Eric Schulz has been appointed president of the Everett, Wash.-based Aviation Technical Services division of the Goodrich Corp. He was president/ CEO of EADS Aeroframe Services. Schulz succeeds Dave Shaw, who has been named corporate vice president-new business model projects.
Commercial communications satellite program managers interested in more financing for existing or startup satcom ventures need to act now, during a period of apparent or forecast economic growth, to obtain that money, according to bankers and other satellite finance experts. Financing for existing projects is clearly available, and managers should act to secure it over the near term rather than bet schedules on what the global financing situation will be later, finance managers told a Euroconsult forum here.
AsiaSat 4 spacecraft, a Boeing Satellite Systems 601HP model, symbolizes the high stakes involved in satellite financing and insurance (see p. 44). The satellite was launched last April from Cape Canaveral on an International Launch Services Atlas III to a position over the Pacific from which it is now providing broadcast and broadband multimedia services to users in China and other Asia-Pacific countries. Boeing photo by Paul Pinner and David Moore.
SPACE WARRIORS India has begun to draft plans to establish an aerospace command with an eye on developing space-based weapons, according to Air Chief S. Krishnaswamy on the 71st anniversary of the Indian air force. In his address, Krishnaswamy also disclosed that the medium-range, 650-kg. (1,430-lb.) surface-to-air Akash missile, with a 25-km. (15.5-mi.) range and a 50-kg. payload, has suffered development delays with its two-stage ramjet propulsion technology. The weapon is slated to undergo user trials in 2004-05.
KEEP ON TRUCKIN' Qualcomm has purchased the assets of Alcatel Mobicom, a mobile messaging and positioning service based on GPS that serves the European trucking industry. The service will be integrated into Qualcomm's Wireless Business Solutions Europe unit. Alcatel officials said the sale would allow the company to focus on new location services based on Europe's Galileo satellite navigation system and the related Egnos wide-area augmentation system.
BIG-PICTURE ADVICE Administrator Sean O'Keefe could reconstitute NASA's Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel (ASAP) as early as this week, filling the nine vacancies created when the old panel resigned en masse Sept. 22. When he does, O'Keefe says, he'll go back to the original ASAP charter drafted after the 1967 Apollo 1 fire by then-U.S. Rep. Donald Rumsfeld (R-Ill.). Originally, the panel was designed to keep an outside eye on safety, watching for hazards and trends that might be missed in the day-to-day bustle of spaceflight operations.
Allied Aerospace has been selected to build and support flight tests of the X-43C hypersonic demonstrator by NASA's Langley Research Center. The award of $149 million will cover a 5.5-year program. The Allied team will include Boeing and Pratt & Whitney. The X-43C is to demonstrate a hypersonic vehicle powered by an advanced air-breathing supersonic combustion ramjet/scramjet that can accelerate from Mach 5 to Mach 7 and cruise at about 4,800 mph. at an altitude of 100,000 ft. Three flights are planned, each of several minutes' duration.
THE PREPRODUCTION PROTOTYPE ECLIPSE 500 lightweight jet has completed more than 30 flights and flown at speeds up to 200 kt. at altitudes below 18,000 ft. The twin-engine jet is flying with interim engines until Pratt & Whitney Canada PW610F turbofan powerplants can be furnished to complete the certification program. Eclipse Aviation Corp. President and CEO Vern Raburn said the airplane is being used to conduct aerodynamic development work until the new engines can be installed late in 2004.
. . . AND NUCLEAR BOMBER FLEET UPGRADE In an unrelated move, France awarded Dassault Aviation, MBDA and Thales a contract to provide an upgrade package for the Mirage 2000N fleet of nuclear fighter bombers. The package will include modifications to allow Mirage 2000Ns to carry an improved version of the ASMP nuclear missile currently used in the French arsenal, along with "Reco NG," a new-generation optical pod for aerial reconnaissance.
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GOOD TO GO The U.S. Navy's operational test community has given the green light to the ALQ-214 jammer that is part of the Integrated Defensive Electronic Countermeasures suite. This month, the testers deemed the system operationally effective and suitable, the highest possible grade. The -214 will replace the ALQ-165, the fabled Advanced Self-Protection Jammer that failed its test (because of unattainable performance goals, system advocates contend) and was canceled before being revived for a few F-14s and F/A-18s.
Donald R. Walker (see photos) has been promoted to senior vice president of the Systems Planning and Engineering organization from vice president of the National Space Systems Engineering organization of The Aerospace Corp., El Segundo, Calif., effective Jan. 1, and Wanda M. Austin has been appointed senior vice president of the company's Chantilly, Va.-based National Systems Group, effective Apr. 1. Walker succeeds Rodney C. Gibson, who is scheduled to retire Dec. 31. Austin, who has been senior vice president of the Engineering and Technology Group, will succeed Jon H.
Current technologies in advanced forms will shape the future air traffic management system and are likely to include Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) as a radar substitute in sparsely populated and developing regions of the world.
WORLD NEWS ROUNDUP 16 Deutsche Post seeking EC help against rivals 16 Wright Glider replica makes 12 flights 17 France OKs development of Pleiades constellation WORLD NEWS & ANALYSIS 20 Army helo programs brace for cuts or terminations 21 Aerial Common Sensor pits regional versus business jet 22 Special-purpose squadrons face disbandment 24 Next-generation UAVs to feature blended stealth 26 German military, space sec- tors feel budget constraints
BEIJING FACELIFT China Southern Airlines has formed a joint venture with a subsidiary of the Beijing Capital Airport that will allow the airline to own and operate its own terminal in Beijing by October 2004. Guangzhou-based China Southern, the nation's largest carrier, is to give a facelift to the airport's Terminal 1, which has remained largely vacant since a new domestic/international terminal (Terminal 3) opened four years ago. Cost of the refurbishment is put at 18 million yuan ($2.1 million).
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.
ROUND TWO The three-year falloff in U.S. business travel has "bottomed out," but airline revenue won't rebound anytime soon, the Business Travel Coalition said. Reporting on the advocacy group's third annual survey of corporate travel executives, Chairman Kevin Mitchell predicted a second round of network airline restructuring, with hub cutbacks or closures, simpler and cheaper fare structures and further attempts to differentiate products. The alternative: unabated loss of market share to low-cost competitors.
MD HELICOPTERS HAS SOLD A TWIN-ENGINE MD Explorer to Medical Aviation Services in the U.K. for use by Great North Air Ambulance in emergency medical services (EMS) operations. The aircraft will be outfitted for IFR flight before entering service late next year. It replaces Eurocopter BO 105 and AS355 helicopters. AeroCare of Lubbock, Tex., recently took delivery of a third MD Explorer for EMS missions. In related news, the New York Police Dept.
COMPETITION READY Alliant Techsystems hopes to give Raytheon a run for its money in providing the U.S. Navy with a precision-guided round to be fired from ships. Last month, company technicians fired two Autonomous Naval Support Rounds (ANSR) at the Army's White Sands (N.M.) Missile Range. Both flew more than 54 naut. mi. in less than 3 min. and, relying on data from nine GPS satellites, flew to within 20 meters (65 ft.) of their target. ANSR is a rocket-assisted projectile to be used with 5-in. guns. The tests culminate a 17-month demonstration.
The Pentagon is slated to step up the pace of testing for Orbital Sciences Corp.'s missile defense interceptor. The military wants the next flight to be an intercept, rather than just flying a dummy payload as first planned. The Pentagon is facing increasing schedule pressure to qualify its missile defense system by the end of next summer as advertised. Lockheed Martin is to build a second interceptor, but its efforts have been delayed owing to technical problems.
The National Air and Space Museum in Washington deserves no credit for its treatment of the B-29 Enola Gay (AW&ST Aug. 25, p. 21). It was received in flyable condition, dismantled and left outside to rot. The Nagasaki bomber, Bockscar, was preserved and has rested for many years in near-original condition at the Air Force Museum at Dayton, Ohio. Artifacts that have had a major impact on human history should be preserved as well as possible and never be used to advance conservators' political agendas.
The U.S. airline industry will post an 8% increase in revenues per available seat mile for the three months ended Sept. 30, and the sector will return to profitability on an operating basis for that period--something the industry hasn't seen since the December 2000 quarter, according to Merrill Lynch analyst Michael Linenberg. He's forecasting profits of about $300 million, compared with an operating loss of $1.5 billion in the same period last year. Airline third-quarter reports begin this week.
THE IRISH GOVERNMENT HAS ACQUIRED a Bombardier Learjet 45 for use as a transport for officials, but also can be converted into an air ambulance. According to Bombardier, delivery is scheduled for December in preparation for Ireland's assumption of the European Union presidency in January. The aircraft will be based at Casement Aerodrome near Dublin. A Bombardier official said the company has delivered 222 Learjet 45s since the aircraft entered service in 1998.
