MANPADS CONTROL Assad Kotaite, council president of the International Civil Aviation Organization, is lobbying to establish a worldwide convention to control stockpiles of man-portable air defense systems (manpads) and to mark the anti-aircraft missiles with detection agents similar to the convention that controls explosives.
Northrop Grumman Corp.'s board of directors last week elected President and CEO Ronald D. Sugar as the company's next chairman, effective Oct. 1. Sugar will succeed Kent Kresa, who has served as chairman since 1990 and will retire on that date.
In a bid to stave off potentially debilitating cuts to the Jassm cruise missile project, the U.S. Air Force is trying to convince lawmakers headed into final Fiscal 2004 budget negotiations that the stealth missile's test record and price warrant more money.
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USMC Gen. (ret.) Paul X. Kelley and Thomas A. Corcoran have been nominated to be members of the board of directors of the United Industrial Corp. of New York. Kelley was Marine Corps commandant and is a partner in J.F. Lehman and Co. Corcoran is president/CEO of Gemini Air Cargo Inc., a division of The Carlyle Group of Washington.
Austin K. Yamada has been appointed director of business development for Lockheed Martin Systems Management Homeland Systems Solutions, Marlton, N.J. He was deputy assistant secretary of Defense for special operations and combating terrorism.
A constellation of Boeing unmanned aircraft shows some of the concepts being developed to aid network-centric operations. They illustrate part of the rich international potential for both civil and military uses (see p. 40). Around-the-clock operations free of crew-rest considerations and constant refueling demands are expected to result from the widespread use of unmanned, long-endurance designs. Clockwise from the top are the High Altitude Airship; the USAF strike version of the X-45; the U.S.
Over the past decade, senior Russian military leaders in Moscow must have looked with extraordinary envy at the budgets of their counterparts in Washington. While the Pentagon poured research and development dollars into emerging technologies in the unmanned aerial vehicle and, latterly, uninhabited combat air vehicle arena, Russian programs stagnated simply for lack of funding.
Former U.S. Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. (ret.) Charles A. Gabriel died Sept. 4 of natural causes. He was 75. Gabriel served as service chief from July 1982 to July 1986, after tours as deputy chief for operations, plans and readiness, and commander of U.S. Air Forces in Europe. Gabriel logged more than 4,200 flying hours, including 152 combat hours flying F-4s during the Vietnam War.
New commercial communications satellite market trends are emerging that reinforce evidence of growth both globally and regionally in the diverse civil satcom industry, senior managers here said. "Signs indicate we are moving out of the hilly terrain and beginning to get back on track," said John Stanton, Intelsat's president of Data, Carrier and Internet.
Virtually every element of the beleaguered global commercial communications satellite industry is showing signs of recovery, according to managers from the satcom-operator, financing and production sectors who backed their claims with new data presented here before a packed forum of international satcom decision-makers.
SAS will begin testing biometry for check-in at two airports beginning in November. The program will run for six months, with one site using fingerprinting, the other, iris recognition.
Harry Armen (see photo), director of technology development for the Northrop Grumman Corp.'s Airborne Early Warning and Electronic Warfare Systems, Bethpage, N.Y., has been nominated to become president of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers.
CROSSLINKS PLANNED BETWEEN GPS-III SATELLITES will offer a number of improvements in the accuracy of position, velocity and timing. GPS-II satellites are given clock and satellite ephemeris data twice a day. With a direct communication link between satellites, updates could be provided every 15 min., which would reduce the most significant error sources, according to a study by The Aerospace Corp. A trend analysis monitoring signals in space could spot gradual degradation, adding to signal integrity.
I agree that U.S.-licensed commercial pilots should not be limited from flying beyond age 60. I assume that age was selected from the safety standpoint, but people live longer now and can lead more productive lives well beyond age 60. The FAA reluctance to changing the rule is likely based on economic factors: If more 60-year-olds retire (with high salaries) and younger pilots (lower salaries) replace them in the left seats, airline bottom lines will benefit. Perhaps there have been backroom deals between the FAA and airlines after all.
Tod Hullin has been appointed senior vice president-communications for Chicago-based Boeing. He has been senior global communications officer for Time Warner, the Seagram Co. and Vivendi Universal.
USAF Lt. Gen. (ret) George K. Muellner, who is president of the Boeing Phantom Works, has been named to receive the 2003 George Lubin Memorial Award from the Society for the Advancement of Material and Process Engineering. Muellner will be honored for leadership and advocacy of advanced materials and cost-effective processing that have resulted in their incorporation into advanced military systems.
Komy has developed the "FF Mirror Air" for baby beds used on commercial airlines, and Japan Airlines has installed the mirrors on its Boeing 767-300ERs. The mirrors are installed on each side of the crib, allowing parents to check on their child without having to stand. Komy has delivered approximately 20,000 FF Mirror Air units worldwide for overhead stowage bins in aircraft.
The IFR 4000 navigation communications ramp test set is a self-contained, hand-held unit designed for ramp testing, and can be used in bench test applications. It performs functional testing, signal generation and calibration of marker beacon, VHF omnidirectional radio range (VOR), instrument landing system and VHF/UHF communications avionics systems. The IFR 4000 allows accurate measurement of VHF/UHF transmitter frequency, output power, modulation (AM and FM) and receiver sensitivity, VHF/UHF antenna and/or feeder standing wave ratio, according to the company.
Ray Lutz has been promoted to senior vice president-business development, communications and information technology from vice president-business development and communications for Miami-based Astar Air Cargo.
Standard & Poor's, a sister unit to Aviation Week & Space Technology within The McGraw-Hill Companies, believes that a recent federal ruling allowing families of relatives killed in the World Trade Center and Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001, to sue American Airlines, United Airlines and Boeing Co. will have little financial impact on these aviation companies.
In an attempt to steady the ship after a series of unwelcome program revelations, BAE Systems late last week unveiled interim results that are likely to bring relief to shareholders and financial analysts. Pre-tax profit for the six months ended June 30 saw figures fall slightly to 333 million pounds ($530 million), from 359 million pounds for the year-ago period. Sales also were slightly lower at 5.68 billion pounds, down from 5.7 billion pounds. Cash performance was better than anticipated, with net debt at 1.25 billion pounds.
