Jamie Hailer (see photo) has been named manager of alliance development for General Dynamics Ordnance and Tactical Sytems, St. Petersburg, Fla. He was sales and marketing director for B/E Aerospace in Jacksonville, Fla.
The European Space Agency has picked Astrium to build its second Earth Explorer satellite, dubbed Aeolus (see illustration). The one-metric-ton spacecraft, to be placed in a Sun-synchronous orbit 400 km. above the Earth, will carry the Aladin atmospheric laser Doppler lidar already in early development at Astrium. Aladin will provide global wind profiles and serve as a climate-research and weather-forecasting tool. Astrium also will build a new telecommunications satellite for a consortium led by Greek telecom operator OTE. The 3.3-metric-ton, 7.6-kw.
Steve Wallace has become vice president-aircraft remarketing for the AeroCentury Corp., Burlingame, Calif. Glenn Roberts, who has been controller, now will also be a vice president. Jane Luther has been promoted to director of marketing services from manager of contracts.
The regional aircraft market appears set for further changes, after Canadian manufacturer Bombardier Aerospace indicated it might fill the gap left by the collapse of Fairchild Dornier's 728/928 regional jet program. The company's president, Pierre Beaudoin, said at the Farnborough air show that ``there is a need for a five-abreast product,'' but Bombardier would have to figure out if an aircraft in the category provided satisfactory financial returns.
Researchers at Australia's University of Queensland flew a second hypersonic scramjet from a rocket last week, and they are studying telemetry to determine if the shot was successful. The first flight attempt in the ``HyShot'' program failed on Oct. 30 when the upper stage rocket started corkscrewing before the scramjet could be activated (AW&ST Nov. 5, 2001, p. 22). But the July 30 shot at the Woomera Prohibited Area in south central Australia was stable and the initial data assessment suggests the test was successful. The 2-ft.
As a new shuttle launch schedule is being formed, NASA has been forced to bump an astronaut from the next long-duration station crew. Astronaut Don Thomas, a veteran of four space shuttle flights, trained for more than a year to spend several months on board the ISS as a member of the Expedition 6 crew expected to arrive on Endeavour in November. But flight surgeons have determined Thomas has a medical condition that will disqualify him, at least temporarily, from long-duration missions. Medical privacy laws prohibit NASA from releasing the nature of the problem.
Civil and military flight safety is coming under scrutiny as investigations get underway to determine the causes of dramatic crashes in Ukraine and Russia. A Sukhoi Su-27UB military fighter/ trainer crashed in a devastating explosion on July 27 during an air show near Lviv, Ukraine, killing 83 spectators and seriously injuring an additional 116. Both pilots ejected seconds before the impact and sustained only minor injuries.
Alcoa plans--within the next 24 months--to introduce a new family of alloys that it claims provide the same strength as composites but cost less. Boeing and Airbus have been given samples for testing. The materials are intended for use in the production of fuselage structures and wings. ``Traditional, built-up structures do not appear capable of meeting the cost targets and performance improvements of future aircraft,'' Alcoa Executive Vice President Patrick Hassey said.
Although Airbus' and Boeing's long-term market forecasts remain largely similar, the archrivals increasingly disagree on the airline industry's short-term capacity needs and the pace of the recovery. The two civil transport manufacturers last week continued to quarrel in public about evolving market shares, both in terms of units and dollar value, as well as the relative merits of aircraft size and speed, but nevertheless focused on the damaging effects of the ongoing crisis.
Congress is starting to set its own directions for the U.S. space program as it approaches the final act in NASA's Fiscal 2003 funding process without a clear idea of the Bush administration's long-term plans for the agency. The Senate Appropriations Committee rejected a big piece of the Bush plan for robotic space exploration last week, adding $105 million for a mission to Pluto that Administrator Sean O'Keefe would rather see killed.
Attendees of a conference in Washington next month will be able to watch simulated cyber-attacks being launched, and then discuss them with experts from academia, government, and industry. The Global Summit Exploring Cyber Terrorism and the Targets of Critical Infrastructures is to be held on Aug. 21-23, and include representatives from the transportation, utilities, financial, communications, and health and emergency services sectors. Network and software security experts are to provide data showing that the attacks are plausible.
Competition will soon get tougher in the northeast shuttle corridor. Starting Sept. 24, American Airlines' regional affiliate, American Eagle, is to begin operating 10 round-trip flights each weekday between Boston Logan and New York LaGuardia (LGA) airports and, beginning Oct. 1, 10 round trips between LaGuardia and Ronald Reagan National Airport (DCA). American Eagle's ``Business Express'' shuttle service will operate 7 a.m.-7 p.m. with 37-seat Embraer 135 and 44-seat Embraer 140 regional jets. It will be taking on Delta and USAirways.
Piasecki Aircraft Corp. is aiming to demonstrate that modern compound helicopter technology can significantly boost speed, range and handling characteristics of existing rotary-wing aircraft, but differences over flight-clearance requirements are threatening to sideline the program.
Stephen B. Peth (see photo) has been promoted to vice president-air and missile defense programs from director of business development within the Washington operations segment of the Raytheon Co. John Barnes has been named vice president-government relations for defense programs. He was head of legislative activity for Raytheon's Army programs.
Plans for a next-generation fighter engine R&D project, and the likelihood of a forthcoming strategic research plan, promise to further Europe's efforts to refocus and strengthen its fragmented and underfunded R&D effort, but critical questions remain.
The airborne laser received mixed reviews from its program office on readiness to proceed from system integration to development, according to a General Accounting Office report. The congressional watchdog agency urged beginning development only after a prototype demonstration in an operational environment. Some of the airborne laser technology is almost to that point, according to the program office, but not the mirrors and windows that focus and control the laser beam and allow it to pass safely through the aircraft.
Chicago O'Hare (ORD) airport is close to pre-Sept. 11 operations levels as a result of jockeying between its two hubbing carriers, according to United Airlines President Rono Dutta. United started the year with a market-share advantage at ORD of about 10 percentage points over archrival American, Dutta said. After American restored capacity nearly to year-earlier levels in April, the gap closed to five points. It went back to 10 points after United followed suit, adding capacity in June.
Japan Airlines' entry into the Lufthansa Cargo-led WOW alliance and the sale of Lufthansa's share in DHL International to Deutsche Post signify new steps forward in the attempt by the German carrier and its WOW partners to establish a lead position, and ensure profitability, in the competitive air freight market. Japan Airlines Cargo joined the WOW airfreight alliance earlier this month after lengthy negotiations (AW&ST July 15, p. 19). The alliance was created in early 2002 by LH Cargo, SAS Cargo and Singapore Airlines Cargo, under the name New Global Cargo.
Anthony E. Meyer has been appointed chairman and Joel Strickland CEO of the Navitrak International Corp., Halifax, Nova Scotia. Meyer also is chairman of New York-based Meyer and Co. Strickland was a partner in the Toronto-based Capital Partners Corp. Adam Wolinski has been promoted to senior director of technology applications from senior design engineer and Ping Chen to senior manager of airborne products from software developer.
Aerosystems International received an order from Lockheed Martin for the Merlin System Software Support contract. The five-year, 6-million-pound ($9.3 million) award is to support software used on the Royal Navy's Merlin Mk. 1 helicopter.
David Williams, product support manager, and Greg Grimshaw, Collins Aviation Services finance manager, both based in Dallas, have accepted the Automated Best Value System Award from the U.S. Defense Logistics Agency's Defense Supply Center Richmond (Va.) for the Rockwell Collins facility in Richardson, Tex.
Aviation Week group editors won several honors during the Royal Aeronautical Society's (RAS) annual Aerospace Journalist of the Year Awards ceremony in London last week. James Ott, Aviation Week & Space Technology's Midwest U.S. contributing editor, was named Aerospace Journalist of the Year and won the Bombardier-sponsored prize for Best Air Transport story. The magazine's senior business editor and Northeast U.S. bureau chief, Anthony L. Velocci, Jr., won the award in the Best Business and Financial category, sponsored by Raytheon.
Esterline Technologies is entering the airborne electronic warfare field with its $67.5-million acquisition of the infrared decoy and chaff businesses of BAE Systems North America. BAE had penetrated these fields several years ago with its purchase of Tracor, which also produces the widely used ALE-47 flare/chaff dispensing system. Esterline will take over BAE's Littleton, N.C., chaff manufacturing facility and another facility in East Camden, Ark., which produces IR flare-decoys. Esterline's flares will include two new types developed by the U.S.
