Marketing Targets

[001]~ Country [002]~ Business [003]~ Application

[004]~ Organization [005]~ Location [006]~ Event

[007]~ Environment [008]~ Science Technology [009]~ Energy

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Targets by Country

[001] ~ United States [002] ~ Australia [003] ~ Canada

[004] ~ Greece [005] ~ Denmark [006] ~ Finland

[007] ~ Germany [008] ~ Iran [009] ~ Iraq

[010] ~ Israel [011] ~ Italy [012] ~ Japan

[013] ~ Netherlands [014] ~ Norway [015] ~ Pakistan

[016] ~ Poland [017] ~ Portugal [018] ~ France

[019] ~ SerbiaMontenegro [020] ~ Singapore [021] ~ South Africa

[022] ~ China [023] ~ South Korea [024] ~ Russia

[025] ~ Spain [026] ~ Sweden [027] ~ Switzerland

[028] ~ Taiwan [028] ~ Turkey [029] ~ UK

[030] ~ Ukraine [031] ~ India [032] ~ Brazil

[033] ~ Nigeria [034] ~ UAE [035] ~ Uzbekistan

[036] ~ Saudi Arabia [037] ~ Afganistan [038] ~ Mexico

[039] ~ Bulgaria [040] ~ Slovenia [041] ~ Sudan

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United States:

US States Activities:
USA's UAV
Defense & UAV activities
Air Force
Joint UAV Center of Excellence

Budget of the United States Government
compared to FY2006:
~ it is $419.3 billion, increase from 2005: 5 percent
~ it provides provides $1.7 billion for unmanned vehicles
~ UAVs are said to be well suited to dangerous missions U.S. troops often undertake at great risk
~ DoD continues to make major investments in development and procurement of unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs),
~ unmanned underwater vehicles (UUVs), unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), and unmanned combat aerial vehicles
~ DOD has only begun to exploit potential of these vehicles
~ while current operational UAVs like the Predator and Global Hawk are well known,
~ many other UAVs have been, or are being, developed by Department in a wide variety of shapes and sizes
~ and while current generation of UAVs have been mainly used in the reconnaissance role,
~ DoD is exploring feasibility of using UAVs in entirely new ways that will help to transform how U.S. forces fight
~ an example of this is use of armed robots to assist in the clearing of buildings occupied by insurgents
~ this capability has potential to transform urban combat operations
~ UUVs are also being developed for mine detection and avoidance operations,
~ and range of missions for UGVs is expanding from examining improvised explosive devices to exploring caves
~ DoD funding for these efforts reflects importance DoD places on this area of technology development
~ Unmanned vehicles are expected to provide a significant advantage for U.S. forces on battlefield of future by reducing risks to troops

Pentagon's budget equals half of the world's defense spending
~ US accounts for more than 20 percent of the world's GDP in terms of purchasing parity power, PPP
~ about 33 percent in terms of the exchange rate
~ one-third of the USA budget is annually redistributed is divided almost equally between military and non-military spending
~ U.S. military spending includes the budget of DoD and
~ military part of expenditures of the Department of Energy (DOE)
~ Department of Veterans Affairs paying about half of military pensions
~ in all, its expenses add about $50 billion to defense budget
~ U.S. Congress has approved appropriation of $512 billion for DOD
~ military part of DOE's budget should add $15 billion-$20 billion,
~ plus $50 billion for Department of Veterans Affairs and
~ more than $40 billion in allocations for internal security and
~ part of national debt that is associated not with social programs but with Vietnam and other wars
~ taken together, the total U.S. military spending amounts to $650 billion or more

Army Ends Lockheed Contract for New Spy Plane /Washington Post/
~ for Lockheed, the loss of the $879 million development contract was embarrassing, though not an immediate financial blow
~ building more than 50 aircraft Pentagon planned to order was potentially worth $8 billion
~ Army canceled contract for "convenience," which means Lockheed will receive a termination fee
~ Pentagon will begin a six-month study of its intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance aircraft
~ industry analysts said decision to cancel Lockheed contract reflects
~ both difficulty of developing increasingly technical weapons military demands and Army's budget pressures
~ part of the problem, analysts said, was that while services have different needs,
~ military wanted to put both Navy and Army technology on one plane,
~ and Lockheed underestimated how much it would weigh
~ for example, while Army wanted plane to monitor battlefields,
~ Navy wanted it's version to intercept overseas communications in Western Pacific and Middle East

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Australia:

Australia's UAVs

The Defence Science and Technology Organisation (DSTO)
~ Jan Smith, Business Manager Email: jan.smith2@defence.gov.au

New tactical Unmanned Aerial Vehicle capability
~ Parachute Landing Photo
~ the Government agreed to the $145 million UAV project
~ the Australian Defence Force will be equipped with a fleet of long range tactical UAVs
~ a high precision day and night surveillance and targeting capability with accompanying ground systems
~ UAVs provide surveillance with sensor technology to work closely with the Tiger Armed Reconnaissance Helicopter
~ Boeing Australia selected to provide the Israel Aircraft Industries I-View UAV system
~ a new Army regiment will operate tactical UAVs at Gallipoli Barracks, Enoggera, in Queensland
~ Boeing will provide the through-life-support for the UAV systems
~ the first tactical UAVs are expected to be in operational service in 2008
~ will complement the ADF’s layered UAV system of short-range miniature SKYLARK UAVs
~ and the High Altitude Long Endurance Maritime UAV that is to be purchased under Project Air 7000
~ catapult launcher and unique parafoil landing concept
~ real time video, 24-hour surveillance, identification of enemy targets
~ Government is investing on more research and development of UAV technology for use in future operations and for surveillance purposes
~ UAVs increase the troop's ability to detect, respond and remain informed of activities across a wide area
~ this info can then be used to warn troops

Aerosonde and Coast Guard Trials
~ UAV tested over 100 hours of day and night flying in waters off Shark Bay, near Carnarvon between 19 June and 2 July
~ with a wingspan of 3 metres and weighing only 15 kilograms, aircraft is launched from the back of a four wheel drive vehicle and is remotely piloted
~ Australia is always looking at new technologies to more efficiently keep an eye on our vast coastline according to Senator Ellison
~ UAVs are examined due to their potential to offer a cost-effective, flexible surveillance system that can complement use of other assets
~ trial provided Coastwatch with valuable information about both limitations and capabilities of UAV technology
~ Coastwatch is reviewing its civil maritime surveillance and response program to determine how best to respond to future challenges in civil maritime surveillance

Flying Start To North West Shelf Unmanned Aircraft Trial
~ Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Defence, Senator Sandy Macdonald,
~ launched a major Defence trial aimed at testing the ability of an unmanned aircraft
~ to perform maritime surveillance in Australia's North West Shelf.
~ trial involves a Mariner Demonstrator Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) working with a Royal Australian Navy Armidale Class Patrol Boat,
~ Joint Offshore Protection Command and the Pilbara Regiment to conduct surveillance and response missions.
~ demonstration flight of the UAV has been performed at RAAF Base Edinburgh, South Australia,
~ which acts as the control and communications centre while the aircraft is airborne.
~ North West Shelf is of vital strategic and economic importance to Australia and
~ enhancing existing security in this area is a priority for the government.
~ trial meets an election commitment outlined in our 2004 policy on Securing Australia's North West Shelf
~ trial assesses the potential of UAVs to operate under a joint, integrated surveillance capability
~ with the Navy's Armidale Class Patrol Boats and other assets to provide an additional layer of surveillance in Australia's northern maritime approaches.
~ It is essential to explore new solutions and new technologies to protect this region from criminal activities such as
~ illegal fishing, drug running and people smuggling
~ trial is being led by the Defence Science and Technology Organisation (DSTO) in collaboration with Navy, Army,
~ Royal Australian Air Force and other elements of Defence as well as the Joint Offshore Protection Command.
~ US company General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA-ASI) is participating in the trial
~ with a Mariner Demonstrator UAV as the aerial platform.
~ UAV will fly four missions over the North West Shelf leaving RAAF Edinburgh for Western Australia
~ where it will operate out of RAAF Learmonth and return to South Australia
~ Individual sorties will vary between eight hours and more than 16 hours.
~ During each mission the UAV will record the movements of vessels passing through Australian waters and
~ exchange information with the Patrol Boat. Data collected by the UAV will be transmitted to RAAF Edinburgh for analysis.
~ aircraft can fly at altitudes between 500 feet and 50,000 feet for as long as 30 hours without re-fuelling.
~ GA-ASI UAV had been specially modified for the purposes of the Australian trial.
~ It will carry only sensor and communications equipment suitable for maritime surveillance missions.

~ As a complementary activity, Northrop Grumman, will be conducting modelling and simulation work in October,
~ using its Cyber Warfare Integration Network capability.
~ Modelling and simulation will enable Defence to assess a range of factors not encountered during the trial flights and
~ to consider how future systems might perform in the Australian environment
~ UAV trial was a valuable exercise for Defence with results from this trial to assist Defence
~ in developing the requirements for phase one of the Air 7000 project.
~ Under this project Defence plans to acquire a long endurance, multi-mission unmanned aerial system.
~ information gathered during the trial would also assist the government to consider unmanned aerial systems
~ for future operations under the civilian maritime surveillance program.

DoD Australia
~ First TEST OF ‘SMART’ BOMBS FOR AUSTRALIA’S HORNETS
~ first integration tests of the new Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) ‘smart’ bombs on the RAAF’s F/A-18 Hornets were successfully conducted at Woomera.
~ new ‘smart’ bombs provide Australian F/A-18 Hornets with a state-of-the-art weapon capability
~ that can be accurately employed during day or night and in all weather conditions.
~ ‘smart’ bomb uses Global Positioning System (GPS) technology to provide improved accuracy and precision.
~ Operational testing of the JDAM bombs is due to commence in October 2006 in order to reach an initial operational capability in mid 2007.

Tests Of Extended Range Smart Bombs in Australia
~ Department of Defence, in conjunction with Hawker de Havilland and Boeing Company,
~ has conducted the successful initial testing of an extended range Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) variant.
~ successful tests were conducted at Woomera, South Australia, in mid August.
~ development activity was conducted under the Concept Technology Demonstrator (CTD) Program managed by the Defence Science and Technology Organisation (DSTO).
~ CTD Program assists in the improvement or support of priority Defence capability by providing Australian Industry
~ with an opportunity to demonstrate their technology, thereby informing Defence of the potential performance and
~ technical risk associated with its implementation.
~ Joint Direct Attack Munition Extended Range (JDAM-ER) is a conventional JDAM,
~ enhanced with an Australian designed wing kit which has the potential to significantly increase its range.
~ wing kit was developed by Hawker de Havilland, based on technology licensed from DSTO.
~ Concept Technology Demonstrator has proven that major range enhancements can be provided to existing Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM), GPS Guided Bombs.
~ Consideration will now be given to further develop the wing kits to bring them to commercial production.
~ If the wing kits prove to be commercially viable, there is likely to be significant Australian Industry input in the required manufacturing

Hawker de Havilland - a Boeing company
Boeing

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Canada:

Canada's UAV
Pratt & Whitney Canada
~ helicopter engine manufacturer and a UTC company

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Greece:

Greece UAV

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Denmark:

Denmark's UAV

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Finland:

Finland's UAV

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Germany:

Germany's UAV

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Iran:

Iran's UAV

Total Joins Japan In Iran Azadegan Oil Field /Rigzone/
~ French energy giant Total has joined Iran's National Iranian Oil (NIO.YY) and
~ a consortium of Japanese firms led by Inpex in the development of its giant Azadegan oil fields
~ Total joins the process with anywhere from a 12% to 15% stake in the project /Dow Jones Newswires/
~ deal has been finalized with the respective oil companies and they just have to ratify it between Japan and Iran
~ Japanese consortium and National Iranian Oil Co NIOC) had reached agreement on increasing investment in the project to $1.943 billion from $1.026 billion
~ disagreement over spending had stalled progress on the deal since it was signed in 2004.
~ U.S. continues to push for sanctions on Iran over its nuclear ambitions after it failed to meet a U.N. deadline of Aug. 31 to halt atomic work.
~ Japan has been reluctant to include oil in the economic sanctions that the U.N. could impose on Iran
~ five permanent members of U.N. security Council - the U.S., France, China, Russia and the U.K. - along with Germany are due to meet
~ Azadegan oil field, located in southeastern Iran, near the border with Iraq, is estimated to contain 26 billion barrels of oil reserves.
~ Inpex has a 75% stake in the $2 billion development project, while state-owned NIOC holds the remaining 25% stake.

Iran and Japan Agree on Finalizing Oil Project /Rigzone/
~ Iran and Japan have agreed to finalize an oil project in Iran's southern Azadegan oilfields.
~ Iran and Japan signed the US$2-billion deal in October 2004.
~ It includes developing parts of the Azadegan oil fields in the Gulf
~ but delayed its implementation in view of ambiguous nuclear plans.
~ Iran had charged Japan with having violated its commitments in the Azadegan oilfield
~ under the pretext of complete de-mining of the southern field, although Iran denied any landmine-related problems in the area.
~ total investment in the Azadegan buyback contract is estimated at US$4 billion.
~ capacity is believed to be 30 to 35 billion barrels of oil, the daily production 150,000 and 260,000 barrels within two phases.

Iranian UAVs Over Israel
~ Hizbollah took credit for a small UAV that came down Israelis Mediterranean coast, flew over an Israeli town for 15 minutes and then flew back into Lebanon
~ Hizbollah called their UAV "Mirsad 1", but it was probably an Iranian Ababil.
~ Iranians have been developing UAVs for nearly a decade.
~ Their Ababil is a 183 pound UAV with a ten foot wing span, a payload of about 80 pounds,
~ a cruising speed of 290 kilometers an hour and an endurance of 90 minutes.
~ Ababil is known to operate as far as 120 kilometers from its ground controller.
~ but it also has a guidance system that allows it to fly a pre-programmed route and
~ then return to the control by its ground controllers for a landing (which is by parachute).
~ Ababil can carry a variety of day and night still and video cameras.
~ There are many inexpensive and very capable cameras available on the open market,
~ as is the equipment needed to transmit video and pictures back to the ground.

~ Israeli air defense organization was embarrassed by this undetected UAV flight.
~ In 1987, a Hizbollah commando flew undetected into northern Israel using an ultralight vehicle (somewhat larger than the Ababil),
~ landed near a military camp, and killed six soldiers before he was killed.
~ this led to the air defense system in northern Israel being upgraded to prevent that sort of thing happening again.
~ Since then, the Israelis have detected other ultralights and small aircraft trying to enter Israel, and have stopped them.
~ But during the November 7th flight, the UAV moved at an altitude of under 300 feet,
~ and was the smallest aircraft the Israelis have had to deal with so far.
~ Nevertheless, the Israeli air defenses were apparently supposed to be capable of spotting something like an Ababil UAV.

~ What the Israelis fear most is low flying Ababils coming south carrying a load of nerve gas, or even just explosives.
~ Using GPS guidance, such a UAV could hit targets very accurately.
~ Moreover, there’s nothing exotic about UAV technology, at least for something like the Ababil.
~ It was no surprise that Iran began using home made UAVs in the late 1990s.
~ After all, they had received some UAVs from the United States in the 1970s (Firebee target drones.)
~ Israelis immediately tagged Iran as the supplier of the Hizbollah drone,
~ because Iran has long supplied Hizbollah with cash, weapons and equipment for decades.

Ababil (Swallow) Unmanned Air Vehicle UAV
~ Iran has been attempting to develop a UAV industry,
~ and some of its UAVs were used operationally in 1997 to shadow US Navy operations in the gulf.
~ Iran has developed the tactical Ababil-5, a medium-range reconnaissance and surveillance UAV,
~ Ababil-T, a short/medium-range attack UAV, and the Ababil-B and -S.
~ Iran recently announced the production of two new variants of its indigenously developed Ababil UAV,
~ one of which, dubbed Ababil-S, was designed specifically for ISR operations.

~ Ababil Unmanned Air Vehicle [UAV] is a canard configuration.
~ Due to this fact the risk of stall and crash has been reduced by 30%.
~ Accurate aerodynamic design has given it a good stability characteristics with high speed and maneuverability.

~ Ababil like many others does not need a runwayto take off.
~ Instead ,it is launched by a pneumatic launcher.
~ In comparison, this launcher is very reliable, safe and easy to use and maintenance.
~ this is a stand a lone system that can be used many times in combat area.
~ It is installed on a Benz-911 truck that also provides the power required to product air pressure for pneumatic syste,
~ other necessary equipments such as Electric Generator and field maintenance tools are carried on the truck.

~ Ababil can be also launched by rockets. This method of launching is very simple.
~ it provides the ability of launching the aircraft from a ship deck.
~ this system consists of a three point attachment linkage, rockets, a trolly and its base and a detonator.
~ system is portable and can be easily assembled and disassembled.

~ Ababil is equipped with shahid noroozi guidance and control system designed and manufactured in Iran.
~ It is composed of two aerial and ground section.
~ aircraft control is provided with an autopilot system that transfers flight information data to the ground station via a datalink system
~ system is able to launch the aircraft ,perform different maneuvers, fly to30 km range,
~ loiter and simulate air attacks and finally recover the aircraft at a given point.
~ range will be increased up to 120 Km simply by increasing the output power of the communication system.

~ In ground station, the aircraft position and flight condition is displayed.
~ Using these data, the pilot is able to guide and control the aircraft.
~ computer system shows the aircraft attitude, engine, speed, fuel consumption and emergency recovery signals.
~ Using radar, the tracking and the reading angle to ground station all times during flight.

~ CCD TV camera I.R.Charge (Flare) Miss distance indicatore (M.D.I0) this is a system that works based on the acoustic measurment .
~ distance of the fired bullets from the aircraft geometric center and bullet motion path are measured by the system .
~ this information is displayed in ground station ,
~ providing the training officer to correct the targeting operation until an appropriate level of accuracy is reached.

~ parachute recovery system has been chosen so that the aircraft can be recovered in any condition.
~ parachute is designed and manufactured according to MIL-STD by Iran Aircraft Manufacturing Industries (HESA).
~ It is a cross type parachute which provides a descent rate of 4 m/s.
~ Using this parachute, the aircraft is recovered safely without any serious damage due to wind,
~ parachute is released immediately after it touches down.
~ Using skids , also provides the possibility of conventional landing on a runway.

Iran threatens to block U.N. inspections
~ Iran threatened to block inspections of its nuclear sites if confronted by the U.N. Security Council over its atomic activities.
~ hard-line president reaffirmed his country's intention to produce nuclear energy.
~ U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said a "strong message" had to be sent to Tehran
~ Last year Iran adopted a law requiring the government to block intrusive inspections of Iran's facilities , if the IAEA refers the Iranian program to the council.
~ law also requires the Iranian government to resume all nuclear activities that it had stopped voluntarily, foremost among them enriching uranium.
~ details see Mercury News /AP Fri, Jan. 13, 2006/

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Iraq:

Iraq (in more detail)

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Israel:

Israel's UAV

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Italy:

Italy's UAV

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Japan:

Japan's UAV

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Netherlands:

Netherlands UAV

Netherlands aim for fleet of eight MALE UAVs
~ Royal Netherlands Air Force (RNLAF) is aiming to achieve initial operational capability (IOC)
~ with eight medium-altitude long-endurance (MALE) unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) by 2010-12,
~ according to an operational requirement document (ORD) approved by the Ministry of Defence (MoD) in Hague on 27 June

HyGear

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Norway:

Norway's UAV

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Pakistan:

Pakistan's UAV

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Poland:

Poland's UAV

Swidnik; helicopter manufacturer
~ in the fifties involved in a license production of Mi-1 Helicopter and MiG15 Jet Fighter components
~ 1965 launched production of Mi-2 Helicopter, manufactured in a quantity of 300 helicopters a year
~ cooperation with AGUSTA, EUROCOPTER, LATECOERE and AEROSPATIALE
~ PZL-Swidnik S.A. has over 20 years of experience in production of aviation composite structures and components

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Portugal:

Portugal's UAV

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France:

France's UAV

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Serbia Montenegro:

Serbia Montenegro's UAV

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Singapore:

Singapore's UAV

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South Africa:

SouthAfrica's UAV

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South Korea:

South Korea's UAV

KARI / Rotocraft Technology Program:
~ this program aims to make Korea ranked as the Top 7 countries in helicopter technology and
~ to build the independent abilities for the development of helicopters until 2017
~ in connection with "Korean Helicopter Program(KHP)" to be started from 2006.
~ research and development area includes localization, test and evaluation of core components of
~ civil and military helicopters, development of mid-sized civil helicopters, core technologies and new technologies of helicopters.
~ this program will be carried out for 12 years from 2006 to 2017.
~ It is managed by Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Energy.
~ And prominent helicopter component providers and universities will participate and KARI will supervise the program.

KARI / Localization of core components of helicopters
~ Localization and technical independence of core components of private and military helicopters
~ Development and localization of core elements for both private and military uses such as rotor
~ system, engine, landing gear, hydraulic system and fuel system through collective efforts of domestic partners.

KARI / Tests and evaluation of core components of helicopters
~ Implementation of test facilities required for development /certification/ commercialization of core components.
~ Rotor structure/fatigue test facility (Whirl Tower), landing gear drop test facility.

KARI / Development of Mid-sized Civil Helicopter
~ Upgrade development of helicopters with minimum costs by maximizing public benefit and
~ applying localized core components on the basis of military helicopters.
~ Preparation for increase of civil demands such as rescue, fire extinguishing and medical purposes and exploitation of foreign markets.

KARI / Development of Core Technologies and New Technologies for Helicopters
~ Development of system design technology and new technology to set the foundation for
~ independent development of KHP, mid-sized civil helicopters and subsequent series and advanced technologies.
~ Development of core technologies such as integrated design/analysis codes and technologies such as ACSR, HUMS and DFBW

KARI / Extected results:
~ Through the success of the program, Korea will be ranked as the Top 7 countries in advanced helicopter technology.
~ And the brand value of 'Made in Korea' will be improved and people's pride will be intensified
~ as securing the independent helicopter development, the large scale of system integration,
~ as well as a number of leading technologies in the relevant areas such as machinery, electronics and materials will be developed.

KARI / Smart UAV Development Program
~ Development of Smart UAV enabling vertical landing and taking-off and very high speed flights
~ with high reliability, manufacturing ability of ultra-light aircraft and
~ intelligent flights as developing and practicalizing state-of-art Smart
~ that can perform difficult tasks that people cannot directly perform
~ in private, public and military sectors and
~ development of intelligent UAV technologies combining core Smart technologies such as
~ collision detection and avoidance and active speed control.
~ Project Cost : 140 Billion Won (Government : 120 Billion Won, Private Sector : 20 Billion Won)
~ Project Period : June 2002 ¢¦ March 2012 (¡Ö10 years)
~ Phase 1 : 2002. 6 ¢¦ 2005. 3(¡Ö3 years)
~ Phase 2 : 2005. 6 ¢¦ 2009. 3(4 years)
~ Phase 3 : 2009. 6 ¢¦ 2012. 3(3 years)

KARI / Smart UAV Systems
RD Areas:
Smart UAV Systems
Technical Development of Flying Objects of New Concept
~ Vertical landing and taking-off and high speed flight technology
UAV Subsystem Technology Development
~ UAV aeronautical electronic technology
~ UAV communication technology
~ UAV control technology
Smart Technology Development
~ Collision detection and avoidance technology
~ Failure diagnosis technology
~ Intelligent flight technology
~ Active vibration/noise/speed control technology
~ Smart structure/material technology

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China:

China's UAV

»Analysis: Middle East oil and Chinese arms
~ promoting its FBC2 and J10A fighters to Iran
~ anti-ship missiles being promoted to Middle East countries including Iran
~ Sudan seeking to acquire fighters from China
~ China importing more crude oil from Middle Eastern countries
~ exerting greater political and military influence upon this region through expanded sales of military weapons
~ Iran become an important source of oil for China, as well as a key target market for China's arms exports
~ China producing batches of the missiles within Iran
~ the exterior and structure of a number of Iran's other advanced weapon systems seem to connect them with China
~ China received huge business opportunities in Iran as well as a stable oil supply
~ Chinese companies involved in the construction of an underground railroad system in Tehran and helping Iran to develop its oil resources
~ China's oil imports from the Middle East make up 40 percent of the country's total oil purchases
~ Iran agreed to supply China with 3 million tons of liquidized natural gas annually over the next 25 years
China and Saudi Arabia
~ Saudi Arabia become China's single biggest source of oil supply
~ China's exports to Saudi Arabia valued at US$3.82 billion
~ China importing 1.9 million barrels of oil from Saudi Arabia every day
China and Oman
~ China's fifth largest source of oil
~ approximately 8.5 percent of China's total oil imports
~ China exported wheeled armored vehicles to Oman
China and The United Arab Emirates
~ UAE one of the key target markets of China's arms promotion in the Middle East region
~ UAE the first country to use the Chinese made HJ8A anti-tank missiles
~ in 2005, UAE exported to China 2.5 million tons of crude oil, which made up about 2 percent of China's total oil import
China and Kuwait
~ China one of the first countries to target Kuwait's rebuilding of its military machine
~ in 2005, China imported 1.6 million tons of oil from Kuwait, approximately 1.3 percent of China's total oil imports
China and Yemen
~ exported to China 6.8 million tons of crude oil, which makes up 5.4 percent of China's total oil imports
~ Yemen is China's sixth largest source of oil
~ China's financial loans to Yemen and economic aid increased
~ Yemen expanding its navy and air force arsenals
China & Oil Summary
~ China using arms sales and oil development as its leverage to further strengthen its relations with oil-rich countries in West Asia
~ China steppinng up efforts to sell more arms to most of the six Gulf countries
China needs more than 2,700 civil helicopters in 20 years
Investigation of Yamaha Motor by Police and Customs Officials
~ It has been alleged that Yamaha Motor is in violation of Japan’s foreign exchange and foreign trade laws regarding the export of unmanned helicopters to China.
CNOOC and Husky Team Up Again to Explore Deepwater Areas
~ CNOOC teams up again with Husky Oil China Limited in exploring deepwater areas Offshore China.
~ Production Sharing Contract has been inked by both parties for block 29/06 in Eastern South China Sea.
~ the eighth deepwater contract CNOOC has signed
~ CNOOC also signed PSCs with Husky for Blocks 35/18 and 50/14 in Western South China Sea
~ Block 29/06 covers a total area of 9,265 square kilometers in the ZhuIISag of Pearl River Mouth Basin
~ water depth of the block ranges from 500 to 1,500 meters
~ under the terms of the contract, Husky is committed to acquire 3-D seismic data and drill exploration wells during the first phase of exploration.
~ blocks 35/18 and 50/14 are located in East Slope of Yinggehai Basin,
~ covering 4,496 and 3,137 square kilometers respectively with water depth ranging from 20 to 95 meters.
~ during the exploration phase, Husky will drill wildcats in both of the blocks and conduct 3-D seismic survey in Block 35/18.
~ Company has the right to participate in up to 51% working interests in any commercial discoveries in the above three blocks.
~ up to now, CNOOC has signed 10 PSCs with Husky, 3 of which are deepwater contracts
~ Husky Energy
~ CNOOC
China Seeks Oil Security with Stake in Russia Firm
~ China's biggest oil company said that a $500 million stake it had bought in the newly listed Russian petroleum giant, Rosneft,
~ would help its efforts to secure energy for the Chinese market.
~ state-owned China National Petroleum said in a statement published on its Web site
~ that the investment would build on earlier agreements between the two companies to extract,
~ refine and process Russian oil for shipment to China.
~ company's "subscription of Rosneft listed shares will further expand the cooperation and
~ deepen the long-term cooperative relationship," it said.
~ China, the world's second-biggest oil consumer behind the United States,
~ has been looking increasingly to Russia for long-term energy supplies to fuel its booming economy.
~ Chinese economy grew at its fastest pace in a decade in the second quarter of 2006,
~ expanding 11.3 percent compared with a year earlier, according to official figures released Tuesday.
~ Chinese demand is a major factor behind current high oil prices.
~ China's crude oil imports for the first half rose 15.6 percent to 2.97 million barrels a day. government data show.
~ Imports account for almost half of its oil consumption.
~ China's appetite for oil is expected to increase sharply:
~ U.S. Energy Information Agency forecast in June that Chinese consumption would triple by 2030.
~ Rosneft allocated the Chinese oil company 66.22 million shares in its $10.4 billion initial public offering
~ on Friday in Moscow and London the biggest in Europe in seven years.
~ China National bought those shares at the offer price of $7.55, it said in a statement,
~ adding that Rosneft had proven oil reserves of almost 19 billion barrels.
~ China National Petroleum was allocated the shares that it bid for," the company said, according to Bloomberg.
~ Chinese company had been seeking a bigger stake to gain more influence over Rosneft's exploration and production plans,
~ according to energy market analysts.
~ Rosneft also sold shares worth $1 billion to BP and $1.1 billion to Malaysia's oil company, Petronas.
~ China has mounted a sustained diplomatic campaign in recent years aimed at increasing supplies of oil and natural gas from Russia.
~ These efforts culminated in the high-profile visit of the Russian president, Vladimir Putin,
~ to Beijing in March, when China National signed a memorandum of understanding with the Russian energy giant Gazprom
~ to build two natural gas pipelines from Siberia to China.
~ two pipelines were expected to deliver 80 billion cubic meters of natural gas a year to China beginning in 2011.
~ Russia also agreed in March to work with China on a technical feasibility study for an oil pipeline from eastern Siberia to China.

Russia Plans Gas Line to Feed China
~ As China has embraced the automobile and erected factories along the length of its coastline,
~ it has blossomed into the world's second-largest consumer of energy, trailing only the United States
~ China's oil consumption will grow by nearly 6 percent this year to nearly 7 million barrels per day,
~ according to the International Energy Agency. By comparison, the United States consumes nearly 21 million barrels per day.
~ Securing future energy supplies has become a key aim of China's foreign policy
~ In recent years, China's state energy firms have deployed around the globe, from Indonesia to Angola to Venezuela,
~ to lock up new sources of energy -- a mission that has brought China into conflict with the USA and Europe on security issues
~ China is pressing to complete a $100 billion energy agreement with Iran
~ deal would allow the state-owned China Petrochemical Corp. to develop the Yadavaran oil field in southern Iran
~ talks are taking place as Washington seeks to isolate Iran and halt its nuclear development plans
~ China National Petroleum Corp., the country's biggest state energy firm,
~ is the single largest shareholder in a government-led oil consortium in Sudan,
~ a country accused by the United States of committing genocide in its western region of Darfur
~ China has been particularly keen to secure supplies present in its energy-rich neighbors -- Russia and Kazakhstan --
~ with the aim of reducing its reliance on shipping lanes policed by the United States
~ China National Petroleum completed its $4.18 billion purchase of PetroKazakhstan Inc.,
~ which controls about 12 percent of Kazakhstan's oil output
~ Russia's OAO Rosneft oil company plans joint ventures with China National Petroleum
~ companies would work together to extract and refine Russian oil, as well as operate filling stations
~ China's primary target -- Russia's Siberian oil -- remains elusive and the object of continued jockeying between Asia's great powers

catch ~[beginning] of country targets @ marketing !

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Russia:

Russia

Boeing, Russia's VSMPO Form Venture /International Business Times/
Boeing and VSMPO-AVISMA Announce Titanium Agreement /Boeing/

Oboronprom - Mil helicopters

Oboronprom targets Ukrainian company as helicopter consolidation continues /Janes/
~ RUSSIA is poised to take another step towards centralisation of its military aviation industry
~ with the announcement that Oboronprom plans to buy a controlling stake in Motor Sich
~ acquisition of Motor Sich is unique in being the first made by Oboronprom outside the Russian Federation,
~ but it dovetails with Moscow's helicopter manufacturing strategy,
~ which aims to establish an umbrella group of engine producers by the end of the year.

Interview of CEO:
~ In 2005 the total sales of Russian helicopter sector amounted to $700 mln, but by 2008 we hope to reach $1 billion in sales
~ At Moscow-based MVZ we own just 31% of shares, but manage another 30% on behalf of other private shareholders.
~ So we control 61% along with 12% stake that belongs to Rostvertol – Oboronprom’s associated member and shareholder.
~ Totally it amounts to more than 70%.
~ At Ulan-Ude we have 63%, 60% -- at SMPP and 50.5% at Vpered Plant.
~ At Kazan Helicopters we control 30%.
~ At Rostvertol we officially don’t have any stakes today but the Russian government possesses 3.44% which it hasn’t passed to us yet.
~ To have the fully integrated holding we aim to get 51% at both Kazan Helicopters and Rostvertol.
~ At Kazan we are currently negotiating with other shareholders to buy out the controlling stake in 2006.
~ As for Rostvertol, we want to get 25% of shares in 2006 while the controlling stake is to be acquired within 2006-2007.
~ As Rostvertol is one of our shareholders, some share from its additional emission will be paid by the money
~ we received from Rostov-on-Don company for our shares.
~ We can’t buy Orenburg-based PO Strela because it has already joined NPO Mash Corporation
~ [Russian space and missile designer and manufacturer – ed.].
~ Moreover, at the moment PO Strela is responsible only for [Kamov Ka-226] helicopters assemble and
~ it receives full assembly kits from Kumertau KumAPE.
~ Kumertau is definitely on the list while our plans for Arseniev-based Progress plant
~ require more analysis before the final decision is made.
~ We also look to the remaining package of Kamov that’s now managed by MiG Corp.
~ As for Kamov helicopters, first of all it’s Ka-62.
~ We plan to finish its design and launch the large-scale production.
~ this aircraft will be manufactured in Ulan-Ude.
~ Among the other priority project that should be completed are Mil Mi-38 medium transport,
~ Mi-28 attack helicopter and Ansat.
~ We also keep in mind Kamov Ka-50 attack helicopter as in its current configuration it might be demanded by foreign customers.

Kamov

TsAGI - The Central Aerohydrodynamic Institute
~ In the last decade TsAGI — the Central Aerohydrodynamic Institute
~ - has built its leadership in aerospace research and development into a worldwide network of strategic partnerships.
~ Reductions in military budgets during the 90’s led to closure of many Russian research and design institutes.
~ But TsAGI took advantage of Russian economic policy shifts,
~ entering the world aviation arena to expand scientific cooperation and promote its unique Research and
~ Development capacities in the global market.
~ TsAGI’s unique testing facilities combine with world-class scientists and technical specialists
~ to meet aviation’s challenges and the demands of international commerce.
~ network of TsAGI collaboration reaches across leading aerospace firms and scientific centers, including:
~ Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Airbus Industry, Dassault Aviation, Aerospatiale, British Aerospace, Daimler Benz Aerospace,
~ Embraer, CAE, DAEWOO, NASA, ONERA, DERA, DLR, NLR, CARDC, TLT, and more.
~ International cooperation ranges from joint ventures and contract projects to fundamental studies and custom design.
~ Recent TsAGI contracts include work with Dassault Aviation for the «Hermeth» space system,
~ development of the hypersonic vehicle demonstrator with Daimler Benz Aerospace,
~ with Airbus Industry for using the wide-fuselage jumbo-jet A380,
~ with Boeing to improve undercarriage performance in their 757 and 777,
~ and configuration studies for the SST 2000 proposed supersonic passenger aircraft.
~ Since 1995 active TsAGI collaboration with the International Scientific Technological Center
~ has examined problems of vortex core laminarization,
~ developed the «Flying wing» project and explored a series of ecological questions.
~ Supported by NASA — the National Aerospace Administration of the USA —
~ TsAGI conducted work on problems of turbulence and composite materials.
~ TsAGI regularly participates in exciting international aerospace salons, special exhibitions, and symposiums
~ around the world including Le Bourges (France), Farnboro (Great Britain), ILA (Germany), and MAKS(Russia).
~ Since 1992, international delegations from many countries have visited TsAGI headquarters on the outskirts of Moscow
~ to observe its high quality operations.
~ Positive relationships with foreign partners have helped TsAGI to fulfill more than 200 contracts
~ with international entities, demonstrating its authority and commitment in Russia and abroad.
~ An offspring of the headquarters company in Russia,
~ «TsAGI International» represents a unique overseas base for scientific-research.
~ «TsAGI International» continues to share Russia’s advanced technologies with the world market
~ and looks forward to maintaining business with current associates while creating new partnerships.
TsAGI offers solutions to a technological world
~ To meet new challenges in aviation TsAGI is building new technological partnerships to develop 21st Century solutions.
~ Airbus, Boeing, Dassault, Lockheed Martin and Sikorsky all have standing cooperative agreements with TsAGI.
~ For the European Airbus Industry’s announced A-380, the world biggest airliner,
~ TsAGI conducted computer modeling and wind tunnel tests to study vortex flows about different configurations of wing design.
~ massive turbojet, planned with a 2-floor fuselage, is scheduled for takeoff in 200f with advance orders from major airlines worldwide.
~ In october 2000 Brasilian aircraft manufacturer Embraer, the fourth largest in the world,
~ announced a comprehensive agreement, as it fine-tunes its new ERJ 170/190 regional jet (inner family).
~ TsAGI invites you also to investigate our capacities and to contact us with questions or proposals.
~ Our proven expertise combines analysis with experiment in testing facility world-known for our reliability and innovation.
~ Whatever your challenges — Testing and Research; Design and Development; or Concept and Creation —
~ TsAGI stands ready to help in developing aviation solutions
TsAGI Testing and Research
~ experiments in wind tunnels, flight simulators and test installations;
~ tests of propellers and propfans;
~ static strength and fatigue tests for airframes under varying conditions of heat and pressure;
~ wind tunnel tests combined with complex physical analysis;
~ analytical and experimental research on structural dynamics and aeroelasticity phenomena.
TsAGI Design and Development
~ aerodynamic configurations, control systems and engine design;
~ design and fabrication of test models;
~ advanced equipment development to test aerodynamics, aerothermodynamics, flight dynamics and material strength;
~ customized software development and state of the art strength analysis.
TsAGI Concept and Creation
~ concepts for flight control systems;
~ concepts of definition and choice of parameters for aircrafts and engines;
~ creation of modern digital airborne computer-based control systems;
~ structural concept studies in compliance with constants of aeroelasticity or static/fatigue strength;
~ creation of test equipment for vibration-resistance tests and flutter
Executives - Evegeni V. in charge of helicopters
~ Today’s TsAGI is the largest scientific research center in the world

Bauman Institute
MIL Helicopter Plant, Moscow
Gazprom
Russia & UAVs
U.S. to observe CSTO-led anti-drug operation in 2006
~ MOSCOW, December 28 (RIA Novosti) -
~ United States has signed on to observe a Collective Security Treaty Organization-sponsored anti-drug operation in 2006,
~ a senior drug-control official said Wednesday.
~ In the fall of 2005, the Russian Federal Drug Control Service signed an agreement with the corresponding U.S. agency,
~ stipulating the participation of U.S. representatives in special operations
~ as well as the exchange of information and experience between the agencies,"
~ said Viktor Cherkesov, director of the Federal Drug Control Service (FDCS).
~ Cherkesov said more than 11 metric tons of drugs, including 550 kilograms of heroin and more than one ton of hashish,
~ were confiscated and 9,300 drug-related crimes were solved during this year's operation, conducted October 25-31 and December 5-12.
~ bulk of drugs was seized on the Tajik-Afghan border.
~ official said the FDCS would open a mission in 2006 in Afghanistan,
~ where, according to estimates, the harvest of opium-grade poppy totaled about 4,100 metric tons in 2005.
~ mission will cooperate with Afghanistan's law-enforcement bodies and supply them with information for fighting drug producers.
~ CSTO, which includes Russia, Belarus, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan,
~ was founded in 2002 to ensure peace, preserve the territorial integrity of its member states,
~ coordinate activities in the fight against international terrorism,
~ drug trafficking and organized international crime and provide immediate military assistance to a CSTO member
~ in the event of a military threat.

Heavy horses
~ Western helicopter operators are discovering that Russian types are good for more than just lifting loads and are proving their worth in a variety of roles
~ Mi-26Not so long ago, certification and maintenance support issues made acquiring the services of Russian helicopters seem more trouble than it was worth.
~ But now, with the country’s rotorcraft having achieved certification in several countries,
~ they are becoming part of the landscape – and not just for external sling jobs.
~ As a result, Russian helicopters are being looked at more objectively and their advantages better appreciated.
~ Apart from their rugged, reliable and simple construction,
~ they remain significantly cheaper to operate than their western equivalents
~ – despite Russian domestic inflation of more than 400% over the past 10 years.
~ UK offshore transport provider Bristow Helicopters’ first association with products from the Mil design bureau came in 2000
~ when it formed a joint venture with an operator in Kazakhstan,
~ flying Russian-crewed Mil Mi-8s to support a pipeline project to the Black Sea coast.
~ To service exploration efforts, Bell 212s were later introduced in Atyrau, an oil boom town at the mouth of the Volga river.
~ pipeline project and the Mi-8 experience gave Bristow the track record to seek more business in 2003, in Sakhalin Island,
~ to the north of Japan’s Hokkaido Island. The all-Russian helicopter fleet deployed there included five Mil-8 MTVs,
~ two lower-powered Mi-8Ts and, for communications with Sakhalin and to Korea and the Russian mainland,
~ three Dash 8 turbopops – which are leased to a local airline to serve an oil and gas contract with an Exxon joint venture on the island.
~ General manager of the joint operating company, Sakhalin Aviation, is Jim Barnet and the chairman is Bristow Group director Allan Blake,
~ who told Flight International: “We wanted a bigger footprint in Russia and Sakhalin, potentially,
~ is one of the prime oil-producing areas in the world, with significant expansion of its on-line capability due during 2006.
~ “Sakhalin Energy Investment Corporation is a joint venture with Shell, our principal client out there
~ [BP and Exxon have similar operations], and in 2003 we started talking with them about taking over the aviation contract
~ from a local operator. Their long-term aim is to introduce western aircraft to Sakhalin.
~ “Essentially, the operation is staffed by Russian aircrew and engineers – who I have to say are fantastically professional –
~ with oversight and management by a rotating cadre of Bristow staff and a Russian manager.
~ Our main base is Nogliki, with outposts at Okha to the north and Yuzhno in the south.
~ We audited the local operation and made some improvements to the Mils for our customer.”
~ Short-term fixes included upgrading the Russian cabins with safety features such as high-back seats and four-point harnesses.
~ In the longer term, BHL also needed to integrate a health and usage monitoring system (HUMS) –
~ now a standard requirement for aircraft carrying employees of Shell and other major companies.
~ selected system has two elements: a vibration health monitoring capability developed by the Central Institute for Aero Motors in Moscow;
~ and a rotor track and balance capability for the main rotor using Meggitt Avionics’ Rotabs system.
~ Sakhalin Energy financed the upgrade work and the project involved working closely with Russian airworthiness authorities.
~ Certification by Russian regulator MAKS in June marked the first time HUMS had been integrated into a Russian type.
~ engineering work – performed during a three-month scheduled overhaul at the Okha maintenance base –
~ proved fairly straightforward, but obtaining certification took longer and a surprising number of signatures. “
~ Until that could be achieved,” says Blake, “we had to fly the unmodified aircraft, as had been done under the previous operator.
~ We still have only one of the Mils HUMS-fitted, but now that we have proved the system, we will be modifying the others.”

Utility work:
~ Blake says there is a “huge amount” of work going on in Sakhalin.
~ Apart from increased production next year, a pipeline is being laid from a rig to the island,
~ then to a liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant in the south.
~ “With experience now of operating the Mi-8, we will also be looking for other work – perhaps with the United Nations.
~ We already use the fleet for utility work, including SAR and medevac if required, anywhere around the island.
~ “We have been impressed with the Mils, particularly operating in the extremes of temperature we experience.
~ Temperatures can drop to -40°C in Sakhalin and top 40°C in the Caspian region.”
~ Blake denies that operations have been affected by the recent spate of fatal Mi-8 accidents, one of which involved a civil machine.
~ “We continue to monitor the position with the Russian aviation authorities,” he says.
~ Aside from this relatively new passenger role, Russian helicopters are best known in the west as sturdy, low-cost utility aircraft.
~ They would probably be even better known were it not for the fact that only a few new airframes
~ – precisely eight Mi-17s, five Kamov Ka-32s and three Mi-26Ts – are made available each year for sale or lease abroad.
~ this is due to the production limits set by the manufacturers because the civilian market represents only a tiny fraction of their output.
~ full 98% of capacity is committed to domestic military or government requirements.
~ Such is the demand for Russian helicopters in this role that western operators such as Belgium’s Skytech
~ have also drifted into government contracts, providing military Mi-17s to the UK in 2003
~ (for onward delivery to the Royal Nepalese Army) and supporting anti-insurgent activity along the Saudi-Yemen border
~ between 2002 and 2004. Such contracts are profitable for a civilian operator, but there are risks.
~ Last April, a Mi-17 leased by another operator to US private security contractor Blackwater was shot down in Iraq and the survivors executed.
~ Most of the strictly commercial market for Russian rotorcraft still revolves around construction and firefighting:
~ Ka-32s are in use in Spain and Greece, Mi-26Ts in Greece and Mi-17s in Portugal and Turkey.
~ However, western types – especially the Erickson S-64 Skycrane – offer fierce competition in the region.
~ In Greece, the Mi-26T has been fighting fires for five years.
~ Commenting on the continuous ebb and flow of companies prepared to offer Russian types in Europe,
~ Skytech chief executive Thierry Lakhanisky says newcomers often lack the experience and
~ customer endorsements to secure international or government contracts.
~ “Less than five non-Russian companies can demonstrate more than five years of ‘form’ with the types,” he says.
~ Skytech – perhaps best known for its heavylift work using the huge Mi-26 – started up in 1991 and now operates in 33 countries.
~ Back in 1992, Skytech attempted to certify the Mi-26 in Belgium.
~ But Mil’s management was in turmoil at the time and the project was postponed indefinitely.
~ “Nevertheless,” says Lakhanisky, “we got hold of all the manuals in English and
~ have since acquired a detailed technical knowledge of the type.
~ We operate under Russian registration all over Europe, dealing with the local regulatory authority on a case-by-case basis.
~ ” Skytech also operates the Mi-26T in central Africa and maintains three aircraft in Europe for an undisclosed government programme.
~ Kamov Ka-32, with its coaxial main rotor, has been in common use in Asia for about the same length of time,
~ providing specialist long-line sling-load support such as heli-rigging (transporting oil rig components to remote areas) and firefighting.
~ Skytech operated a Russian-registered Ka-32 in Malaysia and Papua New Guinea for years,
~ while local operator Heli Niugini achieved certification on its fleet of leased A and A1 models.
~ Between 2001 and 2003, the type accumulated more than 3,000 flying hours on logging duties in Taiwan and
~ nearly 50 Ka-32Ts are now operated in South Korea by the state forestry service.
~ In 1999, the more modern Ka-32A11BC was approved under a restricted category by Transport Canada
~ for use by Sidney, British Columbia-based logging specialist VIH.
~ More recently, the same variant has also made inroads into the European market.
~ Heliswiss was the first operator to certify the Ka-32A12 and now, in partnership with Germany’s Helog,
~ flies two aircraft on logging duties in the Alps.
~ Since May 2004, four of the type have been registered with Helisureste in Spain under a restricted sling-work category.
~ Helisureste commercial director Antonio Martinez says his company was introduced to the type in the 1990s
~ when it wet-leased six older Ukrainian and Bulgarian models.
~ “Its 5t payload and stable handling made it an ideal tool in the strong winds and
~ turbulence often associated with forest fires,” says Martinez.
~ “With Canadian and Swiss approval in hand, achieving Spanish certification was easier than we expected.
~ Product and training support from Kamov has been good and among our 10 rated pilots are several Russians,
~ who make communicating with the manufacturer that much easier.”
~ firefighting season in southern Europe has been particularly challenging this summer,
~ but for Helisureste it has been safe and the Kamovs have been tested extensively.
~ “We could drop 4,500 litres of retardant at a time,” says Martinez.
~ “They performed great in the hot and high conditions, gave the pilots no problems in the continuously shifting crosswinds,
~ and delivered great reliability. These helicopters are really hard workers.
~ “Once the season here is over, we may send two of them to South America for the southern season.
~ However, there is also a risk of fires in northern Spain during March and April – so we shall see.”

Bigger payload
~ There has been a trickle-down effect too.
~ Firefighting equipment specialist Simplex Manufacturing has seen a big rise in demand for Ka-32-compatible Bambi bucket systems.
~ “ helicopter fills a payload gap at the 3t level,” says marketing director Steve Daniels.
~ “We are working directly with Kamov to build a bigger system that will offer operators a 5t-capacity within a 5.5t payload.
~ That will put it up against the Mil Mi-26.”
~ Certification is mainly a political problem of bilateral acceptance, says Skytech’s Lakhanisky.
~ “Design and manufacturing processes follow all [US] FAR 29 and 33 requirements
~ and the problem will be solved as soon as western manufacturers seriously target Russian markets.
~ “After the precedent set by Transport Canada, restricted category certification is now easy to achieve.
~ At least three companies are involved in training civilian crews on Kamov and Mil types, including Skytech,
~ which has trained Nepalese pilots on the Mi-17, Congolese and Korean pilots on the Mi-26 and American,
~ New Zealand and Australian pilots on the Ka-32.”

Training
~ Training services are marketed by Toronto-based Concord XXI, which organises familiarisation training for UK and US aircrew
~ at the Kremenchug flying college, Ukraine. Russian companies such as Spark of St Petersburgoffer training on a full-motion,
~ full-visual Mi-17 flight simulator.

Spares have never been a problem
~ “And I don’t believe there will be a problem either, now that greater industrial efficiency is a presidential priority.
~ only drawback is cost – prices have gone up by over 400% in the past 10 years and appear set to continue.
~ In 1992, a brand new export Mi-17 was priced by the manufacturers, Kazan or Ulan Ude, at less than $1 million.
~ Today it is $5 million – but still much less than an equivalent western type and offering

Better performance and lower maintenance charges.”
~ Kamov’s holding company is working to establish a network of authorised service centres to supply spare parts and materials,
~ address airworthiness issues, repair and overhaul main components, update maintenance publications and
~ submit updated information to aid owner, pilot and technician training.
~ Lakhanisky says he has always been treated openly and in good faith by the Russian authorities.
~ “It can take an age to communicate with them, though – but then that’s a problem the world over.”

»Embassy of the United States Moscow
»Interfax
»Kommersant
»RIA Novosti Online

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Spain:

Spain's UAV

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Sweden:

Sweden's UAV

Linköping university
Saab

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Switzerland:

Switzerland's UAV

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Taiwan:

[149]~ NOVAX Material - CO-filter for Hydrogen Fuel Cells

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Turkey:

Turkey's UAV

Turkish UAV contract goes to IUP
~ Turkey's Defence Industries Undersecretariat (SSM) and Turkish Aircraft Industries (TUSAS)
~ have signed a $183 million contract with the Israeli UAV Partnership (IUP)
~ for the off-the-shelf purchase of three medium-altitude, long-endurance unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs)

catch ~[beginning] of country targets @ marketing !

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UK:

Britain's UAV

Boeing and QinetiQ form combined experimentation centre in Farnborough
~ Boeing and QinetiQ will jointly establish a centre for demonstration and experimentation in Farnborough, UK,
~ in a move the companies describe as the first step in the creation of a wider experimentation network.
~ Announcing the move at the Farnborough International Airshow,
~ companies said the new centre will be federated with QinetiQ centres around the UK and,
~ pending governmental approval, connectivity to Boeing’s Laboratory Network (LabNet).
~ Expected to be operational by the end of 2006, the centre will include
~ development and simulation laboratories;
~ an integrated test and configuration facility;
~ and a facility to connect military vehicles (might allow testing configurations such as Xi, fighter, Base4Xi and Sensor4Xis)

Launch of the Fourth Defence Technology Centre in UK
~ will explore innovative new technologies in the fast-developing world of autonomous and semi-autonomous vehicles
~ fourth Defence Technology Centre - the Systems Engineering Autonomous Systems Centre
~ It will play a key role in developing new technologies that will underpin equipment programmes of the future,
~ such as unmanned aircraft and remote-controlled submersibles.
~ Final contractual agreement has been reached with a consortium led by BAE Systems.
~ Other members of the consortium are CAE (UK), MDBA, Rolls-Royce, Roke Manor Research, AMS and Smiths Aerospace.
~ Subcontractors include QinetiQ together with a number of Universities.
~ It will also drive innovation in our supplier base and help to take the many new ideas developed in our world-class University system and bring them through to the market place."
~ We have the opportunity to rapidly position the UK as a significant technology provider for autonomy through our work in partnership with UK MoD,

catch ~[beginning] of country targets @ marketing !

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Ukraine:

Ukraine's UAV

Motor Sich might sell of some of its shares to Russia’s Oboronprom
~ Motor Sich president and majority shareholder Mr. Boguslayev is reportedly in
~ negotiations to sell some of his shares to Oboronprom, a subsidiary of Russia’s Stateowned
~ military hardware company Rosoboronexport. Although details of the proposed
~ sale were not disclosed, Oboronprom representatives stated that if the parties agree on
~ a deal, then Motor Sich will become the fifth member of this machinery holding
~ company, which includes Klimov Aviation Plant, Chernyshev Moscow Machinery,
~ Salyut, and Ufimsk Motor Construction Company
~ Foyil's view: it is strategically important for Motor Sich to become a member of
~ Oboronprom because more than 50% of Motor Sich’s products are exported to Russia.
~ if Motor Sich is included in the holding, the Company’s sales would rise by 8% to UAH 1.27bn in 2007
~ because the Company would receive large orders for spare parts from Russian aviation companies.
~ 95% of the aviation engines assembled at Russian aviation plants are constructed from spare parts produced by Motor Sich !
~ To be included in Oboronprom, Motor Sich must sell or exchange some of its shares for the shares of the holding.
~ Although little information is available at this time, we Foyil feels that
~ if Motor Sich shares are sold to Russia’s Oboronprom,
~ Motor Sich would acquire unprecedented access to the lucrative Russian market.
~ At its current market price of UAH 380 a share, Motor Sich trades at a 2006e P/E of 12.2 and a 2006e P/Sales of 0.67,
~ which represent a 36% discount to its local peer average.

Motor Sich
~ Motor Sich manufactures not only aircraft engines but
~ also industrial units for ground application use such as gas-turbine drives for gas pumping, gas lifting and oil pumping units,
~ gas-turbine power generating sets, turboexpander power generating set and turbo refrigerating plant.
~ High quality and reliability of manufactured products are confirmed by their successful operation in different countries worldwide.
~ Russia currently does not produce helicopter engines, since the Motor-Sich factory in Zaporizhzhya, Ukraine,
~ inherited the corresponding capacities from the Soviet Union.
~ annual turnover of the enterprise - $300 million - matches or exceeds the receipts of Russia's biggest engine manufacturers:
~ Ufa Engine Production Association (Russian acronym UMPO),
~ Salyut Moscow Machine-Building Production Association (MMPP Salyut) and
~ Saturn Scientific Production Association Joint Stock Company (Saturn NPO JSC).
~ Until recently, Ukraine was also an exclusive manufacturer of cruise missile engines.
~ Motor Sich JSC renders the whole range of services to organizations and private persons who operate Company’s products:
~ - technical support of aircraft engines;
~ - extension of aircraft engines’ overhaul life;
~ - overhaul of aircraft engines;
~ - technical support of gas-turbine drives, gensets and industrial installations;
~ - overhaul of gas-turbine drives, gensets and industrial installations;
~ - warranty and post-warranty repair of consumer products.
~ overhaul life can be extended and overhaul of the aircraft engines can be performed
~ by highly-skilled specialists of Motor Sich Product Support Department in the territory of Russia
~ in accordance with Intergovernmental agreements between Russia and Ukraine of 1991-2001and Supplements to them.
~ basic directions of activity of the company:
~ - manufacture of aircraft engines and gas-turbine units;
~ - selling engines and spare parts for them;
~ - post-warranty maintenance and repairs;
~ - training of maintenance personnel;
~ - manufacture of separate units and parts;
~ - selling licences, patents, know-how technologies and technical documents;
~ - engineering services
~ company met its 85th anniversary as one of the biggest in the world and
~ only factory in Ukraine in the field of manufacture, in-service support and
~ overhaul of 55 types and modifications of reliable and economical aircraft gas-turbine engines:
~ from small auxiliary power units to the most powerful powerplants for world-largest Ruslan and Mriya airplanes and Mil Ìi-26 helicopters.
~ company's name has changed many times during these years,
~ but the reputation of a dependable and respectable partner manufacturing high-quality products remained unchanged.
~ among users of these engines are the world-known airplane- and helicopter-building Design Bureaus of
~ Antonov, Beriev, Ilyushin, Tupolev, Yakovlev, Kamov and Mil, as well as Czech Aero Vodochody company and Chinese HAIC (G) company.
~ rotary- and fixed-wing aircraft powered by Motor Sich engines are operated in 105 countries.
~ general designers of aeroengines S. K. Tumansky, V. Ya. Klimov, A. G. Ivchenko, V. A. Lotorev and
~ general designer of space-borne equipment V. N. Chelomei used to work at the enterprise.
~ company is the place of historical origins of other two enterprises:
~ Omsk Baranov Machine-Building Production Association and Zaporozhye Ivchenko Progress Machine-Building Design Bureau.
~ history of the plant goes back to 1916, when Duflon, Konstantinovich & Co. (abbreviated as Deka) joint stock company from Petersburg
~ organized in Aleksandrovsk (then name of Zaporozhye) the manufacture of aeroengines.
~ area covered by brick-made production buildings of this factory exceeded any of then available engine works in the tsarist Russia
~ and it was equipped as one of the best.
~ Mersedes-type 100 hp single-row water-cooled six-cylinder engine assembled here in September 1916 and
~ designated Deka M-100 became the firstling of the company.
~ date of its manufacture was accepted as the birthday of our Company.
~ Later on the engine power has been increased to 129 hp and then to 168 hp
~ due to efforts of Deka experts who managed to do this.
~ engine was installed to power several modifications of four-engine Ilya Muromets aircraft
~ developed by famous aircraft designer I. I. Sikorsky.
~ Outliving the fires of Civil War the factory has commenced to repair and then to manufacture the parts for Renault aircraft engines.
~ In 1923 the Company launched the quantity production of Hispano-Swiss 8FB engines featuring 300 hp at rated power.
~ working drawings of the engine, later designated M-6, and other technical publications
~ have been drawn up at Ikar plant in Moscow (now FSUP MMPP Salyut),
~ At present Motor Sich JSC successfully cooperates with this company on the state-of-the-art D-436Ò1/ÒP, D-27 and ÀI-222-25 engines.
~ Ì-6 engines have been used to power the foreign fighters, used by the Red Army Air Force
~ at that time as well as native transitional aircraft (or trainer-according to contemporary terminology) for training pilots:
~ R-5 reconnaissance aircraft, Polikarpov P-2 aircraft and Kalinin Ê-4 ambulance aircraft.
~ first Ì-6 engines just began to be installed on the wing and
~ at the same time the design bureau was making ready the working drawings
~ for production of the new five-cylinder star-shaped air-cooled M-11 engine.
~ That was the first native aircraft engine, incorporated into large-series production.
~ It was designed in 1924 under the direction of À.D.Shvetsov in collaboration with metallurgical engineer N.V.Okromeshko.
~ series production of Ì-11 was launched in 1927.

~ In July 1930 the experimental-design department under the direction of general designer A. S. Nazarov was established at the plant.
~ this team has created a number of M-11 modifications, gradually increasing its power from 100 to 150 hp,
~ while the overhaul life has increased up to 400 h.
~ Ì-11 engine production has continued for more than 30 years, with total number of more than 120 000 engines manufactued over this period.
~ Good characteristics of Ì-11, including reliability, unpretentiousness in service and low cost
~ permitted it to become the basic engine for national trainer and light-engine aviation.
~ It has been operated on 88 types of aircraft either quantity-produced (U-2, (Pî-2), Sh-2, UÒ-1, UÒ-2, Yak-18, Yak-6, etc)
~ and experimental and prototype engines.

~ experience gained in the course of M-11 production and operational development,
~ gave the opportunity in 1930 to move to series production of more powerful Ì-22 aircraft engine (licensed Bristol Yupiter VI).
~ this star-like nine-cylinder air-cooled engine with 570 hp at takeoff became quite a valuable acquisition for national aviation.
~ Ì-22 engine had been produced until 1935 and had been operated up to 1941.
~ total number of engines produced amounted to more than 8 000 installed in 25 types of combat and commercial aircraft.
~ Among them were the series fighters I-4 (ÀNÒ-5) of À.N.Tupolev, I-5 of N.N.Polikarpov and D.P.Grigorovich,
~ first series of I-15 and I-16 fighters of N.N.Polikarpov, Ê-5 passenger aircraft of Ê.À.Êalinin,
~ Steel-3 of À.I.Putilov, KhÀI-1 of I.G.Nieman.

~ In 1932 the USSR Government took decision to acquire licenses for production of foreign engines of the latest design.
~ Mistral-Major 14K, fourteen-cylinder double-row star engine of Gnome-Ron company (France) featuring 850 hp became one of them.
~ production of this engine designated Ì-85 was deployed in 1934 at our plant.
~ treacherous aggression of Hitlerite armed forces on June 22, 1941
~ destabilized the peaceful life of the engine-builders in Zaporozhye and
~ on August 12, 1941 the plant received an order to move to Omsk.
~ Owing to the help of people of Omsk the first M-88B engine manufactured on a new place
~ was tested no later than the night of November 7, 1941.
~ roar of the tested engine has announced the second birth of the factory.
~ In Omsk the factory has productionized the Ash-82FN engine featuring 1850 hp designed by À.D.Shvetsov.
~ engine has been successfully operated on Là-5 and Là-7 fighters, as well as on the frontline bomber Tu-2.
~ Totally the plant has manufactured 10512 Ì-88B engines and 17526 ÀSh-82FN engines during the years of the last war.

~ After liberation of Zaporozhye in October 1943 the territory (more precisely, the ruins) of the plant
~ has been used for deploying the overhaul of Ì-88B engines.
~ On May 5, 1945 the experimental and design bureau was established for the development of new engines and
~ for modernization of the short- and medium-range civil aviation engines built before.
~ Later this experimental and design bureau was renamed to Zaporozhye Progress Machine-Building Design Bureau (ZMKB),
~ which has won wide recognition both with national and foreign engine builders.
~ OKB No.478 was headed by the career designer of the plant À.G.Ivchenko, who later became its Designer General.
~ Progress ZMKB was later named after him. The base of the new Design Bureau staff was made of skillful specialists of our plant,
~ who have been perfectly schooled by the creation and operational development of aircraft engines beginning from Ì-11 to Ì-88B and ÀSh-82FN.

~ In 1947 the ÎÊB-478 directed by À.G.Ivchenko completed the development of the first own design 500 hp Ì-26GR engine
~ (helicopter, reduction-type). That was the first air-cooled piston engine not only in the Soviet Union, but in the world too,
~ which was specifically designed for helicopters.
~ After successfully completing the series of tests in November 1947 this engine was given the AI (Alexander Ivchenko) index
~ which became since then the dedicated designation for engines developed by Progress ZMKB.

~ RD-45 engine featuring 2270 kgf at takeoff became the jet firstling in the family of jets developed
~ in OKB-45 Design Bureau directed by V.Ya.Klimov on the basis of Nin turbojet engine of Rolls-Royce.
~ engine has been installed to power the ÌiG-15 fighters, as well as Il-28 and Tu-14 bombers.
~ production of RD-45 at our plant continued until 1958. Its overhaul life has been increased up to 300 h.

~ In 1956 the plant has launched the production of structurally similar RD-500 engine featuring 1500 kgf takeoff thrust.
~ In 1955 the Kuznetsov Design Bureau and Ivchenko Design Bureau got the task to develop the turboprops
~ with 4000 hp at takeoff for medium-range passenger aircraft of Î.Ê.Àntonov and S.V.Ilyushin Design Bureaus.
~ Zaporozhye-based Design Bureau won this bid (as they call it now).
~ In 1957 the ÀI-20 engine created by designers has successfully passed the state test and
~ quantity production was launched simultaneously at two plants in Zaporozhye and Perm.

~ margins, incorporated into ÀI-20 engine design at the stage of its development permitted
~ to create in future the whole family of upgraded engines rated at 4000 to 5180 hp.
~ Nearly 14 000 turboprops of this type have been successfully operated on the Àn-8 and
~ Àn-12 turboprop airlifters, Il-18 and Àn-10 passenger airplanes, Bå-12 amphibians, Il-38 anti-submarine aircraft.

~ Based on the ÀI-20 engine a family of smaller size engines ÀI-24 rated at 2550 to 2820 hp has been built using similarity theory.
~ Beginning from 1961 more than 11 000 of such turboprops have been built;
~ they were used to power the Àn-24 passenger airplanes, Àn-26 transports and Àn-30, intended for aerial photography and other special works.

~ necessity of further increase of flight performance and operational capabilities of aircraft
~ brought about the creation of economical turbojet bypass engines.
~ first engine of this type which appeared at our plant in 1967 was the ÀI-25
~ (incidentally the smallest among the native aircraft bypass turbojets) with rated takeoff thrust of 1500 kgf.
~ Three such engines were used to power the famous Yak-40 aircraft.
~ More than 6500 bypass turbojets of ÀI-25 tóðå have been produced in all.
~ For the first time in the history of national aircraft engine-building the ÀI-25 engine, incorporated by the Yak-40,
~ has been certified by Aviation register of FRG and Italy for conformity to the Airworthiness Regulations (FAP and BCAR, accordingly).

~ growing intensity of passenger traffic at the boundary of sixties and seventies
~ necessitated the creation of new aircraft with increased passenger capacity; one of them was Yak-42.
~ Just for this purpose the Progress ZMKB has developed the first national three-shaft bypass turbojet D-36 engine
~ with high bypass ratio, ensuring takeoff thrust of 6500 kgf.
~ In D-36 the modular design has been implemented for the first time in our practice.
~ Together with possibility of monitoring the condition of the most important parts and units,
~ modular design ensured the transition from the principle of operating the engine
~ with specified TBO to the principle of operation on 'on condition' basis.
~ this principle permits to renew the unserviceable modules or the modules, which completed their service life during operation.
~ D-36 engine is highly ecological and features low noise and emissions.
~ bypass turbofan D-36 engine and all modifications have been granted
~ Type Certificate issued by the Aviation Register of Interstate Aviation Committee (ÀR IAC) of CIS countries.
~ Our company is the manufacturer of these engines and at present more than 800 engines of D-36 family are in operation.

~ designers of the company and Progress ZMKB are developing by joint efforts the growth modifications of bypass turbofan
~ D-36, Series 4A, 5A and 5AF, engines. These engines are especially intended for newly developed modifications of
~ Àn-74 (short-haul convertible Àn-74ÒÊ-300, maiden flight of this aircraft took place on April 28, 2001,
~ and passenger Àn-74-68 and Àn-74-400/76 aircraft, which unlike the former arrangement will have the engines mounted on under-wing pylons).
~ most important peculiarity of these engines will be the increased altitude of cruise application and
~ availability of thrust reverser in the bypass duct.
~ Apart from this the 5ÀF engines will feature the emergency power with thrust increased up to 7100 kgf at +30° Ñ.

~ In the mid-seventies the most powerful in the world D-136 helicopter engine was built
~ (with maximum takeoff power of 11400 hp) to power the heavy-load transport Ìi-26 helicopter.
~ engine has been developed by Progress ZMKB Design Bureau and the quantity production launched by the plant.
~ high degree of commonality with base engine (D-36) provided for quick productionizing of this engine and
~ at present about 500 D-136 engines are in operation

~ D-18T bypass turbofan engine became the milestone project for our company.
~ Developed by Progress ZMKB Design Bureau for heavy-load Àn-124 Ruslan transport aircraft it provides 3430 kgf takeoff thrust.
~ engine high parameters and its large overall size (fan diameter makes 2.3 m) necessitated the solution of complex technical problems
~ during development, production, testing and operational development of engine, fundamental reconstruction of Designer's and
~ Manufacturer's production facilities, as well as a number of equipment, bearings, blanks supplier-plants.
~ In accordance with traditions existing by that time the experimental batch of D-18T bypass turbofan engines
~ has been produced in collaboration with our company, which received the order for series production of engine in 1985.
~ engine meets the Airworthiness requirements of NLGS-2, FAR, BCAR and ICAO for noise and emissions.
~ It has been granted the Type Certificate issued by IAC AR.
~ Àn-124 aircraft powered by four D-18T bypass turbofans is one of the biggest transports in the world
~ significantly surpassing the American analog C-5 (Lokheed) with respect to loading capacity.
~ Àn-225 Mriya jumbo-jet, which powerplant incorporates six D-18T engines is capable of transporting cargo weighing up to 250 t.
~ At present time several aero-space systems based on Àn-124 and Àn-225 have been developed including collaborative programs with foreign partners.

~ One of the priority directions in the Motor Sich activity at present is the productionizing of
~ new-family three-shaft D-436T1 bypass turbofans with high bypass ratio featuring 7500 kgf takeoff thrust.
~ These engines have been developed by Progress ZMKB Design Bureau and will be produced in collaboration with
~ FSUP MMPP Salyut and Ufa Machine-Building Production Assotiation JSC.
~ careful development of design, use of high-strength materials in combination with
~ use of advanced technological procedures and modern equipment, high level of production engineering
~ have provided high operational behavior for these engines.
~ baseline version of D-436T1 is designed for short-haul Tupolev Òu-334 passenger aircraft of new family,
~ maiden flight of which took place on February 8, 1999.
~ modified D-436Ò1 engines are supposed to re-engine the existing Òu-134, Yak-42, Àn-72 and Àn-74 aircraft
~ in the course of modernization that will considerably improve their flight performance.
~ marine version of this bypass turbofan D-436TP engine is intended for unique by its performance multipurpose Be-200 amphibian, which at present is flight-tested.

~ Besides this the company is getting ready for series production of the first in the world propulsion propfan D-27 engine
~ designed for An-70 widebody airlifter. It is planned to manufacture it on cooperation basis with FSUP MMPP Salyut.
~ D-27 engine developed by Progress ZMKB has absorbed the latest achievements of national aircraft engine building.
~ power of the engine equals 14000 hp, and fuel efficiency is 25 to 30% better than modern bypass turbofan engines.
~ propfan provides for the twofold increase of the wing lifting force at takeoff and landing, as well as high cruising speed and low noise.

~ refusal of European countries to develop the joint project of Àn-7Õ airlifter does not imply the phasedown of An-70 project,
~ for the Ministries of Defense of Russia, Ukraine and some other countries require it.
~ In future it is supposed to use the D-27 engine on diverse modifications of An-70 aircraft,
~ on An-180 passenger aircraft and on Be-42 amphibian.

~ company in collaboration with Kazan Machine-Building Production Association JSC is going to
~ launch production of the two-shaft bypass turbojet ÀI-22 engine with high bypass ratio,
~ which provides takeoff thrust of 3755 kgf to be used on the Òu-324 regional passenger aircraft and its administrative modification.
~ Òu-324 aircraft is going to replace the most massive in the near past Àn-24, Yak-40 and Òu-134 short-haul passenger aircraft.

~ Proceeding from the results of investigating the market requirements of engines for trainers, combat trainers and
~ light combat aircraft the Progress ZMKB and Motor Sich JSC have adopted a decision about
~ commencing the work on development of ÀI-222 family engines.
~ These engines can be rated from 2200 to 3000 kgf at takeoff, and in afterburner version the thrust will increase up to 5000 kgf.
~ most important requirement for building the ÀI-222 family engines was the provision of maximum safety of flights and
~ high combat efficiency of the aircraft powered by them.
~ design of bypass turbojet engine should guarantee for the long service life at low cost of ownership.
~ At present the works related to the ÀI-222-25 rated at 2500 kgf are underway, this engine is supposed to power the Yak-130 combat trainer.

~ period of more than 30 years in the biography of our company is connected with the team of designers from
~ Klimov Design Bureau (now State Unitary Enterprise 'Klimov Plant' in St. Petersburg) and
~ names of general designers S.P. Isotov and À.À.Sarkisov, who came after him.

~ production of the first national turboshaft ÒVÇ-117 engine rated at 2200 hp developed by the Klimov Plant team
~ for combat helicopters was launched in 1972.
~ By now our company has produced about 22 000 engines of ÒVÇ-117 family,
~ which totally have accumulated more than 12 mln.operating hours.
~ Today 18 modifications of ÒVÇ-117 engines are used on combat, transport and civil medium-class helicopters of ground and marine application.
~ engines of this family lift to sky 95% of Mil and Kamov helicopters in 60 countries including well-known
~ Êà-27, Êà-28, Êà-29, Êà-31, Êà-32, Êà-50 Black Shark, Êà-52 Alligator, Ìi-8ÌÒ, Ìi-14, Ìi-17, Ìi-24, Ìi-35, Ìi-25, Ìi-28 and many others.
~ Even now the ÒVÇ-117 engine due to high effectiveness of units is one of the best in the world in the terms of economy (in its class).
~ Apart from this, it has proven to be undemanding and reliable in service.
~ So over the last 10 years there were not a single IFSD either for design or workmanship reasons.
~ fact that ÒVÇ-117 modifications VM, VMA, VM, Series 02 and VMA, Series 02 have received
~ Type Certificates of AR IAC and national AR of Canada, India and China within the period of 1993 to 1999
~ prove the international recognition of the ÒVÇ-117 engine.

~ High potentialities embodied into this engine at the stage of designing have permitted to create a next modification of ÒVÇ-117,
~ turboprop version ÒVÇ-117VÌÀ-SBÌ1 rated at 2500 hp (2800 hp at emergency power).
~ engine built by joint efforts of our two traditional designers Progress ZMKB and GUP Klimov Plant and
~ also by Motor Sich JSC specialists is intended for passenger 52-seat Àn-140 local airlines aircraft.
~ Àn-140 is due to Àn-24, Àn-26 and Yak-40 aircraft at flight routes replace in the nearest future.
~ specific features of Àn-140 design together with high efficiency of ÒVÇ-117VÌÀ-SBÌ1 engine ensure high flight performance of aircraft. As compared to Àn-24 the new Àn-140 has twice as little fuel burn with the same load. Its efficiency is 25% higher and for takeoff and landing the Àn-140 requires a runway 1.6 times shorter than it is used for Àn-24 aircraft.

~ One more engine designated ÀI9-3B has been developed specifically for Àn-140 aircraft to be used as the auxiliary power unit (APU)
~ for starting the propulsion ÒVÇ-117VÌÀ-SBÌ1 engines, driving electrical generator for power supply to the aircraft electrical system and
~ for delivering air to aircraft conditioning system on the ground with propulsion engines inoperative.
~ ÀI9-3B is the next in the line of APUs produced by our company:
~ ÀI-9 for Yak-40 aircraft and Êà-27, Êà-28, Êà-29, Êà-32, Êà-50 and Êà-52 helicopters, as well as
~ ÀI-9V for Ìi-14, Ìi-8ÌÒ, Ìi-17, Ìi-24, Ìi-35 and Ìi-28 helicopters.
~ Our company has produced about 11 000 ÀI-8 APUs for Ìi-6 and Bå-12.

~ In spring 2000 the Àn-140 and ÒVÇ-117VÌÀ-SBÌ1 and ÀI9-3B engines were certified by IAC AR.
~ Thus, they became the first samples of the Ukrainian aviation equipment,
~ created under new economical conditions in close collaboration with branch institutes and design agencies of Ukraine and Russian Federation.

~ VÊ-2500 and VÊ-1500 engines continue the cooperation program of our company with St. Petersburg designers.
~ VK-2500 turboshaft engine typically is the ÒVÇ-117VÌÀ with increased power and
~ differs from it by 200 hp plus at takeoff (2400 hp) and emergency (2700 hp) power ratings.
~ It is designed for installation on new modifications of Russian-made Mil and Kamov helicopters.
~ first flight of Ìi-24Ì helicopter powered by VÊ-2500 engines took place on May 30, 2000.
~ In December 2000 the engine was given IAC AR Certificate.
~ VÊ-1500 turboprop features 1500 hp takeoff power.
~ It is designed for local Àn-38 and Bå-32 arliners, as well as for re-equipment of Àn-2 manufactured earlier
~ when upgrading them to Àn-3 configuration, in order to provide the second life for them.
~ first starting of VÊ-1500 took place on May 18, 2001.
~ Both engines will be furnished with digital automatic control and monitoring systems of new generation,
~ which shall optimize the technical characteristics of the engines,
~ provide for their operation on 'on-condition' basis,
~ increase service life of the hot section and reliability of the engine as a whole.

~ Under the present day conditions it is not quite enough to manufacture the product with high functional characteristics
~ because only the engines with quality approved by respectable national and international agencies can be competitive on the world market.
~ competitive engines should be produced using certified production facilities.
~ In order to provide the stable quality level of products the Motor Sich JSC has introduced,
~ maintains and develops the system of quality assurance, which meets the requirements of ISO 9000 International standards.
~ this fact is proven by Certificate of Recognition No.77752, issued by transnational agency "BUREAU VERITAS QUALITY INTERNATIONAL" (BVQI).

~ history of Zaporozhye Engine-Building plant is prominent due to events and people who participated in it.
~ Suffice it to say that the plant was headed by Vladimir V. Chernyshev, (1938-1939),
~ whose name was given to Tushino Machine-Building plant, Makar M. Lukin (1940-1941) and Ivan T. Borisov (1941-1943),
~ who became Minister deputies. For many years the plant was led by Vasily I. Omelchenko,
~ one of the most prominent figures in the aircraft engine-building industry.

~ Motor Sich JSC has been dynamically developing over the period of 85 years and
~ today it is a steadily functioning company, equipped with state-of-the-art equipment and
~ using the leading edge technologies to produce competitive engines for powering the diverse aircraft of new millenium.

Motor Sich engines on their way to China
~ Starting this August, Motor Sich has begun to deliver several TVZ-117BM type aviation engines,
~ used in the MI-171 transportation helicopter, to China.
~ Delivery will continue for the next 1.5 years.
~ MI-171 is built in Russia at the Ulan-Udan Aviation Plant,
~ while spare parts and the engines are produced by Motor Sich.
~ this news is believed to support expectations for Motor Sich’s sales growth by 7.9% to UAH 1.18bn in 2006.
~ Motor Sich is expected to continue to cooperate with other countries, such as Kazakhstan and China,
~ during 2006-2007, and this should help the Company to reach net income of UAH 64.7m in 2006.

Motor Sich by Ukraine Trade

Exports: The Key To Future Growth
~ One of the unique features of this nation is its large natural resource endowment.
~ Ukraine has very mineral and metal rich soils that provided the Soviet military-industrial complex with its raw materials.
~ this aspect of Ukraine represents an unrealized advantage in production and foreign trade.
~ One Ukrainian company has been showing signs of life, and proving that growth can be achieved.
~ Motor Sich, is a joint stock company that is one of the leading aero-engine manufacturers in the world.
~ Motor Sich JSC is the world’s largest aero-engine manufacturing enterprise specializing in the production and
~ after-sale servicing of gas-turbine engines for civilian and military aviation,
~ as well as industrial gas-turbine drives for power plants and gas pumping units.
~ company was founded in early stages of aviation development around 1916.
~ Under Soviet collectivization its factory, and company became part of the military industrial complex.
~ production facilities of Motor Sich didn’t have many of the characteristics flaws of the Soviet System,
~ due to the fact that the company predated mass Soviet industrialization efforts.
~ Once independence was achieved in the early ‘90s, the company didn’t face the same problems that many industrial facilities did.
~ Instead this medium sized company actually gained from Soviet collaboration during the socialist era.
~ Motor Sich currently exports its turbo shaft and profan engines to over 40 countries;
~ in addition its engines are used in a total of 83 countries worldwide.
~ Its chain of production has proved to be efficient, and over the years the company has been honored for its achievements.
~ Recently Motor Sich has been contracted to provide engines for Angola.
~ Despite the companies success more efforts need to be made to attract foreign investment in such firms.

Ukraine Defense Industry
~ military-industrial complex of Ukraine is the most advanced and developed branch of the state's sector of economy.
~ It includes about 85 scientific organizations which are specialized in the development of armaments and military equipment for different usage.
~ air and space complex consists of 18 design bureaus and 64 enterprises.
~ In order to design and build ships and armaments for the Ukrainian Navy,
~ 15 research and development institutes, 40 design bureaus and 67 plants have been brought together.
~ this complex is tasked to design heavy cruisers, build missile cruisers and big antisubmarine warfare (ASW) cruisers, develop small ASW ships.
~ Rocketry and missilery equipment, rockets, missiles, projectiles, and other munitions are designed and made at 6 design bureaus and 28 plants.

Ukraine has certain scientific, technical and industrial basis for the indigenous research, development and production of small arms.
~ number of scientific-industrial corporations have started R&D and production of small arms.
~ armor equipment is designed and manufactured at 3 design bureaus and 27 plants.
~ scientific and industrial potential of Ukraine makes it possible to create and produce modern technical means of military communications
~ and automated control systems at 2 scientific-research institutes and 13 plants.
~ total of 2 scientific-research institutes and 53 plants produce power supply batteries;
~ 3 scientific-research institutes and 6 plants manufacture intelligence and radio-electronic warfare equipment;
~ 4 design bureaus and 27 plants make engineer equipment and materiel.

~ existing structure of the military-industrial complex of Ukraine does not provide for the enclosed cycle of nomenclature of weapons
~ and military equipment for the Armed Forces.
~ Thus, the aim of military-technical cooperation is to create a cooperative system within Ukraine and at international level
~ to meet the needs of industry in accessory parts and components, power supply batteries, cells, materials etc.

~ Ukraine was deeply integrated into the former Soviet economy, particularly in the agricultural and defense industries.
~ Upon achieving independence, many analysts believed Ukraine had the best medium-term prospects for economic development
~ of any of the former Soviet republics, including Russia.
~ Ukraine's vast agricultural resources, port and shipbuilding facilities, machinery sector, transportation network,
~ and skilled workforce created a favorable investment picture.
~ Ukrainian authorities, however, did not undertake structural economic reforms.
~ In the early 1990s, Ukraine experienced serious inflation, privatization was at a standstill, real wages plummeted,
~ and economic output continued its steep decline.

Ukraine has well-developed scientific and industrial base
~ national economy includes such spheres as heavy machine building, ferrous and non-ferrous metallurgy,
~ shipbuilding, automotive industry (buses, cars and trucks), manufacturing of tractors and other agriculture machinery,
~ diesel locomotive manufacturing, manufacturing of machine-tools, turbines and aircraft engines,
~ production of power plants', oil extraction and chemical equipment and so on. Ukraine is also a powerful manufacturer of energy.

~ Several fields of Ukrainian economy demonstrate high technological level of development.
~ country is producing carrier rockets, satellites and space research equipment.
~ Ukraine is a considerable producer of military equipment, including tanks, military transport aircrafts,
~ SAM complexes and optical equipment. Antonov aircraft, lighter-aboard ships, walking excavators,
~ precise machinery, and electric welding equipment are produced using state-of-art technologies and comply with the top world standards.

~ As Ukraine acquired independence in 1991, one of the main objectives for the new government
~ became the prevention of further decline of Ukraine’s Soviet-style economy.
~ Ukrainian society and the Government of Ukraine became aware that the state had exhausted its resources
~ in supporting giant industrial enterprises, as well as collective farms.
~ only workable solution appeared to be fast privatization. However, the progress of privatization was extremely slow.
~ In 1999, the state still owned shares in 6,500 companies, or 58 percent of all incorporated companies.

~ country's vast agricultural potential, its highly educated population, its transportation networks and
~ technological infrastructure it inherited from the Soviet Union provide Ukraine with excellent preconditions for strong economic growth.
~ Upon gaining its independence in 1991 Ukraine focused attention on consolidating its nascent state and
~ did not implement the types of deep structural reforms that laid the basis for rapid economic growth in some parts of Eastern Europe.
~ Instead, it adopted a "go slow" approach to economic reform that led to nine years of successive economic declines.
~ While the pace of reform has accelerated since early 2000,
~ Ukraine is still far from joining the ranks of the world's developed market economies.
~ Having taken serious strides toward fiscal and monetary stability which have stimulated significant economic growth,
~ Ukraine must now create a strong legal basis for a market democracy in order to compete effectively for capital with its neighbors.
~ After contracting in every year since independence in 1991, Ukraine's economy started growing in 2000,
~ with real GNP growing by 5.8%, and industrial output, disposable income, and consumer spending all growing by double-digit figures.

Corruption acts a severe brake on investment.
~ Ukraine consistently ranks among the most corrupt countries in Transparency International's annual review of transparency and corruption.
~ On Transparency International's Year 2000 Corruption Perception Index, Ukraine ranked 87 (tied with Azerbaijan) out of 90 countries.
~ Only Yugoslavia and Nigeria ranked worse.
~ World Bank study published in 2000 ranked Ukraine among the worst Eastern European nations in terms of both administrative and state capture corruption.
~ World Bank defines administrative corruption as the taking of bribes and other illegal payments.
~ In a 2000 business survey conducted by the International Financial Corporation ,
~ 100% of firms responding indicated that they had been compelled to pay unauthorized fees
~ to obtain basic government services such as business permits, fire inspection reports, etc.
~ An aggressive campaign instituted by the government of Ukraine to reduce over-regulation is leading
~ to a decrease in administrative corruption but much remains to be done.
~ Many observers believe administrative corruption must be addressed in tandem with the problem of unrealistically low government wages.
~ As long as members of the Cabinet of Ministers make only about US$300 per month
~ while police and other inspectors often make as little as $30, stamping out administrative corruption will remain difficult.
~ Many observers believe that state capture corruption represents a more severe threat to economic growth and foreign investment.
~ World Bank defines "state capture corruption" as occurring when politically influential individual or
~ groups use their power to appropriate for themselves sections of the economy.
~ In Ukraine, a group commonly referred to as "oligarchs" control a significant portion of the economy,
~ particularly in the spheres of mass media, energy and heavy industries such as steel and chemicals.
~ Many of these oligarchs enjoy immunity from prosecution thanks to their seats in the Rada (parliament).

Kharkiv is the center of mechanical manufacturing in Ukraine
~ Kharkiv in many ways is the second capital of Ukraine in a cultural, economic, and historical sense.
~ From 1919 to 1934, it actually was. Kharkiv is the most important scientific and cultural center in the country.
~ There are 26 colleges and about 200 high schools in the city. There are more than 250 industrial enterprises.

Obituary for Ukrainian defense industry
~ At present 95% of Russian helicopters are fitted with engines from the Zaporozhye-based factory Motor-Sich,
~ Russian-Ukrainian defense-related trade turnover involves 7,000 to 8,000 items
~ Components are often exchanged by barter, and neither side pays anything
~ Kiev sold about $680 million worth of arms in 2005, including nearly $200 million came from its cooperation with Moscow.
~ Russia can also assemble helicopter engines in Rybinsk.
~ In addition, there are plans to establish a national engine-building holding company,
~ which would develop a fifth-generation helicopter engine, and Vyacheslav Boguslayev,
~ president of Ukraine's Motor-Sich enterprise, has expressed interest in joining this holding company.
~ world's best ballistic missiles and launch vehicles were developed in Dnepropetrovsk,
~ a unique space center, the only one of its kind in the world.
~ center developed the SS-18 Satan inter-continental ballistic missile with an eight-ton warhead
~ containing ten independently targetable reentry vehicles.
~ this ICBM, designated as Voyevoda in Russia, will soon be removed from combat duty.
~ Ukrainian experts, who offer contract supervision for this missile, also help produce its civilian version, i.e. the Dnepr launch vehicle.
~ Dnepr space rockets lift off from the Baikonur space center, leased by Kazakhstan to Russia under a long-term contract,
~ or from the town of Dombrovsky in Russia's Orenburg Region, where a Strategic Missile Force unit is deployed.

~ Russia, which has decommissioned its last ICBM train in early 2006, no longer needs SS-24 Scalpel ICBMs either.
~ Russian enterprises are already assembling unique Topol-M missiles for the Strategic Missile Force,
~ and a strategic submarine is testing the Bulava submarine-launched missile.

~ It appears that, although Kiev is trying to enter the space-launch market and to implement a cost-effective long-term program in this field,
~ Ukraine cannot create a self-sufficient space industry without Russia.
~ True, Kiev has orbited 19 Zenit-3SL space rockets under the Sea Launch program.
~ However, Russian components, including rocket engines, the most expensive element, account for 60% of each launch vehicle's price.
~ Program Ground Launch calls for orbiting the first Zenit-M rockets, namely, their two-stage Zenit-2M and three-stage Zenit-3M versions, in 2006-2007.
~ There are plans to launch three to four rockets per year and to recoup all expenses in five to six years.
~ Russia and Ukraine will be entitled to 70% and 30% of profits in line with their contribution to building this rocket.

~ end of Russian-Ukrainian military-technical cooperation would spell tragedy for numerous professionals,
~ who developed the world's best strategic missiles, aircraft and air-defense weapons.
~ Vladimir Zharikhin, deputy director of the Moscow-based CIS Institute,
~ said enterprises in Lvov and Ivano-Frankovsk (West Ukraine that had vehemently supported the leaders of the recent Orange Revolution)
~ had supplied components for many Russian weapons systems, while curtailed military-technical cooperation would cause huge unemployment there.
~ Yury Klyuchkovsky, spokesman for Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko at the Supreme Rada (Parliament),
~ said he did not trust Sergei Ivanov's statements on curtailing military-technical cooperation if Ukraine joined NATO.
~ Klyuchkovsky said Russia had always been pragmatic, and if it had something to gain from stopping cooperation with Ukraine,
~ it would have done so long ago. Indeed, this will not benefit Russia, but it is forced to renounce its profitable cooperation with Ukraine.
~ He added that NATO contracts would replace Russia's contracts after Ukraine's accession to the Alliance.

~ Many East European defense enterprises were shut down after joining NATO.
~ Ukraine would also have to adopt NATO standards and play a subordinate role.
~ Brussels would force Kiev to buy expensive U.S., French and German weapons,
~ as it is not interested in reviving the Ukrainian defense industry.
~ Ukrainian enterprises are unlikely to start producing NATO equipment either.
~ To do this, they require a major overhaul at least.

Ukrainian Helicopters
~ Air transport company Ukrainian Helicopters are offering its services in the field of
~ cargo carriage, fire-fighting, air photography, and rescue operations.
~ Large Ukrainian companies, such as “AvtoKrAZ” — leading producer of a wide range of trucks,
~ “Motor Sich” — world-reputed manufacturer of electric power generators,
~ JSC “Kvazar” — producer of solar heating systems for industrial and household needs
~ are now working with their Nigerian counterparts on the deliveries of their products to Nigeria

Ukrainian Helicopters
~ core of flight team consists of about 40 pilots and navigators and
~ is managed by 10 key pilot-instructors with an average total time of between 8 to 15 000 flight hours.
~ All crews are experienced in IFR operations, night, mountain, desert and tundra flying, aerial construction,
~ search and rescue operations, flights with external loads and spill-way devices,
~ passenger services and the carriage of dangerous goods.
~ pilots perform regular check and training at the famous Krememchug Flight College whilst
~ engineering personnel attend various training courses at the aviation institutions of the Ukraine.

Concord XXI
~ CONCORD XXI INC. headquarters are located in Toronto, Canada (a Canadian Registered Corporation) and
~ business development office is in Kiev, Ukraine.
~ one of only a few companies on the territory of former Soviet Union that offers theoretical, ground, simulator and flight training courses
~ on former Soviet aircraft: full time, live-in training for initial qualification, type rating, conversion and refresher courses
~ for aviation specialists from around the world. All of courses meet ICAO standards.
~ also provide sales, technical support, spare parts support and consulting services for Mil helicopters,
~ including the Mi-2, MI-8, MI-17, MI-171, MI-24, and MI-26T and the same for Kamov Ka-32.
Partners:
~ Kremenchug Flight College
~ State Flight Academy of Ukraine
~ Flight Simulator Center AVIA LTD
~ Konotop Aircraft Repair Plant Avaikon
KREMENCHUG FLIGHT COLLEGE
~ a Ukrainian State educational establishment and one of the top-flight training facilities for flight and engineering personnel in the Former Soviet Union.
~ For more than 45 years of its activity over 40,000 aviation specialists from the former Soviet Union and
~ more than 4,000 pilots from 58 countries, including Central and Latin America, Austria, Canada, China, Mexico, Ecuador, Spain, Burundi, USA, Japan, etc.,
~ have been trained at "Kremenchug Flight College".
~ facilities have a large fleet of helicopters, aerodromes, modern classrooms, laboratory, and a simulator center.
~ conduct all kinds of professional skill improvement and refresher courses for flight and engineering personnel
~ on the helicopters MI-2, MI-8, MI-17, MI-171, MI-24, MI-26T, KA-32 to special order of our Clients.
"THE STATE FLIGHT ACADEMY OF UKRAINE"
~ established as first class flight training facilities in USSR in 1951.
~ Since that time more than 110,000 aviation specialists from Former Soviet Union and
~ more than 3,000 students from 51 countries around the world have been graduated from the Academy.
~ At Academy facilities Refresher and Qualification Courses on YAK-40, YAK-42, AN-24, AN-26, AN-32, AN-12 and IL-76.
Customers:
~ USA (Military) Department of the Air Force (MI-17, AN-26/32)
~ NATO pilots from Great Britain (MI-17)
~ L3 Join Operations Group USA
~ USA (Civil) Petroleum Helicopter Incorporation (MI-17)
~ Ecuador (Military) Department of the Air Force (MI-17)
~ Singapore (Civil) - private pilots (YAK-42D)
~ Pakistany Air Force Drug Enforcement Units ( MI-17)

RAF trains on Russian helicopter
~ Eight Royal Air Force officers are currently in Ukraine to receive briefings on Russia's Mil Mi-17 transport helicopter.
~ four pilots, two navigators and two flight engineers are being trained over a four-week period at Kremenchug Flight College,
~ and are likely to be followed from mid-March by a further two groups, each comprising two pilots and one engineer.
~ courses consist of three weeks of ground school and 10h in a new, $1 million Mi-17 flight simulator - but no actual flying time.
~ According to Edward Shulman, who represents the Ukrainian training academy in Canada and the USA,
~ current aircrew already had "five to 10h" on type - apparently accumulated in Poland - when they began the course in mid-February.
~ RAF confirms that the officers are at the college, and says the training is an example of
~ ever-improving relationships" between the UK and Ukraine.
~ Although this is believed to be the first time that UK aircrew have officially trained on a Russian helicopter,
~ Shulman says that regular detachments from the US Air Force 6th Special Operations Squadron visit the academy,
~ which lies 265km (165 miles) south-east of Kiev.
~ As a combat advisory unit for foreign governments - the first-ever in the USAF -
~ its aircrew are required to have an understanding of foreign types such as the multirole Mi-17.

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India:

India's UAV

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Brazil:

Brazil's UAV

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Nigeria:

Nigeria's UAV

Niger Delta Militants Plan 'Massive Attacks' on Oil Industry /Rigzone/
~ Oil prices in the international market might shoot beyond the current US$75 a barrel
~ if the militant Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) executes its planned attacks on oil installations from August.
~ Jomo Gbomo, MEND spokesman, told Deutsche Press-Agentur in an e-mail message Thursday
~ that "we shall begin massive attacks on the oil industry from August."
~ He said apart from his group, there were other groups in the Niger Delta that would be sabotaging oil installations from time to time,
~ all in a bid to seize control of the region's oil resources from
~ Meanwhile, deputy governor of Bayelsa State in the Niger Delta, Peremobowei Ebebi, said in a telephone interview
~ that the state government uncovered a plot by a militant group to embark on a spate of kidnappings of expatriate oil workers in the state.
~ He said the government is already taking steps to ensure the unnamed group does not succeed.
~ Ebebi was reacting to Wednesday's shutting of some oil wells belonging to the Italian oil company Agip
~ by youths of the Ogboinbiri community in the Southern-Ijaw council area of the state.
~ armed youths stormed the Ogboinbiri platform of the Italian oil firm in speedboats and
~ chased away soldiers on guard duties at the facility.
~ They claimed that the oil company reneged on a memorandum of understanding signed between it and the community to provide jobs for them.
~ Bayelsa State Commissioner of Police, Hafiz Ringim, confirmed the attack and said
~ I am aware that militants have taken over a flow station in the state. I have sent my men to the area, but they are not back yet."
~ Seizures of oil facilities in the Niger Delta, the kidnapping of expatriate oil workers and
~ sundry other problems have led to the reduction of Nigeria's daily oil production of 2.5 million barrels by at least 20 percent.
~ Oil prices have been on the upward spiral because of the heated situation in the Niger Delta and the crisis in the Middle East.

Nigeria Facts /CIA/
~ Pipelines: condensate 105 km; gas 1,896 km; oil 3,638 km; refined products 3,626 km (2004)
~ Oil - proved reserves: 36 billion bbl (2005 est.)
~ Natural gas - proved reserves: 4.502 trillion cu m (2005)

Nigeria, Shell Sign $6 Billion Gas Project /Rigzone/
~ state-run Nigerian National Petroleum Corp. (NNPC) and Anglo-Dutch oil giant Royal Dutch Shell
~ have signed a US$6 billion liquefied natural gas (LNG) project, expected to come onstream in 2011
~ memorandum of understanding was signed by the sponsors of the Olokola LNG (OKLNG),
~ Olokola Free Trade Zone Co., and the Nigeria Export Processing Zones Authority
~ partners in the project are the NNPC (49.5 percent), Chevron OKLNG Holdings Limited (18.5 percent),
~ Shell Gas & Power Developments B.V. (18.5 percent), and BG International Limited (13.5 percent).
~ design of the OKLNG complex is for four LNG trains of 5.5 million tons per year capacity each, with a total production of 22 million tons per year of LNG.
~ complex will also produce substantial quantities of natural gas liquids as a by-product.
~ project is to be implemented in phases, beginning with two LNG trains (plants), with a total capacity of 11 million tons per year.
~ Gas supply to the project will be from the upstream operations of affiliates of the sponsors.
~ All the technical work on the project is scheduled to be completed by the end of this year and commercial export of gas is expected to take place in early 2011.

20 pct of Nigeria's oil production is lost to unrest in the region
~ Nigeria's main oil workers union PENGASSAN threatened to pull out of the volatile Niger Delta region following a wave of kidnappings and violence.
~ despite a clampdown on separatist militants terrorising oil firms and facilities in the region, the Delta has increasingly become unsafe for oil workers.
~ Nigerian security forces have launched an aggressive manhunt for the kidnappers
~ following a directive by President Olusegun Obasanjo to rid the region of separatist fighters
~ seeking local control of the country's massive oil wealth.
~ Nigeria, Africa's biggest oil producer, is the world's sixth biggest crude exporter with 2.6 mln barrels per day,
~ but 20 pct of that figure is currently lost to unrest in the region.

Nigeria Oil & Gas conference
Addax Petroleum
Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas Limited (NLNG)
CIA's Factbook about Nigeria

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UAE:

~ Dubai Aerospace To Create First Middle East Aerospace University /SpaceSmart/
~ was not allowed by the United States to purchase ten Predator UAVs
~ built their own UAVs using technology obtained from Schiebel, in Austria, and CybAero, in Sweden
~ two UAVs are helicopter type designs, intended for police work, and border patrol.
~ German and South Korean firms are also contributing technology
~ plans to export their al Sber and APID 55 UAVs
~ smaller al Sber is intended for short range police work, while the larger APID 55 is intended for border and coastal patrol
~ expects to find most of their sales in the civilian, not military, market
~ is putting up a lot of cash to build new helicopter UAVs

The 9th International Aerospace Exhibition 20 - 24 November 2005 Airport Expo Dubai United Arab Emirates
~ hosted its first dedicated unmanned aerial vehicles pavilion
~ Dubai Air Show 2007
~ in 2003, a dedicated helicopter pavilion debuted and met with immediate success
~ while a pavilion focused on the unmanned aerial vehicles sector is slated for 2005

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Greece:

no known Greece's UAV so far

Hellenic Aerospace Industry

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Uzbekistan:

Fuel for Karimov's Support:
~ Alexey Miller, chairman of the management of Gazprom, arrived in Uzbekistan.
~ he intended to reach an agreement with President Islam Karimov on Gazprom's development of the three largest natural gas deposits in Uzbekistan.
~ if negotiations are successful, Gazprom will have a de facto monopoly on as export from Uzbekistan
~ all Tashkent wants in exchange is a 100-percent guarantee
~ that Russia will help Uzbekistan suppress antigovernment demonstrations and protect it from the West
~ main goal of Miller's visit to Tashkent was to conciliate the latest versions of the agreement
~ giving Gazprom the development of the three largest gas deposits in Uzbekistan, Urga, Kuanysh and the Akchalakskoe group, on a product-sharing basis.
~ Gazprom is proposing to increase gas imports from Uzbekistan
~ from the current 5-6 billion cu. m. to 17-18 billion cu. m. per year with the development of the deposits
~ negotiations are so important to Gazprom that Miller is discussing the product-sharing agreement with the president of Uzbekistan himself
~ Gazprom is already developing deposits in the same region on the Ustyurt Plateau near Kungrad and Shakhpakhty,
~ although the projected capacity there is less than 500,000 cu. m. per year.
~ total Gazprom investment in the development should reach $1.2 billion
~ if agreement is signed, which Gazprom assumes may happen either at the upcoming EvrAzES (Eurasian Economic Association)
~ summit in St. Petersburg or at the end of March,
~ Russian gas monopoly will be the controlling player on the Uzbek gas export market
~ British Trinity Energy and a consortium of LUKOIL and Intera work on territories
~ adjacent to Gazrom's, where they produce gas on terms close to product sharing
~ Uzbekneftegaz affiliates produce about 54 billion cu. m. annually,
~ but exports are limited by the capacity of the country's and neighboring Kazakhstan's transport system
~ and are controlled by Gazprom, which will buy up to 7 billion cu. m. in 2006 and
~ which is the transit operator for Turkmen gas on the territory of Uzbekistan.
~ Uzbekistan produces its own gas mainly in other regions, at the Kandymskoe deposit
~ and the Shurtanskoe group of deposits in Bukhara and Kashkadaryin Regions, respectively,
~ and uses it in the chemical industry or in public utilities.
~ with a product-sharing agreement, Gazprom will de facto monopolize gas export from Uzbekistan
~ Intera had had plans to produce in Uzbekistan and export gas it but,
~ after planning to invest up to $2 billion in the Kandymskoe deposit,
~ Enron was unsuccessful in the mid-1990s in the largest gas production project in Uzbekistan.
~ it looks as if Uzbekistan intends to grant Gazprom the entire development of the gas deposits on Ustyurt
~ in addition to the product-sharing agreement on the three investment blocks,
~ an agreement between Gazprom and Uzbekneftegaz on principle of geological exploration of all of the region's investment blocks
~ there are now no fewer than eight large oil and gas deposits unexplored in the Kungrad region
~ by gaining Ustyurt on product-sharing terms, after more than four years of negotiations,
~ Gazprom has partially insured itself against a possible fall in gas production in Turkmenistan
~ deal looks attractive enough for Uzbekistan too
~ it simply does not have the funds for development or, more importantly,
~ increasing the capacity of the Uzbek portion of the Central Asian-Center pipeline for exports

~ gas agreement comes just before Karimov's visit to Russia
~ he will participate in the EvrAzES summit in St. Petersburg on January 25
~ there, the Uzbek leader is to sign a protocol on Uzbekistan's accession to the agreement on the founding of EvrAzES.
~ that decision was in practice made last autumn, when the member states of the Central Asian Association
~ (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan) announced the liquidation of that organization and their intention to merge with EvrAzES.
~ Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan were already members, that is, the whole process was for Uzbekistan's sake.
~ wandering of the Central Asian countries from one organization to another has nothing to do with economic integration.
~ Central Asian Association did not prove its worth and did not bring about its members' goals.
~ EvrAzES is no more effective yet but the admission of Uzbekistan into the brotherhood of post-Soviet republics
~ is symbolically important for both Moscow and Tashkent.
~ Uzbekistan spent half of last year as an international outcast after security forces cruelly put down an uprising
~ in Andijan on May 13 as a result of which, according to independent estimates, between 700 and 1500 people died.
~ Uzbekistan categorically refused to allow an independent investigation of the events in Andijan
~ and soon after demanded the closure of American military base on its territory.
~ China immediately supported the Karimov regime's actions, as did Russia after slight hesitation.
~ as Western countries imposed more and more sanctions on Uzbekistan, Moscow continued cheerfully to receive Karimov.
~ nonetheless, Uzbekistan's international image was so bad that Russian authorities came to the conclusion
~ that it would be better not to be friendly with it on a one-on-one basis but within an international organization.
~ that is why, starting last year, Tashkent was included in all regional organization in the former Soviet Union
~ that it had not already been part of.
~ in this sense, EvrAzES is just a test run.
~ Moscow's real goal is for Uzbekistan to be admitted to the Collective Security Treaty Organization as soon as possible.
~ Kremlin intends to turn that organization into a military and political block along the lines of NATO.
~ Russian leadership would very much like it if Karimov announced Uzbekistan's membership in the CSTO at the St. Petersburg summit.
~ that would allow Moscow to put old and cherished plans into actions like opening
~ a CSTO “antiterrorist” base at the facility vacated by the Americans in Karshi-Khanabad in Uzbekistan

~ Membership in the CSTO is important for Karimov as well, and the symbolic membership in the EvrAzES is a step in that direction.
~ Uzbek leader has his own plans for the “pro-Russian NATO” and he intends to use he organization for his own purposes.
~ a struggle for power broke in the upper echelons of Uzbek officialdom last year.
~ in Tashkent, there are rumors that the president is terminally ill and his inner circle is readying itself for a power grab.
~ long-time pillars of the Karimov regime are the Interior Ministry and the National Security Council
~ and their heads Zakir Almatov and Rustam Inoyatov, respectively.
~ Almatov left the political scene last year, however.
~ soon after his subordinates crushed the Andijan uprising,
~ Karimov transferred the Interior Ministry's internal forces troops to the control of the National Security Council.
~ then Almatov left the country and was operated on in Germany for spinal cancer.
~ Finally, in December, threatened with legal action from the German government, he returned to Tashkent and retired.
~ balance of security forces' power in Uzbekistan was disturbed.
~ analysts unanimously say that the likelihood of a coup d'etat in Uzbekistan has never been higher.
~ Similar concerns seem to have haunted Karimov last year, especially after the events in Andijan, which,
~ according to one theory, were provoked by one of the opposing branches of the security services.
~ in any case, the Uzbek president has been talking more and more since last summer of the need
~ to set up an international rapid reaction that could suppress revolts in that and other countries.
~ that was the gist of the treaty of allegiance signed last October between Tashkent and Moscow.
~ Russian essentially guaranteed Uzbekistan that it would intervene
~ if a revolutionary situation arises on its territory and promised to put down any uprising against Karimov.
~ but those promises were not enough for the Uzbek authorities.
~ therefore, as Kommersant has learned, the Uzbek authorities have developed a project
~ to set up international antirevolutionary punitive forces in the former Soviet Union,
~ for which a military alliance such as the CSTO could become an umbrella organization.
~ thus, Uzbekistan will enter the CSTO with a package of proposals to improve the organization,
~ including proposals to set up intelligence and counterintelligence bodies within it
~ and to develop ways for it to guarantee the domestic security of the Central Asian states.
~ Russia is leery of giving the organization a policing role so far.
~ its ambition is to make it the Eurasian answer to NATO and not a watchdog for the Central Asian states.
~ but Moscow's position may change as the St. Petersburg summit nears.
~ as Tashkent has already understood, the way to the Kremlin's heart is through Gazprom.

CSTO military exercises 'Frontier-2006' to be held in Kazakhstan
~ Joint military exercises of the CSTO (Collective Security Treaty Organisation) member states
~ 'Frontier-2006' will take place in Kazakhstan in May 2006.
~ press centre of the Tajik Ministry of Defence informed KZ-today.
~ Military Forces of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Tajikistan will take part in the exercises.
~ Kazakhstan Minister of Defense is expected to observe the exercises.
~ aim of the military exercises is to improve the interaction between the CSTO member states in fighting terrorism.
~ previous military exercises of the CSTO member states "Frontier-2004" took place in Tajikistan in April 2005.

Gazeta
Kommersant

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Saudi_Arabia:

Saudis plan to fence off border with chaos
~ Saidu Arabia has invited bids for the construction of a security fence along the entire length of its 900km (560mile) desert border with Iraq
~ in a multimillion-pound project that will attract interest from British defence companies
~ barrier is part of a package to secure the Kingdom’s 6,500km of borders in an attempt to
~ improve internal security and bolster its defences against external threats
~ Saudi Arabia is concerned that the chaos in Iraq could cause an overspill of sectarian violence and terrorism
~ kingdom claims to be winning the battle against al-Qaeda’s Saudi wing
~ but wants to protect itself against Saudi insurgents returning from Iraq
~ Riyadh is worried by the rise to power in Iraq of the Shia majority, with its close links with Iran, which Saudi Arabia mistrusts
~ it is concerned that its Shia minority, which is concentrated in the oil-producing eastern province, may become radicalised
~ Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources
~ Ministry of Defense and Aviation
~ Saudi Arabia Information

SAUDI ARABIA: FUTURE UNCERTAIN AFTER ABQAIQ ATTACK /Rome, 27 Feb. 2006 (AKI)/
~ Saudi officials on Monday killed five militants suspected of ties with the al-Qaeda suicide bombers who tried to storm Saudi Arabia's largest oil facility last Friday.
~ attacks shows al-Qaeda's intent to destabilise the economy and the Saudi regime, according to Paris-based Islamic terrorism expert Dominique Thomas
~ attack against Abqaiq, the first against an oil facility, by a commando which called itself the Brigades of Osama bin Laden,
~ is part of the terror group's attempt to destabilise the international economy and the regime by targeting oil installments," Thomas said.
~ kingdom is the world's biggest oil exporter.
~ authors of this destabilisation strategy are not a new generation of militants but rather the people whom security forces have been trying to track down over the past few years.
~ The Saudi wing of bin Laden's network has been significantly weakened by a government crackdown since 2003 during which militants have been arrested or killed"
~ Out of the 36 men in the most-wanted list published by the Saudi government in the summer of 2005,
~ only 15 were believed to operate on the Saudi territory and I think perhaps only 3 or 4 are still alive today after previous police crackdowns and the attack on Friday."
~ Authorities say two of the bombers in Friday's attack were on the list of most wanted al Qaeda-linked Islamic militants issued last year.
~ Al Qaeda had previously identified them in an Internet statement posted on Saturday.
~ Experts think some on the list might have also joined insurgents fighting in Iraq.
~ Abqaiq strike was the first major attack by militants opposed to the Saudi monarchy
~ since suicide bombers tried to storm the Interior Ministry in Riyadh in December 2004.
~ Thomas recalled that though Friday's was the first direct attack against an oil facility,
~ in 2004 militants attacked an oil company and housing compounds in Khobar,
~ proof that despite police crackdowns since 2003, militants had been pursuing a strategy targeting oil interests in Saudi Arabia."
~ Meanwhile, in its message posted on Saturday, al-Qaeda vowed more attacks.
~ Authorities are today particularly worried by militants who are hiding outside Saudi Arabia, Thomas said.
~ expert cited in particular the case of 13 militants convicted in the attacks on the US warship Cole
~ and the French supertanker Limburg in Yemen who broke out of jail in Sanaa on 4 February.
~ convicts included top militants Jamal Badawi, regarded as the ringleader in the bombing of the US Cole in 2000,
~ and Fawaz al-Rabeie, the leader of the group convicted of bombing the Limburg in 2002.
~ It appears now that a potential mastermind of the terror strategy against Saudi Arabia could be among the militants who fled the Sanaa prison," according to Thomas.
~ Right now we don't know who is leading al-Qaeda in Saudi Arabia
~ since the organisation promptly releases information on its terror activities but not on its leaders," noted the analyst.
~ The group claimed responsibility for the attack on the oil facility very swiftly a day later but withholds information on the masterminds."
~ further problem for Saudi investigators, said Thomas,
~ is that suicide bombers have so far managed the cells pursuing attacks in Saudi Arabia
~ therefore each cell is destroyed after an attack because all its members die".
~ In the near future, Thomas said, the cabinet will "boost security measures around oil facilities,
~ carry out police operations such as Monday's in certain neighborhouds in Riyadh and in the north of the country,
~ where many Islamic militants are believed to be hiding, and probably issue a new most-wanted list."
~ Overall, "the future remains extremely uncertain, depending on the outcome of investigations and on whether terrorist cells will be able to operate despite new crackdowns

Oil prices soar after Saudi explosion /Reuters, London/
~ Just the idea of an attack in Saudi Arabia is enough to make the market jumpy," /Glenn Murray, an oil broker at GM Oil/
~ Most Saudi oil is exported from the Gulf via Abqaiq which handles about two thirds of the country's output.
~ Attack emphasizes fears over global oil supply security facing major ongoing risks in Nigeria, Iran and Iraq" /Gary Ross, PIRA Energy consultancy/

SAUDI ARABIA: FUTURE UNCERTAIN AFTER ABQAIQ ATTACK /Rome, 27 Feb. 2006 (AKI)/
~ Saudi officials on Monday killed five militants suspected of ties with the al-Qaeda suicide bombers who tried to storm Saudi Arabia's largest oil facility last Friday.
~ attacks shows al-Qaeda's intent to destabilise the economy and the Saudi regime, according to Paris-based Islamic terrorism expert Dominique Thomas
~ attack against Abqaiq, the first against an oil facility, by a commando which called itself the Brigades of Osama bin Laden,
~ is part of the terror group's attempt to destabilise the international economy and the regime by targeting oil installments," Thomas said.
~ kingdom is the world's biggest oil exporter.
~ authors of this destabilisation strategy are not a new generation of militants but rather the people whom security forces have been trying to track down over the past few years.
~ The Saudi wing of bin Laden's network has been significantly weakened by a government crackdown since 2003 during which militants have been arrested or killed"
~ Out of the 36 men in the most-wanted list published by the Saudi government in the summer of 2005,
~ only 15 were believed to operate on the Saudi territory and I think perhaps only 3 or 4 are still alive today after previous police crackdowns and the attack on Friday."
~ Authorities say two of the bombers in Friday's attack were on the list of most wanted al Qaeda-linked Islamic militants issued last year.
~ Al Qaeda had previously identified them in an Internet statement posted on Saturday.
~ Experts think some on the list might have also joined insurgents fighting in Iraq.
~ Abqaiq strike was the first major attack by militants opposed to the Saudi monarchy
~ since suicide bombers tried to storm the Interior Ministry in Riyadh in December 2004.
~ Thomas recalled that though Friday's was the first direct attack against an oil facility,
~ in 2004 militants attacked an oil company and housing compounds in Khobar,
~ proof that despite police crackdowns since 2003, militants had been pursuing a strategy targeting oil interests in Saudi Arabia."
~ Meanwhile, in its message posted on Saturday, al-Qaeda vowed more attacks.
~ Authorities are today particularly worried by militants who are hiding outside Saudi Arabia, Thomas said.
~ expert cited in particular the case of 13 militants convicted in the attacks on the US warship Cole
~ and the French supertanker Limburg in Yemen who broke out of jail in Sanaa on 4 February.
~ convicts included top militants Jamal Badawi, regarded as the ringleader in the bombing of the US Cole in 2000,
~ and Fawaz al-Rabeie, the leader of the group convicted of bombing the Limburg in 2002.
~ It appears now that a potential mastermind of the terror strategy against Saudi Arabia could be among the militants who fled the Sanaa prison
~ Right now we don't know who is leading al-Qaeda in Saudi Arabia
~ since the organisation promptly releases information on its terror activities but not on its leaders," noted the analyst.
~ The group claimed responsibility for the attack on the oil facility very swiftly a day later but withholds information on the masterminds."
~ further problem for Saudi investigators, said Thomas,
~ is that suicide bombers have so far managed the cells pursuing attacks in Saudi Arabia
~ therefore each cell is destroyed after an attack because all its members die".
~ In the near future, Thomas said, the cabinet will "boost security measures around oil facilities,
~ carry out police operations such as Monday's in certain neighborhouds in Riyadh and in the north of the country,
~ where many Islamic militants are believed to be hiding, and probably issue a new most-wanted list."
~ Overall, "the future remains extremely uncertain, depending on the outcome of investigations and on whether terrorist cells will be able to operate despite new crackdowns

catch ~[beginning] of country targets @ marketing !

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Afganistan:

~ MoD
~ RAF

catch ~[beginning] of country targets @ marketing !

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Mexico:

Sempra
~ LNG business
~ Energía Costa Azul is an about $800 million LNG receipt facility being developed just north of Ensenada in Baja California, Mexico,
~ to process 1 billion cubic feet (Bcf) per day of natural gas.
~ Construction is now underway, and commercial operations should begin early in 2008.
~ Sustainable Development for Baja California

Valley-Mexico mentoring grooms firms for growth /Mercury News
~ Mexico-Silicon Valley Technology Business Accelerator (TechBA for short) in San Jose,
~ Mexico's domestic information technology and software market totals more than $3 billion a year
~ and has 2,095 companies, according to its economics ministry.
~ Mexico exports about $400 million in technology services each year to the United States,
~ about half in business process outsourcing, half in software outsourcing.
~ Currently, 40 companies participate in the TechBA program
~ There are other signs of late that the U.S. venture capital market is waking to not only to Mexico,
~ the world's ninth largest economy, but also to the fast-growing Hispanic market in this country.

catch ~[beginning] of country targets @ marketing !

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Bulgaria:

Bulgaria is a new member of EU in the beginning of year 2007

catch ~[beginning] of country targets @ marketing !

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Slovenia:

Josef Stefan Institute
Department of Knowledge Technologies
~ Ontogen
~ an interactive tool that aids the user during the ontology construction process
~ user interface is written in C# and requires Microsoft .NET framework 2.03 for running
Department of Intelligent Systems
~ 20 year tradition in R&D in artificial intelligence, intelligent systems, information systems, medical informatics, natural language processing, and cognitive sciences

catch ~[beginning] of country targets @ marketing !

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Sudan:

News:

Darfur rebel group kidnapped foreign oil workers
~ a Darfur rebel group attacked a Sudanese oilfield and kidnapped a Canadian and an Iraqi worker
~ the oilfield is run by the Greater Nile Petroleum Operating Company (GNPOC)
~ the consortium involved China's CNPC, India's ONGC, Malaysia's Petronas and Sudanese state-owned Sudapet
~ China is Sudan's top oil buyer and a key weapons supplier to the government
~ the Islamist JEM commander claimed that at least eight other nearby oilfields have since shut down fearing attacks
~ he said government forces deployed to protect the oilfields fled during the attack!

catch ~[beginning] of country targets @ marketing !

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Targets by Business

[001] ~ Oil Gas [002] ~ Mobile [003] ~ Helicopter

[004] ~ UAV [005] ~ Aerospace [006] ~ Financial

[007] ~ Car [008] ~ Energy [009] ~ Government

[010] ~ Subsea System [011] ~ Drilling [012] ~ Research

[013] ~ Space [014] ~ Port [015] ~ Natural Gas Production Site

[016] ~ Water Desalination Site [017] ~ Border Patrolling [018] ~ Coast Patrolling

[019] ~ Chemical_Detector [020] ~ Environment Sensoring [021] ~ Nuclear Power Station

[022] ~ Wireless [023] ~ Air Force [024] ~ Defense

[025] ~ Navy [026] ~ Army

catch ~[beginning] of All Targets !

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UAV:

UAV Companies
UAVs in Different Countries

Forecasts:
~ Frost & Sullivan forecasted market for UAVs to be nearly $5 billion by 2005
~ Boeing's UAV Systems unit sees an annual market of at least $10 billion by decade's end, with growth continuing at double-digit rates for a decade or more
~ Pentagon planning document called Joint Vision 2020 forecasts that one-third of the military's combat planes by that year will be robotic

Farnboroug 2006:
Special Report: UAVs - frontline flyers:
~ worth of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) has been known for decades
~ Israel is leading the way in both reconnaissance UAVs and combat UAVs (UCAVS)
~ increased tempo of US combat operations using UAVs, particularly their continued use in both Iraq and Afghanistan,
~ as well as for border and maritime patrol, reflects changed mindset of armed forces around the world
~ acknowledgement, particularly in Europe, that next generation of aircraft after the Lockheed Martin F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) multirole combat aircraft
~ is unlikely to be manned reiterates this shift
~ throughout the world UAVs are on the rise
~ recognised as a pioneer and world leader in the area of UAVs,
~ Israel's last six years of low-intensity conflict with Palestinians have led to a dramatic expansion of UAV roles and to further developments in operational doctrine
~ Out of 28,000 operational flight hours in 2005, 18,000 were conducted by UAVs
~ which is about 65 per cent according to an Israel Air Force (IAF) officer
~ IAF is responsible for operating all UAVs from the tactical level and
~ up in Israel Defence Force (IDF) and for providing UAV services for ground forces and navy
~ constant fighting in Palestinian territories, especially in Gaza Strip,
~ is creating a growing demand for UAV hours, which we more than doubled in the last [few] years
~ two UAVs could provide a commander with a constant 24-hour surveillance coverage of an area
~ - something that in past required operation of at least six Tzofit imagery intelligence [IMINT] aircraft
~ based on a King Air 200, which meant mobilisation of a whole squadron
~ according to retired brigadier Mickey Bar, former head of rotorcraft operations in the IAF
~ and currently head of Israel Aircraft Industries' (IAI's) Military Aircraft Group
~ Palestinian eyewitnesses have claimed that Israel has been operating armed UAVs in the West Bank and Gaza that take part in precision attacks
~ Some of manned platforms existing today have no advantage over the unmanned
~ Looking ahead at the future JSF, by the time it becomes operational,
~ UAVs could provide the same if not better capabilities, negating need to acquire such expensive platforms
~ by the end of the next decade, IAF believes that more than half of IAF platforms will be unmanned

Bell provides update on TR916 Eagle Eye UAV and its role in USCG Deepwater Program /Farnborough Air Show , England, 2006/
~ Bell Helicopter, a Textron company (NYSE: TXT) will provide Bell Eagle Eye TR916 Unmanned Aircraft Vehicle (UAV) system
~ to Lockheed Martin, a partner in Integrated Coast Guard Systems,
~ a joint venture of Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman, for Integrated Deepwater System program of the U.S. Coast Guard
~ Bell was selected in 2003 by Lockheed Martin to develop and produce Eagle Eye TR916 Unmanned Aircraft Vehicle system
~ to provide surveillance and reconnaissance as part of the U.S. Coast Guard’s Deepwater Program
~ Bell will deliver 45 Eagle Eye UAVs and 33 ground control stations (GCS) to Lockheed Martin
~ who will integrate the UAV system into the Deepwater System of Systems.
~ current plans call for first flight of the TR916 Unmanned Air Vehicle system in 2nd Qtr 2009
~ Bell has selected Aurora Flight Sciences of Manassas, VA as the airframe provider
~ Aurora Flight Sciences is a leading developer of unmanned aircraft technology for research, defense and homeland security organizations.
~ work will be done at Aurora Flight Science’s manufacturing facility located in Bridgeport, West Virginia
~ Bell Helicopter is an industry-leading producer of commercial and military,
~ manned and unmanned vertical lift aircraft and the pioneer of the revolutionary tilt rotor aircraft
~ Globally recognized for world-class customer service, innovation and superior quality,
~ Bell’s global workforce serves customers flying Bell aircraft in more than 120 countries.
~ more information at Textron

BAE Systems MD claims UAV market is still sustainable
~ company have invested a great deal of its own money into UAVs since the 1990s,
~ putting figure at '"ens of millions", and had stepped up its programme since the turn of the decade
~ UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) has invested in certain areas of technology particularly related to the "survivability element"
~ BAE Systems and MoD were currently "trying to find the budget' for a UAV 'experimentation phase"
~ BAE revealed a series of six UAV systems that it has been secretly developing since 2001
~ they range from a basic utility UAV, the Herti (based on Polish company J&AS Aero design),
~ to a fully autonomous stealthy strike unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV) known as Corax
~ utility UAV was "inexpensive in military terms" at between GBP500,000 (USD938,000) to GBP 1 million,
~ while more advanced aircraft were "certainly more than" GBP2 million
~ utility vehicle in particular has a range of civilian and military applications,
~ including more mundane civilian tasks such as traffic surveillance and policing duties
Analysis:
~ BAE Systems has invested a great deal of its own money - ROI; money from MoD/UK not yet quaranteed ?
~ Polish company J&AS Aero design as partner !
~ price of utility UAV GBP500,000 (USD938,000) to GBP 1 million = even cheapest is 5x Xi's price !

Boeing and QinetiQ form combined experimentation centre
~ Boeing and QinetiQ will jointly establish a centre for demonstration and experimentation in Farnborough, UK,
~ move companies describe as the first step in the creation of a wider experimentation network
~ new centre will be federated with QinetiQ centres around the UK and,
~ pending governmental approval, connectivity to Boeing’s Laboratory Network (LabNet)
~ expected to be operational by the end of 2006, centre will include development and simulation laboratories;
~ an integrated test and configuration facility;
~ and a facility to connect military vehicles
ANALYSIS
~ similar kind of centre for demonstration and experimentation might also work in California, Washington, Dubai, Moscow, Peking...
~ instead of propierty such as Boeing’s Laboratory Network (LabNet) an open development network based on the Semantic Web/OWL/RDF might work
~ simulation labs can be offered only by those with deep pockets and infrastructure: Moscow, LA/San Diego/Las Vegas...

CH-53K will be bigger, smaller and more survivable
~ new aircraft is 72 inches narrower than today’s E model while at the same time adding 12 inches to the width of the cabin
~ trick is in putting all the fuel in enlarged sponsons (there’s none within the volume of the main fuselage)
~ and removing the provision for external fuel tanks
~ new and bigger aircraft will have an embarked footprint no larger than that of its predecessor, a key requirement of the programme
~ it is also bigger internally thanks to a squaring off of the cabin
~ old bird was 90 inches wide at the bottom of the ramp opening and sides soon began to taper down to 71 inches at the roof line,
~ while the new one is 91.5 inches wide for most of its height and 102 inches at the bottom, and there’s no taper
~ both are 63 inches high.
~ numbers mean that 53K will be able to carry a Humvee internally at last
~ aircraft has enhanced ballistic tolerance and some of the testing work being undertaken to demonstrate it
~ tested threat details are classified, they have shot rotor blades and fuel tanks, with dynamic components next on the list
~ they will take lessons incorporated into the Apache and Black Hawk generation of aircraft and
~ add in those from recent wars, which emphasise armour protection for occupants to end up with a considerably more survivable aircraft
~ 53 in general is heavily in demand and that they have had to take aircraft from the war reserve to maintain readiness and
~ that there are two nations that would take 12 aircraft each from that war reserve, but Marines do not have aircraft to give them
~ Rockwell Collins won the cockpit contract, engine competition is ongoing
~ there are other major systems up for grabs for outside suppliers, including dynamic systems, fly by wire and integrated systems
~ not even the main rotor blades are sacrosanct for Sikorsky
ANALYSIS
~ fuel are in enlarged sponsons
~ cockpit contract
~ main rotor blades

UAV Forum Conference:
~ Lord Sainsbury, UK Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Science and Innovation
~ gave keynote speech to high level industry personnel working in the UAV sector
~ Conference programme included speakers from the Ministry of Defence and Civil Aviation Authority from the UK,
~ together with speakers from the USA, Canada and Australia.
~ Issues covered included military and commercial UAV markets and potential, collaborative possibilities, export trade control issues
~ and discussions on opening up civilian airspace
Boeing X-45 CN
~ a navalised version of the J-UCAS unmanned autonomous combat air vehicle
~ flies high-risk operational missions and delivers precision weapons on target
Boeing Scan Eagle
~ developed with the Insitu Group, Scan Eagle is an autonomous, low-cost, long-endurance unmanned vehicle
~ based on Insitu’s Seascan miniature robotic aircraft and draws on Boeing’s systems integration, communications and payload technologies.
DRS Unmanned Technologies - Sentry HP
~ an air vehicle that can accommodate various payloads for civilian and military applications
~ can be launched from restricted or unimproved launch sites
DRS Unmanned Technologies – Neptune
~ optimised for at sea launch and recovery, has land-launch and recovery capability
~ designed for tactical military operations over land and water where formal runwaysystems are unavailable
Elbit – Hermes 450
~ Hermes 450 is a medium size UAV supplying real time intelligence data to ground forces
~ designed for tactical long endurance missions and is effective for ISTAR, SIGINT, communication relays and other missions
General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Predator
~ RQ-1 Predator is a long endurance, medium altitude unmanned aircraft system for surveillance and reconnaissance missions
~ MQ-1, armed with AGM-114 Hellfire missiles, is multi-role version which is used for armed reconnaissance and interdiction
Finmeccanica SKY-X UAV
~ Sky-X UAV is powered by a single jet engine, flies up to Mach 0.6, has a wingspan of about 6 meters
~ and a Maximum Take-Off Weight (MTOW) of approximately one metric tonne.
Honeywell Micro Air Vehicle
~ ducted-fan vertical-take-off and landing micro air vehicle, capable of carriage in a soldier’s back pack,
~ now being developed under a US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Army technology demonstration programme
Northrop Grumman RQ-8A Fire Scout
~ Over 200 flights have taken place of the Fire Scout Vertical Take-off and Landing Tactical UAV
~ that is being developed for the US Navy and US Army
Northrop Grumman RQ-4 Global Hawk
~ Production is underway of up to 51 Global Hawk reconnaissance UAVs after a lengthy development phase that began in 1998.

Italian Civil Protection Orders An AW139 Helicopter
~ AgustaWestland is pleased to announce that the Italian Civil Protection has signed a contract for an AW139 medium-twin helicopter.
~ AW139 will act as an airborne command post to support and supplement disaster relief efforts at national, regional and local levels.
~ large cabin of the AW139 helicopter will be equipped with a comprehensive communications suite
~ to allow Italian Civil Protection command staff to coordinate all the necessary emergency service activities
~ performed by other government agencies rotary and fixed wing aircraft and ground element.
~ AW139 will add to an A109 Power already in service with the agency.
~ this new Italian Civil Protection AW139 variant will add to the many roles
~ for which the AW139 has already been selected around the world in the public service and government helicopter markets.
~ AW139 is the aircraft of choice for every medium lift application around the globe and
~ has been particularly successful in the commercial and corporate transport, law enforcement, EMS and SAR markets.
~ this contract brings the number of firm orders for the AW139 to more than 190,
~ making it the best selling medium twin helicopter today. By June 2006 over 30 aircraft had been delivered to customers
~ in Europe, North America, Africa, Asia and the Middle East.

JSF delay could trigger series of after-shocks
~ US Air Force's (USAF's) senior officer is warning
~ that a repeat of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter's costly development crisis of two years ago
~ could trigger a wave of after-shocks in other fighter programmes.
~ USAF Chief of Staff General T Michael Moseley, speaking to reporters on 11 April 2006,
~ emphasised that he remains "confident" that the programme is on the right track,
~ but acknowledged concerns about the potential for new delays as the aircraft's software package is integrated.
~ Aside from substantial problems a delay would cause to manufacturing and US capability,
~ ripple effect to other partner countries - including Italy, Spain and the UK, who are looking to carrier-borne F-35Bs -
~ would have a major impact.
~ UK already has contingency plans in place to use its carrier-based GR.9 Harriers
~ to compensate for any gap between its new carriers coming into service and the planned F-35B short take-off and landing variant,
~ but how long this could be sustained remains unanswered.
~ Italy and Spain are also looking to the F-35B,
~ but these two countries face similar issues to the UK if they attempt to extend the service of their own carrier-based AV-8B Harriers beyond 30-35 years
ANALYSIS
~ software and sharing source code has become an important issue !

Pakistan opts for European UAVs
~ Pakistan is acquiring two types of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs)
~ from foreign suppliers to enhance its surveillance capabilities, while continuing local development efforts.
~ army has finalised an order from Germany for the EMT LUNA
~ short-range battlefield reconnaissance, surveillance and target acquisition UAV.
~ Three or four systems are likely to be obtained in total, but details are not yet known.
~ air force is acquiring from Italy the Galileo Falco medium-altitude endurance tactical UAV,
~ with delivery due in December. Four systems are involved in the deal at an unknown cost.
~ Pakistan has several indigenous UAV systems in production or under development,
~ but the acquisition of European UAVs suggests these do not fully meet the current operational requirements.
ANALYSIS
~ Germany has become UAV superpower !
~ Italy is also UAV player !
~ Pakistan is an example country acquiring UAVs: every country is doing so !

Skunk Works unveils secret Polecat UAV
~ Lockheed Martin Skunk Works revealed on 19 July that it has secretly built and flown a large,
~ high-altitude unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV)
~ that has been designed to test a range of new technologies critical to
~ what the company foresees as a ‘third-generation’ of unmanned platforms that will emerge in the US in the next decade.
~ Nicknamed Polecat, the high-altitude flying wing demonstrator was launched in March 2003
~ with USD27 million of internal Lockheed Martin funding and was completed 18 months later.
~ It did not fly, however, until last year.
~ Its key feature is an advanced laminar flow wing
~ that confers a blend of high aerodynamic efficiency with a very low observable (VLO) radar cross-section.
~ According to Frank Cappuccio, the head of Skunk Works,
~ Polecat demonstration programme was configured to give Lockheed Martin
~ an insight into three areas critical to next-generation UAVs:
~ 1. reducing the manufacturing costs associated with new, largely composite airframe designs;
~ 2. lowering the capital cost of UAV manufacture through advanced tooling techniques;
~ 3. integrating a fully autonomous flight control and mission-handling system
~ that will allow future UAVs to conduct their missions, from take-off to landing,
~ without the intervention of human operators.
~ Polecat technology could lead to two operational vehicles, according to Cappuccio:
~ an intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) vehicle
~ with a U-2-like (1,800 kg) sensor payload and a 24-hour endurance;
~ or a long-range strike aircraft with a 6,800 kg payload and a 3,700 km operational radius.
~ He added, however, that Lockheed Martin is still pushing the idea of a supersonic UCAS for the LRS mission,
~ citing studies that show that it would be seven times more survivable
~ than a subsonic UCAS and five times better than the bomber derivative of the F-22 fighter.
~ Polecat is part of a concerted, and largely hidden, technology demonstration programme
~ launched by Lockheed Martin at the beginning of the decade
~ in a bid to redress the industrial balance, after Boeing, Northrop and General Atomics forged
~ what then looked like an unassailable lead to develop first- and second-generation UAVs and UCAVs.
ANALYSIS
~ lowering manufacturing cost is essential even with UAVs
~ again internally funded UAV project !

UKMFTS_Bidders_Prepare_For_Final_Submission
~ “The UK’s current military flying system is ponderous and fragmented,”
~ said Air Chief Marshal Sir Michael Graydon,
~ introducing the Thales-owned Sterling update to its bid for the UK Military Flying Training System (MFTS).
~ Thales is one of three competing bids,
~ others being Ascent (Lockheed Martin and VT Group) and
~ Vector (comprising Kellogg Brown & Root, Bombardier, EG&G/Lear Siegler).
~ Boeing was a one time partner with Thales but, according to the company, ‘
~ redefined its position from an equity partner in Sterling to become a strategic partner in a subcontractor role.’
~ All bidders are now set to resubmit their bids for a final time on 4 August for a final Ministry of Defence decision,
~ expected by the end of the year.
~ Bids outline ‘a set of competencies along a cost matrix’ said Lockheed Martin’s Paul Livingstone.
~ However, until the MoD reaches its final verdict all companies in the bid are restricted to what they can put into motion.
~ concern for the helicopter community is that
~ current rotary wing tri-service flight training contract,
~ managed since 1991 on a daily basis by Heli Services,
~ is centred at the Defence Helicopter Flying School based at RAF Shawbury and runs until 2012.
~ There are already questions being asked about how long pilots for the front line can keep being trained on analogue equipped aircraft.
~ helicopter element of UK MFTS is due to be one of the last to be addressed by the winning bidder,
~ and those in the helicopter community want to ensure that this training does not end up as a ‘poor relation’ to the fast jet community.
~ MoD is aware of this and stipulated that each bidder address this specifically in part of their bid, said Livingstone.

Executive Overview of Farnborough: - Jane’s Avionics
~ Boeing and Airbus ended 2005 with honours even.
~ year featured a great comeback for Boeing,
~ a record 2005 and 2006 looking to continue in strong growth for the airlines,
~ with more orders for new aircraft shared between the two major manufacturers over the next five years.
~ On the military side, new fighters are being procured with imminent decisions
~ regarding the procurement of tankers and transports in the US and advanced training aircraft in Europe and the Far East.
~ However, what does all this mean to the business of avionics?
~ Put simply, the health of the major airline manufacturers is critical to their subcontractors and suppliers;
~ chief among these are the engine builders and avionic suppliers.
~ On the military side, defence procurement also pays for research and development (R&D),
~ particularly in the currently fashionable network-centric warfare (NCW) and radar technologies.
~ Across the board, new aircraft mean new innovations and increased investment in next-generation technologies.
~ We will consider some of the major technical trends and noteworthy equipments later,
~ but for now, suffice to say that we can use the above to gain a general insight
~ into the health of both the European and US sides of the avionics house.
~ It would be tempting to take this a stage further and make a judgement that since, for instance,
~ Airbus orders are strong, then European avionics manufacturers must also benefit, and, of course, vice versa.
~ Yet this would underestimate the ambitions of the major avionics suppliers,
~ who have been for some time divesting reliance on either side of the Atlantic
~ in favour of a more 'global' strategy for prosperity.
~ Similarly to transatlantic alliances forged to compete for major aircraft orders,
~ it is now commonplace to find avionics contractors as part of these teams,
~ with some contractors managing to appear on a number of contenders' teams
~ - surely the surest route to winning a lucrative subcontract!
~ As a result, it is apparent that, for those with shares in the major avionics manufacturers such as
~ Honeywell, Rockwell Collins, Thales and Selex,
~ now is not the time to be worrying about company returns,
~ with the same story emanating from nearly all -
~ not necessarily spectacular, but strong and potentially sustainable growth across the board.
ANALYSIS:
~ could it be that only defence pays for R&D and civil buys ready products = you have to invest yourself ?!
~ only big ones rule ?
~ ROI and profits questionable !?

PREDATOR A, MQ-1 Full Rate Production /PIXS/
~ FA8620-05-G-3028 0009 Predator A, MQ-1 Full Rate Production:
~ Aeronautical Systems Center (ASC), Predator Systems Squadron (PSS) intends to award a contract
~ on a sole source basis to General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc.
~ for Fiscal Years (FY) 06 and 07 MQ-1 Production efforts.
~ FY06 MQ-1 Production effort will include a quantity of seven (7) MQ-1 aircraft with an option for up to 29 additional aircraft.
~ FY07 MQ-1 Production effort will include a quantity of seven (7) MQ-1 aircraft with an option for up to 41 additional aircraft.
~ Both of the FY06 and FY07 efforts will include associated initial spares packages
~ for the aircraft as well as aircraft shipping containers.

catch ~[beginning] of Business Targets !

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Helicopter:

Global market for Military Helicopters is estimated at $84 Billion over the next 10 years /IDGA (The Institute for Defense & Government Advancement) /

Helicopter companies

catch ~[beginning] of Business Targets !

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Navy:

Business Plan:
The US Navy
Joint UAV Center of Excellence at Creech, Nevada
Carriers
Squadrons

Two competitors for Navy UCAS requirement prepare for contract notice
~ two teams competing to build an unmanned aircraft capable of landing on an aircraft carrier
~ are preparing for the US Navy (USN) to release a contract notice for the programme as early as next month.
~ Boeing is facing a team comprising Northrop Grumman and Lockheed Martin
~ in anticipation of the USN issuing a request for proposals to build its Unmanned Combat Aerial System (Navy UCAS)
~ at some time between this month (July 2006) and early 2007.
~ Company officials said they expect the navy to field its unmanned aircraft by 2018.
~ They say the service will award a contract in 2012 for the programme’s system development and demonstration phase.
~ Before awarding the contract to start procurement of the new unmanned aircraft,
~ USN will ask one or both of the bidders to demonstrate their proposed aircraft in 2011.

~ Northrop Grumman will offer its X-47B unmanned aircraft for the programme, while Boeing is planning to offer the X-45N.
~ Gene Fraser, vice-president for unmanned systems at Northrop Grumman,
~ said that senior engineers are wrapping up their final review of the design for the X-47B.
~ Boeing, on the other hand, is waiting for the navy to issue its request for proposals before finalising its plans,
~ according to Chris Chadwick, the company’s vice-president and general manager for Global Strike Systems.

~ Although the USN has not yet issued its contract notice,
~ each competitor is already designing aircraft in anticipation of certain requirements.
~ Both Northrop Grumman and Boeing, for example, expect the USN to ask for a stealthy aircraft.
~ As a result, neither the former’s X-47B nor the latter’s X-45N will be designed with tails
~ since these increase an aircraft's radar signature.

~ In anticipation of the stealth requirement, Northrop Grumman partnered with Lockheed Martin,
~ which makes special coatings and other technology to reduce an aircraft's radar signature further.

~ Perhaps the biggest challenge in building an unmanned aircraft to land on aircraft carriers, however,
~ lies in operating a tailless autonomous aircraft in a crowded environment such as a carrier deck.
~ That's a more difficult engineering challenge, which no one has solved yet
~ Each competitor, however, says it is up to the task.
~ Northrop Grumman believes that the solution lies partly in building the X-47B with larger gross weight
~ and greater wingspan in order to stabilise the aircraft in the absence of a tail.
~ Boeing and the Northrop Grumman/Lockheed Martin team say that modifications to the aircraft’s flight control system
~ will also be key.
~ The vehicle management software, which is used to pilot the unmanned aircraft,
~ needs to be redundant to ensure that the aircraft moves in the right direction even without a pilot.

~ Also crucial, both candidates say, is designing an aircraft that can land on an aircraft carrier
~ - an uneven surface that rolls with the waves beneath it.
~ Northrop Grumman says it will use differential GPS to ensure the unmanned aircraft can land on a carrier
~ if it is selected for a 2011 demonstration.
~ Beyond 2011, Northrop Grumman officials said they expect aircraft landing systems will be sophisticated enough
~ to help guide the unmanned aircraft onto the carrier deck.
~ Boeing said it is still sorting how it might land an unmanned aircraft on a rolling deck.
~ Northrop Grumman and Boeing said that modifications to flight control systems
~ are key to providing not only more precision control of the tailless aircraft,
~ but also to navigate the aircraft as it approaches the busy area near the carrier
~ and as it moves around the deck among other aircraft.

~ Persistence also will be a key feature for both companies.
~ Boeing is considering an aircraft that could fly as long as 48 hours, Chadwick said.
~ Northrop Grumman told Jane's in May that they were seriously studying a 100-hour unmanned combat aerial system.

~ USN’s UCAS system will probably play a role in both surveillance and long-range strike.
~ Northrop Grumman’s Fraser said the unmanned aircraft could be used to scope out targets ahead of a team of manned fighter jets,
~ or it could be used for more general surveillance over a broad area of the ocean.
~ Boeing’s Chadwick said the unmanned aircraft might also be used for long-range strike.
~ Fraser noted, however, that it is unlikely the unmanned aircraft would be able to fire weapons any time soon
~ without the judgment of a person on the ground.

Eyes in the sky needed to spot lethal explosives on the ground /USA Today/
~ Pentagon is developing unmanned aircraft to find buried mines and improvised explosive devices, , the largest killer of U.S. troops in Iraq.
~ Air Force and Navy have asked defense contractors to help devise bomb- and mine-hunting unmanned aircraft.
~ Ground-based robots have helped locate IEDs, but they're often too slow and low to the ground to spot the bombs, the Air Force says.
~ An unmanned aerial system would decrease time on target, eliminate exposing personnel to hazards and
~ enhance reconnaissance capabilities," according to the Air Force document released March 20.

The Office of Naval Research has budgeted $8 million for research into drone aircraft and
~ asked scientific companies to submit papers
~ We don't know yet what kind of technologies will be presented, said Daniel Dayton, the agency spokesman.
~ this is a call for the best ideas."
ONR / Science & Technology (S&T)
~ Maj. Gen. James Thurman, commander of the 4th Infantry Division, told reporters
~ that his troops encountered about 602 buried or hidden bombs in March.
~ Thurman said local people tipped off troops, who found many of the bombs.
~ But not all areas of Iraq are friendly to U.S. troops, one reason the Pentagon wants to develop aircraft to find IEDs.
~ Pentagon's task force that focuses on the hidden-bomb threat has been testing digital picture systems
~ that compare before-and-after images of terrain, to detect subtle changes. That could show where a bomb has been buried.
~ Marine Corps has been developing technology that is mounted on an unmanned aircraft,
~ which beams the results to Earth for use by ground commanders.

~ Such technology is needed everywhere, says retired major general William Nash,
~ who's now with the Council on Foreign Relations.
~ Old mines were a constant threat to the troops he commanded in the U.S.-NATO peacekeeping missions in Bosnia in 1996.
~ Hunting buried bombs is just one facet of a rapid expansion in technology for robotic aircraft.

~ Since Jan. 1, 2005, the Pentagon has awarded at least 33 contracts for drone aircraft and related improvements.
~ this year's budget is about $1.7 billion. Some, such as the Air Force Predator that watches from above and
~ fires missiles when directed, are getting bigger. Some existing aircraft, such as the Army's Hunter,
~ are now fitted with weapons and not just cameras.
~ Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is developing an aircraft called the Cormorant, which can be launched from a submarine.
~ Meanwhile, a variety of tiny prototypes, such as the Raven and the Batcam,
~ are carried by ground troops who can toss them into the air to monitor a raid or look ahead.
~ Many of the aircraft will never get past the research stage, said Gordon Adams, a George Washington University professor
~ who studies defense budgets. Eventually, he said, the Pentagon will settle on a few standard models.

"Virtually every surface warship or submarine being built or developed for the U.S Navy employs unmanned vehicles"
by Capt. Paul Ims, UUV program manager at Naval Sea Systems Command in Washington /c4isrjournal/
Navy @ Business pages

catch ~[beginning] of Business Targets !

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Oil_Gas:

Oil_Gas companies
Oil Online
World Oil
Rigzone
Oil & Gas news
Oilvoice
Bloomberg @ energy

Russia's State Duma authorized Gazprom's total monopoly on export sales of natural gas
~ MPs passed the second and third, final, readings of legislation to make Gazprom the country's sole natural gas exporter.
~ new law applies to natural gas produced from all types of deposits and transported in gaseous and liquid states
~ company's share of Europe's natural gas supply is expected to grow to about a third over the next 25 years.
~ It is also moving into the Chinese market.
~ G8 summit will focus on several themes, including the importance of an open market and
~ need to improve the investment climate to attract international funding for the energy sector

Gaz de France Confirms Talks with Total, Iran Government on Pars LNG /RIGZONE, March 15, 2006/
~ Gaz de France negotiates with Total and the Iranian government to obtain a role in Pars LNG,
~ liquefied natural gas project that involves the development of Phase 11 of the giant South Pars gas field:

Gazprom Finds Key to Market of Canada /Kommersant, March 16, 2006/
~ Gazprom has determined a partner to construct a liquefied natural gas plant near St. Petersburg.
~ Petro-Canada is expected to provide to Gazprom a part of its re-gasification facilities in Quebec granting access to the markets of Quebec and Ontario.
~ Gazprom’s idea to enter North America’s market gained momentum after successful swap operations for the LNG delivery to North America.
~ CEO Alexey Miller nominated as Deputy Board Chairman Alexander Ryazanov, who controls the choice of Schtokman partners.
~ Petro-Canada and Gazprom sealed an agreement to proceed with initial engineering design under the project,
~ which sets forth construction of a Baltic LNG plant near St. Petersburg.
~ Petro-Canada is likely to be Gazprom’s partner to build the first LNG plant in the Baltic area,
~ plant is expected to launch production in late 2009; 1st stage capacity is estimated at 5 million tons.
~ LNG will be shipped to a re-gasification enterprise,
~ which is yet to be built in Quebec by Petro-Canada in tandem with TransCanada Corporation, and then to consumers of Quebec and Ontario.
~ project budget is estimated at $2 billon, including $1.5 billion as the worth of the plant
Russians are buying shares in the state oil company Rosneft
~ it was the nation's biggest stock offering ever
~ Branches of Sberbank, the government- run bank managing the deal, received 10,000 orders in the first 3 1/ 2 days of the sale
~ government built Rosneft into a leading oil company using assets seized in 2004 from Yukos oil.

Note:
~ Russia produces more than 9.5 million barrels of oil per day and exports some 7 million barrels per day, second only to Saudi Arabia.
~ With prices riding high, Russia rakes in more than $550 million in oil and gas revenues per day.
~ state gets 65% of that. Oil and gas exports account for about 60% of federal budget revenues and 60% of its exports.
~ since the August 1998 collapse, Russia's hard currency reserves have soared from a feeble $12.5 billion to $247.1 billion

RIGZONE
~ Exploration companies by Rigzone

Saudi Oil Min: More Terrorist Attacks on Oil Likely /WASHINGTON May 02, 2006, Dow Jones Commodities News via Comtex/
~ According to Saudi Oil Minister Ali Naimi terrorists will continue to target oil facilities around the world.
~ They're not going to stop at Abqaiq," Naimi said, referring to an attack on Saudi Arabia's largest oil-gathering center
~ Terrorists are targeting oil, a strategic product needed by the entire world,
~ in an attempt to make it expensive and unavailable, he said.
~ Later, after bilateral talks with U.S. Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman,
~ Naimi noted Saudi Arabia's past successes in combating terrorism on its own soil.
~ We will continue to be vigilant in combating the threat," Naimi said.
~ U.S. and Saudi Arabia are committed to working together toward this end, he added.

Shell Declares Force Majeure on Nigeria Forcados Oil
~ Royal Dutch Shell Plc has declared force majeure on 106,000 barrels a day of Nigerian Forcados oil following attacks on facilities
~ Separately Wednesday, 120,000 b/d of output from the Shell-operated offshore E.A. oilfield was also shut
~ in after four personnel were abducted from an offshore facility by gunmen.
~ see Rigzone, Friday, January 13, 2006

Shell Oil Workers Taken Hostage in Nigeria
~ Royal Dutch Shell suffered another major setback in Nigeria, Africa's top oil producer
~ four workers were abducted and a pipeline demolished in the country's restive oil-producing region in the south
~ Shell has been forced to cut production of some 226,000 barrels of oil as a result of the incidents,
~ as world oil prices climbed a dollar to a three-month high on Thursday.
~ armed men, riding in three boats, stormed a vessel servicing a Shell-operated oil field offshore Nigeria's southern coast,
~ forcing it to shut the 120,000 barrels of oil per day platform
~ Sea Eagle, which is moored some 16 km offshore in water depths of about 25 meters, have been evacuated in line with emergency response procedures

~ also a pipeline operated by Shell in southern Nigeria was attacked by unidentified persons and currently the company was making efforts to repair it
~ pipeline in Bayelsa state was vandalized by unknown persons , some 106,000 barrels of oil were affected
~ incidents came a week after Shell lifted the suspension of crude oil export from the west African country
~ following a pipeline explosion that had initially cut production by 180,000 barrels per day in December, 2005

~ Nigeria is the biggest oil producer in Africa with a daily output of 2.5 million barrels,
~ while Shell accounts for half of the country's oil production, , but the situation in the country's oil regions in the south is turbulent

~ local villagers frequently shut off oil wells, kidnap oil workers or commit other forms of violence to blackmail companies operating in the oil fields
~ see more details at Rigzone & Xinhua News Agency Thursday, January 12, 2006

Toronto-based bank's study of 164 new oil fields and projects around the world
~ price of oil will continue to rise over the next three years if global demand does not begin to wane
~ oil prices this year will eclipse last year's record high of $70.85 US per barrel,
~ reached as major oil and natural gas infrastructure in the Gulf Coast was being pounded by two major hurricanes
~ oil could rise to as much as $100 US per barrel by 2007
~ see more details at: Rigzone & Canadian Press, Wednesday, January 11, 2006

catch ~[beginning] of Business Targets !

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Chemical_Detector:

CIRPAS UAV Project in Nevada - busted
~ chemical clouds, such as those formed in battlefield environments, can be rapidly located, tracked and identified using a passive standoff detection system (LSCAD) on-board a UAV
~ after the initial detection and preliminary identification, the same UAV will dispense disposable ChemSonde sensors into the cloud from an ALE-47 countermeasure dispenser
~ for secondary identification and confirmation to reduce false alarm rates
~ CADDIE payload was comprised of two major components--LSCAD and ChemSonde
~ LSCAD is a passive Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) chemical vapor detection system
~ which detects the presence of nerve or blister agents by monitoring the ambient background IR radiation
~ system is capable of operating and detecting on the move from ground and aerial vehicles
~ LSCAD electronics module contained the communications and control functions required to operate the sensor
~ CIRPAS integrated one of their low-bandwidth SATCOM units to the payload bay for control/data receipt of the sensor unit during flight
~ LSCAD electronics module interfaced to the Altus ST inertial navigation system to downlink aircraft GPS information in realtime via the SATCOM link to provide the user detection location data
~ CIRPAS also integrated a two-bucket ALE-47 Countermeasure Dispenser System (CMDS) to the payload bay of the Altus ST UAV
~ ALE-47 CMDS is a threat-adaptive, software programmable dispensing system capable of dispensing chaff, flares and active radio frequency expendables
~ two buckets--one with the hybrid magazine (for ChemSonde) and the other with the Navy extended magazine
~ six ChemSondes, expendable chemical sensor packages were launched from the dispenser out of the bottom of the aircraft just forward of the nose gear attach point
~ dispense commands were initiated from an operator via serial cable to the UAV CGCS
~ command signal traveled up the UAV datalink and ultimately to a squib in the dispenser
~ once ejected, chemical sensor's parachute was deployed and data transmitted to a ground-based receiver station
~ while at the test site, USAF Air Mobility Command requested use of the dispenser system integrated to the UAV
~ to support some high-altitude meteorological dropwindsonde (HiMetSonde) test objectives
~ once the mission had been completed or weather conditions fell outside of the test criteria, the AV was recovered on the dry lake and taxied over to the hangar for post-flight
~ two-bucket AN/ALE-47 dispenser system integrated to the Altus ST allowed for the accommodation of ChemSonde and HiMetSonde drops during the same flight
~ HiMetSondes are designed to provide the user with barometric pressure, atmospheric temperature, relative humidity and wind speed/direction from up to 65kft.

catch ~[beginning] of Business Targets !

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Targets by Application

[001] ~ Reconnaissance [002] ~ UAS [003] ~ Future UAV

[004] ~ Nuclear Power [005] ~ Border Patrolling [006] ~ Security

[007] ~ Homeland Security [008] ~ BTC Pipeline [009] ~ Multirole

[010] ~ Coast Guard [011] ~ Media [012] ~ Pipe Maintenance

[013] ~ Communication in Challenging Environment [014] ~ Oil Pipeline Monitoring [015] ~ Research in Arab Countries

[016] ~ Oil Refinery Control [017] ~ Aerial Photographing [018] ~ Inspection Measurement

[019] ~ Offshore [020] ~ Space [021] ~ Oil Gas Service Provider

[022] ~ Helicopter Service Provider [023] ~ GTL (Gas to Liquids) [024] ~ Manned Helicopter

[025] ~ Water [026] ~ 3D [027] ~ Oil Gas Producer

[028] ~ Pipeline Security [029] ~ Agriculture

catch ~[beginning] of All Targets!

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Reconnaissance:

NRO
Reconnaissance International
Brevel
SIMLAT
Northrop Grumman UAV History
CL-289 Reconnaissance System

catch ~[beginning] of application targets @ marketing !

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UAS:

UAV Performing Well In Strategic Plans /Space Daily/
~ U.S. Joint Chief of Staff's director for strategic plans and policy is very positive on data supplied by unmanned aerial vehicles.
~ Air Force Lt. Gen. Victor E. Renuart Jr. said in a Pentagon Channel interview that
~ real-time feedback of information supplied by UAVs were "value added" to U.S. military operations.
~ UAVs have become such an important tool for our decision makers -- operational battlefield decision makers and strategic decision makers.
~ They have become an accepted part of our inventory. . We have for years used them to test missile defense systems and air defense systems.
~ We've used them for a variety of single-mission approaches.
~ The advantage of the near-real-time or real-time information is that you can produce essential decision-quality data for commanders on the spot.
~ We're dealing in tenths of seconds, as opposed to minutes, hours or days in some cases.
~ There has really been a growth in the understanding of what you can use a UAV for, both tactically on the battlefield and strategically.
~ As we have seen the proliferation of miniaturization and the quality of the technology, you find battlefield commanders want more.
~ We're beginning to collaborate much more on our integration and use of information that comes from these systems.
~ lot of forward-thinking engineers are looking at the problems we need to solve in the next 15 years and trying to decide the best way to meet those with an unmanned vehicle.
~ There is a real need for an ability to monitor the volume of shipping that goes on around the world,
~ to ensure that we don't have so-called rogue states moving potential weapons of mass destruction over sea into a port."
~ American Forces Press Service reported on July 26 that Predator and Global Hawk UAVs carry
~ cameras, sensors and communications equipment. The Pentagon's use of UAVs grew rapidly after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.
~ In 2005, the Department of Defense established the UAV Center of Excellence at Creech Air Force Base, Nevada,
~ to adapt technology and determine how to make systems more efficient and effective.
~ UAV Center of Excellence works to set uniform standards that meet needs defined by all branches of the military.

CREECH AIR FORCE BASE, Nevada
UAV Battlelab
~ Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Battlelab identifies innovative approaches for Air Expeditionary Forces to enhance
~ deployability, flexibility, sustainability, interoperability and lethality,
~ improving real time global engagement capability throughout the spectrum of military operations.

Joint UAV Center of Excellence
~ second organization announced today is the Joint UAV Center of Excellence.
~ COE is designed to improve interoperability and use, and
~ examines the use of sensors and intelligence collection assets
~ to meet joint operational requirements of U.S. forces in any combat environment.
~ COE is an operationally focused organization concentrating on
~ UAV systems technology, joint concepts, training, tactics, and procedural solutions to the warfighters’ needs.
~ Joint COE stood up at Creech Air Force Base in 1995.
~ Army will initially lead the Joint UAV COE with the Air Force as deputy.
~ These positions will rotate among the four military services.
~ Once established, the center has representatives from all four military services and other DOD and non-DOD agencies.
~ Point of Contact
~ 99th Air Base Wing Public Affairs, 4430 Grissom Ave., Ste 107, Nellis Air Force Base, Nev., 89191; DSN 682-2750,
~ commercial (702) 652-2750, 99abw.pa@nellis.af.mil.

UAV expenditures of about $2 billion in 2005 will be 4.5 billion in 2014 /Teal Group,Anaheim CA August 5,2004/

catch ~[beginning] of application targets @ marketing !

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Future_UAV:

Links & News:
UAV Development Will Drive Advanced Aerospace Technologies /www.spacewar.com/
~ In 2000, the world market for UAVs represented only approximately $2.4 billion
~ in the next decade, that figure is expected to top $15 billion
~ U.S. alone plans to invest $1.9 billion by 2011.

Aviation Today
~ Unmanned aerial vehicles, or UAVs, are one of the hottest topics in defense circles--and for good reason.
~ They promise to perform vital military missions without exposing soldiers, pilots or other personnel to danger.
~ UAVs also may perform missions that would be too intrinsically dangerous irrespective of external threats.

~ Today, moreover, UAVs are not simply a hope; they are reality--a well-known, high profile reality, the demand for which is growing steadily.
~ Indeed, the well publicized success of UAV systems in Iraq and Afghanistan has caused military leaders there to demand more such assets.

~ One of the overriding issues that we hear from our military leaders--from Gen. Odierno in the 4th Infantry Division to the troops on the ground [in Iraq]--
~ is the need for additional UAV capability according to Chairman of the House Tactical Air and Land Forces Subcommittee.
~ These recent conflicts have demonstrated their utility. UAVs, he added, are an integral part of our intelligence and military operations.

~ Iraq and Afghanistan "catapulted UAVs into the media spotlight, boosting interest in these systems to new heights,"
~ explained Larry Dickerson, an analyst for Forecast International in Newtown, Connecticut.
~ Suddenly, UAV requirements that had long existed but received scant attention were being re-examined."

~ However, for the helicopter industry, there's one glaring problem:
~ None of the UAVs now employed by the U.S. military has a vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) capability.
~ All of the operational success so widely touted by the military and in the press instead centers on fixed-wing UAVs
~ like Northrop Grumman's RQ-4 Global Hawk and General Atomics' MQ-1Predator.
~ Rotary-wing UAVs, meanwhile, remain on the sidelines, untested and unready.

~ this is a problem for the industry because the market for UAVs is about to explode.
~ In fact, it's already exploding, and companies that fail to tap and cultivate this market now
~ stand to lose billions of dollars in potential business.

~ That dramatic growth may sound premature. The UAV market, after all, is still "in its infancy,
~ with a truly massive expansion in procurement not expected until after 2010," according to a Forecast International study.
~ However, the UAV market is developing more rapidly than many observers had predicted, as events overtake planning.
~ For example, in March 2003, immediately prior to the Iraq war, the Pentagon unveiled its UAV Roadmap for the next quarter century.
~ The Roadmap noted that the U.S. military then had more than 90 UAVs operationally deployed,
~ and that that number was expected to quadruple to 360 by 2010.
~ In fact, the number of UAVs operationally deployed has doubled since last year and is expected to double again within the next nine to twelve months
~ said Dyke Weatherington, deputy to the Pentagon's UAV Planning Task Force.

~ Combat commanders want UAVs for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance missions.
~ These missions are especially important in Iraq and Afghanistan, where the U.S. military must counter elusive but dangerous guerilla insurgencies.
~ In such an environment, there can be no such thing as too much intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance.

~ UAVs are high-demand, low-density assets," Weatherington explained.
~ Their potential value "ranges across virtually every mission area and capability of interest to the Department of Defense."
~ To meet this burgeoning requirement, the Pentagon expects to invest $10 billion minimum in UAVs through 2010.
~ That's more than 3.3 times as much money as the U.S. military invested in UAVs during the 1990s;
~ and it's in addition to the $1 billion that the Pentagon spent on these systems from 2000 to 2003.
~ Vast appropriations are required because the Pentagon is determined to push the technological envelope well beyond where it now lies.
~ Intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance operations are important,
~ but the military would like also to arm its UAVs and employ them for high-risk strike and reconnaissance missions.

~ this helps to explain why the Army canceled Comanche.
~ Even with a flawless test and production schedule, the aircraft would not have entered into effective operational service until the next decade.
~ As it was, Comanche was a troubled program and thus subject to repeated delays and restructurings.
~ Army officials reasonably expected that these delays might continue.

~ UAV technology, though, continues to advance and likely would have eclipsed Comanche.
~ That at least is the expectation within the Pentagon. "Beyond 2015, 2020, many of the combat missions--
~ including the high-threat, armed reconnaissance mission--may transfer primarily to unmanned systems," Weathering said.
~ The market for unmanned air vehicles is worth an estimated $10.6 billion over the next 10 years," reported Forecast International.
~ this figure includes all air vehicles, ground control equipment and payloads expected to be produced through 2012."
~ The U.S. military is the biggest procurer of UAVs and will dominate this market.
~ However, Great Britain, Germany, Spain, the Netherlands, Italy, and Greece are all expected to place new UAV production orders over the next 10 years.
~ Less advanced militaries also are interested in acquiring UAVs.
~ The Taiwanese want them to guard against Communist Chinese aggression.
~ Thailand, Malaysia and Colombia view them as a tool to help battle radical domestic insurgencies.
~ For South Korea, they promise to compensate for the loss of American troops along the demilitarized zone.

~ More and more nations are realizing that UAVs can save lives and make a military force more efficient by performing certain
~ dull, dirty and dangerous missions," Dickerson said.
~ market may be international in scope; but for the foreseeable future, American companies stand to benefit most financially,
~ with at least $5.4 billion worth of contracts over the next 10 years, according to Forecast International.
~ Yet," the company noted, "this market contains a substantial number of UAV contracts that still need to be awarded.
~ Some $1.3 billion worth of contracts is up for grabs, and companies from around the globe are vying to get a piece of this action."
~ These include, belatedly, helicopter airframe manufacturers.
~ Bell Helicopter Textron, for instance, is marketing its Eagle Eye tiltrotor UAV.
~ Schweizer is teaming with Northrop Grumman on the RQ-8 Fire Scout, which employs a 333 turbine airframe.
~ Boeing last May acquired Frontier Systems of Irvine, California, for the express purpose of developing and marketing Frontier's A160 Hummingbird
~ Boeing also is investing its own money to develop an unmanned OH-6 Little Bird.
~ Little Bird has been flown by the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment for more than two decades,
~ and the Special Operations Command always seeks to stay on the technological cutting edge.
~ If this pans out like we think it will--and this is a very low-risk effort--
~ then there will be significant military applications," according to Eric Stuverude, Boeing's business development director for Army unmanned systems.
~ flight demonstration of the Little Bird UAV is expected in November, he added.
~ MD Helicopters acquired the OH-6 production line from Boeing in 1999; however, Boeing still supports the Special Operations Little Birds.
~ MD Helicopters nonetheless hopes to play in the UAV market with its 500-series rotorcraft.
~ company is targeting specifically the 365029, which, after much deliberation and backtracking, finally has opted to procure the Fire Scout.
~ That deal, though, is not as secure as some observers think, according to Alan Neugenbauer, MD's director of government relations.
~ 365029 requires greater performance capabilities than initially were achievable with the Fire Scout.
~ Neugenbauer said the MD 500-series "meets all of the 365029's objective requirements now. We can start anytime they want."
~ But it may already be too late for MD Helicopters.
~ Northrop Grumman and Schweizer have added a new four-bladed main rotor with improved airfoils to the Fire Scout for increased payload
~ and endurance. The two companies said they will meet all of the 365029's objective requirements.
~ Neugenbauer said these improvements help, but do not quite measure up to what the 365029 requires.

~ this competitive jockeying underscores the importance that helicopter airframe manufacturers see in having UAV systems readily available for the U.S. military.
~ That's because Iraq, Afghanistan, Congress, and the Secretary of Defense all are pushing the services to accelerate their procurement of UAVs.
~ Yet, companies can't sell what they don't have and can't show to potential customers.

~ For example, precisely when it canceled Comanche, the Army announced that it intended to procure the RQ-8B Fire Scout UAV,
~ which employs the new four-bladed main rotor.
~ Army also announced that it was earmarking $390 million in displaced Comanche funds to UAV systems like Fire Scout.
~ success of Global Hawk and Predator is illustrative.
~ Most analysts didn't expect that Northrop Grumman and General Atomics would sell many of these aircraft.
~ There was, after all, no war in Iraq and Afghanistan when the Predator was being developed in the mid-1990s.
~ Critics dismissed the aircraft "because it did not fit the old ways," President Bush said in December 2001,
~ shortly after the defeat of the Taliban regime in Afghanistan.
~ Now it clear that the military does not have enough unmanned vehicles," he observed.
~ Initial market projections for the Global Hawk, likewise, were modest--maybe a few dozen systems, Dickerson said.
~ But now that Global Hawk has proven itself operationally,
~ Northrop Grumman is projecting that it will sell between 245 and 300 Global Hawk systems by 2020.

~ Northrop Grumman and General Atomics have tapped into the growing UAV market because they were there when no one else really was.
~ For helicopter airframe manufacturers, this is a lesson worth remembering; it certainly helps to explain the success of Fire Scout and Eagle Eye.
~ Bell's Eagle Eye was selected last year by the Coast Guard for long-range maritime intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance missions.
~ Bell first test flew the aircraft in 1992 and thus had a well-advanced system available for near-term deployment.
~ Coast Guard's Deepwater modernization has been in development for more than a decade,
~ but has taken on a renewed sense of importance now that homeland security is a national priority.
~ Indeed, a recent Rand Corporation study recommended that the Coast Guard buy "significantly more" cutters,
~ UAVs and helicopters than it originally planned to acquire.
~ Current plans call for the Coast Guard to acquire 69 Eagle Eyes while replacing 93 Eurocopter HH-65A Dolphins and 42 Sikorsky HH-60J Jayhawks.
~ Moreover, by having a UAV system available, Bell has sparked the interest of the Marine Corps, which now also is looking to acquire the Eagle Eye.
~ Of course, it took Bell some time and much money to develop the Eagle Eye;
~ and similar investments will be required of the industry for the development of more advanced UAVs.
~ However, it is unclear whether helicopter airframe manufacturers such as Bell, Sikorsky, AgustaWestland and Eurocopter
~ can compete with larger systems integrators like Northrop Grumman and Lockheed Martin.

~ this is significant because the Pentagon clearly sees UAVs as "more of a system of systems challenge than an airframe challenge,"
~ admitted Rhett Flater, president of the American Helicopter Society.

UCAR
~ this is perhaps best illustrated by the competition for the Unmanned Combat Armed Rotorcraft (UCAR),
~ which is being sponsored by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).
~ Bell and Sikorsky both competed, but lost out in Phase I to Northrop Grumman and Lockheed Martin.
~ In Phase II, Sikorsky (and Kaman) teamed with Northrop Grumman, while Bell signed on with Lockheed Martin.
~ DARPA expects to award a final contract to one of these two teams in October.
~ Phase III then will commence with the development of two demonstrator UAV systems. DARPA expects to have UCAR operational in 2012.
~ Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman are quick to praise their airframe partners for making important contributions.
~ In particular, Sikorsky and Kaman have developed an intermeshing rotor; Bell a compound helicopter.
~ Both of these technologies are notable because they enable these aircraft to fly much faster than any comparably sized helicopter
~ -in excess of 160 kt. for vehicles that weight about 6,000 lbs.
~ Nonetheless, the fact remains: It is the systems integrators and not the airframe manufacturers who are driving this train.
~ this bodes well for Boeing, which has sophisticated indigenous systems integration capabilities, broad-based military expertise, and deep pockets.
~ That's why the company has taken a lead role in developing UAV systems and is working with DARPA on the Canard Rotor/Wing.
~ Boeing's X-50A Dragonfly achieved its first flight in December and can be scaled for both manned and unmanned applications.
~ aim is to combine the speed and range of a fixed-wing aircraft with the flexibility of rotary-wing flight.

The Systems Challenge
~ However, the requirement for extensive systems development work poses a formidable challenge to other helicopter airframe manufacturers
~ with less financial and technical wherewithal. This is not a new problem; it has existed for some time.
~ It has, however, been exacerbated steadily by ongoing advances in technology.
~ What we've witnessed since Vietnam is an increasing percentage of systems involved in most new [helicopter] platforms," Flater said.
~ Avionics and communications systems, he explained, "now are defining roles and missions for existing platforms."
~ Flater said that when he was a helicopter pilot in Vietnam 35 years ago, systems accounted for just five percent of the value of his CH-46 Sea Knight.
~ helicopter's remaining 95 percent value was centered in the airframe.
~ Today, by contrast, "more than 50 percent of the value of most helicopters these days are systems."
~ But developing and fielding systems requires a different skill than building and developing airframes.
~ That's why airframe manufacturers increasingly have been partnering with systems integrators.
~ Helicopter airframe manufacturers also have been tapping CEOs and senior managers with a systems background
~ in order to develop their own indigenous systems integration capabilities.
~ Sikorsky President Stephen Finger, Bell CEO Michael Redenbaugh and Boeing rotorcraft vice president Pat Shanahan, for example,
~ all have a systems background.
~ We're dealing with a new generation of leadership within the airframe industry," Flater said.
~ this new generation is "highly skilled and has not only platform know-how, but systems and lean-management know-how."
~ this focus on systems integration work is making helicopter airframe manufacturers more competitive;
~ but don't expect the industry to make a mass migration into UAVs. No one, after all, is talking about replacing manned rotorcraft.
~ UAVs "are not just that smart," Dickerson said. "They still haven't reached the level where they could possibly compete with a human pilot.
~ They're not nearly as intelligent as people think; and they're certainly not capable enough for air-to-air engagements."
~ Analysts like Dickerson instead expect that UAVs increasingly will complement helicopters and
~ accentuate the growing overall importance of military aviation.

UAV Helo Teaming
~ In the near term, UAVs "primarily will augment manned systems and make them work better," Weatherington said.
~ It's a matter of having the machine do what the machines do best and having a human doing what humans do best."
~ That essentially means designing UAVs to better detect and process data and information.
~ Manned aviators then can be empowered to make the most effective use of this information on the battlefield.
~ For example, UAVs are ideal for high-altitude, long-range surveillance missions that a pilot might find boring and tedious.
~ However, they are incapable of making sound tactical judgments in a chaotic and uncertain war environment.
~ That requires genuine thought and, usually, careful and instantaneous consideration of several competing courses of action
~ amid the fog of war. Yet, genuine thought is beyond the capability of even the most advanced machine.
~ No unmanned system can match the analytical skills of a human warrior," according to Loren Thompson,
~ a military analyst at the Lexington Institute. "So whatever UAVs we build will have to be closely tethered to a real person."
~ That's why most UAV work thus far has focused on UAV-helicopter teaming and digital connectivity.
~ For example, two recent Pentagon initiatives
~ --the Hunter Standoff Killer Team and Airborne Manned/ Unmanned System Technology demonstrator
~ aim to integrate UAVs with manned Army helicopters and Air Force FA/18s for extended-range reconnaissance, surveillance and target acquisition.
~ About 75 percent of the helicopter market is immune from UAV competition,
~ because it involves lift and transport missions," added Richard Aboulafia, an analyst with the Teal Group.
~ The remaining 25 percent, which is scout and attack, faces various levels of danger from UAV competition."

catch ~[beginning] of application targets @ marketing !

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Nuclear_Power:

~ concern has increased in response to possible planned attacks by Al-Qaeda or Chechen separatists
~ a foiled Chechen rebel assault on the Russian city of Nalchik in October 2005 would have involved
~ an attempt to hijack and fly one of five aircraft into a nuclear power station
~ papers released in the UK in February 2005 under the Freedom of Information Act (2000) revealed
~ there were more than 40 cases of potential security breaches at UK civil nuclear sites from 2004 to 2005

catch ~[beginning] of application targets @ marketing !

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Border_Patrolling:

News:

~ Republic of Korea (ROK, South Korea) is testing an unmanned surveillance system
~ aimed to enhance its coverage of the demilitarised zone along the common land frontier with North Korea

Attacks Strain Efforts On Terror - Alliance Is Tested By Incidents Along Afghan Frontier
~ KABUL, Afghanistan, Jan. 22
~ Events along the ever-volatile Afghanistan-Pakistan border this month have exposed deep fault lines
~ in the anti-terrorism alliance among the United States, Afghanistan and Pakistan,
~ and officials on all sides say their joint efforts against militants in the region are now highly precarious.

~ heightened tension comes as militant extremists and the United States have both become more aggressive
~ in their tactics, with the Pakistani government caught in between.

~ Two incidents in particular, which each killed more than a dozen people,
~ have revealed just how tenuous relations among the countries have become.

~ In the first, U.S. missiles struck a house in the Pakistani village of Damadola where Ayman Zawahiri,
~ deputy leader of al Qaeda, was thought to be having dinner.
~ In the second, three days later in the Afghan town of Spin Boldak,
~ a man drove a motorbike into a crowd gathered to watch a wrestling match and blew himself up.

~ Because the incidents took place on opposite sides of the border,
~ they elicited responses with vastly different focuses. After the U.S. missile strike,
~ thousands of Pakistanis took to the streets to condemn the United States.
~ After the suicide bombing, thousands of Afghans took to the streets to condemn Pakistan.

~ The United States -- long frustrated because its soldiers are in Afghanistan
~ while most of the militants they are hunting are believed to be in Pakistan
~ -- has begun using unmanned aircraft known as Predators armed with Hellfire missiles to reach across the border.
~ Pakistani officials are apparently notified in advance of such missions,
~ and assist with intelligence.
~ But the angry public response there to this month's attack raised questions
~ about whether the government of Gen. Pervez Musharraf
~ -- which has sought to cultivate ties to the West without alienating radical Islamic groups at home --
~ can handle the domestic political fallout.

~ Afghanistan, for its part, has applauded the more aggressive U.S. stance.
~ Afghan officials say they want the United States to go even further to stop Pakistan-based militants,
~ who are hitting hard at a time when international commitments to securing Afghanistan have come into doubt.
~ Meanwhile, along the border, tensions continue to rise.

~ We have a lot of grief in our hearts," according to Abdul Hakim Jan,
~ an Afghan tribal leader who helped organize a protest beside a border crossing Wednesday
~ following the deadliest suicide bombing in Afghanistan in the four years since the fall of Taliban rule.
~ All the terrorists and the enemies of Afghanistan are because of Pakistan.
~ They are receiving their training there and they are being sent to Afghanistan for attacks."

~ Pakistani tribal leaders, for their part, look a few miles west for the source of their troubles:
~ American military presence in Afghanistan.
~ Throughout the past week and continuing Sunday,
~ tens of thousands of Pakistanis have participated in boisterous rallies
~ at which protesters burned effigies of President Bush, chanted "Long live Osama!"
~ and denounced the Pakistani government for cooperating with the United States.

~ People are so angry that this could become a major movement against the American slaves
~ who are ruling Pakistan these days," according to Liaquat Baluch, a leader of Jamaat-e-Islami,
~ country's largest Islamic party.

~ Volatility in the border region is nothing new. For centuries, the rugged,
~ mountainous area has been largely beyond the control of any government.
~ Both sides of the border are populated by religiously conservative Pashtuns,
~ who in recent decades have freely transported money, drugs and weapons back and forth across the porous boundary.

~ But since the United States invaded Afghanistan and toppled the Taliban after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001,
~ border has taken on special significance. On the Afghan side,
~ United States has 19,000 troops who provide crucial support for the government
~ and who enjoy a relative degree of popularity. On the Pakistani side,
~ U.S. troops are officially forbidden from pursuing terrorists.
~ As a consequence, many Islamic militants who found sanctuary in Afghanistan before Sept. 11 reportedly
~ have taken refuge in the semiautonomous tribal areas where sympathies for al Qaeda and its leader,
~ Osama bin Laden, run high.

~ Until recently, the United States had been dependent on raids by Pakistani security forces to catch the fugitives,
~ with mixed results.
~ But in the predawn hours of Jan. 13, the United States used a different tactic,
~ firing Hellfire missiles from drones in a bid to kill Zawahiri.
~ Pakistani and U.S. intelligence sources have said they expected him to show up for dinner at a house in Damadola,
~ but they now believe he was not there.

~ missiles killed at least 13 others.
~ After the attack, local officials said that only villagers were killed, among them women and children,
~ who were buried nearby.
~ But Pakistani intelligence sources have since asserted, without offering proof,
~ that a handful of foreign al Qaeda militants also died,
~ possibly including its chief explosives expert, a son-in-law of Zawahiri
~ and an operational leader in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

~ Pakistani government's response has been as conflicted as the reports.
~ Some officials joined with the protesters in vehemently denouncing the attack,
~ while others acknowledged that militants operate in the area.
~ Even as the Foreign Ministry lodged a formal objection with the U.S. Embassy,
~ Musharraf stayed silent in public, except to warn his countrymen not to harbor terrorists.

~ Pakistani Foreign Minister Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri acknowledged in an interview
~ that the strike has put stress on the government,
~ which since 2001 has walked a fine line of assisting the U.S. anti-terrorism campaign
~ -- and receiving billions of dollars in aid in return --
~ while also trying to appease radical Islamic constituencies at home.

~ Such an action creates immense internal problems for us as the perception grows
~ that the U.S. has no respect for our sovereignty," Kasuri said.

~ U.S. officials, however, say Pakistan's objections amount to posturing
~ According to American military and intelligence sources who spoke on condition of anonymity,
~ Pakistan had signed off on this month's strike beforehand and had even assisted
~ with gathering pre-attack intelligence.

~ The use of Predator drones to strike targets in Pakistan is relatively new,
~ and several security officials said it could not happen without the consent of the Pakistani government.
~ There have been at least three such attacks since last May;
~ one in December reportedly succeeded in killing a senior al Qaeda commander, Hamza Rabia.

~ But now, it remains unclear whether Predator attacks will be allowed to continue.

~ On Saturday, in a meeting with U.S. Undersecretary of State R. Nicholas Burns,
~ Musharraf said attacks such as the one aimed at Zawahiri "should not be repeated,"
~ according to Pakistani Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Tasneem Aslam.

~ Pakistani Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, who on Sunday denied
~ that Pakistan had received prior notice of this month's attack,
~ is expected to raise the issue with Bush when they meet at the White House this week.

~ senior Pakistani intelligence official, however,
~ said nothing was likely to change in terms of actual U.S. and Pakistani efforts at hunting militants

~ Proper protest has been made, but this will not alter the ground rules
~ and intelligence cooperation with the U.S. It will continue as usual," the official said.

~ latest U.S. missile strike came as suicide attacks by militants have been on the rise in Afghanistan,
~ particularly in southern and eastern areas bordering Pakistan.
~ In a country where such attacks have traditionally been rare, Afghan officials blame foreigners.

~ It is difficult for me to imagine how it can happen without some kind of support from outside Afghanistan,"
~ said Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah.

~ Others direct blame squarely at Pakistan,
~ which they believe is trying to gain more influence in Afghanistan by sowing instability.

~ We were using Pakistan as a base during the resistance times," according to Hakim Taniwal,
~ governor of Paktia province,
~ referring to the U.S.-funded guerrilla war against Soviet occupation troops during the 1980s.
~ Now al Qaeda and Taliban are also using the Pakistani side to attack in Afghanistan."

~ Afghan government officials are feeling especially vulnerable now
~ because the United States announced late last year that it would reduce its troop strength from 19,000 to 16,500.
~ NATO soldiers are supposed to fill the gap by taking over some operations in the south, but the Netherlands,
~ seen as pivotal to that transition, has wavered over whether it will send troops.

~ Meanwhile, the Taliban, al Qaeda and other groups that are trying
~ to destabilize the nascent Afghan government appear to be taking advantage of the uncertainty.

~ At the strategic level of war, this is a defensive insurgency,"
~ said Chris Mason, a retired U.S. diplomat w
~ ho served in Afghanistan and is now a senior fellow at the Center for Advanced Defense Studies in Washington.
~ They're inserting just enough insurgents to shut down meaningful reconstruction in the south
~ and keep the population on the fence."
~ see Washington Post

catch ~[beginning] of application targets @ marketing !

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Homeland_Security:

U.S. Weighs How Best to Defend Against Nuclear Threats /Washington Post/
~ U.S. government's quest to defend the nation against a smuggled nuclear weapon or radiological "dirty" bomb is approaching a crossroads.
~ Bush administration will award or initiate contracts worth $3 billion to develop a new generation of rugged
~ and precise radiation monitors and imaging scanners designed to sniff out radioactive material at the nation's borders.
~ stakes could hardly be higher: securing U.S. cities from a catastrophic attack with a weapon of mass destruction
~ -- "the biggest threat we face today," as Vice President Cheney said often during the 2004 campaign.
~ Prompted by influential advocates including Cheney, former NATO ambassador David M. Abshire and
~ former Lockheed Martin Corp. chief Norman R. Augustine, President Bush signed the 14th Homeland Security Presidential Directive last April 15.
~ it consolidated development of countermeasures to a smuggled radioactive weapon that had been split among the Pentagon,
~ Energy Department and other federal agencies into the new Domestic Nuclear Detection Office, headed by Oxford.
~ office is designing a national detection system and a global strategy.
~ emerging effort calls for thousands of scanners of all types throughout the country.
~ these include backpack or handheld "cellphone" devices, units mounted on vehicles,
~ and stationary portals to scan railcars and shipping containers, Oxford said.
~ United States is also working with Canada and Mexico on strategies to deploy detectors and
~ with the United Kingdom to exchange technology, he said.
~ As spending in the area grows -- from about $20 million in 2000 to a proposed $536 million in 2007,

~ Some 10,000 such false hits occurred between May 2002 and March 2005, U.S. customs officials said last year.
~ Closing one terminal for one hour can cost $500,000, according to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey,
~ which averaged 150 nuisance alarms a day last summer.
~ As a result, the machines' sensitivity was often turned down to a threshold that compromised their ability to detect actual threats
~ It is felt importantn to secure weapons-grade material at its source from places such as the former Soviet Union and Pakistan
~ and to detect the flow of illicit materials along foreign trade routes.

~ Domestic Nuclear Detection Office expects to choose next month from 11 vendors competing for a $1.5 billion contract
~ to deploy thousands of Advanced Spectroscopic Portals (ASP) by 2011, Oxford said.
~ goal of ASP is technology that cuts down false alarms and distinguishes among natural occurring radioactive materials.
~ But such detectors are not as effective at picking up highly enriched uranium or weapons-grade plutonium or
~ at detecting shielded material. So this month the detection office also is accepting proposals for a second,
~ similarly sized program to develop prototypes and eventually deploy automated cargo imaging systems
~ that can actively scan for the presence of nuclear material, or shielding, such as lead, Oxford said.

~ Having learned the limits of the equipment, Oxford said, his office has conducted extensive field tests,
~ developed plans to cut down on false alarms and committed itself to speeding the acquisition of more sophisticated devices.
~ But scientists from one of 11 competitors for the lucrative new contracts, Ametek Inc.,
~ say the government is in danger of repeating past mistakes.
~ Ametek says it has engineered ASP radiation detectors relying on high-purity germanium technology
~ that are 20 times more accurate than sodium-iodide sensors used now.
~ Post-9/11, money has been spent on nuclear radiation measurement technology that doesn't work.
~ Here we are again," according to William J. Burke, a spokesman for Ametek and its lunch-pail-size entrant, the "Detective."
~ Are we going to . . . take the technology that will actually do the job?"

~ Germanium detectors probably will cost 10 to 20 percent more than competing technology, Oxford said.
~ Considered the gold-standard in the laboratory, they have been difficult to use because they require cooling to 280 degrees below zero.
~ Computing advances, meanwhile, are improving other technology, Oxford said, which may be integrated.

~ Richard L. Wagner Jr., leader of the Nuclear Vision Project at Los Alamos National Laboratory
~ and a leader in the effort, estimated that a domestic nuclear detection system can be built for about $20 billion over two decades,
~ a bargain compared with such programs as the "Star Wars" missile defense system.

~ Matthew Bunn, senior research associate of Harvard's Managing the Atom project, supports spending on detection but added,
~ We shouldn't fool ourselves into thinking that provides a very reliable defense."
~ These materials are small and easy to hide," Bunn said. "It's really like a football team defending on its own goal line,
~ but the goal line is thousands of miles wide, and millions of legitimate vehicles and passengers pass over it every year."

catch ~[beginning] of application targets @ marketing !

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BTC_Pipeline:

General:
~ Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline (BTC) transports crude oil 1,760 km (1,094 miles)
~ from the Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli oil field in the Caspian Sea to the Mediterranean Sea
~ It was constructed from 150,000 individual joints of line pipe, each measuring 12 m (39 ft) in length
~ consortium:
~ BP 30.1% and is the operator of the pipeline
~ State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR) (Azerbaijan): 25.00%
~ Unocal (USA): 8.90%
~ Statoil (Norway): 8.71%
~ Turkiye Petrolleri Anonim Ortakligi (TPAO) (Turkey): 6.53%
~ Eni/Agip (Italy): 5.00%
~ Total (France): 5.0%
~ Itochu (Japan): 3.4%
~ Aerospace: Satellite communications, International telecommunications, Terminals and peripheral equipment
~ for broadcasting and communications systems, Entertainment and content business, Systems and related machinery for mobile telephones,
~ Systems and related equipment for computer and information processing, Semiconductor equipment,
~ Aircraft, In-flight equipment, Space-related equipment, Security equipment etc

~ Inpex (Japan): 2.50%
~ ConocoPhillips (USA): 2.50%
~ Amerada Hess (USA) 2.36%
~ 440 km (273 mi) lies in Azerbaijan, 244.5 km (152 miles) in Georgia and 1,070 km (665 mi) in Turkey.
~ It crosses several mountain ranges at altitudes of up to 2,830 m (9,300 ft).
~ It has to traverse 3,000 roads, railways and utility lines, both overground and underground,
~ as well as 1,500 watercourses of up to 500 m wide (Cayhan River in Turkey).

~ Its structure includes 8 pumping stations, 2 intermediate pigging stations and 101 block valve stations.
~ It will be patrolled by national guards and buried for its entire length, making it less vulnerable to sabotage.
~ pipeline is 1,070 mm (42 inches) diameter for most of its length, narrowing to 865 mm (34 inches) diameter as it nears Ceyhan.
~ It has a projected lifespan of 40 years, and when working at normal capacity, beginning in 2009,
~ will transport 1 million barrels (160 000 m³) of oil per day.
~ It has a capacity of 10 million barrels (1.6 million m³) of oil, which will flow through the pipeline at 2 m (6 ft) per second.
~ pipeline will supply approximately 1% of global demand.

~ Funding for the BTC pipeline is largely through the World Bank's International Finance Corporation and
~ European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.
~ cost has been reported at $3.6 billion, with the three principal stakeholders being
~ BP (at 30.1%),
~ AzBTC (a subsidiary of Azerbaijan's state-run oil company, at 20%) and
~ U.S. oil company Unocal (at 8.9%).
~ Substantial transit fees will accrue to Georgia and Turkey, which are expected to produce for Georgia about 1.5% of national income.
~ Azerbaijan expects its own economy to grow by 18% as a result of the pipeline.
~ Turkey expects to obtain $200 million US per year in transit fees.
~ pipeline was officially opened on May 25, 2005 in the presence of President Nursultan Nazarbayev of Kazakhstan,
~ President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan, President Mikhail Saakashvili of Georgia, and President Ahmet Necdet Sezer of Turkey,
~ as well as United States Secretary of Energy Samuel Bodman. By May 2006, oil had started to flow through the pipeline.
~ government of Kazakhstan announced that it would seek to build a trans-Caspian oil pipeline
~ from the Kazakhstani port of Aktau to Baku in Azerbaijan, connecting with the BTC pipeline,
~ to transport oil from the major Kazakhstani oilfield at Kashagan as well as points further afield in central Asia.
~ It avoids the unstable Middle-Eastern nations.
~ Specifically it avoids Armenia due to it's poor relations with Azerbaijan and its membership of CSTO, a Russian led military alliance.

Links & News:

How secure is the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline across Caucasus?
~ Sufficiently, say members of the independent Caspian Development Advisory Panel, which advises BP, the lead company on the project.
~ “There is very sophisticated sensor technology all along the pipeline.
~ It protects against intruders, sabotage and illegal siphoning as well,” Stuart Eizenstat,
~ former U.S. ambassador to the European Union and one of the panel’s four members, told a February meeting here,
~ organized by the U.S. George Marshall Fund. “Any intrusion will alert local security forces.”

~ But defense analysts and officials familiar with the challenge of protecting the pipeline’s infrastructure are skeptical.
~ “Pipelines are a target of choice for terrorist and insurgent groups,” said David Cooper,an independent defense consultant here.
~ “When you think of high-value targets, you think airports, harbors and energy networks.”
~ buried pipeline will soon enter operation, with the first oil tanker to be loaded at its terminal port in Turkey by midyear.
~ Together with a sister project, the South Caucasus Pipeline, the two networks will transport 1 million barrels of oil
~ and 7 billion cubic meters of Caspian Sea supplies each year.

~ “This will be a very important step forward toward security for the region and diversification of international energy supplies,”
~ said Jan Leschly, the panel’s chair and founder of the Care Capital venture firm.
~ “It will offer many opportunities [for BP and other companies] to promote stability in an unstable region via market mechanisms.”
~ panel released its latest 24-page assessment of the project and BP’s cooperation with BTC countries Feb. 14,
~ entitled “Report on 2005 Activities.”

~ According to the report, the British energy group has worked extensively with the three governments involved in the $3 billion project
~ — Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey — to help ensure their security forces are properly trained to safeguard stability along the BTC,
~ while respecting human rights.

~ At the panel’s recommendation, BP has persuaded the Georgian and Azeri governments to work with the U.S. security firm
~ Equity International to oversee the training.
~ Turkey rebuffed the offer and is working with the security forces of Northern Ireland to train its gendarmerie and
~ other personnel to be stationed along the country’s 1,070-kilometer section of the meter-wide pipeline {...}.

~ Israel has become a potential partner in the Baku-Ceyhan oil pipeline, which is protected by GUAM,
~ a US-NATO sponsored military alliance between Georgia, Azerbaijan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan and Moldava.
~ What is envisaged is to link the BTC pipeline to the Trans-Israel Eilat-Ashkelon pipeline,
~ also known as Israel's Tipline, through a system of underwater pipelines, from Ceyhan to the Israeli port of Askshelon.

~ While the BTC pipeline is invariably described as a means of bypassing Russia and
~ channelling Central Asian oil and gas to Western markets,
~ part of this oil and gas is intended for re-export to the Asian market through the Red Sea port of Eilat.
~ By linking the BTC to Israel's pipeline system, Israel is slated to become a major player in the global energy market,
~ in alliance with the Anglo-American oil giants.

~ Diverting Central Asian oil and gas to the Eastern Mediterranean (under Israeli military protection),
~ for rexport to Asia, serves to undermine the inter-Asian energy market,
~ which is based on the development of direct pipeline corridors linking Central Asia and Russia to South Asia, China and the Far East.

Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline connects Central Asia to the world market
~ there are daily foot patrols along key sections; constant aerial surveillance over its full length;
~ and, in Turkey, around 30-35 gendarmerie posts dedicated to the project
BTC Pipeline to Flow by June /UPI/
International Financing

catch ~[beginning] of application targets @ marketing !

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Multirole:

~ AgustaWestland’s new AW-149 is not merely a militarised AW-139 with a new designation,
~ it is an all new and larger machine in the 7- to 8-tonne class (the 139 weighs up to 6.4 tonnes)
~ capable of carrying 15 troops or 12 in full combat order plus two pilots for 500 nm.
~ It is also designed to be able to operate in high threat environments so, in addition to the option of an integrated DAS,
~ it will have what AgustaWestland CEO Giuseppe Orsi described as ‘modular’ ballistic tolerance.
~ Orsi was cagey about the details, but it was clear that the expression implies more than modular armour kits:
~ dynamic components will be beefed up or otherwise protected to withstand projectile impacts.
~ Customers will be able to tailor the level of ballistic tolerance to the threat level they face
~ so that they don’t have to bear the extra weight and cost in low threat environments
~ while retaining the ability to upgrade the protection level if necessary.

~ aircraft will be certified to both civil and military standards to make it more attractive for parapublic operations,
~ particularly in the emerging era of Civilian Owned Military Registered (COMR) aircraft.

catch ~[beginning] of application targets @ marketing !

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Coast_Guard:

News and Links:

~ Farnborough Air Show , England Jul 17, 2006 --
~ Bell Helicopter, a Textron company (NYSE: TXT) will provide the Bell Eagle Eye TR916 Unmanned Aircraft Vehicle (UAV) system
~ to Lockheed Martin, a partner in Integrated Coast Guard Systems,
~ a joint venture of Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman, for the Integrated Deepwater System program of the U.S. Coast Guard.
~
~ Bell was selected in 2003 by Lockheed Martin to develop and produce the Eagle Eye TR916 Unmanned Aircraft Vehicle system
~ to provide surveillance and reconnaissance as part of the U.S. Coast Guard’s Deepwater Program.
~ Bell will deliver 45 Eagle Eye UAVs and 33 ground control stations (GCS) to Lockheed Martin
~ who will integrate the UAV system into the Deepwater System of Systems.
~ Current plans call for first flight of the TR916 Unmanned Air Vehicle system in 2nd Qtr 2009.
~
~ Bell has selected Aurora Flight Sciences of Manassas, VA as the airframe provider.
~ Aurora Flight Sciences is a leading developer of unmanned aircraft technology for research, defense and homeland security organizations.
~ work will be done at Aurora Flight Science’s manufacturing facility located in Bridgeport, West Virginia.
~
~ Bell Helicopter is an industry-leading producer of commercial and military,
~ manned and unmanned vertical lift aircraft and the pioneer of the revolutionary tilt rotor aircraft.
~ Globally recognized for world-class customer service, innovation and superior quality,
~ Bell’s global workforce serves customers flying Bell aircraft in more than 120 countries.
~
~ Textron Inc. is a $10 billion multi-industry company operating in 33 countries
~ with approximately 37,000 employees in continuing operations.
~ company leverages its global network of aircraft, industrial and finance businesses
~ to provide customers with innovative solutions and services.
~ Textron is known around the world for its powerful brands such as Bell Helicopter,
~ Cessna Aircraft, Jacobsen, Kautex, Lycoming, E-Z-GO and Greenlee, among others.
~ More information is available at www.textron.com.

catch ~[beginning] of application targets @ marketing !

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Media:

Taking pictures or making videos in hardly accessible places, aerial and original pictures
~ allows to monitor moving subjects, for example, sportsmen
~ makes it possible to approach or to move away rapidly, depending on the situation
~ has a great rapidity towards monitoring of the subject

catch ~[beginning] of application targets @ marketing !

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Pipe_Maintenance:

BP: Pipeline shutdown could last weeks or months /USATODAY/
~ BP PLC replacing 73% of the pipelines from the nation's largest oil field which could be closed for weeks or months,
~ crimping the nation's oil supplies at a time of peak demand.
~ BP, the world's second-largest oil company, said it would replace 16 miles of the 22 miles of transit pipeline
~ in the Prudhoe Bay field following a leak discovered.
~ Company officials told a news conference they did not immediately know how much it would cost to replace the lines.
~ BP continues to keep the oil field closed and bring parts back into service once it's safe to do so.
~ BP discovered corrosion at a pipeline that supplies 8% of daily U.S. crude production
~ only after federal regulators ordered it to inspect the lines.
~ inspection order from the Department of Transportation came after BP spilled 270,000 gallons in March at another section of the field.
~ Once complete, the shutdown will cut production by 400,000 barrels a day,
~ about 2.6% of U.S. supply including imports, according to data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
~ aging pipeline system on the North Slope has been fraught with problems lately.
~ BP, which posted a net profit of $7.3 billion for the three months ending June 30, operates the Prudhoe Bay field.
~ In March, BP was blamed for the rupture of a pipeline at the same Prudhoe Bay field,
~ leading to an extension of a criminal investigation into the company's management of its Alaskan operations.
~ Steve Marshall, president of BP Exploration Alaska Inc., said tests indicated that
~ there were 16 anomalies in 12 areas in an oil transit line on the eastern side of Prudhoe Bay.
~ Tests found losses in wall thickness of between 70 and 81%. Repair or replacement is required if there is more than an 80% loss.
~ BP also said that workers found a small spill of about 4 to 5 barrels, which has been contained and is being cleaned up.
~ Smaller spill was discovered when workers went to the transit line to get a closer look at the pipe.
~ Workers were stripping off pipe insulation when they noticed what looked to be an oil stain.
~ About three hours later, they found the small leak.
~ news sent the price of light, sweet crude oil up $2.04 to $76.80 a barrel in late-morning trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange Monday.
~ average U.S. retail price of a gallon of unleaded, regular gasoline was $3.036 — near its all-time high of $3.057,
~ reached Sept. 5 after Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast.
~ Gasoline futures also rose, indicating that the market expects prices at the pump to rise more.
~ Because of the disruption of supplies, the Energy Department is prepared to provide oil from the government's emergency supplies
~ if a refinery requests it, the department will be in contact with BP and West Coast refiners to assess the situation.
~ reserve has about 700 million barrels in storage on the Gulf Coast to be used in case of a serious supply disruption.
~ Energy Department in the past has lent SPR oil to refineries when there were disruptions because of pipeline or other problems.
~ BP America Chairman and President Bob Malone said Prudhoe Bay will not resume operating
~ until the company and government regulators are satisfied it can run safely without threatening the environment.
~ BP, along with oil giants ConocoPhillips and ExxonMobil Corp.,
~ are in negotiations with the state to extend the life of the field by building a $25 billion natural gas pipeline to Canada
~ to ship the 35 trillion cubic feet of known natural gas reserves on the North Slope.
~ troubles at the Alaskan oil field add to other problems for BP in the United States,
~ where the company is the largest oil producer, following an explosion at its Texas City refinery
~ that killed 15 workers in March 2005 and a trading scandal.
~ shutdown comes six months after the North Slope's biggest ever oil spill was discovered on a Prudhoe Bay transit line.
~ BP installed a bypass on that line in April with plans to replace the pipe. Only one of BP's three transit lines is now operating.
~ BP puts millions of gallons of corrosion inhibitor into the Prudhoe Bay lines each year.
~ It also examines pipes by taking X-rays and ultrasound images.
~ BP has a 26% stake in the Prudhoe Bay field, meaning its own production would be cut by 100,000 barrels a day,
~ or around 2.5% of the company's worldwide production, said spokesman David Nicholas.
~ He declined to provide any forecast on the impact of the shutdown on earnings.
~ U.S. shares of BP PLC fell $1.19, or 1.6%, to $71.35 in morning trading on the New York Stock Exchange.
~ Shares of BP Prudhoe Bay Royalty Trust, which derives revenue from royalties of BP's Prudhoe Bay oil,
~ fell $9.12, or 10.4%, to $78.77 on the NYSE.

catch ~[beginning] of application targets @ marketing !

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Communication_In_Challenging_Environment

Challenges:
~ people to whom messages are targeted may be illiteral or there may be linguistic problems & limited time to translate messages
~ locations where messages are needed to send might be difficult, such as deserts with extreme temperatures & sand storms
~ war, nation building and/or possible attacks by terrorists

How could Xi help in communication?
~ a powerful loudspeaker can be embedded/installed inside Xi
~ Xi can be used to give notices, announcements
~ Xi can fly to a certain location, land and give messages and continue to a next location
~ if needed, Xi can be deployed by a fighter to target area and/to the beginning of route
~ messages can be recorded to be announced to people, for example in emergency situations
~ if necessary, new messages and message updates can be sent anytime to Xi and Base4Xi via network
~ Xi does not have to land on a target location, it can also give announcements while flying
~ both Xi and Base4Xi supporting it have been designed for network-centric operations requiring rapid deployment

Benefits
~ a satellite network can be used to broadcast messages to Base4Xi stations and Xis to deliver them further on
~ Xi flies using low altitudes without disturbing people whereas manned helicopters are noisy raising clouds of dust
~ money is saved in communication using unmanned devices

Special features
~ several Base4Xi base stations can be located along Xi routes
~ Xi is capable to refuel autonomously at Base4Xis
~ message updates can be downloaded automatically from Base4Xi stations to Xis & in real-time, if necessary
~ it also possible to update messages to Xi while it' flying
~ Base4Xi and Xi embed smart software radios, which are programmable & capable to communicate with several frequences
~ Base4Xi embeds modern a 3G mobile base station with more communication capabilities for messaging

Video for communication in challenging environment
~ a small and powerful video projector can be installed inside Xi
~ video content can be shown on flat surfaces such as building walls
~ Xi can first call people in target area to come to watch and then show video
~ this kind of special communication would attract people, at least in the beginning

Benefits of video communication
~ communication reaches also deaf, blind and illiterate people
~ video is multimedia content with voice, pictures and texts; something to everyone
~ content can be produced in several countries and locations & in several languages and for different cultures

Challenges of video communication with Xi
~ seed money is needed to develop and test this communication concept
~ although technology is available, companies ready to take risks are needed to develop Xi and Base4Xi
~ alternatives to deploy Base4Xi with a manned helicopter must be explored; truck, jeep
~ different kind of design for Base4Xi might be needed depending on the vehicle, which deploys it
~ camouflaging of Base4Xi deployment might be necessary in challenging environments with potential terrorist attacks

Thuraya
Etisalat
Software Defined Radio Forum

catch ~[beginning] of application targets @ marketing !

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Oil_Pipeline_Monitoring:

Alaska Oil Leak Estimate Up to 265,000 /Greenwire Monday, March 13, 2006/
~ estimation of the oil leaked from a Prudhoe Bay pipeline is at least 265,000 gallons, the largest oil spill on record for the North Slope
~ partial shutdown of BP's refining operations in Prudhoe Bay has slowed daily production of 470,000 barrels by about 100,000
~ Prudhoe Bay -- drilled by BP, Exxon Mobil Corp. and ConocoPhillips -- is the nation's largest oil field
~ Inspectors detected a second leak last week along the pipeline in the North Slope
~ largest spill was in 1989, when the Exxon Valdez tanker ran aground in Prince William Sound, dumping 11 million gallons.
~ Aging infrastructure, corroded pipes and failed leak-detection systems ensure more accidents according to policy director for the Alaska Wilderness League
~ State investigators will scrutinize the pipeline's leak detection system.
~ Under state law, the system must sound an alarm for field workers if the pipeline's oil flow dips by 1 percent or more in a 24-hour period

BP Set to Seal Leaking Alaska Oil Pipeline: /AFX News Limited Friday, March 10, 2006 /
~ Alaska's giant Prudhoe oil field has already spilled more than 200,000 gallons of crude, one of the largest spills to date on the state's North Slope.
~ BP said an early assessment puts the volume of oil spilled at 201,000 to 267,000 gallons of crude--or roughly 6,000 barrels.
~ Clean-up operations continue around the clock in weather conditions with temperatures reaching 50 to 70 degrees below zero (Fahrenheit) with the wind chill
~ At press time, a 60-person clean-up crew had recovered nearly 53,000 gallons of liquids , a figure that includes snow and ice scooped up in the process
~ BP operators discovered a quarter-inch hole in the 34-inch-diameter, above-ground pipeline on March 2,
~ prompting the company to curtail output on the field by approximately 100,000 barrels of crude oil a day.
~ Prudhoe Bay, the largest oil field in the US, typically pumps approximately 470,000 barrels a day.
~ Crude from the field is carried via the Trans-Alaska pipeline over the Brooks Mountain Range to a tanker terminal in Valdez on Alaska's Prince William Sound:

BP Leak Sprays Oil Over Prudhoe Bay Tundra /http://sierraactivist.org/
~ Crude oil spewed out of a ruptured Prudhoe Bay pipeline and "misted" up to 200 acres of tundra
~ Wind carried the oil over an area nearly a mile long and 300 feet wide
~ BP crews plugged the leaky, six-inch pipeline and also halted oil production from wells on Prudhoe drill site 14.
~ drill site is near the center of the 213,500-acre oil field and produces an estimated 10,000 barrels of oil per day,
~ which is a little more than 2 percent of Prudhoe Bay production.
~ an alarm signaled a possible gas leak at the drill site
~ Field workers went to the site to investigate and discovered the leak coming from a pressurized pipeline under some snow
~ pipe is part of a system that sends natural gas down wells.
~ gas essentially adds fizz to the wells, lifting more crude oil out of the ground.
~ breeze of about 10 mph was blowing at the time, carrying the spewed liquid downwind across the tundra.
~ thickest coating of oil settled on buildings, pipes, tanks and roads on the drill site.
~ heavy equipment operators removed "heavily oiled, compacted snow" from roadways on the gravel drill pad.
~ cause of the leak appears to be a failed pipe weld
~ amount of natural gas released at 1.4 million cubic feet, BP was calculating an oil estimate.
~ Cleanup workers plan to go out with shovels and sleds to pick up and cart away the stained snow
~ temperature is below zero, and the ground is frozen and layered with snow.

catch ~[beginning] of application targets @ marketing !

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Research_In_Arab_Countries:

News and Links:

~ DHAHRAN, 26 March 2006 — A state-of-the-art oil field research center,
~ described as the first of its kind in the Middle East and Africa,
~ was opened by Minister of Petroleum & Mineral Resources Ali Al-Naimi
~ first research center to open at the King Abdullah Science Park of King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals (KFUPM).
~ Schlumberger Dhahran Carbonate Research Center (SDCR) as it is named houses
~ a team of international scientists working on oil and gas industry research projects
~ in collaboration with other research institutes, both across Saudi Arabia and overseas.
~ Al-Naimi welcomed as a significant development in the Kingdom’s rich oil industry
~ lauded the efforts of Schlumberger in enabling the Kingdom to take this giant step toward enriching Saudi research in the oil sector
~ Schlumberger will be sponsoring more than 25 students in many fields of science and engineering at KFUPM
~ international company researchers will conduct courses for local students
~ KFUPM Rector Dr. Khaled S. Al-Sultan hoped that the location of the research center and its closeness to
~ Saudi Aramco and its oil fields would have a tremendous impact on their activities
~ It will lead to significant contribution to the deployment of developed state-of-the-art technologies,” he said.
~ Speaking about the Techno-Valley project, Al-Sultan said it would be established in the KFUPM premises
~ over a land measuring 600,000 square meters
~ It (Techno-Valley) is envisioned to be the most prestigious R&D and technology nucleus in the Middle East.,” he said.
~ research center has been built to promote future technology development through closer interaction
~ between research scientists from Schlumberger, experts from KFUPM, Saudi Aramco and
~ King Abdul Aziz City for Science & Technology (KACST) as well as other regional oil companies and institutions.
~ Dhahran Techno-Valley is destined to pooling together national and international research centers in one location
~ With the Dhahran Techno-Valley allowing frequent interaction between world-class researchers in an easily accessible facility,
~ it will provide infrastructure for the state-of-the-art specialized and sophisticated equipment and test facilities
~ It will also house an incubator that serves to nurture promising new technical and IT companies
~ These companies will create new jobs and serve existing business and industry.
~ “We envision that an innovation center and a consulting clinic will also be established soon in the valley,” Al-Sultan said
~ Schlumberger Research Center is a testament of the leadership and proactive nature of this international company, he added.
~ KFUPM Director Dr. Khalid Al-Sultan said: “The center is a pure example of universities’ persistence
~ to create technical alliances with major technology companies such as Schlumberger.”
~ “We believe the combination of the Kingdom’s leading human and natural resources and our own expertise
~ will allow this new center to develop ground-breaking technologies that will maximize both oil and gas resources
~ in the region and the contribution the exploration and production industry makes to the global economy,”
~ Schlumberger Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Andrew Gould said.
~ Schlumberger, which has principal offices in New York, Paris and The Hague, comprises two business segments.
~ Schlumberger Oil Field Services supplies a wide range of products and services and WesternGeco,
~ jointly owned with Baker Hughes, which is the “world’s largest” seismic company providing advanced acquisition and data processing services

catch ~[beginning] of application targets @ marketing !

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Oil_Refinery_Control:

The Central Control Room (CCR) in the Mina Abdulla Refinery
~ Main features of the system include reliance on microprocessors, digital equipment and use of a distributed control system
~ together with a computer to apply advanced control to refinery operations
~ Central Control Room consists of a system of CRT (Cathode Ray Tube) video consoles, grouped in a set of usually four CRTs
~ Each group is called a workstation. The CCR consists of ten workstations including one spare intended for training.
~ Each workstation consists of three CRTs associated with digital distributed control system (DCS).
~ By the use of DCS, process units can be remotely controlled and operated as far as 5000 feet.
~ Process indications along with a variety of informative displays required for control and monitoring of refinery operations is available on the CRT screens.
~ Associated with the DCS, there is a process computer CRT which provides properly sorted process information and a graphic display of the plant itself
~ Using the same CRT, advanced supervisory control over the DCS system can also be provided
~ report printer associated with the process computer provides plant status reports.
~ Some workstations include other CRTs for different types of process information.
~ workstation associated with the tank farm contains a CRT which displays tank gross and net volumes.
~ Another provides a graphics of tanks & interconnecting valves & means to control oil movement by sequentially opening valves remotely at workstation

KNPC Refinery News
~ Kuwait National Petroleum Company has begun the front-end design of its fourth refinery in Kuwait
~ bids on the KNPC New Refinery Project are on a Lump Sum Turnkey (LSTK) contract basis.
~ New Refinery Project is a 615,000 bpd grassroots refinery to be built in Kuwait
~ which will consist of over 15 process units plus buildings, utilities, and offsite facilities.
~ award value of an EPC contract will be multibillion US dollars
~ LSTK contract will include detailed engineering, procurement of materials and equipment, installation, and construction
~ based on KNPC-provided Front End Engineering Design documents.
~ KNPC has engaged the services of Fluor as Project Management Contractor to manage the project and serve as the FEED engineer

catch ~[beginning] of application targets @ marketing !

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Aerial_Photographing:

History
Skyshots

catch ~[beginning] of application targets @ marketing !

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Inspection_Measurement:

Vampira
Helping DOE with Unmanned Aerospace Vehicle Regulations (DOE)

catch ~[beginning] of application targets @ marketing !

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Offshore:

Sikorsky Aircraft to build S-76C++ helicopters for Malaysian Helicopter Service (MHS) for use in the offshore oil market by ExxonMobil
~ Sikorsky Aircraft has signed a contract to build three S-76C++ helicopters for Malaysian Helicopter Service (MHS)
~ for use in the offshore oil market by ExxonMobil.
~ contract, which includes a complete support package,
~ signifies the first aircraft replacement by Sikorsky for ExxonMobil in the Malaysian region in 14 years.
~ MHS will operate and maintain the helicopters.
~ These helicopters perform more than one duty; they are a national asset to the country in which they operate.
~ helicopters are scheduled for delivery in July 2007.
~ offshore oil market is a demanding environment that requires a sturdy, proven aircraft," according to MHS Chairman Ma'Som Mahadi.
~ MHS has been pleased with the performance and support of the Sikorsky S-76 models, so we are confident in our choice of the S-76C++."
~ S-76® is a multi-mission medium helicopter used in a variety of roles including offshore oil, executive transport, and airline.

catch ~[beginning] of application targets @ marketing !

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Space:

Links & News:

China aims to place an unmanned vehicle on the moon by 2010 /Space Daily Express/
~ Beijing, China (AFP) Jul 11, 2006
~ China has successfully test-fired the engines of a new rocket that could launch its first manned mission to the moon
~ engines of the new Long March C rocket are expected to make it three times more powerful than existing versions of the Long March,
~ engines, which burn liquid hydrogen and kerosene, are non-polluting and
~ will give a maximum propulsion of 120 tons, said the report, citing engineers at the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp.
~ new rocket development program is critical for China's future space programs, including a proposed manned mission to the moon
~ rocket also would play a role in placing China's first space station into orbit,
~ and it is expected to compete with the United States, Europe and Japan in the commercial satellite launch market.
~ China hopes to launch a lunar exploration satellite next year as part of a program
~ that aims to place an unmanned vehicle on the moon by 2010
~ China successfully launched astronaut Yang Liwei into orbit in 2003,
~ becoming the third country after the former Soviet Union and the United States to place a human in space.

catch ~[beginning] of application targets @ marketing !

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Oil_Gas_Service_Provider:

Links & News:

Petrofac to Manage Facilities for Dubai's Offshore Oil & Gas Assets /Rigzone/
~ Petrofac, the international oil & gas facilities service provider,
~ will take over responsibility for well and facilities management of Dubai's offshore oil and gas assets
~ on behalf of Dubai Petroleum Establishment (DPE). DPE is a new entity wholly owned by the government of Dubai.
~ Dubai offshore assets comprise four offshore oil fields with around 70 platforms,
~ and around 1,100 personnel are currently involved in running the operation. These staff will be employed by Petrofac from April 2007.
~ new contract becomes a key part of Petrofac's established and expanding portfolio of managed facilities.
~ In the UK sector of the North Sea, Petrofac manages on a turnkey basis:
~ Heather & Thistle platforms; the Northern Producer (Galley field); and
~ Kittiwake, Hewett, and Bacton Terminal facilities.
~ Petrofac also supports the operation of around 20 other fields in the North Sea for a number of clients,
~ bringing a wealth of experience to these successful operations,
~ as well as supporting the operations of national and international oil companies in the Middle East and Africa.
~ Petrofac

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Helicopter_Service_Provider:

Sky Link Aviation
~ an international aviation group that specializes in Project Management, Air Charters, Aviation Support, Aircraft Maintenance,
~ Air Courier, Executive Air Charters as well as Flight Planning and Clearance Services
~ has become a global leader in rapid deployment of peacekeepers and international humanitarian aid, including food and equipment,
~ during war, major disasters and pandemics for clients such as the United Nations, World Food Programme, USAID, INS (Homeland Security),
~ IOM, the Canadian Government, the Red Cross, the Italian Interior Ministry and other national governments and NGOs

Serco

Bristow Group
Emergency services:
~ Emergency Medical Services, Disaster Response, Fire Fighting, Law Enforcement
Technical Services/Approvals:
~ EASA Part 145 (UK)
~ FAA Repair Station (UK/USA)
~ Bell Customer Service Facility (UK/USA)
~ Bell Authorised Customer Training Facility (UK)
~ CAA BCAR (UK)
~ Design house EASA Part 21 J DOA (UK)
~ Production EASA Part 21 G POA (UK)
~ Sultanate of Oman (UK)
~ State of Qatar (UK)
~ Turbomeca
~ Sikorsky Aircraft Authorised Maintenance Centre
~ ISO 9001 QA Accreditation (UK)
Technical/Capabilities:
~ Project management
~ Technical and operational manpower resources.
~ Pilot and technician type training
~ Design and manufacture
~ Major Bell Customer Service Facilities
~ CAA/FAA approved safety and survival modifications unique to Bristow Helicopters Ltd Technical Services
~ Drive train component repair and overhaul
~ Ancillary component repair
~ Consultancy
Technical Services/Overhaul:
Bell Components
~ complete rotor and transmission repair and overhaul capability for the following models: 205, 206 Series, 212, 214 Series, 407 and 412.
~ special repair recovery schemes are available for a range of dynamic components, particularly Bell 205 and 212 rotor head grips.
~ repairing or overhauling many minor components including control tubes, bell cranks, transmission support links
~ and lift links and have wide NDT capability.
Sikorsky Components
~ extensive repair and overhaul capabilities for Sikorsky S61 and S76 helicopters under our FAA and JAR-145 approvals.
~ S76 capability includes the following:
~ Main, intermediate and tail gearbox repair and overhaul (USA)
~ Rotor head, swashplate, bifilar and tail drive shafts (UK/USA)
~ Landing gear, cooler blower, wheel brakes & rotor brake (UK/USA)
~ Cargo hook & VTA (UK/USA)
~ Hydraulics (USA)
~ Instrumentation (USA)
~ S61 capability includes the following:
~ Freewheel unit
~ Oil cooler fan
~ Cargo hook
~ Main landing gear
~ Tail rotor hub
~ Tail drive shafts
Technical Services/Design:
~ Design Department develops modifications for fleet, fixed and rotary wing
~ has developed to become the largest and most capable design facility of any civil operator in the world.
~ UK CAA BCAR and EASA Part 21 J Design Organization Approvals together with manufacturing capability
~ plus ISO9001 QA accreditation enable to provide design, manufacturing and installation services to civil and military customers worldwide.
~ design disciplines cover avionics, mechanical installation, structures, stress analysis> and full technical publications.
~ this comprehensive capability allows to offer the complete service,
~ from concept through all stages of design, manufacture, installation, test and certification.
~ considerable number of examples include the following:
~ Jettisonable liferaft systems for the Bell 212, 412, 430 & AS332
~ Emergency flotation systems for the Bell 204, 205, 212 & 412
~ Automatic Float Deployment Systems to supplement the existing manual electric system
~ Search and Rescue (SAR) modifications
~ Health Monitoring Systems
~ Avionic Suite upgrades
~ Major Structural Modifications
~ Full Aircraft Completions
~ Cabin and cockpit customization
~ combination of design capability and long experience of providing 24 hour SAR helicopter services
~ uniquely qualifies Bristow Helicopters Ltd Technical Services as the world leaders in providing modifications for this specialist activity.
~ From providing FLIR installations to aid searching in low visibility conditions to a complete package including
~ autohover, rescue and survival equipment.
~ SAR modifications include:
~ Nitesun and FLIR installations
~ Dual rescue hoist
~ Stretcher installations
~ Autohover
~ produced numerous modifications for a wide range of aircraft, helicopters and fixed wing,
~ covering a very diverse range of requirements, from simple mechanical or avionic enhancements to more complex tasks
~ where extensive development and trials may be necessary to achieve the required standard of integrity and performance.
Manpower & Operational Support
~ Highly skilled and experienced technicians can be provided for short term requirements such as
~ major inspections or repairs on site at a customer's facility.
~ Long term support can also be catered for, undertaking all maintenance requirements as part of a package,
~ often including training of local staff in on-the-job experience for the long term benefit of the customer.
Manufacturing
~ EASA Part 21 approved Production Organisation is able to provide complete installation kits for all Bristow Helicopters Ltd Technical Services designs.
~ installation kit provides the customer with all the parts needed to complete the modification to their helicopter.
Industry Air Support
~ services to many industries outside of oil and gas production
~ clients sometimes require helicopter services beyond the regular transportation of personnel.
~ Heavy Lift – Lifting of objects that weigh more than 5,000 pounds
~ Winching – Using a winch to lift people or objects, often in situations where a helicopter would not be able to land
~ Slinging – Working with loads external to a helicopter or aircraft
~ Forestry Support – Assisting government agencies with monitoring and fire suppression in forest areas
~ Pipeline Inspection – Overhead monitoring of oil and gas pipelines to report any issues or unusual activity
~ Seismic – Assisting companies in searching for oil and gas via seismic activity
~ Environmental – Assisting environmental firms with their remediation projects, as well as removal of waste materials
Offshore Production Management
~ Bristow Group Inc. offers exceptional production management services through Grasso Production Management, a Bristow company.
~ Grasso is one of the largest production management companies in the Gulf of Mexico area.
~ Through Grasso, Bristow currently operates more than 300 oil and gas facilities,
~ supported by more than 500 full-time operators, mechanics, electricians, and roustabouts.
~ EMTs and paramedics are provided through the Medic Systems Division,
~ which recruits and trains healthcare personnel for drilling, production, workover and construction operations around the world
Bristow Helicopters Names John Cloggie as Director of European Operations /Rigzone/
~ he is the technical Chairman of the European helicopter Association
~ Cloggie is also a member of the Technical Committee of the British Helicopter Advisory Board

catch ~[beginning] of application targets @ marketing !

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GTL (Gas to Liquids):

Honeywell Wins Qatar Shell Bid for GTL Facilities /Rigzone/
~ Honeywell has been selected by Qatar Shell to design and implement the integrated process automation and control system
~ for one of the world's largest Gas to Liquids (GTL) plants.
~ As the main automation contractor, Honeywell will supply Qatar Shell GTL Ltd. with some of its highest profile solutions
~ - the Experion® Process Knowledge System (PKS) Release 300 platform, the UniSim(TM) process simulation solution,
~ Safety Manager(TM) instrumented protection and fire & gas systems -
~ to enable a smooth startup and safe and reliable operations for the Pearl GTL project.
~ Last year, Qatar Shell GTL awarded Honeywell a front-end engineering design (FEED) contract to conduct preliminary engineering for the site.
~ Pearl GTL project will be the leading operation in the rapidly growing GTL industry.
~ Located about 53 miles north of Doha in the industrial city of Ras Laffan,
~ project includes two gas production platforms -- which will produce 1.6 billion cubic feet per day of wellhead gas,
~ which will in turn be transported and processed to produce approximately 120,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day of
~ condensate, liquefied petroleum gas and ethane --
~ and an onshore GTL plant that is expected to produce 140,000 barrels per day of GTL products, including naphtha and transport fuels.
~ Virtually free of sulfur, nitrogen and aromatics, GTL products are environmentally friendly, as well as engine efficient.
~ integrated solution will enable Shell to efficiently control Pearl GTL operations from production at the platforms,
~ to processing at the onshore plant, to shipping of the finished product.
~ Experion will tie together all critical subsystems - including non-Honeywell systems - in the Pearl GTL plant
~ to give operators a complete picture of operations.
~ Data from equipment such as process controls, field devices and safety systems will be sent to the control room,
~ enabling operators to make better decisions faster.
~ Pearl GTL project will be one of the largest Foundation Fieldbus installations in the world.
~ main driver for using Fieldbus is obtaining benefits from the extensive use of diagnostics from field instruments.
~ For example, Honeywell Asset Manager will send system diagnostic information to operators and maintenance personnel
~ that can help them determine if certain pieces of equipment aren't functioning properly, enabling them to quickly take the right action.
~ Honeywell Safety Manager, another Experion component, will be used to bring processes to a safe state
~ in the event of an incident that endangers personnel safety, and/or the environment, and to protect against equipment damage.
~ UniSim, Honeywell's family of process simulation software, will be used for dynamic studies, engineering verifications and operator training.
~ Honeywell also will provide a range of temperature and pressure transmitters, program and project engineering services,
~ and will closely work with Shell's construction and engineering companies from around the world.
~ Honeywell International is a $30 billion diversified technology and manufacturing leader,
~ serving customers worldwide with aerospace products and services; control technologies for buildings, homes and industry;
~ automotive products; turbochargers; and specialty materials.

UAVs Come of Age /Honeywell/
~ Long relegated to the sidelines in military operations, unmanned aerial vehicles, or UAVs,
~ are now making national headlines as they play an increasingly important role in national military operations
~ and are being explored for a number of civilian uses as well.
~ UAVs are changing the face of modern warfare, homeland security, law enforcement and even weather reporting,
~ and many are now being used for operations normally reserved for manned aircraft.
~ At Honeywell, we are committed to providing the best value for our partners,
~ enabling them to deliver the most innovative UAV technology to customers,” said Ed Wheeler,
~ Honeywell Vice President of Aerospace Engineering.
~ With our extensive product breadth and commitment to the future of UAV technology,
~ Honeywell is poised as a leading supplier for a wide range of UAV products and technologies.

~ As UAV technology improves, they are playing a critical role in national military operations,
~ with missions spanning the gamut from early warning and maritime tracking to communications relay.
~ In the past decade, unmanned platforms have evolved from novelty support systems to essential tools in modern warfare.
~ potential applications for UAVs in future military as well as civilian applications are numerous.
~ As UAV technology improves and unmanned platforms become more mainstream, many potential applications are being explored,
~ including uses for the Department of Defense (DOD), homeland defense, international defense,
~ civil border patrol and commercial industries.
~ Qatar Shell
~ Ras Laffan Industrial City

Honeywell’s innovative systems and products are helping make the future of UAVs a reality for its customers.
Honeywell brings a broad range of vehicle and mission management experience to the growing UAV industry,
with an extensive offering of products and technologies that meet the unique demands created
by unmanned military and civilian air and surface vehicles, including:

- Micro ElectroMechanical Systems (MEMS)
- Global Positioning Systems (GPS)
- Vehicle Management Systems (VMS)
- Sensors software
- Smart Line Replacement Units (LRUs)
- Radio Frequency Identification (RFI) tags
- Full-Authority Digital Engine Controls (FADEC)
- Modular Aerospace Control (MAC) products
- Integrated Systems Health Management (ISHM)
- Versatile Affordable Advanced Turbine Engines (VAATE)
- Vetronics/avionics integration for manned, unmanned, ground and air vehicles
- Vehicle, mission, health and communications management functionality
- Real Time (RT) computing platforms and associated interface Input/Output (I/O) hardware

What are UAVs?
~ Any aircraft flown without a pilot is a UAV.
~ In the past, researchers have referred to them as remotely-piloted vehicles (RPV), remotely-operated vehicles (ROV),
~ drones, robot planes or pilot-less aircraft.
~ These designations are somewhat broader than UAV, which refers only to aircraft,
~ while ROV and RPV sometimes refer to submarines, ground vehicles and other types of moving vehicles.
~ Most often called UAVs, they are defined by the United States DOD as
~ powered, aerial vehicles that do not carry a human operator, use aerodynamic forces to provide vehicle lift,
~ can fly autonomously or be piloted remotely, can be expendable or recoverable, and can carry a lethal or non-lethal payload.
~ As the UAV industry grows, a number of different types of UAVs are emerging for various applications,
~ including organic air vehicles (OAVs), micro air vehicles (MAVs), unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs) and unmanned combat air vehicles (UCAVs).
~ Honeywell technology is playing a major role in the development of many of these future systems.
~ UAVs range from the size of an insect to that of a commercial airliner.
~ UAVs also range in degree of autonomy.
~ Some require a team of field technicians while others are capable of flying themselves once launched.
~ While aircraft like the Predator and Boeing X-45A Unmanned Combat Air Vehicle require extensive resources
~ and qualified professionals to operate effectively, operators can be stationed in Colorado
~ while the UAVs fly over Iraq or Afghanistan. This takes the risk off of pilots who do not have to be anywhere near the plane.

The Advantages of UAVs
~ UAVs are less expensive to procure than other systems, making them a cost effective alternative to more expensive military fighter aircraft.
~ UAVs are more difficult to spot because of their smaller size and are therefore at less risk of being identified.
~ UAVs eliminate risk to a pilots’ life by performing what are known as “3-D”— dull, dangerous or dirty—missions
~ that do not require a pilot in the cockpit.
~ UAVs are easier and more efficient to build than aircraft that have to support a human,
~ as there is no need to build cabins with environmental control, gauges, flight controls, oxygen and safety systems.

UAVs in Military Operations
~ In 2002, Iraqi troops shot down an expensive U.S. Air Force aircraft.
~ Normally, families would mourn the loss of their loved ones among the crew members.
~ But something was different about this plane. No Americans were injured since that aircraft had no pilot.
~ UAVs like the Predator shot down by Iraqi troops in 2002 are becoming more prevalent in military applications.
~ war on terrorism has put a high premium on the primary mission of UAVs today: intelligence gathering.
~ Furthermore, the outstanding military effectiveness of UAVs in recent conflicts such as Iraq, Afghanistan and Kosovo
~ has opened the eyes of many to the number of the advantages provided by unmanned aircraft.
~ In fact, the U.S. Air Force and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) invest billions of dollars annually in UAV research.

~ As the world’s most modern military forces adopt network-centric operations,
~ their leaders are recognizing the overwhelming advantage provided by having the products of
~ real-time surveillance and intelligence gathering at their fingertips.
~ Perhaps the safest, most efficient and flexible method for gathering such information is through the use of unmanned aircraft.

Civilian Opportunities for UAVs
~ So far, the majority of research in unmanned aircraft flight vehicles has been for military projects,
~ but non-military uses of UAVS are being explored in many sectors and could potentially be used for a vast number of civilian needs
~ in the future. Even with limited budgets, many universities and new companies are exploring this new segment
~ and are finding that the possibilities are numerous.

Civilian applications of UAVs can be grouped into four major categories:
~ commercial, civil, security and scientific.
~ majority of these applications involve monitoring, communications, and imaging.
~ These areas of interest affect a large number of civilian fields and are therefore highly needed.
~ Judging only on the sheer number of possible applications, it is evident that UAVs will have a strong future in industry.

~ Of all of these applications, those that will emerge soonest are local monitoring and surveillance.
~ More research is currently being aimed at exploring possible peacetime surveillance roles for UAVS in the United States
~ to monitor illegal entry into the country and provide surveillance over the White House.

~ As UAVs become simpler and less expensive to operate and maintain,
~ they will be more and more suitable for mainstream commercial applications.
~ One day soon, delivery companies such as UPS or FedEx could employ unmanned robotic flyers to deliver priority mail.
~ Large-scale farming could be revolutionized by UAVs, which would monitor crop areas and tell farmers when to harvest.
~ UAVs equipped with aerial cameras could also be used for moviemaking, television news and sports reporting.

~ Law enforcement agencies nationwide are also considering UAVs for surveillance purposes.
~ U.S. Transportation Department has looked at possible security functions for UAVs such as following trucks with hazardous cargo.
~ Energy Department has also been developing high-altitude instruments that can be carried by UAVs to measure radiation in the atmosphere.

The Future of UAVs
~ global appetite for unmanned aircraft is showing no sign of abating.
~ Instead there are growing indicators that countries increasingly are looking for an even greater variety of systems.
~ As technology maturation continues to open doors to even more opportunities for UAVs,
~ Honeywell is dedicated to working closely with its partners to make the necessary investments
~ to ensure the broader use of UAVs in future military and civilian applications.
~ UAV technologies will continue to evolve, and there is much opportunity for improvement as systems continue to be refined and enhanced
~ Honeywell, working closely with its partners, will remain at the forefront of new developments as a major system supplier
~ and technology leader in the research and development of UAV technologies.

catch ~[beginning] of application targets @ marketing !

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Manned_Helicopter:

Helicopter companies

catch ~[beginning] of application targets @ marketing !

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Water:

Syncrude responding to leak
~ Syncrude's leak detection system, via an infrared-equipped helicopter, detected the leak and the line was shut down immediately
~ 35-kilometre pipeline runs recycled water from Syncrude's base plant operation to its Aurora operation.
~ Heavy equipment built a dyke to contain the residual water in the line.
~ Vacuum trucks have also been dispatched to remove the contained liquid.
~ Water samples are being taken both upstream and downstream of the incident to determine if the leak has caused a variance in the water quality.
~ Syncrude also has continuous leak-detection systems on the line.
~ Regulatory bodies and communities downstream of the operation have been notified about the incident and recovery efforts.
~ Syncrude Project is a joint venture operated by Syncrude Canada Ltd. and owned by Canadian Oil Sands Limited,
~ ConocoPhillips Oilsands Partnership II, Imperial Oil Resources, Mocal Energy Limited, Murphy Oil Company Ltd., Nexen Oil Sands Partnership, and Petro-Canada Oil and Gas.
Imperial Oil
Murphy Oil
Nexen
Petro Canada

catch ~[beginning] of application targets @ marketing !

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3D:

»3D

catch ~[beginning] of application targets @ marketing !

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Oil_Gas_Producer:

Oil_Gas

catch ~[beginning] of application targets @ marketing !

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Pipeline_Security:

Iraq Pipeline Watch

catch ~[beginning] of application targets @ marketing !

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Security:

Triple Canopy
~ has about 1,000 employees in Iraq
~ won part of a State Department contract last year to guard high-risk embassies,
~ has branched out from government work and begun advising commercial clients about potential threats to their office buildings
~ formed in 2003 by military veterans, has made several changes in recent months
~ named a new president, Roger A. Young, a former senior executive at Maximus Inc.,
~ established a strategic advisory board, which includes Catherine Yoran, a former assistant general counsel at the CIA
~ unveiled a new strategic plan, which includes expanding its training facility in West Virginia
~ acknowledges increasing demand for special training for local law enforcement according to ceo Lee Van Arsdale
~ takes into account response to a chemical attack, high explosives, the prevention-and-detection aspect
~ acquired a training company in Texas for potential clients in the Midwest
~ is looking for a facility on the West Coast
~ has begun offering vulnerability assessments to commercial companies
~ by 2008 forecasts, that 30 percent of its revenue will be from commercial business, compared with less than 5 percent now

Olive Group
~ a United Arab Emirates-based company with a new office in the District
~ sells global positioning systems to clients that want to guard their employees against kidnappings
~ has begun selling GPS it initially developed to track employees and equipment
~ because of demand among clients that wanted to defend employees against kidnappings
~ founded by four former members of the British army in 2003, has about $100 million a year in revenue
~ recently set up a North American business unit with a D.C. office
~ bought the Tactical Explosive Entry School
~ company's 700 acres of farmland in Arkansas will be the site of Olive's new training center
~ for law enforcement, military officials, nongovernmental organizations and corporations
~ center will include an urban village based on Middle Eastern architecture,
~ including an open market, government buildings and a school

SOC/SMG
~ Nevada-based, founded in 2003 , initially built a 100-acre training facility to use for its growing ranks of Iraq-bound guards
~ opened it up to competitors that needed sniper training required by the Department of State & U.S. and foreign units in need of the specialized training

Triple Canopy
SOC/SMG
Olive Group

catch ~[beginning] of application targets @ marketing !

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Agriculture:

Monitoring Vineyards
~ current frost detection systems cannot provide accurate and consistent temperature data that cover the entire vineyard
~ an in-situ wireless sensor web was used to collect a time-series of air temperature data at several locations during the flight
USDA

catch ~[beginning] of application targets @ marketing !

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Targets by Organization

[001] ~ IAEA [002] ~ API [003] ~ Defense

[004] ~ EU [005] ~ Oil [006] ~ Helicopter Organization

[007] ~ MITRE [008] ~ UAV [009] ~ Eco

[010] ~ Telecom [011] ~ Aircraft

catch ~[beginning] of All Targets!

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IAEA:

~ IAEA Secretariat is a team of 2200 multi-disciplinary professional and support staff from more than 90 countries

catch ~[beginning] of organization targets @ marketing !

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API:

~ Opec countries 5,581 barrels/day, 44,5% year 2005
~ Persian Gulf countries 2,762 barrels/day, 22,1%

catch ~[beginning] of organization targets @ marketing !

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Defense:

DoD
UK Ministry of Defence
Budget of the United States Government Fiscal Year 2008
Department of Defense Budget 2006: $419.3 billion, Increase from 2005 is 5 percent

catch ~[beginning] of organization targets @ marketing !

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EU:

DLR; Galileo

catch ~[beginning] of organization targets @ marketing !

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Oil:

catch ~[beginning] of organization targets @ marketing !

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Helicopter_Organization:

European helicopter Association
British Helicopter Advisory Board

catch ~[beginning] of organization targets @ marketing !

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MITRE:

MITRE

catch ~[beginning] of organization targets @ marketing !

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UAV Organizations:

AUVSI
AUVSI San Diego
VTOL

catch ~[beginning] of organization targets @ marketing !

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Eco:

NEON

catch ~[beginning] of organization targets @ marketing !

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Telecom:

www.obsai.org

catch ~[beginning] of organization targets @ marketing !

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Aircraft:

Aircraft owner's and Pilot's Organization

catch ~[beginning] of organization targets @ marketing !

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Targets by Location

[001] ~ Malacca Strait [002] ~ Chemical Plant [003] ~ Persian Gulf

[004] ~ Nuclear Power Plant [005] ~ Middle East [006] ~ Shtokman

[007] ~ NEGP [008] ~ Oil Rig [009] ~ Sakhalin

catch ~[beginning] of All Targets!

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Malacca_Strait:

Links & News:
China seeks to reduce its dependence on Strait of Malacca
~ Construction of the Chinese section of an oil pipeline from Kazakhstan to China began in March.
~ It is only one of many strategies being looked at by Beijing
~ to counter its serious concerns about the country's energy security
~ and dependence on the Strait of Malacca. Ian Storey reports.
~ [Jane's Intelligence Review - first posted to http://jir.janes.com - 11 April 2005]

Japan urges increased protection in Malacca Strait
~ Japanese Defence Minister Yoshinori Ono has embarked on a mission to urge the Malaccan littoral countries
~ to boost anti-piracy protection in the troubled strait,
~ in addition to their efforts dealing with the after-effects of December's devastating tsunami.
~ [Jane's #593924 International - first posted to http://jni.janes.com – 21 January 2005
~ Attacks on vessels in the strait, which carries about a third of the world's trade,
~ rose 33 per cent between January and June from 2003 , even as regional governments like Malaysia and Indonesia refused US help to police the waters

catch ~[beginning] of Location Targets !

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Chemical_Plant:

Links & News:
~ WASHINGTON — Chemical plants in the USA are vulnerable targets for terrorists
~ and represent a grave risk to Americans because of weak governmental regulation,
~ a former top Homeland Security adviser to President Bush said Monday.
~ Kuehne Chemical Company in Kearny, N.J., is on a list of factories that would pose the greatest danger if it was to be attacked.
~ Richard Falkenrath, who left the White House in May,
~ said in a written statement he expects to deliver to Congress on Wednesday
~ that he bears some responsibility for the Bush administration's policy on chemical plant security.
~ Regretfully, some portion of this responsibility clearly belongs to me,
~ Falkenrath says in the written testimony, which he gave to USA TODAY.

~ government estimates that there are more than 15,000 chemical facilities nationwide,
~ including more than 100 in heavily populated areas.
~ Such plants can store enough deadly chemicals to kill or injure hundreds of thousands of people.
~ Falkenrath is among a growing number of officials
~ who are rethinking the government's policy to count on chemical plants to voluntarily beef up their own security.
~ More than three years after the Sept. 11 terror attacks,
~ Falkenrath will tell the Senate Homeland Security committee
~ that chemical plants and rail cars that transport deadly chemicals are easy, unprotected targets for terrorists.
~ He is scheduled to be joined at the hearing by the Bush-appointed head of the Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board,
~ which probes deadly accidents.

~ Carolyn Merritt, who has never before spoken publicly about chemical security,
~ said she will tell the committee that the federal government needs to do more to protect the public
~ from the intentional or accidental release of deadly chemicals.
~ She cited the January rail car crash in remote Graniteville, S.C., that killed 10 people after 60 tons of chlorine was released.
~ Merritt's testimony, which she provided to USA TODAY,
~ says there are "serious gaps in the preparations for
~ major chemical releases by companies, emergency responders, government authorities and the public."

~ In his testimony, Falkenrath says, "I am aware of no other category of potential terrorist targets that presents as great a danger."
~ He urges Congress to require the Homeland Security Department to maintain an inventory of chemical plants,
~ develop safety standards, verify that plants have met those requirements and impose civil and criminal penalties on those that fail.
~ Senate Homeland Security committee Chairwoman Susan Collins, R-Maine,
~ said that many plants are in heavily-populated urban areas and "have little more to secure them than a fence around the perimeter."
~ Chemical facilities are attractive both as a source of chemicals
~ that could be stolen to build bombs, and for the release of toxic fumes into the surrounding communities," she said.

~ Homeland Security Department spokeswoman Michelle Petrovich says
~ inspectors have reviewed security at more than 160 of the 300 plants "of immediate concern."
~ department encourages plants to follow voluntary security guidelines
~ put forth by the American Chemistry Council,
~ which represents companies accounting for 90% of the nation's industrial chemical production.
~ But Homeland Security officials have no legal authority to force plants to tighten security.
~ Even the chemistry council favors government regulation to "level the playing field" by requiring
~ all plants to pay for security upgrades, spokeswoman Kate McGloon says.
~ Rick Hind of #593924peace says he welcomes Falkenrath's candor.
~ The biggest threat we face," he says, "is inaction from the federal government."

catch ~[beginning] of Location Targets !

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Persian_Gulf:

Estimated oil and gas reserves:
1) Iraq
~ 115 billion barrels of proven oil reserves, and possibly much more undiscovered
~ at least 110 trillion cubic feet of natural gas
2) Saudi Arabia
~ 261.9 billion barrels of proven oil reserves
~ one-fourth of the world's proven oil reserves and some of the lowest production costs
3) Kuwait
~ 99.0 billion barrels of proven oil reserves, roughly 8 percent of the world's total oil reserves
4) United Arab Emirates
~ 98 billion barrels, or nearly 10 percent, of the world's proven oil reserves
5) Bahrain
~ Bahrain produces only a modest quantity of oil,
~ but it is a growing regional services center strategically located on the Persian Gulf
6) Yemen
~ Yemen, a small non-OPEC oil producer, is important to world energy markets
~ because of its oil and natural gas resources and strategic location on the Bab el-Mandab strait,
~ one of the world's most active shipping lanes
7) Iran
~ 125.8 billion barrels of proven oil reserves
~ Iran is OPEC's second largest oil producer and holds 10 percent of the world's proven oil reserves.
~ It also has the world's second largest natural gas reserves after Russia

catch ~[beginning] of Location Targets !

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Nuclear_Power_Plant:

~ although the threat of a terrorist attack on a nuclear power plant preceded the events of 11 September 2001,
~ concern in this direction has increased in response to possible planned attacks by Al-Qaeda or Chechen separatists.
~ a foiled Chechen rebel assault on the Russian city of Nalchik in October 2005 would have involved an attempt
~ to hijack and fly one of five aircraft into a nuclear power station

catch ~[beginning] of Location Targets !

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Middle_East:

Dubai shows the way /Jane's Security News Briefs - 28 January 2005/:
~ CIVIL conflict rages in Iraq and shakes Palestine,
~ Saudi Arabia is plagued by terrorist attacks.
~ Gulf emirate of Dubai is pressing ahead regardless with a multi-billion dollar construction boom
~ that includes the world's tallest skyscrapers, the largest man-made islands and the world's first underwater hotel.
~ Dubai, which is part of the United Arab Emirates, has modest reserves of oil
~ It has promoted itself as the Gulf's transportation hub and business and leisure centre.
~ Dubai now has a diversified service economy and aims to be a magnet for tourists and second homeowners from the region and beyond.
UAE is building their own UAV industry having ordered UAVs from Sweden and Austria
Middle East Policy Council - Resources
Saudi-US-Relations.org
Persian Gulf & oil producers

catch ~[beginning] of Location Targets !

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Shtokman:

Norwegian Firms, Government Woo Russia for Shtokman Stake /Dow Jones Newswires/
~ Norwegian oil and gas firms Statoil and Norsk Hydro wooed top Russian government officials
~ in hopes they'll receive a stake in Gazprom's giant Shtokman gas project.
~ Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov joined Norway's Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg
~ for a tour of Hydro's 400 billion cubic meter Ormen Lange plant in western Norway,
~ meeting with top officials from 41-percent state-owned Hydro and its 71-percent state-owned rival Statoil.
~ Russian officials were on trip to discuss energy cooperation issues,
~ but Norwegian officials in the Foreign Office said no big agreements are expected to be signed
~ Both companies, with support of the government, are trying to win at least 20-percent stakes in the
~ 3.6 trillion cubic meter Shtokman liquified natural gas project in the Barents Sea
~ Hydro's chief executive Eivind Reiten told Fradkov his company is considering building an aluminum smelting plant in Murmansk,
~ Russia, fueled by gas from the Barents Sea, and that he would meet next week with a Murmansk regional governor
~ to discuss the feasibility of such a plant.
~ Shotkman plans call for an LNG plant near Murmansk.
~ Although much of the gas is likely to be shipped to international markets, particularly the US,
~ it would also conceivably be able to supply an energy-intensive smelter.

~ Hydro has also made investing in the regional Russian economy a strategy for winning a stake in Shotkman
~ Hydro, also one of the world's largest integrated aluminum companies,
~ has said it's searching for long-term smelting capacity growth in energy-rich areas.

~ While Statoil is hoping that its 200 BCM Snoehvit LNG project in the Barents Sea and
~ LNG terminal capacity in Cove Point, Maryland, will secure it a Shotkman stake,
~ Hydro has been intensively engaging regional Russian government and selling itself as a company
~ that completes large, international projects "on cost, and on time."
~ Statoil CEO Helge Lund later said,his company wants "to build a common industrial platform for growth in the far north."
~ Our joint knowledge and experience will be crucial if we are to tackle the challenges in tough, Arctic seas," Lund said
~ ice-filled and environmentally-sensitive Arctic seas have proved to be some of the most difficult places
~ to explore and develop petroleum resources.
~ Lund said his company wants Russia and Norway to work together to realize the potential for oil and gas activities
~ in the Barents region, estimated at 40 billion barrels of oil equivalent

~ ConocoPhillips, Total, and Chevron are also shortlisted for the final partnership
~ Equity analysts have said the intensity of political activity between Moscow and Oslo in the past year,
~ while not a sure sign of a Norwegian stake in Shotkman, increases the likelihood
~ that at least one of the two Norwegian companies will win a place.
~ contact level between Russian and Norwegian politicians has been extremely high over the past six months,
~ said ABG Sundal Collier analyst Oddvar Bjoergan, "far much higher than France-Russia and USA-Russia, for instance."
~ this has added to our belief that there will be political support for a Norwegian participant in Shtokman," he said.

catch ~[beginning] of Location Targets !

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NEGP (North European Gas Pipeline):

News and Links:

Gazprom Sorts Out Priorities /Kommersant/
~ Gazprom has announced the cost of the North European Gas Pipeline project putting it on $12 billion.
~ Russian gas monopolist will pay $1.7 billion more for construction of the pipeline
~ than for the first stage of the development of Shtokman gas field.
~ latter project had been viewed as the company's most expensive one until yesterday.
~ Gazprom deputy CEO Alexander Medvedev, in charge of the project, specified the matter.
~ $6 billion is to be spent on the above-ground section while $5.4 billion will go to the underwater part.
~ $6 billion will be spent not only on the laying of the 900-km gas main from Gryazovets to Vyborg
~ but also on “a large-scale development of the United Gas Supply System in North Western Russia.
~ funds will be shared between the construction of an additional gas main leading to St. Petersburg
~ as well as new pipelines in Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Areas.
~ North European project will apparently cost Gazprom more than the first stage of the Shtokman project.
~ Gazprom is to put the total of $8.7 billion in the Shtokman field,
~ $6 billion of which is for the above-ground section while $2.7 is intended for the underwater part.
~ financing scheme for the North European Gas Pipeline has been patched up after a scandal
~ involving former German Chancellor and the project’s new top manager Gerhard Schröder erupted.
~ former official was accused of p a loan guarantee for Gazprom during his term in office.

Gazprom North European Gas Pipeline (NEGP) project
~ NEGPThe will begin to deliver Russian natural gas to Western Europe avoiding transit states along its route
~ It is expected that that by 2010 the European gas market will need about 100 bcm of gas in excess of the existing long-term contracts.
~ existing export gas pipelines from Russia to Europe will not be able to quench the growing gas thirst.
~ To solve this problem and raise the safety of Russian gas supplies for export,
~ development of the North European gas pipeline (NEGP) project was begun a few years ago.
~ North European gas pipeline project will inaugurate a brand new route to export Russian gas to Europe.
~ Its implementation will diversify export routes, make supplies more flexible and
~ directly connect gas transport networks of Russia and other countries in the Baltic Sea area to the European gas grid.
~ NEGP will bypass transit states reducing sovereign risks and costs of Russian gas delivery
~ and enhancing reliability of export supplies.
~ NEGP will run under the waters of the Baltic Sea from Portovaya bay (near Vyborg) to the coast of Germany (near Greifswald).
~ plan is to build two parallel gas pipeline legs each about 1,200 km long.
~ Total annual NEGP capacity will be 55 bcm. The pipeline will have a spur to deliver gas to consumers in Sweden.
~ gas pipeline construction will help expand gas supplies to Scandinavian countries
~ as well as provide reliable gas supplies to consumers in Western Europe,
~ North-Western region of Russia and Kaliningrad Region as gas consumption continues to grow in these areas.
~ first pipeline of NEGP will be put into operation in 2010.

Technical features of NEGP
~ starting point for the sea section of the NEGP will be a coastal compressor station,
~ which will be built in Portovaya bay (near Vyborg in the Leningrad Region).
~ Gas pipeline offshore section from Vyborg to Greifswald will be 1,200 km long,
~ with 1,219 mm in diameter and a 210 atm working pressure.
~ Rated capacity of the North European gas pipeline will be 55 bcm.
~ In the first stage, one leg with an annual capacity of about 27.5 bcm will be built.
~ project envisages laying a second pipeline, which will raise the pipeline capacity twice, up to 55 bcm annually.
~ To connect the NEGP to the United Gas Transmission System of Russia,
~ construction of the new Gryazovets-Vyborg pipeline via the Vologda and Leningrad Regions is planned.
~ Launching this gas pipeline will help meet the growing gas demand in St. Petersburg and the Leningrad Region.
~ Estimated total investment into implementing the project will exceed EUR 4 bln.

NEGP Partners
~ BASF
~ E.ON

catch ~[beginning] of Location Targets !

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Oil_Rig:

Exploring Far and Wide: Saudi Aramco to Increase Arabian Gulf Rigs
/Houston Chronicle, Wednesday, May 03, 2006/
~ energy world has descended on Houston for the OTC , attendance expected to top last year's 51,320
~ Saudi Aramco's vice president of exploration and producing, Abdullah Allah S. Al-Saif,
~ said his country will ramp up offshore exploration in the Arabian Gulf between now and 2010.
~ kingdom, whose desert oil reserves are the largest in the world,
~ will deploy 20 percent of its rigs in offshore waters to explore for new oil and gas fields
~ By year-end, Saudi Arabia will have 120 rigs operating in the country, up from 85 last year and 54 in 2004.
~ The offshore is growing," he said. "We see it as at least 20 to 30 rigs from here on instead of six or eight."

catch ~[beginning] of Location Targets !

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Sakhalin:

~ Shell 55 pct
~ Mitsui & Co, a Japanese trading company, holds 25 pct
~ Mitsubishi Corp, another Japanese trading company, has 20 pct
~ agent for Bell Helicopter, has sold a total of 1,400 units in Japan
~ actively introducing and marketing new aircraft, including tiltrotor types
~ new initiatives include entry into businesses that apply map information and three-dimensional display technology

Mitsubishi
~ New Business Initiative Group provides the basic services vital for driving businesses
~ forward—financial technology, information & communication technology, logistics technology, and market technology

catch ~[beginning] of Location Targets !

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Targets by Event

[001] ~ Disaster [002] ~ Hurricane

catch ~[beginning] of All Targets!

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Disaster:

Saudi prince to talk oil prices:
~ last time Abdullah and Bush met was seven months after the Sept. 11 terror attacks, which shattered U.S.-Saudi relations
~ fifteen of the 19 hijackers were Saudi.
~ Saudis hope their extensive crackdown on militants since then will help heal those wounds

Texas oil refinery explosion kills 14
~ BP's Texas City plant has 30 refinery units and processes 433,000 barrels of crude oil a day
~ plant, one of five BP refineries in North America, produces 30% of BP's North American gas supply and 3% of the U.S. supply,
~ Texas City is the site of the worst industrial accident in U.S. history
~ in 1947, a fire on a ship at the city's docks led to an explosion that killed 576 people
~ Gasoline futures rose nearly 2 cents in late trading Wednesday on news of the explosion

catch ~[beginning] of Event_Target !

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Hurricane:

Small, Unmanned Aircraft Search for Survivors in Katrina Wreckage
~ Providing the benefits of speed, portability and access, a pair of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs)
~ surveyed storm-damaged communities in Miss. as part of the search for trapped survivors of Hurricane Katrina.
~ In what is one of the first deployments of such craft for disaster search and rescue,
~ vehicles captured video imagery to help responders focus efforts and avoid hazards.

~ The two UAVs packed a one-two punch," says Robin Murphy of the University of South Florida (USF) and
~ director of the NSF-supported Center for Robot-Assisted Search and Rescue (CRASAR).
~ The fixed-wing provided a quick overview of an area over several miles,
~ but the use of the miniature helicopter to hover by buildings and on roofs--and to takeoff straight up--really offers new functionality."

~ Florida emergency responders surveying Pearlington, Miss., asked the Safety Security Rescue Research Center (SSRRC) team
~ to respond to reports of floodwater-stranded survivors.
~ Murphy led the effort with other members of the SSRRC, an NSF-supported industry-university partnership among USF,
~ University of Minnesota and numerous defense and advanced technology companies.

~ Although houses pushed into the street during the storm surge blocked the entrance into Pearlington,
~ unique capabilities of the UAVs allowed the team to launch the aircraft from an open patch of road
~ surrounded by downed trees and power lines.

~ One of the UAVs is a 4-foot-long airplane with mounted video and thermal imagery cameras
~ that can capture details from as far away as 1,000 feet.
~ Launched by hand, the craft provides rescuers with a broad overview of the disaster area.
~ In part because of the ease of launch and minimal, five-car-length distance needed for landing,
~ fixed-wing UAV is much easier to deploy than its full-scale counterpart.

~ same holds for the other UAV, a camera-equipped, miniature, electric helicopter called a T-Rex.
~ Provided by SSRRC partner Like90, the helicopter can hover at heights approaching 250 feet and
~ zoom its camera to peer inside windows or scan distant rooftops.

~ Within 2 hours, the vehicles provided responders with information showing
~ that no survivors were trapped and the floodwaters from the cresting Pearl River did not pose an additional threat.

~ vehicles are but two of many land- and aircraft operated by SSRRC, one of more than 40 NSF Industry -
~ University Cooperative Research Centers (I/UCRCs).
~ NSF provides a small investment to universities to start the centers, and industry partners bring additional investment and collaboration.
~ NSF then maintains a supporting role with each center as it evolves over a period of up to 10 years.

~ According to Rita Rodriguez, program officer for Computing Research Infrastructure at NSF and one overseeing the center,
~ SSRRC combines research efforts in robotics and robotic vision and involves not only industry, USF and UMN,
~ but also undergraduate-focused colleges, such as Augsburg College in Minneapolis, Minn., and Berea College in Berea, Ky.

ISENSYS
Offshore Rigs in Insurance Quandary, Protection is Getting Scarce
~ Deepwater Nautilus owned by Transocean should have spent the past two months
~ drilling for oil and natural gas in the Gulf of Mexico, earning $220,000 a day. Instead, the vessel sat idle in a Texas shipyard.
~ Hurricane Katrina tore the 50,277-ton rig from its moorings and Hurricane Rita grounded it almost a year ago.
~ 2005 storms have cost Transocean, the largest offshore driller, about $135 million in repairs, downtime and equipment upgrades.
~ year after Katrina, the biggest natural disaster to hit the energy business,
~ many companies are still tallying the damage caused by the hurricanes.
~ price tag so far, according to big insurance brokers and a power- industry group, is $17 billion
~ Hurricanes come every year, and we are accustomed to dealing with them," according to Roger Plank,
~ chief financial officer of Apache, an oil and gas producer based in Houston that suffered as much as $700 million in storm damage.
~ But what, as an industry, we are not accustomed to are 100-year storms, and we had two of them last year."
~ billions of dollars spent on rebuilding is money that might have gone to drilling wells and tapping new oil and gas deposits.
~ More supply is needed worldwide to keep pace with demand and control prices.
~ storms "couldn't have been pinpointed with more accuracy to cause maximum destruction," according to Brian Gambill,
~ an analyst at Manning & Napier Advisors in Rochester, New York.
~ Katrina in late August and Rita in September tore through the Gulf of Mexico's offshore oil and gas fields,
~ toppling production platforms, setting rigs adrift and rupturing pipelines.
~ As of the latest U.S. government report, on June 19, about 10 percent of oil and gas output was still off-line.
~ As the storms moved ashore, high winds and flooding also damaged gas-processing plants.
~ Seven refineries representing more than 10 percent of U.S. fuel-making capacity sustained damage
~ that kept them shut down for weeks or months. More than 170,000 miles of power lines were downed.
~ Damage estimates probably will rise as reports trickle in with each field that is restarted,
~ each pipeline reactivated or platform scrapped, said Caryl Fagot,
~ a spokeswoman for the U.S. Minerals Management Service in Washington, which oversees offshore production.
~ Demolition work, the final stage of hurricane recovery, will continue until at least 2010, said Jack Jurkoshek,
~ a spokesman at Oceaneering International, a Houston company that supplies divers and robotic submarines to the offshore oil industry.
~ The amount of the remediation work in the Gulf and the duration is going to be a lot longer
~ than we would have estimated just 90 days ago," he said.
~ Aon and Willis Group Holdings, two of the largest insurance brokers,
~ separately estimated damage from Katrina and Rita to oil and gas producers, drillers, pipeline operators and refiners at $15 billion.
~ Edison Electric Institute, an association of electric companies,
~ estimated damage to power networks at $1.43 billion from Katrina and $500 million from Rita
~ estimates reflect insured and uninsured damage, infrastructure destruction and lost business.
~ Aon did not track claims of less than $1 million, so its estimate is conservative, said Bruce Jefferis,
~ a managing director at the company's Aon Natural Resources Group in Houston.
~ Offshore producers suffered the most, accounting for 77 percent of storm costs, according to Aon.
~ Oil and gas producers and pipeline operators had $6.9 billion in damage and almost $4 billion in lost sales, Willis said in a May report.
~ Drillers had costs of more than $1 billion, and refiners were hit with $3.3 billion in damage, according to Willis.
~ At Oil Insurance, a self-insurance pool that counts Chevron, Royal Dutch Shell and Apache among its more than 80 members,
~ claims totaled $3.17 billion, according to a July report.
~ Those claims could not be paid in full because the group had a $1 billion cap for each storm.
~ After posting an underwriting loss of $225 million in 2005, Oil Insurance lowered its claim cap for this year's storms to $500 million
~ Chevron, the second-biggest U.S. oil company behind Exxon Mobil,
~ had costs of $800 million in this year's first six months just to remove infrastructure destroyed by the storms.
~ In May, the company created an artificial reef by sinking its $250 million Typhoon production platform,
~ which was irreparably damaged by Rita.
~ In all, Katrina destroyed 46 offshore platforms and Rita 69, the Minerals Management Service reported.
~ Fifty-two platforms were damaged by the two storms.
~ Costs to the industry of the damage by Katrina and Rita have been offset
~ by the increase in prices that resulted from the disruption of Gulf of Mexico oil and gas supplies.
~ The region is the largest domestic source of oil and gas for the United States.
~ Apache followed the third-quarter hurricanes with record net income in the fourth quarter.
~ For all of 2005, the three largest U.S. oil companies Exxon Mobil, Chevron and ConocoPhillips earned more than $63 billion combined
~ Insurers are trying to make up for their losses by raising premiums.
~ Coverage for wind damage to offshore facilities costs three or four times as much as before Katrina, Aon said.
~ amount of coverage offered has dropped about 70 percent.
~ The harsh reality is that there's just not as much insurance available this year as there was last year,"
~ said Al Reese, chief financial officer at ATP Oil & Gas, based in Houston.
~ There are some companies that only got limited coverage or were unable to obtain coverage at all this year. It's very, very scary."
~ Apache Corporation
~ Oceaneering International
~ AON
~ EEI
~ Oil Insurance
~ Department of the Interior’s Minerals Management Service (MMS)

catch ~[beginning] of Event_Target !

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Targets by Environment

[001] ~ Environment Control [002] ~ Bio Fuel Facility [003] ~ Oceanic Atmospheric

[004] ~ Government [005] ~ Forest [006] ~ Consulting

catch ~[beginning] of All Targets!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Environment_Control:

U.S. Environment Protection Agency
Russian Official: Sakhalin-2 Oil Project Environmentally Unsafe
~ construction of oil and gas pipelines for the Sakhalin-2 project should be suspended for environmental reasons,
~ Oleg Mitvol, deputy head of the Russian Federal Service for Regulation of the Use of Natural Resources (Rosprirodnadzor), has said.
~ a recent environmental inspection of the pipelines has revealed
~ that the pipes are moving actively as a result of mudflows, avalanches, landslides and other river bed evolutions.
~ He said the project designers had not paid due attention to Sakhalin's complex hydrography.
~ According to the conclusions of the inspection,
~ mudflows at many areas along the pipeline route could subject the pipes to 10 times the maximum pressure they are designed to withstand.
~ gas pipeline, which is sliding sideways from its original route,
~ runs very close to the oil pipeline, meaning that any accident could result in an oil spill and contamination of the sea.
~ an environmental assessment of the Sakhalin-2 project was approved by the Ministry of Natural Resources in 2003
~ although it contained more than 60 critical comments.

~ oil spill at the Druzhba pipeline operated by the Transneft oil company occurred at a pipeline section
~ which was built in the 1960s and had long been in urgent need of an overhaul.
~ Rosprirodnadzor had accused Transneft of failing to ensure safe operation of the pipeline section,
~ adding that the company had been instructed to reduce pressure in the pipeline
~ to the minimum possible rate of 12 kg per sq.cm. and take additional measures to ensure its safe operation.
~ no safety precautions can guarantee that the worn pipes will not leak again, so the section has to be replaced as soon as possible.

catch ~[beginning] of Environment_Target !

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Bio_Fuel_Facility:

Ensyn

catch ~[beginning] of Environment_Target !

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Oceanic_Atmospheric:

NOOA
The Scripps Research Institute
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

catch ~[beginning] of Environment_Target !

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Government:

DOI

catch ~[beginning] of Environment_Target !

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Forest:

The UAV First Response Experiment (FiRE) pilot-project
USDA Forest Service
California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection

catch ~[beginning] of Environment_Target !

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Consulting:

Greenspirit Strategies

catch ~[beginning] of Environment_Target !

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Targets by Science_Technology

[001] ~ Robotics [002] ~ Smaller Smarter [003] ~ Air Force

[004] ~ Biomimic [005] ~ Geology [006] ~ Science Foundation

[007] ~ CISE [008] ~ Remote Sensoring [009] ~ Naval Research

[010] ~ Optical Imaging [010] ~ Aviation Research

catch ~[beginning] of All Targets!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Robotics:

Links&News:

~ Frost & Sullivan: the market for U.A.V.'s will be worth nearly $5 billion by 2005
~ Michael Heinz/Boeing's Unmanned Systems Unit: annual market of at least $10 billion by decade's end,
~ with growth continuing at double-digit rates for a decade or more
~ Pentagon's planning document Joint Vision 2020: one-third of the military's combat planes by that year will be robotic !

catch ~[beginning] of Science_Technology Targets !

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Smaller_Smarter:

Autonomous UAV Coordination
DoD UAS Program

catch ~[beginning] of Science_Technology Targets !

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Air_Force:

Airforce Technology

catch ~[beginning] of Science_Technology Targets !

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Biomimic:

BIONIS
Green Chemistry Institute

catch ~[beginning] of Science_Technology Targets !

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Geology:

USGS

catch ~[beginning] of Science_Technology Targets !

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Science_Foundation:

NSF

catch ~[beginning] of Science_Technology Targets !

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
CISE (Computer & Information Science & Engineering):

CISE

catch ~[beginning] of Science_Technology Targets !

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Remote_Sensoring:

Sandia Remote Sensoring

catch ~[beginning] of Science_Technology Targets !

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Naval_Research:

Office of Naval Research

catch ~[beginning] of Science_Technology Targets !

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Optical_Imaging:

Optical_Imaging - technology

catch ~[beginning] of Science_Technology Targets !

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Aviation_Research:

MMIST
~ work of ULAV has been carried out by the US Army’s Aviation research and development centre

catch ~[beginning] of Science_Technology Targets !

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Targets by Energy

[001] ~ Government [002] ~ Oil & Gas [003] ~ Nuclear

catch ~[beginning] of All Targets!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Government:

DOE

catch ~[beginning] of Energy Targets !

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Oil & Gas:

~ Oil_Gas Companies
~ Nord_Stream

catch ~[beginning] of Energy Targets !

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Nuclear:

Nuclear Energy Institute
Nuclear Power Plants in the United States
The Future of The Nuclear Power
World Nuclear Association

catch ~[beginning] of Energy Targets !

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Small & Smart Inc reserves rights to change this document without any notice
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[001]~ Country	[002]~ Business	[003]~ Application
[004]~ Organization	[005]~ Location	[006]~ Event
[007]~ Environment	[008]~ Science Technology	[009]~ Energy

[001] ~ United States	[002] ~ Australia	[003] ~ Canada
[004] ~ Greece	[005] ~ Denmark	[006] ~ Finland
[007] ~ Germany	[008] ~ Iran	[009] ~ Iraq
[010] ~ Israel	[011] ~ Italy	[012] ~ Japan
[013] ~ Netherlands	[014] ~ Norway	[015] ~ Pakistan
[016] ~ Poland	[017] ~ Portugal	[018] ~ France
[019] ~ SerbiaMontenegro	[020] ~ Singapore	[021] ~ South Africa
[022] ~ China	[023] ~ South Korea	[024] ~ Russia
[025] ~ Spain	[026] ~ Sweden	[027] ~ Switzerland
[028] ~ Taiwan	[028] ~ Turkey	[029] ~ UK
[030] ~ Ukraine	[031] ~ India	[032] ~ Brazil
[033] ~ Nigeria	[034] ~ UAE	[035] ~ Uzbekistan
[036] ~ Saudi Arabia	[037] ~ Afganistan	[038] ~ Mexico
[039] ~ Bulgaria	[040] ~ Slovenia	[041] ~ Sudan

[001] ~ Oil Gas	[002] ~ Mobile	[003] ~ Helicopter
[004] ~ UAV	[005] ~ Aerospace	[006] ~ Financial
[007] ~ Car	[008] ~ Energy	[009] ~ Government
[010] ~ Subsea System	[011] ~ Drilling	[012] ~ Research
[013] ~ Space	[014] ~ Port	[015] ~ Natural Gas Production Site
[016] ~ Water Desalination Site	[017] ~ Border Patrolling	[018] ~ Coast Patrolling
[019] ~ Chemical_Detector	[020] ~ Environment Sensoring	[021] ~ Nuclear Power Station
[022] ~ Wireless	[023] ~ Air Force	[024] ~ Defense
[025] ~ Navy	[026] ~ Army

[001] ~ Reconnaissance	[002] ~ UAS	[003] ~ Future UAV
[004] ~ Nuclear Power	[005] ~ Border Patrolling	[006] ~ Security
[007] ~ Homeland Security	[008] ~ BTC Pipeline	[009] ~ Multirole
[010] ~ Coast Guard	[011] ~ Media	[012] ~ Pipe Maintenance
[013] ~ Communication in Challenging Environment	[014] ~ Oil Pipeline Monitoring	[015] ~ Research in Arab Countries
[016] ~ Oil Refinery Control	[017] ~ Aerial Photographing	[018] ~ Inspection Measurement
[019] ~ Offshore	[020] ~ Space	[021] ~ Oil Gas Service Provider
[022] ~ Helicopter Service Provider	[023] ~ GTL (Gas to Liquids)	[024] ~ Manned Helicopter
[025] ~ Water	[026] ~ 3D	[027] ~ Oil Gas Producer
[028] ~ Pipeline Security	[029] ~ Agriculture

[001] ~ IAEA	[002] ~ API	[003] ~ Defense
[004] ~ EU	[005] ~ Oil	[006] ~ Helicopter Organization
[007] ~ MITRE	[008] ~ UAV	[009] ~ Eco
[010] ~ Telecom	[011] ~ Aircraft

[001] ~ Malacca Strait	[002] ~ Chemical Plant	[003] ~ Persian Gulf
[004] ~ Nuclear Power Plant	[005] ~ Middle East	[006] ~ Shtokman
[007] ~ NEGP	[008] ~ Oil Rig	[009] ~ Sakhalin

[001] ~ Environment Control	[002] ~ Bio Fuel Facility	[003] ~ Oceanic Atmospheric
[004] ~ Government	[005] ~ Forest	[006] ~ Consulting

[001] ~ Robotics	[002] ~ Smaller Smarter	[003] ~ Air Force
[004] ~ Biomimic	[005] ~ Geology	[006] ~ Science Foundation
[007] ~ CISE	[008] ~ Remote Sensoring	[009] ~ Naval Research
[010] ~ Optical Imaging	[010] ~ Aviation Research