David A. Fulghum (Nas Patuxent River, MD.), Robert Wall (Nas Patuxent River, MD.)
Developers of the V-22 tiltrotor are set to attack a large number of test hurdles that could make or break the program in the run-up to its next major review in the spring. Having spent much of the past year overhauling the V-22 test program and accumulating about 140 flight hours following the grounding of the fleet two years ago, test personnel are now engaged in a series of trials to dispel lingering concerns about the tiltrotor's design. Some of the main issues are slated to be addressed next month in parallel activities.
David A. Fulghum (Nas Patuxent River, MD.), Robert Wall (Nas Patuxent River, MD.)
Once the Pentagon has defined "transformational technology," some military officials believe interest and investment in tiltrotor aircraft will skyrocket. To those working on the V-22 program, there appears to be growing top-level interest in a family of aircraft. In a recent letter to Army leaders, Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz asked them to explain how tiltrotor technology fits into their objective future force.
In addition to defining network-centric operations for specific air assets, Northrop Grumman's Cyber Warfare Integration Network will be used to support development of broader programs. Among the projects involved are: * The Advanced Technology Air Operations Center. Northrop Grumman and other contractors are awaiting the U.S. Air Force request for proposals for a new advanced air operations center.
Tereasa H. Washington, director of customer and employee relations, is one of four NASA Marshall Space Flight Center employees to win Presidential Rank Awards for federal employees. She was chosen for the Presidential Rank Distinguished Executive Award. The others selected for Meritorious Executive Awards are: Jan Davis, director of flight projects; John W. Kilpatrick, director of engineering; and Dennis A. Kross, director of space transportation.
An independent technical team jointly formed by Arianespace, the European Space Agency and the CNES French space agency expects to complete by Jan. 6 a report on causes for the failure of the Ariane 5 EC-A on Dec. 11.
Preparations for the launch of Israel's first astronaut into space Jan. 16 on board the orbiter Columbia continue under heavy security at the Kennedy Space Center. Air Guard fighters patrolled overhead and ground and sea forces secured the area as Israeli Air Force Col. Ilan Ramon and the rest of the STS-107 Spacehab mission crew completed a dry countdown test inside Columbia with the orbiter mounted on Launch Complex 39B last week. The launch will involve the tightest security blanket ever placed over KSC to guard against potential terrorist attack.
The U.S. Navy is initiating development of a motor upgrade for the AGM-88 High-Speed Anti-Radiation Missile to make it fly faster and provide increased range, adding a third element to the improvement strategy for the Pentagon's primary suppression of enemy air defenses weapon.
Come the spring, Delta Air Lines will face substantial layoffs--about 4,000--to meet its previously announced goal of reducing staff by 7,000-8,000 in early 2003. The airline envisioned most of the cuts would be voluntary, but only about 4,000 employees accepted Delta's buyout/early retirement offer by the Dec. 15 deadline.
Inside North America call American List Counsel at: (609) 580-2775; Fax (609) 580-2803. Outside North America call The Prospect Shop at: 020 8481 8730; Fax: 020 8783 1940
An offspring of FIDO (Field Integrated Design and Operations) called K9 has begun playing in this "Marscape" test facility at NASA's Ames Research Center in preparation for a future mission to Mars. Jointly developed by Ames and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which gave birth to FIDO four years ago, K9 is a six-wheel, 63-in.-high, solar-powered rover that weighs 145 lb.
NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe seems to have gotten his arms around the biggest problem he faced when he took over the space agency a year ago--the gusher of red ink in the International Space Station program. Michael C. Kostelnik, the deputy associate administrator for space flight, tells the NASA Advisory Council space shuttle availability has replaced funding as the pacing item for getting ISS to the core-complete configuration. And NASA's international partners, who feared the U.S.
Robert J. Aaronson, executive vice president-Americas for Lufthansa Consulting, is one of six new members of the board of governors of the Alexandria, Va.-based Flight Safety Foundation (FSF). The others are: Victor M. Aguado, director-general of Eurocontrol; Harold Olusegun Demuren, managing director/CEO of AfriJet Airlines; Klaus Koplin, chief executive of the Joint Aviation Authorities; William Ross Mattes, executive director of the Aviation Safety Foundation Australia; and Capt. Akrivos D. Tsolakis, chairman of the National Aviation Safety Board of Greece.
USAF Lt. Col. (ret.) Price T. Bingham (Melbourne, Fla.)
To appreciate the revolutionary implications of network-centric warfare (AW&ST Nov. 11, p. 28) it is important to identify how and why this developing capability makes transformation possible.
We were all-business, with adrenaline-fueled "gains" turned full-up. Our F-4 Phantom had lost its primary hydraulic system; we were on backup. I read the checklist aloud as the front-seat pilot responded, reconfiguring the cockpit for an emergency landing. Nothing life-threatening yet, but if we lost anything else, ejection could fast-become the only option left. And we were over a populated area now, approaching the base. No place to dump a 50,000-lb. fighter and make a nylon approach, so let's do this right.
Steven R. Loranger has been named executive vice president/chief operating officer of Textron Inc., Providence, R.I. He was president/CEO of Honeywell Engines, Systems and Services.
As the commander of Apollo 17, Eugene A. Cernan walked on the Moon 30 years ago this month. To his dismay, his footprints are still the most recent that humans have left on the Moon. In a Viewpoint on the Next Century of Flight on p. 62, Cernan offers a novel idea for fanning public interest in space--and reinvigorating student interest in science and math. The Next Century of Flight is a five-year Aviation Week multimedia education initiative to explore the future of aviation and aerospace.
Sending and receiving communications at the same time or listening to enemy communications while jamming them has long been considered impossible. But researchers say the barriers to such electronic multi-tasking are giving way to digital advances such as sophisticated algorithms to manipulate data and increased computer processing speed.
United Airlines' fast-paced bankruptcy-protection proceeding swerved toward conflict Dec. 17 as the airline warned that it will move to nullify its labor contracts unless its unions provide much larger givebacks than they agreed to previously.
Both Boeing and Lockheed Martin placed versions of their competing Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicles on their launch pads here for tests last week, the first vehicle pad tests following their initial successful first flights. The second Boeing Delta IV flight vehicle was erected on Complex 37 (right) in preparation for the launch of a USAF Defense Satellite Communications spacecraft in February. Unlike the initial Delta IV mission in November, this vehicle will not be configured with solid rocket motors.
The U.S. Navy is pursuing an aggressive strategy to develop a land-based, endurance UAV to serve as an adjunct to its maritime patrol fleet. But barely out of the starting blocks, the initiative is running into funding problems that are likely to derail the service's plans to field a system by 2008.
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Michael Burris has been appointed assistant director of aviation for finance and accounting and Sabrina Attaluri environmental manager for the Kansas City (Mo.) Aviation Dept. Mike Roper has become assistant manager of Charles B. Wheeler Downtown Airport in Kansas City. Burris was director of finance and administration at the Lehigh Northampton Airport Authority, Allentown, Pa., while Attaluri was a facilities environmental specialist for the U.S. Postal Service. Roper was assistant director of operations at Kansas City International Airport.
