The sale of business jets will continue to decline over the next two years and then pick up near the middle of the decade, according to a recently released report from Forecast International/DMS. The report, entitled "The World Market for Business Jet Aircraft," projects that 8,199 business jets, worth nearly $135 million, will be produced between 2002 and 2011. Although the market is in a downturn following the boom that began in the mid-1990s, production should begin growing again in 2004, according to the report.
The Coast Guard, transportation security and countermeasures for weapons of mass destruction (WMD) would become part of a new Department of Homeland Security under a proposal unveiled by the Bush Administration June 6. The Coast Guard and transportation security would be part of the department's border and transportation security division. Biological, chemical, nuclear and radiological countermeasures, including science and technology development, would make up another division.
The House voted 397-25 on June 5 to pass a bill that would increase the National Science Foundation's budget by 15 percent a year for three years and set a goal to double the agency's funding in five years. The bill includes significant funding increases for nanotechnology research.
PRAGUE - Czech aircraft producer Aero Vodochody has revealed that its new L-159B two-seat jet is to go on public display for the first time next month. Two jets, one static and one airborne, will be shown at the Farnborough International 2002 air show in Great Britain in late July. The rollout ceremony will take place in the Czech Republic after Farnborough. The L-159B was airborne for the first time this week, flying for almost an hour and reaching an altitude of 11,000 meters (36,000 feet).
The Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) and Lockheed Martin have signed an agreement to cooperatively explore the feasibility of putting high-energy lasers on fighter aircraft, starting with the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF). Under a Cooperative Research And Development Agreement (CRADA) signed May 31, AFRL's Directed Energy Directorate and Lockheed Martin Aeronautics of Fort Worth, Texas will pool their resources to explore air-to-air lasers for the JSF, as well as other aircraft such as the F-15, F-16, and F-22.
Pessimistic statements made recently by senior Dassault Aviation officials about the company's military aircraft business should be taken as political posturing, according to analysts. Dassault spokesman Yves Robins was quoted by the Reuters news agency June 5 as saying the company would no longer compete for fighter aircraft contracts in South Korea.
The Advanced Space Propulsion Laboratory at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston has received an infusion of about $600,000 to avoid the immediate shutdown of a rocket program that could sharply cut the time it would take to travel to Mars, a NASA spokesman said June 5.
Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) invoked procedural rules June 5 to try to force a House vote on a nonbinding resolution calling on President Bush to seek congressional approval for his move to pull out of the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty. House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) is expected to decide as early as June 6 whether Kucinich has the right to have an immediate vote on his resolution. The U.S. withdrawal from the treaty, announced in December, is scheduled to take effect June 13.
Arianespace successfully launched an Intelsat 905 communications satellite on June 5 from Kourou, French Guiana. Arianespace has launched 60 percent of the Intelsat satellite fleet in operation today, making the telecommunications company Arianespace's largest customer.
The Department of Defense announced June 4 a set of reforms designed to make department operate more efficiently, including an initiative that would expand the ability of the Department to buy larger quantities of weapons within its budget without having to get approval from Congress.
The U.S. military tends to understate long-term costs for major weapon systems, a trend that could be particularly troublesome in the coming years because a large number of systems are slated to move into full-scale production, according to Franklin C. Spinney, an analyst in the Defense Department's Program Analysis and Evaluation office.
The Department of Defense notified Congress June 4 of potential foreign military sales of air traffic control radars to Taiwan and air-to-air missiles to Kuwait, according to the DOD's Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA).
TRW Inc. announced late June 4 it has registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission to prepare to spin off its automotive business. Plans call for each shareholder to receive one share of stock for the automotive business, to be called TRW Automotive Inc., for each share held in one of the company's remaining systems, space and electronics businesses. If pursued, the spin-off would occur by the end of the year, senior officials said.
NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft has extended the boom that carries the sensor head for its gamma ray spectrometer (GRS) - the instrument that recently detected large amounts of water ice under the martian surface. Engineers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, Calif., received confirmation from the spacecraft that the 20-foot boom had deployed successfully at noon Pacific time June 4. The extension of the boom represents the last major technical milestone for the spacecraft, according to NASA.
LAUNCH AT LAST: Shuttle Endeavour launched at 5:22 EDT June 5 on its mission to deliver a new crew to the International Space Station. The flight originally was scheduled to launch May 30, but was delayed first due to weather and then because of a faulty regulator valve.
The National Defense Industrial Association has launched an employment website for the defense industry, to connect defense contractors, government agencies and the Department of Defense with skilled workers.
The Defense Department's National Imagery and Mapping Agency (NIMA) probably will not enter into the type of exclusive commercial imagery agreements that were concluded with Space Imaging after Sept. 11, according to NIMA's head. Assured access, also known as "checkbook shutter control," would only be used on an "extremely limited basis," retired Air Force Lt. Gen. James Clapper, NIMA's director, told reporters June 4. "In the long-term, it has a chilling impact on the industry and those who might choose to invest in it," he said.
The V-22 Osprey had its second day of flight testing June 4, according to a program spokesman. The Osprey completed a short takeoff with a high rate of ascent in the test, according to Bob Leder, Bell's spokesman for the V-22 program. The Osprey completed a full conversion, and in its second pass, the V-22 flew in full airplane mode, he said. While only Bell-Boeing test pilots have been flying the V-22 in the first two days of tests, government pilots are expected to begin flying this week, Leder said.
Boeing's Rocketdyne Propulsion & Power unit could have a prototype of its RS-84 engine ready by 2006 if NASA gives it the go-ahead next year to proceed under the Space Launch Initiative (SLI) program. The engine is intended to generate more than one million pounds of thrust, which Rocketdyne engines have not done since the Apollo progrqam, and could be the first multimission booster to use oxygen-rich gases in combination with kerosene, the company said June 5.
SPARE PARTS: Pakistan has requested about $42 million worth of spare parts and equipment for its U.S.-produced military hardware, most of it for Lockheed Martin F-16s and C-130s, according to a spokesperson for the Pakistani Embassy in Washington. The departments of State, Defense, Treasury, and Commerce have signed off on the license applications, the spokesperson told The DAILY, and the licenses have been sent to Congress for approval.
NEW DIVISION: Avexus Inc., which provides maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) software products, has opened a Federal Systems Division to provide MRO products to defense agencies and other government agencies, the company announced June 4. The initiative will be led from Avexus' new office in Severna Park, Md.
AVEXUS, INC., San Diego, Calif. Tom Zlockie has been appointed to head the newly launched Federal Systems Division. AVIATION GENERAL, INC., Bethany, Okla. Matthew J. Goodman has been appointed president/COO of Commander Aircraft Company, a wholly owned subsidiary. CITIGATE GLOBAL, New York, N.Y. Edward J. Kuriansky, former commissioner of the New York City Department of Investigation, has joined the firm as senior managing director. COMPUTER SCIENCES CORP., Falls Church, Va.
ALCATEL SPACE has delivered the first Meteosat Second-Generation weather satellite (MSG1) to the launch site in Kourou, French Guiana. The satellite is slated to be launched in August for the European Space Agency. MSG1 is the first in a series of three higher-performance satellites developed by an Alcatel Space-led European industry team. The satellite is optimized for image acquisition from geostationary orbit, according to the Paris-based company. MSG1 has 12 imaging channels and will provide an image every 15 minutes in the visible, infrared and water vapor bands.
