NASA plans to bring a tiny bit of the Sun down to Earth on board the Genesis spacecraft set for launch on July 30 so scientists can analyze it for clues to how the planets formed.
The U.S. Navy has awarded several contracts that should lead to the F/A-18E/F receiving an all-weather reconnaissance capability using its Shared Airborne Reconnaissance Pod (Sharp). A Lockheed Martin/Elta team received $672,000 to assess integration opportunities of a synthetic aperture radar into Sharp. Furthermore, BAE Systems, Lockheed Martin and Raytheon received a $5.8-million contract to demonstrate a SAR system on an F-14. The evaluation late next fiscal year will involve flying a Sharp on an F-14.
British Airways is expected to carry out a technical verification flight later this week of a Concorde supersonic aircraft modified with Kevlar/rubber fuel tank liners. The modified aircraft, Alpha Foxtrot, underwent systems checks and low-speed taxi tests at Heathrow Airport on July 5. The test flight is expected to simulate a London-New York service in order to monitor heat dissipation and obtain accurate data on the amount of unusable fuel in the wing tanks due to installation of the perforated liners (AW&ST Jan. 22, p. 38).
Warren Meyer has been appointed president/chief operating officer of Seattle-based Avolo. He was executive vice president/general manager of the We-Commerce Network.
Three-and-a-half years after the mysterious loss of SilkAir flight MI 185 in a muddy Indonesian river, five families of victims are alleging that the Singapore-based carrier had ample evidence that the flight's captain repeatedly breached safety procedures. Their charge of willful misconduct by SilkAir and its employee is being heard by Justice Tan Lee Meng in Singapore High Court in a trial that is expected to last 15 days. SilkAir is a subsidiary of Singapore Airlines, which is majority owned by the Singapore government.
The U.S. Navy is exploring controlling small, tactical unmanned aerial vehicles from submarines for the long-term goal of using them to clandestinely find targets ashore and attack them with cruise missiles.
Boeing will probably lease hangar space, for its 737 corporate aircraft at the Gary/Chicago Airport in Gary, Ind., as part of the move of its world headquarters to Chicago. Boeing leased space for two of its Bombardier Challenger corporate aircraft at Midway Airport--which is closer to downtown Chicago than the Gary airport--but a hangar at that airport for the 14-passenger Boeing Business Jet was not available.
Delivery of the 6.5-ton Boeing/ NASA airlock module to the International Space Station by the orbiter Atlantis will complete Phase 2 of station assembly, giving ISS crews full autonomy for maintenance and assembly outside the station, whether the shuttle is present or not.
Europe is set to launch a vital technology spacecraft this week in what officials hope will be the first in a long line of telecom demonstration missions intended to reinforce European satcom know-how.
Japan Aircraft Manufacturing Co. won a contract to supply Boeing with landing-gear housing doors for its 747-400. Each jet has 16 such doors, measuring up to 2.5 X 1.7 meters (8.2 X 5.6 ft.). Shipment of the doors is slated for January 2002, after which the company will become the sole supplier.
Francois Gayet has become senior vice president-French defense of Thales. He was president of Thales International North America and has been succeeded by Lawrence J. Cavaiola. Jacques Bourgeois has become director of operations for Saudi Arabia.
Bob Ehr has become president of Smiths Aerospace Electronic Systems, Grand Rapids, Mich., and Paul Strother managing director of Smiths Aerospace Actuation Systems, Wolverhampton, England, following the merger of Smiths Industries Aerospace and Dowty. Peter Wright, formerly president of Dowty Aerospace, has been named president of Smiths Aerospace Components and will remain based in Mountaintop, Pa. John Legg, who headed Smiths Industries' customer services business, is now managing director of the combined customer services group in Cheltenham, England.
NASA's new $200-million Boeing Satellite Systems TDRS-H tracking and data relay satellite has malfunctioned in geosynchronous orbit. As a result, upgrades to the critical TDRS relay constellation are being delayed and, to date, NASA has refused to take ownership of the platform from the contractor. When the 3.5-ton TDRS-H was launched more than a year ago, NASA and Boeing managers hailed it as one of the country's most advanced and critically needed spacecraft (AW&ST July 3, 2000, p. 39).
USAF Gen. (ret.) Albert J. Edmonds, president of EDS Federal, has been elected chairman of the Fairfax, Va.-based Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Assn. (AFCEA) International. He succeeds Mary Jane McKeever, president of AT&T Government Markets.
Boeing's X-32B made short takeoffs last week, completing all the flight maneuvers required for its bid to the Joint Strike Fighter program office. The company is continuing to fly the short takeoff/vertical landing (Stovl) demonstrator at NAS Patuxent River, Md., for its own tests that could supplement its proposal. Officials expect the tests will end this month.
European aerospace giant EADS will continue to operate in its current structure for the foreseeable future, according to EADS Co-chairman Manfred Bischoff, who also said DaimlerChrysler planned to remain a long-term shareholder in the company.
Southwest Airlines' Herb Kelleher sees a solution to airport congestion in simplistic terms: build another 50 mi. of concrete runways (AW&ST June 4, p. 86). While the construction industries would no doubt welcome this as a supplement to the already bottomless crucible of cement that continues to become concrete for extra lanes on interstate highways and parking lots, this is not the answer.
David McCartney has become president of e-tenna Corp., a subsidiary of the Titan Corp. of San Diego. He was executive vice president of RangeStar Wireless. Greg Mendolia has been named executive vice president and Joe Pitman vice president-businessdevelopment.
The maiden flight of the second Aeronautical Development Agency/Hindustan Aeronautics Light Combat Aircraft (LCA-TD-2) is scheduled for the end of August, LCA Program Director Kota Harinarayana said. The TD-1 has been in flight testing since Jan. 4. He wants to reduce the weight of the Kaveri engine for the single-seat, supersonic fighter to 1,050 kg. (2,310 lb.) from 1,200 kg. (2,640 lb.) through greater use of composite materials.
Systems testing and engine installation for the Bell/Agusta BA609 civil tiltrotor are ``progressing rapidly'' toward first flight of a production prototype early in December, according to officials of the Bell/Agusta Aerospace Co.
AAR has signed the renewal of an exclusive supplier agreement to provide engine, bare engine accessories and auxiliary power unit surplus parts for Delta Air Lines.
