The Kennedy Space Center shuttle launch control center team and the STS-118 astronauts completed a practice countdown July 19 with the crew on board the orbiter Endeavour at Launch Complex 39A. The countdown ended with a simulated pad abort to exercise evacuation procedures.
The menacing AC-130H/U gunship most dramatically portrays the influence of Air Force Special Operations Command, but a more subtle side of its mission is now evolving to tackle the global war on terrorism.
The protoflight model of Europe’s Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) has left Rotterdam on board Toucan, the vessel used to transport Ariane rockets and large payloads to the European spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana. EADS Astrium says the 400-metric-ton shipment, which includes test equipment and rigs as well as the 20-ton ATV, comprises 49 20-ft. containers, four 40-ft. containers and 16 outsize units. It is due to arrive in Kourou on July 29, setting up a scheduled liftoff in late January.
Industry and government proponents are lining up behind a proposed treaty to obviate most export licenses over defense, intelligence and homeland security trade between the U.S. and the U.K. This stance is being taken despite the fact that the signed treaty’s structure is months away from its final form and Bush administration officials aren’t sharing many details until they can get a better read on Congress.
Two key U.S. officials have agreed to share a joint vision with the idea of improving interoperability between the Defense Dept. and intelligence community. John Grimes, assistant Defense secretary for networks and information integration and chief information officer, and USAF Maj. Gen. (ret.) Dale Meyerrose, associate director of national intelligence and chief information officer for the director of national intelligence, want to reinforce defense and intelligence collaboration and information-sharing by using commercial practices and standard web technologies.
NASA will pay Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne (PWR) a total of $1.2 billion through the end of 2012 to develop and deliver eight J2X rocket engines for the U.S. agency’s planned Ares family of launch vehicles. Sole-source contracts for backup test hardware and production rocket engines will be negotiated later. The company, which built the original J-2 engine that powered the Saturn V upper stages during the Apollo program of the 1960s, has been working on the engine under a sole-source letter contract since June 2006.
South Korea will increase its defense budget by 10% next year to 27 trillion won ($29.5 billion), some of which will be used to buy four Northrop Grumman Global Hawk surveillance unmanned aerial vehicles.
Thales Alenia Space is working on a new satellite bus family geared to Earth observation and mobile telecom needs. Although the company is vague on specifics, the 0.5-2-metric-ton line will draw on experience with the Proteus bus, developed by the French unit here in association with space agency CNES; the Prima bus, devised by the Italian side of the company in Turin with space agency ASI; and various subsystem improvements for the second-generation Globalstar mobile satellite communications system.
The time-honored adage, “a rising tide lifts all ships,” no doubt explains part of the reason for the continuing improvement in the aerospace/defense industry’s performance, as reflected in Aviation Week & Space Technology’s 2007 Top-Performing Companies (TPC) study. Between the consumption of war materiel in Iraq and Afghanistan and the brisk pace of business and commercial aircraft sales worldwide, it’s no wonder that original equipment manufacturers and many of their suppliers are seeing healthy growth in revenues and earnings.
A team of scientists led by Giovanna Tinetti, a European Space Agency fellow at the Institute of Astrophysics in Paris, has discovered the first presence of water vapor on an extrasolar planet. The discovery, using data from NASA’s Spitzer space telescope, was made by studying infrared bands as the planet HD 189733b passed in front of its parent star, located in the constellation Vulpecula.
Boeing says it will bid to build the Instrument Unit Avionics (IUA) element for NASA’s Ares I crew launch vehicle, drawing on expertise with the International Space Station and other government programs housed at its Huntsville Design Center in Alabama. The nearby Marshall Space Flight Center is designing the Ares I. Boeing expects to submit its bid on July 30.
France appears to have reconsidered its plans to block a $500-million-$1-billion radar/optical reconnaissance network intended for the Gulf Cooperation Council, changing its view that the technology needed to meet the system’s very high spatial resolution requirement is too sensitive for export. Thales Alenia Space officials say they are bidding a dual-sensor system for which the company’s Italian arm will supply the radar segment and its French unit the optical component.
As it celebrates its first year of observations, the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency’s (JAXA) Akari mission has revealed an all-sky infrared map showing clearly the disk of the Milky Way galaxy as a bright thin stripe running across the image. It is the first census of the IR sky since NASA’s 1983 Infrared Astronomical Satellite (IRAS) mission.
Airbus has put into operation a part of its radio-frequency identification program, and wants to expand trials in another area. After tracking delivery containers related to A380 final assembly in Hamburg, the aircraft maker realized RFIDs would allow it to cut the 750 containers spread over four floors by 8%, and it now has made that process part of its standard practice. Moreover, Airbus plans a new series of trials for so-called flyable RFID systems, to determine what savings they could yield in repairs, cargo tracking and configuration management.
CAE has signed an agreement to acquire Bangalore-based Macmet Technologies Ltd. for C$5 million (U.S. $4.75 million). Macmet is involved in repairs and upgrade of flight simulators, tank and gunnery trainers and naval tactical trainers, and developing software for simulations for air, land, and naval forces. Recent Macmet programs include the supply of a Cheetah helicopter simulator to the Indian Army, a MiG-27 part task trainer for the Indian air force and naval command team trainers for the Indian navy. c
Aeroports de Paris has received €100 million ($137 million) in contracts for several engineering and airport management projects. The five new contracts include engineering studies during the renovation of three terminals at King Abdulaziz International airport in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia; design of the new international airport in Islamabad, Pakistan; several projects in Libya, including work in Tripoli, Benghazi and Sebha; and to provide technical assistance for construction being undertaken at the Enfidha airport in Tunisia.
A Marine Corps MV-22 landed on the 686-ft. deck of Britain’s aircraft carrier HMS Illustrious last week, making it the first recovery of the tiltrotor transport aircraft on a non-U.S. ship. The Illustrious normally operates a mix of GR7 and GR9 Harriers, Sea King airborne surveillance and control helicopters and Merlin antisubmarine-warfare rotorcraft. It also can serve as a base for Chinook heavy-lift helicopters. Royal Navy officials say there are no current plans to operate the MV-22 from British ships, but the landing opens the way to coalition operations.
Cincinnati-based Aviation Research Group/U.S. Inc. (ARG/U.S.) expects to double annual revenues from aviation safety audits to $4 million in 2008 as it expands its capability to perform Part 121 audits for passenger and cargo airlines. The company has acquired a former United Airlines subsidiary, Partners and Resources for Operational Safety (PROS), based in Denver, one of eight companies accredited by the International Air Transport Assn. to conduct IATA Operational Safety Audits.
The Bahrain Development Bank is setting aside $3.2 million to support a pilot training program in conjunction with Gulf Air to help overcome a shortage of qualified candidates. The bank will cover the training expenses and only require repayment of the loan once the candidate takes up a position with Gulf Air, which is assured under the program. The carrier will select the training opportunities and monitor student progress.
Rolls-Royce has embarked on a continuous improvement program (CIP) for the Trent 1000, launch engine for the 787, even as it completes assembly of the first engine due for delivery on the initial aircraft for All Nippon Airways.
Now that its new airplane has made its public debut, Boeing expects to conduct an eight-month flight-test program of the 787‑8 that will include route-proving flights in Japan with launch customer All Nippon Airways.
With the first Jason altimetry satellite working well, a second spacecraft on its way and a third in discussion, oceanography seems poised to transition from the realm of science to routine operations—or so ocean forecasters hope.
European Space Agency astronaut Leopold Eyharts will not be making his first spaceflight when he activates the Columbus laboratory on the International Space Station (AW&ST June 18, p. 178). He spent three weeks on Russia's Mir space station in 1998 as prime cosmonaut for the Pegase scientific space mission mounted by the French space agency (CNES).
The first four F-16s to be upgraded in Turkey under the Peace Onyx III program have arrived in the country. The project will modernize Turkey’s existing F-16s, with newer avionics and weapon systems. Turkish Aerospace Industries is the prime contractor. The fighters will receive APG-68(V)9 radars, color displays, Link-16, the Joint Helmet-Mounted Cueing, and Self-Protection Electronic Warfare systems. Plans call for the upgrade of 37 F-16 Block 30s, 76 Block 50s and four Block 40s, with an option to upgrade 100 more Block 40s.
