THE U.S. NAVY HAS AWARDED Northrop Grumman a $49-million contract for pre-systems development and demonstration of a radar modernization program for the E-2C Hawkeye. The replacement radar is to be a solid-state, electronically steered UHF radar, and incorporate a capability for theater missile defense. Other planned improvements include a new communications suite, improved IFF, updated mission computer and a cockpit modification so the copilot can function as a fourth mission system operator.
The British Defense Ministry and European missile manufacturer MBDA are looking to draw key procurement lessons from a damaging dispute which has substantially delayed a 875-million-pound ($1.25-billion) next-generation air-to-air missile program. The debate between the ministry and industry centered on the issue of missile lethality, and the methods used to model and evaluate this, according to sources close to the program. Another issue concerning a background clutter missile engagement scenario has also been resolved.
FAA Administrator Jane Garvey thinks the Transportation Security Administration will expand the area covered by her agency's newly issued rule requiring fingerprint-based criminal history records checks for employees of airlines, airports, businesses and vendors. Currently the rule applies only to people with unescorted access to secure areas at an airport. Presumably, an expansion would target other employees at and near terminals.
Despite industry-wide efforts to raise cash and ride out the post-Sept. 11 collapse of demand, two of the airlines, US Airways and Continental, finished 2001 with less cash on hand than they had a year earlier. US Airways reported $1.08 billion, down from $1.32 billion, and Chairman Stephen Wolf said the carrier would have a difficult time raising capital quickly by selling or borrowing against assets, since most of what it owns is encumbered.
James J. Ballough has been named director and Louis C. Cusimano deputy director of the FAA Flight Standards Service. Ballough was manager of the service's Eastern U.S. region and acting manager of the FAA Continuous Airworthiness Maintenance Div. Cusimano was acting director of the Flight Standards Service.
Fairchild Dornier has reached an agreement with a consortium of banks and shareholders, as well as the Bavarian state and German federal government, regarding a substantial capital injection to secure funding for the manufacturer's expanded product range, pending European Commission approval.
U.S. Air Force officials have gone to Austria to help promote the F-16 in that country's fighter competition to replace J350E Drakens. Austria is looking for a huge offset package, totaling about 200% of the value of any deal. The offer for Block 50/52 F-16s is expected to be up against the JAS 39 Gripen, Eurofighter and Mirage 2000.
Edo Corp. has won a $24.8-million contract from Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co. to design and manufacture a suite of pneumatic weapon delivery systems for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter.
Gary W. Ervin has become vice president of the El Segundo, Calif.-based air combat systems (ACS) unit of the Northrop Grumman Corp. Integrated Systems Sector. He succeeds Scott J. Seymour, who is now the sector president. Ervin was vice president-advanced development programs for the Lockheed Martin Skunk Works, Palmdale, Calif. Steven R. Briggs has been promoted to vice president/deputy of ACS from vice president and F/A-18 program manager.
Software companies can expect growing competition from China. On Jan. 4, The New York Times reported on Chinese delegations visiting Indian software companies and universities to learn what makes the country the second-largest software supplier after the U.S. The Chinese wondered what factors might play a role in India's success. ``The most important difference is that professors in India teach computers in English and professors in China teach computers in Chinese,'' said Shen Weiping, vice president of Jiaotong University in Shanghai.
NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe tempered his call for closer cooperation between the civilian space agency and the U.S. Defense Dept. last week, after U.S. Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.) cautioned him to maintain the ``firewall'' between military and civil space activities.
Delays in the National Airspace System are steadily declining, according to FAA Air Traffic Operations Network (Opsnet) data--a dramatic shift from the record set in 2000 that sent the passenger ire index and airline complaint tallies soaring.
Air Force Secretary James Roche is turning to industry to help curb the potential of friendly fire incidents. With forward air controllers on the ground often using hand-held GPS receivers to determine the location of a target, Roche is looking for a way to ensure that operators don't mistakenly transmit their own coordinates to a strike aircraft. The Afghan conflict has seen incidents of bombs dropped on friendly forces. Roche says he doesn't know whether wrong coordinates were transmitted, but argues it makes sense to find a technical solution to reduce the risk.
The final report on the Concorde accident continued the existing theory, while adding insight to unusual phenomena uncovered by the investigation, exposing controversy between French and British parties, and showing displeasure with Air France.
Martin McLaughlin was discussing the wonders of high-speed milling machines recently, pointing out perfectly aligned filets and unblemished machined surfaces as he stood next to a wing box jig here at the World War II-era factory where Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co. will assemble the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter.
Apparently inflight Internet access isn't that interesting to airlines in the current doldrums, at least of the type provided by Boeing's Connexion. United, American and Delta had committed in a partnership with Connexion to install the system on 1,500 aircraft for e-mail and Internet access, but now they have suspended their investment plans, according to Aviation Daily. Connexion By Boeing says it will continue developing the system for launch customer Lufthansa and plans to start trials late this year.
Federal officials are bickering over the administration of military export licenses, in the age-old clash of business interests with national security. The General Accounting Office (GAO), a congressional watchdog, is pressing the State Dept. for faster, more efficient license referrals of about 25 working days. But the department insists case processing times have ``improved substantially'' in the past year. The department accuses the GAO of exaggerating industry complaints that attribute lost arms sales to bureaucratic fumbling.
More than 60 American Airlines pilots reportedly signed a letter saying the carrier should ground the Airbus A300 until the cause of the Flight 587 crash is determined, or a definitive, structural integrity test for the carbon composite vertical tail is developed. ``Everybody is concerned because nobody really knows why 587 crashed and if it's a problem with composite materials,'' said a pilot who was one of the original 12 signatories, according to The Miami Herald.
When terrorists attacked the World Trade Center towers in New York last September, the U.S. narrowly avoided a complete shut-down of critical financial transaction systems--the nation's mechanism for electronically transferring funds, according to Internet security experts.
The rollout of the space shuttle Columbia from the Vehicle Assembly Building to Pad 39A for its scheduled Feb. 28 launch from the Kennedy Space Center on a Hubble telescope refurbishment mission was delayed by at least two days last week, when a steering problem developed in the right front track of the massive crawler transporting the vehicle. It is not yet determined whether Columbia's late arrival at the pad will affect the launch schedule.
Lufthansa signed a $40-million, 3.5-year deal to have Sita design and implement a global network using Internet protocol to connect the carrier's 500 sites in 99 countries, as well as partners and suppliers. . . . Airlines seeking a good arrival or departure slot at Frankfurt airport had best learn the logic behind the Orthogon flight schedule management software being developed with the airport authority (AW&ST Sept. 10, 2001, p. 23).
Flight and cabin crews should adopt an ``active'' role in combating hijacking/terrorism. The FAA's change of strategy was included in the agency's updated security guidelines issued Jan. 18 under the Aviation Transportation Security Act, but had been overshadowed by the more controversial revisions in baggage security.
John Marshall (see photo), vice president-corporate safety and compliance of Delta Air Lines, has been appointed chairman of the Air Transport Assn. Safety Council. He was vice chairman.
