A hand-shake agreement between Boeing and the U.S. Air Force on how to structure the lease of 100 Boeing 767-200 tankers was imminent late last week following intense negotiations between representatives from both parties. Hoping to overcome a logjam over the terms of the lease, Air Force and Boeing negotiators were basically locked-up last week to resolve the differences. The two sides earlier had reached agreement on the price of leasing the aircraft, but disagreement remained over ancillary issues such as termination liability and insurance costs.
Frederick F. Dalley has been appointed to the board of directors of the Glendale International Corp., Oakville, Ontario, parent of U.K.-based Fernau Avionics. He is managing director of Arrow Hedge Partners Inc.
An attack on Iraq is expected to see the first use of high-power microwave weapons that produce a split-second spike of energy powerful enough to damage electronic components and scramble computer memories. They are designed, at least initially, for use from cruise missiles and unmanned aircraft. Adding a directed-energy weapon to an unmanned combat vehicle ``is the ideal mode,'' said a British aerospace official. Britain also is well advanced in the technology.
Messier-Dowty has unveiled a new 3,000-sq.-ft. landing gear test center in Gloucestershire, England. The facility represents an investment of more than $10 million. The largest test rig weighs about 250 tons and is more than 30 ft. high. Its 320-sq.-ft. template can exert a force of 1,000 tons to simulate loads much greater than any a landing gear would normally experience.
With or without the Bush administration's approval, the public debate about whether war with Iraq can be justified is underway. Last week, the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee opened two days of hearings about the existence of evidence that Iraq is continuing to develop weapons of mass destruction including chemical, biological and nuclear devices and the ballistic missiles to deliver them to nearby countries. The fear expressed by the committee and its witnesses is twofold. Unchecked, U.S.
Airbus is expected to win an order for 16 A330-300s (12 firm with 4 options) from China Airlines to replace its aging fleet of 12 A300-600Rs. Delivery is to start late this year and run through 2005. The A330 would be a ``good fit'' with the carrier's A340 fleet, officials familiar with the deal report.
The first launch of the Lockheed Martin Atlas V Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle has been rescheduled for Aug. 21. Liftoff of the Russian-powered 191-ft. vehicle from major new facilities at Cape Canaveral's Launch Complex 41 is planned for 6:05 p.m. EDT at the opening of an 89-min. launch window. The flight was delayed from its original Aug. 12 target by the payload customer Eutelsat, to clear up internal Eutelsat bureaucratic or technical issues on the readiness of its 6,600-lb. Alcatel Hot Bird 6 payload.
Firefighting aircraft operate under about the worst structural conditions possible. Wings are under strong bending because the heavy load of fire retardant is concentrated in the fuselage. In more normal transport operations there would be bending relief from the fuel load spread along the wing tanks, but firefighters usually carry relatively small amounts of fuel, resulting in less relief. Most transport designers restrict this condition with a maximum zero fuel weight limit in the flight manual.
USMC Lt. Gen. (ret.) Thomas H. Miller has been named to receive the Virginia-based National Aeronautic Assn.'s Cliff Henderson Award for Achievement. Miller will be cited for his efforts to promote the development of helicopters and vertical-takeoff, fixed-wing aircraft.
A 40-count indictment against the owner of a U.S. Navy contractor has thrown into limbo the future of the Advanced Anti-Radiation Guided Missile (Aargm), a cornerstone of the service's future suppression of enemy air defenses (SEAD) plans.
Walter Shaub has been named science adviser to the Washington-based U.S. Chamber of Commerce. He was editor of Environmental Science & Technology, which is published by the American Chemical Society.
Isaac Yeffet, former director of global security for El Al Israel Airlines, has become a consultant to HiEnergy Technologies Inc., Irvine, Calif., to assist in efforts to obtain U.S. Transportation Security Administration certification.
Advances in lightweight mirror technology developed for NASA's Next-Generation Space Telescope may give engineers two different ways to build the proposed Terrestrial Planet Finder (TPF), increasing the odds that a space telescope can be built with enough capability to detect Earthlike planets around distant stars and analyze them spectroscopically for signs of life. NASA has decided to pursue both the infrared nulling interferometer approach favored by the European Space Agency, its likely partner in the expensive endeavor, and a visible light coronagraph.
The onboard, high-speed Internet access service offered by Connexion by Boeing ranks as one of those rare aircraft systems that provides potential benefits in customer service and aircraft operational economics. Connexion puts complete real-time broadband connectivity into an aircraft. In demonstrations scheduled for early next year, this will allow passengers to access e-mail and corporate intranets on their laptops. Airlines will be able to use the system to transform a demonstrator aircraft into a radio and television studio.
Canada's CH-149 Cormorant search and rescue (SAR) variant of the AgustaWestland EH-101 was declared ready for service on July 25, with the helicopter already having flown rescue missions before the end of the month. So far, nine out of the 15 Cormorants on order have been delivered to the National Defense Dept. The first operational CH-149s are with the 442 SAR Sqdn., based in Comox, British Columbia.
Barbara S. Jeremiah has been promoted to executive vice president from vice president-corporate development and Joseph C. Muscari has become executive vice president-Latin America and Asia for Pittsburgh-based Alcoa.
Russia will boost military science and technology spending, Russian President Vladimir Putin promised last week in a speech to top military officials. Additionally, Moscow is ready to pour more money into repairing combat-damaged equipment. Putin said he is committed to the increases despite the country's severe budgetary problems.
NTSB investigators late last week sought to complete interviews with crewmembers for vital clues to the July 26 crash of a FedEx Boeing 727-232AF at Tallahassee (Fla.) Regional Airport. According to NTSB preliminary data, at about 5:40 a.m., FedEx Flight 1478, N497FE, apparently hit trees in a lightly wooded area about 3,100 ft. from the approach end of 8,000-ft. Runway 9. The aircraft skidded 2,000 ft., coming to rest in an open field, and its three-man crew escaped the completely destroyed aircraft, two with serious and one with minor injuries.
U.S. manufacturers are developing an extensive line of unmanned intelligence-gathering and strike aircraft. But selling them to anyone other than the U.S. military is proving to be a problem, as the Defense and State Depts. have yet to work out an export policy. ``State thinks of them as intercontinental ballistic missiles'' and continues to resist their export, says a senior aerospace industry official.
Neil R. Wilson has been appointed vice president/general counsel/corporate secretary of Ottawa-based Nav Canada. He was a partner in the Ottawa office of law firm Gowling Lafleur Henderson.
The Senate has passed by a 95-3 vote its version of the 2003 defense appropriations bill. The Senate will have to reconcile its $355.4-billion version with the House spending measure that provides $700 million less. The Senate largely funded Pentagon modernization projects, although it didn't provide the requested $10 billion in unallocated war reserve funds.
The Experimental Aircraft Assn. (EAA) AirVenture 2002 sport aviation exhibition and air show that concluded last week left no doubt that personal flying is alive and well, at least in the U.S. Nearly 750,000 people and a number of exhibitors, as well as 2,500 show aircraft, descended on Wittman Regional Airport in Oshkosh, Wis., to celebrate and demonstrate the pageantry of flight in all its forms, from F-15s to powered parachutes. The week-long extravaganza also highlighted the 50th birthday of EAA.
