The U.S. Air Force has awarded Northrop Grumman an umbrella contract to work on space control technology. The Counter Surveillance and Reconnaissance System contract could reach $32.2 million, a mobile system that will deny an enemy use of satellite surveillance and reconnaissance using reversible, non-damaging means. The contract is supposed to bring relevant technologies to the preliminary design stage.
ITALY AND ATR 42S The Italian Guardia di Finanza has purchased a third ATR 42MP maritime patrol aircraft, for delivery in late 2005. It will have a full sensor suite and be provided with hardpoints for light weapon systems. The contract, which includes a turnkey support package for its whole ATR 42 fleet, is worth an estimated 40 million euros. Co-manufacturer Alenia Aeronautica is also negotiating the sale of a third ATR 42 to Capitanerie di Porto, the coast guard arm of the navy, for an undisclosed sum.
The Chinese are engaged in a wide-ranging space development initiative across multiple civil and military unmanned space programs in addition to their Shenzhou manned project. This initiative, which could result in the launch of two dozen new Chinese spacecraft by about 2006, is underway while the U.S., European and Japanese space programs are showing signs of atrophy. The effort involves a doubling of the Chinese civilian space budget and a large but secret increase in funding for military satellite development.
NATO, the alliance that stared down the Soviet Union and helped win the Cold War, is struggling to find its way in the 21st century as the U.S. Defense Dept. pursues military transformation while Europe worries about keeping up.
Ralph A. Kaiser has been promoted to chairman/president from vice president/general counsel of Washington-based Universal Air Travel Plan Inc. He succeeds Richard Crum, who has been named president/CEO of Lufthansa AirPlus International's New York-based U.S. division. Marc Krohn, who is director of passenger revenue accounting at United Airlines, has been named non-executive vice chairman of UATP.
SMILE! All Nippon Airways will test an e-check-in system at Tokyo's Narita Airport in December that uses facial recognition for passenger identification. Passengers flying on ANA's international flights who volunteer to use the new system will have had their faces biometrically scanned into an ANA database before the day of departure. At the airport, their identities will be confirmed automatically during check-in and again at boarding gates by screening machines made by Okidenki. The experiment will continue through March 2004.
David A. Berg has been promoted to vice president/general counsel/secretary from assistant general counsel, Paul R. Archambeault to vice president/chief financial officer from director of aviation security and John P. Heimlich to chief economist from director of economic and market research, all for the Washington-based Air Transport Assn. of America Inc. James P. McVaney has been named director of government affairs. He was director of federal relations for the American Chemistry Council.
THE FULL PICTURE Kennedy Space Center and the U.S. Air Force Eastern Range will nearly double tracking camera coverage of future shuttle launch operations in the wake of the Columbia accident. The Columbia Accident Investigation Board found that existing camera capabilities were inadequate to support detailed engineering assessments of the external tank debris damage to Columbia's left wing. Television/film systems like the USAF Distant Object Attitude Measurement System (shown), with 200- and 400-mm.
Tim Bartholet (see photo) has been appointed director of operations of Aero-Craft Hydraulics Inc., Corona, Calif. He was aftermarket support manager for the Vickers Fluid Power Group of Eaton Aerospace. Rod Guzman has been named vice president/general manager and Jim Venneau sales and marketing manager.
An alternative to one of the Pentagon's largest missile programs could be emerging in Europe, with Britain slated to take the lead if the U.K. government decides against collaborating with Washington.
In the next 14 months, Aeroflot Russian Airlines is scheduled to take delivery of 18 Airbus A320-series twinjets. The fleet plan is expected to boost the Russian carrier's overall efficiency and lower direct operating costs. The first aircraft (see photo), a 116-seat A319, was delivered last week , departing from Toulouse-Blagnac airport. All Aeroflot A320-series aircraft will be powered by Franco-American CFM International CFM56-5 turbofans.
Singapore has shortlisted the F-15, Rafale and Typhoon for a 20-aircraft fighter requirement. The downselect had initially been expected in the second quarter, with a final decision to follow at the end of 2003, but the government announced in mid-year that it was pushing back selection by six months, apparently because of concern over U.S. source code availability (AW&ST June 23, p. 42).
STOW-AWAY The Transportation Dept. has imposed a $125,000 civil penalty against AirTran Airways for not allowing a passenger's folding wheelchair to be stowed in the cabin of a Boeing 717. The fine is part of a campaign by the department to prosecute airlines that violate laws and regulations designed to protect handicapped persons. The complaint was filed in October 2002. During its investigation, the department found "many cases" in which the airline's reservation agents told callers that their wheelchairs would have to be checked at the gate and carried as cargo.
Germany's Fraport AG is seeking more than $425 million in the World Bank's International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes from the Philippines for canceling a joint venture headed by Fraport to operate the new $657-million Terminal 3 at Ninoy Aquino International Airport in Manila.
You can now register ONLINE for Aviation Week Events. Go to www.AviationNow.com/conferences or call Ryan Leeds at +1 (212) 904-3892/+1 (800) 240-7645 (U.S. and Canada Only) Nov. 11-13--MRO Asia Conference & Exhibition. Bangkok Intercontinental Hotel. Mar. 8-9--European Transport Leaders Conference. Merrill Lynch Headquarters, London. Mar. 10-14--Toulouse Symposium. Toulouse (France) Congress Center. Mar. 25-26--Defense Budget Conference. Hyatt Regency Crystal City Hotel, Arlington, Va.
Less than 24 hr. after Foreign Minister Khursheed Mahmood Kusari said his country will be forced to buy a new generation of defense systems to match recent purchases by India, Pakistan conducted its third ballistic missile test in 11 days. The Oct. 14 test of a Shaheen 1 extended that system's range to 700 km. (435 mi.), the longest to date. Kusari denied the tests were intended to send a political message related to India purchasing Israeli/ Russian Phalcon/IL-76 radar control aircraft, with U.S. approval.
Prof. Frank G. Mitchell, Aviation Dept. (University of Oklahoma, Norman, Okla.)
Regarding David M. North's editorial on the aerospace workforce crisis (AW&ST Aug. 4, p. 54), the answer is not continuing to define workforce development policies with national organizations. As North suggested, there are many groups in place to motivate young people toward aerospace careers. An infrastructure exists to support the industry, ranging from more than 300 college teacher summer workshops, to FAA- and NASA-supported aviation and space camps for youth, to local community efforts emphasizing math and science training.
FEDEX WILL EQUIP ITS ENTIRE WIDE-BODY FLEET with an enhanced vision system (EVS), supplied by Kollsman, that will include a forward-looking infrared sensor. A head-up display (HUD) being developed by Honeywell will present flight guidance to the pilot, along with images of the runway environment on final approach. The new HUD will use conventional glass combiners with a liquid crystal display instead of a cathode ray tube image source.
THREAT ASSESSMENT Terrorists are still more likely to try to board an aircraft than fire on one from the ground, according to intelligence crossing the desk of the Transportation Security Administration director. USCG Adm. (ret.) James M. Loy agreed with Rep. John L. Mica (R-Fla.), chair of the House aviation subcommittee, that the World Trade Center attacks demonstrated that terrorists have a propensity to repeat themselves.
SECOND THOUGHTS Singapore's transport minister, Yeo Cheow Tong, said Singapore Airlines is not ready for the low-cost, jointly operated carrier proposed last April by Thai Airways International. The original plan came from Singapore Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong during a visit to Chiang Mai, a tourist hotspot in northern Thailand. Goh was responding to a suggestion by Thailand Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra that Chiang Mai would be an ideal jumping-off point for visitors flying to Laos, Myanmar and southern China.
More military cuts may be under consideration--both in bases and force structure--because senior Pentagon civilians believe one lesson learned from Afghanistan and Iraq is that military transformation--which focuses on smaller, cheaper, better connected forces--is a success. Civilian leaders also contend that the military's initial demands for a larger force for the conflicts has discredited conservative military planning, say some senior officers.
ARJ21 SOFTWARE SELECTED China's First Aircraft Institute of AVIC-1 will use Dassault/IBM Catia V5 design and manufacturing software and Enovia, Catia's sister product life cycle management software, to develop the ARJ21. The 78-85-passenger twinjet, due in 2007, is China's first major effort to produce an aircraft for domestic and export applications. It will use a bevy of Western suppliers.
China's first manned space flight initiates a People's Liberation Army effort to explore the utility of Chinese military personnel in space, while also using the Shenzhou development to propel technologies important to future PLA programs, U.S. defense analysts said. The PLA-led flight will also, at least temporarily, boost the army's prestige in Chinese government circles where political combat simmers between military and civilian leadership in the Chinese Communist Party. The PLA designation for the effort is Project 921.
