USAF Col. (ret.) Michael R. Gallagher (Hillsboro, Ore. )
The dark humor of the concept of adding a precision-guided capability to a nuclear bomb—with a yield of up to 10 times that of the Hiroshima bomb at a cost of $1.2 billion over the $10 billion just to keep the weapon in the inventory—could be the subject of a sequel to the movie “Dr. Strangelove” (AW&ST Aug. 6, p. 36). At a time when many people believe precision-guided conventional weapons have nearly rendered nuclear weapons obsolete relics of the Cold War—and with serious budget cuts just over horizon—there is no need for precision nukes.
Small backpack-carried UAVs with still cameras can create large-area, three-dimensional digital maps with better resolution than satellite imagery, and in far less time than traditional techniques. That is the lesson of a just-completed series of tests at a 13,000-ft.-elevation archaeological site in Peru—and researchers say the same technology could be used for crisis management and disaster relief.
The EADS X3 compound helicopter written about in “Show and Tell” (AW&ST July 30, p. 30) seems to be a promising design concept for a high-speed rotorcraft, but I hope the planners are setting their sights on the most important military rotorcraft priorities: payload and ground accessibility, agility, range, speed, mechanical simplicity and aerodynamic elegance.
“Mam” Puangthip Chotipantawanon (see photo) has been promoted to director of operations from events manager at the Pacific Asia Travel Association, Bangkok. She was senior manager of events management and developments at Queen Sirikit National Convention Center.
Bipartisan supporters of the so-called Cybersecurity Act in the Senate are exhaling after the bill was saved from a Republican-led filibuster. The bill could have died Aug. 3 if not for a procedural maneuver by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) that allows him to push it again after Congress returns from its August break.
Vince Northfield (see photo) has joined Pall Corp., Port Washington, N.Y., as president of Pall Aerospace and senior VP of Pall Corp., succeeding Jim Western, who will retire in October. Northfield was VP-global manufacturing of ESAB Welding and Cutting Products at Colfax Corp.
OLT Express Poland was forced to shut down earlier this month, after its parent, Plichta's Amber Gold finance company, could no longer afford to support the airline
Troy Dawson (see photo) has been named president of Boeing subsidiary Spectrolab, Sylmar, Calif., replacing Dave Lillington, who has retired after more than 28 years with the company. Dawson was director of satellite bus products at Boeing.
A botched Russian launch junked two multimillion-dollar satellites last week that were to provide Indonesia and Russia with telecommunication services, adding to a series of failures that have dogged its once-pioneering space industry. Reuters reported that Russia's space agency acknowledged the failure of the upper stage of the launcher atop its workhorse Proton rocket. The error after takeoff from the Russian-leased Baikonur launch pad in Kazakhstan replicates a mishap that scrapped the $265 million Express AM-4 satellite last summer.
Orbital Sciences Corp. says it is “two to three weeks” away from taking possession of the launch pad at Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport on Wallops Island, Va., which will give it the green light to complete preparations for the first demonstration flight of its Antares rocket. The first static test fire is slated for this month, with the first test flight on track for late September.
Alitalia doubled its losses in the first half of 2012 compared with the same period last year. But the Italian carrier believes it has reason for hope, although profits are likely to be elusive this year. CEO Andrea Ragnetti says it has been “one of the most difficult semesters in the European airline business ever, but the worst is behind us.”
The Pentagon has already begun deploying the Raytheon SM-3 Block IAs, optimized to intercept short- and-medium-range missiles, in Aegis ships patrolling abroad; Japan is also buying the weapon. Meanwhile, the test campaign for Aegis has shifted to the SM-3 Block IB, which will provide an improved seeker and propulsion/guidance system. SM-3 will eventually be added to land-based batteries, in accordance with President Barack Obama's Phased Adaptive Approach, to protect parts of Europe and, eventually, the U.S. East Coast.
Bell Helicopter's Bell 429 has received its airworthiness certificate from the Civil Aviation Administration of China, after CAAC 145 repair facility Kingwing General Aviation completed the model's first test flight and reassembly in that country. CAAC also approved Bell's 429 helicopter training program.
India says it is still negotiating with France's Dassault on the Medium Multirole Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) program. Dassault is expected to sign the Indian air force's biggest-ever contract, worth more than $15 billion, to supply 126 Rafale fighters. India intends to induct the first squadron of 18 MMRCAs into its air force by 2016.
Boeing's H-6U Unmanned Little Bird (ULB) has completed autonomous takeoffs and landings from a ship as the helicopter is readied for a French navy demonstration late this year.
Marshall Porterfield (see photo) has been named director of NASA's Space Life and Physical Sciences Research and Applications Div. for the next two to three years. He will take a leave of absence from Purdue University, where he is a tenured professor of agricultural and biological engineering and biomedical engineering.
The hair-raising 7-min. descent and high-precision landing of NASA's Curiosity rover on the surface of Mars last week (p. 24) provided a much-needed reinvigoration to a space agency that is struggling to stay relevant after last year's retirement of the space shuttle fleet.
The latest variant of Boeing's X-48 blended wing body (BWB) unmanned research aircraft flew for the first time from NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards AFB, Calif., on Aug. 7.
