Lawmakers are locking horns over federalizing airport security. Some Democrats say screeners should be civil servants. Many Republicans want screeners to work on contract. Key legislators had expected to meet late Friday with Transportation Secretary Norman Y. Mineta, who's been mediating between the camps, but the session was abruptly canceled. A Senate bill calls for civil-service screeners at 140 larger airports with state and local authorities taking charge at smaller airports. Mineta says that would require 28,000 civil servants and $1.8 billion a year.
The era of gigantic computer rooms is not quite over. Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory recently unveiled ``ASCI White,'' rated in June as the world's fastest computer by the Top500 group (www.top500.org). ASCI stands for the government's Accelerated Strategic Computing Initiative, and the computer is primarily for modeling nuclear weapons. The $110-million machine has 8,192 IBM Power-3-II microprocessor nodes linked to give a speed of 12.3 trillion floating-point operations per second.
TETHERED BLIMPS COULD RAISE PSEUDOLITES to an altitude of 2,000 ft. to create an artificial GPS constellation, as another approach to overcoming GPS jamming and preserving navigation capability for friendly forces. AW&ST recently reported on a Darpa plan to put pseudolites in UAVs (AW&ST Sept. 10, p. 54). Carolina Unmanned Vehicles is proposing its Helikite Elevated Platform, which would have a line of sight of approximately 60 naut. mi. from that altitude, and could also provide temporary cell-phone capability for emergencies.
The F-22 Combined Test Force met another key milestone last month when Raptor 4005 fired a guided AIM-120 Amraam, scoring a ``hit'' on a subscale aerial target.
National security experts say terrorism is a distinct facet of globalization that will take decades to grind down, a phenomenon whose nature is apt to make everyday life, homeland defense and strategic security increasingly synonymous.
The table entitled ``Terrorism's Impact on Airline Operations'' (AW&ST Sept. 24, p. 34) contained incorrect reduction figures for three airlines. Japan Airlines and Korean Air each had about a 10% reduction in their transpacific flights after they resumed operations following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in the U.S. Singapore Airlines had none.
ITS ELECTRONICS, THE PRIME CONTRACTOR for the second phase of the Electronic Warfare upgrade of the Canadian Forces CH146 Griffon helicopters, sees cooperation with Israel's Elisra Electronic Systems as opening the door for new business opportunities. Elisra supplied 10 of the SPS-65 radar and laser warning receivers (RLWRs) in the first phase of the program and is working to integrate missile warning and expendable countermeasures systems into the Canadian Forces version of the Bell 412EP helicopter.
Executives at EADS are coveting a larger presence in the U.S. to reach the ambitious growth targets they have established for their military operations. Exactly how the foray into the U.S. will take shape has not been decided, but mergers and acquisitions are expected to play a large role, said Stefan Zoller, president of EADS' Systems and Defense Electronics business. The U.S. isn't the only area the organization is targeting, but because of its size it is seen as the most important market to succeed in.
BAE Regional Aircraft is in the final push to get its RJX family of aircraft through flight testing, even as questions are mounting what will happen to the market for those and competing aircraft. Economic problems in the U.S. and other regions were already depressing the outlook for the regional jet business, but the terrorist attacks in the U.S. could further hurt companies. Nevertheless, BAE Systems officials believe their business plan should allow them to weather a downturn.
The 33rd Session of the Assembly of the International Civil Aviation Organization, convening in Montreal last week, worked assiduously to approve a resolution that strongly condemns terrorism and countries that harbor terrorists. The primary purpose of the assembly, according to ICAO Council President Assad Kotaite, is ``to identify the means by which to eradicate this new threat [aircraft used as weapons of destruction] and restore confidence in a system that remains fundamentally safe, secure and efficient.''
British Airways plans to restart its daily Concorde services to New York soon and has completed the first of five scheduled operational assessment flights. The Sept. 11 flight was the first with a full load of passengers since services were suspended more than a year ago after the crash of Air France Flight 4590 near Paris.
Orbital Imaging Corp. will restructure its debt under Chapter 11 of the bankruptcy code after losing its Orbview 4 satellite in the failure of a Taurus rocket built by its parent company, Orbital Sciences. The failure also cost NASA an ozone mapper that would have ensured continuous monitoring of polar ozone holes, while Celestis Inc. lost a package of cremated human remains sold as space burials.
Despite increasing softness in Asia-Pacific travel, Boeing is holding to its 20-year forecast of strong demand for new transports to serve the region in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Vice President Randolph Baseler told a Hong Kong audience last week that the region is expected to need 5,400 new aircraft worth an estimated $540 billion over the next 20 years.
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) has increased its helicopter maintenance capacity to more than 30 aircraft per year from about 10 to meet increasing demand from Japan's Defense Agency (JDA), which has expanded deployment of helicopters in recent years. The company has streamlined its maintenance system at the Komaki Minami facility of Nagoya Aerospace Systems by adding one line for servicing the SH-60J Seahawk and another for the UH-60J.
A National Research Council panel says Congress and the Pentagon have made organizational and budgetary mistakes that could cost the U.S. its military edge. For example, the panel reported last week, the Air Force has more programs than the budget can support.
Honeywell has been selected by the U.S. Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve Command to provide color displays for their Block 25/30/32 F-16 aircraft, under a $3-million contract.
Qantas Airways pulled out of talks to lease some of Ansett Australia's aircraft, but Ansett and administrators appointed by the government to try to salvage the carrier said 11 of Ansett's A320s are to begin flying again. Initial services were to start Sept. 29 from Melbourne to Sydney. c
Russia's Kamov Design Bureau plans to develop an advanced training helicopter by 2003 designated the Ka-60U to replace Mil Mi-8 and Mi-2 aircraft used to train pilots for the past 30 years. The new helicopter would be based on the Ka-60 multirole aircraft that is undergoing tests, and would be built at the Lukhovitsy factory east of Moscow. That facility had been producing MiG-29 fighters but is in need of new work. Officials of Russia's helicopter flight academy in Syizran anticipate a long-term need for as many as 200 new aircraft.
The Civil Aviation Administration of China says no Chinese carrier need worry about insurance for war or terrorism claims, at least for the next month. The CAAC's guarantee covers claims of more than $50 million, according to Li Hongyu, a CAAC official. Another Chinese air transport official said it will be extended on a month-to-month basis. ``As China is a vast country, air transport is an essential means of commuting from one city to another,'' the official said.
Swissair Group is facing the difficult task of merging its two core airlines, Swissair and Crossair, in the months ahead, while the company's precarious financial situation continues to deteriorate.
An Ariane 4 rocket launched the Atlantic Bird 2 telecom satellite for Eutelsat. The flight was the Ariane 4's 64th straight successful liftoff. The next mission, set for Nov. 27, will orbit DirecTV-4S. The Ariane 5 heavy-lift launch vehicle will return to service in January.
SAS Scandinavian airlines, already hit by a weakening economy, is coping with the resignation of its entire board, and sharing the blow dealt to all airlines following the terrorist attacks in Washington and New York.
Canada's airline and aerospace sectors, also reeling from the economic repercussions following the terrorist attacks, slashed jobs and services and awaited word of government bailout plans under consideration late last week by the country's transport minister, David Collenette.
The long-time vision of radar, electronic warfare and communications sharing a common antenna is coming closer to reality through a research program at the Office of Naval Research. Scientists in ONR's advanced multifunction radio frequency (AMRF) concepts program envision using multiple, simultaneous beams to achieve all three functions from a common RF aperture. As a further benefit, it could be difficult for an enemy to distinguish a radar transmission from a communication signal.
Senior Northrop Grumman officials are trying to create a company-wide modeling and simulation system they hope will allow them to win new military business as the Pentagon focuses increasingly on highly integrated or networked capabilities.
