The Pentagon's decision to delay the next flight test of the National Missile Defense program is causing concern inside the Defense Dept. that program risk is being increased. The Defense Dept. delayed the next intercept attempt for the missile defense system (IFT-5) by two months, and a critical internal review of the program's maturity by a month. Fixing hardware after the NMD program failed to intercept its target in its last attempt on Jan. 18 caused the delay.
The process of winding down communications services, selling off company assets and completing plans for a phased deorbiting of 74 operational and spare satellites began last week for the Iridium system. The activities followed Iridium's notification of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York that the mobile satellite communications firm had not been able to find a qualified investor to acquire the assets of the company.
KLM Royal Dutch Airlines in the next few months is to cut 2,700 jobs, freeze capacity and terminate unprofitable routes in a far-ranging effort to reduce costs by an estimated $450 million per year. Overcapacity in key market segments, weak yields, high fuel prices and rising direct operating costs are endangering profitability in a highly-competitive market, according to the airline. In addition, KLM's ``near-merger'' with Alitalia has been affected seriously by the controversial restructuring of Milan's airports (AW&ST Mar. 13, p. 17).
Alaska Airlines has placed a base manager on administrative leave while it investigates complaints by mechanics who have said they were directed to perform work contrary to FAA regulations.
A 60-passenger version of China's Xian Y-7 twin-turboprop has been put into operation at Chang'an Airlines in Xian. Called the Xinzhou 60, and designated MA60, the 60-passenger aircraft is 24 meters (79 ft.) long, has a range of 1,600 km. (1,000 mi.) and can achieve speeds up to 504 kmh. (315 mph.), according to Chinese Vice Premier Wu Bangguo. Price is estimated to be 33% less than comparably sized foreign transports, he said.
XM Satellite Radio has concluded an agreement with Sextant/Harris joint venture LiveTV to deliver digital audio programs for LiveTV's inflight entertainment package. The 10-year agreement will permit airline passengers to receive up to 100 channels of live radio programming anywhere in the U.S. starting in 2001. LiveTV recently announced a similar deal with DirecTV, and Hughes affiliate and one of XM's strategic partners, that will provide up to 24 TV channels for in-flight use.
Aproposed network of television broadcasting satellites launched to serve the airline industry's growing appetite for inflight entertainment has moved a step forward with the signing of a contract to build the four-satellite system.
British-based low-cost airlines received a boost in the U.K.'s new budget, which calls for halving passenger taxes in economy-class to and from destinations in Europe, from 10 to five pounds ($15.70 to $7.85), as of Apr. 1, 2001. Low-cost carriers have complained that, with the rapid decline in fares due to increased competition, the 20-pound tax paid by passengers for a round-trip fare was often higher than the cost of the ticket itself. The duty paid by first- and business-class passengers traveling to destinations outside of Europe, however, will double to 40 pounds.
The recent Mars failures and the gee-what's-wrong reports that are still coming out have NASA chief Daniel S. Goldin reeling on the Hill--but fighting back.
The consolidation of Russian airlines and major elements of the aerospace industry will be a high priority for the country's new president, but opposition by the ``old guard'' in these companies will slow reform. In addition, Russian aviation design bureaus, manufacturing plants and airlines must embrace consolidation if Russian aerospace as a whole is to survive, sources said here.
More and more North Atlantic routes are being flown by twin-engine transports operating under Extended Twin-engine Operations (ETOPS) approvals. Long-range twins such as the Boeing 757/767/777 and Airbus A330 now operate more than 75% of North Atlantic flights by U.S. airlines, according to Boeing. The figure is 55% if flights over the same route by European carriers are factored in. As of last Dec. 31, Boeing's 777 twin had accumulated more than 100,000 ETOPS flights with only one diversion resulting from an inflight engine shutdown.
The U.S. Navy plans to modify its air-launched missiles to withstand the harsh underwing environment they are exposed to when flown on the F/A-18E/F. One of the concerns with the F/A-18E/F is that weapons are subjected to much greater strains on those aircraft than on the F/A-18C/D. Fins and support structures were damaged during flight testing. But rather than trying to fix the F/A-18E/F, the Navy has decided to make the missiles tougher, says Navy acquisition chief H. Lee Buchanan.
The slow pace of F-22 testing is raising concern within the Pentagon and Congress that could cause the Air Force problems getting approval to enter production of the stealth fighter. The Air Force encountered an unexpected broadside last week when the Pentagon's Director of Operational Testing, Philip E. Coyle, told a Senate subcommittee that ``the rate of progress [in testing] continues to slip.''
General Electric and Pratt&Whitney have accumulated about 70 test hours on their GP7000 core demonstrator since the engine went to test earlier this month at GE's Evendale, Ohio, facility. The test program, now aimed at performance evaluation and variable stator vane schedule optimization, is about one-third complete and should wrap up in late May/early June. The 70,000-lb.-thrust-class GP7000 is targeted at emerging transports such as the Airbus A3XX.
The European Commission has granted conditional approval to a proposed merger of the space activities of DaimlerChrysler Aerospace and Matra Marconi Space into a new company, Astrium, that will be the No. 3 space contractor. As part of a get-tough stance on mergers announced last autumn, the EC launched a full inquiry into the planned merger to ensure that the move would not lead to a dominant position in certain European markets (AW&ST Dec. 13, 1999, p. 30; Oct. 4, 1999, p. 42).
There's hardly an industry today that isn't undergoing an upheaval in how it deals with customers and partners, organizes itself or defines its essential purpose. Aerospace is right in the thick of this change, as manifested in companies' seeming rush to embrace electronic business. As this process continues to gather momentum in coming months, as it surely will, remember this name: Enigma Inc.
As much pressure as Raytheon is under to improve its sagging financial performance, the defense contractor probably would be feeling the heat even more if it weren't for the company's six-sigma initiative. Sigma is a measure of quality, with six sigma equivalent to a minuscule 3.4 defects per million. The company claims that the benefits directly attributable to its six-sigma effort last year are valued at more than $100 million, slightly above management's target, according to Robert W. Drewes, vice president of productivity.
ESA has released the entire database of the International Ultraviolet Explorer for unrestricted access to scientists around the world. The IUE archive contains more than 110,000 spectra from observations that in most cases cannot be replicated. The archive will be available through a special distribution system, INES (IUE Newly Extracted Spectra), either through 17 non-ESA national hosts or directly from the Laboratory for Space Astrophysics and Theoretical Physics in Villafranca, Spain.
Cheryl D. Fells has been appointed vice president-organizational development and administration for the Brecksville, Ohio-based Performance Materials segment of the BFGoodrich Co. She was director of leadership and organizational effectiveness for the Rohm and Halls Co. of Philadelphia. Lynne M. Degand has become vice president-finance and business development for the Charlotte, N.C.-based Engineered Industrial Products segment of BFGoodrich. She was vice president-finance for the Quincy (Ill.) Compressor business of the Engineered Industrial Products segment.
Aerojet has completed a series of tests designed to optimize the low-speed segment of its air-breathing Strutjet engine's air-augmented rocket mode, a region where high thrust levels are critical. Conducted at the company's Sacramento, Calif., facility since early January, three tests explored multiple design refinements, cooling techniques and propellant mixture ratios. They were performed under a NASA contract that extends Strutjet rocket-based combined cycle engine development through 2001 (AW&ST July 5, 1999, p. 57).
Cynthia Halsey (see photos) has been named vice president-interior design and engineering and Craig Estep vice president-Aircraft Completion Center for the Cessna Aircraft Co., Wichita, Kan. Halsey was director of interior design and Estep director of assembly operations.
Just how much growth potential does China's air transport market have? In 1997, the latest year for which records are available, airlines in the world's most populous country enplaned only 2.8% of total world passengers and 1.1% of all those boarding international flights. Passenger numbers totaled only 7.4% of those carried by all U.S. airlines. Overall, the figures show Australia, with a population of around 17 million, has a larger aviation market than China.
Italy's Finmeccanica is expected to decide shortly between rival offerings submitted by BAE Systems and European Aeronautic and Defense Space Co. partners to form a military aircraft-driven joint venture with its Alenia Aerospazio subsidiary, the next major step in the fast-moving consolidation process in Europe. The Italian company is determining whether to cast its lot with the two major industrial groupings which have now emerged in Europe, each still in the midst of rationalizing their own operations along differing philosophical lines:
The U.S. Army has replaced all of its Patriot PAC-2 missiles kept in ready-to-fire status after finding that components, including the radio-frequency downlink, were deteriorating below specification. The degradation affects missiles maintained in the higher alert posture, which are heated and under power. The root cause for the problem is still being investigated. The missiles were replaced within about a week with PAC-2s from storage. Foreign Patriot owners were notified of the problem, but only after the U.S. replaced its missiles.
