Although its revenues in 2002 remained below forecast at about 138 million euros, the revamped Piaggio Aero Industries delivered 16 P.180 twin-engine pusher turboprops indicating that the six-seat aircraft is still viable. Piaggio plans to produce 18 aircraft in 2003 and 22 in 2004. This month, Canada's Avia Aviation concluded an order for six P180s with the Genoa-based manufacturer.
Focused computer attacks always succeed in breaking into the targeted network, says Richard A. Clarke, President Bush's special adviser for cyberspace security. That's both bad news and good news for the U.S. The bad news: About 8% of the government's current IT budget, and about $20 billion projected for 2004-06, will go for cyber security. The good news: Computer network attack is a valuable, high-success weapon for the Pentagon. "Every time we do a vulnerability attack to try to get into a system," Clarke said. "No matter what the target, the red team gets in.
Australia will supply Raytheon/Lockheed Martin-built Javelin missile systems to its army to meet anti-armor and anti-bunker requirements. Australian special forces already deployed to Afghanistan with a small number of Javelins, but they weren't fired. The Javelin deal recently announced in Australia is valued at about $90 million. Delivery is slated to occur in 2005-07.
The U.S. Navy and Raytheon early next year plan to conduct a critical test of the new radar for the F/A-18E/F in the hope of overcoming the last hurdle before a production go-ahead is given in the summer. Raytheon has been developing the APG-79 active electronically scanned array (AESA) system since 2000. In February, the radar will undergo several weeks of operational testing in a company laboratory as the final milestone before a low-rate production contract could be awarded in June, says Capt. Dave Dunaway, the Navy's radar program manager.
Mar. 10-11--European Transport Leaders Conference. Landmark Hotel, London. Mar. 12-13--Toulouse Symposium. Toulouse (France) Congress Center. Mar. 27-28--Defense Budget Conference. Holiday Inn, Rosslyn, Va. Apr. 15-17--MRO 2003 & MRO Latin America. Broward County Convention Center, Fort Lauderdale, Fla. May 6-8--Aerospace Defense & Finance Conference. Grand Hyatt Hotel, New York. May 14-16--Homeland Security Summit & Exposition. Hyatt Regency Crystal City, Arlington, Va.
Regarding the threat of man-portable surface-to-air missiles against airliners, we should protect airports, not airplanes. A ground-based laser could shoot down any missile within a radius large enough to protect all aircraft taking off or landing. There is no weight, size or power limitation to a fixed ground-based system. An aircraft-mounted system must be small, lightweight and have a power source. Other limitations include drag, distributed maintenance and public perception. A ground-based system would be funded like other infrastructure items.
The Transportation Security Administration has signed a 10-year lease for $18 million a year for nearly 500,000 sq. ft. of office space in Arlington, Va., near the Pentagon, which has about 5 million sq. ft. of space. This will put the new agency entirely under one roof and improve communications in an information technology-ready facility. TSA had been operating from six locations in the Washington area.
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.
