A small spacecraft that could eventually give countries like Iran and Pakistan a limited autonomous space-imaging capability is under development as part of a Chinese-led program. China and Iran are spearheading the small multimission spacecraft (SMMS) project in connection with Thailand to help broaden the space technology base in Asia-Pacific nations more aligned with Chinese goals in the region. Pakistan also is involved with China in the regional remote-sensing initiative, but not necessarily in the SMMS hardware.
Sikorsky Aircraft Corp. has delivered the first production S-76C+ featuring a fuselage built by Aero Vodochody in the Czech Republic. Aero Vodochody began delivering fuselages to Sikorsky in January 2001. The aircraft's interior was installed by Keystone Helicopter Corp. of West Chester, Pa. In related news, Bell Helicopter Textron has completed the first of five special edition Bell 430 intermediate twin-engine helicopters built especially for sale in the 2001 Neiman Marcus Christmas catalog.
FlightSafety International Pilot Training Academy at Vero Beach, Fla., recently took delivery of Environmental Tectonics Corp.'s GAT II general aviation trainer. The device uses a three-axis motion platform that supports VFR flight training as well as instrument and spatial disorientation training. According to the company, FAA statistics indicate that about 17% of all general aviation accidents involve spatial disorientation, and nine out of 10 accidents are fatal.
EADS is reorganizing EADS Telecom as part of a move to reinforce its ailing Defense and Civil Systems business. The company will focus on overhauling the EADS Defense and Security Networks (ESDN), a military communications partnership with Nortel Networks. The Franco-German company plans to fold Cogent Defense Systems that was recently acquired from Nortel into EDSN along with a Nortel European Internet switching activity and EADS affiliates DASA Com Networks and Matranet.
Advances in electronic warfare are coming in small steps, yielding affordable improvements--a happy coincidence given the current low levels of military funding around the world. Imaginative uses of new technology are offering aircraft significantly better protection against radio frequency and infrared threats. At the same time, air-launched antiradiation missiles are becoming more effective in eliminating surface threats.
Airports Council International-North America President David Z. Plavin says airports should continue expansion projects despite a near-term 40% decline in airline passengers and an estimated $1 billion in additional security measures that will likely be called for in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist crashes. To do that, however, Plavin says airports will need some federal help.
Consolidation of the German domestic airline industry is set to move forward another notch, following conditional approval of the Lufthansa German Airlines' takeover of Eurowings by the German government last week.
THE U.S. AIR FORCE HAS SELECTED eMagin's organic light emitting diode (Oled) displays for the helmet mounted display in the Strike Helmet 21 system, which uses integrated panoramic night vision goggles. The small flat panel displays, with a less than 1-in. diagonal, provide a viewing area magnified by optics that appears similar to that of a full-size computer screen. Unlike liquid crystal displays that require a separate light source, Oleds are emissive devices that create light.
The Pentagon's widely expected use of special operations forces in response to the Sept. 11 terror attacks will hold up to scrutiny a 15-year U.S. effort to improve those highly specialized warfighting capabilities. Antiterrorism misssions have long been one of the primary activities for special operations units. In almost all the major regional theaters, countering terrorist actions or their cells has ranked as one of the top three priorities. That includes the U.S. Central Command responsible for Afghanistan and the Middle East.
Russia added another pressurized module to the five already in orbit on the International Space Station with the automatic docking Sept. 16 of the Russia Pirs (Pier) docking compartment to the nadir port of the Zvezda service module. The rendezvous (shown in an image snapped by the ISS crew) and linkup came without a hitch at 9:05 p.m. EDT, when an instrumentation and propulsion unit based on Russia's Progress supply vehicle nudged the 16-ft.-long, 8,000-lb. compartment into position, and 12 latching hooks closed.
The first resolved images of a comet nucleus were taken by Deep Space 1 on Sept. 22 as it made a 1,350-mi. flyby of Comet Borrelly. The nucleus was shaped like a 5-mi.-long bowling pin and had a variety of features and brightness levels. Collimated jets emanating from the surface were visible, and a plasma instrument on the Jet Propulsion Laboratory spacecraft indicated that the resulting ionized cloud was displaced from the nucleus by 7,000 km. (4,350 mi.), a result that scientists did not expect.
France is developing a network of experimental electronic eavesdropping satellites that it hopes will lay the groundwork for Europe's first satellite-based signals intelligence capability while pioneering in low-cost microsatellite technologies.
Bin Laden Associates, a subsidiary of the Saudi Arabia-based Bin Laden Group, has made an offer to acquire Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) and Pakistan International Airlines Investment Ltd., according to The News of Islamabad. The report said the Bin Laden Group has disowned Osama bin Laden, who is suspected in the recent terrorist attacks on the U.S. PIA is wholly owned by the Pakistan government. In turn, it owns 50% of PIA Investment along with a Saudi investor. PIA Investment's holdings include the Roosevelt Hotel in New York.
Northrop Grumman's recent acquisition of Litton Industries has given its Defensive Systems division (headquartered in Rolling Meadows, Ill.) the broadest spectrum of electronic warfare capabilities of any U.S. supplier by adding radar warning receivers and electronic support measures (ESM) systems to its line of radar and infrared guided missile jammers. Defensive Systems, one of six divisions of the Electronic Systems sector, whose headquarters is near Baltimore, is headed by John Chino, vice president and general manager.
Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld confirmed a report in The New York Times that a few mid-level air defense generals have been authorized to take action against a civilian airliner involved in a threatening situation. U.S. combat aircraft have been patrolling U.S. cities since Sept. 11, and Rumsfeld confirmed the rules of engagement have changed. While declining to go into detail, he said that to even think before the terrorist attacks that a U.S.
Marion Clifton Blakey was sworn in last week as the ninth chair of the National Transportation Safety Board. For the last eight years, she has been principal of a Washington public affairs consulting firm, Blakey&Associates, that focused on transportation issues. Blakey has held positions in several government departments and agencies, including the Transportation Dept.'s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, where she was administrator in 1992-93, and the Commerce and Education Depts.
U.S. Navy officials last week accepted the first full-rate-production F/A-18 Super Hornet--a two-seat F model that will be delivered to NAS Patuxent River, Md. It is also the first Super Hornet equipped with the Joint Helmet-Mounted Cueing System. The technology lets aircrews aim weapons and sensors by looking at targets. So far, 63 F/A-18E/Fs have been delivered to the Navy, including FVA-115, the first operational Super Hornet squadron.
Alliance Spacesystems, a mechanical systems house located in Pasadena, Calif., has won a $6.7-million contract from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory to design and build four robotic arms for NASA's Mars Exploration Rover mission scheduled for launch in 2003. The contract calls for five-degree-of-freedom Instrument Deployment Devices that will be incorporated into the mission's two rovers, which are scheduled to reach Mars early in 2004.
After the events of Sept. 11, there have been rumors that, pick one: the Joint Strike Fighter will be slowed (to siphon off money for the war on terrorism) or accelerated (because more defense money will be available). Don't bet on either. What's more, acquisition czar Pete Aldridge informs Senate Armed Services Committee chief Carl Levin (D-Mich.) that the Pentagon plans to go ahead with its winner-take-all strategy for the JSF. Here's why: to change now would add a 6-9 month delay and cost $500 million-$1 billion more.
President Bush's action plan to fortify cockpits and federalize airport security will begin with an immediate $500-million fund to pay for modifications to 7,100 commercial aircraft, and a call-up of the National Guard in all 50 states to augment security staff at each of the nation's 420 commercial passenger airports.
The House of Representatives finished its version of the Fiscal 2002 defense authorization bill last week with a lopsided 398-17 vote that reflected the wave of unity generated by the terrorism emergency. Of the $343 billion total, about $6 billion is for Pentagon counter-terror programs, including force protection and intelligence. This is in addition to the emergency military spending the White House has begun to release in response to the Sept. 11 hijacking blitz (see p. 32).
Snecma is wagering that high-quality, low-cost Russian engineering talent can help launch a new engine into the crowded lower end of the turbofan sector. Designated the SM146, the 12,000-15,000-lb.-thrust-class engine is intended for the regional and large business jet market, which is expected to be the most active part of the commercial air transport business over the next 20 years.
Rajeev Bhalla has been appointed vice president/controller of the Lockheed Martin Corp., Bethesda, Md. He succeeds Christopher E. Kubasik, who is now chief financial officer. Bhalla was a partner with PriceWaterhouseCoopers.
Need a surplus rotary-wing power train component? Government Liquidation LLC, a subsidiary of Liquidation.com, working in partnership with the Defense Logistics Agency's Defense Reutilization and Marketing Service, has launched www.govliquidation.com to dispose of material no longer needed by the Defense Dept. The Web site offers usable, nonhazardous, non-demilitarized surplus fixed- and rotary-wing aircraft parts, aircraft APUs, turbine and piston engine components, and ground support and maintenance equipment for aircraft.
