Aviation Week & Space Technology

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency has set an endurance record with its Wasp micro air vehicle (see photo). The 13-in.-wingspan, 6-oz. UAV flew for 107 min., three times longer than the previous record for a micro UAV, a Darpa official said. Wasp features a multifunctional material that allows the battery to serve as the aircraft's wing. Darpa plans to build additional vehicles with multifunctional materials and in which structural components take on multiple roles.

Scientists examining the capabilities of nuclear-powered spacecraft for robotic missions to distant regions of the solar system are finding more promise in the payloads a nuke could deliver than in the speed it would offer. With Congress on board for a space nuclear power program run by NASA and the Energy Dept., space scientists have begun to consider what performance to expect from a near-term system and how to apply it to robotic exploration. Like chemical propulsion, near-term nuclear electric propulsion (NEP) systems would swap speed for payload mass.

Japan Airlines is first to introduce automated self-check-in machines for international passengers at Tokyo's Narita Airport.

Remember when eager, aggressive and forward-looking Boeing sold the best commercial airplanes for the best prices? Boeing claims it still offers the best life-cycle value. It thinks Airbus is falling on its sword by selling at less than cost. In Airbus' case, it's a rubber sword. Boeing has always been on a 10-year boom/bust cycle. Two things are different this time:

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Ian Thomas has become head of operations of Boeing's Integrated Defense Systems (IDS) business in the U.K. He worked on international security policy in the Office of the U.S. Secretary of Defense. Tom Bell, formerly president of operations for Boeing Aerospace UK, has been promoted to a U.S.-based leadership position within IDS' aerospace support division.

The arcane, secretive mission of jamming enemy radar and communications, an important element in the aerial domination of any foe by a U.S. or a coalition force, is changing rapidly, but the details of this remarkable transformation remain largely hidden.

Socata, EADS' France-based general aviation unit, is scheduled to deliver the first utility/business TBM700 C2 single-turboprop aircraft in the next few days. The first production unit is shown about to roll out from the company's production facilities in Tarbes.

Satellite digital audio broadcasting pioneer WorldSpace and Alcatel Space are poised to start work on a European mobile DAB network, despite the gloomy investment climate. Like similar systems brought into service last year in the U.S. by XM Radio and Sirius, the European network would employ hybrid satellite-terrestrial technology, enabling it to broadcast clearly in both rural and urban areas.

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Patricia M. Oleson has been promoted to executive vice president/chief operating officer from senior vice president/ chief financial officer of Spectrum Astro, Gilbert, Ariz.

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Security projects, historically a minor factor in federal support for airport capital improvements, consumed more than one-sixth of Fiscal 2002 funds, causing decreases in all other project categories and raising policy questions about the future of the grant program.

NASA's Space Infrared Telescope Facility (SIRTF) is depicted with the type of image it is expected to produce as it probes the infrared sky. Set for launch in January 2003, SIRTF will be the final "Great Observatory" sent above the obscuring atmosphere (see p. 64). Illustration by Robert Hurt, NASA/JPL/Caltech.

Despite aerospace's caution about making significant investments during the current recession, software makers with core manufacturing capabilities are finding success. Vistagy Inc., which makes an industry-standard FiberSim computer-aided design and manufacturing software for composite parts, reports that its revenues from October 2001 to September 2002 jumped 49%, although the privately held company declined to give absolute numbers.

Will Trafton, vice president/deputy general manager of St. Louis-based Boeing Expendable Launch Systems, has been elected to the International Academy of Astronautics.

Aerojet conducted a second hot-fire test Oct. 30 for the big new solid-fuel booster rocket it has developed for the Lockheed Martin Atlas V evolved expendable launch vehicle, apparently clearing the way for a final qualification test in December. The 67-ft. booster fired as planned for 92 sec. at thrust levels from 285,000-390,000 lb. in a horizontal test stand at Aerojet's Sacramento, Calif., facility. If results from last week's test and the one upcoming in December are nominal, an Atlas V is scheduled to fly with the new boosters early next year.

USAF Lt. Col. (ret.) Jim Myers (see photo) has been appointed director of strategic concepts for the Reston, Va.-based missile defense division of TRW Inc. He was head of the Advanced Concepts and Advanced Technology directorates for the U.S. Missile Defense Agency.

Astronomers are eagerly awaiting data from NASA's Space Infrared Telescope Facility (SIRTF), the last of the four "great observatories" conceived in the 1970s to give them a view of the Universe in all wavelengths unobscured by the Earth's atmosphere.

Ishikawajima-Harima Heavy Industries expects to double annual production of low- and high-pressure turbine blades for the General Electric CF34 engine program by 2004. It currently produces about 100,000 blades annually. The increased production will come from IHI's new plant at Soma, about 125 mi. northeast of Tokyo, which was due to open last week.

John Spanjers, who has been chief operating officer of Mesaba Aviation, also will be president. Randy Strobel, who has been controller, will be vice president-finance. They succeed Paul Foley and Robert Weil, who will focus on parent company Mesaba Holdings Inc.

EADS will upgrade the military surveillance of German and neighboring airspace. Contracts said to constitute a multimillion-euro deal, have been signed with the Federal Procurement Office for delivery of two stationary GIADS (German Improved Air Defense Systems) and development of a mobile air surveillance system. These phases will be carried out in cooperation with Thales Raytheon Systems. GIADS analyzes information obtained from military surveillance radars regarding aircraft and other objects and displays it on monitors.

Vietnam Airlines has concluded an order for five 185-seat Airbus A321s scheduled to be delivered in 2003-05. They will complement the carrier's all-Airbus fleet, comprising 12 leased A320-series twinjets.

Please refer to the Correspondence page.

Signs are emerging that the Pentagon's electronic warfare interest is on the rise, with the promise of new money and programs, but exuberance is tempered by the recent disbandment of one of the Defense Dept.'s central EW offices.