A U.S. army contract to begin developing the initial phase for a truck-mounted laser weapons system that destroys rockets, artillery shells and mortar rounds has been awarded to Boeing. The company will develop and complete a preliminary design of a rugged beam control system on a Heavy Expanded Mobility Tactical Truck under the High-Energy Laser Technology Demonstration phase I contract.
Charles Bergman has been named executive director of the NGATS Institute of the National Center for Advanced Technologies , Arlington, Va. He has been special assistant for industry affairs of the Joint Planning and Development Office, which is guiding development of NGATS (Next Generation Air Transportation System).
Lessons from the delayed Italian and Japanese KC-767 deliveries are leading Boeing to build a tanker for the U.S. Air Force through what company officials say will be a simplified manufacturing process.
Northrop Grumman’s takeover of leading-edge aerospace design company Scaled Composites was so low on Wall Street’s radar that not a single analyst even raised a question over the acquisition at a July 24 financial-results conference, just four days after the news first broke.
John Graber has been appointed chief operating officer of ABX Air Inc. , Wilmington, Ohio. He was president/general manager of the AAR Corp.’s Aircraft Services Indianapolis.
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) is gearing up to launch the most complex mission to the Moon in decades, the first in an international constellation of lunar orbiters. Despite a last-minute glitch, the SELenological and ENgineering Explorer (Selene) spacecraft is scheduled to launch this fall on a voyage of discovery that will send it skimming the lunar surface at an altitude of about 60 mi. for at least a year.
ORBITER: Endeavour (OV-105) will be making its 20th flight—its first since November 2002. LAUNCH DATE: Aug. 7 from Kennedy Space Center pad 39A, if range is clear after launch of NASA’s Mars Phoenix mission set for Aug. 3.
Jinya Chen has been named Beijing-based Asia-Pacific president of Alcoa . He succeeds Lloyd Jones, who plans to retire. Chen has been Asia-Pacific director for electronic and safety for the Delphi Corp.
I really enjoyed the ion propulsion article “Blue Light Special” (AW&ST July 2, p. 56). The feasibility of ion propulsion was first presented at the IRE annual convention in 1953 by Francis J. Murray, a professor of mathematics at Columbia University. He and I were on an American Airlines Convair from Boston to New York that encountered serious turbulence. In an effort to relax him, I said, “These things will never be practical until we find a way of keeping them up here without using the air.”
Philip Cory has been named vice president/senior director and Kevin Bonner director of engineering of General Dynamics Robotic Systems , Westminster, Md. Cory was program director for the U.S. Army’s Future Combat Systems Autonomous Navigation System, while Bonner was program director for Future Force Warrior. He succeeds Mark Del Giorno. who is now chief scientist.
Like BAE Systems, Thales and other European aerospace and defense heavyweights, Safran is bent on establishing a strong beachhead in the lucrative U.S. market. And leading the charge is Labinal, its wiring systems unit.
Three weeks after rolling out the 787 Dreamliner to great global fanfare, Boeing is planning to spend several hundred million more dollars to ensure it stays on schedule for first commercial delivery next spring.
Star Alliance members All Nippon Airways (ANA) and Singapore Airlines (SIA) are seeking government approval of an expansion of their code-sharing arrangement to cover destinations in South Asia, Africa, North America and Japan as of Sept. 1. The two already code-share on 36 flights. The new arrangement would add daily services from ANA for flights from Tokyo to Chicago, New York and Washington, and seven Japanese domestic destinations. SIA would contribute flights to Jakarta, Johannesburg, Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore and Chennai.
The European Union rejected as “absurd” U.S. claims that Airbus has received $205 billion in public subsidies. The claims were submitted to the World Trade Organization, which began hearings on alleged illegal financing for Airbus and Boeing on July 6. The EU countered that if the same methodology were to be applied to tax breaks, development funding and grants from the federal, state and local aid in the U.S., subsidies for Boeing would total $305 billion, not the $23-billion figure challenged by the EU.
U.S. major airlines are exploiting burgeoning international markets while shrinking domestic capacity, leading to higher profits in the second quarter. Of the network airlines that released their results last week—UAL Corp., US Airways Group and Alaska Air Group—UAL Corp., which blamed domestic overcapacity for part of its $152-million net loss in the first quarter, was best able to shift resources to international markets and cut costs, leading to a $274-million net income during the second quarter.
Sikorsky Aircraft Corp. has delivered the first S-92 helicopter to China. Eastern General Aviation Corp. recently took the aircraft along with two S-76C++s. The helicopters will be used for offshore oil operations as part of EGAC’s intention to expand its business with China National Offshore Oil Corp and ConocoPhillips China. The aircraft are upgrades for EGAC’s current fleet of S-76A++s.
House Science space and aeronautics subcommittee chief Mark Udall (D-Colo.) wants Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) to question James Nussle about his views on NASA’s budget during Nussle’s hearing for confirmation as the next director of the White House Office of Management and Budget. “I am concerned about the growing mismatch between the resources being provided to NASA by the administration and the tasks that NASA is asked to carry out,” Udall says in a letter to Conrad. “If Mr.
To maximize Phoenix launch chances, Jet Propulsion Laboratory and United Launch Alliance have developed dozens of possible Delta II launch trajectories to Mars. They equate to two per day for the 21 days of launch window to the planet. Liftoff Aug. 3 is planned for either 5:35 a.m. EDT on a 93-deg. azimuth or 6:11 a.m. EDT on a 99-deg. trajectory.
The Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) around Washington will be reduced in size and simplified on Aug. 30, according to FAA Administrator Marion Blakey. Speaking at the Experimental Aircraft Assn.’s AirVenture in Oshkosh, Wis., she said the ADIZ currently is an irregular shape that will be changed into a clean circle with a 30-naut.-mi. dia. centered on Washington. The ADIZ will be managed by four stand-alone air traffic control positions at the Potomac Terminal Radar Approach Control (TRACON). “Now, we’re freeing up 33 major general aviation airports and 1,800 sq.
The National Business Aviation Assn., however, maintains that the FAA doesn’t show any bias toward bizjets at Teterboro, which is one the busiest U.S. airports for corporate aviation.
Continental Airlines and Virgin Atlantic Airways asked the U.S. Transportation Dept. to renew their transatlantic code-share agreement and expand it, effective Mar. 30, 2008, to include any point in the European Common Aviation Area, not only U.K. regional airports. The change reflects the first-stage open skies pact between the U.S. and the European Union, and Continental’s status as an airline that no longer will be barred from operating between the U.S. and London Heathrow Airport.
A nearly $16-billion hike in Britain’s military budget will ensure financing for two new aircraft carriers and continued support for the country’s nuclear deterrent.
Earthbound radar operators will spend the next 300+ days tracking a 1,400-lb. ammonia reservoir the size of a refrigerator after spacewalkers Fyodor Yurchikhin and Clay Anderson heaved it away from the ISS July 23. With Expedition 15 flight engineer Oleg Kotov at the controls of the station’s Canadian-built robotic arm—the first Russian to operate the system—Anderson grasped the reservoir after Yurchikhin disconnected it, rode the arm to a point below the station and pushed it off like a basketball.
Classified programs may account for $31.9 billion of the Defense Dept.’s Fiscal 2008 acquisition budget request, according to calculations by the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessment. That’s about 18% of the total, or the cost of about six months of war in Iraq and Afghanistan. The breakdown is $14.4 billion for procurement and $17.5 billion for R&D. Analysts say the total is 1% less than in 2007 and 3% less than 2006, but they add that war-related funding isn’t included in the 2008 total yet. When it is, the amount will top the previous years.
Japan’s Selene lunar orbiter, the most complex spacecraft to visit the Moon since the Soviet Union’s Luna 24 successful sample return mission in 1976, is shown in this artist’s concept with one of the two 50-kg. piggyback microsatellites that will allow it to produce the first global lunar-gravity map. A quality control problem with the “daughter” satellites delayed Selene’s planned August launch until a September window.
