April 16, 2001

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WORLD NEWS & ANALYSIS

Shuttle/ISS Poised For Critical Robotics Tests

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER The space shuttle is set for liftoff this week on its most ambitious robotics mission, carrying its largest international crew, on a flight to install and exercise the new $1-billion Canadian space station remote manipulator system on the ISS.

By CRAIG COVAULT7 min

WORLD NEWS & ANALYSIS

V-22 Crashes Raise Handling Questions

WASHINGTON For the second time, accident investigators have determined that the V-22’s proprotor configuration led to asymmetric forces that made the tiltrotor more difficult to fly to avoid a crash. While neither the Apr. 8, 2000, crash near Marana, Ariz., nor the Dec. 11, 2000, crash near Marine Corps Air Station New River, N.C., were initiated by asymmetric flight conditions, pilots in both cases faced control difficulties that presented hurdles to recovering the aircraft once it encountered problems.

By ROBERT WALL6 min

WORLD NEWS & ANALYSIS

China May Sell EP-3 Technical Secrets

WASHINTON Chinese officials gained little intelligence from the U.S. Navy EP-3 impounded on Hainan Island. But they were handed a technological gift that offers a shortcut through the political and financial maze that has kept them from receiving similar intelligence-gathering equipment from Israel and, so far, Russia, say U.S. intelligence experts.

By DAVID A. FULGHUM6 min

WORLD NEWS & ANALYSIS

NASA Budget Shifts Aeronautics Focus

WASHINGTON NASA's $14.5-billion budget request for Fiscal 2002 includes "robust funding" for a newly focused emphasis on long term aeronautics research, but at the cost of programs that promise only near-term gain. The new aeronautics budget eliminates rotorcraft research at NASA and other “evolutionary” efforts, with more “low-priority” efforts likely to get the ax as the revised program takes shape in the next few months.

By FRANK MORRING4 min

WORLD NEWS & ANALYSIS

Raytheon Chalks Up Another Asset Sale

NEW YORK In Raytheon Co.'s struggle to put its fiscal house in order, the defense contractor plans to sell the majority of its aviation-support business to Veritas Capital Inc. for $270 million in cash and stock. Pointing up the financial challenge with which management is wrestling, Raytheon expects to take a first-quarter charge of $275-325 million to cover the cost of completing two power plant projects in Massachusetts for which it had guaranteed performance prior to the company selling its construction and engineering division to Washington Group International (WGI) in 2000.

By ANTHONY L. VELOCCI3 min

WORLD NEWS & ANALYSIS

USAF Maps C-130J Recovery

WASHINGTON The U.S. Air Force is considering fixing and fielding C-130J capability incrementally rather than waiting until the entire system can pass muster after it failed its operational evaluation. Lockheed Martin’s C-130J development suffered a significant setback when Air Force operational test officials last year deemed the aircraft neither operationally effective nor suitable. As a result, U.S. forces already flying the aircraft have been limited in how they can use the transport, including restricting operations to North America.

By ROBERT WALL3 min

WORLD NEWS & ANALYSIS

V-22 Accident Review Identifies Technical, Procedural Problems

WASHINGTON The U.S. Navy Judge Advocate General's investigation into the Dec. 11, 2000, crash of an MV-22 Osprey encountered numerous obstacles that hampered the review process. Areas of concern highlighted in the report address technical deficiencies as well as procedural issues that complicated the fact-finding mission.

By ROBERT WALL3 min

WORLD NEWS & ANALYSIS

Delta Launches Mars Odyssey

Cape Canaveral The NASA/Lockheed Martin Jet Propulsion Laboratory Mars Odyssey spacecraft is undergoing initial checkout in interplanetary cruise after its successful launch from Cape Canaveral on board a Boeing Delta II booster on Apr. 7. The liftoff occurred at 11:02 a.m. EDT after a flawless countdown that enabled launch at the opening of a 1-sec. launch window.

DEFENSE

Airbus Foresees Healthy Asian Sales

TOULOUSE, FRANCE Pacific Rim-based commercial transport fleets will more than double in the next 20 years, a promising trend that is expected to play a key role in Airbus’ quest for a 50% share in the Pacific Rim market, according to company executives. In the shorter term, however, economic and financial uncertainties could impede some orders.

By PIERRE SPARACO7 min

April 92001

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April 16, 2001

April 16, 2001