First flight of Boeing's X-45A unmanned combat air vehicle comes at a critical juncture for UCAVs as military planners for the first time seriously examine the value and cost of such systems. The X-45A being developed by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (Darpa) and the U.S. Air Force flew a short, 14-min. inaugural mission on May 22. Takeoff came at 7:26 a.m. (PDT) from the NASA Dryden Flight Research Center dry lake bed at Edwards AFB, Calif. The aircraft completed its autonomous mission at 7:40 a.m. (PDT). It reached 7,500 ft. altitude and about 195 kt.
Charlie Hill has been named director of operations of the AeroGroup International Corp., Melbourne, Fla. He was chief pilot of the Houston, Los Angeles and Honolulu pilot bases of Continental Airlines.
The U.S. Transportation Security Administration has given InVision Technologies' research-and-development subsidiary, Quantum Magnetics, a $1-million grant to develop next-generation explosives detection systems (EDS) that couple InVision's CT technology with Quantum's quadrupole resonance technology. Such a system, in theory, could reduce the double-digit false alarm rate of computed tomography-based EDS. Quadrupole resonance (QR) identifies explosives using low-frequency radio waves.
U.S. Transportation Secretary Norman Y. Mineta says the massive effort to roll out government security forces at 429 U.S. airports by year's end will slow down in June, causing ``longer lines at the airports,'' if House legislators are successful in cutting $542 million from a $4.4 billion 2002 supplemental request by the Transportation Security Administration. Without the money, Mineta said, contracts aimed at hiring 51,232 screeners will be put on hold and newly delivered explosive detection systems will have to be put in storage.
NASA has selected Ball Aerospace and Technologies Corp. of Boulder, Colo., to build the ``bridge'' spacecraft between today's civilian and military polar orbiting weather satellites and the dual-use National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS) platforms set for launch late in the decade. Under the $94-million delivery order, Ball will design and build the spacecraft bus for the NPOESS Preparatory Project (NPP), integrate government-furnished instruments like the Advanced Technology Microwave Sounder (AW&ST Apr. 23, 2001, p.
U.K. flag carrier British Airways recorded a 200-million-pound loss ($291.3 million) for the 12 months ended Mar. 31, but the figure was significantly less than had been anticipated by some financial analysts. The airline posted its fourth-quarter figures on May 20, recording a pretax loss of 85 million pounds. Revenue passenger kilometers for the fourth quarter were down by 5.9%, compared with a 13.7% drop for the year. Revenue for the year was 8.340 billion pounds, compared with 9.278 billion for the previous 12 months, a 10.1% fall.
The Brazilian government is studying whether to take action against Canada for failing to meet a deadline for complying with a ruling made by the World Trade Organization in February. Canada was directed by the WTO to withdraw subsidies to Bombardier Aerospace for sale of regional jets. As of late last week, Canada had not notified the WTO that it was complying with the ruling. As a result, Brazil is considering retaliatory steps on trade with Canada.
Opel, a startup company affiliated with the University of Connecticut, has developed gallium-arsenide-based optoelectronic components that it believes will offer high-speed, more affordable conversion between electrical and optical signals. Applications include optical backbone networks, high-speed wireless, virtually any mix of optical, logic and radio-frequency elements, including those used with high-capacity data links for reconnaissance and intelligence nets (AW&ST May 6, p. 56).
The Space Systems/Loral DirecTV-5 mission launched on an International Launch Services Proton booster from the Baikonur Cosmodrome May 7 took advantage of the ILS ``mutual backup'' contract clause to maintain mission price and schedule. Satellite sponsors can switch from Atlas-Centaur to Proton boosters with minimum penalty if problems arise. In this case, the 4-ton spacecraft was not ready for its original Atlas launch date, so ILS and SS/L switched the flight to a Proton that would better fit the processing schedule.
Israeli government officials expect to make a decision during the next few weeks about how deeply to become involved in the development of the Joint Strike Fighter. There is some urgency to do so: first, to ensure the nation's industry has a stake in the multibillion-dollar project and, second, to establish a high priority in receiving production aircraft. Officials in Israel's Defense Ministry are ``in the middle of the decision-making process'' to determine how they will structure their involvement, said Brig. Gen.
Engine maker MTU is poised to strike a pair of deals with Pratt & Whitney that would give the German company full responsibility for supplying a commercial high-pressure compressor for the first time. MTU traditionally specializes in low-pressure compressors and turbines, but in recent years has targeted high-pressure compressor (HPC) technology--the core of the engine--as a top priority (AW&ST Dec. 16, 1998, p. 47). The company is already providing the high- and low-pressure compressors for the smaller EJ200, the powerplant for the Eurofighter.
Eurockot has set June 19 for its second commercial mission, which will place a pair of Iridium satellites into orbit. The first commercial launch performed by the EADS/Khrunichev joint venture, on Mar. 17, carried the twin NASA/DLR Grace scientific satellites (AW&ST Mar. 25, p. 40).
Fairchild Fasteners expects to complete paperwork by June to open its first Chinese distribution center in Chengdu, a free trade zone in central China that is one of the country's four major aircraft manufacturing cities. Construction of a 1,000-sq.-meter (10,800-sq.-ft.) distribution center is expected to begin in July. When it arrives, Fairchild won't be alone. ``Every Chinese aviation factory makes fasteners,'' Fairchild President Eric Steiner said as he discussed the company's plans at the Asian Aerospace exhibition earlier this year.
Singapore has taken the first of 20 Boeing AH-64D Apache attack helicopters. The island republic became Boeing's first Asian customer for the Apache following the rotorcraft's initial appearance at the 2000 Asian Aerospace exhibition. It subsequently ordered 12 more. Japan has since become a customer.
Just as the summer aviation-delays season heats up, the FAA is running out of money to pay air traffic controllers overtime and a divided Congress, mulling what to do, is taking its Memorial Day recess. A senior FAA official estimates the agency's overall shortfall at $100 million through Sept. 30, the end of Fiscal 2002, and controller overtime is what worries it most. The Bush Administration's proposed supplemental appropriation for the year includes transfer of $100 million from the Airport Improvement Program.
Overcoming a protest by incumbent Raytheon, Parsons has received an FAA contract potentially worth $1.25 billion for technical support services. Lockheed Martin is the principal subcontractor to Parsons, whose forte is construction and program management services. The initial award is a four-year, $481-million contract, with two three-year options. Included in the contract are upgrades to equipment and systems for control towers, air route traffic control centers, runway landing systems and navigation systems.
The U.S. Transportation Dept. authorized American Airlines to operate seven weekly flights between its Dallas/Fort Worth hub and Buenos Aires. The department limited American's authority to two years, however, noting ``economic uncertainty'' in Argentina and statements by Continental, Delta and United indicating interest in serving Argentina in the long run. It said it hopes to start a proceeding to award permanent authority in late 2003 or early 2004. American plans to launch its newly authorized service by November.
The shuttle Endeavour is set for launch this week to the International Space Station on a 12-day mission marked with extensive Russian, French, Italian and Canadian involvement. ``Every key component of this flight involves non-U.S. partners,'' said Bill Gerstenmaier, ISS deputy program manager. ``It is a strong example of international cooperation in space.'' STS-111 mission commander Ken Cockrell and copilot USAF Lt. Col. Paul Lockhart are to fly Endeavour on a three-day ISS rendezvous chase following a scheduled May 30 liftoff.
The V-22 is slated to resume flying next week after being grounded since December 2000 following two fatal crashes that year. The tiltrotor was slated to fly earlier this month, but additional inspections were required.
Although Dassault Aviation plans to deliver the first Falcon 7X trijet no earlier than early 2006, it has already received commitments for more than 40 aircraft. The new aircraft is the forerunner of a rejuvenated product range. In an innovative arrangement, the French manufacturer's partners and main suppliers combined their engineering teams at Saint-Cloud, near Paris, to achieve optimal coordination and efficiency.
The PC-21 advanced military trainer is expected to significantly increase Pilatus' share in a promising niche market, according to company executives. Air forces are increasingly sensitive to pilot-training costs and should be attracted by the major savings promised by the next-generation turboprop-powered trainer, they added. The newly completed PC-21 prototype, which is scheduled to make its maiden flight in early July, will be followed next year by a second development aircraft. Delivery of the first production aircraft is scheduled for November 2004.
Commercial Global Positioning System hardware is handling the primary attitude-determination task on the International Space Station, sparing the program the cost of an expensive star tracker. The Space Integrated GPS/Inertial Navigation System (SIGI) uses four GPS antennas mounted in a 1.5 X 3-meter rectangle on the S-Zero truss segment (see photo) installed during last month's ISS assembly mission.
UPS Airlines will be the launch customer for a new cockpit display that will integrate traffic information from traffic-alert and collision avoidance systems (TCAS) and from automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast. ADS-B-equipped aircraft transmit their GPS position, heading, velocity and identification continuously using Mode-S radar transponders. The new AT2000 cockpit display is produced by the airline's sister company, UPS Aviation Technologies.
Raytheon Aircraft Co. plans to deliver up to 50 Premier I business jets this year, including 12 in Europe, and is expanding flight tests of the super midsize cabin Hawker Horizon to achieve certification in 2003. The Premier I and the larger Hawker Horizon represent the future for the Wichita, Kan.-based airframe manufacturer, and form the foundation for a planned family of advanced business jets aimed at strengthening the company's position in the marketplace.
With only days to go before a high-level review of electronic warfare, the U.S. Air Force is signaling that it may be ready to narrow its differences with the rest of the Pentagon and embrace the need for a new standoff jamming aircraft. USAF planners had long argued that the service's EW requirements are changing and that the introduction of more stealth aircraft and active electronically scanned radars--which can be used to jam narrow frequencies--may eliminate the need for a jamming aircraft. But now service leaders acknowledge they are not there, yet.
