First flight of Korea Aerospace Industries' T-50 Golden Eagle supersonic advanced trainer is expected on or about July 23 from Sachon, South Korea. The trainer/light attack fighter, jointly developed with Lockheed Martin Aeronautics, is the first indigenously designed aircraft for KAI. The first-flight article recently completed low- and medium-speed taxi tests and is expected to finish high-speed taxi tests shortly before the debut flight. A second flight test article has entered ground testing and is expected to fly in November.
Six employees of The Nordam Group's Interiors and Structures Div., Tulsa, Okla., have won the FAA Standards Office's Star Quality Award. They are: Pat McCoy, engineering and certification general manager; Kelly Gonzales, integration engineering manager; Angela Borrell, admini- strative coordinator; Vincent Galioto, Galaxy program manager; Russell Stites, quality assurance inspector; David Rogers, senior technical engineer; and Garry Campbell, senior program engineer.
U.S. Coast Guard Rear Adm. (ret.) George Naccara's new job combines many skills--facility space allocation, perimeter and internal security, structural engineer, information technology leader, acquisitions, policy development and training. However, what keeps him awake at night in his post as the new federal security director (FSD) at Boston Logan International Airport aren't these things; it's the people part. Naccara will hire about 2,000 people as federal employees to work security at Logan. He needs them in place, trained and certified by Nov.
An Ariane 5 heavy-lift booster on July 5 launched into geostationary transfer orbit two telecommunications satellites, Japan's N-Star, developed by Lockheed Martin and the Orbital Sciences Corp., and Europe's Alcatel Space Stellat 5. The next Ariane 5 launch is scheduled for Aug. 27.
The U.S. Air Force's Arnold Engineering Development Center in Tullahoma, Tenn., has completed tests of a full-scale Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) equipped with an FMU-152 A/B turbine alternator and FZU-55 A/B fuze mechanism. The tests were conducted in the facility's 16-ft. transonic wind tunnel. The fuze and alternator will allow pilots to reprogram the JDAM during a mission, according to AEDC officials.
Northrop Grumman's Integrated Systems sector, a principal subcontractor on the Joint Strike Fighter program, will assemble components for the JSF at its Palmdale, Calif., facility and expand its JSF development and component manufacturing operations in El Segundo, Calif. One of Northrop's primary responsibilities is the design, integration and manufacture of the aircraft's center fuselage section.
Northrop Grumman Corp. is expected to encounter little difficulty winning regulatory approval of its proposed acquisition of TRW Inc., even though the transaction will concentrate some critical aerospace and defense technologies among fewer large players. The consensus of some former Defense Dept. officials and various industry observers is that there is no significant overlap of the companies' products and technologies, and that the combination is more likely to stimulate rather than inhibit technology innovation.
Moving where it thinks its military customers and much of the aerospace industry are going, Boeing Co. is merging its defense, space and communications businesses into a single unit, Integrated Defense Systems.
Adam Aircraft's A500 production prototype aircraft completed a first flight on July 11 from Centennial Airport near Denver, flown by test pilots Bruce Barrett and Glenn Maben. The approximately 6,500-lb. gross-weight, carbon-fiber composite aircraft features a side-stick controller, six-place seating and twin centerline-thrust 350-hp. Continental TSIO-550 reciprocating engines driving three-bladed, scimitar-shaped Hartzell propellers. Eventually, the powerplants will be equipped with full-authority digital engine control systems.
Earlier this month, Russian Aircraft Corp. MiG inked a deal with the Slovakian Ministry of Defense for the overhaul and lifetime extension of its air force's MiG-29 fleet. Eighteen fighters will be repaired at the Slovakian overhaul plant in Trencin through 2003. MiG also proposed to upgrade the MiG-29s in accordance with NATO standards, but the Defense Ministry has deferred a decision.
As further evidence of belt-tightening in the Japanese space program, the Space Activities Commission has decided not to support development of the GX medium-lift booster. To be built by Galaxy Express, a partnership of seven Japanese companies led by Ishikawajima-Harima Heavy Industries and Mitsubishi Trading Co., the GX is to replace the National Space Development Agency's J-1. Total development costs have been forecast as $420-450 million. The Japanese government was expected to underwrite half to two-thirds of that cost.
Everette Webb, one of the key designers of the Boeing 747, died July 2 in Renton, Wash. He was 80. Webb also was vice president of engineering for the 767, vice president of engineering for commercial airplanes and general manager of the division that built 747s and 767s in Everett, Wash. He retired from Boeing in 1987 after a 46-year career. Webb helped engineer the 707 and 727, and then led the design of the 747 along with Joseph Sutter, Kenneth Holtby and Robert Davis.
Herb and Arlene Elliott, founders of Moline, Ill.-based Elliott Aviation, have received the William A. Ong Memorial Award from the National Air Transportation Assn. They were cited for achievement and meritorious service to the general aviation industry.
Efforts to make firearms available to airline pilots should cruise through the Senate and be bulletproof to a Bush administration veto, backers say, provided it can be hitched to a homeland security bill. The House voted 310-113 last week to arm pilots as a last-ditch effort to guard the cockpit. The measure was much broader than the watered-down version that came to the floor from the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, which tried to appease critics by capping the number of pilots armed by the end of the two-year test to about 1,400.
The international team investigating the July 1 midair collision over Lake Constance, in southern German airspace, needs to put a damper on bickering among Russian, German and Swiss authorities. Politics can't be allowed to intrude on the effort to perform an objective analysis of possible problems with equipment, communications, human factors, procedures or organizations. The lessons learned could prevent a recurrence. With the investigation just underway, it is clearly too soon to draw conclusions.
Scientific priorities set by a top-flight outside scientific panel will help NASA decide how much capability it wants to build into the International Space Station, according to Administrator Sean O'Keefe, who anticipated the priorities would serve as a ``good running start'' on setting a final ISS configuration. That start turned out to be anything but a blast out of the blocks, however, as NASA's independent advisory body reacted to the priority report with concern it could be used as justification for killing the station project. Former Sen.
Thanong Bidaya has become chairman of Thai Airways International. He succeeds Virabongsa Ramangkura, who has resigned. Thanong was Thailand's finance minister and a former member of the airline's board of directors.
Thomas Gebhard has been named vice president-European commercial development of United Parcel Service. He succeeds Derek Woodward, who is now vice president-international marketing.
India's infotech industry is still on track to have $70-80 billion of revenue by 2008, according to a report by McKinsey & Co. and India's National Assn. of Software and Service Companies. That would be about 7% of gross domestic product and 30% of total foreign exchange inflow, from a projected employment of 4 million, highlighting the importance of infotech to the country. It was just 0.3% of GDP in 1998-99.
Air Force Gen. Richard B. Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, is firmly in the camp opposed to a big attack on Iraq. ``He's saying, `Don't even consider it,''' according to a senior defense official. Nor are there indications of any major preparations for a near-term offensive. ``In order to prepare the forces for a campaign in Iraq, you need to name the commanders, pull them together and give the forces involved 2-3 months of intensive training,'' the official said.
Japan Airlines Cargo will join WOW, a global air cargo alliance, while founding member Lufthansa Cargo plans to divest from DHL International and sell its stake in the courier operator to Deutsche Post World Net. JAL Cargo's decision will be implemented by mid-2003 after bringing its Information Technology systems up to WOW standards. WOW member airlines jointly operate all-cargo aircraft and 760 passenger transports with lower deck freight capacity.
Add three airlines, for a total of 14, to the list of applicants for a federal loan guarantee. The previously unnamed carriers whose proposals beat the June 28 deadline and were being reviewed for completeness are Gemini Air Cargo, Corporate Airlines and MEDjet International (AW&ST July 8, p. 15). A spokesperson for the Air Transportation Stabilization Board, which administers the loan guarantee program, said the board still may decide that some of the applications are incomplete, but all are considered to have been received by the deadline.
The Air Force and TRW are looking for ideas to thwart hostile satellite surveillance systems and want to initiate several efforts for concept development. The goal is to give military commanders ``the capability to counter the threat imposed by adversarial space-based imaging sensors.'' The hardware should be easily transportable and be able to only ``temporarily deny'' use of the satellites, rather than destroy them outright, the Air Force Space Command said.
Chuck Taylor has been named director of corporate communications for DynCorp, Reston, Va. He was senior vice president of Edelman Public Relations Worldwide.
