Marine Corps special operations got off to a rocky start when the first company assigned to Afghanistan was told to leave by the theater commander after running into ambush. The corps’ special operations chief, Maj. Gen. Dennis Hejlik, says he reviewed the fight, and talked to the company as it came out of country, and he now believes its response to the initial ambush was correct and appropriate to the situation. However, the corps learned lessons.
This image of cliffs towering 2 km. at the north pole of Mars is a sample of the rich return from the European Space Agency’s Mars Express probe, which completed its 5,000th orbit of the red planet Nov. 23. Collected with the spacecraft’s High-Resolution Stereo Camera, the image is typical of its 3D color perspectives.
Russia may be in a position to begin refurbishing its air-launched strategic nuclear arsenal around the turn of the decade if it sustains the present pace of development and testing on a successor to the Kh-55 (AS-15 Kent) cruise missile. There is renewed impetus to the follow-on to the Kh-55—Tactical Missile Systems’ Kh-101/102—with increased funding apparently being provided to conclude the long-running program.
The U.S. Air Force’s next-generation bomber will be used to launch nuclear payloads—a requirement that will affect the design and cost of the program, says the service’s top civilian leader.
I liked Tom Tilden’s clear letter about the speed of sound (AW&ST Nov. 5, p. 8). Somewhere along the way, however, a minus sign escaped from the letter—390 Rankine is minus 69.7F, not (plus) 69.7F.
Glenn Curenton (see photo) has been appointed vice president of the Westar Aerospace and Defense Group ’s Ballistic Missile Defense System Div., Huntsville, Ala. He was a technical director with General Dynamics, supporting the U.S. Middle Defense Agency, and has been director of space and missile systems initiatives at Teledyne Brown Engineering.
USAF Gen. (ret.) Lester L. Lyles has been appointed to the board of directors of the Washington-based American Security Project . He also is a director of the General Dynamics Corp. and MTC Technologies Inc.
Although Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Sultan bin Abdul Aziz came away from a state visit to Russia without signing off on a long-expected arms deal, Russian press reports say a groundbreaking military cooperation framework agreement will be signed by year-end, along with an order for T-90 battle tanks. A purchase of Mi-17 transport helicopters is expected to follow next year (AW&ST Nov. 19, p. 39).
The C-130J is poised for strong growth, says Lockheed Martin Chief Financial Officer Bruce Tanner. Orders for four of the airlifters from Norway and another 17 for Canada are expected soon, possibly by year-end. India is in talks to buy six C-130Js, which are optimized for special operations, and Australia is also looking at buying up to four of the airlifters. Backlog is now at 40 orders.
A Raytheon-built Standard Missile-3 Block 1A boosts from the USS Lake Erie, an Aegis ballistic missile defense-equipped cruiser, during a first-of-a-kind Missile Defense Agency (MDA) flight test Nov. 6. This was the first attempt—and it was a success—to pit two separate SM-3 Block 1As, both launched from the Lake Erie, against two separate targets launched in rapid succession in the Pacific region. Targets for systems in development by MDA are set to become more complex, according to MDA Director USAF Lt. Gen. Henry (Trey) Obering (see p. 54). U.S. Navy photo.
Melissa Sabatine has been appointed vice president-regulatory affairs and Alexsis Horowitz director of communications for the Alexandria, Va.-based American Assn. of Airport Executives . Sabatine succeeds Thomas Zoeller, who who is now president of the National Air Carrier Assn. Horowitz was the FAA congressional relations liaison and a member of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee staff.
Aerospace and defense companies are poised for potential declines in spending as the war in Iraq continues to dominate the Pentagon’s budget. However, spending for now is looking good. Companies and military leaders also appear aware of the urgency to get major efforts—like the new refueling tanker program and extension of the F-22 production line—underway before the change of administration after next year’s elections. More than 300 investors heard these and other points at this year’s Aerospace & Defense Finance conference held Nov.
Hard on the heels of competitors Tiger Airways and Jeju Air, Korean Air will start a budget airline in May. Beginning with an unconventional fleet of three Airbus A300s and two Boeing 737s, it is planning to build the new business, tentatively called Air Korea, into Asia’s largest no-frills carrier. Singapore’s Tiger Airways said Nov. 5 it would start a franchise in South Korea, and local turboprop operator Jeju Air announced plans last month to step up to Boeing 737 no-frills operations. Like Incheon Tiger Airways, Air Korea will be based at Incheon airport near Seoul.
Northrop Grumman and Raytheon both won $160-million, 18-month contracts for risk-reduction work on the next-generation GPS operational control segment. This contract is separate from an ongoing competition between Boeing and Lockheed Martin to design GPS III satellites. The winner after the risk-reduction stands to land a $1-billion development contract.
After more than 20 years of development and frustration, the European Space Agency’s Columbus laboratory module is on the brink of its trip to the International Space Station. Senior NASA managers were expected to clear the space shuttle Atlantis for a mission to deliver ESA’s hardware during a Dec. 6-13 launch window. First opportunity for liftoff would be at about 4:31 p.m. EST Dec. 6.
David A. Fulghum (Washington ), Robert Wall (Paris)
The Israeli air force largely restricted its attacks on Lebanon during the 34-day war in 2006—with a policy of avoiding electrical power production and distribution—but then diluted the political effect by destroying fuel supplies needed to keep the electricity flowing.
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries will build a plant in Hanoi for making flaps for the Boeing 737 with a workforce that is planned to hit 200. The factory will begin production in 2009 and work toward an output of 10 shipsets of flaps a month by 2011.
Afghanistan’s air force is likely to see its fixed-wing transport capacity grow substantially under international plans to build up a tactical transport fleet of 18-24 aircraft starting around mid-2009.
Lori Hunt has been promoted to vice president-people from director for the Delta Connection in Salt Lake City for SkyWest Airlines . She succeeds Necia Clark-Mantle, who has resigned.
Despite several years of strong revenue growth, Finmeccanica believes it can add another €3 billion ($4.4 billion) to its sales figures by 2010 and strengthen its financial performance at the same time. Company CEO Pier Francesco Guarguaglini says revenues by 2010 should reach €16.5 billion, compared with €13.1-13.7 projected for this year.
Integration of the Taurus KEPD 350 cruise missile on Spanish EF-18 fighters is due to be completed in first-quarter 2008. The MBDA/Saab Bofors Dynamics joint venture has delivered the first two of the 250-km.-range-plus missiles to Spain, its first export customer. The handover, which took place early, says MBDA, marks the start of delivery of a total order of 43 weapons. Captive flight trials of the missile on EF-18s is underway.
The French military has been conducting trials with the Russian Mi-26T heavy-lift helicopter to assess needs for a future heavy-lift transport. After trials in Ukraine, Romania and Italy, the latest set of assessments involved an Mi-26T flying at the test center at Istres in southern France. The French armament agency (DGA) worked with the French army’s technical department to determine how such a vertical takeoff and landing system could support the future army. Planning efforts for the eventual heavy-lift transport program are supposed to progress next year.
A year after U.S. voters turned over Congress to the Democrats, Washington is girding for a political and constitutional showdown in December that could sock the federal government with weakened appropriations until the next President takes office.
Pakistan International Airlines and Surinam’s Blue Wing Airlines have been dropped from the European Union’s “blacklist” of dangerous carriers. Several other carriers are making progress toward coming off the list: TAAG Angola Airlines, Mahan Air of Iran and Ukrainian Mediterranean Airlines.
