All aerospace news – Page 1790
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Meggitt starts show with multi-million bid
Meggitt laid out its stall on the eve of the show with a $380million bid for the Whittaker Group. UK-based Meggitt has followed a strategic acquisition policy to exploit niche markets in the aerospace industry. Whittaker's aircraft fire and smoke detection systems will make a good fit with its ...
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Raytheon team celebrates astor contract success
Tim Ripley Yesterday's success for the Raytheon airborne stand-off radar (ASTOR) bid will provide a major boost for its 18 partners as they push to get the revolutionary system into operation over the next six years. At the centre of the programme is Raytheon System (RSL), the UK ...
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Augmented GPS signal offers greater accuracy
Don Ormand, Raytheon's director of operations, is at Paris to enthuse about the company's wide area augmentation system (WAAS). This is the North America-wide project to "augment" GPS signals, making them more accurate, reliable and suitable for precision navigation and approaches. "The hardware was installed last summer, ...
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Starsem wins Mars Express launch contract
Tim Furniss The European Space Agency (ESA) has formally contracted Starsem to launch the Mars Express spacecraft in June 2003 aboard a Soyuz booster from Baikonur. Starsem is a consortium operated by Russian company, Samara, which manufactures the Soyuz, the Russian Space Agency and Europe's Arianespace and Aerospatiale. ...
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NASA orders hybrid Delta for SIRTF launch
NASA has contracted Boeing to supply a hybrid Delta booster to launch its Space Infrared Telescope Facility (SIRTF). The booster is a Delta II with the nine large strap-on boosters from the Delta III. This booster is also available to commercial customers for launches of 2,030kg (4,400lb) payloads ...
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Science still the 'pillar' of ESA: Rodota
Tim Furniss Science is still "the pillar" of the European Space Agency (ESA), director general Antonio Rodota said at a press breakfast yesterday. In the "shaping and sharing of the future of European space," science hasn't always received such bullish support but Rodota emphasised its importance when he ...
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MAN develops heat resistant parts for X-38
MAN Technologie is developing high-temperature resistant, ceramics-based, lightweight materials for the NASA X-38 International Space Station emergency return spacecraft. MAN will supply the body flaps and wing leading edges for the X-38, key components in steering the lifting-body craft during its re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere. The material is ...
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Socata spots niche in freight market
Mark Hannant Socata is to check the viability of the single turboprop TBM 700 as a freight carrier through a partnership agreement with French airline Air Open Sky, it announced at the show. The TBM 700 has previously only been used as a pressurized, six or seven-seat business ...
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Cocooned in your own little piece of heaven
Tamzin Hindmarch The Cocoon is not just a seat, it's a business traveller's dream. But will it catch on with the airlines? That is the $64,000 question. At a price a little above that, Avio Interiors' new super seat, which reclines to become a bed at the press ...
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Passenger comfort from the bottom up
Mark Hannant The way to a man's heart may traditionally be through his stomach, but when it comes to the hearts and minds of business travellers it seems it's their bottoms that hold the key. The battle to hold position in the business- and first-class travel markets has ...
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Logging on to English language
The Internet is playing a vital role in helping pilots and navigators whose first language is not English get to grips with the universal language of aviation. Virtual Languages, an American company based in Boca Raton, Florida, has launched an Internet site where students can learn aviation English ...
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FAA prepares for millennium countdown with confidence
Tamzin Hindmarch Mission impossible or mission accomplished? Just how confident is the US Federal Aviation Administration about beating the Millennium Bug? In this year's Aviation System Capital Investment Plan, prepared for the US Congress in January, the FAA committed itself to ensuring all its systems would be certified ...
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Merger partners eager to walk down the aisle
Karen Walker "Less of a merger and more of a marriage," is how AlliedSignal Aerospace president Bob Johnson views the proposed deal with Honeywell. And, in his opinion the sooner the wedding ceremony, the better. Speaking in Paris on the eve of the required "quiet time", during ...
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Honeywell unveils Primus Epic avionics system
Steve Nichols You would think that Mike Smith, president of Honeywell's Commercial Aviation Systems, would be too preoccupied with the AlliedSignal Aerospace merger to talk about business. But he's philosophical. "We've had a lot excitement over the last two weeks, but one constant in any business nowadays is ...
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Tiltrotor parts
Barnes Aerospace is planning to deliver firewall assemblies to Bell Helicopter Textron for the BA609 Tiltrotor by the third quarter of the year. Barnes is contracted to supply 250 shipsets, each of which contain 12 assemblies. Source: Flight International
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Police power
The UK's Sloane Helicopters has sold the first police-configured Agusta A109E to the Wales Dyfed/Powys Police air support unit. The twin-engined helicopter, which will replace the force's ageing Eurocopter AS355N, will be deployed for air ambulance and police support operations. Sywell, Northamptonshire-based Sloane is scheduled to deliver the £2.5 million ...
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Keeping HOPE alive
Japan's HOPE X could be a technology springboard for future RLV programmesAndrzej Jeziorski/TOKYO Japan's efforts to develop future space transportation systems are three pronged. Alongside work to upgrade the nation's expendable launch vehicles and the development of reuseable launcher concepts, the National Space Development Agency (NASDA)and the National Aerospace Laboratory ...
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Armour coated
Comtas is targeting the aviation industry with its armour parts, designed to protect electronic equipment, pilot seats and other sensitive areas of the aircraft. The composition of the material used by the company is a closely guarded secret but has already proved successful in the automotive field. More ...
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Tiltrotor support
US-based Howmet has delivered its first production pylon support casting for the Bell/Agusta BA609 commercial tiltrotor. The pylon support is a fracture-critical component that is vital to the aircraft's ability to take off as a helicopter and shift to fixed-wing flight once airborne. The one-piece titanium casting can be ...
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Volvo Aero strikes spares deal
Volvo Aero has signed a five-year deal with Boeing allowing it to sell surplus spare parts for the Boeing fleet worldwide. Boeing will continue to sell its own spare parts primarily through the Internet. The deal covers components which are no longer used in aircraft production. Volvo Aero, through ...