Link Simulation and Training has contracted with AAR Aircraft Services of Oklahoma City to lease and maintain Boeing 737s used for inflight training of crews assigned to the U.S. Navy's fleet of E-6 Tacamo airborne command, control and communications aircraft. Crews are trained at Tinker AFB, Okla. Plans call for Link, a subsidiary of L-3 Communications Corp., to provide management, scheduling and quality assurance for the 737s.
Duits-Nederlandse Windtunnel (DNW), the German-Dutch organization that operates eight wind tunnels, has found that a commercial data visualization system is more responsive than its own in-house graphics software. DNW picked a system built on Advanced Visual Systems' Gsharp tool (see drawing). They liked the expertise of the company's personnel and the speed at which they could make Gsharp work, the quality of the graphics and the fact that Gsharp is kept up-to-date with the latest operating systems.
Saying you have a plan for creating profitable, capital-efficient growth is easy. Making good on it isn't. That seems to be the overarching message to come out of the Best-Managed Companies study or Index of Competitiveness for 2001. Some readers may find it difficult to understand how the aerospace/defense industry, with its self-proclaimed customer focus and much heralded dedication to continuous improvement, could have made so little progress in the last five years (see p. 57). But let's be blunt.
The aerospace supply chain is focused on the availability of raw material and component parts to support manufacturing schedules for prime engine and airframe builders, with much of the industry expecting both commercial and military market demand to remain firm or increase in the next few years, according to the fifth annual Ladish Co. Inc. worldwide survey of purchasing managers.
Europe plans to send two different small spacecraft to the Moon in the next few years to demonstrate technology needed for future space science missions. The European Space Agency and Swedish Space Corp. plan to use a lunar mission that could come as early as next year to validate electric propulsion planned for an ambitious mission to Mercury, later in the decade. Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd. (SSTL) is raising funds to upgrade its basic minisatellite as a low-cost planetary probe, with the Moon its first target as early as 2003.
Stephen Van Beek has been named senior vice president-policy and strategic development for Washington-based Airports Council International-North America. He was associate deputy Transportation secretary.
SkyWest Airlines is trying to think big--and small--as it grows in its twin roles as regional carrier for United Airlines and Delta Air Lines. Thinking big, SkyWest is expanding its fleet, doubling on-order Canadair Regional Jets with a 64-aircraft buy in January. It is enlarging its maintenance and training hangar at Salt Lake City, where it flies for Delta, and doubling the size of its corporate headquarters at St. George, Utah.
South Africa-based Safair has ordered three 66-seat ATR 72-500 twin turboprops that will be operated by India's Jet Airways. In the last 12 months, ATR has concluded orders covering 40 aircraft.
Rolls-Royce is applying a new anti-friction coating to Trent 800 fan blade roots to eliminate a fan cracking problem that surfaced earlier this year. The new copper-nickel-indium material, called Metco 58, will supplement a graphite-based anti-friction lubricant that was used to coat fan blade roots on more than 200 Trent 800s manufactured prior to July 2000. Trent 800s produced after that date already have a coating of Metco 58 flame-sprayed onto their fan blade roots, bolstered by the graphite-coating, which is applied to the Metco 58 as an aerosol.
T. Allan McArtor, who was president/CEO of now-defunct Legend Airlines, was appointed chairman of Airbus' North American Operations on June 1. He succeeds Jack Schofield, who retired in April.
The complex task of planning an Air Force U-2 reconnaissance mission just got easier with the Mission Planning System-Five (MPS-V) computer and software, acquired by the Electronic Systems Center at Hanscom AFB, Mass. A U-2 mission may have 400-500 data requests, and the camera, radar and electronic intelligence sensors have their own limitations such as range and Sun angle. The software integrates the Aircraft/Weapons/Electronics module that creates the route with the Common Sensor Planner module that controls sensor activation, as well as with other requirements.
Airbus' revised software covering the A319/A320's automated angle-of-attack (AOA) protection is scheduled to obtain certification by the end of the month. The software now being modified was not the A320 series' original AOA protection, Airbus officials stressed. The in-service protection's software was altered two years ago when operational feedback indicated that heavy wind shear could bring aircraft too close to a stall warning. However, the modification went ``slightly too far'' and needed to be revised, the Airbus officials noted.
Nepal's Ministry of Tourism and Civil Aviation says that fixed-wing aircraft services to Lukla Airport at the foot of Mount Everest will now be able to operate year round. The Asian Development Bank funded the renovation of the airstrip which included black-topping the 527-meter (1,730-ft.) runway.
When the FAA's new oceanic control system becomes operational in about two years, it will be based on a system proven by New Zealand. That system was developed by Adacel Technologies for the service provider Airways Corp. of New Zealand. The FAA selected Lockheed Martin, which teamed with those two, to replace oceanic systems at Anchorage, New York and Oakland, Calif., Air Route Traffic Control Centers. Together, they are responsible for some 80% of the world's oceanic controlled airspace.
A group of senior advisers to the Pentagon is advocating that the Global Hawk unmanned surveillance aircraft's mission be expanded to include air surveillance and targeting. The Defense Dept. in recent weeks decided to accelerate some of Global Hawk's mission set by adding a signals intelligence capability several years earlier than planned. It augments the ground target tracking and imagery capability already resident on the high-altitude UAV.
Europe's Galileo satnav system is expected to be a special focus for growth Jet Aviation has added a Challenger 604, Falcon 900 and Galaxy aircraft to its European business jet charter fleet.
Amsterdam Schiphol Airport passengers may now do their shopping at home using the airport's new See Buy Fly Web site, www.schiphol.nl. Users may now select and pay for a variety of products--flowers, electronics, chocolates, cosmetics--from home in advance of the day of departure. Customers holding a reservation or airline ticket may place an order from 24 hr. to 30 days prior to departure from Schiphol. When the customer completes on-line shopping, he receives confirmation and order number by e-mail.
The U.S. Army expects to make several key decisions in the near future that will likely affect cost and weight of the RAH-66 Comanche helicopter and address two areas that have exposed the program to repeated outside criticism.
At Ryanair, the challenge during the past year--as it was earlier, is now and will be for the foreseeable future--was managing growth. The low-fares, no-frills carrier launched its first base in continental Europe--Brussels South Airport, or Charleroi--on Apr. 26. Ryanair operates as many as 30 flights per day between Charleroi and four of its bases in Ireland and the U.K.--Dublin, Shannon, London Stansted and Glasgow Prestwick--and three destinations on the continent, Venice, Pisa and Carcassonne.
In the wake of its failed bid for Lucent Technologies last week, Alcatel has decided to restructure its activities, jettisoning noncore businesses and focusing on networks, optical systems and space. The decision reflects a belief among Alcatel management that systems will play an increasingly important role in the information transmission chain, complementing the company's expertise in land-based systems. Earlier this month, the company acquired full control of its Alcatel Space affiliate to prepare the way for expansion of space activities (AW&ST May 21, p. 45).
Rebekah Nottingham (see photos) has become Washington-based vice president-business development, Walter Lennox vice president-business management and Jonathan E. Murphy vice president-human resources, all for the information and electronic warfare systems unit, for BAE Systems North America, Nashua, N.H. Nottingham was senior director of aerospace electronics business development for the Lockheed Martin Corp. Lennox was the EW unit's controller, and Murphy was director of human resources.
NovAtel Inc. of Canada will supply OEM4 receivers as GPS engines for the Beeline Navigator precision guidance system manufactured by Australia's Agsystems Pty Ltd., under a (U.S.) $1.35-million order.
AAR Corp. will be a subcontractor for the L-3 Communications Link Simulation and Training Div. under a lease with the U.S. Navy. AAR will provide leasing and maintenance support for two Boeing 737s for inflight training of Navy crews for the E-6 Tacoma program.
The Bush Administration will be asked to come up with $2.5-5 billion in new defense funding to back up its declared advocacy for unmanned airborne intelligence-gathering technologies.
