FIRE TWO Political operatives continue to marvel at President Bush's photogenic S-3 aircraft carrier fly-in. Some call it the mother of all photo ops. A few say the footage could come back to haunt him on the campaign trail if the economy really bombs. Meanwhile, some Democrats start a whispering campaign to foment reportage of "scandalous" details of the event. How much did it cost? Was the ship kept off-coast to allow time for the event? Why couldn't the prez have flown out on a helo? And so on. There was nothing subtle about Sen. Robert C. Byrd's approach, though.
Boeing faces disciplinary action on its Delta IV program as a result of federal investigations into the look it got at Lockheed Martin's Atlas V effort as they competed to win the U.S. Air Force's Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle contract. This has complicated the Pentagon's efforts to drive down EELV costs, which are borne almost entirely by the military since the commercial market has fizzled.
USAF/INDUSTRY-PARTNER PLAN The U.S. Air Force Materiel Command will increasingly partner with industry to help its depots meet surge requirements, AFMC Commander Gen. Lester Lyles said. The partnering already is underway in a catch-up mode for operational systems such as the F-16 and C-17, and is part of production and life-cycle support planning for newer platforms such as the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter and F-22.
The combination of increased speed, range, survivability, timely intelligence and precision translated to U.S. and coalition combat power or "deliberately decisive force" during the recent war in Iraq. And these elements are now the foundation of "a new American way of war," said the Pentagon's top uniformed officer.
General Dynamics Network Systems has been awarded a $10-million contract to provide base communications operations and maintenance at the Naval Air Systems Command Weapons Div. in China Lake, Calif. The contract is valued at $4 million for the first two years and provides for three, one-year options at $2 million each.
Many U.S. strictures over British defense-industrial relations with Washington are "absurd," according to a senior British government official. Lord Bach, minster for defense procurement, took the opportunity of the Society of British Aerospace Companies' annual conference here to make an impassioned plea for Washington to ease the rules governing defense collaboration, at least with London.
There are abundant reasons for U.S. companies to downsize their plans to participate in this year's Paris air show. While it appears that the total number of exhibitors will not be far off the mark set in 2001, the legions of American corporate officials traveling to Le Bourget in June could be quite a bit smaller (see p. 22).
U.S. military aircraft won't be the only notable absence at this year's Paris air show; participation by the U.S. aerospace/defense industry also will be dramatically smaller than in the past. A growing number of contractors are deciding to send far fewer representatives, and at least five major players won't be there at all. While official explanations vary across a wide spectrum--from cost containment to security concerns--lingering tensions between the U.S. and French governments in the wake of the Iraq war most definitely are playing a big role.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention last week lifted a travel advisory recommending that people not visit Singapore, after no new cases of SARS were reported there for more than 20 days, more than twice the incubation period for the disease. However, the center did keep a less restrictive "travel alert" in place for Singapore reminding passengers there may be SARS in the area and to avoid places like health care settings where it might be transmitted. However, China, Taiwan and Hong Kong are still under advisories recommending against travel there.
The threat of terrorist attacks or politically motivated incidents at remote nuclear missile sites has prompted U.S. Air Force security forces to modify their response tactics when alarms indicate an intrusion. They now expect to arrive on the scene prepared to use lethal force immediately--no questions, no negotiations.
COLUMBIA'S HOPELESS SITUATION The space shuttle Mission Control center at the Johnson Space Center has completed a detailed analysis that shows no viable reentry trajectory changes or other extreme measures, such as throwing 31,000 lb. of equipment and fluids overboard, could have lessened heating enough on the orbiter's damaged left wing to allow the vehicle to have reentered the atmosphere safely.
Despite EADS' big first-quarter loss, executives say new contracts and strict financial discipline should bolster efforts to remain "on track" and achieve healthy results. The cross-border company's revenues dropped 14% from a year ago to 5.52 billion euros ($6.34 billion). Earnings before interest and taxes plunged 59% to 130 million euros, while the quarter's net loss was 93 million euros.
CRS BULLETPROOFING In a tit-for-tat move, British low-cost carrier EasyJet last week said a lawsuit had been filed in the U.S. courts by BulletProof Technologies, the developer of the carrier's present CRS (computerized reservation system) software against Navitaire, a previous CRS provider to EasyJet. The company claims Navitaire is attempting to block U.S. distribution of the software at the heart of the airline's CRS. Navitaire is already pursuing a claim through British courts that the BulletProof CRS infringes copyrights held by the former company.
THE LTN-101E GLOBAL NAVIGATION AIR DATA inertial reference system Northrop Grumman is developing for the Airbus A380 will replace traditional laser gyros and silicon accelerometers with fiber-optic gyros and MEMS silicon accelerometers, and will use Green Hills Software's real-time operating system. A Northrop Grumman autonomous integrity monitored extrapolation algorithm will integrate inertial and GPS measurements.
Jeff Roberts has become executive vice president-aviation training and Nick Leontidis executive vice president-customers for Toronto-based CAE. Roberts was executive vice president-business aviation training, while Leontidis was executive vice president-commercial aviation training.
Passenger surveys told the sad story, said Richard W. Cordell, senior vice president of airport customer service for Delta Air Lines. Passengers were fed up with long lines at airports. "We really had no choice," Cordell said. "We had to change the airport experience. We needed to eliminate hassle at the airport."
Boeing, Northrop Grumman and Raytheon have signed a long-awaited agreement to cooperate on the Air Force's Multisensor Command and Control Aircraft (MC2A) intended to replace the fleets of E-8 Joint-STARS, E-3 AWACS and, potentially, RC-135 Rivet Joints. Formalizing the business arrangement clears the way for the Air Force to award the team a contract as early as this week.
May 18-21--Regional Airline Assn. Convention. Phoenix Civic Plaza. Call +1 (202) 367-1170 or see www.raa.org May 19-20--Technology Training Corp.'s Sixth Annual Unmanned Aerial Vehicles Conference. Holiday Inn on the Bay, San Diego. Call +1 (310) 563-1223, fax +1 (310) 563-1220 or see www.technologytraining.com June 3-4--Boeing MD-11/MD-10/DC-10/KC-10/KDC-10 Fleet Team Conference. Westin Long Beach (Calif.). Call +1 (562) 436-3000
Kenneth H. Fitzgerald is one of five new members of the board of directors of Toronto-based KnightHawk Inc. He is a chartered accountant. The other new directors are: Timothy J. Armstrong, vice president/corporate counsel of Jetport Inc., Hamilton, Ontario; John Lokker, CEO of Neal Traffic Services Ltd.; D. Kent Sillars, president of Vesta Properties Ltd.; and Cameron G. Belsher, a partner in the firm of Farris, Vaughan, Wills & Murphy, Barristers & Solicitors.
NASDA, ESA VALIDATE LINK Japan's National Space Development Agency and the European Space Agency have successfully tested a S/Ka-band satellite link between ESA's Artemis geostationary technology satellite and NASDA's Adeos II Earth observation spacecraft (below). The full-loop exercise followed successful tests of Artemis' Ka-band image transmission capability in February and a test of the spacecraft's optical link last year (AW&ST Mar. 31, p. 12).
Barely weeks after its inaugural flight, Swiss-based startup Club Airways is already contemplating additions to its new membership-type corporate shuttle network. The airline, which began operating in February, provides twice- daily round trips between Geneva and Paris Le Bourget, London Farnborough and Cannes Mandelieu on the French Riviera to individual or corporate members, using Learjet 45s provided by Bombardier Flexjet Europe. Up to a dozen additional city pairs are being considered, officials said, including routes from Geneva to Frankfurt, Milan and Munich.
I take issue with David Connolly on the subject of "upgrading" FAA pilot certificates (AW&ST Mar. 31, p. 6). *First of all, they are not licenses or identification. The pilot certificate is like a diploma from the FAA, notifying you what aircraft the agency considers you qualified to operate and, like a diploma, has no need of photos.
Steven J. Cortese has been named vice president-programs and budget, Gregory R. Dahlberg vice president-legislative affairs and Jon Malay director of NASA and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration programs for the Lockheed Martin Corp., Bethesda, Md. Cortese was majority staff director for both the Senate Committee on Appropriations and its subcommittee on defense appropriations. Dahlberg was minority staff director of the House Appropriations defense subcommittee, and Malay was trained in oceanography and meteorology in the U.S. Navy.
ESA MARS PROPOSALS Scientists have until mid-May to submit payload proposals for a Mars rover to be deployed by ExoMars, a sample return mission planned by ESA under its Aurora planetary exploration program. Opportunities to participate in the rover payload, dubbed Pasteur, are open to investigators from all countries, provided the team includes scientific organizations from at least three European countries and the team coordinator is based in an ESA member state (www.spaceflight.esa.int/users/pasteur).
ROCKWELL COLLINS KAISER ELECTRONICS will deliver 300 joint helmet-mounted cuing systems to the Navy for F/A-18s and USAF for F-15 and F-16s in the next 18 months. The helmet-mounted display system gives pilots flight and weapon symbology for head-up, eyes-out-of-the-cockpit operation of air-to-air and air-to-ground weapons. This $30-million low-rate initial production-3 (LRIP-3) contract is expected to be followed by a full-rate production award later this year.
