India will launch Italy's Agile satellite on a PSLV C-8 booster in May, the nation's first fully commercial satellite launch. The Indian Space Research Organization is also planning a GSLV launch in April, which will carry the INSAT 4-C broadcast satellite for augmenting DTH technology. The twin launches will require the use of both large pads at the launch facility on Sriharikota Island in the Bay of Bengal. ISRO has entered into partnerships with EADS Astrium and Arianespace as India moves to market its satellite-building and launch services.
Alcatel Alenia Space has delivered an Earth-observation data acquisition system to China. Developed with funding from the European Space Agency and the Belgian government, the system will be installed at three data-receiving stations operated by the China State Radio Monitoring Center.
Working toward a complete retirement of the current fleet by August, Japan Air Commuter has begun replacing its Nihon YS-11s with Bombardier Q-400s. At its peak, JAC flew 12 YS-11s but has only four left. It has seven Q-400s in operation with another two due by year-end.
What looked like a sudden decompression on an All Nippon Airways 777-200 outbound from Tokyo to Los Angeles on Jan. 2 turned out to have been a faulty air conditioning system. The flight was about 2.5 hr. from Narita International Airport when the incident occurred. The pilot, following ANA procedures, descended and returned to Narita. ANA is still analyzing what caused the air conditioning to be unstable.
The Pentagon wants the maker of a new type of countermeasure to quadruple production by the end of this year to help protect U.S. military transports and helicopters from shoulder-fired missiles.
Just as the Europeans are starting to get serious about unmanned strike aircraft, the U.S. is abandoning its effort. The Joint Unmanned Combat Air System "is dead as far as the U.S. Air Force is concerned, which is now focused on long-range strike," says a top aerospace industry intelligence specialist. That appears to reflect an underlying need "to shape a new strategy for collection of intelligence," he says. "Stop gathering data. We can't process what we have now.
As the Transportation Dept. decides what to do about its proposal to liberalize foreign control of U.S. airlines, it faces a mixed reception among airlines, near-unanimous opposition from labor and potential problems in Congress. And time, the leavening agent in attempts at compromise in Washington, is not on its side.
Mason, Ohio-based Makino is hosting a series of online seminars to help shops of all types and sizes compete in the global marketplace. Topics covered will include production machining, metal-cutting, aerospace, micromachining and die/mold industries. Makino engineers and product managers, as well as guest speakers, will conduct the workshops. The series is free to registered participants, who must have access to an Internet connection with audio capabilities. For more information see: www.makino.com/events
EDO Corp. has acquired NexGen Communications, a privately held company that specializes in designing and supplying communications systems for U.S. government agencies. The deal closed Dec. 20 and was announced last week. Terms were not disclosed. EDO expects NexGen and two other companies it purchased in 2005 to boost sales by $60 million, or 20%, this year.
Judge Prudence Carter Beatty, who has been presiding over Delta Air Lines Section 1113 hearings in U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York, has taken a medical leave. Judge Adlai S. Hardin, Jr., will administer the case until her return. Beatty's highly publicized court behavior--including criticism of counsel on both sides, interruptions of statements and offering of observations--spurred the Air Line Pilots Assn. to seek her recusal, which the court denied.
Linda Gooden, who is president of Lockheed Martin's Information Technology unit, has been selected to receive the Black Engineer of the Year Award in February. Recipients of related honors will be: Most Promising Scientist Award, Atherton A. Carty, an aeronautical engineer with Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co., Palmdale, Calif.; Alumni of the Year Award, Stephanie C. Hill, a technical operations specialist with Lockheed Martin Maritime Systems and Sensors in Baltimore; and Outstanding Technical Contribution in Industry Award, William A.
Edward H. Phillips (Aviation Week & Space Technology)
The global maintenance, repair and overhaul industry is forecast to grow 5.6% annually through 2014 with revenues of nearly $60 billion as airlines cut costs, increase outsourcing and seek to ally themselves with MRO providers that offer more value for the dollar. Despite a forecast that calls for moderate expansion, during the next few years growth may be hampered by the rising cost of jet fuel. This will force airlines to become more price sensitive about what type of maintenance is necessary, how much it will cost and who will perform the work.
In regard to the F-22's radar system and its ability to perform electronic attack missions (AW&ST Dec. 12, 2005, p. 24), it should not be unreasonable to assume from all the information published to date about the APG-77 that it is capable of conducting a kill against enemy aircraft in a dogfight, either by killing or incapacitating the pilot or destroying onboard electronics.
In the near future, airline passengers will open their laptop computers, BlackBerry personal data assistants (PDAs) or cell phones and instantly be connected to terrestrial Internet and telephone systems via in-cabin, broadband, wireless "hot spots." And the cost of that high-speed air-to-ground link could be less than what they'd pay at their local Starbucks.
OrbImage has finalized its $58.5-million acquisition of Space Imaging and changed its name to GeoEye. The combined company will be the world's largest commercial provider of satellite imagery with three spacecraft: OrbImage's OrbView-3 and -2 and Space Imaging's Ikonos. GeoEye plans to launch another satellite next year.
The FAA is proposing to assess a $500,000 civil penalty against Alaska Airlines for allegedly operating 478 flights with a Boeing 737 that was not in compliance with regulations. The agency alleges that one of the airline's authorized vendors, Goodrich Aviation Technical Services, had performed extensive maintenance on the aircraft between July 12 and Dec. 2, 2004, but had failed to reinstall the floor proximity lighting system's emergency exit identifier lights. Alaska installed the lighting when it discovered the problem Feb. 2, 2005. However, on Feb.
John S. Edwards (Forecast International/www.forecastinternational.com)
The increasing power of communications satellites and the number of transponders available to consumers have been matched up with longer service lives. Ironically, this has decreased demand for commercial communications satellites even as that for satellite services has risen.
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Bill Dane (Forecast International/www.forecastinternational.com)
The military rotorcraft market is moving from the remanufacture and upgrade of existing assets toward the procurement of new-build helicopters to replace aging fleets--a key trend that has the potential for a major impact in the next 10 years and beyond. Examples of U.S. programs converted from modification/upgrade projects to new-production efforts in the past several years are the Army's UH-60M, Navy's MH-60R and Marine Corps' UH-1Y and HLR (CH-53X).
Market Focus 406 Shareholders seeing big gains from many legacy airlines News Breaks 410 Italian air force begins Eurofighter Typhoon defense flights 411 Eastern China ATC systems completed and operating 412 EADS rolls out A310 fitted with refueling boom 412 Acquisitions in the wind for Singapore aerospace companies World News & Analysis 414 Snecma eyes bizjet engine as further expansion of powerplant offerings
Lynn Brubaker has been appointed to the board of directors of the Hexcel Corp., Stamford, Conn. She was vice president/general manager of the Commercial Aerospace Div. of Honeywell International.
Astronomers in the U.S. can still look forward to a human servicing mission to the Hubble Space Telescope next year, and perhaps to big observatories on the far side of the Moon some day. But for the most part, the funding outlook at NASA for space science is tight as the agency shifts its focus to sending humans back to the Moon, meaning near-term priorities like searching for Earth-like planets around other stars will slip, and it will take longer to begin answering new questions like "What is dark energy?"
A management shakeup is underway at Intelsat, the global satellite operator that was privatized in 2001 and acquired by equity investors last year. Ramu Potarazu, who played a leading role in transforming Intelsat from a Washington-based international consortium into a privately owned satellite company, resigned his post of chief operating officer and will leave the company next month. Also resigning was Kevin Mulloy, president of Intelsat Global Service Corp.
The U.S. Air Force's Global Hawk unmanned aircraft has made its first flight with a new sensor that can identify electronic emissions from altitudes above 60,000 ft. The high-band Production Configuration Unit is a subsystem of the Airborne Signals Intelligence Payload sensor, which is expected to be fielded in 2008. Two key threats use the higher bands: advanced surface-to-air missiles and wireless, handheld communications devices that insurgents use for command and control, and to trigger explosive devices.
