Condor Engineering has extended its PMC module line for Arinc 429 applications. The CEI-830 interface complements the CEI-820 PMC module, increasing the number of Arinc 429 channels to 16 receive/16 transmit in a single PMC slot. The module provides integrated databus functionality for Arinc 429, 575 and other 2-wire, 32-bit avionics protocols. The interface supports maximum data throughput on all channels while providing onboard message scheduling, label filtering, multiple buffering options, microsecond time-tagging and error injection/detection.
International Launch Services has won two new launches, one of them a National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) mission in 2005 from a West Coast launchpad being upgraded for the Atlas V rocket. The classified payload mission is scheduled for late 2005 from Space Launch Complex 3 East at Vandenberg AFB, Calif., where ILS launched another NRO mission on an Atlas IIAS/Centaur vehicle in December 2003 (AW&ST Dec. 1, 2003, p. 30). ILS started a month after that launch to prepare the pad for the more powerful Atlas V.
A team of astronomers at the University of Hawaii has found a young star only 33 light-years from Earth that apparently is in the process of creating its own solar system. Researchers from Hawaii and the University of California, Berkeley, used the 2.2-meter (7-ft.) telescope on Mauna Kea and a coronagraph to image a protoplanetary disk around the star AU Microscopium (AU Mic). With the coronagraph masking the star's light, the disk is clearly visible edge-on, extending from the star to a size four times that of Earth's solar system.
Jeff Roberts (see photo) has been named group president of Montreal-based CAE's Civil Simulation and Training unit. He was executive vice president of aviation training for CS&T. Roberts succeeds Gary R. Scott, who has been appointed president of the New Commercial Aircraft Program for Bombardier Aerospace, also in Montreal.
The Homeland Security Dept.'s Science and Technology Div. has issued standards for radiological and nuclear detectors. The standards are designed to assist federal, state and local officials and manufacturers in procurement decisions. Guidelines cover test methods and minimum characteristics for four classes of detection equipment from hand-held units to portal monitors for cargo containers.
Commerce Secretary Don Evans said the government will seek "total recovery" from Lockheed Martin of any losses in the August 2003 handling mishap that toppled an advanced weather satellite. The $283-million NOAA-N Prime satellite was severely damaged, but the exact cost of repairs remains to be determined. The accident occurred when workers at Lockheed Martin Space Systems Sunnyvale, Calif., plant remoted 24 hold-down bolts without proper documentation, according to an initial NASA report (AW&ST Sept. 1, 2003, p. 30).
Mike Houshiar has been named president of Mulgrew Aircraft Components Inc., Monrovia, Calif. He will succeed founder David B. Mulgrew, who will remain CEO. Brian and David T. Mulgrew will remain vice presidents of finance and sales, respectively.
AgustaWestland has announced that it will move assembly of its single-engined A119K Koala helicopter from Agusta's plant in Vergiate, Italy, to an updated and enlarged U.S. production facility in Philadelphia. The facility is operated by a fully owned subsidiary, Agusta Aerospace Corp. (AAC). AAC, established in 1988, has been responsible for sales, customization and support of the A109 line, including the MH-68 version operated by the U.S. Coast Guard. Starting this summer, AAC will assume responsibility for Koala assembly as well.
William A. Feess (see photos, p. 8) and Virendra N. Mahajan have been appointed distinguished engineers and Renny A. Fields a distinguished scientist at The Aerospace Corp., El Segundo, Calif. Feess leads teams in the Systems Engineering Div. that analyze the performance of navigation and geopositioning systems.
Lloyd Bingham, Jr., has been named the designated engineering representative for light tests and C. Todd Hembree the DER for structures for the Butler National Corp., Olathe, Kan.
The Virgin Atlantic GlobalFlyer round-the-world aircraft has started taxi tests and should make its first flight imminently. The 114-ft.-span aircraft was rolled out by constructor Scaled Composites on Jan. 8, and taxi tests started at the company's Mojave, Calif., airport facility in mid-February (AW&ST Jan. 12, p. 50). Adventurer Steve Fossett is to make the round-the-world flight for the Virgin Atlantic team. The flight is expected to take 3.3 days and could occur as early as October or November.
U.K.-based Meggitt saw its defense business expand in 2003, compensating for a decrease in commercial work last year. Figures indicate turnover for the company was down slightly, at $748 million, compared with 2002. Pretax profit increased to $42 million. Defense work accounted for 44% of revenue from operations--up from 37% the previous year--but the civil market decreased to 34% from 40% in 2003.
Sea Launch Co. is scheduled to launch the largest commercial satellite, the 5,900-kg. (13,000-lb.) Inmarsat I-4, in 2005 under a contract signed in December and announced last week. Built by EADS Astrium, the Eurostar 3000 spacecraft will support the new Broadband Global Area Network, which Inmarsat Ltd. intends to introduce in 2005 as a satellite source of Internet, video on demand, videoconferencing and other services at speeds as high as 432 Kbps. to laptop-sized terminals. The contract also included an option for a second launch later.
France has awarded Sagem a 796-million euro ($970-million) contract to develop and supply its Felin new-generation integrated combatant system, a key item in France's future Boa land-based network warfare capability (AW&ST July 8, 2002, p. 48). The award was a big blow to Thales, which has already been downselected to supply the U.K.'s Future Integrated Soldier Technology (FIST) program. Sagem will supply 22,600 Felin equipment sets, enough to equip 20 infantry regiments, along with 9,000 sets for armor, artillery and engineering units.
James B. Armor, Jr., is one of 29 U.S. Air Force brigadier generals who have been nominated for promotion to major general. He is director of Signals Intelligence Systems Acquisition and Operations at the National Reconnaissance Office, Chantilly, Va. The others are: Charles C. Baldwin, deputy chief of the chaplain service at USAF Headquarters, Bolling AFB in Washington; Curtis M. Bedke, deputy chief of the Central Security Service, Ft. Meade, Md.; John T. Brennan, deputy director of the Reaction Force Air Staff, Allied Command Europe, NATO, Kalkar, Germany; Roger W.
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) is receiving some high-level backing in his demand for Pentagon documents on the deliberations leading to the controversial proposal to lease-and-buy 100 Boeing KC-767 tankers. The Pentagon has resisted sharing the information saying those were "pre-decisional" documents. But "there's no basis in law for the Dept. of Defense denying Congress pre-decisional documents," says Carl Levin (Mich.), the senior Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC).
Tyco Electronics' Arinc Size 8 Quadrax contact is a multisignal contact system employing two differential pairs (matched impedance) used with quad-axial cables for databus applications on commercial aircraft per Arinc 600, 664 and 763. The product line consists of a four-contact connector in a Size 8 shell with PCB mount pins or crimp-style pin and socket termination. It features a one-piece dielectric design that simplifies the termination process.
An experimental pulse-detonation-powered aircraft should begin test flights next month at Mojave, Calif., now that the FAA has issued it an airworthiness certificate. Powered by a pulse detonation engine (PDE) developed by the Air Force Research Laboratory's Combustion Science Branch, the aircraft, a Rutan LongEZ, will be flown by pilots from Burt Rutan's Scaled Composites.
Vought Aircraft Industries will consolidate operations at its facility in Dallas in a move that could bring 3,000 new jobs to Texas by the end of 2009. Under an agreement reached late last month with the state of Texas, Vought, which is a major supplier of aerospace structures to Boeing, Gulfstream Aerospace Corp., Cessna Aircraft Co. and the U.S. military, would receive a $35-million grant from the Texas Enterprise Fund and obtain long-term occupancy at the Jefferson Street complex before the current lease expires in 2006.
An advanced MultiScan weather radar appears to be a major factor in Rockwell Collins winning a place on Boeing's 7E7 Dreamliner. The avionics company will supply cockpit displays, communication and surveillance systems with a potential value of $2 billion over the life of the program. "Our WXR-2100 MultiScan weather radar was very critical," said Bryan Vester, senior director of marketing and strategic management for Rockwell Collins Commercial Systems. "It was a key factor in the decision."
Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co. recently flew the first of 20 F-16s produced in the Advanced Block 52 configuration for the Republic of Singapore. The acquisition is the fourth for the Singapore air force, which received its first fighters under the original Peace Carvin program in 1988. Additional orders were received in 1994, 1997 and 2000.
Gerald L. Epstein has been appointed senior fellow for science and security in the Homeland Security Program of the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies. He has been at the Institute for Defense Analyses on assignment to the Defense Threat Reduction Agency's Advanced Systems and Concepts Office.
The Airbus A300-600 rudder control system will be at the heart of the NTSB's final hearing on the Nov. 12, 2001, crash of American Airlines Flight 587. The board is planning to deliberate the final accident report sometime this summer--but American and Airbus are already debating what caused the -600's vertical stabilizer to separate from the fuselage shortly after 587's departure from New York JFK airport. The inflight breakup caused the deaths of 265 people.
