LAND VS. DITCH:While ditching a plane loaded with classified data and equipment into the ocean is an option for a pilot whose aircraft is in trouble, there is no DOD policy nor U.S. Navy policy to do so, according to the Pentagon. "It is the pilot's judgment call," one source tells The DAILY. That protocol may differ during war time, though, he says. In the case of the Navy EP-3E that made an emergency landing on Hainan Island, China, "It is not a hostile country. It is an international country," says the source.
Rockwell International Corp. filed a plan with the Securities and Exchange Commission in connection with the company's previously announced tax-free spin-off to shareholders of Rockwell Collins, the company's avionics and communications business. Under the terms of the spin-off, shareholders of Rockwell will receive shares in the new company on a one-for-one basis. The company will also apply to be listed on the New York Stock Exchange.
Flight controllers for the 2001 Mars Odyssey decided its favorable launch trajectory means they can postpone the first maneuver to fine-tune the spacecraft's flight path. All systems on the spacecraft are in excellent health, NASA announced April 12.
Managing big initiatives through integrated product teams (IPTs) hasn't worked as well for the U.S. defense community as it has for private industry, congressional auditors concluded, because most military IPTs lack either the expertise or the authority to do what IPTs do best - quickly recognizing problems and making speedy cross-cutting decisions.
UAVs KEY: UAVs could take up the slack for the Navy as it replaces its aging fleet of P-3 aircraft. "We need to replace this force," says Vice Admiral Edmund P. Giambastiani. Calling continuous cycles of P-3 repair and maintenance a "very expensive, very tough way to operate," he believes that high-endurance UAVs can pick up part of the surveillance and reconnaissance load as the aircraft are retired.
REVIEWS CONTINUE: The numerous ongoing strategy and program reviews being conducted by the Pentagon are "moving along very well," says Rumsfeld. But, they have "not been laced together yet," he says. While officially the Pentagon is not providing many more details of the reviews, what is known is that there are several reviews conducted separately which examine various strategies, specific programs and military capabilities. The service chiefs report the have had some input into the reviews. Rumsfeld says President Bush has not yet been briefed.
X-43 FLIGHTS: The first of three unpiloted X-43 vehicles in NASA's Hyper-X program will soon begin hypersonic flight from the space agency's Dryden Flight Research Center, Calif. They will be flying from seven to 10 times the speed of sound, using air-breathing scramjet engines instead of traditional rocket power. Briefings on the program are planned for this week.
The U.S. aerospace industry's international trade surplus plunged last year by $10.7 billion or 29 percent to $26.7 billion, as exports declined and imports set a record high, the Aerospace Industries Association said April 12. Exports fell $7.7 billion to $54.7 billion, while imports rose $2.8 billion to $27.9 billion. The 2000 surplus was down $14.3 billion from a peak of $41 billion in 1998 and was at its lowest level since it reached $26.6 billion in 1996.
CHINA POLICY: The Bush Administration should take a hard line with Beijing in upcoming talks on the recent collision between a U.S. reconnaissance aircraft and a Chinese fighter jet and the future of U.S. reconnaissance flights near China, according to House International Relations Committee ranking Democrat Tom Lantos (Calif.). "I trust the president will not cave to Chinese demands to stop the flights or take any other action that harms U.S. national security," Lantos says.
The U.S. Air Force and Lockheed Martin are exploring ways to resurrect NASA's futuristic X-33 reusable launch vehicle as a military plane and to secure roughly $14 million in bridge funding this year. The U.S. Air Force and Lockheed Martin are exploring ways to resurrect NASA's futuristic X-33 reusable launch vehicle as a military plane and to secure roughly $14 million in bridge funding this year.
TAKEOVER OPPOSITION: Three members of the Senate Armed Services Committee are urging President George W. Bush to block ASM Lithography (ASML) of the Netherlands from buying San Jose, Calif.-based Silicon Valley Group Inc. (SVG), whose subsidiary, Tinsley Laboratories, "has unique capabilities" to make precision optics for reconnaissance satellites, sensitive military applications, and semiconductor tools. In an April 10 letter, Sens. James Inhofe (R-Okla.), Tim Hutchinson (R-Ark.) and Bob Smith (R-N.H.) express doubt that U.S.
The final design review for the Navy's Fire Scout Vertical Takeoff and Landing Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (VTUAV) has been completed and hardware is now being built in anticipation of systems integration tests this summer. "Engineering and manufacturing development fabrication assembly is well-underway," said Doug Fronius, vice president of Advanced Development for Northrop Grumman's Unmanned Systems product team.
XM SATELLITE RADIO's first satellite, "Rock," has achieved several critical performance milestones and is moving toward its final orbital position. The company's second satellite, "Roll," is scheduled for launch May 7, according to the company. "We have a bird in the air and another bird ready to fly," said XM President and CEO Hugh Panero. "XM is on schedule for its summer rollout.
Maj. Gen. Joseph Cosumano received Senate confirmation last week to be commander of the Army's Space and Missile Defense Command (SMDC) after Sen. Bob Smith (R-N.H.) agreed to stop blocking the appointment because the Army reassured him about its commitment to the kinetic energy anti-satellite (KE-ASAT) program.
TRANSTECHNOLOGY CORP. of Liberty Corner, N.J., announced April 12 it will divest itself of its fastener business and become solely a manufacturer of niche aerospace products. The company said it is the world's leading manufacturer of rescue hoists, hooks and hold-open rods for commercial and military aircraft. The company has 14 manufacturing facilities in the U.S., Canada, England, Germany and Brazil.
Expedition Two crewmembers on the International Space Station Alpha transmitted the first science data to scientists on the ground Wednesday night using the station's Ku band antenna, NASA announced April 11. A "massive" 610 megabytes of data, representing 61 files of tests with the Middeck Active Control Experiment - MACE - were transmitted from the station to NASA ground controllers, who distributed it to experimenters, according to NASA.
GE's aircraft engine business helped power the corporation's record-breaking, 16% increase in first-quarter earnings, the Fairfield, Conn.-based company reported April 12.
OHB SYSTEM GMBH and ASTRIUM are working with the German federal government, the Land of Bremen and the German Aerospace Center in Cologne to develop a demonstrator for reusable space transport systems, as part of the national ASTRA program. "Development of PHOENIX will be the first step towards the realization of a European, reusable space transport system," said Josef Kind, member of the board of management of Astrium N.V.
New rules for operating aircraft over long distances are due out this summer from a Federal Aviation Administration-industry working group that would apply not just to twin-engine aircraft but also to multi-engine aircraft, Aerospace Daily affiliate Aviation Daily reported.
NASA has selected 27 research proposals for negotiation of Phase 2 contract awards for its Small Business Innovative Research program. The selected projects, which have a total value of about $16 million, will be conducted by 25 small, high-technology firms in 13 states. A total of 267 proposals were submitted by SBIR contractors completing Phase 1 projects. Phase 2 continues development of the most promising Phase 1 projects. Funding for Phase 2 contracts could be up to $600,000 for a two-year performance period.
NASA's Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, Ohio, has opened a new Reconfigurable Advanced Visualization Environment (RAVE) powered by a Silicon Graphics Onyx2 visualization system with an InfiniteReality3 graphics subsystem. The RAVE from Fakespace Systems, Inc., located in the Glenn Reconfigurable User Interface and Virtual Reality Exploration (GRUVE) laboratory, will allow NASA to explore computational fluid dynamics and structural analysis simulations in an immersive, collaborative environment.
A trend toward parity in spending on defense and non-defense research and development would be reversed in the Bush Administration's fiscal year 2002 budget, according to an analysis of R&D spending compiled by the Democratic staff of the House Science Committee. Research and development outlays as a percentage of discretionary spending in the Bush Administration's fiscal year 2002 budget will be 12.6%, a figure that has been relatively constant since the 1970s, according to the analysis.
SIRIUS SATELLITE RADIO annnounced that Agere Systems, formerly the Microelectronics Group of Lucent Technologies, has begun shipping to radio manufacturers samples of the eight chips developed for Sirius. The chipsets enable AM/FM/SAT radios to receive Sirius broadcasts. Commercial quantities of the qualified chipsets are expected to ship in the third quarter. Sirius plans to broadcast 100 channels of digital-quality radio from three satellites.
L-3 COMMUNICATIONS announced its EMP Systems division has received an award to supply an X-band satellite tracking antenna system to the Australian Surveying and Land Information Group (AUSLIG) for its Australian Centre for Remote Sensing (ACRES) ground station. EMP Systems will deliver this new antenna for installation at the ACRES Data Acquisition Facility located in the Australian Outback, near Alice Springs. Delivery is slated for December 2001.
