During the Cold War, U.S. and European military forces strived to make their weapon systems and communications networks compatible, but the goal was never fully achieved. With the advent of the war on terror and ``netcentric'' concepts of ``plug and play'' interoperability, the goal is becoming more critical and more elusive.
Northrop Grumman unveiled the military strike aircraft design last week for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency's Quiet Supersonic Program (QSP). The aircraft is designed to meet Darpa's QSP goals of reaching speeds greater than Mach 2 and have a 6,000-naut.-mi. range. The design features a 156-ft.-long fuselage with a 58-ft. wingspan. It includes a top-mounted engine, active isentropic air inlet, extensive laminar aerodynamics and wings with an adaptive leading edge. Northrop Grumman said the aircraft meets Darpa's goal of about 0.3-psf.
CAE SIMUFLITE IS OFFERING INITIAL, upgrade and recurrent pilot training for the Cessna CitationJet at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport. The full-flight simulator for the entry-level jet received FAA Level D qualification last month. It features include a Honeywell SPZ-5000 avionics package, Bendix King RDR-200 weather radar and AlliedSignal GPWS and TCAS.
Carl Chen has succeeded Jack Braly as president/CEO of the Sino Swearingen Aircraft Co. of San Antonio. Chen was chairman, president/CEO of Advanced Aerodynamics and Structures, Long Beach, Calif. Braly has been retained as an adviser to the company.
The Aero-HSD+ is a multichannel voice, fax and high-speed data solution that integrates two Inmarsat services (Aero-H+ and Swift64) into one system. Designed for use on business jets, it provides two voice, fax and PC modem data channels and one packet data channel for cockpit communications (e.g., CPDL and CNS/ATM). The Swift64 service from Inmarsat provides a fourth high-speed data channel for ISDN, MPDS, G4 fax and secure telephone.
Italian automaker Ferrari has joined ESA in a campaign aimed at increasing public awareness of space, and in particular of ESA's forthcoming Mars Express mission. The 2-million-euro ($1.9 million) ``Red Encounter'' campaign highlights the presence of a vial of red paint used in Ferrari's successful Formula 1 racing cars on Mars Express, which is set to be launched in May-June 2003. Ferrari is already linked with Alenia Spazio, an important mission subcontractor, through a technology transfer agreement concluded in 1999.
PATRICIA J. PARMALEEPIERRE SPARACO ( NEW YORK PARIS)
Avions de Transport Regional's sales executives are seeking to regain attention in the U.S. and, after an eight-year interlude, expect to conclude new orders in the next few months. The Oct. 31, 1994, crash of an ATR 72-212, American Eagle Flight 4184, near Roselawn, Ind., in icing conditions, had a dramatic impact on ATR's ongoing North American sales campaigns and seriously tarnished the twin turboprops' image. It resulted in eroding confidence in twin-turboprop aircraft types, which were gradually replaced via an emerging preference for jets.
This research and education project focuses on designing, building and testing a safe, practical, two-place general aviation airplane powered by DC electricity from fuel cells and advanced rechargeable batteries. The Electric Plane (E-Plane) will be designed to have a range of 250 mi. on a single charge. Advanced Technology Products is leading the program, with funding from the not-for-profit Foundation for Advancing Science and Technology Education (FASTec), as well as from NASA under the Revolutionary Aeropropulsion Program.
The photo on p. 23 of last week's issue was published in error. A photo of Czech-built Aero Vodochody L-29 trainers should have run, not BAE Systems Hawk trainers.
USAF Col. (ret.) Col. Al Allenback (see photo) has become executive director of the Civil Air Patrol National Headquarters, Maxwell AFB, Ala. His last USAF position was wing commander for Maxwell AFB and Gunter Annex.
Air Canada last week introduced its redesigned Executive First international business-class service, which includes individually prepared meals. The product is available on the carrier's European services and will later be introduced on flights to Asia, Australia and South America, and next year on Canadian and U.S. services. In January, Air Canada plans to start reconfiguring Executive First cabin seating to 60-in. pitch throughout its 51-aircraft long-haul fleet.
Fiscal 2003 begins Oct. 1 under a stopgap funding bill, with regular appropriations nowhere near congressional approval for many government agencies. The leaders of the House Appropriations Committee vented a bit last week as they cleared their last bills to join the logjam on the House floor. Congress' budget system ``totally collapsed'' this year, said Chairman Bill Young (R-Fla.), because the House and the Senate never agreed on a single set of totals.
American Airlines, as part of its effort to lower distribution costs, last week launched its EveryFare Program with initial partners TQ3 Maritz Travel Solutions and the Corporate Travel Management Group. Under the new arrangement, traditional travel agencies in the U.S. and Canada will be able to sell fares previously only available on low-cost distribution channels such as Orbitz and the carrier's Web site. In exchange, the cost of global distribution system (GDS) booking fees shifts from American to the agency.
Two relatively unheralded developments--defenses against stealthy cruise missiles and directed-energy weapons for aircraft--are objects of major interest for the Pentagon. There were broad hints about emerging technologies from those who are working on these advanced concepts for military use and were able to show their wares at this month's Air Force Assn. convention here.
In December, NASA bigs plan to start trying to figure out how much more space station they can afford. Administrator Sean O'Keefe tells the NASA Advisory Council the agency's Fiscal 2004 budget will include adequate funds for the ``U.S. core complete'' configuration, plus the European and Japanese modules, confirming his earlier predictions of sufficient funds. Now agency managers will pick among options for more hardware that might support additional crew beyond the three planned, including a way to rescue more crew than the present three-seat Soyuz vehicle affords.
RepliSet from Struers is a replicating system for non-destructive testing and engineering inspection. It is designed to transfer the microstructure of a surface to replica media, and produces an exact 3D copy of an engineering surface. The replica is subsequently analyzed off-site under laboratory conditions. Replicas can be taken of metallic materials and most other solid materials like ceramics, plastics, glass and concrete. There are no size, shape or thickness limitations.
A Minuteman III was launched Sept. 19 from Vandenberg AFB, Calif., as part of USAF's Force Development Evaluation Program to test reliability and accuracy of the ICBM. Two instrumented dummy warheads hit targets 4,200 mi. away in the Kwajalein Missile Range after a half-hour flight. The 7:31 p.m. twilight launch timing caused the Sun to illuminate the upper exhaust trail against a darkened sky as wind shear twisted the trail around. An upper stage is seen burning as a bright dot with a broad, faint high-altitude plume.
Last year, Interstate Electronics Corp. (IEC), a division of L-3 Communications, shipped its first selective availability anti-spoofing module (SAASM)-based Global Positioning System receivers to Raytheon Missile systems for the U.S. Army's Excalibur program. These systems provide navigational guidance to the flight control system of the 155mm Army artillery projectiles. The shipment represented the world's first SAASM-based guidance system able to withstand the 15,000g acceleration firing from a gun, according to the company.
Swissair successor Swiss International Air Lines is facing a rough ride toward profitability, beset as it is with high start-up costs, the economic downturn and unresolved agreements regarding alliances and pilot wages. Swiss posted a massive CHF447-million ($300-million) loss on revenues of CHF1.7 billion in the first six months of the year. The airline flew 5.2 million passengers, achieving a 66.1% seat load factor. In spite of the large loss, CEO Andre Dose stated that the airline was doing better than expected in its initial business plan presented in late 2001.
The U.S. Marine Corps is looking for a vehicle for long-distance reconnaissance patrols in different environments. The hitch is that the vehicle must fit inside the service's CH-53 medium-lift helicopter. It also has to run on diesel fuel. Also, Marines are interested in being able to equip the transport with M-240G and MK-19 machine guns. The vehicle also should be fast enough and have adequate range to stay ahead of regular combat troops.
The judges for Aviation Week's Sixth Annual Technology Innovation Awards bring broad experience in aerospace and defense. They are: Dee Andrews is a human factors expert and technical director of the Air Force Research Laboratory, Warfighter Training Research Div., Mesa, Ariz. Anthony Broderick, safety consultant for manufacturers, airlines and governments, retired from the FAA as associate administrator for regulation and certification. Dan Griffith, senior certification test pilot for the U.K.'s Civil Aviation Authority, logged more than 5,200 hr.
