The scientists NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe empaneled to establish priorities for experiments on the International Space Station won't be reporting when planned. The Research Maximization and Prioritization (Remap) Task Force was to have briefed the NASA Advisory Council this week, but requested more time to complete its thankless task. Now the group has until July to decide which projects have the best chance of producing scientific results fast, and which will be left behind (see p. 27).
If Italy's apparent decision to dump the Airbus Military A400M airlifter in preference to the Lockheed Martin C-130J irritated its erstwhile partners, it also underscored the country's interest in straddling the Atlantic for defense reasons. As Italy enters the throes of re-evaluating its defense priorities against its available defense purse, Rome faces a multifaceted balancing act, both in policy and fiscal terms. At the heart of this activity is Adm. Giampaolo Di Paola, Italy's defense secretary general and national armament director.
Initiatives being implemented in Continental Europe should indicate soon if the Irish/British low-cost carrier model will be viable in France, Germany and elsewhere. Dublin-based Ryanair and British carriers such as EasyJet have begun to revolutionize Europe's air transportation system. Their unprecedented low-fare/no-frills services between secondary airports have created a marketing phenomenon that is challenging established airlines' conservatism.
Malina M. Hills has been promoted to principal director of the Research and Program Development Office in the Engineering and Technology Group of The Aerospace Corp., El Segundo, Calif., from systems director in the International Space Technology Dept. Other recent promotions are: Christine L. Stevens to principal director from systems director of the Spacelift Range Directorate; and Charles C. Tang to principal scientist/engineer in the Office of the Chief Architect/Engineer from senior project leader in the Defense Meteorological System Program.
The threat of nuclear war on the subcontinent turns mainly on whether India launches a major invasion of Pakistan's heartland in a bid to end, once and for all, their 55-year-old dispute over the Himalayan territory of Kashmir. If a major conventional war broke out in the Punjab, for example, leading to India's capture of Lahore and the impending collapse of Pakistani forces, then Pakistan might resort to a nuclear attack on the supposition that its very existence was threatened.
U.S. intelligence data indicate terrorists have considered an attack against the space shuttle, NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe said here following the launch of Endeavour to the International Space Station. ``There is no question [the shuttle] is a high-value target. It has been identified as such by all the intelligence information that we have received post-Sept. 11,'' he said. The shuttle has been viewed at risk from terrorists since Sept. 11, but O'Keefe's comments are the first tying the threat to specific intelligence data.
Terry Hall has been promoted to president/CEO from chief operating officer for GenCorp Inc., Sacramento, Calif. He succeeds Bob Wolfe, who will remain chairman. Yasmin Seyal has been promoted to chief financial officer from senior vice president-finance.
More than $1.5 billion worth of international commercial spacecraft and boosters are set for launch during June from four separate launch sites. Late last week, an Arianespace Ariane 44L was launched from Kourou, French Guiana, carrying the Intelsat 905 spacecraft. That was to be followed in mid-June by the launch of an Ariane 5 carrying the French Stellat 5 and Japanese N-Star communications satellites. In addition, two Proton boosters are set for launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome.
Winston P. Wiley, who was U.S. deputy CIA director, has been appointed associate director of central intelligence for homeland security. He has been succeeded by Jami Miscik, who was director of the Office of Transnational Issues.
The country's armed forces are in the midst of a critical restructuring effort, attempting to meet emerging requirements As an end-of-June deadline draws near, the Italian defense staff is laboring to pull together proposals for an overhaul of the armed services to better reflect current requirements and security demands. As with many of its European allies, Italy has made more than one attempt to refocus its defense policy and force structure since the end of the NATO-Warsaw Pact confrontation.
Gary Scott has become group president for civil simulation and training and Don Campbell group president for military simulation and training for Toronto-based CAE. Scott was president of FlightSafety Boeing Training International in Seattle, while Campbell was his group's executive vice president.
The latest crisis on Asia's subcontinent has rekindled doubts whether nuclear deterrence will impose the same long-term military restraint on India and Pakistan that it worked on the U.S. and the Soviet Union during the half century of the Cold War. Though the cause-and-effect relationship between deterrence and stability was taken for granted in the 20th century, there are major differences between the American-Soviet rivalry and its Indian-Pakistani counterpart.
Assn. of European Airlines' members are returning to pre-Sept. 11 traffic levels on European city-pairs. In the last few weeks, the demand has oscillated between -0.1 and +0.8% of mid-2001's numbers in an indication that the crisis is gradually diminishing. However, AEA carriers' transatlantic traffic remains weak at an average 13% below pre-downturn levels. In a similar vein, passenger traffic between Europe and the Pacific Rim, although significantly better than last year's fourth quarter, is still lagging 6-7%.
Sen. Joseph R. Biden (D-Del.) says a national missile defense initiative is ``not even close'' to a high priority when it comes to defending the U.S. from weapons of mass destruction. Speaking at McGraw-Hill's Homeland Security Summit here last week, he said the most immediate concern for the government should be the ``virtual candy store'' of chemical, biological and nuclear weapons material indiscriminately stored throughout cash-starved Russia, not to mention thousands of chem/bio/nuclear weapons workers who might be tempted to help cash-rich terrorists.
The Brazilian government intends to postpone retaliation against Canada stemming from ongoing loan subsidies for regional jets. Brazil had threatened to block more than $3 billion in trade between the two nations, chiefly because Canada had failed to stop providing subsidies to Bombardier Aerospace as directed in February by the World Trade Organization. Canada has alleged that Brazil offered illegal loans to Embraer to help sell its small jets. The trade sanctions by Brazil would offset loans made by Canada.
Is less more? For Southwest Airlines, it was. Through relentless cost-savings, the carrier set about providing a customer-oriented, low-cost/high-value product in underserved markets--delivered by highly motivated employees. Since implementation of this model in 1971, Southwest has grown to become the fourth largest airline in America, flying 64 million passengers a year to 58 destinations. Will the model of success continue to work for new and existing low-fare startups in the uncertain post-Sept. 11 environment?
Gilles Ouimet has been named chairman of Montreal-based Pratt & Whitney Canada. He was president and has been succeeded by Alain M. Bellemare, who was executive vice president.
Launch of the shuttle Columbia on the Freestar Spacehab microgravity research mission will be delayed several days so technicians can finish preparing the orbiter. Columbia had a Freon coolant loop blockage during its Hubble Space Telescope servicing mission earlier this year. Workers had no problem removing the blockage, caused by some brazing found in a Freon loop filter, but they had to drain the Freon from the loop to do it.
Gregory R. Gondran has been appointed director of science and technology for Raytheon Imagery and Geospatial Systems, Garland, Tex. He has been an engineering fellow with responsibilities for algorithm development, testing, implementation and maintenance in the fields of digital image processing, analytical photogrammetry and remote sensing. Gondran succeeds Ron Bowden, who is scheduled to retire in June.
The first Williams International EJ-22 turbofan engine, which is being proposed to power the Eclipse 500 under development by Eclipse Aviation Corp., made its first flight May 30 on a Sabreliner 60 business jet. The 50-min. flight explored the basic flight envelope planned for first flight of the Eclipse 500 tentatively set for mid-July. According to Eclipse Aviation, flight testing of the engine will continue for the next few months.
The debate about how the military will sustain its support jamming capability is about to move from the Pentagon to Congress. Pentagon acquisition chief E.C. (Pete) Aldridge, Jr., heard the services' ideas and last week informally gave his nod for them to pursue separate ways, the Navy buying the EA-18 ``Growler,'' the Air Force putting jamming equipment on B-52s, and the Marines continuing to fly EA-6B Prowlers. A formal decision isn't due until this week, but already lawmakers are expressing concern.
New rules-of-engagement and procedures for dealing with hijacked air transports were put to the test during a multiagency exercise over the Western U.S. and Canada last week. It simulated two passenger aircraft--a Delta Air Lines Boeing 757 and a U.S. Navy C-9--being hijacked, then intercepted by fighters.
Boeing has received FAA certification and validation by the European Joint Aviation Authorities for the PW2000-powered version of the 757-300, as an alternate engine to the Rolls-Royce RB211 series. Initial deliveries of the twin-engine jet, which seats 234 passengers, are scheduled for Northwest Airlines this summer. Northwest operates 55 757-200s powered by Pratt & Whitney engines.
David Richardson, dean of engineering at Salt Lake Community College, and Michael Keene, science adviser to Utah Gov. Mike Leavitt, have been appointed to the Rocky Mountain NASA Space Grant Consortium.
Frontier Airlines has joined the ranks of carriers that will no longer pay travel agent commissions for tickets sold in the U.S. and Canada. Sean Menke, the Denver-based airline's vice president of marketing and planning, said he had hoped revenue generated by travel agents would increase enough to ``justify maintaining the commission program. Unfortunately, this has not been the case.'' Instead, travel agent-generated reservations are trending downward.
