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A Pentagon decision to delay the next-generation Global Positioning System III has industry perplexed. Companies had already established teams to bid on the project. Some Pentagon officials also worry that, with Europe's Galileo program looming, delaying GPS III could undermine the U.S. lead in precision navigation and timing. Deciding to slip the program wasn't easy, says John Stenbit, the Pentagon's assistant secretary for command, control and communications.
Feb. 3-4--American Institute of Aeronautics & Astronautics' Defense Excellence 2003 Conference. Ronald Reagan Building & International Trade Center, Washington. Call +1 (703) 264-7500. Feb. 3-5--Aerospace Lighting Institute's Night Vision Goggle & Glass Cockpit Seminar. Airport Marriott Hotel, Los Angeles. Call +1 (727) 791-0790 or see www.aligodfrey.com. Feb. 4-6--Society of Automotive Engineers' North American Aviation Safety Conference. Westin Peachtree Hotel, Atlanta. Call +1 (724) 772-8530 or see www.sae.org/calendar/meetings.htm.
Swiss International Air Lines' traffic plunged 16.3% in 2002's fourth quarter, generating concerns about Switzerland's born-again flag carrier. Its sudden decrease in traffic is tied to the economic downturn and growing worries of war in the Middle East, according to airline executives. They said Swiss carried 11.6 million passengers last year, a significantly higher number than predicted. Load factor on the carrier's long-haul routes was a healthy 80.3%, but it remained weak (no more than 56.9%) on European routes.
Plans to reassess Europe's Ariane 5 program and return the launcher to service are shifting into high gear as government and industry leaders multiply efforts to analyze the problems besetting the launch sector, and the space industry in general, and find ways to nurse it back to health.
Autogenic Feedback Training Exercise (AFTE), a technology developed at NASA Ames Research Center to combat motion sickness during space flight, is being commercialized. It relies on biofeedback and autogenic therapy to allow individuals to suppress unwanted physical responses to outside stimuli by controlling their autonomic nervous system--involuntary bodily functions such as breathing, heartbeat and blood vessel dilation. Employing compact equipment worn by the user, AFTE measures and displays autonomic nervous system functions.
Michael S. Lewis has become director of the Global Communication, Navigation and Surveillance System program at Boeing Air Traffic Management, McLean, Va. He was head of the technology staff for the Commission on the Future of the U.S. Aerospace Industry.
Atlas Worldwide Holdings, parent company of Atlas Air, last week defaulted on a lease payment on one of its Boeing 747200 aircraft, prompting Standard & Poor's to lower its credit ratings. S&P is concerned about the cargo carrier's near-term liquidity, as well as its ability to meet debt service requirements.
NASA's Next Generation Launch Technology (NGLT) program is drafting a new technology road map for advanced space launch capabilities that will meld near-term development work started with the defunct Space Launch Initiative (SLI), more advanced "third-generation" NASA technology and hypersonics research underway by the U.S. military.
The Greek Defense ministry has given LMATTS, the 50/50 joint venture of Alenia Aeronautica/Finmeccanica and Lockheed Martin, a contract worth 297 million euros ($312 million) to deliver 12 C-27J Spartans tactical transport aircraft. The award includes ground support equipment, initial spares and a training program. The C-27J fulfills the Medium-Range Tactical Aircraft requirement and has been chosen over the EADS C-295.
I have just read your article "FAA Breakthrough: Onboard Inerting" (AW&ST Jan. 6, p. 37). Has the FAA made a meal of solving this problem, or what. This federal organization will have taken twice as long to develop an inert fuel tank as two bicycle makers took to develop the world's first successful airplane. Ozzie Parfitt Dursley, England
In line with William B. Scott's excellent article suggesting the need for a national aerial firefighting corps (AW&ST Dec. 16, 2002, p. 60), the dismal state of airborne infrared firemapping in the U.S. should be pointed out as well.
A small U.S. Joint Forces Command team is setting up shop this month at U.S. Forces Korea headquarters to develop an Operational Net Assessment system designed to gauge the strengths and weaknesses of North Korea in political, economic, social, infrastructure and information areas as well as in the military. Operational Net Assessment (ONA) is one of five initiatives in joint operations and network-centric warfare to emerge from the $250-million, three-week-long Millennium Challenge 2002 exercise last year.
Richard A. Meserve, who has been chairman of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, has been named president of the Washington-based Carnegie Institution. He succeeds Maxine Frank Singer, who has retired.
Angelo Pusateri has been named to the board of directors of the Los Angeles-based Mercury Air Group. He is president of Virgin Aviation Services Ltd. and president for cargo in the Americas, for Virgin Atlantic Airways.
In an unusual move, the U.S. Navy has decided to forego competition and award Raytheon a contract to develop the service's future ship-launched, long-range air defense missile.
As a broadening of a four-decade-old industrial cooperation, Italy's Finmeccanica and Boeing said last week they are working on a number of joint programs in aircraft manufacturing and conversion as well as missile defense. The "content" of their memoranda of understanding (MOU) is expected to be developed over the next several months.
Mordechai (Moti) Boness, who has been corporate vice president/general manager of Israel Aircraft Industries' Commercial Aircraft Group, has been appointed president of New York-based Israel Aircraft Industries International. He has been succeeded by Gadi Cohen, who was manager of the group's manufacturing plant. Boness succeeds David Onn, who will retire and return to Israel.
A blue-ribbon panel investigating operations at French space agency CNES has recommended the agency "use all the means at its disposal" to promote the creation of a single European satellite supplier combining Alcatel Space, Astrium and perhaps Alenia Spazio, and to prevent the takeover of telecom satellite operator Eutelsat by non-European buyers, particularly from the U.S. (AW&ST Nov. 25, 2002, p. 26).
Pentagon tech honcho Ronald Sega says a stealthy, long-endurance unmanned aircraft will evolve from the unmanned combat air vehicle (UCAV) program over a period of years. The first UCAV won't be operational until about 2008, but at least one contractor says he will have a prototype aircraft flying by 2004. The Air Force has a long-standing requirement for such an aircraft and is pursuing black programs. In the unclassified realm, Thomas Cassidy, CEO of General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, plans to demonstrate a penetrating, long-endurance design in less than two years.
WORLD NEWS ROUNDUP Eurocopter move could mean end for Texas facility Eyes Missouri site for aircraft completion, product support center 22 First USAF Delta IV EELV delivered to Vandenberg Will be initial large vehicle to lift off from Space Launch Complex 6 23 Boeing, Finmeccanica working on new joint ventures For aircraft manufacturing and conversion as well as missile defense 23 WORLD NEWS & ANALYSIS Japan preps for its first milsat launch
Parametric Technology Corp., maker of design and business software, has delayed filing its annual 10-K statement to the Securities and Exchange Commission, saying it needs more time to analyze revenues from service contracts. The current estimate is that $33 million of previously reported revenue should actually be recognized in 2003 and beyond, and the company expects to revise its 2000, 2001 and 2002 statements.
