Japan's transport ministry and the public corporation that manages Tokyo's Narita airport are in a quandary about how to allocate additional slots when the facility's new 2,180-meter (7,150-ft.) runway enters service on Apr. 18. Only 882 weekly slots are to be allocated, but Narita is an essential hub in Northeast Asia. If the wishes of all 45 carriers from 23 countries were granted, Narita would need to add 1,129 additional slots. The additional runway is to boost the airport's handling capacity from 135,000 movements a year to 200,000.
A consortium led by Dassault Aviation has submitted an industrial cooperation proposal to the Netherlands as part of its tender for the Dutch fighter competition. The Rafale International consortium, which includes Snecma and Thales, is proposing to involve the Dutch as full partners in a new version of the Rafale, dubbed the F4 standard, equipped with an active-array radar antenna. The radar, which could have naval applications, would be derived from the passive array RBE-2 that currently equips the Rafale.
Air traffic controllers from Dallas/Fort Worth gave a positive evaluation of NASA Ames Research Center software designed to decrease departure delays. The Surface Management System can look into the near future at scheduled departures, predict potential congestion and help eliminate bottlenecks. It provides aircraft location maps, departure timelines and load capacity graphs to manage ground control (AW&ST May 7, 2001, p. 25).
Northrop Grumman suffered a second major setback to its unmanned systems programs when the U.S. Air Force pulled the plug on its contract for the Miniature Air-Launched Decoy.
NASA/Langley Research Center is preparing to test the X-43ALS and X-43BLS platforms to determine how hypersonic shapes respond when encountering ground effect during the takeoff and landing phase of flight.
Lufthansa German Airlines is facing more battering from labor unrest and low-cost carrier competition. In addition, it received a federal warning over alleged predatory pricing. However, Lufthansa executives say they see signs of a slow market recovery which could lead to a small profit in 2002.
John Rahilly (see photo) has been named vice president-operations for the Atlanta-based Mercury Air Centers. He was vice president-technical services for BBA Aviation Inc.
The company also was quick off the mark to propose payloads for the ``smart tanker'' proposed by U.S. Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. John Jumper. He has called for a pallet of equipment and snap-on antennas that can turn tankers into major collectors and relayers of information over any far-flung battlefield. ``It's very feasible and very functional, and we've submitted ideas,'' Northrup Grumman's Iorizzo said.
George (Peter) Murnane, 3rd, has been appointed executive vice president-finance and planning of the Phoenix-based Mesa Air Group. He was both executive vice president/chief operating officer of Atlanta-based International Airline Support Group and COO/chief financial officer of North-South Airways.
Overall, we are impressed with the diligence and aggressiveness with which the Transportation Dept. and Transportation Security Administration (TSA) have moved forward to meet the early deadlines included in the Aviation and Transportation Security Act. While progress has been made, clearly the ``heavy lifting''--installing explosives detection systems to screen all checked baggage and hiring a workforce--lies ahead. . . .
A new family of small, flat-plate communication antennas, designed for stealthy operations, is being developed to replace the traditional, large parabolic arrays in an effort to better tie together ships, aircraft and satellites. The ``cooperative antenna development program'' is to be a joint effort between the Office of Naval Research and National Reconnaissance Office.
General Dynamics Corp. last week reported a 12% increase in net earnings for 2001, to $915 million, or $4.51 per diluted share, on 17% higher sales, to $12.2 billion. Raytheon Co., on the other hand, posted a net loss of $703 million, or $1.95 per diluted share, on flat sales of $16.9 billion.
RQuest Product Development Corp. and Arinc are developing a prototype cockpit security system to protect pilots on the flight deck even when one of them has to open the cockpit door.
Boeing will build parts of the Arrow ballistic missile defense interceptor for Israel under an arrangement with prime contractor Israel Aircraft Industries. The deal put Boeing in charge of about half the missile's components to allow for a faster production rate. IAI will be responsible for integration and final assembly.
Integration testing of the U.S. Air Force's new Advanced Targeting Pod is progressing rapidly at Ogden Air Logistics Center, Hill AFB, Utah, in preparation for flight tests this spring. A development version of Lockheed Martin's Sniper pod is being integrated initially with Block 30 and 50 versions of the F-16. Laboratory tests ensure aircraft/pod interfaces are compatible prior to flight testing.
Keith V. Cressman has become vice president-business development of the CompuDyne Corp., Hanover, Md. He was vice president-government accounts for Nextel.
Program reviews of the Space-Based Infrared System prompt a warning from the chief of U.S. Space Command, Air Force Gen. Ralph E. Eberhart: Do not trade system capability for cost-savings. As Cincspace, Eberhart has the responsibility to advocate for other warfighting commanders-in-chief, who originally established SBIRS requirements for missile defense and battlefield characterization.
Wolf said US Airways doesn't plan to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and believes it won't have to, but some Wall Street analysts think that's where the carrier could wind up. Morgan Stanley analyst Kevin Murphy commented that, historically, airlines that have lost as much money as US Airways have had to file for Chapter 11.
Thomas L. McNaugher has been appointed a Washington-based vice president of Rand and director of its Arroyo center. He succeeds David Chu, who is now undersecretary of Defense for personnel and readiness. McNaugher was a senior national security analyst.
Saudi Arabia will likely need to commit to a midlife upgrade of its Tornado strike aircraft within the next 6-9 months if it wants to garner the full benefits of mirroring the British Royal Air Force's Tornado fleet upgrade program, now nearing completion. The RAF is upgrading 142 Tornado aircraft from the GR1 to the GR4 standard, at a cost of 1.2 billion pounds ($1.7 billion). The GR4 upgrade package includes avionics, sensors and weapons systems improvements, intended to help see the Tornado through to the end of its service life, around 2020.
New space and communications business will form the ``growth engine'' within Boeing to help the industry giant counter the impact of lagging air transport orders, according to Vice Chairman Harry C. Stonecipher. In a wide-ranging discussion here, he said, ``the decline of commercial airline business caused by the economy and the events of Sept. 11 are going to give Boeing the opportunity to prove to the world that indeed we are a multifaceted company.''
As wrenching as the last four months have been for airlines in North America, a few have proven to be exceptionally adept at making money and growing shareholder value in a harsh economic environment.
Straightforward changes to ignition software and cleaning procedures are expected to allow the Ariane 5, sidelined since a launch failure last summer, to return to operational service on Feb. 28. The Flight 142 failure, which led to the loss of Japan's BSAT-2b telecommunications satellite and compromised the European Space Agency's Artemis technology mission, was attributed to a malfunction in the upper-stage Aestus engine that caused it to shut down prematurely (AW&ST July 23, 2001, p. 38).
Earlier this month, BAE Systems launched an in-house financial advisory group to exploit its defense customers' growing interest in private and partnership program funding arrangements. BAE Systems Capital Ltd. will provide advice and support, both internally and to government customers, on nontraditional finance packages as a route to acquiring defense equipment and services.
Hainan Airlines is set to expand aggressively into the international market following approval by the Civil Aviation Administration of China for the carrier to fly to Australia, Japan, Singapore and Thailand.
