In a major shake-up of the Scandinavian air travel market, Scandinavian Airlines System has agreed to acquire a majority stake in its Norwegian competitor Braathens from KLM and the Braathens family.
A tiny microthruster designed for use on micro-, nano- and pico-satellites has had a successful hot-fire test on a suborbital sounding rocket. Based on micro-electromechanical systems that use silicon chip fabrication technology to create tiny structures, the microthruster is smaller than a small coin (see photo), yet was able to fire more than 20 1-sec. bursts in tests on board a Scorpius rocket launched from White Sands Missile Range, N.M.
Eumetsat is evaluating the possiblity of ordering backup flights for the European Polar Orbiting System (EPS). The EPS Metop satellites are slated to be orbited by Starsem Soyuz-ST boosters in 2005-07. The Starsem Soyuz-ST launcher is a new version of Soyuz to be test-flown next year. A third optional launch is planned starting in 2010. The weather organization is also considering purchasing a fourth launch and two options for three follow-on second-generation Meteosat (MSG) satellites.
A Boeing Delta II carrying the National Reconnaissance Office TRW GeoLITE laser communications demonstration spacecraft lifts off May 18 from Complex 17B. The Geosynchronous Lightweight Technology Experiment spacecraft is now undergoing checkout before initiation of lasercom tests and operational NRO communications using its UHF system. Overall cost of the mission, including the booster, is about $200 million. Ten Delta IIs are scheduled for launch this year, and the flight was the 41st Delta II success since a failure in 1997.
KLM posted a net profit of $68 million for the fiscal year ending Mar. 31, an increase over the previous year but lower than market expectations. The Dutch carrier said it experienced a weakening in demand in the fourth quarter which it attributed to the global economic slowdown. KLM is planning for ``conservative capacity growth'' this year and is still searching for a European partner after failed attempts with British Airways and Alitalia.
NASA managers have approved a $279-million mission to blast a hole in the comet Tempel 1 and study the resulting debris, including pristine material from the comet's interior. Dubbed ``Deep Impact,'' the project will send a 770-lb. projectile hurtling into the comet at some 22,300 mph. A sister craft will gather data on the debris blasted from an expected crater the size of a football field and seven stories deep, using a camera and an infrared spectrometer. Ball Aerospace will build the spacecraft, which is scheduled to reach Tempel 1 in July 2005.
Adm. James O. Ellis, commander-in- chief of U.S. Naval Forces/Europe and Allied Forces Southern Europe, has received the James H. Doolittle Award from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Security Studies Program, in recognition of his service to aviation. He spoke in Cambridge at the Annual Doolittle Aviation Conference on ``The Use of Airpower in the Kosovo Intervention.''
EADS' French unit and Finmeccanica/Alenia Aerospazio are scheduled to form ATR Integrated this week to replace the Avions de Transport Regional industrial grouping. ATR's restructuring is expected to further increase the Franco-Italian joint venture's overall efficiency, executives said.
BAE Systems Australia has signed an agreement worth $200 million with Boeing to provide subsystems for the Royal Australian Air Force's Wedgetail airborne early warning and control aircraft. The company will be responsible for development and supply of electronic warfare self-protection systems, an operational mission simulator and other support functions. The first two of four Boeing 737-based Wedgetail jets are scheduled for delivery in 2006.
Southwest Airlines plans to begin serving Norfolk International Airport in October, using two gates. The low-fare carrier also intends to serve Richmond International Airport, Richmond, Va., but not until terminal expansion projects at several destination cities are completed and capable of accepting more flights from that airport. At present, US Airways and Delta Air Lines each account for about 35% of the commercial traffic at the airport.
Pratt&Whitney F100 and F119 engines have completed a set of aggressive operability and durability tests that fully demonstrate the robustness of the powerplants and their ability to meet their operational requirements, company officials say. F100 trials supporting these conclusions wrapped-up about a month ago, while F119 accelerated mission tests were expected to end late last week.
Unsupportable--that's what senior Royal Australian Air Force officials have concluded regarding their small Boeing 707 tanker fleet. Service planners are trying to assess how best to bridge the operational gap between the retirement of the 707s, which has already begun, and a new refueler coming into service around 2006. The 707 quandary is only one of several areas where RAAF officials are having to come up with a strategy to transition smoothly from the aircraft in inventory to the capabilities slated to be fielded over the next 10-15 years.
The Mineseeker Foundation, a joint venture between the U.K.'s Defense Evaluation Research Agency (DERA) and the Lightship Group, is seeking to raise $14.4 million to complete development work on an ultrawideband radar capable of detecting buried mines and unexploded ordnance. A prototype, installed in an airship, was deployed to Kosovo for operational testing late last year (AW&ST Nov. 27, 2000, p. 38). DERA officials said detailed analysis of data exceeded their expectations.
Australia's new A$20.8 billion ($10.8 billion) defense budget for 2001-02 includes an increase of $263.4 million that is to be followed by a $539.8 million increase next year. The budget includes funds for several new systems including anti-submarine torpedoes for use on the P-3C maritime patrol aircraft, and Seahawk and Seasprite helicopters that should be in service by 2005. It also funds the extension of the Caribou airlifter to 2010 and buys additional air-defense systems. The spending level also finances 33 existing modernization programs.
INTERSTATE ELECTRONICS CORP. HAS SHIPPED its first SAASM-based GPS receivers to Raytheon for testing in the Army's Excalibur program, which is developing GPS-guided 155-mm.-artillery projectiles. The Selective Availability Anti-Spoofing Module (SAASM) makes the GPS receiver jam-resistant, an attribute that will be demanded in a number of military applications. IEC's ability to produce ruggedized products will be tested by Excalibur, which will subject the 12-channel GPS receiver to 15,000g.
OBESE OR OVERWEIGHT PILOTS must be careful when using diet drugs and participating in weight loss programs because of health problems that can affect their ability to fly safely and exercise good judgment, according to the Flight Safety Foundation. Dr. Quay Snyder, associate aeromedical adviser for the Air Line Pilots Assn., said his office receives inquiries nearly every week from pilots seeking help in losing weight. The actual number of obese and overweight pilots flying for the airlines and within general aviation is unknown.
French and German aerospace research centers are aiming to dramatically reinforce their ties and eventually integrate their operations, in an initiative they hope will form the nucleus of a Europe-wide aerospace research organization. The move is intended to meet demands by industry and government for closer integration and coordination of European aerospace research programs. Such streamlining is considered a key prerequisite if Europe is to overtake U.S. leadership in aeronautics, a recent report found (AW&ST Feb. 5, p. 30).
THE FALCON 2000EX, Dassault Aviation's latest Falcon business jet under development, will have a nonstop range of 3,800 naut. mi.--up from 3,040 naut. mi.--thanks to a 3,815-lb. increase in fuel capacity coupled with upgraded Pratt&Whitney Canada PW308C turbofan engines, each rated at 7,000 lb. static thrust (18% thrust improvement). The airplane's fuel system features 31% more capacity, new fuel pump and fuel quantity installations, along with a new digital fuel servicing panel and more precise flow meters, according to Dassault.
European Space Agency officials plan to unveil the price list for ESA facilities on the International Space Station at a users conference in Berlin. The meeting will kick off an effort to attract nontraditional users to the orbiting laboratory. ISS Forum 2001, set for June 5-7 and sponsored by ESA and the German space agency DLR, will launch a push to fill 30% of Europe's station racks and other gear with commercial users, matching NASA's goal.
Royal Australian Air Force is in the early stages of defining plans for what will become the service's largest procurement program. The requirement, known as Air6000, is to replace the country's aging F/A-18s and eventually, the long-range interdiction F-111s.
Turkey has grounded all training flights of its CN-235 aircraft following the third crash in less than four months. Operational missions will continue.
In the wake of a serious landing incident, Airbus plans to revise the A319/A320 twinjets' automated angle-of-attack (AOA) protection. Recently, a 150-seat A320, operated by an unspecified European carrier, made a hard landing, in nose-down attitude, despite the pilot-in-command's decision to go around and the application of maximum power. The aircraft's front landing gear collapsed, and the engine nacelles were damaged. Light turbulence but no wind shear had been reported to the flight crew before the nighttime ILS approach began.
The Senate's abrupt reversion to Democratic control is apt to alter the defense landscape on Capitol Hill, but leave the space and aviation fields largely undisturbed. Democrats almost certainly will mount a greater challenge to the big military spending increases expected from the White House, but the President might preemptively shave the pending requests in deference to his big tax cut and to mitigate partisan warfare on other issues.
