Speaking of privacy, the Electronic Privacy Information Center--the folks who outed Northwest Airlines for sharing 10 million passenger records with NASA (AW&ST Jan. 26, p. 38)--posts a "privacy threat index" on its web site, www.epic.org. It apes the Homeland Security Dept.'s color-coded terrorist threat advisory system. The current level of threat to personal privacy, the group opines, is "elevated," or yellow.
Walter S. (Woody) Hogle, Jr., has been appointed vice president/general manager for the Integrated Systems unit and Ron Hornish vice president/general manager for the Sensor Systems unit for Rockwell Collins, Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Hogle was vice president-programs for Lockheed Martin, while Hornish was vice president/general manager of the Integrated Applications and Navigation Systems unit.
USAF Lt. Gen. (ret.) Michael E. Zettler, who was deputy chief of staff for installations and logistics at USAF Headquarters in Washington, has been named president of Logtec Inc., Fairborn, Ohio.
ThyssenKrupp Materials subsidiary TMX Aerospace has received a five-year contract from Rolls-Royce Corp. to manage the subcontractor finished parts flow to the engine manufacturer's facility in Indianapolis.
ONE OF THE MOST INNOVATIVE CONCEPTS at the ATC Maastricht (Netherlands) 2004 Conference would embed a digital signal in VHF or HF voice transmissions to verify the identity of the sender, adding security to transmission between pilots and controllers, or among controllers. Bogus voice transmissions usually come from pranksters, but could be used by terrorists. Frequentis, working with the University of Technology in Graz, Austria, developed the aircraft identification tag for Eurocontrol.
OptiKey is an optical signature recognition system for authenticity verification that is also designed to prevent counterfeiting, copying or duplication of identification cards and documents. The system consists of a mass producible optical mask (ID label) and matched optical reference mask located in the optoelectronic reader/correlator. The optical ID label is a randomly recorded optical surface structure, which is placed on labels/cards and documents.
Nok Air, the discount carrier backed by Thai Airways Interational that is to begin domestic services in June, will offer regional flights next year. The carrier's new name means "bird" in Thai and comes as a surprise, given the outbreak of avian flu across Southeast Asia. "The market is big enough for another regional airline," insists CEO Patee Sarasin. But it is crowded. Overlapping regional flights into Nok's territory already come from Malaysia's Air Asia and Thai Air Asia.
Brian K. Harrington has been appointed senior vice president/chief financial officer of Spacehab Inc. of Houston. He held the same positions at the Kirby Corp. Harrington succeeds Julia A. Pulzone.
CSA Czech Airlines has extended for four years an agreement with Snecma Services covering the maintenance of CFM56 turbofan engines powering a fleet of 28 Boeing 737-300s.
France has opted for conventional rather than nuclear propulsion for its new aircraft carrier, clearing the way for cooperation with the U.K. and signaling once again its intention to be at the forefront of European defense integration. Industrialists in France and the U.K. didn't have to spend much time reading between the lines to decide what that means: Rather than building the vessel on its own, France might bring British contractors in on the work.
Cortec's VpCI-126 anti-corrosion packaging film is now available in a degradable version. Called VpCI-126 BIO, the film degrades into basic organic elements such as water and carbon dioxide when it comes in contact with organic materials during disposal. The product degrades in less than five years, according to the manufacturer, and meets Mil-B-22019-C and Mil-B-22020-C specifications. The company says the film is 25% stronger in tear and puncture resistance, elongation and tensile strength than competing anti-corrosion packaging films.
ERA OF PARADUBICE, CZECH REPUBLIC, is expanding its multilateration surveillance systems outside the country's borders. Working with Mode-S transponder equipped aircraft and vehicles, its airport surveillance cooperative sensor system will be providing positions within 5 meters, updates once a second, and identification of aircraft and vehicles on the surface at Copenhagen, Palma de Mallorca and Prague Ruzyne airports. Commissioning of all three is slated for this year.
Air France is no longer staffing flights between Paris and Cincinnati with personnel born in 10 Middle Eastern countries. The exclusion, outlined in a memorandum, serves as "a practical matter" to avoid inconvenience and possibly prevent delays related to tight security in the U.S., according to Air France. In January, a flight attendant born in Morocco was not allowed to depart the Cincinnati airport on an Air France flight and was diverted to Atlanta for clearance. Homeland Security Dept.
Also, France has awarded 240 million euros ($304 million) worth of contracts to Thales to expand C4ISR systems and reinforce network-centric warfare capabilities. One, valued at 113 million euros, will cover the supply of common SIC 21 (new-generation command information system) platforms to link 125 onboard and onshore naval sites to national and coalition C3I networks. A second, worth 60 million euros, is for installation of Rifan (a secure aero-naval intranet network designed to ensure shared situational awareness) on 67 navy vessels.
U.K.-based BAE Systems Customer Support & Solutions has been awarded a 70-million-pound ($133-million) contract to supply 128 Advanced Radar/Map Display Information Systems for Royal Air Force Tornado GR4 ground attack aircraft. The award is a follow-on of a $150-million contract for cockpit upgrades.
USN Rear Adm. (lower half) Bruce W. Clingan has been named commander of Carrier Group Three, Bremerton, Wash. He has been deputy director for operations at U.S. Central Command, MacDill AFB, Fla. Rear Adm. (lower half) Marc L. Purcell has been assigned as director for plans and policy for the U.S. Transportation Command, Scott AFB, Ill. He has been assistant commander for personnel readiness and community support in the Navy Personnel Command, Millington, Tenn. Rear Adm. (lower half) (selectee) William E.
To improve security, a new headquarters will be set up in Baghdad during the next month or two that will probably be called Combined Forces Iraq, led by a three- or four-star general, Myers says. The multinational staff, responsible for working all the security issues in the country, will include Iraqis, Britons, Poles, Koreans, Japanese and others. "Below that you will have a tactical headquarters" for carrying out military operations until the Iraqi army is well enough trained and equipped for autonomous service.
Hopes for the first direct passenger and cargo flights between Taiwan and China in 54 years have been deflated due to the failure of the two countries to agree to charter services over the Lunar New Year holiday. China agreed to charters by six Taiwanese carriers operating 16 services, but Taipei wouldn't agree to reciprocal rights for Chinese carriers. China also sought point-to-point services, but Taipei insisted that they make stops in Hong Kong.
U.S. Marine Corps intelligence, communications and defenses against sophisticated new anti-aircraft missiles are to be significantly improved when units start moving into Iraq next month.
Boeing appears headed for a divorce from troubled Czech aircraft maker Aero Vodochody. The Czech government said after a cabinet meeting on Feb. 11 that it would ask Boeing to negotiate the sale of its 35.3% minority stake in Aero Vodochody, which Boeing has managed under an agreement reached in 1998.
The Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity should be getting up close and personal with the rocky rim of its mini-crater this week, taking direct-contact measurements of the first bedrock seen on Mars at sites determined by a week-long survey of the outcrop.
The Pentagon's two main unmanned combat air vehicle efforts are beginning to find direction after the shotgun marriage of programs meant to satisfy disparate U.S. Air Force and Navy requirements.
For years India has been a country hobbled by foreign policy problems and defense aspirations that lacked follow-through. But a change in resolve and international politics is changing all that.
