L-3 Communications will rework an F/A-18C Weapons Tactics trainer at NAS Oceana, Va., to F/A-18E/F configuration. A new visual system will be installed to provide pilots with a 360-deg. field-of-view.
France is undertaking a further overhaul of defense procurement agency DGA aimed at fostering a more global approach to weapons purchasing based on operational requirements.
In another sign of its drive toward self-reliance in weapons systems, India says it has developed its first electronic warfare system. Christened "Sam- yukta," it will be mounted on a ground vehicle and is designed to defend against ground-based and airborne threats. The army plans to deploy the system in 2005. It is expected to have a range of up to 150 km. (90 mi.).
Textron Inc. has long been a player in a wide range of businesses, from aircraft and finance to industrial products and components. But a gradual transformation may be in the offing.
Many innovators are credited with having the foresight and genius to know what would be needed in the future and develop the right technology. But from long experience, we know no one has the magic crystal ball. Research and development is a high-risk game, one in which scientists explore a fascinating idea they suspect may have application. Sometimes they're right, and the payoffs in terms of advancements in public safety, efficiency and national security are enormous.
Former Deputy Energy Secretary Linda G. Stuntz has been appointed to the board of directors of the Raytheon Co., Waltham, Mass. She is a principal in the Washington law practice of Stuntz, Davis & Staffier.
Michael Mecham William Dennis Neelam Matthews (San FranciscoKuala LumpurNew Delhi )
The 2004 edition of the biennial Asian Aerospace exhibition will be held at Singapore's Changi Exhibition Center this week on a far more optimistic note than anytime since the 1990s. This is one of the industry's "big five" events and easily Asia's most important. Major manufacturers often use it to introduce some of their niche products and services, but they rarely make major announcements. Instead, Singapore offers Asia's vast supplier and service providers a chance to showcase their talents. European and U.S. exhibitors come to meet them and talk shop.
Felipe Meyer has been named director of sales for Florida for LanChile Cargo. He has been managing director of South Florida Air Cargo Inc. and was LanChile's cargo services senior manager in Santiago.
A French investigation team is trying to determine causes for a near-miss over northern France on Feb. 18 that involved KLM and Swiss International Air Lines aircraft. A TCAS warning enabled Swiss Flight 17, en route to Zurich from New York, to take evasive action, a Swiss official said.
NASA's top-end estimate for the Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV) planned under President Bush's exploration agenda is $15 billion, according to Rep. Sherwood Boehlert (R-N.Y.), chairman of the House Science Committee, who says he got the figure from NASA Comptroller Steve Isakowitz. Of that amount, $6.6 billion is already in the five-year budget request for Fiscal 2005, but it doesn't include a heavy-lift launcher to put the CEV in orbit (AW&ST Feb. 9, p. 28).
Goodrich Corp. has won a two-year, $1.4-million contract from the NASA Langley Research Center to supply an integral, high-temperature composite flaperon control surface to be tested on a reusable launch vehicle.
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.
Christopher DiSantis has become president of the Cleveland-based Hawk Corp.'s Precision Components Group. He was head of Hawk Motor and the Hawk Racing Group's Quarter Master Industries. DiSantis succeeds Michael Corkran.
Comments made by Russian President Vladimir Putin are prompting speculation that the country is continuing to work on a strategic scramjet missile. Following a triservice exercise involving nuclear delivery systems, Putin claimed Russia's strategic missile forces would soon have advanced systems able "to hit targets at an intercontinental ranges . . . with hypersonic speed, high precision" and great maneuverability. During exercises, RS-18 (SS-19 Stiletto) silo-based and RS-12M (SS-27 Topol) ballistic missiles were launched from Baikonur and Plesetsk, respectively.
The U.S. Army is facing some basic questions as it looks beyond the Blue Force Tracker system it utilized in Operation Iraqi Freedom, according to Lt. Gen. Steven Boutelle, the service's chief information officer. Blue Force Tracker, a satellite-based system installed in ground vehicles and helicopters, helped soldiers monitor the movements of friendly forces, easing their tasks in sand storms and during the battle for Baghdad, Boutelle said at a conference here Jan. 28.
Stephen Friedrich has become director of business development for corporate aircraft for Rolls-Royce. He succeeds Peter Turner, who has joined International Aero Engines. Friedrich was vice president-sales finance.
Despite an emerging traffic recovery, French independent airlines are falling into ruin. The spectacular decline signals the end of outmoded strategies on short-haul routes while confirming the clout of high-speed trains as well as the aggressive growth of low-cost carriers.
A new passenger pre-screening system designed to spot terrorists is going nowhere fast because airlines are reluctant to turn over data on their customers to the government for testing.
Nicolas de Ledinghen has become vice president of the Navigation and Aeronautical Communications Div. of France-based Alcatel. He succeeds Serge Bertrand, who has been appointed chief operating officer of Galileo Industries.
Santovac Fluids recently completed tests of its non-toxic, non-volatile synthetic lubricant TKO2, done in accordance with ASTM D-1748 (modified humidity cabinet testing). After 300 hr. exposure, bearings coated with a volatile commercial rust preventative exhibited rust and corrosion (left). Bearings coated with TKO2 were not, according to the company. The product offers lubricating capabilities at both low and high temperatures, and can be used as a water-replacing industrial cleaner and rust preventative for ferrous and nonferrous metals.
Enstrom Helicopter Corp. nearly doubled aircraft production in 2003 to 17 from nine in 2002. Plans call for nearly doubling that number this year to 32 helicopters.
If we are to survive, we must start paying a little more attention to our needs instead of our dreams. SETI (search for extraterrestrial intelligence) is another boondoggle. The chance is remote that others are as underdeveloped as we are and at the technology level that SETI would receive. Even if we did receive something, what and when could we do about it? SETI is just another indication that NASA knows how to waste resources and is unable to set priorities. We have things we must do, and no one seems interested in doing them.
Joseph Monaghan, senior vice president-marketing and business development for WorldTravel BTI, has been elected chairman of the Alexandria, Va.-based Institute of Business Travel Management. He succeeds Fred Miller, who is vice president-global sales for Marriott International.
X-Prize organizers expect someone to claim the $10-million reward this year by sending a piloted three-seat reusable spacecraft into suborbital space twice in two weeks. Diane Murphy, an EADS North America vice president who sits on the X-Prize board, declined to speculate on who might win the prize, listing Burt Rutan of Scaled Composites, John Carmack of Armadillo Aerospace and Geoff Sheerin of Canadian Arrow among the contenders. With 11 test flights, including one that broke the sound barrier while ascending (AW&ST Dec. 22, 2003, p.
Defense spending in Asia is slowly rebounding, but it is being driven by new political and economic realities that could alter traditional spending habits. Emerging factors impacting military procurement trends range from a growing awareness of the need to better integrate equipment, to concerns about ballistic missiles (see story on p. 72), to China's increasing economic and military force, say industry representatives.
