Surely the caption accompanying a photograph in “New World” ( AW&ST June 30, p. 53) should indicate that the aircraft is an Airbus A350, not the A340, as stated. (The reader is correct—Ed.)
As I read Bill Sweetman’s recent commentary “Hot Air” ( AW&ST May 26-June 2, p. 15), regarding the landing mat challenges for the F-35B vertical-landing aircraft, I wondered if a low-cost, low-tech solution to this problem is already on hand. Why not investigate the use of a mat that has tubes filled with water?
It is quite a telling experience to try and search for information about Rollin King on Southwest Airlines’ website. In the “Officers” category of the company’s official online history presentation, King is only mentioned once: “Rollin W. King, a founder and former president of Southwest Airlines, has been named Vice Chairman and Chief Executive of Panama Air International” (Nov. 26, 1991).
It is fascinating to me how many organizations, contracts, people, studies, tests and reports (to say nothing of various journalists) have climbed on the bandwagon of “What will the F-35B exhaust do to a ship’s deck during a vertical landing?” Perhaps nobody in charge of paying for all this has noticed that the rubber tires on the wheels can handle such landings just fine.
Something does not add up with reader Bill Johnson’s letter and accompanying photograph ( AW&ST June 16, p. 9) about his memory of Lufthansa Boeing 747 training in 1971 and the photo of D-ABYC. The photo is of a Boeing 747-8, which was manufactured in 2012 so could not have been the aircraft Johnson saw in 1971. I am curious as to whether Lufthansa reused the registration D-ABYC on two different aircraft. Can anyone shed light on this?
The three-article coverage of Space Solar Power ( AW&ST June 9, pp. 42-45) highlights a bigger problem than just solving future electrical needs. Frank Morring, Jr., wrote about the potential to destroy severe hurricanes, fight global warming by eliminating green house gases, and save lives in combat zones.
NASA’s Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 cleared initial power and communications checkouts following a nominal liftoff aboard a United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket from a foggy Vandenberg AFB, California, early July 2. On its way to a 438-mi.-high, Sun-synchronous orbit, the satellite began a two-year, $468 million primary mission to assess carbon dioxide (CO 2) levels in the Earth’s atmosphere and the influence of greenhouse gases on climate change.
In “Computing Crunch” ( AW&ST May 19, p. 18), Graham Warwick points out that even with efficiency improvements, an exascale (1E18 flops) supercomputer is projected to require 20-200 megawatts or more. These numbers match power-generation figures for small modular reactors. Since a key factor is utilization, processing at or near capacity for extended periods, this operating load could be considered ideal for a dedicated nuclear power application.
Cyriel Kronenburg has become vice president-sales and marketing for Aireon, McLean, Virginia. He was global head of air traffic control matters for the International Air Transport Association and had been its head of government and infrastructure affairs for North America and the Caribbean.
Bill Toti has been appointed president of San Diego-based Cubic’s Mission Support Services segment. Toti also will be a senior vice president of the Cubic Corp. He was vice president/account executive for the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps Accounts for Hewlett-Packard Enterprise Services. Toti will succeed Jimmie Balentine, who is retiring but will remain as the segment's chairman.
Wayne Prender (see photo) has been named vice president of the Ground Control Technologies organization of Textron Systems’ Unmanned Systems, Hunt Valley, Maryland. He was program director within the small/medium-endurance unmanned aircraft systems group.
J ohn Rood has become vice president-domestic business development for the Lockheed Martin Corp. , Bethesda, Maryland. He succeeds John Ward , who plans to retire Aug. 1. Rood was vice president-U.S. business development for Raytheon.
July 14-20—Farnborough air show. www.farnborough.com/airshow-20124 July 16-18—Quantum Control User Group Annual Conference. San Diego. www.quegroup.camp7.org/events?eventId= 803805&EventViewMode=EventDetails July 19—Washington Island (Wisconsin) Lions Club’s 61st Annual Fly-In Whitefish Boil. Washington Island Airport. Call Gregg Gaura at 920-847-2070.
The U.S. Navy last month tested how radar-absorbing, carbon-fiber clouds can prevent a missile from detecting and striking its maritime target, Navy officials say. The Navy tested the manmade clouds, called maritime obscurant generator prototypes, to assess their tactical effectiveness for anti-ship missile defenses. The systems and tactics were tested off Guam under a variety of at-sea conditions using unidentified assets from the Army, Navy and Air Force to evaluate how the radar-absorbing, carbon-fiber clouds can protect naval assets as part of a layered defense, officials say.
The Iraqi defense ministry has taken delivery of 10-12 Sukhoi Su-25 ground-attack aircraft from Russia. The Su-25s are expected to become operational soon, but late last week, it was not clear exactly how many had been received or who will fly them. It is unlikely that Iraqi pilots will have had enough time to adapt to the type, although the Iraqi air force previously flew the model during Saddam Hussein’s rule.
The U.S. Navy awarded about $5.6 billion in aviation transactions at the end of June. Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems received a $3.6 billion modification to change the advanced acquisition contract for E-2D Advanced Hawkeyes to a multiyear, fixed-price-incentive-firm target contract. The contract modification further provides for procurement of 25 full-rate-production E-2Ds. Work is expected to be completed in August 2021. Meantime, Boeing received a $1.94 billion fixed-price-incentive-fee contract for full-rate production of 11 Lot 38 F/A-18E Super Hornets and 33 EA-18G Growlers.
