Eric Taney's letter says the Osprey design provides the simplest solution for a faster vertical takeoff aircraft, but I am not convinced (AW&ST Sept. 1, p. 6). I will accept his statement that there has not been a tilt mechanism failure in 40 years, but I suspect that is because of extra attention paid to maintenance during the long development cycle. Maintenance in a desert or jungle will be a problem.
Fran Slimmer, Media Relations Director (International Launch Services, McLean, Va.)
International Launch Services (ILS) would like to clarify its market data as characterized in an article about the Euroconsult conference (AW&ST Sept. 15, p. 24). ILS Executive Vice President Leonard Dest was quoted as saying, "ILS landed 10 contracts to launch 15 satellites since 2000." What Dest said was that ILS had received 10 "mutual backup" contracts to launch 15 satellites since 2000. Through mutual backup, a customer can switch between ILS' two vehicles if one should be unavailable.
The Orbital Space Plane NASA is developing to supplement the space shuttle as a transport and rescue vehicle for International Space Station crews will be 50% more maneuverable in orbit than the shuttle, and could be light enough to launch on a medium-lift version of the Delta IV or Atlas V Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicles (EELVs).
USAF Lt. Gen. (ret.) Robert C. Hinson (see photo) has become vice president/deputy general manager of the Omaha, Neb.-based Command, Control and Intelligence Div. of the Northrop Grumman Corp.'s Mission Systems Sector. He was vice commander of the Air Force Space Command at Peterson AFB in Colorado Springs.
The British government is being warned that the window of opportunity for attempting to negotiate final assembly, maintenance and upgrade of its F-35 Joint Strike Fighter is narrowing, and there's no guarantee Washington would be amenable to such ambitions. The warning is delivered in a Defense Ministry-commissioned study by Rand, with a Rand Europe study team tasked to examine the "issues and costs" of final assembly and support of the Joint Strike Fighter in the U.K.
Profiling passengers based on their background or religion does not work (AW&ST Aug 11, p. 70). I have worked in the aviation industry for the past 15 years, eight of them at two major U.S. airlines. Profil- ing creates a false sense of security that makes our protection apparatus blind to the real threats.
Celiene Bruce has become an associate at the Southeastern Consulting Group, Fort Lauderdale, Fla. She was deputy director of the Broward County (Fla.) Aviation Dept.
Northwest Airlines will restructure its Memphis hub this January, spreading out 44 fewer flights over six banks a day, an increase of two. Flights will decrease to 198 from 242 a day and additional regional jet operations are expected.
. . . ROTARY The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency has awarded Irvine, Calif.-based Frontier Systems the initial installment of a $75-million contract to build four A-160 unmanned aircraft. The long-endurance helicopter UAV uses a variable-speed rotorsystem. Work on the contract is to be completed in September 2007.
Portugal has expressed medium-term interest in the Eurocopter Tiger, which has been gathering momentum since the recent decision of Spain to join the Franco-German combat helicopter program. Finland and Sweden are also said to be interested. The Portuguese decision could be linked to the search for a strategic partner for Ogma, a state-owned domestic aerospace company that the government is seeking to privatize. However, a nearer-term consideration is likely to be a requirement for tactical transport aircraft.
CHANDRA PAYOFF Data collected by NASA's Chandra X-ray observatory in its first four years of operation has given scientists new insight into topics as diverse as black holes and the formation of the Moon. Jon Miller of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics studied X-rays from iron around three stellar black holes in the Milky Way, and found the smaller stellar black holes can be a useful analog to supermassive black holes like the one at the center of the galaxy.
Robert L. Sackheim has won the Holger Toftoy Award and Paul Munafo the Hermann Oberth Award, both from the Alabama-Mississippi Section of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. Sackheim is assistant director/chief engineer for space propulsion and Munafo manager of the Materials, Processes and Manufacturing Dept., both at the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala. The Toftoy award recognizes technical management in aeronautics and astronautics, while the Oberth prize honors individual achievement in astronautics and space science.
RETURNING FROM HOLIDAY The airlines' four-month "holiday" from security payments to the government, the one they pay for infrastructure as well as the one passengers pay--$2.50 per flight segment to a maximum of $10 per round trip--ends Sept. 30. Funny thing: When Congress suspended the passenger fee as part of last spring's airline aid package, the airlines didn't change their prices. They kept the money instead of passing the savings through to their customers.
JSOW BOOST Raytheon Co. received a $55-million contract from the U.S. Navy for Joint Standoff Weapons to replenish systems used during Operation Iraqi Freedom. Delivery of the air-to-ground weapons is set for July 2005. More than 400 JSOW-As have been used in combat ops to date.
Critics of network-centric warfare believe there are some flaws in the new doctrine that are not getting enough attention in the Defense Dept. But now that net-centric warfare is such a widely accepted premise of how the U.S. military should fight in the 21st century, spotlighting the potential problems won't be easy, they say.
Capt. Dave Powell has become director of operations/assistant dean and Capt. Stephen K. Jones director of safety and simulation at the Western Michigan University College of Aviation in Battle Creek. Powell was chief pilot in Miami and San Francisco, while Jones was assistant chief pilot/flight manager in Miami, both for United Airlines.
Rockwell Collins has received a sole-source, five-year, $131-million contract for modernization of F/A-18 cockpit displays. The contract includes two five-year options valued at $126 million and $104 million.
. . . AND U.K. UAVS The U.K. has selected the EADS Eagle-1 UAV for experimental trials under the medium-altitude long-endurance adjunct of its Joint UAV Experimental Program. JUEP is intended to test and experiment the potential roles and military utility of UAVs, including medium- and high-altitude models, across the British armed forces. The Eagle-1 has undergone trials in Sweden and Canada, and France has committed to three systems (AW&ST Sept. 15, p. 70).
Faster, nimbler technology development and management will be needed for the U.S. air transportation system to keep pace with demand through the first half of the 21st century, a National Research Council study panel reported Sept. 24.
DRILLING FOR BUGS NASA Ames Research Center and scientists from Spain's Centro de Astrobiologia have begun drilling 500 ft. into the ground near the source of the wine-red waters of the Rio Tinto in southwest Spain. Their aim is twofold: a better understanding of the role of subsurface bacteria that seem to thrive without oxygen, and to practice robotic drilling techniques for a Mars mission. The science team is intrigued by the metabolic process that turns the Rio Tinto red.
WORLD NEWS ROUNDUP 18 First flight for latest version of Sikorsky Black Hawk 18 Tests go well for NASA Evo- lutionary Xenon Thruster 19 Initiation flight for liquid- fueled aerospike engine WORLD NEWS & ANALYSIS 22 Japanese launch teams eye- ing Delta IV-class program 23 Beijing plans to join Eur- ope's Galileo satnav system 24 India OKs sending its first satellite into lunar orbit 27 Capsules, lifting bodies the most likely OSP shapes
Bruce Phillips (see photo) has been named sales manager for the U.S. Aviation Group of Praxair Surface Technologies Inc., Kansas City, Mo. He has succeeded David L. Henderson, who has retired. Phillips was sales manager with Praxair's General Engineering, Printing and Allied Materials Business.
Chris Stephenson has been promoted to senior vice president-global consulting services and manufacturing from vice president-product management for Savi Technology Inc., Sunnyvale, Calif.
NASA's Galileo spacecraft took novel scientific data in the last hours of its life last week, as the 14-year mission ended with an intentional collision into Jupiter.
