The mobile wireless communications industry needs spectrum for its third-generation systems, but the frequencies it wants threaten the Defense Dept.'s ability to control its satellites, including the Global Positioning System constellation, according to a General Accounting Office (GAO) study.
Companies looking for aerospace management tools that don't require in-house computers can use them over the Web via a joint effort of Web Software Systems (www.websoftwaresystems.com) and Copernio Corp. (www.copernio.net). The tools include inventory and logistics systems, labor and material planning, financial management and invoicing, e-commerce and procurement, and establishing intranets, including hooking to an existing intranet.
Hairy Buffalo's future is expected to include the addition of more and different sensors, considerable experimentation with unmanned reconnaissance aircraft and a host of exercises with U.S. and foreign forces. ``Most importantly, we're dynamically influencing the evolving capabilities and requirements for Multirole Maritime Aircraft (MMA),'' said Cdr. (select) Ronald M. Carvalho, Jr., director of the Hairy Buffalo project. ``We're displaying new technologies and doing it in real time.''
For the fifth consecutive time, the World Trade Organization last week ruled that Brazil's ProEx III export subsidy program must comply with WTO rules. Rival airframe manufacturer Bombardier Inc. applauded the decision, with President and CEO Robert E. Brown calling it ``an important ruling'' for Canada and its aerospace industry. However, rival Embraer also is interpreting the ruling as a victory.
A Pakistan International Airlines 747 enroute from Islamabad, to Manchester, England, was intercepted by a Russian Air Force MiG-29 and forced to land at Moscow's Sheremetyevo International Airport last week, according to the Associated Press. Pakistani Embassy officials in Moscow said the plane was allowed to continue after a dispute on overflight clearance was settled.
KLM's operating profits for the first quarter dropped dramatically, to 23 million euros ($20.2 million) from 100 million euros during the same period last year. The Dutch carrier KLM said deteriorating global economic conditions resulted in ``declining underlying demand and pressure on yields.'' The airline issued a profit warning for the full fiscal year saying operating income would be ``well below'' last year. U.S. airlines face $1.5 billion in losses this year (see p. 24).
Most design programs run on 32-bit computers, but envisioning that these could be limiting for very large assemblies, PTC and Sun have tested PTC's Pro/Engineer 2001 and Pro/Mechanica 2001 software on Sun's 64-bit Solaris 8 operating environment. The 64-bit machine provides about four billion times more data addresses. Future data-hog software includes automated geometry definition and virtual prototyping of large systems, including looking at many variants to find the best performance.
NASA is not likely to raise a ruckus about the next zillionaire's junket to the International Space Station. The Russian Space Agency has officially asked the ISS Multilateral Control Board for permission to launch Mark Shuttleworth, 27, a South African Internet mogul, as early as next April, says Tommy Holloway, NASA's station program manager. NASA officials all the way up to chief Daniel S. Goldin complained loudly about Californian Dennis Tito's bid to visit the station as a tourist, but the Russians launched him as a passenger on a Soyuz, anyway.
The U.S. Army hopes to complete the first phase of its Mobile Tactical High-Energy Laser concept studies by October. The U.S.-Israel cooperative project is a follow-on to the Tactical High-Energy Laser (Thel) that has shot down 23 Katyusha rockets and soon will be used against other types of targets, says Richard Bradshaw, the Army's program director for directed energy. There is some concern among program officials about money running out for the study phase and maintenance of the test site, but similar financial crunches have been averted in the past.
Kurt Erbacher has been appointed vice president-engineering development of the Gulfstream IV-X program, William Dent manager of interactive marketing and Robert Nilson manager of project engineering and certification at the Long Beach, Calif., facility for the Gulfstream Aerospace Corp., Savannah, Ga. Erbacher was the chief engineer for Lockheed Martin Aircraft and Logistics Centers, while Dent was a senior aircraft technician at the Savannah Service Center. Nilson was project engineer for the G-V.
The Helios aircraft reached 76,271 ft. on its first solar-powered flight this month, its trial run coming close to breaking the 80,201-ft. record set by its smaller Pathfinder-Plus predecessor in 1998. AeroVironment plans to reach 100,000 ft. with Helios on the next flight in the first half of August, under NASA's Environmental Research Aircraft and Sensor Technology program (AW&ST May 14, p. 75). That would beat by a good margin the 85,069-ft. absolute record for sustained nonrocket flight set by Lockheed's SR-71 in 1976.
Rep. James Oberstar (Minn.), the senior Democrat on the House Transportation Committee, eyes a new weapon in the war against Not In My Backyard (Nimby) forces that oppose airport expansion projects. He threatens to craft an unspecified penalty for communities that allow residential land development to creep into areas around airports and insert it in the next FAA authorization bill.
Doug Macnair has been named director of the Washington office of the Oshkosh, Wis.-based Experimental Aircraft Assn. He was vice president-government and technical affairs for the Professional Aviation Maintenance Assn. Mac- nair succeeds two part-time Washington representatives: Charlie Schuck, who has retired; and Rick Weiss, who has become a pilot for Atlantic Southeast Airlines.
FedEx says it's still waiting for the results of an OSHA safety check of its Memphis hub operations on July 12. The surprise inspection was spurred by complaints from the cargo company's pilots, who say air stairs used to access the cargo planes are sometimes covered with snow or ice and often mismatched to the aircraft door, creating unsafe gaps or drop-offs for pilots or freight workers to manage. The inspection came less than a week after a FedEx worker died after falling approximately 25 ft.
Generous tax incentives in three new bills introduced on Capitol Hill are aimed at spurring the development of a stand-alone U.S. commercial space industry. However, the costs in tax revenue are high and some critics see a lack of support, even within the industry.
A calculated strategy should govern the structure and components of a U.S. missile defense, including a reformulation of the relationship between offense and defense and a fresh understanding of the meaning of deterrence, security experts say. They urge the Pentagon to steer clear of easy assumptions about intercepting a handful of enemy warheads with 100 or so ballistic missile defense interceptors. Instead, planners should pinpoint which missile-wielding countries to attempt to deter, how to deter them and over what period of time.
Brian Duffy, who was recently named associate program manager for Lockheed Martin's Consolidated Space Operations Contract at the Kennedy Space Center, has received the NASA Distinguished Service Medal. He was cited for his service as commander of space shuttle missions STS-92 and STS-72 and pilot for missions STS-57 and STS-45. Duffy, a retired USAF colonel, had been acting deputy director of the Johnson Space Center.
President George W. Bush has signed into law a supplemental spending bill that adds $5.5 billion to the current Defense Dept. budget, which runs out Sept. 30, the end of Fiscal 2001.
Nearly $1 billion in U.S. Air Force and NASA hardware is set for liftoff on back-to-back missions here through early this week, as Cape Canaveral's launch tempo reaches a peak for the year.
A bold 4 a.m. Tamil rebel attack that was apparently timed to do the most damage possible to SriLankan Airlines' fleet at Colombo's Bandaranaike International Airport has succeeded in devastating the carrier.
Robert Hanrahan (see photo) has been named president of the Aero Propulsion Div. of Wood Group Power Inc., East Windsor, Conn. He was executive vice president of Wood Group Gas Turbines and president of Wood Group Aero. Pat D. McLaughlin has become vice president-supply chain management for Rosen Products, Eugene, Ore. He was director of global supplier management for Fujitsu-ICL Systems Inc.
Sifting through U.S. airlines' second-quarter financial debris, the Air Transport Assn. has revised its estimate of industry results for full-year 2001, and this time the ink is red. Throwing out two-month-old projections of a $1.5-2 billion combined net profit for U.S. major and national airlines (AW&ST May 21, p. 36), the ATA now believes the carriers will lose about $1.5 billion this year, according to the association's chief economist, David Swierenga.
Valentine O'Donovan, chairman/ founder of Com Dev International Ltd., Cambridge, Ontario, has received the John H. Chapman Award of Excellence from the Canadian Space Agency. In presenting the award, the agency said O'Donovan's ``vision, leadership and influence are evident in the emerging technologies now found on the satellites of virtually every major manufacturer in the world.''
Boeing is about to deliver the first kinetic-energy antisatellite weapons that Congress ordered the U.S. Army to buy. Army Lt. Gen. Joseph Cosumano, commander of the service's Space and Missile Defense Command, noted the company is on track to complete the contractual requirement to deliver three of the systems next fiscal year. The flight-qualified satellite interceptors are supposed to be launch-ready within a year. So far, Congress has not determined the next step of the program.
