With Emirates Airlines already providing services across the Tasman Sea from Australia to New Zealand, and Australian discounter Virgin Blue due to begin flights to New Zealand during the summer travel period later this year, trans-Tasman competition has become a battlefield.
HAWKS TO INDIA India's order for 66 115Y Hawks from BAE Systems will bring spinoff benefits in the form of technology transfers, repair and overhaul contracts and funding to upgrade ground systems to Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. (AW&ST Sept. 8, p. 24). HAL Chairman N.R. Mohanty told the Indian press that one example is technology for directionally solidified blades to be applied on future gas turbine engines.
John Elbon has been named vice president/program manager for the International Space Station within Boeing's NASA Systems at the Johnson Space Center in Houston. He succeeds Joe Mills, who will lead Boeing's Jupiter Icy Moon Orbiter program. Elbon was program manager for the Checkout, Assembly and Payload Processing Services Contract (Capps) based at the Kennedy Space Center. He will be succeeded by Jim Chilton, who has been Capps director of mission management.
Also, Northrop Grumman will supply spare parts and associated engineering services for the U.S. Air Force's Warner Robins Air Logistics Center in an award worth up to $707 million. Initial deliveries under the 10-year contract are anticipated to be valued at $34 million.
SARS WANES, SERVICES WAX Now that fear of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) has subsided in China, All Nippon Airways (ANA) and Japan Airlines (JAL) are increasing services there. They are aided by China's decision to eliminate visa requirements for short-term travelers from Japan, a move based in part on its desire to recoup losses incurred as a result of SARS. As Japanese firms continue to set up production facilities in China, the Japanese are optimistic about the strength of the Chinese market, particularly for business travelers.
OFF-SITE MUSINGS Arinc Inc. has introduced a compact airline check-in system that would enable passengers to pick up boarding passes and check baggage at off-airport sites such as hotels, convention centers and train stations. The iMuseExpress secure workstation, based on Internet technology developed by Arinc, is a scaled-down version of the company's iMuse system in use at major airports. It is also offered in a portable suitcase version. Potential U.S. customers are required to obtain TSA security training and certification.
With all the hand-wringing and self-protection in the wake of the CAIB report, here is a modest proposal that would address the immediate needs, if not the career goals, of NASA.
LAYOFFS A slowdown in work at Saab Aerospace is forcing the Swedish company to cut 272 employees, with less than 10% taking early retirement. "The personnel reductions are largely due to the fact that we have no new orders for future-oriented development projects from the Swedish armed forces," said Saab Aerospace chief Hans Krueger. Since the beginning of the month, the Saab division has been divided into two units, Aerosystems and Aerostructures.
A 15.2-hr. flight by the ScanEagle A as part of Boeing's project to develop low-cost UAVs has begun to prove the aircraft's long-endurance capabilities. It also tracked and videotaped targets at altitudes from 900-2,000 ft. while operating on autopilot. About 14 hr. into the flight, Boeing researchers launched a second ScanEagle, which monitored the flight of the first by sending real-time video to a Boeing test facility in eastern Oregon. Larger versions of the aircraft, which is built by the Insitu Group, are to have an endurance of more than 48 hr.
In the 11 years since the two countries established diplomatic relations, Israel has emerged as India's second largest weapons supplier, so a visit here this month by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon--the first by an Israeli leader--did not go unnoticed by India's aerospace establishment. Almost half of Israel's $4.2 billion in military sales last year went to India, and within the past decade India has supplanted China as Israel's biggest military customer. The annual average $1.2 billion spent here is a lifeline for the Israeli defense industry.
COMING TOGETHER Relations between the Indian and U.S. governments are warming, but defense industrial ties are still lagging. Now the Pentagon's Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) is stepping in to help. Indian military officials have told their Pentagon counterparts that U.S. companies are slow and unenthusiastic in responding to tenders, says DSCA Director USAF Lt. Gen. Tome Walters. U.S. companies respond that they are finding India's procurement process opaque and as convoluted, or almost so, as the Pentagon's.
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Breaking Free: The Aerial Photography of Judson P. Brohmer By Alessandra Brohmer Thin Air Publishing Inc., 2003 www.ThinAirPublishing.com 340 pp.; 280 photographs Hardcover, $85.00
The FAA has proposed an airworthiness directive that would require all Boeing 747-series aircraft to undergo repetitive inspections of the nacelle strut-to-wing attachment structure as well as repetitive overhaul of the diagonal brace and spring beam load paths. The action is intended to ensure long-term structural integrity and prevent separation of the strut and engine from the aircraft.
TIMING IS EVERYTHING The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is examining Raytheon Aircraft Co.'s accounting practices. The SEC is focusing on when RAC booked revenues from the sale of commuter aircraft from 1997-2001. At issue is whether the company recognized revenues after customers took delivery or before they had been billed but received title.
The Multi-sensor Command and Control Aircraft System program office has awarded $4-million, six-month contracts to three teams for the initial design of the battle management command-and-control suite for the next-generation E-10A aircraft. Eventually, the E-10A is expected to replace the E-8 Joint-STARS, E-3 AWACS and RC-135 Rivet Joint. The teams are led by Boeing, Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman. In April 2004, the Pentagon will select one team to continue the project.
HIGH-TECH OVERHAUL Pratt & Whitney has delivered the first overhauled high-pressure liquid oxygen turbopump for a space shuttle main engine to Boeing Rocketdyne Propulsion and Power, the SSME prime contractor. The LOX turbopump flew six times in the course of seven years before it was returned to P&W's West Palm Beach, Fla., facility. There it was disassembled and inspected over a 15-month period, and degraded parts were refurbished or replaced. With periodic overhauls, an SSME turbopump can operate on at least 30 flights, according to Pratt.
JAL Group has selected GE Aircraft Engines' CF6-80C2 engine to power its seven Boeing 767-300ER aircraft that are on order. The powerplant agreement is valued at more than $120 million. The engines are scheduled to be delivered over a three-year period, starting in 2004.
Arthur Money, a former assistant secretary of Defense for command, control, communications and intelligence, and past assistant secretary of the Air Force for research, development and acquisition, has been named the first chairman of the FBI's Science and Technology Advisory Board.
NOT PLAYING Elon Musk, the millionaire dot.comer building a partially reusable two-stage vehicle to launch small satellites (AW&ST Aug. 18, p. 21), isn't going after the $10-million X-Prize with his planned Falcon rocket. Although the heavy-lift version of the Falcon probably would have enough capability to send a human crew through the suborbital trajectory that would win the prize, Musk says he is more interested in developing a cash flow.
Michael Meshay has been named president of Phoenix-based Triumph Components Arizona Inc. He was president of the Aircraft Components and Services Div. of Fairchild Dornier and had been president of PerkinElmer Detection Systems. Meshay succeeds William Hinz, who will continue as president of the Triumph Components Group.
The tightlipped crew at the Skunk Works has parted its veil of secrecy enough to show images of a stealthy, cruise missile-like unmanned aircraft that will go where even the F/A-22 won't so that it can grab intelligence or slam sensitive electronics with a small bomb or a destructive stream of microwave energy.
The U.S. Air Force continues doing a poor job of planning to transition science and technology efforts to the operational community, according to a new report from the Pentagon Inspector General. About half of 30 projects the IG examined didn't have a transition plan. Additionally, the IG found USAF had a $529-million funding shortfall to transition technologies during Fiscal 2003-05.
APACHE UPGRADE The Netherlands is considering upgrading its fleet of AH-64D Longbow Apaches. The deal would involve the sale of 30 modernized Target Acquisition and Designation Sights/Pilot Night Vision Sensors, with 30 companion integrated helmet and display sight systems, the Pentagon says in its required congressional notification. The potential foreign military sales contract could total $298 million.
