Short-takeoff-and-landing aircraft will be the latest addition to the Homeland Security Dept.'s air force for protecting the U.S. from terrorism and smuggling.
U.S. Army Maj. Gen. John R. Wood has been named director for joint experimentation (J9) for the U.S. Joint Forces Command. He has been commanding general of the 2nd Infantry Div. and will succeed Army Maj. Gen. James M. Dubik.
David A. Fulghum (Tyndall AFB, Fla. and Marietta, Ga.)
With long-term military budget cuts looming once again, the U.S. Air Force and Lockheed Martin are finally talking about some of the F/A-22 Raptor's closely held secrets that they hope will keep Congress paying for the $132-million stealth aircraft.
Japan Airlines has reported an $806-million loss for fiscal 2003 on revenues of $17.6 billion, which were 7.3% less than in 2002. Illnesses that swept through Asia and the impact of the Iraq war were blamed for the reversal. The carrier's outlook for this year includes revenues of nearly $20 billion and a profit of $327 million.
Anthony J. Albanese has been promoted to chief operating officer from manager for the Airport Surface Detection Equipment Model-X program for Sensis' Air Traffic Systems, Dewitt, N.Y.
What will happen to the remaining Boeing 727s in the world fleet? Consultant Edmund S. Greenslet asked that question last week as he reported on the rapid decline in the number of 727s available for sale or lease. Over a four-month period the figure has declined 35%, from 119 aircraft to 77 at the end of March. He estimates that a quarter of the 727 fleet has been in storage since the 2001 terrorist attacks. At the end of last year, 213 trijets were in mothballs. But why the sudden decline in their availability?
Last week in this space, the U.S. Forest Service's national aviation officer, Tony Kern, argued that discontinuing the use of large aerial firefighting tankers was a solid decision based on safety and public policy considerations. But while there have have been six airtanker structural failures since the 1960s (three involving C-119s, two with C-130As and one with a PB4Y), no large fixed-wing airtanker type (P-2, P-3, DC-4 DC-6 and DC-7) currently contracted has ever experienced a structural failure while fighting wildfires.
Thailand's Shin Satellite plans to sell $90 million in new shares to help expand services on its newest spacecraft to make up for lost business with India. The issue should come in late June or early July if Thailand's stock market index does not fall below the psychological level of 600 points. The proceeds will help expand services of its new fourth iPSTAR satellite late this year to compensate the loss of 11% ($8.25 million) in revenue when India's Space Dept. terminated a seven-transponder lease in December 2003.
Eurocopter has developed a modular mission pack for its EC135 light-medium twin-engine helicopter intended for European homeland security requirements. The pack, which includes options for emergency medical service, disaster management and other uses, is designed to assure at least 90% commonality between missions. Romania, the Czech Republic, Germany, Austria and Sweden use EC135s for homeland security.
Taiwan's Rocsat-2 was placed into orbit May 20 from Vandenberg AFB, Calif., by an Orbital Sciences Taurus XL launcher; initial data later that day showed the solar arrays had deployed and the satellite was working well. The 742-kg. (1,636-lb.) spacecraft is equipped to photograph the Earth with black-and-white and four-channel multispectral cameras. Ground resolution is 2 meters (6.6 ft.) in black-and-white and 8 meters in color, which includes a near-infrared channel, and the cameras paint a 24-km. (15-mi.)-wide swath.
Yang Liwei, China's first astronaut, says his Shenzhou 5 spacecraft performed "very nominally" during his 21-hr. flight, allowing him to control not just its attitude in orbit but also separation from its Long March 2F launch vehicle.
As the Western U.S. states girded for another fire season, they received the shocking news last week that the U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management had canceled the contracts for the use of all large firefighting airtankers (AW&ST May 17, pp. 31 and 58). Although these 33 planes represent a small percentage of the nation's aerial firefighting fleet, they provide quick response and protection to ground firefighters not available from other sources.
Northrop Grumman has begun assembly of the first F-35 Joint Strike Fighter center fuselage for prime contractor Lockheed Martin. Northrop Grumman also said it delivered a key avionics system two weeks ahead of schedule. The company builds about 25% of the F-35 weapons systems including mission planning software. It began a year-long production process required to complete the center fuselage by installing a single-piece, composite air inlet duct for the engine and is responsible for integrating all of the structures and subsystem in the center fuselage.
France has awarded Thales a five-year on-condition maintenance contract for all its equipment used on the country's fighter and helo fleet, with the exception of the Dassault Rafale. The contract, dubbed Silouet, will cover nearly 1,300 parts numbers, 20,000 components and subassemblies and 30% of spare parts requirements.
Accident investigators have found that a midair collision in mid-2002 between a Bashkirian Airlines Tupolev Tu-154M and a DHL Boeing 757-200 was caused by a mix of pilot and ground traffic control errors. In a final report published last week by German accident review board BFU, investigators attributed the July 1, 2002, accident over Lake Constance, on the Swiss-German border, to a chain of "events and circumstances, actions and lack of action" at Swiss air traffic control provider Skyguide and inside the cockpit of the Tu-154M.
Raytheon Aircraft Co. is achieving major improvements in customer satisfaction by making product quality and support the manufacturer's No. 1 priority.
Michael W. Wynne, acting undersecretary of Defense for acquisition, technology and logistics, last week told members of the financial and investment community that the Defense Dept. is willing to pay for performance of weapons systems and other military hardware, but he's "not willing to pay for excursions" by contractors. He was a featured speaker at the aerospace and defense finance conference in New York produced by Aviation Week & Space Technology and Credit Suisse First Boston.
Competition from the discounters has prompted Singapore Airlines, Cathay Pacific Airways, Thai Airways International and Malaysia Airlines to slash fares on a triangle of routes to three of Southeast Asia's favorite cities.
Australia and the U.S. are joining forces on hypersonics research. Under a collaborative A$4.6-million ($3.2-million) effort, the two have agreed to perform a Mach 10 scramjet demonstration at Australia's Woomera test range in late 2005. The Pentagon's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (Darpa) and the Australian Hypersonics Initiative--comprising the Defense Science and Technology Organization, several universities and the state governments of South Australia and Queensland--are running the program called HyCause.
Qantas is aiming to increase its capacity to the U.K. It plans an additional seven flights, four via Hong Kong and three via Singapore. If the International Air Services Commission approves the application, Qantas will see its U.K. services rise to 28 a week over the next two years, most via Singapore, with some through Bangkok and Hong Kong.
Brian J. Clark has been appointed vice president/corporate controller for the San Diego-based Titan Corp. He succeeds Deanna Hom Lund, who has resigned. Clark was vice president-strategic transactions.
With its first sole-source contract from Boeing--to supply the primary flight-control actuators for the 7E7--Moog Inc. will draw on designs for distributed electronics flight control systems that it first developed for the B-2 bomber and is applying to the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. Boeing selected Moog last week to supply all 30 actuators--both hydraulic and electric--for the 200-300-seat twinjet, which is to debut in 2008.
Craftsmen at the Texas Airplane Factory (TAF) are preparing the world's only airworthy Nakajima Type I, Model 2B Ki.43 fighter for initial flight tests early this summer. The airplane was among the remains of four fighters recovered from the Kurile Islands north of Japan in 1995 by aircraft collector Doug Champlin.
Japan's bill for ship-based missile defenses could reach $725 million in its first major increment, the Pentagon tells Congress. The potential foreign military sales package would include nine Raytheon-built Standard Missile SM-3 Block 1A interceptors, as well as upgrades to one Lockheed Martin-designed Aegis weapon system. Mk.21 vertical launch systems and other equipment are part of the deal. Japan also is slated to buy Patriot PAC-3 interceptors. Tokyo has made missile defense a major push in its procurement plans.
