Meanwhile, Snecma's Turbomeca affiliate signed a preliminary agreement with Denel and the South African and French governments under which Turbomeca will acquire a majority shareholding in a company to be spun off from Denel Airmotive. The production and MRO venture is expected to generate 30-40 million euros per year in revenues. Snecma also announced a new company, Messier Services, to specialize in landing and braking system maintenance. The venture, to be owned by Messier-Dowty and Messier-Bugatti, will be formed in March.
CONTINUING FLIGHT TESTS using its GPS Local Area Augmentation System (LAAS), Raytheon has conducted autoland tests at Salt Lake City International Airport. A Boeing 737-900 completed a series of autocoupled approaches, hands off through touchdown and roll-out, using two different runways. Raytheon's RAYNAV-4100 LAAS ground station at the airport transmitted differential GPS corrections and precision approach path data to Rockwell Collins GLU-920 multimode receivers in the aircraft. The FAA plans to begin acquisition of LAAS ground stations for U.S.
The British Defense Ministry is on the brink of launching a program that could prove to be a key asset in forging a coherent strategy for current and future reconnaissance and intelligence-gathering crewed air platforms and unmanned air vehicles. The ministry is trying to create a network of crewed aircraft, and unmanned air vehicles (UAVs), as well as space-based, land and sea assets, under the rubric of its Intelligence, Surveillance, Target Acquisition and Reconnaissance (Istar) effort.
Boeing reaffirmed its plans to continue producing the 100-seat 717. A company spokesman said Boeing is ``confident [we] can produce 717s at a low rate for a few years as airlines regain their health and get back in this market.'' With more than 90 deliveries to customers on four continents, the 717 ``has more firm orders than any other new 100-seat airplane.'' Program manager Jim Phillips says the 717's cash operating costs are ``more than 13% lower than the Airbus A318 on a typical 300-naut.-mi.
Hainan Airlines has ordered three Gulfstream Aerospace 200 business jets for its charter service. The Beijing-based airline expects to receive its first super-mid-size corporate aircraft in this year's third quarter with the third aircraft delivered by the first quarter of 2003. The value of the order is $60 million, according to Gulfstream officials. The Gulfstream 200, formerly the Galaxy business jet, will join Raytheon Aircraft 800XPs in charter service with the Chinese airline's Deer Jet subsidiary. This is the first sale of Gulfstreams in China.
The Rocketdyne RS-83 engine program is scheduled for a system design review in mid-March that could lead to detailed design of a full-scale prototype of the reusable hydrogen-oxygen engine. John Vilja, Space Launch Initiative program manager at Rocketdyne, said the project is in the process of entering into detailed design of the new engine. The basic engine shape has been defined following a long series of trade studies aimed at selecting a final system configuration.
Senior Military David A. Fulghum recently flew on two Navy reconnaissance missions in the U.S.' wat on terrorism -- one over Afganistan, the other over the Arabian Sea. As a precondition for his flights, which were the first by a journalist on a Navy reconnaissance aircraft over Afganistan, the Navy permitted no mention of the base of origin or countries overflown en route. In addition, Fulghum was not allowed to see sensor displays during portions of both missions.
Despite the impact of an economic nosedive and wholesale shutdowns of airspace following last year's terrorist attacks in the U.S., the general aviation industry reported record sales of aircraft in 2001 both domestically and internationally. According to yearly statistics compiled by the General Aviation Manufacturers Assn., billings for U.S.-produced aircraft reached $8.65 billion, a 1% rise over the previous year, while total industry billings exceeded $14 billion, a 4% increase.
China's airline industry has suffered its third loss in four years, a massive $383.3-million deficit in fiscal 2001 that's expected to put airline management under greater pressure from Beijing to reform. The deficit belied earlier predictions that the carriers would be able to reverse the $285.9-million loss they posted in the first half.
During maritime patrol, U.S. Navy P-3 crews try to ensure that leaders of the Al Qaeda and Taliban, who might flee Afghanistan through the porous borders of Pakistan or Iran, do not have an easy time moving by sea to safe harbors in the region, such as Lebanon, Syria, Somalia or Yemen. But the classic scenario of P-3s flying at wave-top level to identify ships by reading their names off the stern isn't what's being done here on the periphery of the Afghanistan conflict.
Officials of American Airlines predicted last week that the carrier will suffer substantial losses this year in the wake of depressed air travel since the events of Sept 11. Continental Airlines also is struggling to stem losses. Of the major U.S. carriers, only Southwest Airlines managed to post a small profit in the fourth quarter of 2001 and expects to show another profit in the first quarter of this year.
Members of the FAA's Aviation Security Advisory Committee are wondering when the Transportation Security Administration might pay a visit. Every 3-6 months for a decade, the committee has gathered dozens of government, industry, passenger and public advocacy representatives in an attempt to address the FAA's most pressing air security questions. So members figure the government's new transportation security honchos could learn a thing or two about aviation from them. A meeting with the TSA was scheduled for Mar.
Another HH-60G Pave Hawk arrives in Zomboanga City carried in by a C-17 as special operations forces build up in the southern Philippines. Flying overhead is an SOF MH-47. Elsewhere on the base are MC-130 Combat Talon aircraft. They are part of a military exercise staged by Philippine and U.S. forces aimed at eradicating the Muslim extremist group Abu Sayyaf. The group has links to Al Qaeda and has engaged in kidnappings and armed attacks during the last several years. Abu Sayyaf has been most active on nearby Basilan island. The U.S.
The U.S. Navy wants the P-3 replacement program to benefit from lessons learned in Afghanistan. But first it must deal with more mundane matters such as finding the money to field an aircraft by the time it is needed.
Honeywell's solid-state power control-based secondary electric power distribution system (SEPDS) has been selected for the A380. The SEPDS uses programmable solid-state devices instead of traditional electro-mechanical circuit-interruption technology. Delivery of the first-flight hardware is set for January 2004 from Honeywell's Mississauga, Ontario, facility. Honeywell's Redmond, Wash., facility is to provide the A380's Aircraft Environment Surveillance System. The two contracts are valued at more than $710 million over 15 years.
Stanislas Guerin will head Thales' Positioning Based Solutions Unit. He was senior vice president-training and simulation and has been succeeded by Guy Delevacque.
An Air India flight from London to New York was intercepted by two Canadian CF-18 fighters near Newfoundland on Feb. 28 after a London-based screener apparently reported a ``suspicious'' person was on board. The Boeing 747-400 was escorted to the U.S.-Canadian border, where it was handed off to F-15s from Otis AFB, Mass. The transport landed at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport without incident. According to the Associated Press, an FBI official in Washington said the bureau wanted to talk to a person who was on board.
Oil companies as well as scientists will be watching the performance of a pair of research satellites set for launch this month that are designed to generate the most accurate Earth-gravity maps ever, tools that could help geologists target underground oil fields from space and Earth scientists gauge the impact on the planet's climate of burning that oil.
The competition to supply Singapore with a multirole fighter has begun in earnest, with six bidders vying for one of the jewels of planned combat aircraft acquisitions. Singapore initially plans to buy about 20 new aircraft to replace its highly upgraded A-4s. However, a follow-on order might be made to replace the country's F-5s, although that program could also result in another competition, industry officials said.
Some at the Pentagon are encouraged, others dispirited by news that Taiwan will decide by year's end whether or not to buy Lockheed Martin P-3s. Enthusiasts say the purchase would pay for restarting the long-range patrol aircraft's production line. That would make P-3X an attractive option for the Navy's new Multi-Mission Aircraft (MMA) that is to replace the current P-3C/EP-3E fleet. The latter has proven its effectiveness anew as a surveillance and intelligence-gathering aircraft over land and water (see p. 60).
NASA astronauts hope to leave the Hubble Space Telescope a much more powerful instrument for discovery at the end of their shuttle STS-109 mission to service the orbiting observatory, but there's a downside to on-orbit upgrades. Anne Kinney, director of the astronomy and physics division at NASA headquarters, notes that the Hubble ultimately is limited by the size of its light-gathering mirror, and there is no way to increase it on the existing telescope.
Singapore Airlines has deferred the phaseout of the A340-300s it planned for February so they can be used as interim replacements for its A310s. The airline has nine A340s remaining from an original fleet of 17, the others having been traded in to Boeing as part of a 777 purchase. SIA is evaluating plans to phase out the 13 A310s in its fleet before 2005.
Supervisory board members of Paris-based Eutelsat last week said that the company's initial public offering ``may occur before the end of this year.'' The provider of satellite communications, an international organization transformed in mid-2001 into a limited liability company, plans an offering of 30% of shares.
The Russian government has granted export approval for a podded laser-based infrared countermeasures system that was first designed to protect fighters and now is being promoted for possible civil application.
Global Hawks may resume military operations from their base in the United Arab Emirates and flight testing at Edwards AFB, Calif., this week. The UAV has been grounded after one crashed at the end of a mission over Afghanistan. U.S. Air Force officials are slated to sign off on the accident investigation in the coming days, clearing the way for flying to resume.
