Alcatel is heading an industrial team working on integrating digital radio and navigation functions on space vehicles. The team, backed by funding from the European Union's Fifth Framework research program, also includes WorldSpace, which has launched digital radio services over Africa and Asia, and four automakers. Alcatel and WorldSpace have been studying the joint launch of a mobile digital radio system in Europe, along the lines of XM Radio in the U.S., which carries an Alcatel payload (AW&ST Sept. 10, 2001, p. 28).
Maj. Gen. Craig R. McKinley has assumed command of the First Air Force/ Continental Norad Region, Tyndall AFB, Fla. He succeeds Maj. Gen. Larry K. Arnold, who is retiring.
Garry Smith has become director of the business aviation turboprop segment and John Boomhower director of the turbofan/auxiliary power unit segment for Standard Aero, Winnipeg, Manitoba. Smith was director of marketing and business development for the PT6 business unit. Boomhower was director of sales for the Standard Aero Alliance business unit.
Intelsat 709 will provide two-transponder capacity to Boeing's Connexion inflight Internet service on an interim basis for flights between Europe and North America. Lufthansa and British Airways are Connexion's earliest customers. Connexion also has a long-term agreement with the Brazilian Estrela do Sul 1 satellite for North Atlantic services, but the satellite is not scheduled to be launched until next January.
The U.S. Transportation Dept. tentatively awarded American Airlines six of seven weekly third-country code-share frequencies to Vietnam, allocated last year to Northwest but never used. The seventh frequency went to an incumbent, United, which asked for all seven. Delta, the other incumbent, sought six, and Northwest asked for another chance at seven. American has a marketing agreement with Vietnam Airlines for direct code sharing, but can't implement it until the FAA places Vietnam in Category 1 in the agency's international safety assessment program.
A test nearing completion in Miami could signal the beginning of the end of voice as the primary means of air-to-ground communication in the airline world. The FAA, Arinc, American Airlines and Rockwell Collins on Oct. 1 are expecting to complete certification of a digital data link system that will decrease frequency congestion and increase communications reliability, says James L. Pierce, chairman of Arinc.
Boeing late last week was trying to complete its initial Delta IV Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle countdown demonstration test with the 200-ft. vehicle (right) fully fueled with liquid oxygen and hydrogen on Launch Complex 37. The countdown to a point short of engine ignition was to have been completed on Aug. 26, but had to be terminated prior to T-minus 5 min. when the malfunction of a ground-based computer caused the loss of booster telemetry.
Five alleged Al Qaeda supporters charged by a federal grand jury last week with conspiring to aid terrorists had been probing Detroit Metropolitan Airport for gaps in security, according to the indictment. One of the men had worked at an ice cream shop beyond the security checkpoints, and two others had off-airport dishwashing jobs with caterer Sky Chefs. Federal agents raided the men's apartment last September, reportedly finding details of planned attacks in Turkey and Jordan and a videotape that appeared to case U.S. landmarks.
New terrorist threats have sent India on a shopping spree. Talks with Antonov about the An-70 four-engine transport have already begun. The Ukrainian/Russian-funded aircraft has been promoted internationally since the early 1990s as a ``next-generation'' medium-lift transport. It is powered by four ZMKB Progress D-27 propfan engines with counterrotating propellers.
Grant Hintze has become president of the Goodrich Corp.Deicing and Specialty Systems, Charlotte, N.C. He was vice president/controller of the Goodrich Electronic Systems Group.
Realizing that in most future conflicts the Pentagon will have to work with coalition partners, Defense Dept. researchers are seeking ways to quickly establish a network that allows commanders to interact with allies and is impervious to intrusion by an adversary. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is sponsoring a five-year, $30-million effort entitled Dynamic Coalitions that should allow military representatives in various countries to virtually plan a military campaign without the fear of electronic eavesdropping.
Helisim Eurocopter Training Services expects to train up to 1,000 civil-military helicopter pilots/year. Eurocopter France and Thales Training & Simulation own a 45% stake each in the training center located in Marignane. Defense Conseil International, which promotes and supports France's military export sales, owns the remaining 10%. They are jointly investing 68 million euros ($66.6 million) in Helisim's Phase 1 to provide an annual 10,000 hr. of flight simulator time.
Lockheed Martin won't be getting a renewal on its $1.9-billion Consolidated Space Operations Contract (CSOC) with NASA when it expires at the end of 2003. Instead, the U.S. space agency will open its telemetry, data processing and communications work for planetary exploration and human space flight to a new round of bidding. Hoped-for savings for NASA under the hotly contested 1998 contract fell far short, a problem compounded when the dot.com implosion deprived Lockheed Martin of a commercial market it had targeted for the same services (AW&ST Nov. 26, 2001, p.
NASA exercised a two-year option on the Space Flight Operations Contract with United Space Alliance that will run through Sept. 30, 2004, for an estimated total cost and fee of $2.844 billion. The option will cover ``at least'' 11 shuttle flights, according to the Johnson Space Center.
One after another, the six big U.S. network airlines are abandoning what they have come to see as half-measures that didn't get the job done, and are turning instead to farther-reaching, riskier options in their attempt to ride out the worst downturn they have ever experienced. In an August filled with strategic moves--the latest a Delta-Northwest-Continental alliance with the potential of reshaping international as well as domestic aviation--the carriers in effect gave up on the idea of riding out the post-Sept. 11 slump.
Dennis O'Connell has been promoted to president from vice president/general manager of Million Air's charter operations, Teterboro, N.J. Steve Chandoha has been promoted to president from vice president/general manager of the fixed-base operation and Betsy Wines to vice president-customer services and human resources from customer service manager. John Langschultz has been promoted to vice president-jet maintenance from head of the repair station.
William R. Kratz has been appointed director of maintenance for US Airways Express carrier Shuttle America, Windsor Locks, Conn. He was manager of airline services for Piedmont Hawthorne Aviation.
Northrop Grumman has named TRW Aeronautical Systems in Solihull, England, to supply the drive system for the Joint Strike Fighter's weapons bay doors in a contract initially worth $21 million but expected to total $650 million with options exercised. First hardware is scheduled to be delivered in 2004. JSF uses two bay doors, one on either side of the aircraft. Each uses an independent geared transmission system controlled by a single electronic control unit that is commanded by the vehicle management computer.
While the Indian air force (IAF) considers the An-70, Israel is urging that it buy about 100 Rafael Python-4 air-to-air missiles for its Mirage 2000 and Jaguar squadrons. These would supplement the Russian R-73s and AA-11s that are already in the IAF fleet. India has already bought Rafael air-to-surface AGM-142s and Israel Aircraft Industries Searcher Mk.2 unmanned aerial vehicles. Its defense buildup plans also include signing a construction/technology transfer contract later this month with France's DCN International for six Scorpene submarines.
A NASA project to replace the 25-year-old Launch Processing System (LPS) computer setup for space shuttles is exceeding budget by 70%; is nearly 40 months behind schedule; and threatens a cancellation of the upgrade. A NASA headquarters cost/management assessment team visited here in early August to review Checkout Launch and Control System (CLCS) efforts and make recommendations to NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe. A modification or cancellation is possible.
The Pentagon has further expanded the payload options for the Predator unmanned aerial vehicle, demonstrating its ability to launch other, smaller UAVs and preparing it to deliver weapons beyond just the laser-guided Hellfire missile employed in Afghanistan. The initiative to use Predator as a mothership for other unmanned aircraft was sponsored by the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) and involved launching a Naval Research Laboratory-developed Finder UAV.
Pierre Pasinetti has been promoted to vice president from deputy vice president-security for the Paris-based Thales group. He succeeds Pierre Martinez, who has left the company. Fred Leenerts has been appointed vice president-business development of Thales Mackay Radio Inc., Raleigh, N.C. He held similar positions at the Raytheon Co. and Harris Corp.
Faster Better Cheaper: Low-Cost Innovation in the U.S. Space Program By Howard E. McCurdy Johns Hopkins University Press 208 pp. Hardcover, $34.95 Its peculiar history has deprived spaceflight, whether robotic or human, of the downward pressure on cost that has characterized many high-technology endeavors. While the manufacturers of cameras, computers and commercial airliners must continually find ways to hold costs below their competitors', the Cold War gave rocketry and its payloads a pass on efficiency.
Anne Eisele has been named director of media relations for the Chicago-based Boeing Co. She was director of media relations and executive communications at the Boeing Space & Communications Group. Eisele succeeds John Dern, who has been promoted to vice president-public relations at Boeing headquarters.
A small cell of military and civilian space-monitoring experts run by the Air Force Space Command will help coordinate development of U.S. space situational awareness capabilities, including reconnaissance, intelligence, weather and space command, control and communications. Dubbed the Space Situational Awareness Integration Office, the Peterson AFB, Colo., activity starts with a budget of $3.5 million and 18 staffers, and is expected to grow to about 50 people by 2004. The Army, Navy and Air Force are participating, as are the U.S.
