USAF Maj. Gen. (select) Russell J. Handy, commander of the 9th Air and Space Expeditionary Task Force-Iraq and director of Air Combat Command in Baghdad, has been named director of operations, plans, requirements and programs of Headquarters Pacific Air Forces, Pearl Harbor-Hickam AFB, Hawaii. Maj. Gen. (select) Timothy M. Zadalis, director of air plans for the International Security Assistance Force Joint Command of U.S. Forces-Afghanistan, U.S.
Frank Morring, Jr. (Washington), Mark Carreau (Houston)
Earth spins below the empty payload bay of the space shuttle Endeavour during the just-concluded STS-134 mission, the last for the newest orbiter in the retiring shuttle fleet (see p. 29). A slow exposure from the International Space Station cupola on the nadir side of the Harmony pressurized node streaked the lights of Southeast Asia on the surface below, while distant stars stand still in the blackness of space. Canada's Dextre special-purpose dexterous manipulator hangs in front of the camera at top, grasping a cargo transport container (CTC) in one of its arms.
June 13-14—White Eagle Aerospace's Short Course: “Directed Infrared Countermeasures.” Wingate by Wyndham Hotel, Oro Valley, Ariz. Call +1 (520) 219-0526 or see www.whiteeagleaerospace.com June 14—University of Westminster Aviation Seminars. “Air Transport Marketing: Practical Techniques and Strategies.” June 15-17—“Regional and Low-Cost Air Transport: Opportunities and Challenges.” Both in London. Call +44 (207) 911-5000 ext. 3220, fax +44 (207) 911-5171 or see www.westminster.ac.uk/aviation
With a new round of Rafale upgrades nearing completion, the French military and defense industry are starting to look at the long-term future of the twin-engine fighter.
U.S. Army countermeasures, missile and engine competitions are pitting long-entrenched suppliers against newcomers waving the banner of acquisition reform and brandishing the results of company-funded testing they claim reduces costs and risks. The Army is closing in on selecting a successor to its AGM-114 Hellfire missile, awarding contracts to demonstrate replacements for a troubled laser missile jammer and launching a competition to develop a follow-on to the T700 engine powering much of the service's helicopter fleet.
The National Mediation Board (NMB) will be conducting interviews and an on-site investigation to determine whether Delta Air Lines improperly interfered in the latest union representation election by flight attendants, the board says in a June 1 letter to the airline and Association of Flight Attendants (AFA). But NMB officials also might be considering another factor: Delta's claims that it was merely responding to an enormous effort by the AFA to win the vote via a “fear and smear” campaign and voluminous and intrusive contacts with employees. In the Nov.
In 2008, Finmeccanica made a bold push into the U.S. defense market by buying DRS Technologies. But the hefty purchase price of $5.2 billion saddled the balance sheet of the Italian aerospace giant with a lot of goodwill. “Finmeccanica paid a very high price for DRS, and that has crippled them for some time,” says TPC adviser Charles Armitage. Finmeccanica now plans to sell off non-core units of DRS to help pay down its debt.
Sept. 12—A&D Finance Europe. London. Sept. 14-15—MRO for Aircraft & Engine Leasing. Dublin. Sept. 26—Aircraft Composite Repair Management Forum. Zurich. Sept. 27-29—MRO Europe 2011. Madrid. Sept. 28—MRO Military Europe. Madrid. Oct. 12-13—Fifth Edition of Lean Six Sigma for MRO Forum. San Francisco. Oct. 20-21—MRO IT. Chicago. Oct. 24-26—A&D Programs. Phoenix. Nov. 8-10—MRO Asia. Beijing. Nov. 16-17—Lean Six Sigma for MRO Europe. Amsterdam.
Lockheed Martin Chairman/CEO Robert J. Stevens spoke with AW&ST Editor-in-Chief Anthony L. Velocci, Jr., and Senior Business Editor Joseph C. Anselmo about the company's fourth consecutive first-place finish in Aviation Week's Top-Performing Companies study. Stevens also addressed how he is positioning the company for a leaner defense environment as well as criticism of Lockheed Martin's performance on the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) program.
China's airport construction program is continuing to expand. The latest update of the building campaign for 2011-15 includes 56 airports, up from 45 announced earlier and the 33 commenced under the previous five-year plan. The country is working toward a scheme based on five clusters of airports to serve the north, east, south, southwest and northwest of China. Major international gateways anchor the first three of those clusters, at Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou.
Developers of the T129 ATAK attack helicopter for the Turkish armed forces are in an accelerated mode as they race to meet tight customer delivery schedules.
The Royal Australian Air Force is the first recipient of an Airbus A330 Multirole Tanker Transport (MRTT). Airbus Military on June 1 formally handed over the first of five KC-30As to the Australian government at the tanker's home base at RAAF Amberley.
Charles Carroll (see photo) is the new Southeast U.S. marketing manager for Universal Avionics, Tucson, Ariz. He was owner of CCAvionics and worked for Southern Jet Management and Stevens Aviation.
Most aging airframe stories these days have to do with high-priced avgas and airframes sent to the desert. But Ontic Engineering, a Southern California parts and components re-manufacturing and service specialist, is seeing its business expand by keeping “mature” airplanes flying, even through a recession.
Northrop Grumman CEO Wes Bush's no-nonsense focus on improving margins and efficiency is paying dividends for this longtime TPC laggard. Northrop's respectable fourth-place finish in this year's TPC study is its best showing in more than a dozen years, and the company could be in a position to challenge General Dynamics and Boeing next year, now that it has divested a weak shipbuilding business that was pulling down its overall results. The bad news: Northrop and its peers face strong headwinds in the coming years as politicians in the U.S.
The editorial “IAM Headed Down The Wrong Path” provides an interesting perspective on whether Boeing has a right to use non-union personnel if it deems such use to be in the company's best interest. Certainly, the company is not under an obligation to allow any union to dictate its plans.
EADS and the U.K.'s Serious Fraud Office (SFO) are looking into bribery charges leveled against a unit of the aerospace and defense giant by former GPT Special Project Management employee Ian Foxley. He brought the charges as part of his case claiming unfair dismissal. Neither the SFO nor EADS says there is evidence of wrongdoing at GPT, which is a subsidiary of Astrium's Paradigm Services operations. Foxley says GPT used unlawful practices to help secure a deal for communications equipment services for the Saudi National Guard.
After two abortive attempts since 2008, the Indian navy this month is hoping to finally jump-start the process to acquire six medium-range maritime reconnaissance (MRMR) aircraft. Maritime surveillance has been a high priority in Indian national security circles since the 2008 Mumbai attack, when terrorists infiltrated India by sea. The competition for the $750 million program will seek to provide the navy with aircraft that augment its small fleet of upgraded Ilyushin Il-38 Mays for littoral reconnaissance and anti-surface warfare.
If the South Korean air force's plans come to fruition, by 2030 its leading combat aircraft will be pilotless—and domestically made. That strike aircraft will be backed by a home-grown manned fighter, which by then will have been in service for nine years. It all seems rather ambitious for a country whose main experience with combat aircraft development so far has been a light attack aircraft based on a supersonic trainer that was designed with guidance from Lockheed Martin.
Gobe Hobona has been appointed to the advisory board of the Open Source Geospatial Laboratory, University of Nottingham, England. He also is a technical consultant at Envitia.
Sierra Nevada Corp. and Brazilian manufacturer Embraer are fielding the EMB-314 Super Tucano, a veteran counter-insurgency aircraft, as one of two finalists in the U.S. Air Force's upcoming Light Air Support program. Hawker Beechcraft's AT-6B is the other contender in the hotly contested procurement. USAF should announce the winner in June or July.
