The successful launch of Europe's Spot 5 remote-sensing satellite marks the best operational start for Arianespace since the late 1990s and adds a new dimension to the commercial imaging market. The launch of Spot 5 and an amateur spacecraft, Idefix, on May 4, was the fifth mission this year for the Ariane 4--and the sixth overall for Arianespace--keeping the company on schedule to meet its objective of 12-14 missions for 2002 (AW&ST Jan. 14, p. 411).
Mark Chubik has been appointed vice president/controller of ITT Industries' Avionics Div., Clifton, N.J. He was value-based six sigma champion for ITT Industries' Night Vision Group.
Aiming to influence public policy before Congress recesses for the fall elections, the Commission on the Future of the U.S. Aerospace Industry plans to release its third set of interim recommendations soon. Last week, it considered proposals addressing the issues of the aerospace industrial base, workforce and investment, along with some affecting the space sector. The commission was refining the language of the measures late last week.
U.S. intelligence about the threat of terrorist hijackings in the months before Sept. 11 was so general that the White House did not consider issuing a national alert to the flying public, although as early as June 22, the FAA notified the airlines of heightened government concern about a conventional airborne hijacking. Disputing allegations in Congress and elsewhere that President Bush knew more about a possible hijacking pre-Sept.
Retrofitting the avionics that will allow Airborne Express aircraft to operate in reduced vertical separation minimums (RVSM) airspace has netted Innovative Solutions & Support a $4-million award from the cargo carrier. More than 80 DC-8 and DC-9 aircraft are involved. This modification effort is slated for completion in late December 2004, at which point Innovative Solutions will have upgraded more than 850 aircraft with its RVSM equipment.
Engineered Support Systems Inc. has received a contract valued at up to $6.1 million for depot level repairs of AN/APQ-170 Combat Talon II (CT-II) Terrain Following Radar systems on U.S. Air Force aircraft. The initial order totals $3.7 million with an option for an additional $2.4 million.
Jack Schofield, retired chairman of Airbus North America, has been named Chevalier of the Legion of Honor by French President Jacques Chirac. He was cited for his contribution to the promotion of French aeronautics in the U.S. by helping Airbus to expand its presence in the U.S. and Canadian markets both in numbers of aircraft sold and breadth of its customer base.
The Patriot Advanced Capability (PAC-3) missile failed to destroy its target in an Apr. 25 test, the Army now says after initially reporting a successful intercept. The PAC-3 hit the target, but not where it should have. In the same test another PAC-3 failed to launch. It was the third of four planned Initial Operational Test and Evaluation firings, none of which has been entirely successful.
The extraordinary 60% reduction in intercontinental nuclear weapons that the U.S. and Russia are slated to sign this week in Moscow will leave both sides with about 2,000 deployed warheads each in 2012, plus thousands more in reserve and tens of thousands of short-range tactical nuclear arms.
Lufthansa German Airlines next month will become the first airline to offer scheduled transatlantic services with corporate jets. It plans to inaugurate in June a Dusseldorf-New York/Newark route with a Boeing Business Jet configured with 48 business-class seats. Six round trips per week are being planned with a BBJ wet-leased from Switzerland-based PrivatAir. The round-trip fare will be 2,880 euros ($2,592 at current exchange rates). A contract with PrivatAir covers an initial 12-month period but could be extended.
Information describing a project can reside in several databases, and joining them may be productive. Lockheed Martin's Joint Strike Fighter has three-dimensional design descriptions in a Catia system and alphanumeric info in a Metaphase product data management system. The company recently decided to join the two with the Catia Metaphase Interface (CMI) by the German firm T-Systems (www.t-systems.com). The software was first developed for Daimler-Benz.
Northrop Grumman Corp.'s Integrated Systems sector will relocate its headquarters to El Segundo, Calif., from the Dallas area, by the end of this year. About 100 people probably will lose their jobs as a result of the move. The reason for the relocation is to place the headquarters' functions close to the sector's largest business unit and thus achieve efficiencies that otherwise wouldn't be possible.
Australia's new defense budget calls for spending US$12.4 billion, a $600-million increase over last year's projection. It includes $109 million for the war on terrorism and money to increase the Army's counterterrorism capability. Canberra also warned it may reduce the number of Army aircraft it is buying due to increased cost. The Air Force and Navy would each get $3.2 billion and the Army would receive $2.9 billion.
A nascent German-Italian anti-radiation missile program could yet provide a road map to bring the remainder of Germany's missile sector within European missile house MBDA. The German and Italian governments are discussing a potential joint effort over the former's Armiger rocket-ramjet anti-radiation missile (ARM), intended to eventually succeed the U.S. AGM-88 High-Speed Anti-Radiation Missile (Harm) currently in the German inventory.
Air India has sold three of its Airbus A300-B4 transports to Ariana Afghan Airlines for $7 million and will send pilots, flight attendants and maintenance engineers to help the Afghanistan-based carrier place the aircraft into service. Air India has replaced the A300s with A310s through a wet lease. Ariana officials plan to use the A300s for flights to London, Paris and Frankfurt from the capital of Kabul. The only other airplanes operated by the airline are one Boeing 727-200 and an Antonov An-24.
William J. (John) Nichols has become Washington-based vice president-government relations for the United Technologies Corp. of Hartford, Conn. He was vice president-congressional relations for the Raytheon Co. Nichols succeeds Wade H. Robert, who has retired.
American Airlines has asked the U.S. Transportation Dept. for authority to code-share to Vietnam six times per week with Japan Airlines. Under the proposal, American would sell AA tickets for Tokyo-Ho Chi Minh City service by JAL four days a week and for Tokyo-Hanoi flights two days each week. In 2001 the department divided 21 third-country code-share frequencies equally among United, Delta and Northwest, but American maintains that the Northwest frequencies are dormant and should be reassigned.
L-3 Communications has been selected by Saab to supply the crash survivability memory unit for the JAS 39 Gripen fighter jet. The five-year contract is valued at up to $1.5 million for deliveries to begin this November and run through 2007. Also, L-3 subsidiary EER Systems Inc. will integrate measurements and signature intelligence capability into the U.S. Air Force Distributed Common Ground System. The initial award value is $3.3 million, beginning in March 2003, and has a total potential worth of $57.4 million through 2008.
The U.S. aerospace/defense community has an image problem--and it's largely self-inflicted, thanks to a propensity for saying one thing and doing the opposite.
The South African government has cleared the way for BAE Systems to take a 30% equity stake in Denel. Jeff Radebe, the minister of public enterprises, told the parliament that the government had approved the strategic equity partnership deal, which could be concluded between the two companies later this year.
CAE will supply aviation training services in contracts totaling up to U.S. $22.5 million. CAE will provide pilot training to pilots of Horizon Air's Bombardier CRJ700 aircraft for the next 14 years. CAE's South America Training Center has signed a contract with Aerolineas Argentinas for Airbus A340 full-flight simulator training. Also, the U.S. Navy Reserves have selected CAE's Dallas Training Center to provide initial and recurrent pilot ground-school and simulator training on a Boeing 737NG simulator for C-40 aviators.
Northrop Grumman Corp.'s Navigation Systems Div. has been selected by the U.S. Navy to supply inertial navigation systems for aircraft carrier-based pilots. The $12-million contract covers 78 LN-92 inertial navigation units and mounts for F/A-18E/F, E-2C, AV-8B aircraft and for approach landing systems of aircraft carriers.
Rob Lisk has been named chief operating officer of Jedco, Grand Rapids, Mich. He was president of the Pratt & Whitney manufacturing facility in Lansing, Mich.
After two years of negotiations, Japan's Meteorological Agency has agreed to pay $5.78 million to bring Goes-9 off the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA's) bench as a pinch hitter for the aging GMS-5 weather satellite. The Japanese agency expected to replace GMS-5 by now with MT-SAT, an advanced meteorological satellite that was to double as the country's first air traffic control spacecraft. But the original MT-SAT was lost in a November 1999 H-2 launch failure. Launch of its replacement has been delayed until midsummer 2003.
