Your report on planning for the U.S. Army's Future Combat System (AW&ST Apr. 5, p. 22) spotlights delays in deciding whether it's urgent or not. If it is, then taking five years to reach a production decision (not production itself) is far too slow. I suggest the planners study planning for the World War II-era Hanford, Wash., plutonium plant. Groundbreaking to startup took 18 months with a combination of incomplete science and unknown engineering.
The British Royal Air Force likely will see personnel numbers fall by several thousand in the coming years from the current 53,000, the result of an ongoing study. Cuts are expected in engineering support, personnel administration and headquarters staff.
Jean-Paul Hamon has been appointed Nice, France-based executive vice president-development and president for software development of Amadeus. He succeeds Jacques Lignieres, who will retire.
A spate of crashes by charter fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters, some while ferrying politicians during a busy election period, has brought further scrutiny of India's maintenance and repair operations. Elections have increased pressure on charter operators, many of them flying 20-year-old aircraft with spotty maintenance records that are likely to result in their grounding.
Israel's Rafael Armament Development Authority has changed the name of its 6.5-kg., 12-cm.-dia. (14-lb., 4.7-in.) mini-UAV from Skylark to Skylite to avoid confusion with Elbit Systems' UAV, also called Skylark (AW&ST Feb. 9, p. 13). "We feel this product deserves a special identity of its own," says Rafael Vice President Eitan Yudilevich.
Aerojet, the Sacramento-based company that built aircraft booster rockets during World War II and, later, space-based sensors and other spacecraft electronics, reasserts its heritage as a propulsion house with an eye on national missile defense and NASA's new deep-space exploration plans.
American Airlines increased the price of all domestic fares by $2 each way last week to offset rising fuel costs. Officials say rising crude oil prices, currently at nearly $40 per barrel, are to blame. A 1% increase in the price of a gallon of jet fuel costs American more than $30 million annually, the airline says.
French armaments agency DGA and atomic energy commission CEA have concluded a cooperation agreement intended to harmonize research in the defense area. The accord will cover high-power microwave and laser sources; electronic components; powders and explosives; and nuclear, biological and chemical protection.
The invasion of Tokyo's Haneda airport by a 32-year-old homeless man with a penchant for carjackings nearly caused a runway collision with an inbound flight and raised anew the question of the efficacy of Japan's airport security. The Apr. 28 incident is doubly embarrassing because it occurred on the eve of Japan's seven-day spring holiday when all airports were supposed to be on high security alert to avoid a copycat terrorist incident such as occurred in the U.S. on Sept. 11, 2001.
Mars Exploration Rover officials are deciding how to tackle their latest jackpot--the large Endurance Crater that the rover Opportunity has been surveying over the last week. Initial pictures of the inside show what scientists had hoped--the 132-meter-dia. (433-ft.) meteorite crater has punched a hole through the surface, exposing layers of Martian history and bedrock much deeper than that found in the 22-meter-dia. Eagle Crater, which Opportunity explored extensively after rolling off its lander. The Endurance floor is roughly 20 meters deep.
TSA has selected eight airports for its access control pilot program to test a variety of security technologies. The tests will cover radio-frequency identification (RFID) as well as biometric technology, advanced video surveillance equipment and devices to prevent piggybacking (when someone with authorization is followed closely into a secure area by another person who is not cleared). The aim is to find new ways to keep unauthorized people out of controlled areas at airports (not those frequented by passengers).
Upbeat first-quarter results for major U.S. aerospace manufacturers, in particular, are like the lump in the body of a snake that's just eaten a mouse. It's satisfying for now, but won't last long. That's the word from analysts, who believe the industry is feasting on Fiscal Year '02 and '03 defense budgets and supplementals for weapons procurement and R&D, which won't necessarily translate into similar results for second, third and fourth quarters.
The Coast Guard hopes to announce by midsummer its new fixed-wing aircraft requirements, says the service's commandant, Adm. Thomas Collins. The Coast Guard's Deepwater modernization program was devised before Sept. 11, 2001, and requirements have ballooned since then. The original plan called for the Coast Guard to divest its C-130 fleet and rely exclusively on EADS CN-235s, but that is likely to change.
The National Transportation Safety Board has changed the probable cause of a 1994 firefighting Lockheed C-130A accident to fatigue cracking--the same cause for two fatal firefighting accidents in 2002, which involved another C-130A and a Consolidated Vultee PB4Y-2. All three cases involved inflight failure of a wing, but the 1994 case had been attributed to a fuel explosion in a wing drybay. The change in probable cause adds to pressure to improve the maintenance and quality of aircraft used in firefighting operations.
Taiwan's China Airlines has ordered two additional Boeing 747-400 freighters for delivery in 2006. The order raises China Airlines' 747 fleet to 38 aircraft, including 21 freighters, and includes a backlog of 12 aircraft.
Sikorsky is flight testing a simulated airborne laser mine detection system on an MH-60S airborne mine countermeasures aircraft. The mass model will continue to be used in evaluations through spring. The MH-60S then goes to Patuxent River, Md., and Panama City, Fla., for further evaluations. The actual mine detection system uses lidar to detect near-surface and moored mines in littorial regions.
Space shuttle managers are gaining confidence the program is on track for a return to flight in March 2005. Wayne Hale, NASA deputy shuttle program manager, says materials engineers have developed a caulk-like material to seal small cracks or holes that would be the most likely type of future damage to the reinforced carbon-carbon (RCC) leading-edge panels. They have also come up with a plug-type concept to seal RCC damage up to 4 in. in diameter.
Aura, the third in NASA's advanced Earth Observing Satellite series, is set for launch June 19. Built by Northrop Grumman, Aura will probe Earth's troposphere. It will use the same spacecraft bus as the previously launched Aqua. Lockheed Martin built Terra, which was the first in the series.
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A Singapore Airlines Airbus A340-500 was directed to a remote corner of Los Angeles International Airport on May 3 and boarded by an airport police SWAT team, after entering U.S. airspace transmitting a hijacking code on its radar transponder. There was no hijacking attempt on the 18-hr. Flight 20 from Singapore; the transponder was faulty, and FAA and Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officials in Washington reportedly knew that. But they apparently failed to tell local officials.
Patrick J. Finneran, Jr., who is vice president/general manager of St. Louis-based Boeing Aerospace Support, has received the Chester W. Nimitz Award of the Navy League of the United States. The award honors an industry leader who has contributed to America's maritime strength and/or enhanced its national security. He was head of Naval Aircraft Programs for Boeing and was responsible for the F/A-18, AV-8B Harrier, T-45 Goshawk, Multi-mission Maritime Aircraft and V-22 Osprey programs. Under Finneran's leadership, the F/A-18 program was awarded the Collier Trophy in 1999.
United Airlines, which has restructured its marketing agreements with all its United Express regional affiliates except Atlantic Coast Airlines, reduced its overall losses during the first quarter but wound up deeper in red ink for regional service. In first-quarter 2003, when all its regional-service agreements were on a fee-per-departure basis, losses totaled $95 million.
With an encouraging endorsement from its biggest airplane customer that ILFC is "short on supply," Boeing has delivered the first 777-300ER that it expects to redefine long-haul operations. The encouragement came from International Lease Finance Corp. Chairman/CEO Steven Udvar-Hazy, who complimented Boeing for exceeding its initial performance specifications with a 1.5% better fuel burn, 900-ft. shorter takeoff field length and 500-naut.-mi. gain in range than originally predicted. "And the price didn't even go up," he quipped.
