Space Shuttle Endeavour will deliver three commercial experiments to the International Space Station Alpha as well as delivering the station's next-generation robotic arm, according to NASA. Endeavour is scheduled for liftoff on April 19 carrying the Space Station Remote Manipulator System, known as the Canadarm2, (DAILY, April 9, 17) but it will also bring along the second Italian-built logistics module, named Raffaello.
Chinese F-8 fighter jets that intercept U.S. Navy EP-3Es likely carry Chinese-made PL-9 missiles based on 20-year old Israeli technology, sources tell The DAILY. Videotaped footage and photos of the F-8s aggressively maneuvering around an EP-3E show the F-8 was carrying a missile that resembles an Israel Python-3. However, according to several sources, China now makes its own version of the short-range air-to-air Python-3, called the PL-9, based on Israeli technology. Israel sale of Python-3 to China
Spar Aerospace Limited of Toronto has been awarded a contract by Canada's Department of National Defence (DND) to prototype a CC-130 Hercules aircraft to incorporate improvements to its structure and electrical system, the company announced April 17. The program is a continuation of several DND initiatives intended to sustain Canada's CC-130 fleet throughout its operational life.
The U.S. Air Force's Global Hawk unmanned aerial vehicle will attempt to set an aviation record on Sunday, April 22, when it attempts to cross the Pacific Ocean, flying non-stop from Edwards AFB, Calif., to Edinburg Air Base in Australia. If the flight is successful, it would be the first time than an unmanned, powered aircraft will have crossed the world's largest ocean, the Air Force Flight Test Center of Edwards AFB announced April 17.
The new European Aeronautic Defense and Space Company office in Washington, DC, will handle strategy and provide direction for the multinational company's subsidiaries in the United States in a drive to achieve rapid growth. "We have a rather large presence in the U.S.," Chief Executive Officer Philippe Camus said April 17 in announcing the opening of the office. Currently, EADS has more than a dozen subsidiaries in the U.S. employing more than 1,500 people, and pumps at least $4 billion dollars into the U.S. economy each year.
CACI International of Arlington, Va., has been awarded a five-year, $8.5 million delivery order contract by the Air Force Research Laboratory, Sensors Directorate at Wright Patterson AFB, Ohio. The Integrated Electronic Warfare Threat Environment Applications Research contract helps the research laboratory's evolve advanced electronic warfare technology.
Concerned that certain stainless steel flight control cable terminals could crack on thousands of small airplanes, the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board urged the Federal Aviation Administration to require repetitive inspections of older Cessna and Piper aircraft for evidence of damage. The safety board also asked FAA to find out what other aircraft may contain the subject flight control cable terminals and require inspections on those aircraft too, Aerospace Daily affiliate AviationNow.com reported.
U.S. and Chinese negotiators will be carrying very different agendas when they sit down April 18 to begin tense talks in Beijing over whether and how the U.S. will get its stranded EP-3E Aries II reconnaissance plane back from Hainan Island. According to the terms of a U.S. diplomatic letter to China that won the crew's release last week, the talks were supposed to be about the plane, its return, its April 1 collision with an F-8 fighter, and ways to avoid any more such incidents.
Lockheed Martin's "Sniper" targeting pod, contending for the U.S. Air Force's Advanced Targeting Pod acquisition, continued to track targets and presented a stable image during a four-minute, Mach 1.12 "speed-soak" in recent testing, program officials report. Shock waves from the inlet-mounted, wedge-shaped pod didn't interfere with the F-16 test aircraft's engine operation, nor did they degrade infrared and visible-light images presented on cockpit displays, Aerospace Daily affiliate AviationNow.com reported. Tracked B-52 bomber
The Federal Aviation Administration Technical Center is buying a United 747SP which it will use to test both ground-based and aircraft-based fuel tank inerting to remove flammable air and fuel mixtures, Aerospace Daily affiliate Aviation Daily reported.
NASA officials came to Danville Regional Airport April 17th to tout their new Small Aircraft Transportation System (SATS) program, and make the point that small airports like Danville's could benefit from SATS. The program, which is overseen by the NASA Langley Research Center in Hampton, Va., is intended to make greater use of the nation's 5,000 small airports to relieve congestion at the 400 major airports and make flying more accessible to people in small towns, suburbs, and rural areas.
Faced with mounting fourth-quarter losses and questions about its liquidity, Orbital Sciences Corp. has announced plans to sell 12.35 million shares of its MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates Ltd. subsidiary to a Canadian investment group for about $111 million.
THE BOEING CO.'s next-generation 737-900 earned type certification from the Federal Aviation Administration, the company announced April 17. Validation by Europe's Joint Aviation Authorities is expected by Friday, April 20, according to the company. The certification formally recognizes the 737-900 has passed the design and testing requirements mandated by the FAA and JAA, clearing the plane for passenger service.
The Senate Armed Services Committee has announced that it will hold a hearing April 24 to consider President George W. Bush's nomination of Dov Zakheim to be undersecretary of defense and comptroller.
The acting Secretary of the Navy has lambasted environmental groups for putting increasing pressure on the military, and simultaneously criticized public encroachment on land near bases and training ranges. "Every day, there is less and less free space on earth in which people may live," said acting Secretary of the Navy Robert B. Pirie, Jr. at the Navy League's annual exposition in Washington last week. "And it means the business of government will inevitably come into conflict with this dynamic."
Shareholders of the the BFGoodrich Co. approved its name change to Goodrich Corp. at the Charlotte, N.C.-based company's annual meeting, the company announced April 17. The approval means the company can make the change official on June 1 to highlight Goodrich's transformation from a manufacturer of rubber products, including tires, to its present incarnation as an aerospace and industrial company.
Howmet Corp., Winsted, Conn., and Walbar Engine Components, Chandler, Ariz., are being awarded a $12,811,465 firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery indefinite-quantity contract, to participate in a program to provide for up to 27,905 stage-one turbine blades applicable to the F110 engine on the B-1 aircraft. There were five firms solicited and three proposals received. Solicitation began December 2000; negotiations were completed March 2001. At this time, $3,062,115 of funds have been obligated to Howmet, and $3,088,433 have been obligated to Walbar.
Lockheed Martin Corp., Colorado Springs, Colo., is being awarded an $11,846,028 modification to a cost-plus-award fee contract, to provide for the Increment 1.1 of the Theater Battle Management Core Systems (TBMCS) new capabilities and changes to previously fielded TBMCS capabilities. The work is expected to be completed November 2001. At this time $6,272,112 of the funds have been obligated. Electronic Systems Center, Hanscom AFB, Mass. is the contracting activity (F19628-95/C-0143, P00302).
The Japanese government has begun a study aimed at loosening some of its restrictive space policies. So far, all space programs have been directed under the strict administration of the government. However, that administration has been criticized as being too expensive and inflexible, particularly after the country experienced launch failures in 1999 and 2000.
The crash of a Predator unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) on Oct. 23 in Kosovo, was the result of mechanical failure in the propeller control system, Air Combat Command (ACC) accident investigators said. The loss of propeller control "caused the propeller to reverse-pitch, which caused complete loss of thrust and an increase in drag resulting in a loss of aircraft control," an ACC spokesman told The DAILY.
Countdown clocks are ticking at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida toward Thursday's launch of space shuttle Endeavour and a crew of seven who will bring a Canadian-built robotic arm to the International Space Station. The 58-foot-long Canadarm2 is the largest part of a $900 million robotics system that is Canada's primary contribution to the $60 billion, 16-nation station, Aerospace Daily affiliate AviationNow.com reported.
Now that the Mir space station era is over, the Russian space community is looking for a new long-term program to provide comparable research and political opportunities. Some members of the space community consider the International Space Station to be insufficient to employ the country's space industry and maintain Russia's image as a space-pioneering nation.
LaBarge, Inc., of St. Louis, announced it was awarded a $1.5 million contract from the Raytheon Co.'s Missile Systems business unit of Tucson, Ariz., to provide Raytheon with cable assemblies for the Rolling Airframe Missile (RAM) Guided Missile Weapon System. Follow-on orders are expected, the company announced April 16. RAM is a lightweight, quick-reaction, ship self-defense missile developed and produced cooperatively by the United States and Germany. The LaBarge cables will be used in the RAM launch system.
Harris Corp.'s RF Communications Division, of Rochester, N.Y., has been awarded an $11 million contract from the U.S. Air Force's Electronics System Center, at Hanscom AFB, Mass., to equip its Tactical Air Control Party squadrons with Falcon II AN/PRC-117F multiband/multimission manpack radios. The TACPs will use the radios to request air support using satellite communications and to direct aircraft using the very high frequency and ultra high frequency mode.
U.S. aerospace giant Boeing - looking to extend its reach in Russia through space development, aircraft construction and air traffic management - is teaming with the Russian Aerospace Agency as its strategic partner on a number of projects. "We want to be the partner of choice in Russia," said Marta Newhart, a Boeing spokeswoman in Seal Beach, Calif. "We recognize that when you collaborate with others, it enhances what you've got."
