The U.S. Army's RAH-66 Comanche helicopter has passed the first review board at the Pentagon on the way to having its restructured program plan blessed. The service's internal Systems Acquisition Review Council signed off on the plan, even though a final cost analysis isn't done yet. No decision was made on whether to boost peak-production to 96 aircraft from 72. More difficult will be winning endorsement for the Defense Acquisition Board, which hasn't been scheduled.
U.S. Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld last week argued for the need for some of its NATO allies to ``increase their defense budgets,'' in meeting emerging ``asymmetric'' threats. Alongside the issue of funding increases, Rumsfeld also flagged the need for force structure changes, including an ``improved tooth to tail ratio'' and ``better interoperability among the NATO countries.'' Rumsfeld was in London, June 5, meeting with his British counterpart, Geoff Hoon.
Kuwait is slated to buy its first 80 AIM-120C Amraam beyond-visual-range air-to-air missiles under a $58-million deal. The Pentagon, which has approved the potential sale, noted that Kuwait needs the missile to defend against high-speed, low-flying cruise missiles; Iraq has been working on cruise missiles for the past several years, U.S. intelligence officials say.
A new U.S. polar-orbiting environmental satellite may be developed under the Bush administration policy that seeks causes of global warming other than those that would be controlled by the Kyoto Protocol on climate change. The White House has rejected the Kyoto accords as too costly to U.S. industry. Officials from NASA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the U.S.
Sherman Baldwin has been appointed vice president-strategy for Pratt & Whitney, East Hartford, Conn. He was vice president/managing member/equity partner at J.F. Lehman & Co.
Active stealth technology could be fielded as part of a midlife upgrade to France's Scalp-EG land-attack cruise missile. Development work is being carried out by French industry under a program of work funded by the Defense Ministry's DGA armaments agency.
This May marked the 75th anniversary of Charles Lindbergh's historic flight across the Atlantic. Since then, aviation technology in the U.S. has reached a level of sophistication unmatched in the world. Beginning in 1940, when President Franklin D. Roosevelt first called for the production of 50,000 military aircraft, our security has been inextricably linked to the overall success of the U.S. aerospace industrial base. In the commercial sector, America's air industry has been globally dominant, contributing an estimated $259 billion to the nation's economy in 1999.
Astronomers are well pleased with the performance of NASA's Near Infrared Camera and Multi-Object Spectrometer (Nicmos) on the Hubble Space Telescope, now that it has been revived with a mechanical cryogenic cooler. Astronauts from the shuttle Columbia installed the space-qualified refrigerator Mar. 8 to cool IR detectors on the instrument, out of commission since its original solid nitrogen coolant was depleted (AW&ST Mar. 18, p. 34).
By any measure, the commercial satellite business worldwide is hurting in a big way, so it should come as no surprise that Lockheed Martin Corp. and Loral Space & Communications Ltd. are trying to figure out how they might be able to merge that part of their respective operations into a single entity. Furthermore, it's probably not the first time the two companies have explored the idea to one degree or another. So weak is the global market for commercial satellites, in fact, that Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein analyst Eric C.
The A400M airlifter's future is looking dimmer as a result of Portugal's 11th-hour hesitation, Germany's multiyear procurement saga and Airbus' decision to reevaluate engine options. In addition, the management of Airbus' military programs is being restructured and will no longer be handled by the company's Spanish arm. The worksharing arrangements have also been revised to reflect Italy's withdrawal from the eight-country project.
Turkey has signed a contract with Boeing worth more than $1 billion for four 737 airborne warning and control system (AWACS) aircraft and an option on two more. An AWACS squadron needs a minimum of 3-4 aircraft. With Australia and Turkey as startup customers, Boeing hopes to nail down a contract with Italy in 2003-04 and South Korea in 2005. The first Turkish aircraft will be built in Seattle while Turks are trained. The next three aircraft will be built at Turkish Aerospace Industries' Ankara facility as part of an offset agreement worth about half the contract's value.
Initial congressional reaction is positive to the President's call for a cabinet-level Homeland Security Dept., although the White House expects the usual turf fights as the requisite language wends its way through Congress. President Bush wants the legislation passed this year, and Rep. Mac Thornberry (R-Tex.), author of a prior bill to establish such a department, endorsed the new proposal.
Advances in sensors and control systems should make it possible for the next generation of fighter aircraft to detect and automatically compensate for engine battle damage, saving engines and possibly lives. Engineers from the U.S. Navy and General Electric Aircraft Engines Div. are developing the system to reduce engine vulnerability to combat damage, including foreign object damage (FOD). The goal of the survivable engine control (SEC) algorithm development project is to detect engine damage and make whatever changes are possible to keep engines running.
Richard Bleau has become Joint-STARS program director at the U.S. Air Force Electronic Systems Center, Hanscom AFB, Mass. He was deputy director and succeeds Col. Gary Connor, who is now director of the Reconnaissance Program Office at Wright Patterson AFB, Ohio.
MICHAEL A. TAVERNACRAIG COVAULT ( PARIS CAPE CANAVERAL)
The heads of the five agencies involved in the International Space Station have agreed to an action plan and schedule for addressing capacity problems on the facility linked to a shortfall in NASA funding, following a ``difficult'' and ``stormy'' meeting. Space agency chiefs from Canada, Europe, Japan and Russia will meet again with NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe before year-end in Tokyo to firm up plans for continuing station assembly beyond ``U.S. core complete,'' the cutoff point O'Keefe has set until NASA gets its finances straight.
Allen E. Weh, president/CEO of CSI Aviation Services Inc., Albuquerque, N.M., has been named national chairman of the National Committee for Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve. He succeeds Thomas C. Irwin, who is retiring.
The Star Alliance expects to significantly expand its global route system in the next 12 months with the addition of Korea's Asiana Airlines, LOT Polish Airlines and Spanair. Moreover, Star's members will try to retain Air New Zealand in the group despite Qantas Airways' attempt to acquire a stake in the rival carrier. Asiana, LOT and Spanair last week received the Star executive board's approval to become members as soon as they comply with so-called minimum joining requirements.
As if aerospace/defense companies didn't already have enough to worry about--between a major downturn in commercial aviation, increasingly demanding customers, delivering on commitments to investors, and a host of other issues--here's a sobering thought: they probably run a higher risk of being targeted by terrorists than most other companies. That's according to L.
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (Darpa) has tapped Northrop Grumman Corp.'s Systems Development and Technology Div. to investigate innovative concepts for lightweight, space-based, deployable radar antennas designed to track moving targets on the ground. In addition to analyzing various antenna designs, the $2.5-million, 12-month contract calls for engineers to demonstrate the technology, according to Taylor W. Lawrence, president of the division.
The $10-billion Aviation Loan Guarantee Program isn't going on the chopping block just yet, much to the relief of U.S. airlines, US Airways in particular. In its version of the Fiscal 2002 supplemental appropriation bill, the Senate refused to go along with the House measure, which would shrink the loan guarantee funds voted last September to $4 billion. The House and Senate will have to work out their differences in a conference committee before June 28 if Congress is to keep its commitment to the U.S. airline industry.
The U.S. Navy suspended carrier operations on all its F-14s after it found that a component failure in the nose gear of one of the aircraft led to a crash on Mar. 2 in which the pilots died. Before being returned to flight status, the nose landing gear cylinder has to be inspected. If corrosion is found, the entire strut needs to be replaced.
Although Congress last year drastically scaled back a Pentagon project to develop a space-based laser, the Pentagon is reinvigorating the concept in the hope of having a limited operational capability as early as 2008. The technology thrust is one of several new efforts the military is considering for boost-phase intercept. The Missile Defense Agency (MDA) also is exploring whether to tweak its sea-based midcourse defense system to handle new missions and to field an operational capability soon.
Last week's column misstated Joseph Cirincione's estimate of casualties in a India-Pakistan nuclear exchange. It should have said the Carnegie Endowment scholar estimates that hundreds of thousands of people could be killed.
Raytheon and MBDA have been downselected by the British Defense Ministry in its Precision Guided Bomb competition. A bid by France's Sagem and South Africa's Denel Aerospace unit, the Kentron guided-weapons division, was eliminated. A final choice between the two remaining competitors is anticipated by the end of 2002, with a contract award during early 2003.
