LACK OF SUPPORT: Congress has no confidence in the arms control process or adherence to arms control treaties such as the 1972 ABM Treaty, says Rep. Curt Weldon, R-Pa., Weldon says Congress was not informed about two negotiated changes to the ABM Treaty in 1997. Instead, the previous Administration told the Russian Duma to ratify Start II and attach the changes to the START II Treaty, which Congress would then have to ratify or reject in whole. There were in fact 28 violations of arms control agreements by Russia and China between 1992-2000, Weldon says.
EMBRAER's ERJ 145 XR has conducted its first flight, according to the Brazilian aircraft maker. The commercial aircraft features a reinforced fuselage and wings to allow a higher takeoff weight compared with other members of the Embraer 145 family. It also has increased fuel capacity and its Rolls-Royce AE 3007 A1E engines produce 8,100 lbs. thrust, a 7 percent increase. The ERJ 145 XR will undergo a test and evaluation period of nearly a year. Certification is expected in June of 2002.
Harris Belman has been named vice president, for Business Development - Systems Integration within its Information&Electronic Systems Integration Sector.
MERGER BACKLASH? Congress has been on recess since before the European Union announced July 3 that it would block the merger of General Electric Co. and Honeywell International Inc. But if a recent letter by Sen. John "Jay" Rockefeller (D-W.Va.), chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee's aviation subcommittee, is any guide, lawmakers won't have warm and fuzzy things to say about U.S.-EU relations when they return to Washington the week of July 9.
EADS Sogerma Services and Thales Avionics have signed a contract to upgrade six C-130 military transport aircraft for a South American air force that was not identified. EADS Sogerma Services, a subsidiary of the European Aeronautics Defence and Space Co., is headquartered in Bordeaux, France and will be the prime contractor for the upgrade and maintenance. Thales Avionics, which provides avionics, electrical systems and cabin electronics, will provide its Topdeck avionics suite. The company is a subsidiary of Paris-based Thales.
TRIDENT CONVERSION: The 2002 defense budget's allotment of funds for converting Trident SSBNs (nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines) into SSGNs (nuclear-powered cruise missile submarines) is a "good news/bad news" situation, according to Michael Vickers, director of strategic studies at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments. "The good news is now you've got an SSGN program," says Vickers.
NASA PROGRAM: Rep. Mark Udall (D-Colo.), a member of the House Science Committee's space panel, wants local and state governments to have greater access to geospatial data from NASA, other federal agencies and commercial sources to help them manage growth. He has introduced a bill that would authorize NASA to award $15 million in grants a year for pilot projects that integrate geospatial information sources for use by state, regional, local and tribal agencies.
HEARING MANIA: Congress will be filled with a host of high-level military officials the week of July 9 for hearings that could shed light on the Bush Administration's defense plans. Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz and Lt. Gen. Ronald Kadish, director of the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization, will testify on ballistic missile defense policies and programs before the Senate Armed Services Committee, an event that could be filled with fireworks due to deep partisan divisions over missile defense.
Mark Tucker has been appointed vice president - Program Operations. Robert P. Iorizzo has been appointed president of the company's Electronic Sensors and Systems Sector.
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is currently developing aerial vehicles no larger than one foot in any dimension that could eliminate the need for human scouts to locate and identify enemy troops. Organic Air Vehicles (OAVs) could carry a variety of sensors, including infrared or electro-optic devices, to detect vehicles or individual soldiers. They could also perform covert imaging in confined urban areas as well as biological and chemical agent detection, tagging and targeting, and battle damage assessment.
Australia is committed to working with the Bush Administration on missile defense, partly because its forces could gain access to some of the technology involved, Defence Minister Peter Reith said in a recent speech. "From our role in early warning through to our objectives in intelligence and surveillance and ... the protection of our own forces, I am not prepared to limit or foreclose our access to, or benefits from, missile defense technology," Reith said at an Australia/New Zealand/U.S. defense alliance conference in Sydney last week.
AL Wyatt has been appointed vice president of Operations. Alexis Livanos has been appointed executive vice president of and second -in-command, reporting directly to BSS president Randy Brinkley.
Patrick T. Doyle has been named treasurer of Hughes and will retain his existing responsibilities as corporate vice president, controller and chief accounting officer.
BE PREPARED: Next time the U.S. Army is called into action, it will be ready to deploy the next generation of the Patriot missile defense system, says Lt. General Joseph Cosumano Jr., commander of the U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command. Cosumano, who appeared at the Valley Forge conference, says the Army is sending a brigade of troops to Colorado Springs to be trained in the operation of the PAC-3 missile defense system, a modification of the PAC-2 system used in Desert Storm. "It will take a few years to deploy that system." Cosumano says.
United Industrial Corporation recently announced the appointment of Paul J. Hoeper and Maurice P. Ranc to the Board of Directors of its AAI subsidiary.
Eurocopter's EC 635, the military version of the company's light twin-engine EC 135, has completed its initial firing trials, the company announced July 5. Test pilots and engineers verified the weapons systems that had to be qualified for Portugal, the EC 635's launch customer, which has ordered nine of the helicopters. The trials lasted two weeks in May and were performed on the NATO Heichteren firing range.
HUMANS NEEDED: Maj. Mark Draper, program manager for the Air Force Research Lab's SIRUS (Synthetic Interface Research for UAV Systems) facility (DAILY, June 1), says the role of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in future combat will expand "to a much greater extent than they are today, certainly." But even if unmanned systems do one day take human combatants out of the field, "the human cannot be taken out of the battle," says Draper. "We need to keep his creativity, his ability to think on his feet, find creative solutions, and insight.
CAE of Toronto has received $40 million in flight simulator work from Japan Airlines (JAL) and SAS Flight Academy of Stockholm, Sweden, the company announced July 5. JAL has ordered two full flight simulators and SAS Flight Academy ordered a major upgrade to its Airbus A320-200 full flight simulator. The JAL simulators will train pilots on the Boeing 767-300ER and the Boeing 777-200ER, and both will be installed in JAL's training facilities in Tokyo.
