CF-18 UPGRADES Canada's National Defense Dept. has taken delivery of the first production aircraft in the nation's CF-18 modernization program, which includes avionics configuration upgrades for NATO compliance. Eighty CF-18s are to be upgraded.
HAWAIIAN RESTRUCTURING The U.S. Bankruptcy Court for Hawaii approved a recent motion by Boeing Capital Corp., Hawaiian Airlines' major aircraft lessor, and appointed a trustee to oversee the carrier's restructuring under Chapter 11. Hawaiian, which filed for bankruptcy protection on Mar. 21, was accused of misusing about $30 million in Air Transportation Stabilization Board funding. This month, Hawaiian filed a motion objecting to appointment of a trustee, seeking to appoint an examiner instead.
TOMAHAWK TEST The U.S. Navy and Defense Threat Reduction Agency have completed their advanced concept technology demonstration of a Tomahawk land-attack cruise missile equipped with a penetrator warhead. The second of two tests involving a Tactical Tomahawk and WDU-43 warhead was completed May 16 at the Army's White Sands Missile Range, N.M. The weapon was fired from a ground test stand simulating a ship's vertical launch system. The Navy hopes to field the baseline Tactical Tomahawk next year, with the penetrator version likely to follow several years later.
The Pentagon is nearing a production decision for its next-generation electronic attack system, which military officials hope will allow them to suppress modern surface-to-air missiles with the same effectiveness as older-generation air defenses. The Navy recently completed a month-long operational assessment of the EA-6B's improved capability (ICAP-3) hardware and software, which also serves as the building block for the future EA-18G. The final report on the critical test phase is soon, with a production decision to follow.
JAMMING GAUNTLET THROWN The U.S. Homeland Security Dept. (HSD) will be issuing a challenge to two as-yet-unidentified companies to build prototype missile defense systems for civil transports, and is also soliciting proposals from high-tech firms on how best to protect against Man Portable Air Defense Systems (Manpads), according to U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.). She is a sponsor of legislation that would require all 6,800 U.S. commercial jets to have missile protection systems at a total cost of $7-10 billion.
Ray Hughes (see photo) has become Los Angeles-based customer service manager for the Dassault Falcon Jet Corp. He has been manager of hangar operations for Garrett Aviation in Los Angeles.
British Airways is arguing that the U.K. should, as its priority, build a third runway at Heathrow airport. BA submitted its response to the government's future airport strategy plan, May 22.
EXPRESSJET SLOWS DELIVERIES ExpressJet, of which Continental Airlines owns 51%, is slowing deliveries of Embraer ERJ 145XR jets for the remainder of this year and into 2004, but still plans to accept 36 airplanes by Dec. 31. The airline is using the aircraft to fly longer routes, including a 1,335-naut.-mi. flight from Newark to Oklahoma City that takes 3 hr. 50 min. to complete, and a 1,266-mi. trip from Houston to Palm Springs, Fla., that lasts 3 hr. 42 min.
As Europe prepares to vote on proposals to reinvigorate its faltering space program, industry officials are reiterating concerns that longer term measures needed to ensure space-sector vitality may fall hostage to economic pressures. The European Space Agency last week detailed a nearly 1.8-billion-euro ($2.1-billion) spending package that will be put before the agency's ministerial summit on May 27 for approval.
RETURN FLIGHT Art Stephenson's departure as director of NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center marks another step on the way back to shuttle flight operations. Administrator Sean O'Keefe wants people on deck "for the long haul" when the shuttles fly again, and has tapped David A. King, Stephenson's deputy, to take over the Alabama center. King earned his stripes with O'Keefe by organizing the Columbia debris-recovery effort in Texas, and spent most of his career at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
EXIT PLAN The military should be more aggressive in using covert operations to combat the spread of nuclear, biological and chemical (NBC) weapons, argues Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.). That would be one facet of the more aggressive counter-proliferation strategy the senior lawmaker is advocating. Kyl says the intelligence community needs to get sharper on figuring out exactly where countries such as North Korea are performing work on NBC programs. However, he says the U.S.
Air Midwest Flight 5481 lasted 70 sec.--and resulted in hundreds of hours of accident investigation which so far have bared maintenance and weight-and- balance shortcomings that beg for remedial action.
A year of closely monitored flight testing has led to a reversal of fortune for the V-22, with senior Pentagon officials giving their blessing to take the tiltrotor off life support and into a higher production rate.
James Corcoran (see photo) has been appointed director of commercial services for Honeywell International in Phoenix. Hewas systems integration manager for the Primus EPIC flight management system.
Boeing has appointed Yves Galland vice president of international relations and president of Boeing France. Galland, a former member of the European Parliament in the 1980s and 1990s held ministerial positions in right-wing French governments, including international commerce, and later returned to the private sector.
Austerity measures, furloughs, fleet realignments and route reductions have paid off for four major international carriers that turned profits in fiscal 2002-- but the combined effects of the Iraq war, the SARS crisis and terrorism do not bode well for 2003.
In warfare, the maxim that "the only constant is change" has never been so true. Every time American forces engage in conflict, our potential adversaries learn more about our capabilities and tactics. For example, after the first Persian Gulf war, the Chinese government, shocked by our forces' technological advantages, launched a series of ongoing reforms to modernize that nation's military.
Pierre Chao has become a senior adviser at Credit Suisse First Boston. He has been the firm's senior aerospace/defense analyst. Chao has been succeeded by Jim Higgins, who was the firm's airline analyst.
The business aviation community fears the consequences of planned new U.S. operating rules for fractionally owned aircraft, for which there are no corresponding requirements in Europe.
ORBITAL SHIPS BSAT Orbital Sciences Corp. shipped its BSAT-2c Japanese geostationary communications satellite to Kourou, French Guiana, where it is scheduled to be launched on board an Ariane 5 rocket in mid-June. The BSAT-2c satellite is the third direct-broadcast television spacecraft Orbital has manufactured for Japan's Broadcasting Satellite System Corp. (BSAT) (below).
Final processing of the two Mars Exploration Rovers set for launch on Delta II boosters June 5 and June 25 has involved the most intensive twin lander spacecraft assembly and checkout flow at the launch site here in more than 25 years. The twin spacecraft effort, tied to a short Mars launch window, harkens back to a time when the U.S. space program routinely sent dual identical missions to the planets--a strategy once abandoned, now revived for the Mars Exploration Rover (MER) Program.
ISRAEL/U.S. TEAMING Israel's Electro-Optics Industries Ltd. (El-Op) is teaming with AeroAstro Inc. in Boston for the development of advanced micro and nano space systems and components, with a special focus on remote sensing and optical systems. With the teaming agreement between the two companies in place, an equity investment by Elbit Systems for a minority share of AeroAstro is anticipated to be concluded as soon as regulatory authority is obtained. Since its inception in 1988, AeroAstro has been advocating and developing small, low-cost spacecraft.
Andy Nativi (Genoa, Italy), Michael A. Taverna (Paris)
Italy's Finmeccanica is moving to parlay recent and pending aero engine, trainer and satellite services acquisitions into a renewed strategy for aerospace alliances. Under a new management team installed in mid-2002, the Rome-based conglomerate has been working feverishly to put together a strategy capable of making it a major player in defense and space, as it has in the rotorcraft field (see story on p. 28). With backing last week from shareholders for another three-year term, management is now set on putting that strategy into action.
