The U.S. has approved a license authorizing Boeing Satellite Systems to "engage in discussions and share data" with the Indian Space Research Organization for possible "joint cooperation in the development and marketing of communication satellites," according to U.S. Under Secretary of Commerce Kenneth I. Juster. Boeing and ISRO are said to be holding talks for manufacturing and marketing a new line of communication satellites that ISRO Chairman G. Madhavan Nair said would be similar to India's existing 2-ton-class Insat. Addressing an Indo-U.S.
Robert Wall (Washington), Michael A. Taverna (Paris)
U.S. and European representatives have bridged differences over their rival precision navigation and timing space systems, clearing the way for European designers to finalize engineering details for the Galileo project.
Jim Benson, who is founding chairman/chief executive of SpaceDev, Poway, Calif., has received the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics' Award for Outstanding Contribution to Aerospace Management.
The SAS Group has revised its performance forecast for 2004, warning that its target of returning a before-tax profit is likely no longer achievable. Scandinavian Airlines suffered from weak yields during the second quarter, while jet fuel prices have climbed.
USAF Maj. Gen. Jeffrey B. Kohler has been nominated for promotion to lieutenant general as director of the Defense Security Cooperation Agency at the Pentagon. He has been director of plans and policy at Headquarters United States European Command, Stuttgart, Germany.
David A. Fulghum (Washington), Robert Wall (Washington)
Pratt & Whitney halted testing of the engine it designed for the short takeoff/vertical landing (Stovl) version of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, while partner Lockheed Martin juggled its management team. For better or worse, the two events will buffet the program to some degree, although analysts are still debating the ultimate significance of each. Senior U.S. Air Force officials are keeping up the pressure to stay with the F-35 program, however, by arguing that these new aircraft will allow them to reduce the Air Force's size.
The U.S. Air Force Academy's soaring, parachute and cadet flying-team programs are back in the air following a return-to-service order recently. Those flight ops were suspended Apr. 2 after a safety review challenged certain maintenance activities. A detailed audit since then confirmed "aircraft configurations, improved aircraft maintenance documentation procedures," and strengthened contractor oversight, according to USAFA officials.
You mention the difficulty Airbus has had in selling the A318 and Boeing's trouble with marketing the 717 (AW&ST June 14, p. 34). However, you did not discuss Boeing's 737-600, which is more along the lines of the A318. It too has not sold well (fewer than 130) but the addition of it, like the A318, allows operators to use a smaller aircraft while keeping a common fleet. That was why some operators insisted on the A318 using an engine from the A320, instead of the PW6000 that was designed for it.
EADS Space Transportation has shipped another ESC-A cryogenic upper stage to Kourou, French Guiana, for a second launch attempt of the upgraded "10 tons" Ariane 5. Built at the EADS facility in Bremen, Germany, the new upper stage uses the same HM-7B engine that powered the third stage of the retired workhorse Ariane 4, and carries 14 metric tons of cryogenic propellant. The first ESC-A was lost before it ignited during the Dec. 11, 2002, Ariane 5 launch failure. That failure was blamed on the new Vulcain II engine, which has since been modified (AW&ST Jan.
Your synopsis of the German accident review board's comprehensive report on the midair collision at Lake Constance two years ago provides reflective and philosophical food for thought on the chance, circumstance and the fragility of life (AW&ST May 24, p. 19). This was an accident chain with the most bizarre and unforeseen links in the history of midairs.
Germany's government is putting forward a $29-billion budget request for defense spending in 2005, roughly $120 million more than it expects to spend this year. The budget would boost procurement spending by 5.3% to $5 billion. Defense spending is projected to reach about $30 billion by 2008.
It looks like NASA will be able to pay for a robotic mission to service the Hubble Space Telescope, provided the robotics industry can come up with technology to do the job.
Raytheon Airline Aviation Services has leased a 1900C turboprop transport to startup Canadian freight carrier Globemaster Air Cargo Ltd. The twin-engine aircraft is configured for all-cargo operations. Globemaster began scheduled service June 21 flying to Edmonton, Grande Prairie, Fort St. John, Fort Nelson, Fort McMurray, Rainbow Lake and Calgary. The company provides same-day freight flights that link northern Alberta with metropolitan cities to the east and west. The 1900C is capable of carrying a payload of more than 5,500 lb. over a distance of 600 naut. mi.
With an order for up to 20 aircraft, Korean Air has become the third customer (after Cathay Pacific and All Nippon airways) for Boeing's 747-400 Special Freighter program, under which passenger aircraft are converted into dedicated freighters. Korean Air's first aircraft is to come from "a Boeing-approved modification center." After that, the Korean Air Aerospace Div. at Gimhae will perform the conversions, making it Boeing's second approved SF center. Cathay Pacific launched the program and its affiliate, Taikoo Aircraft Engineering Co.
The need to boost the joint Japanese-U.S. Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission satellite from a decaying orbit has prompted the two partners to consider shutting down the satellite's operations.
RTCA'S FREE FLIGHT STEERING COMMITTEE has been replaced by a new RTCA organization, the Air Traffic Management Advisory Committee (Atmac). The FAA is soliciting ideas from the new committee as it wrestles with the need to link its operating and capital investment budgets--a linkage that will shape the modernization of the nation's air traffic control system. Investments will have to be driven by benefits and funds availability on the government and industry sides, and both must be in sync.
Delta Air Lines' threat to file for bankruptcy protection may be intended to push its pilots to the bargaining table, but for now all the posturing seems to be doing little more than eroding the value of the company's stock and exacerbating the carrier's financial condition. Moody's Investors Service took Delta management's dire projections to heart and lowered most of its debt ratings--sending Delta's stock even deeper into the speculative range. Last Thursday, it closed at 6.50, down 0.12.
Independence Air's ad, "Go your own way," is the heart of the airline. On June 16, Atlantic Coast Airlines (ACA) went where no regional carrier had gone before: it launched services as low-fare operator Independence Air, with, of all things, a fleet of 87 50-seat Bombardier CRJs. Its lofty goal: transform Washington Dulles International Airport into "the largest low-fare hub in America."
Following the Soviet Union's collapse, the world seemed to be a much safer place. I was a senior director for weapons controllers on an E-3 Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) platform in those days, convinced that, with no known military threats on the horizon, the exercises and patrols we flew were just so much busywork. But flying near Japan one day, our crew quickly learned that even a sedated, muzzled bear might still bite.
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Michael Sullivan has been appointed manager of international sales for Sky Connect, Takoma Park, Md. He was aviation sales manager for the OuterLink Corp.
Clyde S. (Chip) Jones (see photo) has been promoted to resident manager at the NASA Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans from manager of External Tank Return to Flight activities.
Japan's transport ministry will seek international bids next March to build a fourth runway at Tokyo's Haneda airport for what is expected to be a record price. The 2,500-meter (8,200-ft.) runway is expected to cost $6.33 billion and already has prompted some unique construction concepts, including putting the entire structure on piers to assure a smooth flow of the Tama River into Tokyo Bay (AW&ST June 14, p. 42). The runway is expected to be finished by early 2009 and raise the handling capacity of Haneda to 407,000 from 285,000 flights per year.
