Saab has completed flight tests aimed at integrating a helmet-mounted display (HMD) with avionics systems on the Gripen multirole aircraft. The successful tests involved the Guardian HMD system developed by Pilkington Optronics in conjunction with Denel's Cumulus division and Kentron of South Africa. Guardian is being integrated on Gripen for the South African air force, which is acquiring 28 aircraft. The HMD also is being optimized for use with the IRIS-T short-range air-to-air missile that is being adopted by the Swedish air force.
Controllers had said it was a 1-in-100 shot. But the NEAR Shoemaker spacecraft managed not only to survive the landing it was not designed to do, it maintained communications with Earth and its systems remained healthy. And with that, NEAR won a reprieve from NASA and began limited science operations on the surface of the asteroid Eros late last week.
THE NAVAL AIR WARFARE Center Patuxent River, Md., has awarded DRS Technologies a $2.4-million contract to develop a superhigh-speed video camera to replace film cameras for airborne weapons separation applications. The company plans to use an electronically shuttered, high-speed, high-resolution digital imaging camera, with high-density digital data storage. Settings on the camera, mounted outside the aircraft, can be previewed by ground crews and adjusted by the pilot in flight.
Ruth Davis (see photo) has received the Jimmy Doolittle Fellowship Award upon her retirement as chair of the board of trustees of The Aerospace Corp. of Los Angeles. She was cited for contributions to the national defense, aeronautics and advancement of U.S. space endeavors.
Qualification test firings of Rocketdyne's XRS-2200 linear aerospike engines are underway at NASA's John C. Stennis Space Center (see photo). A brief Feb. 6 ignition test of the system was nominal, according to program officials. Initial tandem test firings of the engines are scheduled to be a short burst, followed by longer duration runs. The engines are intended to power the X-33 suborbital flight demonstrator.
Geneva-based SITA and the International Air Transport Assn. (IATA) have created a strategic partnership to provide global interline electronic ticketing services to airlines. The two entities said the new service will simplify and streamline the exchange of e-ticket data between airlines and third-party agents. Several major airlines are expected to be using the service by mid-year. SITA will develop and operate the service, while IATA will oversee management policy and procedures, as well as promotion and marketing.
The independent Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel that oversees NASA has effectively blown the lid off the space shuttle replacement debate by finding that shuttle flight safety could be compromised over the long term because NASA has been focusing too heavily on commercial or other optimistic shuttle replacement options, as opposed to longer term shuttle upgrades.
The Royal Air Force's future offensive air system is likely to include a mix of manned and unmanned aircraft, as well as cruise missiles, according to a senior Ministry of Defense official. But he does not foresee a new manned aircraft on the horizon.
The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has restored $568 million in proposed cuts for the FAA's budget and aviation programs for 2002. But a loophole in the landmark AIR-21 legislation that supposedly guaranteed funding for capital improvements and air traffic control modernization could be threatened in future years, complain aviation groups that applied intense pressure to get funding restored for next year.
Mid-ranking British Royal Air Force pilots and navigators are to be offered bonuses worth 10,000 pounds ($14,500) per year for two years as incentives to remain in the service. The bonuses are intended to redress personnel shortfalls that are partly due to pilots being lured away by more lucrative jobs with airlines.
A three-aircraft unit here is the Navy's first full-fledged attempt at building ``smart planes'' capable of sophisticated fusion of sensor data. The goal of the program, part of which has been dubbed Hairy Buffalo, is to create a system that can quickly find moving targets on land, water or under the sea.
Tom Vice has been promoted to vice president-materiel for the Northrop Grumman Corp.'s Integrated Systems Sector (ISS) in Dallas from vice president-business and advanced systems development for ISS Air Combat Systems. He succeeds Philip Teel, who is now vice president for ISS Airborne Early Warning and Electronic Warfare Systems. U.S. Army Col. (ret.) Richard D. Welker has been named regional vice president-Taiwan. He was chief of the technical liaison section at the American Institute in Taiwan.
Armand Carlier, chairman/CEO of Astrium, expects the European company will receive orders for 3-4 satellites and record sales similar to last year's performance. In 2000, Astrium had orders for six satellites and increased its backlog by 3 billion euros. Although fewer satellites will be purchased this year, they will be larger than the industry standard, Carlier said. In related news, Astrium has opened a 2,000-sq.-meter clean room near Paris to increase the company's ability to develop and produce electronic components.
NEPA was incorrectly identified in the article ``Runway Advocates Seek to Ease Regulatory Bind'' (AW&ST Feb. 12, p. 32). The abbreviation stands for National Environmental Policy Act.
Increased inspections have been ordered for 308 H-46 helicopters operated by the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps. The pace of inspections has been increased to every 10 from 25 flight hours because of material fatigue in a rotor head component. A recent inspection for the third time found cracking in an H-46's forward longitudinal differential bellcrank, which controls the pitch of the forward rotor head. The Marine Corps, which operates 229 of the helicopters, was quick to point out that the cost of operating the aircraft has increased dramatically in recent years.
Richard J. Harshman has been named vice president-finance/chief financial officer and Dale G. Reid vice president/controller of Allegheny Technologies Inc. of Pittsburgh. Reid is succeeding Harshman, and Richard Roeser is succeeding Reid as vice president-finance of Allegheny Ludlum.
John Lawson, retired president of Bombardier Business Aircraft and now senior adviser to the current president, has been appointed to the board of directors of Avcorp Industries Inc. of Vancouver.
German aerospace center DLR and the Austrian Space Co. (ASA) will cooperate in the area of reusable launch vehicle systems. The agreement, to be carried out under DLR's Astra RLV technology program, will seek to develop new materials, structures and production processes that can enhance RLV reliability. A primary aim will be to develop a metallic thermal protection system capable of withstanding the high temperatures (1,000C) encountered in hypersonic flight. The system will be based on an ultralight gamma-titanium-aluminide alloy developed by ASA.
Rolls-Royce will provide overhaul and maintenance for International Aero Engines V2500s that will power British Airways fleet of Airbus A320s, under a 600-million-pound ($872-million), 20-year agreement.
Franco Einaudi has been appointed director of the Earth Sciences Directorate at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. He was chief of the Laboratory for Atmospheres.
Cathay Pacific on Mar. 26 plans to start four-times-weekly nonstop service between Hong Kong and Delhi with Airbus A330-300 aircraft. The decision follows the conclusion last month of an air traffic rights agreement between India and Hong Kong that allows for additional seat capacity. Cathay began operating freighter service to Delhi in September 2000. The popular tourist city becomes the Hong Kong-based carrier's second passenger destination in India; Cathay now flies four times weekly to Mumbai.
Military equipment manufacturers took advantage of last week's Australian International Airshow 2001 at Avalon Airport, here, to promote their combat and support aircraft in anticipation of Australia's defense buildup beginning in 2012.
Two U.S. Army UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters crashed last week during a night training operation in Hawaii. Six soldiers died in the crash in one Black Hawk. All crewmembers in the second, which landed hard but upright, survived. Army officials are investigating the cause of the mid-air accident, especially whether a Humvee being transported by one helicopter struck the second.
Pierre A. Chao, Harald Hendrikse, Adam Weiner, Steve East, Marko Pencak and Patrick Conrad comprised the Credit Suisse First Boston Aerospace/Defense Equity Team that took first place in the Institutional Investor global research team poll.
A group of pilots at Delta Air Lines subsidiaries, Comair and Atlantic Southeast Airlines (ASA), have formed the RJ Defense Coalition to file a grievance with the Air Line Pilots Assn. (ALPA) and possibly sue the union over what they regard as a double standard in the union's representation of mainline and regional pilots.
