VOICE COMMUNICATIONS FOR EN ROUTE AIR TRAFFIC over the Indian subcontinent will improve with a new VHF network that Park Air Electronics will provide. Four sub-networks with control centers at Chennia (formerly Madras), Calcutta and two at Mumbai (formerly Bombay) will each be connected to four remote radio sites. Simultaneous transmissions will be made from two radios to increase the area of coverage, using offset carriers to avoid interference. The radios will be Park Air's 5000 series VHF transmitters and receivers.
George Y. Ono has been appointed senior vice president/general manager of the M&M Machine&Tool Co. subsidiary of the Dulles, Va.-based Fairchild Corp. He was vice president-business development of the Compass Aerospace Corp.
U.S. airlines and the FAA are using a new set of mutually designed tools to avoid a repeat of last year's plague of schedule delays. Pilots of the major airlines are implementing a new procedure to break aircraft logjams at airports that occur in the aftermath of storms. Called Low-Altitude Arrival/Departure Routes (LAADR), the procedure was devised under an FAA-industry action plan dubbed the Spring/Summer 2000 Program.
The Civil Aviation Administration of China--reacting swiftly to the June 22 crash of a Xian Yunshu Y-7-100C which killed 51 people--has ordered all Yunshu and Tupolev aircraft to be taken out of scheduled passenger service by June 1, 2001. Xian Aircraft Manufacturing Co. in Shaanix, built the Yunshu Y-7, which is based on the Antonov An-24. The -100C version of the aircraft incorporates a series of cockpit modifications and winglets.
Pentagon-based missile defense experts say land- and sea-based boost-phase-intercept (BPI) weapons that are being talked about by the U.S. and Russia will be huge, expensive and will face some serious developmental problems. The Ballistic Missile Defense Organization studied the issue in the 1990s and roughed out a life-cycle cost for fully deployed national defense systems: space-based laser, $20 billion; land- or sea-based missiles, $10-15 billion; airborne laser, $7-10 billion; and manned- or unmanned-based missiles, $3-7 billion.
Last week's successful launch of a Proton rocket gave another boost to Russia's ambitious civil telecom satellite renewal program, while providing further assurance that the Zvezda Service Module critical for the International Space Station will be launched in July as planned.
Any ambitions China has of becoming a great military power will have to wait until 2015-20 at the very earliest, and probably 5-10 years beyond that, a new Rand analysis predicts. Despite the forecast of a long, slow climb, Rand does not expect major internal strife to be the big factor holding China back. That disputes the view of some China hands that the mainland is bursting with political, social, generational and regional tensions that might prove strong enough to bring the country to its knees.
PASSENGERS ON COMMERCIAL AIRLINES could have inflight access to Internet, e-mail, voice-over-Internet Protocol and paging early next year with services provided by a consortium of suppliers. In-Flight Network (itself a joint venture of News Corp. and Rockwell Collins) is developing the new service with Globalstar and Qualcomm, and recently demonstrated the capability in flight over North America. The team plans to transmit broadband Internet data and entertainment to aircraft via geostationary satellites.
In 1994, when President Clinton directed that the weather satellite systems of NOAA and the Defense Dept. converge with NASA's Earth-observing system to form the National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS), he created a real test of interagency interoperability. ``It's worked well so far,'' reports George Barth of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. Barth is a deputy program manager for the National Polar Platform (NPP), a Delta-class Earth-observing satellite set for launch in 2005.
Canada's recent Maple Flag 2000 capitalized on lessons distilled from the 1999 campaign in Kosovo by providing aircrews from eight nations more-realistic scenarios typical of complex large-force, coalition air operations. In contrast to previous years, the 33rd Maple Flag was flown in adverse weather conditions, incorporated more air-to-air refueling, emphasized flying strike missions at medium altitudes, used secure communications as much as possible and presented more industrial-type targets.
More statistics underscore the success of ``lean'' design and manufacturing practices in Boeing's Joint Strike Fighter candidate. The X-32A forebody was designed and built in 14 months, half the normal development time of a comparable assembly using traditional methods, Boeing said. A fiber placement process allowed the company to produce large composite structures 40% cheaper than with traditional approaches. Use of virtual reality testing and electronic assembly essentially eliminated parts interferences.
Thomson-CSF and Raytheon will soon announce a joint venture to build a ground-based radar and air-defense command and control system. The companies are considering making the announcement at Britain's Farnborough air show late in the month, but clearing the necessary regulatory hurdles could delay an official launch until later. The companies are looking at a system of mixed U.S. and French origins that would be marketed to NATO and other international clients worldwide. Much of the work has been completed and an organization and structure are already in place.
Air France and Delta are making a pitch for Thai Airways International, which is a founding member of Star Alliance, to join the new SkyTeam Alliance. The two airlines are to bid for the 10% of Thai that is to be offered by the government, which controls 93% of the airline. Air France uses Bangkok as its hub for Southeast Asia, while Thai has been publicly unhappy about the revenue it has been losing since Singapore Airlines joined Star Alliance.
Southwest Airlines plans to buy up to 290 Boeing 737-700 aircraft and has placed firm orders for 94 of the next-generation, twin-engine jets worth $4.5 billion. Initial deliveries are scheduled to begin in 2002.
The Deep Space 1 mission was threatened by the loss of its star tracker in November, but Jet Propulsion Laboratory engineers have succeeded in reprogramming the telescopic Micas camera to take over the attitude determination function (AW&ST Jan. 31, p. 21). The new software started running June 8, and on June 21 it held the spacecraft in a constant Earth-point attitude while the ion engine was fired. The main difficulty with Micas is that it has a narrow 0.75-deg.
ENGINEERING SUPPORT SYSTEMS will supply avionics testing subsystems to the U.S. Navy that will test high-power RF transmitters, high-voltage power supplies and other critical components of radar and electronic warfare systems while operating at full power. Damaged or poorly functioning components show up quickly under those conditions. The Navy has placed two orders totaling $20.6 million in the past two months, with two more production options remaining.
Wall Street doesn't appreciate subtleties. A lot of very smart people will debate the details of how and why Iridium's plans for a worldwide satellite-based phone business unraveled: too expensive, too ahead of its time or simply not given a chance to mature; but investors aren't listening. From their point of view, there's $5 billion worth of assets, 66 satellites plus a few spares, uselessly turning their final few orbits before they're sent flaming through the atmosphere, literally up in smoke.
J-Squared LLC of Colorado Springs has developed a Quantitative Visualization system, essentially a collection of off-the-shelf software, to support testing at the U.S. Army's Yuma (Ariz.) Proving Ground. The PC-based system combines simulation, modeling and GIS map information with sensor data to provide a quantitatively precise visualization, or ``digital mirror,'' of tests. The easy-to-comprehend, visual QV format can be used to perform pre-test dry runs or fine-tune the test plan and instrumentation, according to James Fanning, a partner in the company.
Two recent problems with the vertical lift system on Lockheed Martin's Joint Strike Fighter design have been solved, company officials here say (AW&ST June 26, p. 44). The problem areas were in a gearbox where the drive shaft transferred power from the main engine drive shaft to the lift fan. Metal chips in a lift fan gearbox were the result of a 0.25-in. misalignment in two gears, which have been remeasured and adjusted. An overheating bearing was traced to the lack of a break-in period before the system was operated at full power.
There is little that is more critical to the satellite industry--indeed the whole communications industry--than the Federal Communications Commission. There is little of consequence to the industry that happens, for good or ill, which does not pass through the FCC. The commission makes decisions about domestic use of commercial spectrum, supplies critical expertise for U.S. government international spectrum negotiations, and is the lone agency representing the communications industry in debates about spectrum use within the U.S. government.
Korean Air is back. An aggressive program to revamp its safety record has paid handsome dividends--the troubled carrier officially marked its return to the aviation community last month by announcing its membership in the SkyTeam alliance, alongside partners Delta Air Lines, Air France and Aeromexico. The prodigal carrier also will return to a new home, Inchon airport.
Lockheed Martin has selected Boeing's 27mm. advanced gun for its Joint Strike Fighter design, the same weapon Boeing is using in its proposal. The gun is based on the BK27 built by Mauser-Werke Oberndorf of Germany. The Lockheed Martin decision means it will design the area where the gun will be housed around the Boeing weapon. However, Lockheed Martin hasn't made a firm commitment to use the gun in production, and could switch suppliers later.
The Pentagon's Inspector General and the U.S. Marine Corps are at odds over whether some of the 22 deficiencies the V-22 Osprey experienced during operational evaluation are ``major.'' The Marines obtained a waiver for the shortcomings going into OpEval, which triggered the IG investigation. The finding isn't expected to slow the program. Marine Corps officials stress that none of the waivers are related to safety of flight.
