The shuttle STS-113 astronauts will return to Earth this week after installing the 14-ton P1 system's truss on the International Space Station and exchanging the U.S./Russian Expedition 6 team with the Expedition 5 crew who will return to Earth on Endeavour after 182 days in space.
Cairo-based Sirocco Aerospace International signed a $355-million order for 25 Tupolev Tu-204-120s it expects to sell in the international market. They are scheduled to be delivered in 2003-05. In addition to the contract with the airframer, Sirocco will directly purchase the Rolls-Royce RB211-535E4B turbofans. Sirocco had previously ordered five all-cargo Tu-204-120Cs and optioned 10 additional aircraft to be operated by China Southwest Airlines and China Northwest (AW&ST Oct. 1, 2001, p. 48).
Douglas Barrie (London), Michael A. Taverna (Paris), Andy Nativi (Genoa)
NATO attempts to collectively acquire a standoff airborne surveillance capability were nudged forward in Prague, but fell far short of a ringing endorsement of the program. Airlift and air-tanker needs also received a welcome fillip from the summit. The efforts were agreed to at the NATO summit in Prague on Nov. 21-22, against the backdrop of the alliance's attempts to reinvent itself to meet the emerging security environment, and a further round of expansion into Eastern Europe.
Simulation training experts are preparing to begin the first phase of an upset recovery program that would in two years include an element previously not available in the civil aviation sector--sustained acceleration forces.
Air Wisconsin has awarded Bombardier Aerospace an exclusive five-year contract to provide heavy maintenance on the carrier's fleet of Bombardier CRJ200 regional jets. Renewals could extend the contract period an additional three years. The maintenance will include C checks conducted every 4,000 aircraft flying hours, as well as structural inspections every two years. The work will be performed at the Bombardier-owned West Virginia Air Center in Bridgeport, W.Va.
Eiichiro Sekigawa (Tokyo), Michael Mecham (Sand Francisco)
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, already Japan's biggest aerospace company, has completed takeover of launch and marketing operations of Japan's medium-lift H-IIA launcher. MHI, the prime H-IIA contractor, signed the H-IIA agreement Nov. 20 with the Space Activities Commission, which hoped for competition in the selection process but had no other bids. MHI gains transfer of the program for free but will pay about $246,000 per launch as royalties on H-IIA patents.
Dec. 3-5--Maintenance, Repair & Overhaul Asia Conference & Exhibition. Singapore. 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.
L-3 Communications' Security and Detection Systems Div. has received an order for 13 of its VIS108 Inline, automated Level 1 explosives detection systems from Spanish airport authority AENA.
Eclipse Aviation called an indefinite ground stop to its Eclipse 500 business jet program last week when it canceled its contract with Williams International, developer of the EJ22 770-lbf.-thrust turbofan engine that was to power the twin-engine aircraft.
German Defense Minister Peter Struck is expected to tell the ruling coalition parties this week if he plans to cut the country's Airbus A400M and Meteor commitments. Struck has been reevaluating the orders, and cutbacks were not ruled out. The A400M order could be reduced to 60 aircraft from 73. EADS Co-CEO Rainer Hertrich said that if Germany buys fewer airplanes, the price per aircraft would increase significantly for the Germans because development costs would have to be distributed over fewer units.
Mounting what it termed a "final push" in its Chapter 11 restructuring, US Airways will eliminate 2,500 more jobs over the next three months and seek union concessions on work-rule and benefit changes as the alternative to still further job cuts. Some of the shrinkage will result from closing a heavy maintenance facility in Tampa, Fla., immediately and a reservations center in Orlando, Fla., on Jan. 10. The reductions will leave the airline with about 32,500 employees, 7% below the current level of 35,000, and 37% fewer than the pre-Sept. 11 total of 49,000.
Roger Hubble has been appointed corporate vice president-strategic sourcing for Thayer Aerospace, Wichita, Kan. He was director of international trade development for the Raytheon Aircraft Co., also in Wichita.
The U.S. Air Transportation Stabilization Board turned down loan-guarantee applications from Corporate Airlines, for $7 million of an $8-million loan, and MEDjet International, for $7.7 million of $8.8 million. In separate letters sent to the companies on Nov. 26, the board said its analyses assigned "a high probability of default" to each loan.
Some 90-plus countries have signed the International Code of Conduct Against Ballistic Missile Proliferation. The code, formally launched last week at a conference at The Hague, is nonbinding. Several notable countries did sign up, including North Korea, Iran, Syria, Israel, Pakistan and India, all of which have ongoing weapons programs in this area.
The U.S. Air Force's Distributed Mission Training program received a big boost in the Pentagon's proposed Fiscal 2004 budget, indicating the service's full support for its premier new simulation activity.
Bob Jordan has been named vice president-systems, Ray Sears vice president-purchasing and Robert Myrben vice president-fuel management, all for Southwest Airlines. Jordan was vice president-purchasing and fuel management, while Sears was senior director of purchasing. Myrben was director of fuel and inventory.
Jeff Kroeller has been appointed sales and marketing manager for the Lamar Technologies Corp., Marysville, Wash. He was a marketing executive with the Precision Aviation Products Corp.
Trying to bolster its chances of winning a U.S. competition for a new combat search and rescue helicopter, AgustaWestland has run a demonstration to prove the EH101 helicopter can be airlifted relatively easily, contrary to criticism leveled against the rotorcraft. It took company engineers about nine weeks to devise the solution and the ground support equipment to implement it. In the demo, the company proved it could prepare and load the helo onto a C-17 in 2 hr.
Aeromexico has selected the T2CAS terrain and traffic-collision avoidance system to equip its Boeing 757, 767 and MD-80 twinjets. Thales Avionics and Aviation Communication & Surveillance Systems manufacture the system.
With the commercial aerospace industry at one of its lowest ebbs in memory, the mere mention of an eventual rebound must seem to a lot of small suppliers like a mirage. As painful as the current slump is, however, it's worth remembering that the sector will recover.
General Electric will delay certification of the 115,000-lb.-thrust GE90-115B by several weeks to correct a stage 1 high-pressure turbine blade platform distortion that cropped up about 35 hr. into a planned 150-block test (see p. 39). The company believes the distortion was caused by insufficient cooling air so cooling holes are being added to correct the problem. Flight tests of the powerplant will remain on schedule and block tests are set to resume soon. Engine certification, originally planned for this month, is now targeted for January.
Vykor Inc. has been using its expertise in manufacturing technology and knowledge of the supplier base to help companies contract out to get parts and tooling manufactured. Vykor is now putting its services on the Web with the Vykor Sourcing Solution at www.vykor.com. The service estimates what the manufacturing cost should be, helps define the best way to make a part, assesses supplier capabilities, assists the supplier in setting up its production based upon the supplier's capabilities, and can quantify justification to adopt new manufacturing technologies.
While the Pentagon likes to demonstrate its technology as it matures to show it is making progress, there is a pitfall that managers need to be aware of. If operational users see a capability demonstrated, they often think it is immediately available, notes Judy A. Stokley, the U.S. Air Force's program executive officer for weapons. If users then ask for the system and contractors come back and ask for millions of dollars and years to develop it, that can cause a backlash.
