Dennis O'Connell has been promoted to president from vice president/general manager of Million Air's charter operations, Teterboro, N.J. Steve Chandoha has been promoted to president from vice president/general manager of the fixed-base operation and Betsy Wines to vice president-customer services and human resources from customer service manager. John Langschultz has been promoted to vice president-jet maintenance from head of the repair station.
William R. Kratz has been appointed director of maintenance for US Airways Express carrier Shuttle America, Windsor Locks, Conn. He was manager of airline services for Piedmont Hawthorne Aviation.
Northrop Grumman has named TRW Aeronautical Systems in Solihull, England, to supply the drive system for the Joint Strike Fighter's weapons bay doors in a contract initially worth $21 million but expected to total $650 million with options exercised. First hardware is scheduled to be delivered in 2004. JSF uses two bay doors, one on either side of the aircraft. Each uses an independent geared transmission system controlled by a single electronic control unit that is commanded by the vehicle management computer.
While the Indian air force (IAF) considers the An-70, Israel is urging that it buy about 100 Rafael Python-4 air-to-air missiles for its Mirage 2000 and Jaguar squadrons. These would supplement the Russian R-73s and AA-11s that are already in the IAF fleet. India has already bought Rafael air-to-surface AGM-142s and Israel Aircraft Industries Searcher Mk.2 unmanned aerial vehicles. Its defense buildup plans also include signing a construction/technology transfer contract later this month with France's DCN International for six Scorpene submarines.
A NASA project to replace the 25-year-old Launch Processing System (LPS) computer setup for space shuttles is exceeding budget by 70%; is nearly 40 months behind schedule; and threatens a cancellation of the upgrade. A NASA headquarters cost/management assessment team visited here in early August to review Checkout Launch and Control System (CLCS) efforts and make recommendations to NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe. A modification or cancellation is possible.
The Pentagon has further expanded the payload options for the Predator unmanned aerial vehicle, demonstrating its ability to launch other, smaller UAVs and preparing it to deliver weapons beyond just the laser-guided Hellfire missile employed in Afghanistan. The initiative to use Predator as a mothership for other unmanned aircraft was sponsored by the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) and involved launching a Naval Research Laboratory-developed Finder UAV.
Pierre Pasinetti has been promoted to vice president from deputy vice president-security for the Paris-based Thales group. He succeeds Pierre Martinez, who has left the company. Fred Leenerts has been appointed vice president-business development of Thales Mackay Radio Inc., Raleigh, N.C. He held similar positions at the Raytheon Co. and Harris Corp.
Faster Better Cheaper: Low-Cost Innovation in the U.S. Space Program By Howard E. McCurdy Johns Hopkins University Press 208 pp. Hardcover, $34.95 Its peculiar history has deprived spaceflight, whether robotic or human, of the downward pressure on cost that has characterized many high-technology endeavors. While the manufacturers of cameras, computers and commercial airliners must continually find ways to hold costs below their competitors', the Cold War gave rocketry and its payloads a pass on efficiency.
Anne Eisele has been named director of media relations for the Chicago-based Boeing Co. She was director of media relations and executive communications at the Boeing Space & Communications Group. Eisele succeeds John Dern, who has been promoted to vice president-public relations at Boeing headquarters.
A small cell of military and civilian space-monitoring experts run by the Air Force Space Command will help coordinate development of U.S. space situational awareness capabilities, including reconnaissance, intelligence, weather and space command, control and communications. Dubbed the Space Situational Awareness Integration Office, the Peterson AFB, Colo., activity starts with a budget of $3.5 million and 18 staffers, and is expected to grow to about 50 people by 2004. The Army, Navy and Air Force are participating, as are the U.S.
The U.S. Missile Defense Agency has boosted funding to Boeing and Lockheed Martin for work on the ballistic missile defense national teams. Boeing received a $125-million follow-on contract for leading a team working on system engineering and integration; the Lockheed Martin team working on battle management, command and control and communications capability received another $108 million. The contracts should fund the teams through 2003.
A stronger commitment to unmanned aircraft and better access to intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) systems are needed for the U.S. Air Forces in the Pacific to overcome shortfalls they have experienced in recent months, according to USAF's commander for the region. For Pacaf, the past months have been a balancing act between supporting forces in the Middle East with aircraft, munitions and personnel, and retaining sufficient assets to conduct counterterrorism operations in the Philippines, maintain a high level of alertness in Korea, and watch China.
As Boeing headed for a potential strike last week by its 26,000 machinists beginning on Sept. 2--which is Labor Day in the U.S.--the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS) threw a curveball into the negotiations by ``requesting'' that the two sides come to Washington on Sept. 4 to discuss a 30-day extension of their contract talks. That request fell in line with the International Assn. of Machinists & Aerospace Workers' (IAM) drive for Boeing to keep negotiating. But even as the union agreed to mediated talks, it urged members voting Aug.
The U.S. plans to use at least two nonlethal technologies if it goes to war with Iraq, information warfare (IW) and directed energy. IW includes mining a foe's computers for intelligence and implanting false targets in air defense systems. Directed energy would scramble battlefield computer memories, which is seen as particularly important in shutting down the production, storage and use of chemical and biological weapons. While noting that directed-energy weapons, including high-power microwaves, are in ``varying early stages,'' Defense Secretary Donald H.
Propulsion engineers at NASA's Marshall and Glenn field centers have started studying military and commercial jet engines that could give a reusable rocket first stage greater range for a return to its launch site. Working with General Electric and Pratt & Whitney, the Space Launch Initiative (SLI) Propulsion Office is studying engine options that would generate more than 100,000 lb. of thrust to get the flyback booster home in one piece while its reusable second stage heads on to orbit.
Atlantic Research Corp. will provide a ramjet motor for the Navy's High-Speed Anti-Radiation Demonstration project. Alliant Techsystems also competed for the $10-million contract to explore the value of turning the Harm anti-radar weapon into a higher speed missile.
An Ariane 5 booster has launched a Eutelsat telecom satellite and Eumetsat's first second-generation geostationary weather spacecraft, MSG-1. The Eutelsat unit, Atlantic Bird 1, will provide Ku-band TV, telecom and Internet coverage in Europe and the Eastern seaboard of the Americas. Manufacturer Alenia Spazio had initially intended to orbit the spacecraft on a Chinese Long March rocket, but was forced to shift to the Ariane 5 when a U.S. export license was denied.
The Eutelsat/Alcatel Hot Bird 6 direct broadcast satellite launched Aug. 21 on board the first Atlas V Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle is using its own propulsion to maneuver from its initial transfer orbit to a geosynchronous orbit slot at 13 deg. E. Long., where it will serve 93 million households in Europe, North Africa and the Middle East. Initial checkout in geosynchronous orbit is expected to be complete by mid-September.
Northrop Grumman Corp.'s Electronic Systems will equip C-130 transports operated by the U.S. Air Force Air Mobility Command with a laser-based infrared countermeasures system for protection from heat-seeking missiles. The new equipment is a laser-based version of the company's Nemesis lamp-based, directional infrared countermeasures system.
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and the U.S. Navy plan to air-launch a powered, prototype hypersonic missile off the coast of California in late 2004 as part of a technology development and validation effort that eventually could lead to the procurement of a production version of the weapon later in the decade. The proposed Mach 6 missile would be carried by surface ships, submarines and aircraft initially to combat highly mobile, time-sensitive surface targets like mobile Scud launchers.
Pilot failure to ensure an adequate fuel supply for the flight caused the May 21, 2000, crash of a British Aerospace Jetstream 31, N16EJ, at Bear Creek Township, Pa., according to the NTSB final accident report. All 17 passengers and two flight crewmembers were killed onboard the aircraft operated by Farmingdale, N.Y.-based Executive Airlines (AW&ST May 29, 2000, p. 18). An insufficient fuel supply led to fuel starvation of the right engine and intermittent stoppage of the left engine.
FedEx and UPS have shoved the U.S. Transportation Dept. into a cross fire over their continuing allegations that rival DHL Airways is controlled by the German post office, Deutsche Post, and should not be classified as a U.S. certificated carrier. The two express and freight carriers have filed petitions asking for a formal hearing including fact-finding into DHL's citizenship status. The move follows a move by Deutsche Post last month to buy full ownership of DHL, including Lufthansa's big 25% stake (AW&ST July 29, p. 54).
The Russian/U.S. Expedition 5 crew on board the International Space Station has completed the two extravehicular activities (EVAs) planned for their 4.5-month mission. On Aug. 26, station commander Valery Korzun and flight engineer Sergei Treschev conducted a 5.5-hr. EVA to install, among other components, a frame on the Zarya module that will be used by future EVA crews as a temporary hardware storage site.
Investigators have recovered the upper and lower parts of the aft cargo door of China Airlines Flight 611 still connected to the surrounding fuselage. A middle portion of the door hasn't been recovered yet. Even though both pieces are attached, Taiwan's Aviation Safety Council (ASC) has not ruled out the door as a cause, and in fact ``we are paying more attention to it now than before,'' said Kay Yong, ASC managing director.
If that sounds like ``a match made in Hollywood,'' a row between MirCorp, which is representing Bass, and its competitor, Space Adventures, gets more to the point of what the rocker's flight is really about. Bass was photographed in mid-August flying on a Russian zero-g training aircraft that was also carrying Space Adventures paying customers. MirCorp accused Space Adventures of wrongly using the picture of Bass floating to market its wares, demonstrating publicity and money are paramount.
