Israel is preparing to declare its second Arrow missile defense battery operational. The location will be north of Tel Aviv at the Ein Shemer air base. The first Arrow battery is south of Tel Aviv at Palmahim air base. Deployment of the Israel Aircraft Industries system was delayed because of residents' concerns about the health effects of the powerful L-band Green Pine early-warning and fire-control radar. The compromise is to keep the radar off during peacetime, but on during crises.
The FAA's efforts at building a faster, better, sleeker ATC system were apparent with last week's debut of Controller Pilot Data Link Communications at Miami Center and word that Required Navigational Performance special approaches at San Francisco International airport are a month away. Both efforts are aimed at reducing congestion and delays to meet growing demand that in the next 20 years is expected to outpace the capacity of the current ATC system. THE FIRST CPDLC system in the world became operational at 7:38 a.m. Oct.
British Secretary of State for Defense Geoff Hoon plans to unveil the government's strategy document on defense industrial policy on Oct. 14. The policy document will, among other issues, address future procurement strategy.
Terry D. Stinson, former CEO of Bell Helicopter Textron, has been appointed chairman/CEO of Xelus Inc., Rochester, N.Y. Stinson, who has been a Xelus director, succeeds Mike Fabiaschi.
Greece is about to finally sign off on its procurement of C-27J tactical airlifters and may embark on a new round of negotiations covering the purchase of 60 Eurofighter Typhoon combat aircraft. C-27J industry partner Finmeccanica/ Alenia Aeronautica anticipates contract signature during November. ``We expect to sign the contract with the Greek Ministry of Defense before the end of November, and deliveries could start in 2004,'' Giorgio Zappa, Alenia Aeronautica's chairman, said.
The first of five Bombardier Q400 turboprops was delivered last week to Japan Air Commuter, a Japan Airlines subsidiary, as a replacement for 50-seat YS-11As. Configured in a 74-seat layout, the initial aircraft will be based at Kagoshima.
The Civil Aviation Administration of China certified the Gulfstream Aerospace Corp. G200 business jet, clearing the way for it to be owned and operated in China, according to the company. Formerly known as the Galaxy Aerospace Galaxy, the G200 is capable of flying 3,600 naut. mi. without refueling, allowing nonstop Beijing-Anchorage flights.
By MICHAEL A. TAVERNABy DOUGLAS BARRIE ( BORDEAUX LONDON)
French and British defense officials are convinced that there is still ample scope for cooperation with the U.K. on aircraft carrier programs, despite a British decision to buy short takeoff/vertical landing (Stovl) versions of the F-35 for its own future carrier requirements. French officials noted that the choice remained compatible with French needs, because the U.K.
The NTSB is recommending that all helicopter pilots conducting commercial, passenger-carrying flights possess an instrument rating if they fly in areas where low-light or snow-induced white-out conditions can occur. The recommendation calls for pilots to demonstrate their instrument skills during initial and recurrent training as required under FAR Part 135 rules, and that operators have an approved training program. The safety board officials also recommended that the FAA require radar altimeters in helicopters flying commercial missions in potential white-out areas.
It is always intellectually energizing to meet with students and educators on the best approach for motivating students to believe that taking science, math and technology courses is ``cool.'' While this aspect of education has been the focus of a long-term debate, the speed of technology advances and need of the aerospace industry for engineers, scientists and technically competent managers has made the issue much more timely.
USAF Col. Susan Helms, who is chief of the Space Control Div. at Air Force Space Command, Peterson AFB, Colo., has won the Outstanding Achievement Award of Washington-based Women in Aerospace. She flew on the space shuttle Atlantis on Mission STS-101 to deliver and repair hardware for the International Space Station. Other recent honors presented by WIA are: Outstanding International Award, Supriya B. Ganguli, corporate vice president of the Science Applications International Corp., McLean, Va.; Outstanding Leadership Award: USAF Brig. Gen.
Senior officials of the National Business Aviation Assn. said discussions earlier this month with James M. Loy, acting head of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), failed to make significant progress toward restoring access to Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, which has been closed to general aviation since last year's terrorist attacks. John W. Olcott, NBAA president, said he is confident that Loy recognizes NBAA ``as a valuable resource'' for liaison with the TSA.
The House appropriations committee has followed its Senate counterpart in providing funding for the Pluto-Kuiper Belt mission the administration didn't want. The $105-million funding is part of the $15.3-billion Fiscal spending level the panel is proposing--a $300-million increase over the White House request. It would also provide $40 million for a Europa mission--not in the Senate bill or budget request--and uphold the administration's request for funds to run shuttle operations.
A ``new'' U.S. Strategic Command was activated on Oct. 1, combining the resources and missions of both U.S. Space Command and the long-standing, nuclear-oriented ``old'' Strategic Command. The blended unit is favored to assume previously unassigned missions such as global strike, and could become an overarching integrator for information operations and missile defense. After 17 years as the Pentagon's joint military space entity, U.S. Space Command (USSC) ceased to exist as a separate organization on Oct. 1, its flag folded and cased.
India and Pakistan, nuclear-capable rivals that came close to war four months ago, have staged tit-for-tat missile trials, increasing regional tensions. Pakistan tested its nuclear-capable Shaheen I medium-range ballistic missile Oct. 4 and Oct. 8. The missile, described as being indigenously developed, was fired off the Somyami coast. The Shaheen has a range of 700 km. (435 mi.). The ITAR-TASS news agency cited a Russian arms official as saying that both Pakistan's Ghauri and Shaheen missiles are ``carbon copies'' of North Korean and Chinese equivalents.
Mark A. Skoda has become CEO of Nextjet Technologies of Dallas. He was president of i2 Technology's FreightMatrix and head of its logistics solutions practice.
NASA and the Defense Dept. have revamped the Partnership Council responsible for coordinating technology development for civil and national security space activities, a move that may augur reshaping of NASA's Space Launch Initiative (SLI). The panel of high-ranking government space officials has been expanded and now includes former astronaut Ronald M. Sega, director for defense research and engineering, who will be responsible for folding NASA efforts such as SLI into his office's broader National Aerospace Initiative (NAI).
National Reconnaissance Office Advanced KH-11 recon satellites imaged 60 trucks removing materials from a known Iraqi biological weapons facility about Sept. 25. NRO and the National Imagery and Mapping Agency passed the intelligence to the White House, Defense Dept. and Congress as more evidence the Iraqis are preparing to foil U.N. inspectors, and to disperse biological and chemical assets in the event of war. Three advanced KH-11s and three Lacrosse-type medium-resolution imaging radar spacecraft overfly Iraq daily, often on passes about 2-3 hr. apart.
India has taken delivery of the first 10 of its Sukhoi Su-30MKI multirole aircraft. One of the aircraft is shown being loaded for delivery from the Irkutsk manufacturing site in Russia. The Indian air force officially inaugurated the type into service on Sept. 27, the first time a thrust vector-equipped aircraft has entered any air force's operational inventory. The Irkutsk Aviation Industrial Assn. will deliver a further 12 Su-30MKIs during 2003, with the final batch of 10 to be delivered in 2004. The aircraft is also equipped with a passive phased array radar.
Unisys R2A Transportation Management Consultants said last week what the U.S. airline industry has known for quite awhile: Something must change with the business model of the major network airlines. What makes Unisys' message more compelling is that it also provided a carrier-by-carrier comparison of revenues, costs, profits and losses.
Shuttle operations and assembly of the International Space Station are back on track after a four-month hiatus following the successful launch of Atlantis and the installation by its U.S./Russian crew of the Boeing S1 truss on the ISS. The $390-million S1--with 15 mi. of wiring, thousands of components and unique ammonia cooling systems--is one of the more complex pieces of the ISS. It has taken Boeing and 12 subcontractors five years to build and integrate, and a duplicate port system will be launched by Endeavour about Nov. 10.
Pratt & Whitney and EREA, the association of European aerospace research agencies, have jointly recognized the research achievements of Onera's Isabelle Ribet, Von Karman Institute's David Vanden Beele and a group of Czech scientists. Ribet's work covered entangled-cavity optical parametric oscillators, while Vanden Beele studied computational models for inductively coupled air plasma flows.
Vought Aircraft Industries will build two redesigned wings for the U.S. Air Force's RQ-4A Global Hawk unmanned air vehicle. Alliant Techsystems is teaming with Vought on the project and will provide composite parts, according to the company. Initial deliveries of the wings are set for 2004. Vought also will manufacture three current-configuration wings for the Global Hawk program with options for six wings to be built in 2004. Also, Vought has been selected to produce 85 shipsets of horizontal stabilizers for the Air Force's F/A-22 Raptor fighter.
Most aerospace companies operate on the premise that if they produce high-quality products, price them competitively while keeping costs under control and deliver on time, they're doing all that is necessary to sustain profitable growth and subsequently improve shareholder value. To their credit, many businesses are doing these things on a fairly consistent basis.
Spot Image has signed an agreement with King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology in Saudi Arabia for reception of data from Europe's new Spot 5 imaging satellite, and opened an office in Abu Dhabi to reinforce its Middle East presence. Saudi Arabia will be the third non-European country, after Singapore and China, to receive data from Spot 5; three more nations are expected to sign up by year-end. Earlier, the company concluded an agreement giving BSA of Mauritania exclusive rights to distribute Spot products and services in eight countries in West Africa.
