At the Marine Corps base southwest of Kandahar, a pair of AH-1W Super Cobras circle over a CH-53 (right) and a CH-46 (left) as a UH-1 flies past. Marine air and ground patrols have interdicted supply, reinforcement and escape routes lines around the Taliban stronghold. The tightening noose, increasing defections and attacks by an ever- strengthening anti-Taliban force triggered negotiations to surrender the town and its Taliban garrison.
The Pentagon has managed to score successes on several of its key missile defense programs, including last week's intercept of a mock intercontinental ballistic missile warhead, but technical and funding hurdles are still slowing the pace of several critical projects.
Ralph Kaeding has become Singapore-based regional director for East Asia and Australia/Pacific and Bill Johnson Atlanta-based regional director for the Americas for Lufthansa Technical Training.
The timing of Pratt&Whitney Canada's plans to obtain Transport Canada approval of the PT6C-67D turboshaft engine for commercial and military UH-1 helicopters was incorrectly reported (AW&ST Nov. 26, p. 6). Approval is expected in February, followed by FAA certification later next year. The engine and installation kit are scheduled to be available in the second quarter of 2002. NavCanada's rate stabilization drawdown is C$75 million ($47.4 million), not $753.4 million, as reported in Airline Outlook (AW&ST Nov. 12, p. 15).
Designed as an alternative to total replacement of a liquid crystal display in computer or avionics system, these cold cathode fluorescent lamps (CCFL) and harness assemblies are available for screens up to 18.1 in. The company says it is an approved supplier to numerous OEMs, and its line of CCFL products range in diameter from 2-6 mm., in lengths from 25-360 mm. The company can custom configure assemblies to include options such as power inverters, mounting grommets, end caps and connectors. JKL Components, 13343 Paxton St., Pacoima, Calif. 91331.
The Endeavour astronauts are to complete eight days of crew transfer, logistics and EVA operations at the International Space Station this week following their launch under unprecedented wartime security.
General Dynamics gained some credibility in its bid to sell the Pentagon on the Gulfstream V biz jet as a sensor platform. Joining Sweden and Japan, Israel bought three Gulfstream Vs as its ``special electronic mission'' aircraft. Israel will supply its own classified payloads. Industry officials here expect them to include a synthetic-aperture radar (SAR), a moving-target indicator and a suite that gathers electronic signals and communications intercepts. Meanwhile, some U.S.
Usually, when space people talk about their products, they emphasize the new stuff. But Kevin M. Bilger, who heads Lockheed Martin Space Systems' military space programs, took some pleasure in pointing to the DSCS A3 satellite during a recent walk-through of the company's cleanroom. An 8-ft. cube, the A3 was dwarfed by a 51-ft.-long Milstar II that was about to be buttoned up for a flight to Cape Canaveral. The Milstar represents the latest and greatest for milcom programs while the A3 will be 25 years old when it's launched in May 2003.
China helps make Dragonair CEO Stanley Hui an optimist about cargo traffic as his Hong Kong-based carrier brings a second 747-300 freighter into service. ``We've been fortunate in that our markets seemed to have bucked the general trend and are holding up solidly,'' he said. The converted combi is coming on line as Asian freight traditionally reaches a peak to serve the Christmas and New Year's holiday periods. More important, Hui expects Dragonair to benefit from China's entry into the WTO.
Gulfstream Aerospace has won a contract worth up to $206 million to supply and support three Gulfstream V business jet aircraft for the Israeli Ministry of Defense. They are scheduled to be used as special electronic mission aircraft. Toulouse, France-based Latecoere will produce airframe subassemblies and electric wirings for the newly launched Dassault 7X business jet.
Hartzell Propeller has completed Supplemental Type Certificate testing to certify a three-blade propeller for the Piper Cherokee 235, on the path to FAA approval and STC issuance. The FAA Designated Engineering Representative pilot who tested the three-blade, 78-in.-dia. constant-speed propeller for certification reported improved takeoff performance, according to Hartzell. During flight testing, the pilot also registered climb improvements of up to 100 fpm. with no loss in cruise performance.
Sagem's Sperwer-LE surveillance/attack drone made its maiden flight last week. The upgraded version has 12-hr. maximum endurance and operates up to 20,000-ft.-altitude, according to company officials.
NASA hopes to ask for proposals early next year to privatize the space shuttle (see p. 42), but Bush Administration insiders still see some big stumbling blocks to turning over the fleet. The idea is for the government to retain ownership of shuttle assets while industry operates them. Ultimately, that would lead to what NASA now terms commercialization, in which industry would own the fleet and NASA would be only one of many customers. Privatizing the shuttle by 2004 is considered ambitious, though.
Held hostage to national pride, Belgium intends to form a new carrier to succeed Sabena even though such an objective is at odds with the widely recognized need to consolidate Europe's fragmented airline industry. The government of Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt is supporting efforts to establish Delta Air Transport (DAT), Sabena's regional arm, as a viable airline flying the Belgian flag. However, the government has no plan to acquire a stake in the revamped carrier.
NASA managers and pork barrel politicians like to stress that money for space projects isn't spent in space, but on the ground. In addition to their manufacturing and systems work, Boeing and Lockheed Martin compete for the money to be earned on the ground in supporting space operations and selling services generated in space.
Although its commercial satellite business is struggling in a depressed market, Lockheed Martin remains a powerhouse in the space science arena. Its recent win of the 2005 Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter contract reaffirmed the company's long-held dominance in planetary exploration, and it is a strong contender for the Next Generation Space Telescope. TRW leads a competing team to build NGST (AW&ST Oct. 15, p. 80).
NASA picked a team headed by Southwest Research Institute to enter preliminary design studies for a mission to Pluto and the Kuiper Belt set for launch in 2006 (see illustration). The ``New Horizons'' mission would fly by Pluto well before 2020, when the planet's atmosphere will begin to precipitate out from the cold as it moves away from the Sun in its eccentric 248-year orbit. The Bush Administration has scrubbed a Pluto mission in its budget requests, but Congress added money for one in the Fiscal 2002 NASA appropriation (AW&ST Nov. 12, p. 30).
The Russian Glonass navigation spacecraft system continues to limp along, but the launch of three new spacecraft will bring the network to just over one-third capability. Only six Glonass satellites have been functional in recent months. The latest additions will increase the constellation to nine out of an ideal 24-spacecraft system. The new Glonass satellites were launched Dec. 1 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome on a Khrunichev Proton K booster. They were to maneuver into 19,000-km. (11,800-mi.) orbits inclined 64.8 deg.
The four military branches' fixation on their own unique, service-specific needs and their short shrift of Defense Dept.-wide requirements are hobbling efforts to successfully attack time-critical targets, say congressional analysts. ``Each military service plans and acquires systems to meet requirements under its own concept of operations,'' they report in a new General Accounting Office study.
The Wind Corrected Munitions Dispenser (WCMD), used in combat for the first time in the Afghanistan conflict, is designed to dispense submunitions such as antipersonnel bomblets, antitank slugs and land mines. The bomb's guidance system is designed to make corrections for wide wind variations as the weapon descends from 40,000 ft. or more.
The Machinists union, seeking a new contract for 15,000 mechanics and related employees at United Airlines, scheduled a membership vote Dec. 13 on authorizing a strike. The union is free to strike Dec. 21, but President Bush is expected to appoint a Presidential Emergency Board to investigate and recommend a settlement. Creating a board would extend the strike deadline by 60 days.
The company says the model L864 is the first LED-based flashing red beacon for marking radio and television towers and other obstacles that pose hazards to aircraft navigation. The light meets FAA, Transport Canada and ICAO requirements. Designed primarily as a replacement unit for 300-mm. incandescent red flashing beacons in existing installations, the L864 mounts to standard bolt patterns and requires no additional wiring, controllers or monitors.
Eurockot Launch Services of Bremen, Germany, has set a fourth-quarter 2002 launch window for the Canadian Space Agency's MOST space telescope and the Czech Astronomical Institute's Mimosa upper atmosphere research satellite. The Rockot launch vehicle, based on the Soviet-era SS-19 ICBM, is scheduled to place the 60-kg. Canadian spacecraft in a Sun-synchronous orbit, while the 66-kg. Czech platform will go into an elliptical orbit that will allow it to measure the density of the upper atmosphere.
Mary Ellen Bowers has been named general manager of aerospace and industrial products for Alcoa Wheel and Forged Products of Cleveland. She was director of global enterprise business solutions.
Scott J. Seymour has been named vice president of the Northrop Grumman Corp. of Los Angeles and president of its Integrated Systems Sector. He succeeds Ralph D. Crosby, Jr., who has resigned. Seymour was vice president of the sector's Air Combat Systems business area, El Segundo, Calif.
