CLEANER POWER Rolls-Royce's Allison Advanced Development Co. has won a Pentagon contract to investigate technology concepts for combustors, hot section components, fuels, materials and control methodologies for high-performance, low-emission engines. The propulsion systems would be used on existing or future aerospace systems. The effort also is supposed to address the technical challenges while keeping an eye on affordability, says the Air Force Research Laboratory. The contract is valued at $13.3 million.
Linda R. Drake has been appointed general manager of the Launch Mission Assurance Office within Space Launch Operations at The Aerospace Corp., El Segundo, Calif. She held the same position at the Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) Div. Drake has been succeeded by Kenneth G. Holden, who was general manager of the Launch Verification Div. Wayne H. Goodman has been named general manager of the Launch Vehicle Engineering and Analysis Div. He was principal director of the EELV Launch Verification Directorate of the Launch Verification Div.
The U.S. Navy has selected Raytheon for continued engineering and manufacturing development of the Standard Missile-3, leading to sea-based missile defense deployment. The three-year award is worth up to $881.4 million.
The launch of a critical $1-billion National Reconnaissance Office signal intelligence spacecraft, which already has been postponed 18 months, has been delayed into September by more problems with the satellite and a valve in its Titan IVB/Centaur booster. The mission was to have launched here Aug. 20 (AW&ST Aug. 18, p. 25). But the malfunction of a fuel measurement valve in the second stage of the Lockheed Martin Titan core vehicle and more problems with the satellite have delayed liftoff until about Sept. 6.
Some 38 countries and 650 companies, three-quarters of them from Russia, were represented at the Moscow air show (MAKS), held at the Gromov Flight Research Institute near Moscow, Aug. 19-24. Heightened security and the visit of President Vladimir Putin on the first day meant a trying time for attendees as getting on-, and, curiously, off-site proved difficult. Access remained a considerable headache for participants. The show was also notable for the first appearance of a Boeing B-52 over the airfield--part of a sizable U.S. Air Force presence.
Pratt & Whitney's baseline engine for Boeing's proposed 7E7 transport will rely on validated technologies and demonstrated advanced manufacturing techniques to meet the propulsion performance and cost of ownership targets set by the airframer.
Space Systems/Loral and Mitsu- bishi Electric Corp. have completed on-orbit testing of the Optus C1 communications satellite and handed it over to Australia's SingTel Optus and the Australian Defense Dept. Launched June 11 on an Ariane 5 (AW&ST June 16, p. 58), the spacecraft provides K uband commercial service and military communications in UHF, X- and K aband frequencies from its location at 156 deg. E. Long.
PROFIT & LOSS STATEMENT Korean Air said a 7.1% appreciation in the Korean won helped cushion the impact of the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) health crisis, but not enough to prevent the carrier from posting a 284.6-billion-won ($242-million) loss for the first half of fiscal 2003. It had a profit of 486 billion won for the same period last year. As usual, Korean Air's cargo revenue was strong (up 7.2%), but that wasn't enough to offset a decline in passenger revenue of more than 10%.
The U.S. Air Force wants to field a 100-lb. unmanned aircraft--launched from a stealth fighter flying at supersonic speed--that can cruise the battlefield for a half-day or more armed with a weapon powerful enough to disable a moving armored vehicle. The project is called Air Dominator, and Boeing's Phantom Works has won the airframe technology demonstration phase of the project to build a low-speed, high-endurance candidate aircraft. The project is under the direction of the Air Force Research Laboratory at Eglin AFB, Fla.
Paul M. Longsworth has been sworn in as deputy administrator for defense nuclear nonproliferation of the National Nuclear Security Administration of the U.S. Energy Dept. He was senior policy adviser for national security and the former Soviet Union to Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham.
HOLD DELIVERIES Average daily utilization rate of U.S. passenger aircraft in 2002 has been low compared with the recent past due to slackening of demand, which has implications for new aircraft deliveries. Edmund S. Greenslet, president of ESG Aviation Services, the industry's chief prognosticator and tracker of costs and traffic, said the 9.33-hr.-a-day use is about 8% below the peak utilization rate achieved in 2000.
QUESTIONING AUTHORITY The Air Line Pilots Assn. has petitioned the FAA to revise regulations to extend the period of captain's authority. Currently, a pilot is in command from the time aircraft doors are closed to when they are opened at the destination. ALPA is proposing the authority be extended from the time he or she reports for duty until the time the pilot is released from duty. Security concerns and requirements to align the U.S. rules with recent International Civil Aviation Assn. changes spurred the petition.
JUST THE FACTS The Boeing B-29 Stratofortress Enola Gay reappears from a time warp, gleaming in its aluminum skin. Last week, the restored aircraft that dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima was unveiled at the National Air and Space Museum's vast Udvar-Hazy Center set to open Dec. 15 at Dulles airport. The B-29 was disassembled into 52 sections in 1960 after sitting for years out in the weather at Andrews AFB, Md. Its restoration was the largest project of its type ever undertaken by the museum and took volunteers an estimated 300,000 hr. of work.
TRENT 900 TEST Engine manufacturer Rolls-Royce has completed a blade containment test on the Trent 900 powerplant, which is destined for the Airbus A380. The test involved the separation of a fan blade while at maximum speed, and its retention within the armored titanium engine-surround. The first certified Trent 900 is scheduled for delivery to Airbus during the fourth quarter of 2004.
Loral Space & Communications has received what it termed "an informal offer" from EchoStar Communications Corp. for its orbiting satellites and satellite manufacturer Space Systems/Loral, but EchoStar says only that it is keeping its options open. "We have not determined whether to participate in the bidding in the Loral bankruptcy case at this time," said a spokesman for Littleton, Colo.-based EchoStar, after Loral revealed the informal approach, which came in a letter to Loral's board of directors.
Weight control has been the watchword for the RAH-66 Comanche helicopter program for some time, but now managers are considering taking a more proactive approach to avoid falling short of performance. Because weight has become a hot-button issue for the Boeing Sikorsky stealthy reconnaissance helicopter, Army officials are quick to point out they have margin before weight growth becomes a problem. However, "we have to hit our bogies on weight" to avoid problems, says the Army's deputy Comanche program manager, Frank Wallace.
WORLD NEWS ROUNDUP 18 New interest shown in assets of ailing Loral 18 Launch of NRO sigint satellite delayed until next month 19 11-lb. drone re-creates 1919 flight across Atlantic MOSCOW AIR SHOW 22 Russian AF implements criti- cal development programs 23 Mixed fortunes for helicopter manufacturer Mil 24 Struggling civil manufacturers garner welcome business 26 Some 38 countries and 650 com- panies represented at air show WORLD NEWS & ANALYSIS
USAF PUMA PILOTS U.S. Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC) pilots are on tap to get a refresher on how to fly the SA.332 Super Puma helicopter. The Air Force isn't about to buy any of the helicopters, but needs the training to round out the skills of one of its specialized units, the 6th Special Operations Squadron (6 SOS). The unit serves a combat aviation advisory role and is deployed overseas to aid foreign military in learning how to use their equipment best.
SAFETY FIRST Post-Columbia concerns about space debris and an unusual coincidence drew top NASA managers, including Administrator Sean O'Keefe, into what probably would otherwise have been a routine operational decision on the Hubble Space Telescope earlier this month. On Aug. 2 the telescope's Near Infrared Camera and Multi-Object Spectrometer (Nicmos) shut itself down as it passed through the high-radiation zone known as the South Atlantic Anomaly, an event controllers eventually figured was a single-event upset caused by a stray subatomic particle.
Alan Erickson (see photo) has been appointed group vice president-sales and marketing for Firth Rixson Ltd., Sheffield, England. He was director of corporate sales for Alcoa Howmet Castings.
Marcia S. Smith has been named to receive the Lifetime Achievement Award of Washington-based Women in Aerospace. She is senior specialist in aerospace and telecommunications policy for the Congressional Research Service at the Library of Congress in Washington. Other winners are: Outstanding Leadership Award, Blair C. Marks, director of the C-5 Avionics Modernization Program at the Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co., Marietta, Ga.; Outstanding Achievement Awards to USAF Capt.
SriLankan Airlines, despite operating three aircraft short, managed to register a profit of 2.2 billion rupees ($23 million) for the year ended Mar. 31. The profit was off by a third from the previous year, but revenue was up 24% to 36.9 billion rupees, a bright sign following a bombing at the carrier's home base on July 27, 2002. Chairman Daya Pepola attributed the turnaround to conciliatory talks between the government and Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. Their attack destroyed an Airbus A340-300, A320 and damaged another A320.
PATRIOTIC DUTY The Army equips U.S. soldiers in South Korea with the Patriot PAC-3 missile defense system to help deal with North Korea's huge short-range ballistic missile threat. The service also is planning to buy 22 more interceptors this year to replace PAC-2s and PAC-3s fired during the war in Iraq, says Army program manager Col. Tommie E. Newberry. The Pentagon is gradually increasing its PAC-3 missile inventory from 55 at the start of the Iraq war to about 100 now. Lessons learned are still being assembled, and U.S.
Badly needed impetus to Russia's sluggish commercial aircraft manufacturing sector emerged during the Moscow air show, provided, that is, if commitments are fulfilled.
JUDGE LEAVES THE BENCH Administrative Law Judge Ronnie A. Yoder has withdrawn from the DHL Airways citizenship case after lawyers for the successor carrier, Astar Air Cargo, accused the U.S. Transportation Dept. judge of a "deep-seated personal bias" against the company. Astar alleged that Yoder "crossed the line between adjudicator and advocate" by allowing plaintiffs, including FedEx, rights of discovery in excess of department guidelines that represented an unjustified penetration of Astar's business.
