A Pegasus XL booster is scheduled to launch the NASA Solar Radiation and Climate Experiment (Sorce) spacecraft on Jan. 25. A series of technical issues--most recently wing bond and actuator problems--has delayed the launch repeatedly. Now the Orbital Sciences Corp. (OSC) space launch vehicle is set to be air dropped from the OSC Stargazer launch aircraft over the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Cape Canaveral. The Stargazer transported the Pegasus booster to the Cape from Vandenberg AFB, Calif., on Dec. 17.
Six European nations finally signed the Meteor contract on Dec. 23, covering full-scale development of the radar-guided air-to-air missile. Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Sweden are participating in the program. The first air-launched firing is planned for 2005 with the missile entering service around 2011-12.
The envisioned restart of Fairchild Dornier's 728 regional twinjet program is becoming increasingly unlikely. The bankrupt German manufacturer's aerostructures businesses will be acquired by Switzerland's Ruag Aerospace while Russia's Irkutsk Aircraft Production Organization (IAPO) and Basic Element are expected to abandon a plan to buy the regional aircraft unit. Their joint decision is expected to be announced in the next few days.
Finmeccanica is further advancing the Italian aerospace/defense industry's consolidation by acquiring a controlling majority in Aeronautica Macchi, Aermacchi's parent company.
It's still not a done deal, but Air Force officials expect the Bush administration to seek additional funding in its Fiscal 2004 budget request for Boeing's and Lockheed Martin's financially strapped Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle programs. With the commercial satellite launch market nearly wiped out, the two companies have turned to the government to help sustain the Delta IV and Atlas V programs. The Air Force is obliging, arguing it needs to maintain the launch capabilities for "assured access" to space. Each company would receive about $100 million in indirect aid.
Israel's military had planned to conduct the 10th test of its $2-billion Arrow ballistic missile defense system on Jan. 5. According to Israeli officials, instead of interception accuracy this test was to focus on the sequential launch of multiple missiles against multiple targets. Arrow tests are conducted at Palmachim AB south of Tel Aviv. Israeli intelligence officials contend that Iraq has six mobile Scud launchers and 20-60 missiles. U.S. and British estimates are 6-12 launchers and 12-20 missiles.
Rocky Mountain Bureau Chief William B. Scott straps-in prior to takeoff for a C-130 Low-Level Awareness Training flight through Arizona's Dragoon Mountains. Flown by a crew from the 198th Airlift Sqdn. in San Juan, Puerto Rico, the mission was part of a nine-day "basic course" offered by the Air National Guard/USAF Reserve's Advanced Airlift Tactics Training Center (see p. 46). The school teaches air transport crews a number of maneuvers and tactics designed to thwart attacks by enemy fighters and ground-launched missiles.
An interagency working group is to report next month on how to respond to a radiological dispersal device, a so-called dirty bomb. The group is looking hard at ground transportation, since such a device probably would be delivered by van or truck. Major concerns include the dearth of good means to detect such devices and the possibility of public panic.
Lockheed Martin is expected to join Japan's Galaxy Express (GX) program to develop a medium-sized launch vehicle. The company is scheduled to contribute about 10% of the cost of boosting the GX's capital account to $4.1 million from $3.2 million. Lockheed Martin Space Systems already has received U.S. government permission to export the Atlas III first stage for the GX (AW&ST Dec. 2, 2002, p. 29).
In 1935, Sen. Bronson Cutting of New Mexico was among four people killed in the crash of a TWA DC-2. Investigations spurred by infuriated members of Congress found that aviators had been well aware of the inadequacy of the safeguards for tracking aircraft and protecting them in foul weather, but that no systemic corrective action was embraced. They also found that the people responsible for operating the aviation system were also responsible for guarding its safety--an arrangement rife with conflicts of interest and destined to fail.
William F. Mitchell, president/CEO of the Environmental Tectonics Corp., Southampton, Pa., has been elected chairman of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers International Industry Advisory Board.
The major airlines brought on their own problems. Most of them had flawed business plans--trying to get more and more passengers at lower and lower fares, and to subsidize the below-cost fares at the expense of those they thought they could exploit. Remember when it was illegal to sell your product to different people at different prices. Fighting competitors with ever lower fares for ever greater numbers of passengers contributed to their unsustainable growth and inability to survive dips in the economy. Many seasoned businessmen predicted this outcome.
Gregory Feith has been named chairman of the Flight Safety and Design Integration Board of Denver-based Aviation Technology Group Inc. He was a senior air safety investigator with the National Transportation Safety Board.
An item in the World News Roundup section (AW&ST Dec. 16, 2002, p. 19) incorrectly stated the name of the president of the Philippines. She is Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. The item also misstated the name of the airport in Manila. It is Ninoy Aquino International Airport.
The Transportation Security Administration rang in the New Year by moving to 100% screening of all checked baggage for explosives as mandated by Congress, but the agency doesn't expect to achieve all-electronic screening until later this year.
NASA's New Millennium Program is pushing ahead with plans to demonstrate several advanced technologies in space that could enable science missions launching 10-20 years from now. A Feb. 5-7 workshop in Washington will outline the agency's needs in the areas of solar sails, formation flying, large space telescopes, precision landing on celestial bodies and aerocapture. New Millennium spacecraft focus primarily on validating new technology in space.
Jean-Michel Roy has been named vice president-training and flight operations for Airbus. He succeeds Pierre Baud, who retired Dec. 31 as senior vice president-training and flight operations. Roy was senior director of training policy.
BOEING WILL CONTINUE ITS WORK ON THE MID-TERM modernization of NATO's 17 E-3 AWACS air-surveillance aircraft, under a $278-million U.S. Air Force contract. The work is part of a $1.3-billion development effort that includes production options to install new operator consoles, flat panel displays, a new mission computer system with multisensor integration and other features on NATO's only alliance-owned and operated aircraft.
More than a century after Cochise, the legendary Apache Indian chief, eluded U.S. government troops by hiding in the mountains of southern Arizona, airlift crews flying low-level awareness training among the same peaks, valleys and rocks learn how to survive missile and fighter attacks.
The Air Force could benefit greatly from micro- and nano-technology but needs to bolster its R&D spending to take advantage of the emerging field, a National Research Council panel concludes. The study found numerous applications for the small-scale technologies for the Air Force, including "large, distributed fixed arrays and moving swarms of multispectral, multifunctional sensors" that could redefine how the military collects information. There could also be "new opportunities in propulsion and aerodynamic control," the panel's report states.
Air Lib, a French independent carrier desperately struggling for survival, is seeking state aid to implement another cost-cutting plan and inaugurate routes that it believes will help restore profitability. Airline executives also claim that an agreement with a Dutch investor will soon provide much-needed funding.
WORLD NEWS ROUNDUP Hughes and Boeing sectors face arms export charges Linked to assistance to Chinese following Long March 2E failures 16 First flight for reproduction Me262A fighter Future flights to expand flight envelope, focus on Mach number 16 China aims for its first manned space flight later this year After unpiloted liftoff of fourth Shenzhou spacecraft 17 WORLD NEWS & ANALYSIS North Korea nuke crisis complicates Iraq buildup
The probable war with Iraq and tensions with North Korea make it likely that the Americans will be attacked by terrorists with weapons of mass destruction or disruption in 2003. So says David Kay, who led nuclear arms inspectors in Iraq in the early 1990s. Biological or chemical weapons attacks against U.S. interests abroad would be the easiest to mount because the materials are available and the chances of success are good. Attacks on U.S. soil are not out of the question but are more likely to be thwarted, he said.
Terry Scott (see photo) has been appointed test site manager for Lockheed Martin Aeronautics F-16 flight operations at Edwards AFB, Calif. She succeeds John Fergione, who has transferred to Lockheed Martin Aeronautics F/A-22 test operations, also at Edwards AFB.
