Herley Industries Inc. has received a $2.6-million contract award for integrated microwave assemblies from Northrop Grumman as part of its F-16 fighter aircraft upgrade programs.
The Pentagon backs a new National Telecommunications and Information Administration and the Federal Communications Commission's plans to realign the spectrum for advanced wireless services, or 3G services. The government is making available 90 MHz. that will require the military to alter some of its systems. The 3G spectrum consists of 45 MHz. from the 1710-1755 MHz. band used exclusively by federal government agencies, including the Pentagon, and 45 MHz. from the 2110-2170 MHz. band in the hands of nongovernment users.
The initial delivery of a new Adacel tower simulation system is slated for September to the U.S. Air Force. Breaking new ground in capability and size, the system provides 270-deg. field of view using six 1,360 X 1,024-pixel-resolution rear projectors, all fitting inside an 18 X 15 X 8-ft. room. It can be operated by one person, training 1-4 operators for tower, ground or ramp control.
The Fiscal 2002 compromise emergency supplemental appropriations bill includes $7.5 million to rehabilitate ARSR-4 long-range radars the FAA planned to decommission this year. The Defense Dept. has asked the agency to operate the ARSR-4s for several more years because they are the only FAA radars capable of continuously tracking aircraft with disabled transponders.
Honeywell has extended its maintenance service agreement with Southwest Airlines for environmental control system components and 425 auxiliary power units for its Boeing 737 aircraft. The contract is valued at $156 million through 2008.
Rolls-Royce Deutschland has chosen Parker Aerospace's Gas Turbine Fuel Systems Div. to provide atomization nozzles for BR710 and BR715 engines, under a $10-million contract which extends to 2007.
Lockheed Martin and General Electric have agreed to partner in a military engine maintenance, repair and overhaul organization, to begin operations this month. Named the Kelly Aviation Center, the facility will be located at Lockheed Martin's San Antonio, Tex.-based facility, a public/private partnership with the U.S. Air Force. The $300 million that the existing facility turns each year doesn't live up to its potential, the partners said.
The European Commission will approve two transatlantic alliances that have been operating for years with immunity from U.S. antitrust laws. An EC spokesman said the Star Alliance linkup of Lufthansa and United Airlines, and the Europe-U.S. partnership of KLM and Northwest, which dates from 1993, will get the stamp of approval following a regulatory comment period. A decision on the Delta-Air France-Alitalia alliances is pending. Lufthansa/United will have to give up a limited number of slots at Frankfurt Airport if would-be competitors can't get them otherwise.
William Evans, president of Delta Industries, East Granby, Conn., has been elected president of the Connecticut-based Aerospace Components Manufacturers. Steve Prout, president of Alpha Q Inc., Colchester, Conn., was elected vice president/ secretary/treasurer.
France will launch the Helios IIA reconnaissance satellite on board an Ariane 5 rocket in the second half of 2004, under a contract signed by the French space agency (CNES) and Arianespace. The second-generation high-resolution spacecraft, operated by France in collaboration with other European countries, will work in concert with the high-resolution stereoscopic imager on the new Spot 5 commercial remote-sensing platform.
Messier-Bugatti has been named by Airbus to supply brake-by-wire systems for the A380. The aircraft will use a decentralized, stand-alone hydraulic system that supplies local hydraulic power for the alternate circuit on the braking control systems, a step toward an ``all electric'' aircraft.
Some key Boeing and Airbus suppliers believe a sizable number of smaller companies will be unable to survive the current commercial aircraft market downturn, which they expect to erode further before flattening out and eventually recovering. They expect most of the shakeout will be concentrated among companies that produce relatively simple parts or subsystems--``mom-and-pop'' businesses that employ several hundred people.
Controllers at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory report the narrow-angle camera lens on the Cassini Saturn probe is clear again, following a four-week heat treatment to remove haze that clouded the lens last year. Cassini's designers built heaters into the spacecraft cameras as protection against hazing from engine exhaust, and their precaution apparently paid off. Haze on the lens diffused about 70% of the light from a test star before the treatment, which warmed the camera to 39F for four weeks, which ended July 9.
John Prestifilippo has been appointed senior vice president-maintenance for US Airways. He succeeds Christopher Doan, who is retiring. Prestifilippo was vice president-technical services and operations for Continental Airlines.
Beset by consistent losses, running out of cash and turned down a second time for a federal loan guarantee, Vanguard Airlines ceased operations last week, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and expressed doubt that it will survive. ``It is likely that this is a permanent shutdown,'' CEO Scott Dickson said in a message for the carrier's roughly 1,200 employees.
Alcatel Chairman/CEO Serge Tchuruk has reiterated his intention to hold onto the company's satellite business, despite a corporate-wide loss of 1.4 billion euros ($1.37 billion) in the second quarter and a top-down reorganization at European rival EADS. ``Space is playing a growing role in broadband, in which Alcatel is a world leader, so it remains a strategic activity for us,'' Tchuruk said. However, he didn't discount the possibility of a tie-up with one of the other five players in the satellite sector (AW&ST July 29, p. 23).
The appointment of a blue-ribbon commission by the chief of the U.S. Forest Service presents a rare opportunity to ``re-baseline'' the nation's aerial firefighting program, scrutinizing everything from fire-bombing philosophy to safety-of-flight practices. With six fatalities and three accidents in six weeks, the program definitely warrants a close look (see p. 49). Former Chairman Jim Hall of the National Transportation Safety Board will head the review panel, so safety will almost certainly top his list of priorities--and rightly so.
The U.S. and Britain have in place elements of a plan--that could be executed with or without additional allies--to gut Iraq's key Republican Guard units with air attacks, freeze the production or release of chemical and biological weapons with new microwave weapons and keep the regular army confined to its garrisons, unharmed, through a combination of information and psychological warfare. With the U.S.
Monica J. Burke has been named executive vice president/chief financial officer of the Willis Lease Finance Corp., Sausalito, Calif. She was chief operating officer at the Rosewood Stone Group.
Thomas L. Moser has been named program manager for ``Alternate Access to Station'' Phase 1 for Constellation Services International, Woodland Hills, Calif. He was executive director of the Texas Aerospace Commission and had been deputy associate NASA administrator and program director for the International Space Station.
Two crashes of heavy air tankers due to wing loss, followed by a fatal helicopter accident--all within a six-week period--triggered the formation last week of a blue ribbon commission to assess the U.S. Forest Service's aerial firefighting program. The panel will be headed by Jim Hall, who served as chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) from 1994-2001, and has been a member of the White House Commission on Aviation Safety and Security.
Italy's Finmeccanica was in the final stage of negotiations late last week to acquire Telespazio, the space ground services arm of the Telecom group, and the strategic communications businesses of Marconi Mobile, including avionics activities. Discussions were long delayed by differing views on the companies' valuations. Telespazio is expected to be combined with Finmeccanica Alenia Spazio while parts of Marconi Mobile should reinforce Galileo Avionica.
