Boeing has named Michael J. Cave a senior vice president with oversight over all existing commercial programs --the 717, 737, 747, 757, 767 and 777. Cave previously headed the company's Commercial Aviation Services unit. He succeeds James M. Jamieson, who was appointed Boeing's chief technology officer to fill a vacancy created in July when David O. Swain became chief operating officer of Boeing Integrated Defense Systems.
Southwest Airlines Chairman Herbert Kelleher said last week the carrier's new service from Philadelphia International Airport, which is scheduled to begin in May, is unlikely to affect the airline's growth at Baltimore-Washington International Airport, which is less than 100 mi. to the south (see p. 52). He said studies show Southwest draws its Pennsylvania passengers at BWI chiefly from the south-central part of the state and not the Philadelphia area.
A TIP IN TIME The Transportation Security Administration is in the process of upgrading its "threat image projection system" (TIP) that the FAA first deployed in 1999. TIP superimposes images of different guns, knives and bombs on X-ray screens at random during routine screening of passenger carry-on items as a test to determine whether TSA screeners can identify them. The TSA is replacing 1,800 conventional X-ray machines at airport checkpoints with TIP-ready X-ray units.
U.S. and European efforts feeding into the development of hypersonic propulsion for platform and weaponry appli- cations face key milestones in the next few weeks, which may prove critical in shaping the respective programs. The U.S. will attempt to successfully test fly the NASA X-43A hypersonic propulsion testbed by year-end, while early November should see European missile manufacturer MBDA settle on the design configuration of its proposed hypersonic flight research vehicle, dubbed LEA.
Frank Airoldi has become chairman/CEO of Intespace, Toulouse, France. He was executive manager for industrial operations of the Telecommunications Directorate of EADS Astrium. Airoldi succeeds Jean-Louis Marce, who is now head of the CNES Space Center, Kourou, French Guiana.
POSSIBLE UPGRADE ATK Thiokol Propulsion has tested a five-segment version of the reusable solid rocket motor (RSRM) that boosts NASA's space shuttle toward orbit, continuing work the company says could increase the shuttle's payload capability by as much as 23,000 lb. The Oct. 23 static firing in Utah also tested safety margins in different elements of the motor by pushing them to the limits set for the four-segment RSRM currently specified for the shuttle. The new motor is 27.5 ft. longer than the four-segment version and was designed to deliver 3.6 million lb.
Boeing has reported "strong overall performance" for its third quarter, although revenues and earnings are both down from a year ago, its commercial aircraft business continues to be weak and it's likely to stay that way until 2005.
Midway Airlines, trying to make it through Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization as a US Airways Express carrier, gave up and converted to Chapter 7 liquidation on Oct. 30. US Airways said some of its other nine regional affiliates would fly as many of Raleigh- Durham-based Midway's routes as possible through Nov. 2, reducing frequencies elsewhere by one per day as necessary. The carrier planned to begin adding Express flights on all Midway routes on Nov. 3.
TRACKING MANPADS A recent rocket-propelled grenade attack that shot down a U.S. helicopter in Iraq came soon after the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) leaders' meeting in Bangkok last month, where a ban on Manned Portable Air Defense Systems (Manpads) was proposed. A U.S.-led initiative at APEC called for a regional crackdown on arms smugglers supplying Al Qaeda, Jemati Islamyah and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), antigovernment forces in northern Sri Lanka.
HIDDEN AGENDA Pentagon analysts say the Air Force will accept a deal to lease 20 767 tankers and buy another 80 only if there is a behind-the-scenes agreement to provide extra acquisition money, at least another $8-9 billion, to fully fund the F/A-22, C-17, F-35 and CV-22 programs in the years they overlap with the tanker purchase. Predictions are that various members of Congress will continue to fight against any large lease programs because that would wrest from the hands of lawmakers some of their leverage over the services.
China's next Shenzhou manned space flight will carry three astronauts and is planned to stay aloft for as long as seven days, according to a top Chinese space manager. That such a mission is even being considered reaffirms that the Chinese are looking toward longer mission durations in Earth orbit and that Shenzhou spacecraft systems have greater capabilities than the current Russian Soyuz design it's generally modeled after.
As a 6-year-old in 1969, I watched in amazement the grainy pictures of men walking on the Moon. That same year, Concorde and the Boeing 747 made their maiden flights. In our dreams, people soon would travel to Mars and Captain Kirk ventured to the stars.
PLUGGING THE DRAIN A Frost & Sullivan report on the future North American market for aircraft and engine MRO forecasts a flat commercial sector market at approximately $4 billion a year for at least a year or two. Industry analyst Merl Fuchs said a consensus from executives of 60 companies indicated "a feeling that the situation is starting to improve." But the rate of growth in the forecast period to 2009 was lower than the strong rate in effect prior to the economic downturn. Military contracts are buoying overall estimates.
SHUTTLE STAND-DOWN For the first time, NASA is at least considering the possibility that it will have to stop flying the space shuttle once the International Space Station is completed. A "space shuttle decision timeline" circulated at the agency in mid-September would consider the possibility of retiring the winged spaceplane in mid-2013, based on an assessment of down-mass requirements for ISS science and the need to send big and heavy "spares" to the station.
FUSION REACTION National Security Agency and National Imagery and Mapping Agency--soon to be the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency or NGA--are beginning to overlap, perhaps permanently, in several key areas. In the last year, the number of NIMA analysts at NSA has doubled, said Lt. Gen. James R. Clapper, Jr., (USAF, ret.), NIMA's director. That allows the quick fusion of signals intelligence and imagery products for quicker target identification. The rationale is to collaborate at the closest point of collection from the battlefield to "merge, synthesize, meld . . .
Carmen Lloyd has been named chairman/CEO of Iridium Holdings, Arlington, Va. He was president/CEO of Stratos Global Corp. Lloyd succeeds Dan Colussy, who is retiring. Gino Picasso will remain president of Iridium Satellite.
A drop in research and development funding will become a critical problem for major U.S. aircraft builders by the end of the decade when Lockheed Martin's F-35 program will dominate military research, testing and production, according to a new Rand Corp. report. No matter how attractive that seems for Lockheed Martin, it will only be a temporary advantage unless the Pentagon starts spending on new fixed-wing aircraft projects.
Your articles and Viewpoint on swarming (AW&ST Sept. 29, pp. 52, 54 and 66) attempted to persuade the reader that this is a preferred military tactic. In fact, we are told that advocates claim that the second Persian Gulf war was not fought properly because there was not enough swarming. No rational basis for this claim is given, except perhaps that it follows from studies of the social behavior of bees.
RAC AND CAAC Raytheon Co. has been active in China's air traffic control modernization process since the early 1990s, and apparently will continue to play a major role in that country's ongoing efforts to bring its aviation infrastructure into the 21st century. The company has been awarded a contract with the Southwest Regional Air Traffic Management (ATM) Bureau of the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) to supply a turnkey ATM system for the Kunming International Airport in China's southwest region.
SJ30-2 IN TEST The second Sino Swearingen Aircraft Corp. SJ30-2 business jet conforming to production specifications made its first flight earlier this month at San Antonio, joining another SJ30-2 in an accelerated flight test program intended to lead to FAA certification. According to the company, the new aircraft will be flown for evaluation and certification of aerodynamic configuration, stability and control.
Lockheed Martin has snagged a $21.3-million contract to start an advanced technology demonstration of the 5-ft.-long, 60-lb. Compact Kinetic Energy Missile (CKEM) for the U.S. Army's Missile Research Development and Engineering Center. An earlier contract will culminate in a upcoming controlled test flight. The new agreement will cover the lead-in to a preliminary design review and production of long-lead items for production of additional missiles. CKEM is a candidate for a next-generation hypervelocity anti-tank missile.
JUST LOOKING Only two months after Ukrainian Foreign Minister Anatoly Zlenko said his country had stopped supplying military hardware to Pakistan, Indian Defense Minister George Fernandes stopped by to shop for spares. He was looking at ships, Sukhoi Su-30 multirole fighters and various MiG designs, as well as air defense guns. India also shopped in the Czech Republic for gear to protect ground troops from chemical attack, and is considering an agreement to jointly produce the T-72 tank and Mil-designed helicopters.
HARDWARE WOES Problems with a direct voltage converter in the Mitsubishi H-IIA launcher have been tagged as the reason Japan Aerospace Exploratory Agency was forced to postpone a Sept. 27 liftoff of the second pair of Japan's reconnaissance satellites (AW&ST Oct. 6, p. 33). No new launch date has been set but it is expected late this month. The mission includes a set of radar and optical imaging spacecraft that duplicate two already in orbit.
In an initiative that could herald a cultural revolution in France's state-governed air transportation system, ADP Paris airports authority is scheduled to become privatized--to an extent. The right-wing government of Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin asked Pierre Graff, ADP's newly appointed chairman, to prepare the transformation, set to be completed within the next 12 months.
CAN YOU HEAR ME NOW? Eagle Broadband Inc. of League City, Tex., reports it has received FCC approval to apply its Orb'Phone non-line-of-sight communications technology to the Iridium satellite network. A stumbling block for Iridium's handsets is their need for line-of-sight connections for voice and data transmissions to the Iridium satellite network. Orb'Phone uses a dedicated repeater to get past that so the same handset can be used below deck of a ship, inside an aircraft or building. The Orb'Phone repeater functions similarly to a WiFi wireless network for laptops.
