PPG Industries’ aerospace transparencies business is developing coating technology for aircraft cockpit and passenger-cabin windows that reduces solar heat transmittance for more crew and passenger comfort and reduced load on the air-conditioning system for lower operating costs.

Paris Air Show visitors can see coated cabin windows at PPG Aerospace’s display at Hall 2B, Stand D57. The International Paris Air Show is June 15-21 at Le Bourget Exhibition Centre.

PPG is developing solar-reflective coatings with a neutral appearance for glass and plastic windows to meet aircraft designers’ and operators’ demand for higher performing products that reduce operating costs while improving the flying experience, according to Anthony Stone, PPG Aerospace global director, new business development for transparencies.

“Unlike other aerospace solar-reflective window coatings, PPG Aerospace coatings will not be visibly reflective but will be color neutral for the attractive aesthetics important to our customers,” Stone said.

“Our tests have shown solar transmittance for a stretched-acrylic cabin window with a solar-reflective coating to be about half that of an uncoated window while maintaining high visible light transmittance,” Stone said. “Passengers and crew will experience a noticeable improvement in comfort, especially when the air conditioning is not operating while an aircraft is on the ground.”

Stone said airlines and other aircraft operators will benefit because it will be easier to maintain cockpit and cabin temperatures for reduced air-conditioning demand and related costs, especially with growing aviation use of composites. “Because composite airframes don’t dissipate solar heat as well as aluminum, our customers are looking for ways to reduce solar heat transmittance, and applying solar-reflective coatings to windows provides an ideal solution.”

PPG expects to qualify its stretched-acrylic cabin window coatings this year with a major airframe manufacturer and to apply the technology to glass cockpit windows, Stone added.

Argon ST, a systems engineering, development and services company providing full-service C5ISR (command, control, communications, computers, combat systems, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance) systems and services to a wide range of defense and intelligence customers, today announced that it has received a $6.2 million award for engineering development in support of the U.S. Navy’s Surface Ship Torpedo Defense (SSTD) program.

The award, a modification to an existing contract, was received from the U.S. Naval Sea Systems Command to complete the engineering development model design, through critical design review, for the SSTD program’s AN/SLQ-25D system. The SSTD program is a defensive system development to counter specific undersea weapon threats to high value surface ships. The system consists of detection, control, and counter weapon subsystems.

Since 2006, Argon has served as the lead contractor in designing, developing and fielding the Torpedo Countermeasures Transmitting Set AN/SLQ-25 — commonly referred to as Nixie. Initially contracted to design and field the AN/SQL-25C, a passive, electro-acoustic decoy system used to provide deceptive countermeasures against acoustic homing torpedoes, Argon will now focus on creating the upgrade to this important system.

“The AN/SLQ-25D is the next generation of the AN/SLQ-25C,” commented Joe Carlin, Senior Vice President, Argon ST. “The basis of the specification for the AN/SLQ-25D is an open architecture. This new requirement is very strategic to the Navy’s ability to ensure interoperability with all of its ships subsystems. Additionally, the new AN/SLQ-25D will be able to serve as a host to other systems thereby supporting other information gathering and threat detection.”

Commenting on the strategic nature of the award to Argon, Kerry Rowe, President and Chief Operating Officer, Argon ST said, “We are proud that the Navy continues to rely on Argon for one of its most critical programs. This new open architecture requirement will directly align Argon with the Navy’s future procurement strategy. Argon will not only have the opportunity to field the newly upgraded AN/SLQ-25Ds but will also be in a strategic position to use our work to develop new projects. Once widely deployed on the Navy surface ships, these systems will provide us a path to expand our footprint into other ship subsystems.”

Work under the contract will primarily be accomplished at Argon ST’s Lemont Furnace, Pennsylvania facility with support from the corporate headquarters in Fairfax, Virginia and the Smithfield, Pennsylvania production facility. The effort is expected to be completed by September 2012.

New York based Coastal Jet Service, a business aviation corporation, has announced a new approach to private jet travel with daily non-stop flights between New York and Los Angeles. Coastal Jet Service is solely offering private jet services in which travelers can book and pay for seats on flights with the same ease and level of commitment as booking a commercial flight, without the hassle and headaches of commercial travel. With today’s economic market affecting the way consumers spend, Coastal Jet Service eases the burden of an up-front investment, commitment, or sizeable monthly fees, for those who want to travel with all the flexibility, speed, and luxury of a private jet.

Flying out of private FBO’s, Avitat in White Plains and Million Air in Burbank, travelers may arrive fifteen minutes prior to departure and avoid the headaches and frustrations caused by the usual two hour standard arrival, long lines, and crowded terminals. Once aboard, Coastal Jet Service passengers will enjoy the sumptuous experience of flying aboard a Citation X, the fastest civilian jet in the world. A haven of sophisticated comfort, the aircraft features exotic wood finishes, genuine leather fully-reclining club seats, twin Rolls Royce engines, and spacious accommodations; these are just a few of the luxurious amenities available onboard. The speed of the jet reduces coast to coast flying time from an average of six hours to less than five hours, diminishing bi-coastal jet lag, easing the duration of bi-coastal travel, and enabling the traveler a swifter arrival time.

Coastal Jet Service’s cost for the one-way flight will be set at a flat rate of $4,600 + Tax, with 1% percent of each ticket sold donated directly to St. Jude’s charity. Coastal Jet Service plans on expanding their routes to include top destinations Miami, Dallas, and Las Vegas in 2010. With the $30,000 cost of chartering a private jet and private jet time-share programs costing hundreds of thousands of dollars per year, Coastal Jet Service offers the ideal alternative to private jet travel and the perfect answer to today’s economic environment. For additional information visit, www.coastaljetservice.com

Accu-Sort announced that Newark Liberty International Airport is the latest airport to install Accu-Sort’s AXIOM bar-code scanning systems, increasing the accuracy of baggage sortation and improving the customer experience by reducing the risk of lost luggage. Part of a significant upgrade to an air carrier’s baggage handling facility, the project required high read rates, integration with a tilt-tray sorter, low installation and maintenance costs, and the ability to remotely monitor scanner performance.

Baggage sorting requires exceptional performance because the bar code can be in any position, even underneath the bag, as it travels at high speed through an airport conveyor system. Accu-Sort has a large base of airport customers and a field-proven product line that enable the company to offer a variety of baggage scanning solutions tailored to the unique requirements of each facility. Major airports in Europe, Asia, Australia, and the United States, including airports in California, Pennsylvania, Alaska, North Carolina, Missouri and New Jersey, rely on Accu-Sort baggage scanning systems.

The AXIOM line of laser scanners employs several technologies that are especially useful for baggage-handling applications:

Embedded processor. Accu-Sort embeds the computing and communications functions inside each bar code scanner so airport scanning arrays do not require an external multiplexor. Fewer components to install and wire leads to a lower system cost. The system is also more reliable because there are fewer connections that can fail, and because any scanner can assume control of the array.

Omni-directional scanners. The AXIOM-X scan head emits two scan lines in an X pattern that can read baggage tags in any orientation. This technology reduces the number scan heads needed to be kept on hand as spares, further reducing system costs.

Plug-and-play component replacement. A modular design makes repairs fast and easy. For example, to replace a scan head, the technician simply removes four screws, pops in the new scan head, presses a button, and the scan head takes its configuration from parameters stored in the wiring base. Scanners can be returned to service within a few minutes – an important feature for baggage applications because flights cannot wait for delayed baggage.

High read rates. It is difficult to achieve high read rates in airports because bags move at high speed and because the scanners have to read at a long distance. The AXIOM-X bar code scanner reads bar codes up to 56 inches away at up to 1120 scans per second. This capability minimizes no-reads and the associated cost of manually reading baggage bar codes.

High reliability. The AXIOM bar code scanner is rated for 70 thousand hours MTBF (Mean Time Between Failures). High reliability reduces maintenance costs and avoids downtime.

Remote monitoring. Accu-Sort FAST Monitor software displays statistics on the performance of each sortation tunnel, plus diagnostics on individual devices connected to the system. This information can help airport facility managers maximize baggage throughput and generate historical reports for troubleshooting and predictive maintenance. When system performance data are unified inside of FAST Monitor, users can check on the health of any component equipment from a single software interface. This saves users considerable time compared to walking around miles of conveyors and reading the displays of individual equipment.

Saab has received an order from FMV (the Swedish Defence Materiel Administration) for a modular medical care system.  The system will be used in international operations and for training.

FMV has earlier this year ordered parts of the modular medical care system from Saab to supply Nordic Battlegroup 2011. The new contract gives the Swedish Armed Forces additional medical capabilities such as patient reception, trauma unit, surgery, intensive care, dental care, radiology, laboratory, sterilisation and oxygen production. These capabilities mean that the Swedish Armed Forces now have a system with all the medical modules and all the equipment that is required. The contract also includes training and systems for testing and calibrating the equipment.

“We are very pleased that we now will supply the Swedish Armed Forces with a complete medical care system that has the same high levels of quality as those found in civilian health care facilities. The contract is a confirmation that Saab’s turn key solution for Medical Care is both flexible and cost effective. This will certainly lead to more business opportunities for this system internationally as well,” says Bo Petersson, Head of Ground Support Services, Saab Aerotech.

The basic order is worth approximately SEK 120 million and will be delivered to the customer in 2010 for use in international operations and for training of personnel. The contract also contains options giving FMV possibilities to make continual orders up to and including 2013.

Ronald F. DeMeo, M.D., MBA, president of RST, has revealed the new Demron-W High Energy Nuclear/Ballistic IED RDD RED Shield, the world’s first and only blanket that provides total protection against ballistics, improvised explosive devices, dirty bombs and all types of radiological and nuclear incidents.

“RST’s new Demron-W Nuclear/Ballistic Shield is the only device that enables our first responders and military to combat all threats faced today, including traditional ballistics and bombs as well as IED’s, RDD’s, RED’s and the ever-increasing nuclear and radiological threats, road-side bombs that are triggered by cell phones,” Dr. DeMeo said. “No other ballistic blanket currently provides significant protection against nuclear or radiological threats. Demron Shield provides unsurpassed nuclear suppression and outperforms all current soft-body armor in anti-fragment and ballistic protection.

“The blankets also may be used to suppress all types of explosive devices and prevent catastrophes,” Dr. DeMeo added.

Edward Erickson, captain of Miami-Dade Fire Rescue’s Hazardous Materials bureau, added: “Miami-Dade Fire Rescue is always looking for innovative ways to provide public safety. The high energy nuclear suppression blanket allows our team to maximize personal safety while minimizing economic impact.”

The flame- and acid-resistant shield is made with RST’s patented Demron-W fabric, which has National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) Class 2 Certification for the 1994-2007 Standard on Protective Ensembles for First Responders to CBRN Terrorism Incidents. It proved in tests by H.P. White Laboratory to provide Level IIIA ballistic protection and unsurpassed fragmentation protection.

Demron and the new Demron-W consist of a radiopaque nano-polymeric compound fused between layers of fabric and manufactured into several lightweight, nuclear-radiation blocking garments, including full-body suits, vests, blankets and medical X-ray vests and aprons. Demron has been proved to block gamma rays, X-rays and nuclear emissions by the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, part of the National Nuclear Security Administration within the U.S. Department of Energy, as well as the Georgia Institute of Technology and the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. Demron technologies are used worldwide by NATO, NASA, the National Guard, US Navy, UAE and the governments of South Korea, China, Saudi Arabia and Australia, among others. Scientists have selected it for future space travel.

FlightView unveiled a new offering to meet the growing customer service demands confronting airports of all sizes. With budgets on hold in every travel sector, airports face a double-edged sword – delivering superior customer service to travelers while cutting operating costs.

FlightView’s newest offering: Customized Flight Information Web sites for each airport with trusted and valuable travel information – paired with brand-name advertising. Airports get a major upgrade in how they present critical travel information with a nominal set-up fee. The new state-of-the-art Web site makes it possible for passengers and other viewers to rely on the airport for real-time flight information without ever having to navigate away from the airport’s content rich pages. Along with this, the increased traffic to the Web site appeals to advertisers, making it easier to reach the elusive high-value audience – the traveler. Airports can actually turn their sites into net money-makers once audience thresholds are reached.

“We’re helping cash-stretched airports turn customers into revenue streams,” said Michael Benjamin, CEO of FlightView. “Isn’t that a nice way to weather the storm?”

Having an information-rich site also cuts hidden – and not-so-hidden – operating costs, namely the need for staff on hand to answer thousands of calls each year about weather, delays, and day-to-day flight status.

The revamped sites also brand smaller airports as competitive powerhouses, with top-tier information reinforced by ads from major global brands.

“FlightView’s solution makes it possible for us to offer first-class service to the more than 500,000 people visiting the airport each year,” said Len Nelson, director of aviation, Idaho Falls Regional Airport (IDA). “The offering makes it possible for us to move from a low-cost alternative for Jackson Hole and Yellowstone to the preferred route.”

The Naval Undersea Warfare Center (NUWC) is taking a fresh, high-tech approach to training and concept of operations testing with its new virtual Combat Systems Center. The purpose of the activity is to evaluate virtual world technology for training, rapid prototyping, collaborative design activities, and war gaming. The system under development is a replicated “real world” submarine combat center where crews could be exercised remotely. New combat attack center designs and configurations can also be tested and evaluated before later stage construction activities. With the virtual Combat Systems Center, NUWC’s goal is to significantly reduce costs while increasing readiness and efficiency.

NUWC selected Qwaq Forums, secure virtual workplace technology, from Qwaq, Inc., as a candidate to provide a complete application collaboration environment that easily integrates all submarine combat center applications and data. The underlying technology of the virtual Combat Systems Center was demonstrated by NUWC last week at the Federal Consortium for Virtual Worlds Conference in Washington, D.C.

“The virtual Combat Systems Center has the potential to allow us to effectively train crew members around the world without having to transport them to our physical facilities,” said Steve Aguiar, Metaverse Exploration Project lead, at NUWC. “We now have the ability to replicate our submarine environments in high fidelity and provide virtual access to the applications and data the fleet requires. This means that our sailors and officers could always have access to all of the latest training and technical expertise no matter where they are located.”

Qwaq Forums was selected by NUWC because of its advanced application collaboration capabilities and the software’s ability to easily import 3D objects. With Qwaq Forums, crewmembers within the virtual Combat Systems Center can interact with applications and data just like they can when onboard an actual submarine, because the software is able to simultaneously run the applications that are available within a submarine combat center. NUWC will also test the reusability of its extensive set of mission training scenarios by using Qwaq Forums’ capability to easily integrate pre-existing live and simulated data sources. In addition, Qwaq Forums enabled NUWC to get up and running rapidly, because it was able to import and reuse existing 3D models of equipment and consoles, rather than having to re-create them.

“I am excited at the potential virtual worlds technology brings to changing the way we practice engineering,” said Douglas Maxwell, Metaverse Exploration Project technical lead at NUWC. “I see a viable future where ship designers, the Navy fleet, and scientists can meet in the same virtual space to collaboratively evaluate platform designs and enact changes in real time.”

“We are thrilled that Qwaq Forums is providing advanced training and testing technologies to the Navy,” said Greg Nuyens, CEO of Qwaq. “NUWC’s use of Qwaq Forums in its Combat Systems Center is another great example of how virtual application collaboration solutions can provide ‘real world’ training and testing that is efficient and cost-effective.”

Intellicheck Mobilisa received a contract from Fort Sam Houston to provide the Defense ID access control system to protect the base. Defense ID is currently in use at over 70 secure government installations.

Utilizing Intellicheck Mobilisa’s patented ID reading technology, Defense ID quickly scans various forms of IDs, such as Drivers Licenses, Military ID’s or TWIC cards, and instantly compares the data to over 100 “bad guy” lists.

Fort Sam Houston, one of the US Army’s largest and oldest installations, is home to over 27,000 military and civilian personnel. Known as the “home of Army medicine,” Fort Sam Houston is the center of the Army Medical Command headquarters, and to command headquarters such as Fifth U.S. Army, U.S. Army South, Fifth Recruiting Brigade, 12th ROTC Brigade, U.S. Navy Regional Recruiting, the San Antonio Military Entrance and Processing Station, and the U.S. Naval School of Health Sciences, Bethesda Detachment, as well as Brooke Army Medical Center.

“Fort Sam Houston is regarded as the largest and a very important military medical facility, and we are excited to add them to our list of new customers. Though a voluntary background check system existed, Fort Sam Houston chose Defense ID access control system to provide a broader security check,” said Dr. Nelson Ludlow, CEO of Intellicheck Mobilisa. “With today’s announcement of a foiled terrorist plot in New York on targets that included aircraft from a nearby military base, it reinforces the critical need for the Defense ID System. The Department of the Army and Fort Sam Houston deserves credit for thinking ahead.”

Ezenia announced that it has received a renewal order for its InfoWorkSpace products from the Air Force Materiel Command, United States Air Force through Harris Corp. on its Netcents contract.

The agreement renews and extends a close partnership that has provided the USAF Operation Centers and our Warfighters with secure communication, conferencing, and collaboration capabilities with the Company’s InfoWorkSpace product line.

Since its first deployment by the Intelligence Community in 1999 and by the Warfighters since the 2002 Millennium Challenge, InfoWorkSpace has continuously demonstrated an unmatched record of excellence and, with its security, scalability, and stability, has become the voluntary tool of choice that the Warfighters and Intelligence Community have grown to rely on. Where situational awareness, instantaneous reactions, and on-demand responses are warranted for mission critical applications, InfoWorkSpace has been the reliable work horse that earned the respect and support of the Warfighters.

“Among the Warfighters, the United States Air Force has been one of the most demanding and advanced users that Ezenia has ever had the privilege to serve. Ezenia has had a close and rewarding relationship and history with the Air Force. InfoWorkSpace has grown and come a long way from the days of the Joint Forces Expeditionary Experiments (JEFX) in 2004 and 2006,” commented Khoa Nguyen, Chairman and CEO of Ezenia. “Even then, the Air Force power users deployed InfoWorkSpace in ways that totally amazed me; in one instance, a user participated in seventeen concurrent, multimedia independent work sessions, keeping constant awareness with various aspects of the stressful, simulated battlefield situation. InfoWorkSpace benefited greatly from such high threshold of functional richness, quality excellence, and stringent scalability,” further noted Mr. Nguyen. “Beyond products, it is Ezenia field support and services that stand out as the key and critical component in providing rapid response to the Air Force worldwide, inside the Continental US as well outside the 48 contiguous states. As a small business, we’re delighted and honored to have the opportunity to serve the USAF and pledge to always do our best to support their mission.”