Bruce Goodwin has become associate director for defense and nuclear technologies and Merna Hurd associate deputy director for strategic operations of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, Calif. Goodwin was B Program/B Div. leader within the Defense and Nuclear Technologies Div. Hurd was senior adviser to the U.S. Energy Dept.
An early need for the Pentagon's war against terrorism will be building up its depleted reserves plus adding an additional 20-25% ``surge capability'' for prolonged combat operations. Air Force units needed to carry cargo, provide reconnaissance or inflight refueling and perform sustained air strikes all need an infusion of spare engines, parts and readiness kits. They also need enough supplies to conduct ``30-60 days of combat operations without logistics support,'' a senior Air Force official said.
Amateur aircraft designers who want software to both analyze and draw their designs can use AirplanePDQ from DaVinci Technologies. AirplanePDQ has sizing and analysis tools combined with the IntelliCAD drawing program, which is compatible with the popular AutoCAD system. The analysis tools include performance and weight-and-balance. An upgraded version available next month can pass data to and from the X-Plane flight simulation program, allowing designers to evaluate their creations on the simulator. The new version also is compatible with AutoCAD 2000 file types.
Definiens Imaging GmbH. of Munich will begin marketing a version of its eCognition software next year that contains advanced synthetic aperture radar (SAR) tools for extracting information from the Earth-imaging Radarsat-1 satellite. eCognition classifies an image based on attributes of objects within it rather than on attributes of its individual pixels. It can be ``trained'' to scour Radarsat-1's worldwide SAR database to selectively extract information based on selective parameters.
Military officers here and defense contractors are running scared, afraid to make the most obvious statements about military activities--even those in no way related to the newly declared war against terrorism--because of the threat of being summarily punished by Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld. ``We've returned to a high Cold War security environment,'' said an Air Force officer.
U.S. intelligence agencies originally set up to monitor the Soviet nuclear threat were already scrambling to cover the more diffuse dangers of the post-Cold War world when terrorists struck to deadly effect in New York and Washington. In the aftermath, the agencies are likely to get both more resources and more oversight as they try to adapt.
THE NAVY AND FAA ARE FLIGHT TESTING an arc fault circuit breaker that protects against arcing, which poses an increasing fire threat for aging aircraft, while providing the current-overload protection of conventional breakers (AW&ST Aug. 21, 2000, p. 72). The circuit breakers are slated for a six-month flight test on a Navy C-9 and an FAA Boeing 727. Arcing is most apt to occur when insulation is damaged, and can produce temperatures from 3,000-10,000C, hot enough to ignite any material in the vicinity.
Duane Manning and Michael Fenoglio have been named directors of business development for, respectively, Wichita, Kan., and Indiana for Senior Aerospace of Los Angeles. Eric Jensen has become director for global best practices and Ron Turner director-aftermarket services. Manning was vice president-marketing and sales and Jensen vice president-operations for the Raytheon Aircraft Parts, Inventory and Distribution Co. in Wichita. Fenoglio was director of marketing for Dowty Aerospace subsidiary TRI Industries.
The Aviation Week Aerospace 25 stock index (see p. 15) registered a decline of 7.1% for the period Sept. 12-19, but the relatively small slide is seductively misleading.
As U.S. war plans move into high gear, Washington's allies are starting to define what their role would be in a conflict and the long-term security measures they might take. The U.K. and Australia already have forces available in the Middle East in case strikes take place soon. Other European allies, including France and Germany, have pledged their support, without defining what it might entail.
Balair, the Swissair Group's charter subsidiary, will not cease operations and vanish as previously planned by the ailing Swiss group. Hotelplan has agreed to restructure and assume financial responsibility for Balair under an all-new business road map. Another Swissair Group subsidiary is recovering and rapidly approaching profitability: Crossair's first-half revenues increased 6% to $363 million while losses diminished to no more than $10.8 million.
U.S. and European Commission negotiators, working quietly to define a European aircraft noise abatement regime that would supplant the continent's hushkit rule, will take their cue from policy decisions at the 33rd International Civil Aviation Organization Assembly meeting, which begins tomorrow in Montreal.
NASA is poised to unveil a sweeping commercial space policy designed to fundamentally change the character of the U.S. space agency into an organization that's as dedicated to planting its flag on Wall Street and Madison Avenue as on the Moon or Mars.
Both Lockheed Martin and Boeing have completed the Joint Strike Fighter concept demonstration phase. With a single winner scheduled to be chosen late next month, a review of program goals since contracts were awarded in November 1996 should provide insight into this key decision.
Ronald D. Sugar became president and chief operating officer of the Northrop Grumman Corp. on Sept. 19. Sugar held the same title at Litton Industries, which was acquired by Northrop Grumman in April.
Sir Roy McNulty has been appointed chairman of Britain's Civil Aviation Authority. He was chairman of National Air Traffic Services Ltd. McNulty succeeds Sir Malcolm Field.
Michael Morgan (see photo) has become vice president-advanced systems development of the Avidyne Corp., Lincoln, Mass. He was integrated flight deck program director for general aviation for Honeywell, based in Olathe, Kan.
Steve Davis has become vice president-Boeing commercial programs for Vought Aircraft Industries of Dallas. He was vice president-Dallas site operations.
Messier-Bugatti is planning to test prototype wheels and brakes for the two new Longer Range 777-200 and -300 derivatives by year-end. Machining of the parts for the prototype brakes is nearly complete in preparation for the evaluations, which will include rejected takeoffs and brake stability testing. The company already supplies wheels and carbon brakes for 767-200/300 models, and has been selected by Boeing to equip the USAF C-17 transport.
William J. Allison has been appointed vice president/general manager of the Navigation Systems Div. of the Northrop Grumman Corp., Woodland Hills, Calif. Allison was president of Litton Industries' Integrated Systems Div., Northridge, Calif.
Trying to do in days what normally would take months--and seeking consensus on what usually would provoke heated debate--the Bush Administration and Congress labored last week toward a package of grants and other measures intended to rescue U.S. airlines from financial collapse.
Boeing plans to set up combined marketing for space launch services on its commercial Delta rockets and on the Zenit launch vehicles used by its Sea Launch partnership. Wilbur Trafton, the current Sea Launch president, will head the new organization being created under Boeing Launch Services Inc. A separate organization will handle government sales of Delta launch services.
Gil Key (see photos), who has been vice president-operations, is now vice president-sales for the Americas for Boeing Business Jets of Seattle. He succeeds Lee Monson, who is now BBJ president. Key will be succeeded by Steve Hill, who has been vice president-special projects.
