BETTER ARMOR Driven by its experience in Iraq, the U.S. Marine Corps has decided to upgrade its CH-46E lift helicopters, replacing existing armor protection with a lightweight system. The enhancement should allow CH-46s to carry more Marines into battle without degrading the helos' performance. Upgrades for Marine CH-46s are rare these days, since the service plans to replace the aging rotorcraft with the MV-22 tiltrotor.
Banging the liberalization drum, low-cost carriers are promoting their conflicting versions of free and fair competition as a potentially landmark European ruling nears. European low-cost carrier Ryanair is pushing for a positive European Commission (EC) ruling to remove doubts over its future European route expansion--securing, as the airline sees it, "competition."
Virgin Atlantic Airways plans to use a Scaled Composites aircraft in an attempt next year to complete the first solo nonstop circumnavigation of the globe. The aircraft, dubbed the GlobalFlyer, will be flown by either Steve Fossett or Virgin Atlantic Chairman Richard Branson. Branson is acting as the reserve pilot. The aim is to complete the flight in less than 80 hr. The Burt Rutan-designed, composite-material aircraft has a maximum gross weight of 22,066 lb. and an empty weight of 3,577 lb., which allows for 18,000 lb. of fuel. Wingspan is 114 ft.
Goodrich Corp. also reported steep declines in its third-quarter financial performance. Net income was $34 million, or 29 cents per diluted share, on sales of about $1 billion. That compares with net income of $46 million, or 45 cents a share, on sales of $856 million, a year ago. Management attributed the unfavorable comparison mainly to continued weakness in the commercial aerospace market.
ISS ENVIRONMENT The joint U.S./Russian task force that oversees safety on the International Space Station knew there was a "significant degradation" of gear for monitoring air and water quality and radiation on the station before the Expedition 8 crew lifted off and told the heads of NASA and the Russian Aerospace Agency about it. In an Oct.
WORRY WORDS There's going to be less competition and innovation in military aircraft business as the number of companies and projects continue to plummet, two new studies from Rand warn. Part of the problem is that skilled specialists will leave the industry over the next 10 years because of the dearth of aircraft development efforts. Skills for designing pilot and weapon interfaces could be lost, Rand says. Another worry: the number of prime contractors has dropped to three from 11 in 1960.
Airbus has snared its fourth Asia-Pacific customer for the A380 with an agreement by Korean Air to buy five of the 555-seat long-range transports in a deal valued at $1.4 billion. The order, which includes three options, calls for delivery from late 2007 to 2009. An engine choice between the Rolls-Royce Trent 900 and GE-P&W Engine Alliance GP7270 is to be made early next year.
ALCATEL SELLS SAFT Alcatel has sold its Saft battery manufacturing subsidiary to U.K. investment firm Doughty Hanson for 390 million euros ($456 million) as part of an effort by the struggling telecommunications equipment maker to unload non-core assets. Saft, which had sales of 550 million euros last year, is a leading supplier of cadmium-nickel and lithium batteries to the aviation, space and defense industries. The transaction is subject to approval of defense authorities in several nations in which Saft operates.
Raytheon Co. blamed cost overruns in its network-centric systems business for a sharp drop in third-quarter income, to $21 million, or five cents per fully diluted share from continuing operations--excluding a 13-cent charge from discontinued operations. In the same period a year ago, Raytheon recorded income of $228 million, or 56 cents a share. On a net basis, the company lost $35 million, or eight cents a diluted share, compared with a net profit of $147 million, or 36 cents a share, in the third quarter of 2002.
Airbus parent company EADS has offered Australia a 5% stake in A400M if it will buy 10 or so of the new aircraft. The offer is part of an effort to woo new partners to the airlifter program. Canada, Sweden and Norway are also said to be interested.
USAF Maj. Gen. James A. Hawkins has been named vice commander of 18th Air Force at Air Mobility Command Headquarters, Scott AFB, Ill. He has been vice director of the Joint Staff at the Pentagon.
Kuwait Airways has installed AvSoft's Avsis 2.0p event logging and management software to record issues such as bird strikes, wake turbulence and traffic-collision avoidance system warnings.
Duocommun Technologies has been awarded two contracts from Raytheon Space and Airborne Systems totaling $6.5 million to manufacture electromechanical enclosures for the APG73 radar on the F/A-18 aircraft.
NETTING THE ENEMY The most secretive part of the war in Iraq was the battle in the western desert, where U.S. special operations troops on the ground cooperated with strike and reconnaissance aircraft and hunted ballistic missile launchers. But details are slowly emerging. For instance, all aircraft operating in the region had to be data link equipped, making it "the most robust networked force" in the war, says John Garstka, assistant director for concepts and operations in the Pentagon's transformation office.
USAF Col. (ret.) Rick Searfoss (Tehachapi, Calif.)
In response to the letters from Alan Diehl and David Fuller, as a former astronaut and space shuttle mission commander (AW&ST Sept. 29, p. 6; Aug. 11, p. 10), I can say for the flight crews at least, the astronauts have always embraced and work- ed diligently to actively employ crew resource management (CRM).
TORNADO TEAMING The Italian air force is outsourcing logistics support for its Panavia Tornado strike aircraft to an industrial team led by Vitrociset and set to include Datamat, EIS, Elsag and Argol. The contract, valued at 31 million euros ($36.3 million), has been issued by the NATO Eurofighter and Tornado Management Agency and extends to 2008, with a three-year extension option.
6 Correspondence 7 Who's Where 8-9 Market Focus 11 Industry Outlook 13 Airline Outlook 14-15 World News Roundup 17 In Orbit 19 Washington Outlook 65 Contrails 66 World Business Watch 67 Classified 68 Contact Us 69 Aerospace Calendar
Michael A. Taverna (Paris and Les Mesnuls, France)
Propelled by encroaching market realities and fear of overseas takeovers, the fragmented European naval systems sector appears set for the kind of restructuring that has seen control of U.S. shipbuilders shift to aerospace heavyweights.
RED INK, BLACK INK China Eastern Airlines expects a small profit in the fourth quarter, but an overall loss this year. Next year looks brighter and blacker, according to CEO Ye Yigan. Now that fears regarding severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) have abated, he is confident China Southern will return to profitability in 2004, perhaps even record profit, fed by increased demand on domestic and international services and cargo as well as stable fuel prices. Passenger load factor for domestic routes has hit an all-time high of 97.3% since Sept.
The New Zealand Commerce Commission last week turned down Qantas' proposed acquisition of 22.5% of Air New Zealand. Last month, Australia's anti-monopoly commission did the same thing (AW&ST Sept. 15, p. 36). Air New Zealand is undecided about appealing the ruling in court.
CONTOUR VERDICT Last year's Comet Nucleus Tour (Comet) mission probably was lost because the probe's embedded solid-fuel rocket motor overheated the spacecraft structure and caused it to fail, according to the panel NASA set up to investigate the mishap. But there is no way to be sure, since there was no telemetry during the 50-sec. rocket burn designed to send the probe to at least two comets, and the spacecraft never communicated after the burn (AW&ST Aug. 19, 2002, p. 27; Aug. 26, 2002, p. 68).
The U.S. Navy has awarded Boeing a $121-million contract for system development and demonstration of the Hornet Autonomous Real-time Targeting system. It is expected to provide precision-guidance capability to the Joint Direct Attack Munition so aircrews will be able to designate targets and deploy JDAMs on board F/A-18E/Fs independent of preplanned mission requirements.
EDS ADVANCES The Transportation Security Administration has awarded InVision Technologies and its subsidiary, Quantum Magnetics, up to $13 million in grants to research upgrades to existing explosives detection systems (EDS), as well as the next-generation of EDS technology. At InVision, the focus is on incorporating X-ray diffraction technology held by the company's subsidiary, Yxlon International Holding GmbH., into EDS systems already deployed.
Warren G. Lichtenstein has been named chairman of the United Industrial Corp. of New York. He has been chairman of Steel Partners, a major stockholder in United Industrial.
