EUTELSAT IPO Meanwhile, Eutelsat has reopened discussions with the European Commission on conditions for an Initial Public Offering. Under an agreement with the EC when the company was privatized in 2001, an IPO for 30% of equity must be initiated by mid-2003 as part of a mandate to dilute shareholdings and avoid possible conflicts of interest between investors and distributors.
USAF Col. (ret.) Michael R. Gallagher (Sacramento, Calif.)
Air Combat Command chief Gen. Hal Hornburg says he'd like to see a capability to shut down the ignition systems of enemy armor, so air forces could destroy them (AW&ST Feb. 24, p. 19). With the ignition systems out, the armor is effectively destroyed and air forces could more productively go after other targets.
Expecting a 10-15% drop in capacity, the best airlines can do in this worst of times is to make the prospect of travel more attractive to travelers, who, jittery with prospect of war and terrorist attack, are reluctant to wander far from home. With that in mind, U.S. carriers this month announced short-term, international and domestic travel policy changes they will put into effect in the event of start of military action or a Homeland Security call for a "code red alert."
Investors are taking a beating on U.S. major airline stocks still in play, with the biggest hits coming against shares in AMR Corp., parent company of struggling American Airlines. In terms of market valuation, the company has lost a lot of ground--41.5% in the first three days of last week. The stock closed at 1.50 on Thursday, up 9 cents a share.
The number of commercial aircraft in long-term desert storage has declined during the past year, but it's a trend due more to an increase in aircraft being permanently grounded than to the growing number of transports being returned to revenue service, according to an aviation research firm.
The European Commission has issued a set of proposals promoting the establishment of a European defense market to support European Security and Defense Policy goals. The proposals, adopted at the urging of the European Parliament, include measures for enhanced standardization and common trade procedures and extending existing competition rules to the defense sector. The EC also suggests it be given the right to participate in export control regimes, and that a common defense equipment policy be drafted to push joint arms research and procurement.
FEELING THE HEAT Smoked out by civil libertarians (AW&ST Mar. 3, p. 21), the Transportation Security Admini- stration (TSA) says privacy will have equal priority with security as the agency develops and fields CAPPS II, the next-generation Computer-Assisted Passenger Prescreening System, in the coming year. CAPPS II data-gathering plans continue to draw criticism, but TSA chief James Loy says his agency will amass no more than it needs and less than many people fear. For example, parking tickets or a poor credit rating won't ever be the basis for extra scrutiny.
William S. Ayer, chairman/president/CEO of Alaska Airlines, has been elected chairman of the board of directors of Minneapolis-based AirLifeLine. He had been treasurer. Jon Wurtzburger was named chairman emeritus.
Way back in late 1940, the Soviet MiG-3 fighter entered production with a fuel tank inerting system that used engine exhaust gas pumped into the fuel tanks as fuel was taken out. More than 3,000 of these propeller-driven fighters were produced during World War II (AW&ST Jan. 6, p. 37).
TURKISH DILEMMA WHILE TURKEY'S PARLIAMENT HAS REJECTED THE USE OF ITS BASES AND AIRSPACE FOR A U.S.-LED ATTACK ON IRAQ, THE COUNTRY'S LEADERS WANT TO MAKE SURE THEY ARE A PART OF WHAT HAPPENS AFTER ANY CONFLICT. "IF THINGS WORK OUT, WE WANT OUR TROOPS INSIDE IRAQ" TO PROTECT THE TURKMAN MINORITY, SAID U.S.-EDUCATED TURKISH AMBASSADOR FARUK LOGOGLU. "THE BEST SCENARIO IS FOR THE U.S. AND TURKEY TO BE ABLE TO ACT TOGETHER IN . . . NORTHERN IRAQ. IF THE TURKISH PARLIAMENT DOESN'T APPROVE [A U.S. FORCE STRIKING FROM TURKEY], TURKEY AND THE U.S. WILL STILL BE ALLIES.
USN Cdr. (ret.) Arthur R. Lee (Santa Cruz, Calif.)
The recent arrest at New York LaGuardia Airport of an airline pilot for attempting to carry a loaded handgun in the cockpit could have been avoided. To not allow cockpit crews to have weapons to protect aircraft and passengers is ridiculous. A 5-min. course could teach them to load, aim and fire, if they weren't qualified.
Had NASA known the shuttle Columbia was hurtling toward its doom, agency managers and engineers would have moved heaven and Earth to rescue the crew, agency officials said last week, contending the true scope of the problem wasn't known until it was much too late.
Lt. Gen. Datuk Abdullah Ahmad has become chief of the Royal Malaysian Air Force and will become a full general. He succeeds Gen. Datuk Seri Suleiman Mahmud. Abdullah was deputy RMAF chief and has been succeeded by Maj. Gen. Nik Ismail Nik Mohamed, who will be a lieutenant general.
The Aircraft Owners and Pilots Assn. has launched a general aviation airport security program, in partnership with the Transportation Security Administration, that enlists pilots to report anything suspicious that might signify criminal or terrorist activity.
CHICXULUB CRATER Data collected by a synthetic aperture radar on board the space shuttle Endeavour in February 2000 have given scientists a better look at the ancient impact crater where an incoming asteroid or comet hit Earth 65 million years ago, wiping out the dinosaurs and 70% of the other species living then. Dubbed Chicxulub, the crater on Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula has been deduced from geological data for 20 years, but the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission produced images that show the outline of the 112mi.-wide feature for the first time.
ROTO ROOTER The rotorcraft industry "is at a crossroads" and future funding for research and development by Congress "may very well determine if the United States maintains its lead in military and civilian rotorcraft." So says John Murphey, the chairman and CEO of Bell Helicopter Textron. Testifying last week before the House Armed Services Committee, Murphey said that of the $2.5 billion that may be earmarked for purchase of helicopters for homeland defense, half could go to EADS subsidiary Eurocopter.
In the wake of a legislative initiative to revise its missile defense law, Japan has begun studying introduction of sea-launched anti-ballistic missile defenses and modifications of its four Aegis cruisers to accommodate such defenses. If the legislative initiative is accepted, the Aegis program would be funded a year from now in fiscal 2004. The subject of missile defense has been a long-running debate in the Japanese Defense Agency, but it was largely theoretical until North Korea began a series of missile tests. On Mar.
PanAmSat is mounting a focused attack on the U.S. government satellite services market, anticipating a spurt in demand from the pending war in Iraq and its fallout in the years to come, and from the war on terrorism at home.
SWISS RETURNS TO ASIA-PACIFIC Code-share agreements with Japan Airlines and Qantas have put Swiss International Air Lines, the successor to Swissair, back into the Asia-Pacific region. Combined with agreements signed last December, Swiss is once again represented on five continents. Agreements signed late last year with Finnair and Iberia mean that Swiss now has code shares with six Oneworld alliance partners (including American Airlines, British Airways and Aer Lingus).
Additional air-launched precision-guided munitions--likely including the Enhanced Paveway--are being bought by Britain as a result of the crisis in Iraq. The Defense Ministry has now approved 170 urgent operational requirements valued at around 500 million pounds ($800 million) covering a broad range of acquisitions.
Dallas Mayfield has been appointed general manager of AAR Cargo Systems, Wood Dale, Ill. He succeeds Pete Compton, who is retiring. Mayfield was vice president/division controller for Eagle Picher.
Few in the Pentagon believe the military part of an offensive against Iraq will be anything but a walkover, but there is an undercurrent of concern about the gritty details of intelligence gathering and sharing, communications and the shaking out, before the shooting starts, of a lean, regional command structure flexible enough to react quickly to unanticipated crises once combat begins.
The U.S., U.K. and other members of a "coalition of the willing" are on the verge of a war with Iraq. Military action could start as early as next week, and President Bush's administration does not appear to have its act together. Late last week, Bush was using telephone diplomacy in an 11th-hour attempt to scare up enough votes in the United Nations Security Council to get his, or any, resolution through with enough strength to validate a war with Iraq.
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