With top Army officials saying that a Future Transport Rotorcraft (FTR) may no longer be an Army requirement, at least one senior Army official hinted that the Army may be interested in moving back into fixed-wing assets.
An article in The DAILY of Jan. 9 incorrectly stated the date of the first flight of Khrunichev's Proton-M with the Briz-M upper stage. It first launched April 7, 2001.
JSF WORK: EDO Corp. will design, develop and build a suite of pneumatic weapon delivery systems for the Joint Strike Fighter under a $24.8 million contract from Lockheed Martin Corp., the company announced Jan. 9. EDO will design and develop its Suspension and Release Equipment System at its Marine and Aircraft Systems in Amityville, N.Y.
HASC DEPARTURE: Rep. James Hansen (R-Utah), a senior member of the House Armed Services Committee, announced Jan. 8 that he will not seek re-election to the House in November. Hansen, 69, said it is "time to move on," since he will have served 42 years in public office, including 22 in the House, by the end of 2002.
The cost, schedule and performance of the Airborne Laser (ABL) are "undergoing an assessment" following a congressional increase of tens of millions of dollars in the Bush Administration's fiscal 2002 budget for the program, according to a statement issued by the Missile Defense Agency (MDA), formerly the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization.
NASA will increase its cooperation with the Department of Defense in developing technology and will beef up its aeronautics budget for fiscal 2003, new agency administrator Sean O'Keefe said Jan. 9. O'Keefe, only six days into the job when he met with reporters at NASA headquarters, said the agency will review the objectives of the International Space Station program before deciding the orbiting laboratory's final configuration.
Capping off two years of planning for aviation modernization, the Army will issue a memo Jan. 17 executing changes to its aviation battalions, according to Col. Stephen D. Mundt, director of aviation in the Army's Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff for Programs. "On the seventeenth [of January], not later, the execution memorandum will go out, and by detail, it will say which airframe is moving from which organization and when," Mundt said, speaking Jan. 7 at an Army aviation symposium sponsored by the Association of the U.S. Army.
Although virtually all of the third-generation reusable launch vehicle (RLV) concepts currently being considered by NASA rely on some form of combined-cycle propulsion to get to orbit, the space agency is still not insisting on single-stage vehicles. NASA's last big push on single-stage-to-orbit space transportation was the X-33 program, which was abandoned last year due to cost overruns and schedule slips (DAILY, Mar. 2, 2001). NASA and partner Lockheed Martin Corp. spent five years and nearly $1 billion on the ill-fated project.
The Royal Saudi air force, despite being one of the most advanced in the developing world, has lost its effectiveness since the Gulf War and may be incapable of stopping a ground attack from Iraq or a naval assault by Iran, according to a series of reports released Jan. 9 by the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
Aviation Week has welcomed the Air Transport Association of America as a partner in The Next Century of Flight, an education initiative to promote career opportunities in the global aviation and aerospace industry to young people around the world. The Next Century of Flight, which began in 1998, is dedicated to helping the aerospace industry capitalize on the upcoming 100th anniversary of powered flight in 2003, and position itself for the future.
Aviation Week has welcomed the Air Transport Association of America as a partner in The Next Century of Flight, an education initiative to promote career opportunities in the global aviation and aerospace industry to young people around the world. The Next Century of Flight, which began in 1998, is dedicated to helping the aerospace industry capitalize on the upcoming 100th anniversary of powered flight in 2003, and position itself for the future.
AIA, Washington, D.C. Marshall O. Larsen, president and COO, Aerospace, of the Goodrich Corp., has been named chairman of the board of governors. Vance D. Coffman, chairman and CEO of Lockheed Martin Corp., has been named vice chairman. John W. Douglas was re-elected president and CEO. George F. Copsey was re-elected secretary-treasurer. ALCATEL, Paris, France Pascale Sourisse has been named president and CEO of Alcatel Space and Alcatel Space Industries. ANALYTICAL GRAPHICS, INC., Malvern, Penn.
Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) plans to use his expertise in space policy and his membership on two key Senate committees to push the Defense Department to help NASA ease the financial burden it will face in carrying out the Space Launch Initiative, an aide told The DAILY Jan. 9. DOD currently has a minor role in the SLI, though the program is just getting underway, the aide said. Nelson believes DOD should commit to making a significant financial contribution to the initiative because the department stands to benefit from the program's efforts.
The Army National Guard has cut its aircraft fleet from 2,000 to 1,800 airframes during 2001 and has plans to cut the remaining fleet another one-third by 2007, according to National Guard Bureau Vice Chief Maj. Gen. Raymond Rees. "That 1,800 is going to go down to around 1,200 airframes, all of which will be modernized - no legacy systems left in the Guard," said Rees, speaking at an Army aviation symposium in Falls Church, Va. Jan. 8.
NASA will increase its cooperation with the Department of Defense in developing technology and will beef up its aeronautics budget for fiscal 2003, new agency administrator Sean O'Keefe said Jan. 9. O'Keefe, only six days into the job when he met with reporters at NASA headquarters, said the agency will review the objectives of the International Space Station program before deciding the orbiting laboratory's final configuration.
India's second experimental Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) will take off from Sriharikota, the Indian spaceport, "some time next year," said K. Kasturirangan, chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). "We are in the process of scheduling the launch. No date has been fixed," Kasturirangan said. "This is a part of [the] development program, so we have to plan and execute it as early as possible."
EDO Corp. will design, develop and build a suite of pneumatic weapon delivery systems for the Joint Strike Fighter under a $24.8 million contract from Lockheed Martin Corp., the company announced Jan. 9. EDO will design and develop its Suspension and Release Equipment System at its Marine and Aircraft Systems in Amityville, N.Y.
