right direction, but probably insufficient to prevent tragedies such as the Egyptian crash on Jan. 3 that cost 148 lives (AW&ST June 14, p. 35). Referring to ICAO studies that have found fault with numerous carriers in Southern and Eastern Europe, the commission recommended stricter checks and stronger sanctions, including grounding, that already are applied by the U.S.
A Russian RSC Energia Block DM-SL upper stage shut down 54 sec. early during last month's launch of the Telstar 18 communications satellite atop a Sea Launch Zenit rocket, based on preliminary flight data. The anomaly left the spacecraft some 14,000 km. (8,700 mi.) below the apogee targeted for its geostationary transfer orbit, even more than initially reported (AW&ST July 5, p. 17). Even so, Loral Space and Communications still believes the satellite has enough fuel to reach its final orbit and exceed its planned 13-year service life.
Doughty Hanson is selling off its Dunlop Standard Aerospace Group, with Meggitt purchasing the design manufacturing division, and the engine repair and overhaul unit being bought by Carlyle. Meggitt is paying 408.4 million pounds ($755.5 million), and Carlyle reportedly is paying $760 million.
In the next two years, the Civil Aviation Safety Authority of Australia plans to issue about 33,000 new forgery-resistant photo licenses with identification card. The card, which uses technology similar to that used for the Australian passport, contains imbedded information about the pilot that cannot be tampered with and is virtually impossible to copy, according to CASA. The card is inserted in the passport-type booklet along with the license (see photo) carried by pilots.
Satellite telecommunications operator SES Global will realign its holding structure to make the company's increasingly diverse activities easier to manage and clearer to understand.
