Fitting aircraft with self-protection gear has taken center stage as the U.S. looks to protect its airliners against surface-to-air missiles. But interest in ground-based defenses is beginning to attract attention.
The Industrial Policy Ministry of Ukraine announced that Ukrainian aircraft manufacturers produced $521 million in aviation-related parts in 2003, up 8.1% from 2002. Motorsich was listed as the largest manufacturer, with $193 million posted in engines and accessories work.
A French government report says defense electronics firm Thales may have to return $600 million for illegal payments made in a 1991 sale of six frigates to Taiwan, Paris newspaper Le Figaro reported last week. According to Parisian financial daily Les Echos, the matter could have a bearing on selection of France's new procurement chief. The paper said one of the two candidates short-listed to replace outgoing procurement boss Yves Gleizes was implicated in the deal, seemingly leaving the door open to Francois Lureau, former head of Thales' defense business.
Northwest Airlines is finding uses for the long-range Airbus A330-200s entering the fleet this year by building on its transpacific strengths. Portland, Ore.-Tokyo daily nonstop service is scheduled to start June 10 in DC-10-30 aircraft, and will transition into 243-seat A330s by December. Northwest has 10 A330s on order. The aircraft will be configured for 32 seats in business class and 211 in the coach cabin. Northwest is banking on its 56-year history in the transpacific market as a plus to make the Portland service a success.
I appreciate your continuing to address the workforce issue and state the feelings of many current and former aerospace workforce members, particularly in your article "Tomorrow's 'Techies' " (AW&ST Dec. 15, 2003, pp. 81 and 98) with editorial follow-up. But what happened to the personnel records? Where are the previously submitted resumes and applications?
Robert Sandusky has been named president of the Aerospace Div. of the Belcan Corp. of Cincinnati. He was an engineering executive with the Northrop Grumman Corp.
A three-way struggle is emerging in the battle for market share of domestic and international travel to and from Russia's capital, with key decisions looming in the coming weeks and months.
Your article "From Kites to Pegasus" (AW&ST Dec. 15, 2003, p. 56) brings up the issue of powered flight controls. Boeing's S-307 Stratoliner was the first operational airplane (Pan American service began on July 4, 1940) to use hydraulically boosted flight controls, elevators and rudder, with manual reversion.
The Russian air force intends to begin fielding its first regiment of upgraded Sukhoi Su-27 Flanker aircraft by the end of 2004, with a further batch to be modified in 2005, providing the air force with a badly needed multirole capability. The upgraded aircraft, the Su-27SM, will likely form the basis of any upgrade program for China, which is also seeking to improve the capability of its basic Su-27 fleet.
Neelam Matthews (New Delhi), Alexey Komarov (Moscow)
The completion of a long-anticipated $1.5-billion agreement to acquire the 44,000-ton aircraft carrier Admiral Gorshkov from Russia will give India a regional advantage because the ship comes equipped with 46 MiG-29K naval fighters and eight Ka-28 antisubmarine and Ka-31 early warning helicopters.
While meeting French President Jacques Chirac in Paris last week, Chinese President Hu Jintao said China Southern Airlines would purchase 21 Airbus A320s. It isn't clear whether the airline will trade-in the 20 A320s it already flies, leaving it with a net gain of one aircraft, or add them to its existing fleet for a total of 41. China Southern suspended trading of its stock as Hu made his announcement.
Engineers working on the Mars Exploration Rover Spirit are planning to restart normal science operations this week as they close in on problems that have crippled the spacecraft since Jan. 21. The leading suspect is the file management system for one of the main types of memory. It probably can be fixed in the near term by limiting the number of files stored, which may have little or no operational impact. It may also be possible to later upload a permanent fix.
Frank Van Haste in his letter "Haynes Continues To Save Lives" refers to the magnificent feat of Capt. Al Haynes landing his DC-10 at Sioux City, Iowa, without the use of flight controls (AW&ST Dec. 22, 2003, p. 6). With great respect for Haynes, have we forgotten the achievement of Capt. Bryce McCormick of American Airlines' Flight 96 in 1972? The aft cargo door blew out and rear cabin floor collapsed, severing control cables and the No. 2 throttle cable. McCormick kept the aircraft airborne and made a safe landing in Detroit, using assymetric thrust.
Craig Covault (Pasadena, Calif.), Michael A. Taverna (Paris), Frank Morring, Jr. (Washington)
NASA will hold detailed discussions with the European Space Agency over more ambitious long-term use of large ESA Automated Transfer Vehicles. The ATVs would be launched by Ariane 5s for International Space Station resupply after the space shuttle retirement now planned for 2010. "Specific talks on a major increase in ATV support for the station will be initiated by NASA with ESA and the other station partners in March," Administrator Sean O'Keefe said at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
A slew of Pentagon development projects, particularly rotorcraft, will come under scrutiny in the coming months as developers try to demonstrate that problems identified by the Defense Dept.'s independent test community have been fixed.
The mysterious dark gray soils of Meridiani Planum and scientifically exciting Martian bedrock (right), which are possibly 3-4 billion years old are imaged by the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory/Cornell Panoramic Camera on the Mars rover Opportunity, which landed Jan. 24 (see p. 28). Note the bowl shape of crater walls and how the soil color brightens to red where disturbed by lander airbags. The rover will sample the soils and bedrock and then drive out of the crater. Low gain antenna is at right.
Aviation Week & Space Technology has selected the following Laurel Legends for 2003. The Legends can be previous Laurel winners or individuals chosen for contributions to the global field of aerospace over a period of years. The Legends also will be recognized at the Apr. 6 dinner in Washington and will be inducted into the Laureates Hall of Fame. Andre Turcat and Brian Trubshaw
European leaders took advantage of a state visit by Chinese President Hu Jintao to France last week to reiterate calls for an end to a European Union embargo on arms sales to China. EU President Romani Prodi and French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin urged that the ban be lifted, joining earlier calls for such action by EU trade commissioner Pascal Lamy and German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder (AW&ST Dec. 8, 2003, p. 19).
Adm. (ret.) Harold Gehman will review the decision by NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe to scrub a final planned servicing mission to the Hubble Space Telescope (AW&ST Jan. 26, p. 24), but O'Keefe has left little room for a change of mind. He rejected a request from Sen.
The U.S. Geological Survey has released another batch of terrain elevation data collected in February 2000 by the crew of the space shuttle Endeavour on the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM). The area covered in the latest release stretches from the U.K. to the islands of the Pacific, and includes most of the Eurasian landmass between 50 deg. S. and 60 deg. N. Lat. (colored area on map, with elevations ranging from the dark Caspian Sea below sea level, through shoreline sea level in blue, through green, yellow, tan and white at the highest elevations).
Aerojet, through its recently announced acquisition of Atlantic Research Corp.'s propulsion business, has been named by Raytheon Missile Systems to provide ramjet technology for a propulsion system for the U.S. Air Force's Variable Flow Ducted Rocket Flight Vehicle Concepts program. Raytheon leads the contractor team for the program, which is headed by the Air Force Research Laboratory Munitions Directorate Flight Vehicle Integration Branch.
The Electromagnetics Group (EMAG) at New Mexico State University's Physical Science Laboratory (PSL) are completing tests centered on obtaining antenna radiation pattern measurements using an inert, full-scale mock-up of the Super Sonic Sea Skimming Target Missile. The experiments are being conducted at the university's Tortugas Mountain Antenna Range under the supervision of Thomas Greenling, project manager; Prof. Bruce Blevins, leader of the EMAG, and members of the PSL support team.
Europe's Satlynx and Cisco Systems will work together to combine two-way satellite broadband and wireless local area network (WiFi) services. Satlynx, a joint venture of SES Global, Gilat Satellite Networks and Alcatel Space, was set up in 2002 to provide two-way high-speed Internet services to customers beyond the reach of terrestrial cable or digital subscriber lines (DSL) using inexpensive very small aperture terminal (VSAT) technology. The new agreement will enable wireless users within their local coverage area to connect to Satlynx using Cisco WiFi equipment.
