Rep. Dave Weldon (R-Fla.) yesterday called for a reassessment of U.S. technology policy towards China and Russia. Speaking at the Association of Old Crows Forecast to Industry Conference in Arlington, Va., Weldon said there is an urgent need for a reevaluation of U.S.-China relations, citing reports that China has engaged in war game scenarios involving the elimination of America's space-based assets.
President Bush announced Tuesday he intends to nominate Victoria Clarke to be assistant secretary of defense for public affairs, and William James Haynes to be general counsel at the Dept. of Defense. Clarke is currently the general manager of the Washington office of Hill&Knowlton. She served as assistant U.S. trade representative for public affairs and private sector liaison from 1989 to 1992 and was press secretary for Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) from 1983 to 1989. She is a graduate of George Washington University.
Although Gen. James L. Jones, the Marine Corps' senior leader, believes a decade of studies have shown the V-22 tiltrotor Osprey to be the best solution to meet Marine Corps mission requirements, he said his service is not blinded by its love of it.
The Air Force should revive its original plan to buy 750 F-22 Raptors, according to House Armed Services Committee member Jim Gibbons (R-Nev.). In an "issue brief" released Tuesday by the congressional Electronic Warfare Working Group, Gibbons wrote that "arbitrary budget compromises" reduced the number of F-22s the Air Force plans to buy to 339. He said buying 750 would provide enough aircraft to have "the continuous enabling force every [unified commander in chief] requires without overtasking our airmen."
Airport Systems International Inc., a subsidiary of Kansas-based Elecsys Corp., has been awarded navigation aid contracts worth $2.4 million from Infraero in Brazil, the company announced. Infraero is a branch of the Brazilian government that manages and maintains commercial airports in the country. In the largest of the contracts, it will buy 10 navigation aid systems, and in the second it will buy one system for its international airport in Sao Paolo.
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is expected to revive talk of a supplemental military aid package for Israel when he meets with President Bush in Washington Tuesday, according to congressional and pro-Israel sources. "It's safe to say that it's going to be an issue for discussion," though the size, scope and fate of what Sharon will propose are unclear, a pro-Israel source told The DAILY yesterday.
NASA kicked off a series of seven planned flight tests of the X-40A experimental vehicle yesterday with a successful 74-second free flight at its Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif. "Everything went extremely well," said Alan Brown, a public affairs officer at Dryden. The engineless X-40A was carried to 15,000 ft. above ground level by an Army CH-47D Chinook helicopter, which did a few dry runs along the track before releasing the X-40A.
THE FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION issued an emergency airworthiness directive (AD) requiring inspections of the fan disks on BMW Rolls-Royce BR700 engines which it said was prompted by reports of cracks in several disks. It said the AD is "intended to detect cracks in the fan disk that could result in an uncontained engine failure and damage to the airplane."
After tallying its first financial loss, European launch giant Arianespace faces critical challenges in 2001 in order to regain its profitability and remain ahead of growing competition in the world's commercial launch market. Last year, for the first time in its 20-year history, the French-led consortium took a loss of more than $200 million. That setback came despite a record 12 commercial launches - all of them successful - in 2000.
Echoing recent advice from the Aerospace Safety Advisory Council, the NASA Advisory Council's space flight committee said NASA should plan on flying its Space Shuttle fleet for at least the next two decades, maybe beyond, and should consider spending accordingly to modernize it. Former Lockheed Martin executive vice president Thomas Young, who chaired the panel, said yesterday that NASA's plan to have a Shuttle replacement ready by around 2012 is "no longer realistic," especially since NASA just killed a possible follow-on, the X-33 (DAILY, March 2).
Two Senate Republicans said yesterday they plan to schedule hearings in response to Russia's announcement Monday that it plans to sell conventional weapons to Iran and help Tehran finish a nuclear power plant.
Disappointing revenues, International Space Station Alpha assembly delays, and the cooling of the U.S. economy have prompted Spacehab, Inc. to reorganize its Space Media, Inc. (SMI) subsidiary and cut back on employees. According to Director of Marketing Kimberly Campbell, the reductions in "key personnel," while significant, represent only 1% or less of Spacehab's total workforce.
BAE Systems Australia has jointed the Boeing Co.'s team of defense contractors that is offering the AH-64D Apache multi-role combat helicopter for the Australian Army's armed reconnaissance helicopter program. Australia Team Apache, as the Boeing-led team is named, is offering the system for Australia's helicopter program that is known as Air 87. The company said the AH-64D offers a low-risk, cost-effective and off-the-shelf solution for the program's needs.
With a second and final space walk behind it, the crew of Space Shuttle Discovery turns its attention this week to hauling five tons of supplies and experiments into the International Space Station Alpha. Rookie space walkers Paul Richards and Andy Thomas early Tuesday wrapped up a six-hour, 21-minute space walk in which they installed a stowage platform for space Station parts and completed the connection of several cables that were put in place by astronauts Jim Voss and Susan Helms during Discovery's first space walk on Sunday.
Boeing has invited the Japanese heavy industry companies Mitsubishi, Kawasaki and Fuji to participate in development and production of the Boeing 747X, Walter B. Gillette, the general manager for the program, told the press in Tokyo recently. Gillette said Boeing expects Mitsubishi to participate in developing and producing a new wing for the aircraft, and Kawasaki and Fuji will work on the program's fuselage and center wing. The companies could make up 20% of the work on the program.
U.S. Navy Commander David O. Zimmerman, commanding officer of Strike Fighter Squadron Three Seven (VFA-37), was the F/A-18 pilot who dropped three live Mark 82 gravity bombs that killed six servicemen at Udairi Test Range in Kuwait on Monday, the Pentagon said yesterday.
INVENTORY LOCATOR SERVICE INC. of Memphis has teamed with IHS Engineering of Denver to provide an electronic marketplace, allowing companies to find information on aviation and commercial marine parts and technical documents, including military and government procurement requirements. The information will be linked to ILS' BidQuest, which enables buyers to post their product or service needs, the companies announced yesterday.
A major European missile company, Matra BAe Dynamics (MBD), yesterday opened an office in a suburb of Washington, D.C., to serve as its "eyes and ears" in monitoring the U.S. aerospace industry and government requirements. "The idea is for MBD to understand the U.S. market," board chairman Mike Rouse told reporters in announcing the new office. "It will be a slow process."
Lockheed Martin Naval Electronics and Surveillance Systems-Tactical Systems has delivered the first P-3 Update II/II.5 aircraft fitted with Block Modification Upgrade Program (BMUP) enhancements to the U.S. Navy.
Astronomers believe new data from the Chandra X-ray Observatory provide proof that black holes of all sizes once ruled the universe, NASA announced yesterday. NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory provided the deepest X-ray images ever recorded, the space agency announced, giving a look at 12 billion years of black holes.
Lockheed Martin Corp. President and Chief Operating Officer Robert Stevens and former Undersecretary of State for Security Assistance, Science and Technology William Schneider Jr. have been appointed by Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott (R-Miss.) to the congressionally mandated Commission on the Future of the U.S. Aerospace Industry.
Japan's Maritime Safety Agency, its equivalent to the U.S. Coast Guard, is seeking longer-range jet aircraft for anti-piracy, stowaway and smuggling operations. The agency currently operates two Dassault Falcon 900s for the job, but said they cannot meet current requirements.
JAPAN'S CIVIL AVIATION BUREAU of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport has bought the second Bombardier BD-700-1A10 Global Express aircraft for high- and medium-altitude flight checks of navigation aids. The price was about $52.1 million, including an Aerodata flight check system, and the aircraft is to be delivered before December 2002. The bureau is already operating a similar aircraft for the same purpose.
Three panels at the Air Traffic Control Association's March 21 meeting will be looking at Federal Aviation Administration business practices and how the agency can facilitate the introduction of new technology and accelerate its modernization while at the same time increasing capacity and reducing delay.
Lockheed Martin Air Traffic Management said yesterday it will submit an unsolicited proposal to the FAA to provide an alternative to the Standard Terminal Automation Replacement System (STARS) and cited a report by the Transportation Department Office of Inspector General that STARS is nearly $500 million over budget and 3.5 years behind schedule.
