Jena-Optronik of Germany has been selected to provide the image processing system for RapidEye, a planned five-satellite Earth-imaging network that would provide full coverage of the Earth's surface, in 80 X 1,500-km. (50 X 932-mi.) swaths, with 24-hr. repeat frequency and 6.5-meter (21-ft.) accuracy. The network is due to enter service in 2007. However, budget difficulties at DLR, which is scheduled to provide some of the funding, have held up the start of full-scale development.
Simon Luxmoore (see photo) has been promoted to senior vice president from vice president of the Boeing and Military Business Unit of Paris-based Messier-Dowty. He succeeds Martyn Hurst, who is retiring.
David Hughes (Hampton, Va.), Michael Mecham (Moffett Field, Calif.)
NASA researchers are completing the first phase of testing a "free-flight" operating concept that will allow pilots with specially equipped aircraft to choose their own flight paths and provide their own en route separation.
NASA's Cassini spacecraft is expected to fly by Saturn's moon Phoebe this week, and has successfully tested its communications and propulsion systems in preparation for capture into Saturn orbit on June 30. Trajectory correction maneuver No. 20 (TCM-20) on May 27 targeted the Jet Propulsion Laboratory spacecraft to a 2,000-km. (1,250-mi.) flyby of Phoebe, and was the first time the primary main engine had been fully exercised in 5.5 years.
6-7 Correspondence 8 Who's Where 10-11 Market Focus 13 Industry Outlook 15 Airline Outlook 17 In Orbit 18-20 World News Roundup 23 Washington Outlook 63-64 Classified 64 Aerospace Calendar 65 Contact Us
It is unfortunate that the Regional Airline Assn. depicts the FAA's "one level of safety" mandate as a "one-size-fits-all" policy (AW&ST Apr. 26, p. 46).
Carlos Roman has been named marketing director and Rodrigo Contreras sales director for North and Central America and Asia for LanChile, both based in Miami. Roman was marketing director for the Americas for CSG Systems in Miami, while Contreras was LanChile's international sales director in Santiago.
Prof. Piotr Wolanski (Warsaw (Poland) University of Technology)
Linking of so-called "donuts on a rope" with the experimental flight of classified aircraft powered by a pulsed-detonation engine or other type of pulsed propulsion is too optimistic to many observers or people awaiting new and more efficient pulsed propulsion (AW&ST Apr. 26, p. 29).
Lockheed Martin has won a U.S. Army contract to supply the hypervelocity antitank killing Compact Kinetic Energy Missile. The company already is working for the service on the weapon under a $21.3-million Advanced Technology Demonstration, which is to conclude in 2006. It would be followed by a two-year system development and demonstration phase, before production of the 60-in.-long missile would start.
Lufthansa is pondering a new strategy placing more emphasis on airline business and less on non-core units that have dragged down performance in recent months. It is also preparing a major capital increase to help fund future airline investments. The German carrier plans to issue 76-million additional shares, most likely by June 14, in an initiative to generate about 750 million euros ($900 million). The funding is targeted for expansion plans on long-haul routes and includes acquisition of 15 Airbus A380 mega-transports.
Midwest Airlines will add three Boeing 717s through December, increasing the total of 717s in the fleet to 17. These Rolls-Royce BR715-powered aircraft are scheduled for June, September and December deliveries. Midwest's current 717s have replaced DC-9s, the first workhorse for the Milwaukee-based carrier. Midwest conservatively expects expansion of available seat miles following first delivery. It will add flights in existing markets, six in Midwest Signature or business-class service and six in Midwest Saver or economy service.
Approval of the basic definition for a giant Franco-Italian frigate program is expected to lead to formal launch of the undertaking later this year. French armaments agency DGA reported last week that the two countries had come to agreement on a common vessel and propulsion system architecture for 27 multimission frigates--17 for France and 10 for Italy. The ships will be built in two configurations, for land attack and antisurface/antisubmarine warfare missions.
The days of Congress' big airline bailouts are gone, but smaller ones may remain. House aviation subcommittee Chairman John Mica (R-Fla.) makes clear at a hearing on airlines' financial condition that he, ranking member Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.) and parent Transportation Committee Chairman Don Young (R-Alaska) support extending the FAA's war risk insurance program beyond its expiration in August, this time for three years instead of one. Ranking committee Democrat Jim Oberstar (Minn.) favors extending it 3-5 years.
Franz J. Maucher, Head of Airworthiness Office (AvCraft Aerospace, Wessling, Germany)
As for letters on the reduced thrust take-off (RTTO) capability of the Dornier 328JET (AW&ST Apr. 5, p. 10; Feb. 23, p. 8), RTTO for the 328JET has been certified and available in Europe since September 2003 and in the U.S. since March. This option includes information in the 328JET Flight Manual. Changes to the option were delivered to 328JET operators free of charge.
The European Space Agency plans to undertake what it says will be the most thorough study of the Earth's magnetic field, under a new Earth Observer opportunity mission that was approved by its Earth observation program board last week. The four-year 170-180-million-euro ($209-221-million) mission, called Swarm, is expected to vastly improve scientists' understanding of phenomena at work within the Earth, and how they have affected climate change.
WORLD NEWS ROUNDUP 18 NASA's Cassini spacecraft to fly by Saturn's moon Phoebe 19 China bans charter cargo flights from CIS after crash 19 ESA's Swarm mission to study Earth's magnetic field 20 ATC glitch wreaks havoc on a Heathrow morning 20 BAE Systems outbids Gener- al Dynamics for rest of Alvis WORLD NEWS & ANALYSIS 24 U.S.-European defense ties headed for more trouble 26 Italian air force thins out fighter fleet mix
Israel is considering buying 5,000 GPS-guided Joint Direct Attack Munitions from Boeing under a foreign military sales arrangement with the Pentagon. The total cost could reach $319 million. Half the JDAMs would be 2,000-lb. GBU-31s, but also to be procured will be 1,500 500-lb. GBU-30s, 500 GBU-31 bunker busters and 500 1,000-lb. GBU-32s.
Communications is just one of the areas in the Joint Strike Fighter program where technology-sharing problems hamper the international development effort (see p. 24). The partners want interoperability with certain standards, but in some cases the details of the U.S. standards can't be shared with allies, notes USAF Maj. Gen. John Hudson, JSF's program director. NATO standards that can easily be shared exist, but not in satellite communications and other areas. The U.S.
U.S. Army officials are canceling reassignments and releases from active duty, for at least the next "two or three years," for "all soldiers" in units that are within 90 days of being shipped to Afghanistan and Iraq.
Congratulations to Aerospace Industries Assn. President John W. Douglass for his Viewpoint "The Reports of Our Demise Have Been Greatly Exaggerated" (AW&ST Apr. 26, p. 66) that rebuts some of your bias against the U.S. aerospace industry.
Boeing has selected Rockwell Collins to provide the pilot controls for the 7E7 Dreamliner, adding about $1 billion worth of avionics work on the aircraft over 20 years. The company's awards on the 7E7 total about $3.5 billion, including the supply of head-up and head-down displays, the core-network cabinet, and communication, information and surveillance systems.
The Saras, India's first indigenously built turboprop, made its debut test flight from Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd.'s airport in Bangalore. Powered by aft-mounted and rear-facing Pratt & Whitney PT6A-66 engines driving five-bladed, 2.16-meter (7-ft.) propellers, the aircraft is 15 meters long with a 14.7 meter wingspan. Its maximum takeoff weight is 6,100 kg. (13,420 lb.). Built by the government-owned National Aerospace Laboratories and local companies, the aircraft is designed to fill corporate, courier, recon and commuter roles.
The French Defense Ministry has accepted the recommendation of France's defense secrets consultative committee to declassify a portion of documents concerning the sale of six frigates to Taiwan in 1991. A government report earlier this year said the prime contractor in the deal, defense electronics specialist Thales, might have to return up to $600 million for illegal payments allegedly made by its predecessor, Thomson-CSF, to secure the transaction (AW&ST Feb. 2, p. 18).
The Canadian government is boosting intelligence funding and plans to expand aviation security measures as part of a newly issued national security policy. The domestic and international security agenda put forward recently by Prime Minister Paul Martin in "Securing an Open Society: Canada's National Security Policy" includes $505 million (C$690 million) in spending plans. Most of the money had already been set aside, although not allocated. Enhanced intelligence collection and processing, as well as maritime security are the main beneficiaries.
As many as 230 test subjects may need to be rotated through the International Space Station to carry out the research necessary to reduce the biomedical risks posed by President Bush's deep-space human spaceflight program. That's the finding of about 50 experts, including NASA astronauts and flight surgeons, who took part in a workshop on the issue last month in Houston. If all goes well with experiments, workshop participants estimated, the job could be done with as few as 170 ISS subjects, plus those who have already flown.
