BAE Systems will restart production of radiation-hardened field-programmable gate arrays for use in space after a manufacturing hiatus since 2006. The Pentagon decided in 2001 to upgrade facilities for these parts at the company’s manufacturing plant in Manassas, Va. The semiconductors will be used on a host of military satellite systems as well as some commercial systems. They will be hardened against a dose of 300K rads (Si). The FPGAs will be produced under a licensing agreement with Actel Corp., a legacy producer of the semiconductors.
I find all of this hysteria to “do something” about “global warming” to be alarming (AW&ST June 25, p. 66). The primary goal of the environmental movement is socialism on an international scale, not environmental protection. There is too much data out there that does not support the hypothesis that we are suffering from human-induced global warming such as: •Most of the recently recorded temperature increases occurred before most of the rise in CO2 levels.
In his letter, former US Airways Master Executive Council member John A. Crocker blames the recent seniority arbitration award on the majority of pilots that voted to take wage and benefit reductions to save our airline. The award that was handed to US Airways is the result of a confusing policy by the Air Line Pilots Assn. that required 18 days of hearings before an 80-plus-year-old lawyer. This arbitrator ignored policies that said no pilot’s career is enhanced at the expense of another’s. Now it is up to ALPA to throw out the award.
Canadian carrier WestJet plans to log a $31.9-million non-cash write-down for the quarter ending June 30 as a result of “discontinuing” contract negotiations with Travelport subsidiary aiRES to power its reservation system. WestJet initially struck a deal with aiRES in 2005, but froze implementation earlier this year, and started talks to amend the contract. The two sides had hoped to reach a deal by the end of May. WestJet earlier this year reached an agreement with current reservation system supplier Navitaire to extend that contract to December 2008.
The Pentagon’s nominee to be the first chief of Africa Command, Gen. William E. Ward, if confirmed, will have his headquarters in Stuttgart, Germany. He is currently deputy commander of U.S. European Command. Africa Command will initially be a sub-unified command subordinate to European Command that is operational by October. It is then to become a separate unified command by the end of Fiscal 2008.
Virgin America has targeted 1 million seat sales for travel through next February as it opens twice-daily services from San Francisco International Airport to John F. Kennedy International in New York on Aug. 8. Twice-daily flights from SFO to Washington Dulles International Airport are to begin Sept. 26, and flights are expected to build from then on to include Las Vegas and nine other cities within a year. The startup will be flying Airbus A320s.
Healthy competition from low-cost carriers is impacting first- and business-class traffic in Europe, which was down 10.5% in May over May 2006, following an 8% decline in April, according to the International Air Transport Assn.’s Premium Traffic Monitor. Europe accounts for 28% of all international premium traffic. Without the European decline, the world’s premium traffic would have risen 4.1% in May; it grew 3.9% in April. However, when adding in Europe, premium traffic overall fell by 0.7%, the first decline in almost 2.5 years.
Your article on conformal radar arrays being prototyped (AW&ST June 25, p. 51) only scratches the surface of what such array technology might do, driven by the advances created for consumer goods such as cell phones and wireless computer networks.
Northrop Grumman has begun a seven-month, $2.5-million project to upgrade the B-2 to carry a new 30,000-lb. penetrator weapon that is designed to threaten an expanded set of hardened, deeply buried targets. This comes as new satellite images show a new tunnel complex being built at Iran’s Natanz nuclear facility. The Massive Ordnance Penetrator bomb, developed by Boeing, contains 5,300 lb. of explosives in a 20.5-ft. steel casing. The B-2, when modified, would carry two MOPs, one in each weapons bay.
The faces of two Southwest Airlines veterans will be absent from the airline’s management team after next May’s annual shareholders meeting. Executive Chairman Herb Kelleher, 76, a lawyer and founder of the 36-year-old low-cost carrier, spent five years in litigation that ended up in the U.S. Supreme Court before his vision of an LCC got off the ground. With a fleet of more than 500 aircraft, the Southwest business model irrevocably changed the airline industry, and it is now the U.S.’s largest domestic carrier.
Universal Technology Corp. has won a $24.9-million contract for collaborative research and development with the Air Force Research Laboratory through 2013. The idea is to evaluate new ideas, systems, devices and concepts for USAF that involve micro-electromechanical systems, nanotechnology, biotechnology, polymers, ceramics, composites and metallurgy.
Air Force Special Operations Command (Afsoc) is planning to buy a fleet of bombers to house its future gunship, breaking with a decades-old tradition of using C-130 transports to carry heavy fires into the sky.
Space Adventures has bought two more seats on upcoming Russian Soyuz flights to the International Space Station. The Vienna, Va.-based travel agency will sell the seats to space tourists, and expects to announce the candidates to fill them soon. The so-called “taxi seats” that are available when two ISS crewmembers are rotated in the three-seat vehicles reportedly have sold for $20-25 million. Space Adventures has purchased one seat on Soyuz TMA-13 in the fall of 2008, and one in the spring of 2009 on Soyuz TMA-14.
The ranks of special operations forces are increasing to handle the war on terrorism, and they are going to need a ride and some cover. Planners at Air Force Special Operations Command (Afsoc) headquarters here are trying to nail down just what the future requirements will be for special operations transports, gunships and vertical-lift aircraft.
EAA AirVenture is a unique place, where analog meets glass, ultralights ramp next to very light jets, and designers, builders and aviators share knowledge and nurture the seeds of aviation’s future. “Technology and innovation are at the core of what we do,” says Experimental Aircraft Assn. President and Chairman Tom Poberezny, who’s been the guiding hand at every show but one since 1976.
Does Capt. (ret.) John Crocker not realize that its pay, work rules, benefits and retirement costs had something to do with US Airways’ two bankruptcies, and the fact that it was static or shrinking for at least 15 years? US Airways could not continue to be the highest cost airline in a world of low-cost, low-fare airlines forever. America West was probably the only airline that would have considered buying all of US Airways, including its people. Where would the employees have been then?
The U.S. Air Force is laying the groundwork to declare its CV-22 operationally ready through a cooperative arrangement with the Marine Corps, which will make its first deployment to Iraq with the tiltrotor this summer. At least one pilot and maintainer from Air Force Special Operations Command (Afsoc) plan to accompany the Marines on the upcoming deployment. With multiple deadly accidents in its past, the Bell/Boeing program is clearly under close scrutiny.
Dassault Aviation is expanding its Little Rock, Ark., completion center. Plans call for 16,000 sq. ft. to be added, bringing total space to 827,000 sq. ft. Upgrades will include a four-bay EPA-approved paint area, more space for warehouse and storage, and new engineering facilities. The $20-million project is scheduled to be completed early in 2008.
Cruise missile defenses and the proliferation of advanced strike aircraft that carry them are becoming a hot topic. Lockheed Martin is demonstrating that its Patriot can handle those threats as well as traditional ballistic missiles by using a PAC-3 missile to destroy a “low-flying, air-breathing target.” What the Patriot still needs is a view of approaching aircraft and cruise missiles that are over the ground-based, radar horizon. The plan is to link Patriot sensors with airborne sensors.
I am very sad about Robin Olds’s passing (AW&ST July 2, p. 20). His exploits and accomplishments marked him as another American hero and legend. I knew him not from any active-duty engagements but during his retirement years. At many Air Force base functions, be they air shows or training events, Robin would often be among us. As the day would stretch into the evening, he invariably would be engaged in conversation with the troops, sometimes reverently quiet and sometimes boisterous and loud. But he was always with the squadron.
The Defense Spectrum Relocation Management Activity has been established to oversee relocation of Defense Dept. systems to new frequency bands, an effort to be paid for by the department’s advanced wireless service auction. The DSRMA will coordinate the transition out of the affected band of 1710-1755 MHz. It will also try to coordinate and mediate problems while both department and the wireless industry are sharing the same frequencies.
India has completed the design for a new cruise missile, which will have a 1,000-km. (625-mi.) range and operate at Mach 0.70. Called the Nirbhay, the missile is to have its first technology demonstration flight at the end of 2009, says Avinash Chander, director of the Defense Research Development Organization’s Advanced Systems Laboratory in Hyderabad. While the missile is being developed in-house, ASL is seeking a partner for the motor.
Lufthansa plans to shift its Moscow flight operations to Domodedovo International airport from Sheremetyevo as early as next summer. The carrier, which signed a memorandum of understanding with the airport on July 11, will be operating under the same roof with other Star Alliance members including Swiss, Austrian Airlines, BMI, Singapore, Spanair and Thai Airways. Domodedovo continues to build domestic and international services with an eye to becoming a major hub.
MT Aerospace, part of Germany’s OHB Technology, wants to lead an investment group to buy two Airbus facilities EADS is looking to unload as part of the Power8 restructuring program. It would go after Varel and Nordenham, management says. It would provide the German government with a national solution to the sale, with other likely bidders coming from overseas, including Spirit AeroSystems and an Israel-based investment company.
