Within two months of signing the $1.1-billion Phalcon Airborne Early Warning and Control Systems contract, India is looking to revive its own $400-million AWACS project.
Keith Ferris is renowned in the aerospace community for his aviation art--utilized and admired for more than 50 years in the advertising, editorial, public relations and historical material of virtually every U.S. aerospace corporation, aviation trade publication and in the U.S. Air Force Art Collection.
Aeronautics/Propulsion Pierre Baud Laurent Beaudoin Curtis W. Berger Jean-Francois Bigay Mauricio Botelho Fabrice Bregier Philippe Camus Joaquin H. Castro Vladimir Chvanov Phil Condit A. Scott Crossfield Bob Curtin Serge Dassault Mario di Donato Robert F. Faulkner Bob Ford Noel Forgeard Alan Garwood Jean-Luis Gergorin Dale Hougardy Ken Hyde
As an election-year Congress returns from Easter recess this week to an agenda full of hot-potato issues, the new space exploration plan President Bush announced in January is stalled like a Mars Expedition Rover spinning its wheels in deep dust on a steep slope.
NASA's expectation that its Spirit and Opportunity Mars Exploration Rovers will survive at least until September will benefit more than the MER mission scientists. It will also help provide key engineering and operations data to support planning for the next rover, the $1.5-billion Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) mission set for launch in 2009 (AW&ST Apr. 5, p. 30). Analysis of how much dust settles on the current rovers will help the MSL team determine whether solar arrays are a viable alternative to nuclear power for 24 months of roving.
There's plenty for IHI to hope for in a 7E7 engine contract. Its near-term future is not bright: Its workforce is expected to drop to 7,000 from 8,200 by March 2006 owing to declining workloads, and it's expected to report a $371-million loss for fiscal 2003, which ended Mar. 31.
The legal issues surrounding Boeing's use of proprietary Atlas V documents from Lockheed Martin to gain a competitive advantage for its Delta IV in the U.S. Air Force's Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle competition are still being played out. But amid this sorry tale, Boeing engineer C. Steven Griffin and software engineer Kimberly Tran distinguished themselves by recognizing violations of Boeing's own ethical standards and doing something about it.
Tomorrow's Leaders and Outstanding Cadets from left are Cadet Capt. Amber Raub from the U.S. Military Academy, Midshipman First Class Jon Beaton of the U.S. Naval Academy, Cadet First Class Armell V. Balmaceda from the U.S. Coast Guard Academy, Cadet Benjamin Buscaglia of the French Air Force Academy and U.S. Air Force Academy Cadet First Class Hank Moon.
DirecTV Group and its primary shareholder, News Corp., are expected to choose a buyer for DirecTV's PanAmSat affiliate by mid-year, following submittal of bids last week.
Industrial Consulting Gmbh.'s workcrew lifts have innovated the way aerospace manufacturers and aircraft mainte- nance operators work around aircraft and along assembly lines, according to the company. Omnimove uses a refined version of the Mecanum wheel. It employs eight specially shaped non-driven rollers, mounted between two solid steel rims. The grouping of the rollers, mounted at a 45-deg. angle, between two wheel rims, leads the arrangement to replicate the form of a circle.
ASA's Aircraft Flight Log is designed to be used for individual aircraft. The log tracks detailed items pertaining to the care and use of a specific aircraft. Sized to fit a glove box, pilots have quick reference to the aircraft's recent history. Log features include: out/in operating time, destination/purpose of flight; squawks, inspection performed (VOR, pitot-static, ELt) and due dates for oil changes, 100-hr. and annual inspections, according to the company. Aviation Supplies & Academics Inc., 7005 132nd Place SE, Newcastle, Wash. 98059-3153.
Robert Wall (Washington), Douglas Barrie (Washington)
The U.S. Air Force and Navy and their cruise missile suppliers are exploring derivatives of existing weapons to strike targets that today largely elude them. Lockheed Martin's stealthy Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile (Jassm) stealthy cruise missile and Raytheon's Tactical Tomahawk are at the center of the ongoing discussions. The services' efforts are directed toward reaching targets more quickly, at greater distances and at those hardened and buried underground. Funding for the initiatives is lacking, though.
U.S. Army aviators are realizing they need to improve urban warfare training for helicopter pilots, as well as undertake hardware and organizational adjustments as a result of the combat experience in Iraq during the past year.
The U.S. Homeland Security Dept. has selected Northrop Grumman to design, implement and operate the Homeland Secure Data Network. HSDN will provide department officials with a state-of-the-art information technology infrastructure for securely communicating classified information. The General Services Administration orchestrated the award through the GSA Millennia contract at a potential value of more than $330 million with all options exercised by 2006.
The Japanese space agency JAXA has abandoned its long-shot effort to recover the solid rocket booster that fell into 20,000-ft.-deep waters off the Philippines last November (AW&ST Mar. 29, p. 31). The SRB failed to separate from an H-IIA first stage, and the vehicle was intentionally destroyed. Through data analysis, JAXA has determined the failure was due to a burn-through of the SRB's carbon-carbon exhaust nozzle. It hoped to find the SRB nozzle for additional analysis.
The U.S. Army plans to modify its Patriot batteries in South Korea in response to lessons relayed from units operating the air and missile defense system during last year's Iraq war. A second major goal is to enhance the capability of the system to counter North Korean ballistic missiles more effectively.
Simon Appleby (see photo) has been appointed CEO of the Weed Instrument Co., Round Tree, Tex., and U.K.-based Delta Controls. He was president for the Americas of the Hach Ultra Analysis Div.
Maj. Gen. Chen Xiagong, formerly the defense attache at the Chinese Embassy in Washington, has become deputy minister of the Central Foreign Affairs Office in Beijing. The new defense attache is Maj. Gen. Jihua Cai.
Rapidly growing low-cost operators continue to transform and energize the European airline industry. Following tense negotiations, Dublin-based Ryanair obtained low airport taxes at Brussels South Charleroi Airport under a multiyear agreement that should be ratified soon by the European Commission's (EC) competition directorate. Ryanair had told local authorities that it might terminate services to Belgium if an agreement were not inked quickly.
NATO has identified the TIPS industry team, which includes EADS and Northrop Grumman, as its preferred provider for the alliance's Airborne Ground Surveillance project. The industry team is offering a mix of Airbus A321s and Global Hawks, both fitted with the Transatlantic Cooperative AGS Radar for ground-target tracking. But several industry officials still doubt the alliance will make the necessary financial commitment.
Taiwan's China Airlines is to initiate the first new international passenger service at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport in nearly six years when it begins operating thrice-weekly services to Houston in June. From its base in Taipei, China Airlines' routes include Ho Chi Minh City, Hong Kong, Bangkok, Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur, Manila and Singapore.
The 2003 Operations Laureate was presented to aircraft commander Maj. Gilbert Thibault, first officer Capt. Andrew Mercer, flight engineer MCpl. Rob Vidito, search and air rescue technicians Sgt. Emilio De Chantal, MCpl. Dave Cooper (now a sergeant) and MCpl. Scott Elliston of the Canadian 103 Rescue Sqdn. for their rescue of crewmembers from the MV Camilla on Jan. 23, 2003.
India has received some 25 external proposals for instruments to ride its planned Chandrayaan-1 orbiter around the Moon, with scientists in the U.S., Canada, Israel and the European Union in the running. The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) will make its final decision in about two months on who gets to use the 10 kg. (22 lb.) of payload and 10 watts of power set aside for external participation, according to a spokesperson. The winner will share data with the ISRO in exchange for accommodation on the spacecraft.
WORLD NEWS ROUNDUP 20 Superbird 6 heads for orbit over Pacific 25 French budget freeze will hit defense, homeland security 25 Selection of PanAmSat buyer expected by mid-year 26 American Airlines sued over release of passenger records 26 Suppliers picked for 7E7 pylons, nacelles, reversers WORLD NEWS & ANALYSIS 30 Airline fuel expenses going sky high 32 Stovl propulsion develop- ment for JSF on track 33 Lockheed Martin tooling up for F-35 production
