A Japanese salvage team has succeeded in raising the Mitsubishi LE-7 first-stage engine from the Nov. 15 aborted H-2 launch. The liquid-fueled engine, which weighs 12 metric tons (26,400 lb.) in its original launch configuration, was located earlier this month by an unmanned submarine at a depth of 2,900 meters (9,500 ft.) about 235 mi. northwest of the Bonin Islands. The submarine later located what appears to be the LE-7's nozzle skirt, which is also to be raised. The engine will be inspected at the National Aerospace Laboratory in Tokyo.
If you believe the Internet will be ubiquitous (by now, who doesn't?), and that satellites will be essential to connecting users worldwide to the Web, then Gilat Satellite Networks Ltd. has got to be sitting awfully pretty.
Airsys ATM, the joint venture between Thomson-CSF and Siemens, will supply a new air traffic management system and facilities for the Irish Aviation Authority for 70 million euros ($70.18 million). The system is scheduled to be operational by 2003.
Mission Technologies Inc. of San Antonio, Tex., has completed initial flight testing of an upgraded, 100-lb. gross weight version of its Mini-Vanguard unmanned aerial vehicle. Called the Generation II Mini-Vanguard, the UAV has an 8-in. stretch for greater access to the payload and avionics bay, according to Tom Turner, a company director. The UAV is powered by a highly reliable, higher power density Desert Air 100 gasoline engine and will carry a 20-lb. payload on flights up to 3 hr. in length. Initial test results include a 215-ft.
First powered flight of NASA's X-34 reusable launch vehicle demonstrator has been set back several months to allow for additional integrated testing of the vehicle and its new 60,000-lb.-thrust Fastrac engine. Program officials had hoped to conduct the initial powered flight in August, but that milestone has been pushed back to late fall.
Randy Rademacher has become president of Comair Holdings Inc. and Comair. He succeeds David Siebenburgen, who also was president/CEO of Delta Connection. Rademacher was senior vice president-finance/chief financial officer. He has been succeeded by Brian McDonald, who was vice president/controller.
The Climactic Chambers of the U.S. Army Systems Center in Natick, Mass., are open to companies interested in testing the performance of equipment and clothing under brutal weather conditions. The facility can simulate worldwide weather conditions including arctic and tropic wind tunnels and has conditioning rooms with variable temperature and relative humidity capabilities. The lab also has an altitude chamber and can simulate up to 4 in. of rainfall per hour and winds up to 40 mph.
Embraer received an order for 36 50-passenger ERJ-145 regional jets and options for 64 more aircraft from Phoenix-based Mesa Air Group Inc. The options can be converted to 37-seat ERJ-135s. Deliveries will start by the end of the first quarter this year and continue through 2002. Mesa plans to put at least 28 regional jets into service on US Airways Express flights as part of a code-sharing agreement. Mesa currently operates 77 Raytheon Beechcraft 1900s, 22 Canadair Regional Jets and 12 Embraer EMB-120s.
Air France will acquire a 70% stake in Regional Airlines and 42% of Proteus Airlines. It also plans a five-year extension of its franchise agreement with Brit Air. Last year, the Britanny-based regional carried 937,000 passengers on thin routes and reported $1.2 billion in revenues. It recently acquired Flandre Air, another French regional. Lyons-based Proteus operates about 25 aircraft.
The financial and operational performance of Northrop Grumman and General Dynamics in 1999 and in the fourth quarter are a dramatic contrast with the flagging fortunes of Lockheed Martin and Raytheon (see p. 28). For the full year, Northrop Grumman reported record net income of $483 million, or $6.93 per share, up 149% before the cumulative effect of an accounting change. The company also generated a record $1.2 billion in cash from operations and reduced its net debt by $700 million, to $2.1 billion.
Space Imaging Inc. won the race to orbit the first high-resolution satellite system, but its Ikonos spacecraft likely won't have a monopoly for very long. Two competitors, Orbital Imaging Corp. (OrbImage) and Earthwatch Inc., are aiming to have 1-meter-resolution satellites of their own in space later this year. The plans have some industry observers questioning whether the promising but so far unproven market for high-resolution satellite imagery can sustain so many systems.
Fairchild Aerospace, which last year secured firm orders covering 178 regional twinjets, is aggressively attempting to dethrone Bombardier Aerospace to become the third biggest commercial transport manufacturer, behind Airbus Industrie and Boeing. According to company executives, Fairchild gradually will boost its combined production rate and deliver up to 22 aircraft per month by the end of 2005. Last year, it delivered 15 32-seat 328JETs.
Nick Tomassetti, president/chief operating officer of Airbus Industrie North America, Herndon, Va., will retire in March. He will be succeeded by Henri Coupron, senior vice president of sales and marketing.
On Dec. 22, a Korean Air Boeing 747-200F cargo aircraft crashed at nighttime shortly after takeoff from Stansted Airport north of London. The aircraft hit in a field close to houses and was destroyed, and all four crewmembers were killed. No one was injured on the ground. The U.K. Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) is in charge of the investigation, with Korean Air and Korean authorities providing assistance.The agency produced an informative special bulletin, which is reproduced verbatim below.
The European Telecommunications Satellite Organization, which this month ordered its 22nd satellite, plans to add seven Ku-band spacecraft to its fleet in the next two years to sustain the demand's robust growth. Eutelsat's New Bird, which will be manufactured by Alcatel Space, will be equipped with 26 Ku-band transponders switchable in three coverages--a widebeam over Europe, a beam covering the Americas and a steerable beam.
Tower Air and FotoTag have successfully completed FAA-observed operational tests of radio frequency identified (RFID) baggage tags. The FotoTag system was installed at Tower Air's New York JFK airport hub and used as part of regular passenger and bag processing on flights to Miami, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Paris and Tel Aviv. The technology employs tags with embedded RFID chips to track each checked bag as it is loaded into 747 containers, according to Yftahm Kalusky, the airline's director of security.
Pentagon acquisition chief Jacques Gansler has launched a major review of the Joint Strike Fighter acquisition strategy that is expected to lead the Defense Dept. to abandon its winner-take-all competition between Boeing- and Lockheed Martin-led teams. The Defense Dept. was planning to pick a single contractor to develop and build some 3,000 of the multirole aircraft. But there have been doubts since the inception of that plan whether the Pentagon would be willing to choose one company, leaving the other without a new major tactical aircraft program in sight.
Norway's Kongsberg Defense and Aerospace has signed a $22.8-million agreement with BAE Systems to manufacture carbon fiber rudders and flaperons for the Eurofighter.
NASA and Russian program managers for the International Space Station will meet in Moscow in early February to further narrow schedule options for launch of the delayed Russian Service Module to continue ISS assembly. Although the Service Module has been delayed by Proton launch vehicle return-to-flight issues in the wake of two failures, NASA managers still believe it is far better to continue with the SM than call up the NASA/Naval Research Laboratory Interim Control Module (ICM) backup.
The Galaxy XR satellite built by Hughes Space and Communications Co. for PanAmSat was launched successfully Jan. 24 on an Ariane 42L booster. The satellite, the 27th built by Hughes for PanAmSat, is shown (above) prior to delivery as it was being prepared for thermal testing at Hughes. The liftoff occurred at 10:04 p.m. from the Guiana Space Center, and initial tracking station passes indicated satellite systems were operating normally.
Kenneth Peters has beeen named director of aircraft modification at the Crestview (Fla.) Aerospace Corp. He was director of multiple aircraft modification and sustainment for the U.S. Air Force Air Mobility Command.
Costs to repair the electro-optical/infrared sensor payload damaged during landing of a Global Hawk unmanned aircraft in December are going to exceed $1 million. This classifies the incident as a Class A, or major, accident under USAF rules. Damage to the landing gear and air vehicle itself are considered minor. The Air Force hopes to complete its accident investigation by mid-February. All Global Hawk flying has been suspended until FAA reinstates the UAV's flight certification, which was pulled after the incident.
There are times when I have real difficulty following NASA's logic in setting priorities. For years, the agency has shortchanged research and development in aeronautics in favor of space and shuttle operations. But now the agency has really gone too far. While spending billions on the International Space Station with questionable short-term practical results, NASA officials have decided to shut down the aircraft icing research and training program at the John H. Glenn Research Center--all to save an estimated $300,000, a paltry sum by NASA standards.
NASA renewed attempts to contact the Mars Polar Lander a week after giving up on Jan. 17, based on faint signals detected in post-processing of data recorded several weeks earlier (AW&ST Jan. 24, p. 32). Engineers were poring through fresh receiver data late last week, looking for more conclusive evidence that the Jet Propulsion Laboratory/Lockheed Martin spacecraft may still be alive. Officials are cautiously optimistic that Mars Polar Lander (MPL) is operating and will continue attempts to contact it through this week.
The headlines read like a fairy tale of success: ``Airbus Beats Boeing in Jet Orders for First Time.'' ``How Airbus Could Rule the Skies.'' ``Boeing Is Seeing Its Lead Over Airbus Slip Away.''
