At the upcoming Paris air show, the Boeing Co. expects to have little to add to what officials already have revealed about the proposed Mach 0.95 aircraft, according to Boeing Commercial Airplane Group President and CEO Alan Mulally. ``There won't be a lot of new stuff to present,'' he said. That probably will come as somewhat of a disappointment to the investment community, since some industry analysts believe further insight into the sonic cruiser's status could help offset slowing commercial orders and trigger a rise in Boeing's stock price.
The Indian Space Research Organization and French national space agency CNES have given final approval to a joint satellite mission intended to study how the water cycle affects atmospheric climate processes over the tropics (AW&ST Nov. 29, 1999, p. 37). The 500-kg. satellite, called MeghaTropiques, will be launched in late 2005 on India's PSLV booster. The next PSLV mission is set for September, carrying a pair of remote-sensing satellites. Two missions per year are planned through 2006-07.
The Pentagon's incoming test chief pledges ``absolute candor'' in evaluating the next national missile defense (NMD) testing plan. At his Senate confirmation hearing late last week, Thomas P. Christie said he would insist on repeated and demanding NMD tests, including countermeasures, for whatever NMD program the Administration endorses. Senators pressed Christie for an explicit pledge because of military concerns that the handful of tests to date for a limited land-based system were too few and too easy. That charge was leveled by Christie's predecessor, Philip E. Coyle.
Raytheon Aircraft Co. plans to furlough 470 hourly employees this month and reduce production rates for the Beechjet 400A and King Air aircraft in response to the economic downturn. In April, the company laid off 450 salaried employees. A Raytheon Aircraft official said deliveries of new airplanes this year will decline to 468 from the 508 originally anticipated. The reductions include 16 fewer Beechjets and 24 fewer King Airs.
Theodore S. Webb, Jr., has been appointed to the board of directors of Kellstrom Industries Inc., Sunrise, Fla. He is the retired vice president for F-16 programs at General Dynamics.
The European Space Agency and EADS Launchers have concluded a preliminary agreement to resolve a cost-overrun problem with the Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV), a key element of the International Space Station. If left unsettled, the overrun could have added 50% to the initial 360-million-euro ($305-million) development cost for the ATV, which is supposed to resupply and periodically reboost the ISS starting in 2004.
HITACHI AND TRW'S NEW SEMI-CONDUCTOR COMPANY, VELOCIUM, have agreed to jointly develop high-efficiency power amplifier modules for cell phones using Velocium's indium phosphide (InP) semiconductors. InP gives higher efficiency and an improved signal quality compared with other semiconductors, for wideband CDMA handsets for third-generation wireless telecommunications. The company hopes to capture 10% of the 700-million handset sales expected by 2005. Hitachi will manufacture the modules, anticipating initial samples in early 2002.
Eurofighter has successfully conducted the first test launch of a powered Amraam separation/control test vehicle to validate the separation trajectory from the aircraft. The May 17 test launch was conducted from Alenia-built protoype DA7 at the Italian flight test range at Decimomannu, Sardinia. On June 1, DA7 was employed for the first firing of a Matra BAE Dynamics Asraam missile.
As Comair's striking pilots and carrier officials were poised to meet last week with the U.S. Transportation secretary, the Cincinnati hub for the regional airline and its parent, Delta Air Lines, became a spoke in Air Canada's sprawling network based at Toronto.
Russia and India have pledged to cooperate on development and production of new weapon systems, including a fifth- generation fighter, a multirole transport aircraft and air defense systems.
NATO has awarded contracts to two industry teams to conduct feasibility studies for a layered theater missile defense (TMD) system. One group is led by Science Applications International Corp. while Lockheed Martin heads Team Janus, which also includes MBDA, BAE Systems, EADS' LFK and Astrium. The 18-month-long, $13.5-million studies are intended to assess technical feasibility of land-, sea- and air-based options, costs and timescales as NATO looks to decide on whether to proceed with a TMD system.
It's not often that the Airbus and Boeing corporate logos appear side-by-side, but they are in a mailing from Achim Krapp, manager of reliability analysis and improvement programs for Airbus, and Kenneth D. Porad, program manager for the permanent bar code identification program at Boeing. Krapp and Porad are promoting use of the Air Transport Assn.'s SPEC 2000 permanent bar code ID standard for all of their suppliers at European and North American conferences this fall hosted by Frontline Solutions Expo.
Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control of Dallas, the prime contractor on the Patriot Advanced Capability-3 (PAC-3) missile, has selected its own production facility in Camden, Ark., as the final assembly site for the PAC-3. The company said the decision, announced last week, was largely based on the facility's outstanding performance, particularly on the Multiple Launch Rocket System. According to President James F. Berry, the per-unit cost on the PAC-3 could come in at or below $2 million, factoring in expected U.S.
Foreign sales are crucial to the U.S. in driving the cost of its first-generation of unmanned, long-range reconnaissance aircraft low enough to afford them in operationally effective numbers. However, succeeding presidential administrations have failed to confront arms control restrictions on the export of these unmanned aircraft. As a result, the Pentagon and aerospace industry are facing potentially huge obstacles to the growth of such programs.
Spot Image shareholders hope that new management can turn around the ailing French imaging company, which is beset by a slow-growing market and heightened U.S. competition. The company expects to announce a new loss at its shareholders' meeting on June 27, on top of a FF9-million ($1.2-million) shortfall a year earlier. A Spot Image official said the loss would be about equal to that in 2000. Sales were also down last year, to FF238 million, from FF260 million in 1999.
Jean-Marc Nasr has been appointed chief executive and Philippe Munier general manager of Spot Image. Nasr is scheduled to succeed Jacques Mouysset by midyear. Nasr was chairman/CEO of Fleximage. Munier was development director.
Congress has joined business in demanding that the Pentagon rein in gargantuan financial mismanagement, estimated at $1.1-2.7 trillion in auditing irregularities. A new Senate report castigates defense finances as a ``shambles'' and the Pentagon as an agency that ``wastes billions of dollars each year, and cannot account for much of what it spends.''
Air Force efforts to accelerate the Advanced EHF satellite program are foundering. Boeing, Lockheed Martin and TRW joined efforts last year, promising that they could deliver the first spacecraft 18 months ahead of schedule. But a year into the effort, it has become clear that the schedule can't be maintained at current funding levels. Rather than pay more, the Air Force has decided to forgo most of the acceleration. Advanced EHF now is slated for a first launch in 2005, only six months ahead of the earliest plan.
Mike Snyder has become chief operating officer, Peter Burn vice president-sales for the Americas and Edward Hernandez vice president-marketing of Polar Air Cargo. Snyder was president/CEO of TrafficStation.com., while Burn was vice president-cargo for North America and Europe for Air New Zealand and Hernandez a sales and marketing executive with multinational airfreight forwarders.
AgustaWestland officials are seeking a U.S. partner to jointly produce its EH-101 medium-lift helicopter for potential operations with the U.S. Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps and Coast Guard. The Rolls-Royce Turbomeca or GE-powered helicopter is seen as qualifying for the search-and-rescue, vertical replenishment, mine countermeasures and executive transport roles in U.S. missions. A decision on its U.S. partner is due in the next several months.
The Galileo spacecraft appears to have taken the highest resolution photographs yet of Jupiter's moon Callisto after engineers fixed problems with its visual spectrum camera at the last minute during the flyby on May 25.
Hewlett-Packard and PricewaterhouseCoopers have joined forces to market aviation consulting and information technology services to airlines and airports as well as to aerospace manufacturers and suppliers. The partnership is being called the Aviation Solution Center.
George Muellner has been appointed Seal Beach, Calif.-based president of the Boeing Phantom Works in July, taking over from David Swain, who will remain senior vice president-engineering and technology.
Although military officials are complaining that the Bush Administration's request for $5.6 billion in supplemental defense spending for Fiscal 2001 is too small, several programs fared well. The Pentagon is actually asking for $6.1 billion in new money, but it's also rescinding $505 million it doesn't need. Most of the cut comes from the V-22 program, with the Marines having to relinquish $235 million and the Air Force $240 million because delays in the program have freed up production money in the near term.
The competition and lower fares produced by airline deregulation have enabled many more people to fly, and to fly more often, for both business and personal reasons. When I first started working on the creation of Southwest Airlines, only 15% of adults in the U.S. had ever flown on even one commercial flight. Today, that percentage is around 85%. The number of domestic trips by air has increased by more than 200% since deregulation in 1978.
