Poised to shift British military personnel from Oman to operations against Afghanistan, the Defense Ministry claims that the war on Al Qaeda can proceed through the winter months as long as the U.S. and the U.K. steer clear of Central Asia's punishing high terrain. With a long British training exercise in the Persian Gulf region coming to an end Nov. 1, Defense Minister Geoffrey Hoon said a decision was near on shifting to the Afghan theater those specialists whose skills are in demand against alleged terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden and his network.
MechTronics has won two-year follow-on contracts totaling $14 million to supply electro-mechanical enclosures and related subsystems for Raytheon's 63V1 and APG73 radar systems.
GULFSTREAM WILL INSTALL the first Collins Pro Line 21 Continuum integrated avionics suite on a Challenger CL-601 business jet. The Continuum suite is designed to upgrade in-service business jets, giving their flight decks four 10 X 8-in. primary flight displays and multifunction displays (MFDs), dual integrated flight management systems, digital flight control systems, dual digital AHRS and turbulence-detecting weather radars. The MFDs will show navigation maps, TCAS-II, weather radar and terrain avoidance warning system.
Call it open skies or call it something else, but newly negotiated revisions in the U.S.-France aviation agreement should pave the way for approval of the first of the three big transatlantic antitrust immunity applications pending in Washington and Brussels--Delta Air Lines, Air France, Alitalia and CSA.
The Air Canada Pilots Assn. also has requested that the government implement a broader sky marshal program (AW&ST Oct. 22, p. 61). Air Canada has begun installing enhanced security devices to reinforce aircraft cockpit doors, using specially designed bars. As of last week, 35 aircraft were in service with the more secure doors, and the airline expects to complete the retrofit process of its entire fleet of more than 200 aircraft within 30 days.
Lufthansa is looking at a four-day workweek as a way of avoiding some layoffs in the face of the current traffic slump. Lufthansa, however, said it could not rule out layoffs as a whole, even with a four-day week in place. Vereinigung Cockpit (VC) pilot union said flight crews are already working overtime to cope with Lufthansa's existing flight schedule. Chairman and CEO Juergen Weber, meanwhile, said reductions would enable the carrier to quickly build to normal levels should traffic rebound.
Robert D. Isom has been named vice president-international of Northwest Airlines. He succeeds Michael J. Becker, who has become senior vice president-human resources. Isom was vice president-finance.
A Franco-Russian crew composed of flight commander Viktor Afanassiev, flight engineer Claudie Haignere and mission specialist Konstantin Kozeev docked at the International Space Station last week for a10-day changeout and scientific mission (see photo). Italy's Roberto Vittori is set to follow later this year under an ESA/Russian agreement to give European astronauts more flight time on board the ISS (AW&ST May 28, p. 17; Apr. 30, p. 36). The Andromede flight--the eighth by French and Russian astronauts--was concluded under a separate bilateral agreement.
Delta Air Lines is prodding the Atlanta City Council to rebid a contract for the initial construction work on a fifth runway at the Hartsfield Atlanta International Airport. Delta's decision was prompted by news reports and a federal investigation targeting illegal campaign contributions to Atlanta Mayor Bill Campbell.
I spent an hour and a half last week with the staff of the Presidential Commission on the Future of the U.S. Aerospace Industry. They have a big job to do: grappling with a vexing set of problems that affect this crown jewel of the U.S. economy. Most of these problems stem from this sector's contraction following the Cold War, and now many have been exacerbated by the events of Sept. 11. But I am heartened by what I heard.
Northrop Grumman last week achieved a major victory over General Dynamics in its battle to win Newport News (Va.) Shipbuilding Inc. The Justice Dept. filed an antitrust suit in federal district court in Washington seeking to block GD's bid to acquire the manufacturer of aircraft carriers and submarines. General Dynamics is the U.S.' only other maker of submarines, and the Justice Dept. claimed its acquisition of Newport News would eliminate competition. In addition, the Defense Dept.
Frost&Sullivan is readjusting the global market estimates for chemical and biological agent detectors that were released in August. That study called for market growth to $494 million in 2007 from $265 million last year. In the wake of mounting anthrax assaults in the U.S., the need for this equipment is growing much more rapidly and the market consultancy will issue an update on its study this week. The U.S. and the U.K. are at the forefront of developing technology.
The Assn. of European Airlines has asked the European Commission's Competition Directorate to block attempts by air traffic control service providers to force the airlines to help finance Europe's proposed Galileo satellite navigation system. The AEA is concerned that ATC providers will subscribe to Galileo and pass along costs to carriers, as some are already planning to do for the Egnos wide area augmentation system.
Heather Hayden has become communications director of the Geneva-based Civil Air Navigation Services Organization. She held the same position for the Airways Corp. of New Zealand. Hayden succeeds Ilona Pongracz, who has resigned.
Japan's navy is looking for a long-range patrol aircraft to combat piracy off the coasts of Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines and other Southeast Asian waters. Anti-piracy patrols are conducted by a Dassault Falcon 900A in cooperation with these nations, but the navy wants an aircraft type with longer range. The Bombardier Global Express or Gulfstream V are leading candidates. The Japanese Defense Agency has requested about $30 million in fiscal 2002 to begin procurement of two aircraft.
India and China plan a major expansion of their Earth-observing networks in a sign of renewed interest in space-based remote-sensing operations. The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) said it is preparing to add three new advanced EO missions over the next five years as part of a fleet buildup aimed at bolstering the nation's role in the remote-sensing sector. Earth observation is one of the main priorities in Indian space development, along with launchers, communications and space science.
John Minor has been named station manager at Oakland (Calif.) International Airport for Southwest Airlines. He was assistant station manager at Los Angeles International Airport.
Michael J. Denton has been appointed general counsel/corporate secretary of the Curtiss-Wright Corp., Lyndhurst, N.J. He was corporate vice president-global compliance for Honeywell International.
Continued divergence among international competition authorities on the issues that brought down the GE-Honeywell merger in Europe ``could undermine the growing consensus favoring competition over regulation,'' Justice Dept. antitrust chief Charles James warns. He said the reason the U.S. approved the merger ``was the very reason the EU [European Union] opposed it''--the combined company would have been a more effective competitor. The U.S. and the EU had a doctrinal disagreement, he said, not a trade dispute or a failure to cooperate.
Allied military efforts to root out terrorist networks in Afghanistan might easily lead to large-scale security changes in the region, but an outbreak of major arms races is considered unlikely unless the war spreads dramatically to other countries, or the worsening Israeli/Palestinian crisis spins out of control.
The long-endurance, Northrop-Grumman-made Global Hawk unmanned reconnaissance aircraft will be headed overseas ``within days'' to a forward operating base in Germany and will almost immediately start surveillance of Afghanistan. Meanwhile, the Air Force has joined the CIA in using medium-altitude Predator UAVs to strike Taliban targets.
Alliant Techsystems has won a $4-million follow-on work order to continue production of the DSU-33B/B proximity sensor slated for USAF's Joint Direct Attack Munition and other air-delivered ordnance.
