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Magazine Issue

Aviation Week & Space Technology September 22, 2014

VOL. 176 NO. 33 September 22, 2014

Defense

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Australia’s Jindalee Radar System Gets Performance Boost

Sep 22, 2014
Major upgrade enhances Australia’s continent-wide monitoring system
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Ways To Track Low-Observable Aircraft

Sep 22, 2014
Counter-stealth radars could proliferate
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USAF Awards C-130/C-17 Efficiency Demonstrations

Sep 22, 2014
The Air Force Research Laboratory is accelerating the transition of fuel-saving and alternative-energy technologies to meet Air Force goals.
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Airbus Group To Focus On Military Aircraft, Space And Missiles

Sep 22, 2014
Airbus Group ditching non-core assets, including its stake in Dassault
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Bad Wiring Bundles ‘Chew Up’ KC-46 Schedule Margin

Sep 22, 2014
Boeing Tackles Tanker Platform Flight Sked Slilppage
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Pressure On For Retrofits To F-35 Test Jet Engines

Sep 22, 2014
F135 engine fix for F-25s could be complete as early as next year

Up Front

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Divestitures Remain A&D Portfolio Shaper Of Choice

Sep 22, 2014
Big M&A may lurk, but divestitures remain industry’s go-to portfolio shaper

Leading Edge

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AFRL Seeks Drag-Reduction Technologies For Mobility Aircraft

Sep 23, 2014
Can applique technologies reduce fuel burn across the U.S. Air Force transport fleet?

Reality Check

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Opinion: French Pilot Unions Impede Air France Makeover

Sep 22, 2014
SNPL pilot union demands could sink a struggling Air France

Airline Intel

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Ames Studies Long-Haul Pilot Engagement In Cockpit

Sep 22, 2014
A conundrum: Increasingly reliable aircraft lead to disengaged pilots
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Delta-Virgin Atlantic JV Brings Fresh Competition To Transatlantic

Sep 29, 2014
Through the ups and downs of its 30-year history, Virgin Atlantic Airways has been “amazingly successful” at establishing its brand, Chief Executive Craig Kreeger recently pointed out, although less successful at making money. The carrier’s highest profit was a pretax gain of £99 million ($162 million, at today’s rate) in 1999, Kreeger told The Wall Street Journal this month.

In Orbit

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Overhead Sensors Aid Earthquake Response

Sep 22, 2014
Satellites enable everything from better weather forecasts to smartphones; we would literally be lost without them.

Washington Outlook

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Free Money Is Not Enough For Some Pols

Sep 22, 2014
Apparently the all-private venture to build a new U.S. rocket engine does not meet the needs of some members of Congress. In a letter to President Barack Obama sent the same day that the United Launch Alliance and Blue Origin announced plans to build a replacement for the Russian RD-180 (see page 26), a flock of House members note that their legislative chamber wants to appropriate $220 million to do the same thing with government funds.

Space

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Tight Timing For SpaceX’s USAF Launch Certification

Sep 22, 2014
SpaceX to continue with engine work whether or not it meets certification deadline
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ESA Chooses ‘Least Bad’ Landing Site For Philae Comet Probe

Sep 22, 2014
67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko poses an unexpected challenge for Rosetta mission.
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NASA’s Commercial Crew Awards Set To Open Door To LEO

Sep 22, 2014
NASA Commercial Crew Contract Contenders Still Have Eyes On Prize
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ULA Buying RD-180 Replacement From Blue Origin

Sep 22, 2014
Blue Origin Tackles RD-180 Engine Replacement

Air Transport

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Approach Lights Problems Lead To Broader Examination Of LED Rollout

Sep 22, 2014
Industry blasts FAA for lack of flight-testing on LED replacement lights.
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Philippine Airlines, Cebu Pacific Target Strategic International Routes

Sep 22, 2014
The two major airlines in the Philippines are seizing new opportunities offered by fleet changes and government rulings.
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Thales Says It Can Sell LiveTV In China, South America

Sep 22, 2014
‘Synergy’ has become the buzzword at Thales after its LiveTV acquisition

Technologies for Growth

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NASA Tools Allow Designers To Tailor Aircraft Noise Signatures

Sep 22, 2014
Embedding aircraft noise simulation into conceptual design tools could lead to quieter aviation
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Europe Focuses Airframe Noise Research On Regional Aircraft

Sep 22, 2014
Clean Sky’s Low Noise Configuration project is demonstrating noise-reducing technologies for regional-turboprop landing gear and high-lift systems.
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NASA Looks To Noise-Reducing Designs Beyond Hybrid Wing-Body

Sep 22, 2014
Confident that unconventional designs can reduce aircraft noise, NASA eyes less radical approaches.
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NASA Replans Airframe Noise Work After Gulfstream Withdrawal

Sep 22, 2014
NASA turns to numerical simulation to prove flap and gear noise reduction
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NASA, AFRL Set For Morphing-Flap Flight Test

Sep 22, 2014
Flight tests on NASA Gulfstream will focus on verifying structural strength of morphing flap

The World

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S&P Lowers Sequa Rating

Sep 22, 2014
Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services cut its overall grade on U.S.-based Sequa’s debt a notch to “B-,” citing deteriorating profitability and “several” quarters of weakness in the commercial aerospace aftermarket. But S&P said the debt’s outlook was stable, as credit metrics should start to improve in 2015 based on increasing revenue from improving contracts with OEMs. Sales for Chromalloy, the company's largest segment, fell 13%.
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737 Rate to 52 Per Month?

Sep 22, 2014
After several months of speculation, Boeing has given the strongest indication yet that it is considering a further increase in production of the 737 to 52 aircraft a month. The manufacturer has so far committed to hit a rate of 47 per month in 2017 and is currently at 42 aircraft. Speaking at a Morgan Stanley investor conference, Boeing Commercial Airplanes CEO Ray Conner said the company’s “focus today would be around a 52-a-month rate in [737 production] somewhere in that 2018 time frame.” Conner added that “. . .
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787 Target in Sight

Sep 22, 2014
After several months of speculation, Boeing has given the strongest indication yet that it is considering a further increase in production of the 737 to 52 aircraft a month. The manufacturer has so far committed to hit a rate of 47 per month in 2017 and is currently at 42 aircraft. Speaking at a Morgan Stanley investor conference, Boeing Commercial Airplanes CEO Ray Conner said the company’s “focus today would be around a 52-a-month rate in [737 production] somewhere in that 2018 time frame.” Conner added that “. . .
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Hayes Named JetBlue CEO

Sep 22, 2014
JetBlue Airways on Sept. 18 said company President Robin Hayes will succeed Dave Barger—who has been with the carrier since its founding—as CEO in mid-February, making him the third leader in the airline’s short history. Hayes, a former senior executive at British Airways, was named president last year and had been chief commercial officer.
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GKN Signs for E2 Engine

Sep 22, 2014
GKN Aerospace will deliver parts for the development version of Pratt & Whitney’s first PW1900G geared turbofan for the Embraer E190-E2 regional jet in 2015 following the signing of a risk-and-revenue-sharing agreement worth up to $2.5 billion between the two manufacturers. The deal gives GKN a 7% share in the PW1900G and builds on a relationship about the geared turbofan extending back to 2006 when Pratt enrolled what was then Volvo Aero in the development of the first technology demonstrator. GKN acquired Volvo Aero in 2012.
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Countries Line Up Vs. ISIS

Sep 22, 2014
Australia and France are preparing to join the U.S. in an international air campaign designed to “disrupt and degrade” Islamic State forces in Iraq. Australia is sending F/A-18E/F Super Hornets, KC-30 aerial refueling tankers and its new E-7 Wedgetail airborne early warning aircraft to the United Arab Emirates in preparation for military operations while France completed reconnaissance flights in northern Iraq on Sept. 15 using Dassault Rafales equipped with Thales Reco NG pods.
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LCS To Fire Naval Missile

Sep 22, 2014
The U.S. Navy has contracted with Kongsberg Defense to test-fire its Naval Strike Missile from a Littoral Combat Ship. The tests have been requested by the Navy to show whether the weapon can engage a surface target at ranges of 100 nm. Tests will be conducted before the end of September from the USS Coronado.
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Slip Slidin’ Away

Sep 22, 2014
Pentagon acquisition chief Frank Kendall’s review of the much-delayed U.S. Navy Unmanned Carrier-Launched Airborne Surveillance and Strike (Uclass) system is now slated for early October after having been shifted numerous times. The program has drawn scrutiny for its requirements prioritized around continuous intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, and limited strike capabilities to the fleet. Some believe the Navy should focus more on penetrating—or stealthy—strike.
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Secret Mission

Sep 22, 2014
A classified U.S. government mission dubbed CLIO reached its target orbit Sept. 16 in a mission from Cape Canaveral that forced a delay of the first flight test of NASA’s planned Orion crew exploration vehicle. Liftoff of the Atlas V 401 from Space Launch Complex 41 came at 8:10 p.m. EDT. United Launch Alliance says the spacecraft—reportedly built by Lockheed Martin on an A2100 bus for an undisclosed federal agency—achieved “accurate delivery” to orbit.
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Triton Finally at Pax River for Flight-Testing

Sep 22, 2014
The U.S. Navy’s first Triton MQ-4C unmanned intelligence aircraft has arrived at NAS Patuxent River, Maryland, to begin flight-testing after its first cross-country flight.
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Spaceflight Scheduling

Sep 22, 2014
The airport in Midland, Texas, is likely to become the first facility serving both scheduled airline flights and commercial human spaceflight under an FAA spaceport license announced Sept. 17. XCOR Aerospace plans to use the facility as the initial runway launch and landing site for its two-seat Lynx suborbital rocketplane. The license type is the first for a commercial-service airport.
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KC-390 Tanker/Transport Taking Shape at Embraer

Sep 22, 2014
Embraer has mated the wing and fuselage of the first prototype KC-390 tanker/transport. First flight is planned by year-end. Powered by two International Aero Engines V2500-E5 turbofans, the KC-390 is scheduled to enter service in 2016 with the Brazilian air force, which is funding development and placed a $3 billion order for 28 aircraft in May. Final assembly is underway at Embraer’s Gaviao Peixoto plant in south-central Brazil.
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Improved A&D Predicted

Sep 22, 2014
Aerospace and defense analysts at Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services do not expect the recent announcement of increased U.S. military efforts to defeat the Islamic State to result in a spike in demand for defense contractors during the next 6-12 months. Still, those moves—combined with others involved with other geopolitical crises—likely will influence the debate about defense spending levels and “could effectively raise the floor” for U.S. defense budgets in fiscal 2016 and beyond.
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FAA Moves on Backlog

Sep 22, 2014
FAA, under fire by industry and lawmakers alike for lengthy delays and uncertainty surrounding its approach to certifying new products, is rolling out a process that is designed to eliminate what was once a lengthy backlog of projects. To manage its resources, FAA nearly a decade ago adopted a sequencing approach that would permit new projects to go forward only when the agency was certain it could line up all its resources for certification.

Viewpoint

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Opinion: Private Equity Needs Long View On Defense

Sep 23, 2014
For private equity-held defense contractors acquired during the height of military spending, current industry strategies are starting to diverge from the traditional investor thinking.

Feedback

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Safer Airways For All

Sep 22, 2014
Because I work at a civil airport, I was particularly intrigued by the “Managing Wildlife Hazards” coverage (AW&ST Sept. 1, pp. 34-43). The increased FAA attention seems deeply involved in data/statistical analysis, and the effort is certainly moving in the proper direction.

Who's Where

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Planetary Resources Inc.

Sep 22, 2014
Dante Lauretta has been named a science adviser to Planetary Resources Inc., Redmond, Washington. He is a professor of planetary science at the University of Arizona and principal investigator of Osiris-REx, NASA’s first asteroid sample return mission.
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Advent Aerospace Inc.

Sep 22, 2014
Harvey Ticlo has been appointed senior vice president-corporate strategy, business development and integration of Advent Aerospace Inc., Rye, New Hampshire. He was vice president/general manager of its Cabin Innovations Div., Lewisville, Texas. Steve Jourdenais has become senior vice president for the Interiors Group, which comprises Cabin Innovations and Jormac Aerospace. He was president of Jormac Aerospace, Largo, Florida.
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Aloha Air Cargo

Sep 22, 2014
Angelia Keene (see photo) has been appointed director of safety for Aloha Air Cargo. She was director of ground and flight safety for Island Air.
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SkyWest Airlines

Sep 22, 2014
Tracy Gallo has been promoted to vice president-flight operations from director of flight training for SkyWest Airlines. He succeeds Klen Brooks, who will be retiring.
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USAF

Sep 22, 2014
USAF Lt. Gen. Tod D. Wolters has been named deputy chief of staff for operations, plans and requirements at USAF Headquarters at the Pentagon. He has been commander of the Twelfth Air Force (Air Forces Southern) of Air Combat Command (ACC), Davis-Monthan AFB, Arizona. Brig. Gen. VeraLinn Jamieson has been nominated for promotion to major general and has been director of intelligence at ACC Headquarters, Joint Base Langley-Eustis, Virginia. Brig. Gen. Paul H. Guemmer has been appointed commander of the Jeanne M.
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Diversified Technical Systems

Sep 22, 2014
Scott Henry has become Novi, Michigan-based Eastern U.S. sales manager for Diversified Technical Systems.
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Telesat

Sep 22, 2014
Tom Eaton has become Washington-based vice president-international sales for Telesat. He succeeds Nigel Gibson, who will be leaving the company. Eaton has been president of Harris CapRock Communications and was executive vice president-global sales and marketing of PanAmSat and vice president of global sales and customer support at Intelsat.
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Boeing

Sep 22, 2014
Michael Cassel has been appointed director of global corporate citizenship for Boeing’s corporate offices in Chicago plus the Great Lakes region. He was chief of staff for the company’s state and local government operations team.
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U.S. Navy

Sep 22, 2014
U.S. Navy Rear Adm. (lower half) Robert V. Hoppa has been named director of U.S. Africa Command, based in Stuttgart, Germany. He has been deputy chief of staff for intelligence at International Security Assistance Force Headquarters and deputy director for operations and support for United States Forces-Afghanistan.
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Cutter Aviation

Sep 22, 2014
Calvin Martin has been named general manager of Cutter Aviation’s Colorado Springs location. Russell “Buck” Myers has become the company’s avionics supervisor.
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Summit Aviation

Sep 22, 2014
Jeremy Bennett has been named Huntsville, Alabama-based manager of business development for Summit Aviation. He was director of flight operations for Wyle at the U.S. Army Redstone Test Center in Huntsville.
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Gulfstream Aerospace Corp.

Sep 22, 2014
USAF Brig. Gen. (ret.) John R. “Bob” Ranck has been appointed to succeed Buddy Sams as Washington-based senior vice president-government programs and sales of the Gulfstream Aerospace Corp., Savannah, Georgia. Sams plans to retire at year-end.
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Astronics Advanced Electronic Systems

Sep 22, 2014
Patrick Mills has been appointed chief mechanical engineer within the Airborne Power and Control Div. of Astronics Advanced Electronic Systems, Kirkland, Washington. He was an engineer for the Eaton Corp.
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Plexus Planning

Sep 22, 2014
Chari Kinney (see photo) has become Seattle-based vice president-sales for Plexus Planning of the U.K. She was an executive with BDM Enterprise Solutions & Consulting Services.
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Meridian

Sep 22, 2014
Greg Johnson has been appointed Hayward, California-based director of business development for Meridian. He was an executive with TWC Aviation, San Jose, California.
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Bye Aerospace Inc.

Sep 22, 2014
Brad Busse has been named to the board of directors of Denver-based Bye Aerospace Inc. He is president of Busse Ventures and was an executive with RBC Capital Markets.
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Mesotis Jets

Sep 22, 2014
Moreno Aguiari has been appointed head of the East Coast U.S. division of Mesotis Jets at Atlanta Dekalb-Peachtree Airport.
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House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee

Sep 22, 2014
Naveen C. Rao has become counsel to the aviation subcommittee of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. He has been in private law practice with Squire Patton Boggs and previously Jones Day.

Aerospace Calendar

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Conferences & Exhibitions

Sep 22, 2014
A version of this article appears in the September 15 issue of Aviation Week & Space Technology. Oct. 7-9—MRO Europe, Madrid. Nov. 4-6—MRO Asia, Singapore. Nov. 19-20—A&D Programs, Litchfield Park, Arizona. Jan. 13-14—MRO Latin America, Argentina. Feb. 2-3—MRO Middle East, Dubai. March 5—Laureate Awards, Washington. April 14-16—MRO Americas, Miami.
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Upcoming Events (Sept. 22, 2014)

Sep 22, 2014
A version of this article appears in the September 15 issue of Aviation Week & Space Technology. Sept. 29-Oct 3—International Astronautical Congress. Toronto. See www.iafastro.org Oct. 5-10—33rd Digital Avionics Systems Conference. Colorado Springs. See www.aiaa.org/EventDetail.aspx?id=22435 Oct. 15-16—International Symposium for Personal and Commercial Spaceflight. Las Cruces, New Mexico. See www.aiaa.org/EventDetail.aspx?id=23330