When the crash of American Airlines Flight 587 reminded the aviation community that rapid rudder reversals could rip the vertical stabilizer off an aircraft, the reaction of many airline pilots was shock. But the reaction of engineering test pilots amounted to: ``We knew that.''
The testbed Multisensor Command and Control Aircraft (MC2A-X) made its maiden flight Apr. 18 at Hanscom AFB, Mass. The 4-hr. flight was conducted by Electronics Systems Center, while development of the system is under the aegis of Boeing's Phantom Works. When operational, at least one version of MC2A will carry both high- and low-frequency radar making it capable of locating and tracking small, stealthy targets such as cruise missiles.
The number of sorties for Japan's air force continues to decline. In fiscal 2001 (ending Mar. 31, 2002), the air force scrambled for just 151 sorties, compared with 155 the previous year and a high of 944 in fiscal 1984 during the Cold War. The Japanese say they need to scramble less often because the Russians are flying fewer reconnaissance missions. Which is not to say that Russia has stopped its recce work, however. The Japanese figure it is obtaining more information from space.
Saab Aviocomp has been selected as an authorized service center to provide component maintenance for Embraer 135/140/145 regional jets and EMB-120 Brasilia turboprops.
The U.S. Army has selected Northrop Grumman and Lockheed Martin to pursue concept advanced development of the Aerial Common Sensor, the service's next-generation intelligence aircraft. Both companies are to receive $35 million for the next phase. L-3 was the losing bidder.
Buoyed by firm orders and commitments covering 674 NH-90 helicopters, NH Industries is targeting April 2004 for delivery of its first TTH transport aircraft to Germany. Partners of the cross-border company expect to rapidly ramp up production to an average 40-aircraft annual rate, an objective that should make the NH-90 one of Europe's biggest military programs. NH Industries' backlog includes helicopters scheduled to be delivered as late as 2018, an indication that the company already maintains enviable long-term visibility.
The International Space Station's complex new TRW robotic mobile rail transporter is now operational along with the rest of the station's new Boeing S-Zero truss following the departure of the shuttle Atlantis crew.
A small aircraft flew into a skyscraper in Milan last week, but preliminary analysis suggested the crash was an accident. According to Italian police, the pilot had sent a distress call prior to impact, and eyewitnesses said the plane was on fire as it smashed into the building. Luckily, the upper floors affected by the incident were nearly empty, and the subsequent fire was quickly extinguished. Initial reports indicated three people died in the crash, and dozens were injured.
Eugene Woloshyn has been appointed vice president-labor relations for Boeing at its Chicago headquarters. He was director of North American human resources for Alcoa. Rinaldo Petrignani has been named vice president of Rome-based Boeing International Relations for Italy.
The U.K. is close to inking a deal with Boeing to upgrade its CH-47 Chinooks and give them a capability close to the MH-47Es flown by the U.S. Army's special ops units. British aviators have had exchanges with the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment and seen first-hand some of the upgrades the U.S. has made to the twin-rotor helicopter. Among the enhancements eyed by the U.K. are the aerial refueling capability and the terrain-following/terrain-avoidance radar. British forces are currently using Chinooks in Afghanistan.
COMPLICATING THE STUDY OF SIDE LOBES in the real world is multipath scattering from parts of the airframe. MIT Lincoln Laboratory's Jeffrey S. Herd has collaborated with the Air Force Research Laboratory's Hans Steyskal to look for ways to compensate for the effects of mutual coupling and platform scattering to achieve ultra-low side lobes and accurate direction finding. They tried two numerical pattern synthesis techniques, but found an iterative ``least squares'' approach the best, and particularly useful for digital beam-forming arrays.
Globalization and terrorism are blamed for making security risks multiply like weeds, but it does not necessarily follow that the world is up against the most dangerous overgrowth in centuries. The variety and unpredictability of current military threats appear far greater than in Cold War days, an impression that took over in high military and intelligence circles long before Sept. 11. But that impression suggests a lack of historical perspective to some outside experts.
Construction of the 10-story Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center of the Smithsonian Institution's National Air and Space Museum is ahead of schedule for its planned opening in December 2003. A mild winter has helped the Hensel Phelps Construction Co. in its efforts to build the 293,700-sq.-ft. aviation hangar adjacent to Washington Dulles International Airport. Progress has been made on the center's IMAX theater and the 164-ft.-high Donald D. Engen Memorial Observation Tower. The hangar is scheduled to be covered this summer, with large doors added during the fall.
Goodrich Corp. has been selected to supply cockpit door video surveillance systems for all Airbus production aircraft platforms. The systems are designed to provide real-time video monitoring of the cockpit door entry and forward galley areas to flight crews.
Air Force Secretary James G. Roche is scheduled to receive the Gen. James H. Doolittle Award for Leadership in Aerospace Policy as part of the Conference on Space and Security that will be cosponsored Apr. 22-23 by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Security Studies Program and the French Embassy in Washington.
CRYPTEK INC. OF STERLING, VA., has a drop-in product that can protect local or wide area computer networks, works with all hardware and software operating systems, and can be tailored to an organization's security policy, according to the company. DiamondTEK combines the functions of virtual private networks and firewalls, and identification and authentication of users. Access policies are resident in a single, PC-based controller, Diamond Central, where they are entered with a point-and-click interface.
The 2001 recession and post-Sept. 11 drop in airline capacity that sent a lot of aircraft to desert parking lots is prompting growth in spare parts buying by AirLiance, the Chicago-based parts distributor founded in 1998 by United Airlines, Lufthansa Technik and Air Canada to rationalize their excess inventory. President and CEO David Sisson sees a ``very active year'' in 2002 as airlines try to reduce their MRO costs. AirLiance bought $70 million worth of spare parts from airlines last year and expects to top $100 million this year.
As first-quarter returns come in, there's not much encouragement about how airlines are coping with their post-Sept. 11 downturn. Load factors are up--but fares are so low that filling seats isn't making anyone money. Labor and fuel costs are climbing, and the industry has far too much capacity.
When it comes to the commercialization of military technologies, most efforts by aerospace/defense contractors have been one textbook case after another of how to squander resources. But a small number of companies have figured out how the commercialization process ought to be followed and have been rewarded for their successes. Examples include Hughes Electronics, General Electric, Rockwell and TRW.
Dassault Aviation and Sagem will team to develop future tactical unmanned aerial vehicles. The companies plan to demonstrate long-endurance and fast, stealthy UAV platforms interoperable with Sagem's existing models, and could later jointly market and sell aircraft developed on a common basis.
If the Pentagon is to stay within its projected larger budgets in 2003 and beyond, it has to reverse spending priorities that traditionally have put platforms first (aircraft, ships and vehicles), sensors second and, at a distant third, communications.
General Dynamics Armament Systems has received an $85-million order for Hydra-70 rockets and motors from the U.S. Army Operations Support Command. The order is part of a five-year contract awarded in 1999.
Lockheed Martin Infrared Imaging Systems of Lexington, Mass., which built the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder instrument on the TRW/NASA Aqua satellite set for launch Apr. 18, is now part of BAE Systems' Information and Electronic Warfare Systems business unit.
