Blended packages of sensors that can bridge the physics of intelligence collection and explore the far corners of the electromagnetic spectrum for new information are perhaps only five years away.
AVIATION WEEK writers have won seven 2007 Aerospace Journalist of the Year Awards. The awards were presented in Paris on the eve of the air show at Le Bourget. Aviation Week & Space Technology Contributing Editor James Ott won the Royal Aeronautical Society (RAeS) Award for Best Propulsion Submission for an article on new fuels, "Synthetics Soar."
The business announced at Le Bourget includes these commercial air transport orders: *GE Commercial Aviation Services: six Boeing 777 Freighters and 60 Airbus A320-family aircraft. *The Air France-KLM Group: nine 777-300ERs for Air France and seven 777-700s for KLM. *Lion Air: 40 737-900ERs. *Aeroflot: 22 A350XWBs and five A321s. *Aviation Lease Finance Corp.: 12 A350XWBs and seven A320s. *CIT Aerospace: seven A350XWBs and 25 A320-family. *Intrepid Aviation: 20 A330-200Fs.
Israel is planning to launch its TecSAR synthetic aperture radar satellite Aug. 22. The Israel Aerospace Industries satellite weighs less than 300 kg. (660 lb.) and will provide radar images. Launch is set to take place from India. Northrop Grumman and IAI announced this spring they are teaming to offer TecSAR to the U.S. Air Force as an interim capability for fielding advanced systems.
Ranald McGillis has been appointed president/CEO of Gallium Visual Systems of Ottawa. He was vice president-business development and government relations for Lockheed Martin Canada.
The British Defense Ministry is considering pursuing a radar-based reconnaissance satellite technology demonstrator, as London reconsiders the strategic impact of space. The ministry is in the throes of reviewing its Defense Industrial Strategy (DIS), and a widely anticipated additional chapter in the "DIS 2" is expected to focus on the military implications of space for the U.K.
The Pentagon doesn't know the number or value of the undefinitized contract actions (UCAs) in effect at any given time, and about half of them aren't being used as intended--to fill urgent needs quickly--the Government Accountability Office reports. Surveying seven buying commands, GAO found that information systems keep track of letter contracts but not a "potentially large" number of undefinitized task orders, delivery orders and contract modifications.
State-owned Garuda Indonesia will carry the code of Hainan Airlines on its Jakarta-Beijing services in return for the right to sell seats on the Chinese carrier's connecting flights to the big secondary cities of Harbin, Hangzhou and Nanning.
Turboprop-maker ATR will boost production output to 70 aircraft per year and hopes to see revenue reach $1.5 billion, says Chairman Filippo Bagnato. That's a stark turnaround from the 15 aircraft delivered in 2005. But more far-reaching changes may lie ahead. Finmeccanica CEO Pier Francesco Guarguaglini is interested in buying out EADS's 50% stake in ATR, but has "not received promising answers." But EADS Co-CEO Louis Gallois, although noting the ATR business has been good, pointedly does not say the turboprop maker is a core business and will be retained.
Using unmanned aerial vehicles and sensor pod-equipped fighter aircraft to find improvised explosive devices (IEDs) is a waste of time and resources, according to Air Force Gen. Ronald Keys, the outgoing head of Air Combat Command. The enemy network is what's important, "not the thing that's buried out there," Keys says at the Transformation Warfare 2007 conference and exhibit in Virginia Beach, Va.
Richard R. Yuse (see photo) has become president of the Raytheon Technical Services Co., Waltham, Mass. He succeeds Bryan J. Even, who has resigned. Yuse was vice president/deputy general manager.
Wanda M. Austin has been named to succeed William F. Ballhaus, Jr., as president and CEO of The Aerospace Corp., upon his retirement on Jan. 1. Austin is senior vice president of The Aerospace Corp.'s National Systems Group in Chantilly, Va. She has been with the El Segundo, Calif.-based company since 1979 and has been general manager of the Military Satellite Communications Div. and senior vice president of the Engineering and Technology Group. Austin will be succeeded by Manuel De Ponte, who is general manager of the Milsatcom Div.
Hong Kong Dragon Airlines, better known as Dragonair, will add daily flights to the big western mainland Chinese cities of Chongqing and Xian beginning Aug. 1, while doubling services to coastal Fuzhou to twice daily.
SES has concluded a deal with International Launch Services and Arianespace to launch five spacecraft each. The pact, covering launches from 2009-13, guarantees backup between the Ariane 5 and Proton and--for medium Arianespace payloads--between the Ariane 5 and Soyuz.
Conformal radar arrays that a year ago were only concepts are now being prototyped. Large apertures are being designed as skin to hug the complex curves of aircraft wings and fuselages. A massive structure under construction by Raytheon will form one side of a three-football-field-long airship. About six million elements will make up the 6,000-sq.-meter antenna, says Mark Hauhe, a senior fellow working on advanced radar concept demonstrators.
Your editorial "U.S. Global Warming Intitiative Is A Step Backward" indicates you think men can control the climate and drastic government intervention in the world's economies is viable (AW&ST June 11, p. 66).
Colombia has ordered 15 Sikorsky UH-60L Black Hawk helicopters from the U.S. Army. Colombian officials say the aircraft will be used for battling narcotics trafficking and for national defense.
Airbus has begun exploratory talks with the General Electric-Pratt & Whitney Engine Alliance over a new powerplant for the A350XWB following the almost certain termination of GE's offering of the GEnx for all variants of the new Airbus twinjet family.
Jonathan Gaffney has been appointed president of the Alexandria, Va.-based National Aeronautic Assn., effective July 9. He has been vice president-communications for the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority.
Lt. Gen. David Deptula, the new Air Force deputy chief of staff for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, wants to exploit F-22 and F-35 fighter aircraft as sensor platforms that collect data and feed it throughout joint military forces. He tells reporters he's trying to catalog ISR realms and then will assign "integrators" to work with program officials and others to help coordinate acquisition with operational needs.
Frank Morring, Jr. (Washington), Michael A. Taverna (Paris)
Engineers and managers on three continents will spend the coming weeks hashing out the final assembly schedule for the International Space Station, now that all of the basic elements are in place on orbit for the final buildout. Although all of the station's major moving parts are in place and the way is clear to begin adding more pressurized modules, a disagreement between the European Space Agency and its contractors has thrown Europe's plans for its station contributions before the end of the year into disarray.
Three more companies have signed up with NASA to take part in the Commercial Orbital Space Transportation System (COTS) program, which is spending almost $500 million in seed money to spur a private-sector route to the International Space Station. SpaceDev, Spacehab and Constellation Services International won't get any of that money, which has already been split between SpaceX and Rocketplane Kistler (AW&ST Oct. 9, 2006, p. 66). But the three entrepreneurial space businesses will get information from NASA on the U.S.
Updating investors, United Airlines says it expects mainline unit revenues to be 2.75-3.25% higher in the second quarter, which ends June 30, than in the same quarter a year ago, while mainline unit costs excluding fuel and special items will increase no more than 0.5%. This suggests an improvement over last year's second-quarter operating profit of $260 million. United announced it will hire pilots this year for the first time since 2001, taking applications in the summer and putting the first pilots into scheduled flights as soon as December.
The potential adoption of stringent international noise standards for commercial helicopters in the next five years is driving airframe manufacturers to develop and implement new rotor designs and to seek alternative propulsion systems that eliminate tail rotors altogether.
After several unsuccessful tries, the Russian helicopter industry is attempting a new breakout into the international market. Rosonboron says it is in discussions with Eurocopter for a light helicopter in the 2-3-metric-ton category, and with AgustaWestland for a light-/ medium-lift machine in the 4-ton class. AgustaWestland executives were circumspect, saying talks were at a "very preliminary stage." But Eurocopter chief Lutz Bertling suggests a deal could be ready this week.
