While a host of Western manufacturers see their new joint companies with Avic as a way into China, Avic views the endeavors as a way to the world. Like its U.S. and European aerospace partners, Avic believes there is money to be made by making onboard aircraft systems in China. And whereas the foreigners could not do business in the country without cooperating with the state manufacturer, Avic has judged that it just could not go it alone in trying to crack the global aircraft systems market.
Foreign investment in Chinese civil aircraft production has a long tail. Twenty-four years ago, Messerschmitt-Boelkow-Blohm was on the hunt for European and North American partners to help fund joint development of the MPC-75 regional jet, which the German company hoped would take Europe—then in the throes of deregulating—by storm. Catic, the import/export arm of the Chinese aviation ministry, was to hold a minority stake with the idea that airplanes could be produced at low cost in China.
US Airways filed an antitrust lawsuit against global distribution system provider Sabre on April 21, just nine days after American Airlines filed a similar suit against GDS provider Travelport. The filing of a second suit comes less than two months after US Airways signed a new distribution agreement with Sabre, which the carrier describes as having been reached under coercion.
Even as China purchases from the West, it wants to compete with it, and to that end the Chinese have striven to make commercial jets for two decades. In the 1990s, the Europeans were favored partners for a 70-seat regional jet, although the Chinese teamed with McDonnell Douglas on the 130-seat Trunkliner program assembling MD-80 and MD-90s in Shanghai. The new programs stalled for years; few sales came from the Trunkliner. But with each effort, China's aircraft industry has learned more about how to compete and what sells in the West.
Defense analysts and U.S. Navy brass agree—China's recent successes in developing an anti-ship ballistic missile and a more robust navy have made the powerhouse Asian nation a much greater military force to reckon with. China's muscle-flexing, they say, will most certainly upset the balance of power in the region and force the U.S. to rethink its long-term military and geopolitical strategies for Asia and the Pacific Rim. Opinions diverge, though, over the real implications of China's growing super-charged military might.
Dave Toomey has been appointed assistant vice president-cyberbusiness, at San Antonio-based SRC. He was senior vice president of cybersolutions for Qinetiq North America.
USAF Maj. Gen. Wendy M. Masiello, program executive officer for combat and mission support in the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Acquisition, has been named deputy assistant secretary for contracting in the acquisition office. Brig. Gen. Mark C. Dillon, who has been commander of the 86th Airlift Wing, U.S. Air Forces in Europe, Ramstein AB, Germany, has been appointed director of regional affairs, in the Office of the Deputy Undersecretary for International Affairs at USAF headquarters in Washington. He will be succeeded by Col. Charles K.
John P. DiStasio (see photo) has been appointed senior director of business development for Microwave Solutions for the Electronics Group of Crane Aerospace & Electronics, Beverly Mass. He was director of field sales at Cobham-M/A COM Military Programs.
When the European Union upbraids an African country for lax aviation oversight it is, by now, par for the course. When the EU does so with its biggest member state, Germany, that is an entirely different issue.
The trial of two American pilots charged with involuntary manslaughter resulting from the inflight collision of their aircraft with a Brazilian airliner is expected to conclude in the next few weeks. “We're hopeful about the outcome,” says David Rimmer, “but personally, I'm not very optimistic.”
In its drive to identify technologies that could be pursued to make aircraft cleaner and quieter, NASA has extended the horizon of its search to 2040-45. Europe has already extended its vision for aviation in 2050 to help guide long-term research goals.
Todd Bitgood (see photo) has been promoted to assistant manager of New York-based FlightSafety International's learning center in St. Louis from director of training for the Bombardier Learjet 60 training program.
French engine maker Snecma will focus on two key commercial propulsion efforts in 2011 as it increases civil engine production to new levels and simultaneously nears major development milestones for the Leap-X with CFM International partner General Electric.
Even as the U.K. steps up efforts to boost its unmanned aircraft prowess, an internal Defense Ministry document warns that the government risks a fractured approach unless stronger oversight emerges. “A lack of unity of joint purpose in U.K. [unmanned aerial systems, or UAS] thinking will likely continue until an overarching body is set up that takes ownership of the road map and that is empowered to oversee and coordinate U.K. UAS and supporting lines of development,” the document declares.
This time-lapse view of a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V lifting a classified payload for the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) into orbit shows the rocket making a dogleg maneuver as it gains altitude heading south along the California coast from Vandenberg AFB. (The star glare at the top left is the Moon.) As is usual on such missions, no report was made on the orbital success of the mission or the health of its payload. The launch was from Vandenberg's Space Launch Complex-3.
The recently announced acquisition of Cirrus Aircraft by China Aviation Industry General Aircraft Co. Ltd., (Avic) has met with opposition that a surprised Cirrus management maintains is misplaced and potentially damaging.
Does the airline industry use today's technology to its fullest? Wolfgang Mayrhuber (see photo) definitely believes it does not. Lufthansa's recently retired chairman and CEO is a thoughtful engineer who passionately advocates harnessing technology to drive efficiencies, and he wants to see next-gen aircraft employed in an optimal way.
The FAA ended up with more egg on its face after a loss-of-separation incident on April 18 involving an aircraft carrying U.S. first lady Michelle Obama. Due to an apparent controller error, the military version of a Boeing 737 carrying Mrs. Obama was closer than it should have been to a C-17 during approach to Andrews AFB, Md. This forced the narrowbody to perform a go-around when it appeared the C-17 would not clear the runway in time. While the FAA stresses that nobody was in danger, the separation error made plenty of headlines due to the high-profile passenger.
Decisions over the next few months could reshape U.S. Army aviation for decades to come. The most pressing topic is how to replace the Bell OH-58 Kiowa Warrior armed scout, but that choice must now be balanced with the Army's goal of developing next-generation medium-size rotorcraft to replace its AH-64s and UH-60s.
Charles E. Milam has been named principal director of military community and family policy in the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense (Personnel and Readiness) in Washington. Milam was deputy Air Force chief of staff for manpower and personnel.
Professional and amateur astronomers will spend decades poring over a massive data-dump from NASA that represents 57% of the take from the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) mission, which imaged the entire sky from polar orbit. There are millions of objects in the survey data that have never been detected before, as well as spectacular views of objects in four infrared wavelengths. In all, WISE collected more than 2.7 million images as it surveyed all of the sky at least once and another half of it again before the mission was terminated.
Anthony Smith has been named vice president of sales and marketing for TECT Power, Fort Mitchell, Ky. He worked for BAE Systems in business development and has held executive positions at Gulfstream Aerospace, Rolls-Royce, General Electric and Timken.
In the midst of the political and financial uncertainty of the last five years, aerospace and defense companies increased spending in one key area: Washington lobbying. The numbers are striking. The air transport industry spent $51.6 million onK Street in 2005. By 2010, the amount shot up to $88.7 million. And the defense aerospace industry went from spending $32.2 million in 2005 to $59.4 million by the end of the decade.
U.S. spacecraft engineers with federal funding will pursue at least five different ways to replace the space shuttle in the next few years, from capsules that harken back to the 1960s to a spaceplane and a vertical-takeoff-and-landing craft that flies to orbit on a reusable booster.
