TRAINER DEAL South Korea's air force has officially ordered the first 25 T-50 Golden Eagle supersonic advanced trainers from Korea Aerospace Industries, kicking off what KAI and its principal subcontractor, Lockheed Martin, expect to be about 100 aircraft split 50-50 between a trainer and a lead-in fighter version. First deliveries of the General Electric F404-GE-102-powered two-seat jet are set for 2005.
Paul L. Miller, Jr., and John M. Roeder have been appointed to the board of directors of LMI Aerospace Inc. of St. Louis. Miller is president/CEO of P.L. Miller & Associates of St. Louis, while Roeder is a certified public accountant and former office managing partner with Arthur Andersen. Brian Olsen has become Western U.S. vice president and Susan Stahl business and regional jet market sector director. Olsen was market sector director for commercial enterprises, while Stahl was a marketing manager for Raisbeck Engineering Inc. of Seattle.
Ventris Cassandra Gibson has become the FAA's assistant administrator for human resource management. She was deputy assistant secretary for human resources management for the Veterans Affairs Dept.
The newest F/A-18E/F production contract gives the U.S. Navy flexibility in fielding the EA-18G jammer derivative, providing the service much-needed maneuvering room as it wrestles with EA-6B Prowler aging problems and inventory shortages.
Asian airports are stepping up checks on passengers arriving from China following the confirmation last week of a case of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) in Guangdong province, the epicenter of the outbreak that began last March. Airlines flying to China said their operations remain close to normal.
FLOOR GRIDS TO THE FUTURE Airbus signed its first supplier contract with the Kaskol Group in Russia late last month. Under terms of the agreement, the Sokol Aircraft production plant in Nizhny Novgorod and Irkut Corp. will produce 300 sets of floor grids for fuselage section 13/14 of the A320 family through 2008. First deliveries are slated to begin in November. The partners consider the contract, estimated at $3 million, a promising beginning to a broader industrial collaboration.
Dianne Deering (see photo) has been named vice president-contracts and strategic agreements for Alliant Techsystems, Edina, Minn. She held the same position for the company's Precision Systems Group.
The crew of a USN P-3C has shown the ability to fully control an unmanned aircraft, including takeoff and landing (called Level 5). During a 45-min. demonstration at Webster Field, Md., late last month, the crew controlled a Northrop Grumman Firescout helicopter UAV and its sensors. The P-3 was fitted with a Tactical Control Station to operate the Firescout and received its live-video via a Tactical Common Data Link.
Air Canada has placed firm orders for 90 new aircraft as part of a restructuring process that includes a fleet of smaller jets officials consider essential to regaining financially viablility.
THE BETTER TO SEE YOU emBiosys Asia-Pacific Pte. Ltd., a Singapore biometrics-based system integrator, has signed an agreement with Bartronics India Ltd. to produce biometric products in India, specifically the Multi-Layered Embedded Fused Biometric Security and Touchless Finger Print systems. The two are employed as security tools at defense installations, transport hubs, tourist sites and financial institutions, as well as several other government departments. No dollar amount was disclosed.
Tom Mahoney has been promoted to Washington-based vice president-government relations of FlightSafety International of New York from manager of the Teterboro (N.J.) Learning Center. He succeeds Al Gleske, who is retiring. J. Scott Hunter has been promoted from assistant manager to succeed Mahoney.
Harbin Embraer, a joint venture of Embraer, Harbin Aircraft Co. and Hafei Aviation Industry, has rolled out and commenced flight-testing of the first ERJ-145 produced in China. The venture is intended to meet local demand for regional jets, and to give the conglomerate Avic 2, to which Harbin and Hafei belong, a product to compete against Avic 1's ARJ 21.
Citing growth in no-frills carriers, Singapore Transport Minister Yeo Cheow Tong said the country will build a dedicated passenger terminal to serve them at Changi Airport. Yeo's plan needs approval from the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS), which manages the airport, but if granted, as anticipated, the new facility could be operational by 2005. That's one year ahead of Terminal 3, which is expected to raise Changi's capacity by 20 million passengers annually to 64 million. The no-frills terminal will handle another 5 million passengers.
General Electric will begin full engine trials of an advanced core early this year to demonstrate technologies that could be used to boost the durability or power of the Super Hornet's F414 engine. While the Navy has no immediate need for increased power, GE estimates the option for durability improvements could save the government hundreds of millions of dollars over the life of the F414/Super Hornet program.
6 Correspondence 8-9 Who's Where 10-11 Market Focus 13 Industry Outlook 15 Airline Outlook 17 In Orbit 18-19 World News Roundup 21 Washington Outlook 62 Classified 64 Contact Us 65 Aerospace Calendar
Swedish air force Capt. Christopher Gruv makes sure Aviation Week & Space Technology Rocky Mountain Bureau Chief William B. Scott is strapped-in and prepared for a "flight" in the service's new Dynamic Flight Simulator (see p. 46). Built by Wyle Laboratories, the DFS features a three-screen visual system, is configured like a JAS 39 Gripen fighter cockpit and allows line pilots to pull up to 9g. The combined simulator/centrifuge system is used for both pilot training and aeromedical research.
CAD ADVANCES Dassault Systemes' Catia suite of computer-aided design and manufacturing tools will be playing a larger role in the Boeing 7E7's development than they did on the 777--the industry's first commercial aircraft to be computer-designed--because software solutions have evolved so dramatically during the past decade. The basic Catia design-and-definition software is now in Version 5, which supports Windows desktop and Internet operations.
MISSILE DEFENSE FUNDS Japan's government has officially introduced a missile defense system as part of its fiscal 2004 funding. The decision means long-term funding of 100 billion yen ($935 million) for Lockheed Martin's Patriot PAC-3 and Raytheon's Standard Missile SM-3 systems through fiscal 2007, including 15 billion yen in fiscal 2004. Japan's total introductory cost for the combined systems is expected to reach 1 trillion yen, including development and production of next-generation surface-to-air missiles now underway in a U.S./Japan program.
WORLD NEWS ROUNDUP 18 Fuel mystery dooms early production PAC 750 XL 19 OK expected for terminal for no-frills carriers at Changi WORLD NEWS & ANALYSIS 22 Mars Express seen as best hope to find Beagle 2 lander 24 NRO eyes new satellite architecture, technologies 26 Israel expands space cooperation with India 26 Global demand for new helicopters on the rise 28 Boeing targets suppliers in move to cut F/A-18E/F price
Researchers prowled the streets of Los Angeles to show that by altering where intelligence data are stored and how they are retrieved, they can offer a large menu of detail-rich images to someone in a moving car using only a common military radio and a standard laptop computer.
BIRDS OF A FEATHER Incumbent contractors for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency's Falcon (Force Application and Launch from the continental U.S.) project received a New Year's gift from the Pentagon research organization: they will face less competition as they vie for the project. Darpa last year awarded contracts to Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman and Seattle-based Andrews Space to work on the hypersonic weapon system portion of Falcon. Boeing joined the group later.
"Make that guy stop shooting at me, even if you have to drop a refrigerator on him!" That colorful air support request from a soldier taking enemy fire underscored a reality that experimental command-and-control (C2) centers are now addressing with advanced technology: the weapons employed often are far less important than getting a particular effect as soon as possible.
The Civil Air Patrol is in the process of incorporating updated technology into newer aircraft as its role becomes increasingly focused on homeland security.
