Michael A. Taverna (Broye-les-Pesmes and Rennes, France)
France is inviting its European neighbors to collaborate on a ground-based space surveillance system as part of a proposed military space buildup that could include operational signals intelligence and data relay networks.
The case for a small (10-15-lb.) air-launched weapon for precision fires from unmanned aerial vehicles and other aircraft is apparently not yet been made urgent enough to hold the attention of the big-wig acquisition executives at the Pentagon. Air Force Special Operations Command says that it needs such a weapon for use from its gunships and UAVs. Likewise, some Pentagon officials are saying that the Hellfire missiles fired from Predators today are often too big for their mission. Major sponsors, such as the Air Force's Air Combat Command, Air Armament Center or U.S.
Productivity is way up at Ladish’s cavernous forging plant in southeast Poland, thanks to lean production processes introduced by the Wisconsin-based specialty metals company. Ladish recently initiated its first aerospace production in Europe after the low-cost facility secured a critical accreditation. The company won’t disclose what its 690 Polish metalworkers earn, but concedes they are paid a lot less than their American counterparts. Another clear case of offshoring, right?
A double-digit appreciation in the euro against the U.S. dollar since 2002 is driving a flurry of structural changes in Europe's aerospace industry likely to have far-reaching consequences in reshaping the sector.
The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) wants NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to come up with alternatives to reinstating the climate sensors cut from the National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (Npoess) during last year's Nunn-McCurdy recertification. Removed from Npoess were the Total Solar Irradiance Sensor, Earth Radiation Budget Sensor, Ocean Altimeter, and Ozone Mapping and Profiler Suite Limb Subsystem.
Regrettably, Air France's domestic arm operates as a near-monopoly. In the last few years, competitors have gradually disappeared. One clear indicator of the reality of European deregulation is the case of EasyJet. The airline serves several French city pairs but, in the absence of sufficient takeoff and landing slots at Paris-Orly (the heart of France's domestic route system), the British low-fare carrier remains a rather weak opponent for the mighty Air France group.
Setting aside the validity of Robin Stanier's claim of 5,000 km. (3,100 mi.) as the most fuel-efficient range for a passenger aircraft, breaking a 10,000-km. trip down into two 5,000-km. legs is a non-starter.
Aerotheque Assn., a French organization with a mission of preserving the country's aeronautical heritage, is organizing an auction of Concorde collection parts on Sept. 28-Oct. 1 in Toulouse. Items on the block include control panel instruments, cabin furnishing and structural items and can be viewed at www.concorde-encheres.com. All proceeds from the sale will go to support Aeroscopia, an aeronautical discovery park that is planned for 2010 on the outskirts of Toulouse.
TGV Rockets Inc.--a Norman, Okla.-based small business working under a Naval Research Laboratory reusable launch vehicle study contract--has test-fired a 30,000-lb.-thrust rocket engine using JP-8 fuel. A first round of tests at Stennis Space Center in Mississippi demonstrated "consistent ignition" at throttle levels of less than 20%, and stable combustion at all throttle levels, says CEO Pat Bahn. Ultimately the company sees applications for its engines in operationally responsive launch vehicles for "pop-up" reconnaissance missions.
Dominique Spragg (see photo) has become vice president-manufacturing of Viking Air Ltd., Victoria, British Columbia. He was president of consulting firm Innovia Solutions and had been director of service center operations for Pratt & Whitney Canada.
For years non-German spaceflight controllers have stumbled over the name of this small village near the German Space Operations Center, where European human space missions are run.
Raymond J. Wilson has been named CEO of Innovative Solutions and Support Inc., Exton, Pa. He has been a member of the board of directors. Wilson succeeds Geoffrey S.M. Hedrick, who has been CEO but will remain chairman. Wilson was executive vice president-procurement for Airbus.
The Japanese Selene Moon mission is now expected to be launched on Aug. 16 at 9:30:48 a.m. JAXA, the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency says. If the 3-metric-ton spacecraft, with two subsatellites, isn't fired toward a lunar orbit on that day, launch windows are Aug. 17-23 and Sept. 13-21.
When airport security lines back up, often it is because anomalies spotted by carry-on bag screening equipment have triggered false alarms. Sometimes Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officers have to run the bags through the X-ray machine again, or open them and search by hand. Both cost travelers time and the government money.
NCCS, developer of NCL multi-axis machining software, announced Hawthorne, Calif.-based Vought Aircraft's purchase of nine licenses of NCL multi-axis machining software. At this site, Vought fabricates and assembles fuselage panels for Boeing 747s and has been commissioned for fuselage work on the 747-8. NCL says their product offers macro capability--with a library of standard aerospace macros, as well as the flexibility to create specifics. A family of parts is available.
You are right in your editorial "Turning Up the Heat Isn't Shedding Any Light" when you say the National Air Traffic Controllers Assn. (Natca) is becoming the union that cries wolf (AW&ST May 28, p. 78).You are also right when you say air traffic controllers are savvy and have a lot to contribute regarding their jobs and the ATC system.
A waning infrastructure, labor shortages, low domestic yields and unsustainable losses from cutthroat pricing are widening gaps between revenue and expenses in India's commercial aviation. An airfares squeeze resulted in a collective loss for Indian carriers of $500 million in the fiscal year that ended Mar. 31. Not surprisingly, analysts have been expecting the industry to tighten up.
The end of the Cold War brought freedom to Eastern Europe, but it nearly smothered the life out of PZL-Krosno. When the Soviet Union disintegrated, 90% of orders at the Polish landing gear manufacturer vanished overnight. Annual sales fell below $1 million and the government-owned company shrunk to a skeletal staff of 130, down from a Cold War high of 2,000.
THE EUROPEAN ORGANIZATION FOR CIVIL AVIATION EQUIPMENT (Eurocae) has tapped Gil Michielin, vice president and general manager of Thales Commercial Aircraft Solutions, to be its new president. The organization's working groups of government and industry officials help set technical standards for ground and airborne communications, navigation and surveillance equipment, and they cooperate closely with Eurocae's U.S. counterpart, the RTCA.
MARKET FOCUS Market Focus column goes digital with blog on AviationWeek.com 32 NEWS BREAKS Israelis to display huge new unmanned aircraft at Paris air show 42 Honeywell's Micro Air Vehicle being introduced into service in Iraq 44 European transport ministers OK funding Galileo with public money 44 EADS Astrium wants to tap nascent space tourism market 46 EasyJet unveils concept of environmen- tally friendly short-haul aircraft 47 WORLD NEWS & ANALYSIS
Boeing has begun flight testing the mission system on the first Australian Wedgetail (737) airborne early warning and control aircraft. During an initial 4-hr. flight June 6, researchers measured the mission system's impact on the aircraft's power generation capability and liquid- and air-cooling systems. Flights are to continue through June. The delivery of six Wedgetail aircraft is slated for 2009.
General Atomics Aeronautical Systems won a $53-million contract from Raytheon to provide five integrated intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance suites for Beechcraft King Air 350ER aircraft and ground stations for the Iraqi air force.
Initial findings from a Small Business Administration-funded feasibility study underway at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, reflect strong industry interest in a Nevada-based permanent aerospace and defense international conference, exposition and trade complex. That state's AeroQuestUSA has spearheaded the effort and secured congressional support for the university study. The company hopes to establish the center in southern Nevada.
The distinction between strategic and tactical weapons is getting more complicated and less meaningful. First there were tactical weapons, then strategic weapons, then tactical weapons with strategic warheads and then strategic weapons with tactical warheads. Now Air Force planners want a strategic weapon with a tactical warhead to carry submunitions that can search out a number of targets scattered over some distant battlefield--something like a hypersonic A-10 Thunderbolt.
