NASA's Space Launch Initiative (SLI) will not continue funding the hydrogen-fueled rocket engine it has had under development by Pratt & Whitney and Aerojet, opting instead to push development of kerosene-fueled rockets for a future reusable launch vehicle (RLV). The SLI program office will have spent about $57 million on the Co-optimized Booster for Reusable Applications (Cobra) engine at the end of its first contract option Sept. 30, and does not plan to extend the contract.
THE GENERAL AVIATION MANUFACTURERS ASSN. board of directors has decided to allow foreign aircraft builders into the association. Dassault Falcon Jet, Bombardier Aerospace, Embraer and Piaggio have applied to join. GAMA President Edward Bolen said the policy change is needed because the organization is becoming increasingly involved with international regulatory issues affecting business jet operations through its work with the European Joint Aviation Authorities, International Civil Aviation Organization and European Aviation Safety Agency.
When the X-45A unmanned combat aerial vehicle made its first flight in May, part of the lift was provided by foam technology originally designed for the manufacture of surfboards and modified for use as the structural core material in the UCAV's wings. The company that developed the material, Foam Matrix, was the recipient of Boeing's 2002 Supplier Innovation Award--the first Phantom Works supplier to receive such recognition.
Iraq's oil fields and plants for building or storing weapons of mass destruction (WMD) are off the Pentagon's bombing list and have been transferred to a growing catalog of targets that would be disabled by electronic attacks or information warfare. With worries about world oil markets, the economic future of Iraq, and the specter of releasing plumes of chemical or biological agents into the air from bombed storage sites that could drift into neighboring countries, the U.S. is set to exercise some new ``wrinkles'' in warfare.
A Honeywell Aerospace-led team has launched the Nova Wire Integrity Program that employs ``intelligent telemaintenance'' to electronically test and identify faulty wiring and connections in aging aircraft. The team estimates that manual troubleshooting of wiring for the average narrow-body aircraft costs $87,040 over four years. Through the use of intelligent telemaintenance, they estimate that can be reduced 88% to $10,880.
Transportation Security Administration chief James Loy told the Senate Commerce Committee Sept. 10 the TSA would be ``just fine'' through November or maybe December despite Congress's 45,000 limit on TSA personnel. But on Sept. 25, he imposed an agency-wide hiring freeze. Robert Johnson, Loy's top spokesman, said the TSA would be ``getting close'' to the ceiling once its latest group of new employees, totaling several thousand, came aboard on Sept. 29.
Bringing a new factory onstream is difficult enough because of the many processes that must be ``turned on'' and made to function, but in the case of Alcoa's Howmet castings plant here, the task was especially challenging. Less than a year after the facility opened in 2000, the commercial aircraft business entered a decline--and about 60% of Laval's revenues came from that market. As a result, the sales forecast for the new factory, along with projections of when it would begin to earn money, suddenly became outdated.
In other budget proposals, the French government said it would increase spending for transportation by 3%, to 10.7 billion euros, of which 2.1 billion euros would go for air transport, including 264 million euros for development of the A380 ultrawide-body airliner and other R&D projects.
Alcatel has sold 6.1% of the shares in defense electronics company Thales for 314 million euros ($307 million), after unloading a total of 9.5% in two steps the year before. The telecommunications equipment maker also said it would eliminate 400 jobs at its Alcatel Space subsidiary in 2003, over and above the 450 layoffs announced earlier this year (AW&ST Feb. 18, p. 58 ; May 21, 2001, p. 45). In addition, an avionics facility in Valence, France, with 250 employees is expected to be shifted to non-space activities and eventually sold.
Gail K. Warner has been promoted to director from manager of media relations for the Goodrich Corp., Charlotte, N.C. Brian Costa has been appointed director of new business and strategic analysis. He was a senior financial analyst.
Schweizer Aircraft's history reads like the heart of aviation folklore. Two brothers and a cousin snuck around and learned to fly. They built a glider in a barn. They formed a company in Big Flats, N.Y., to build gliders that were used in World War II as observation aircraft. After the war, when aircraft sales dried up, they turned their company's metal-bending capability to making hand-held crates for milk delivery.
A governmental team that seeks to determine causes for Sabena Belgian World Airlines' bankruptcy and demise is now probing the carrier's final aircraft order, signed in late 1997, which cov- ered 34 Airbus transports. Former Sabena employees claim that the order's magnitude significantly exceeded Sabena's real needs. Jean-Claude Van Espen, the Brussels court's judge who heads the team, this month visited Airbus' corporate headquarters located at Toulouse, in southwest France, to scrutinize the contract's terms.
In 1997, the company developed a radiation-hardened version of the MCS-96-compatible 16-bit microcontroller, the UT80CRH196KD. The UT80CRH196KD was guaranteed to 100 Krads(Si) with an Onset LET threshold of 14.4 MeV-cm2/mg and has been employed for space applications ranging from low-Earth to geosynchronous orbits (LEO/GEO). To meet the requirements of a next-generation sensor system, a customer requested a higher total dose and single-event-upset (SEU) guarantee to allow the microcontroller to operate in a GEO orbit.
NETJETS HAS ORDERED 100 GULFSTREAM 150 business jets for its fractional ownership program. The total value of the order, including options and maintenance services, is about $1.5 billion. Deliveries are scheduled to begin in 2005. In addition, NetJets has placed orders with Cessna Aircraft Co. for 100 Citation CJ3 and 12 Citation X jets worth more than $300 million. Deliveries would begin in 2004 and continue through 2005. In related news, Cessna is collaborating with Max-Viz Inc.
Boeing has won the lead for design and construction of a next-generation family of satellite communication terminals for aircraft and ground sites. The six-year, $273.2-million contract funds a new spiral-development acquisition strategy for the Family of Advanced Beyond-Line-of-Sight Terminal program.
Former astronaut Frank L. Culbertson, Jr., has been named senior vice president/program manager for the Safety, Reliability and Quality Assurance contract at the NASA Johnson Space Center in Houston for the Science Applications International Corp.'s Space, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences Group. His last mision for NASA was last year as commander of the third expedition to the International Space Station.
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.
