Amy Butler (Eglin AFB and Fort Walton Beach, Fla. )
U.S. Air Force officials are concerned that years of progress righting a once-wayward $7.1 billion Lockheed Martin stealthy cruise missile program could be hindered by the failure of Congress to pass a fiscal 2011 budget.
Camille Allaz (see photo), former executive vice president-cargo for Air France, has been named to The International Air Cargo Association ’s Hall of Fame. Allaz, whose career included a stint as president of Groupe Air France, was selected for his leadership and work as a historian of the cargo industry.
When the Pentagon’s Defense Science Board (DSB) started looking at ways to make the U.S. military more adaptable, it assembled a list of successful and sometimes less successful commercial companies and military programs to use as models. The DSB’s selections often reveal the themes of discovering and understanding user needs; dividing tasks among small, multi-discipline groups; reducing the number of meetings; slashing management layers; and simplifying acquisition, all moves intended to speed needed or desired products to the user.
Forward-traded European Union emissions allowances (EUAs) steadily increased in price in February as the fallout from a rash of thefts of the credits from emissions credit registries in EU member states continued, limiting spot carbon trading and forcing many market participants to revert to safer technical patterns that lowered volatility.
Recent moves by the EchoStar Corp./Dish Network group to acquire Hughes Communications and ICO Communications subsidiary DBSD have recast the battle for control of the fast-growing broadband and mobile satellite sectors.
Companies looking to supply precision weapons to the U.K. are still grappling with the aftereffects of the British government’s new defense spending plan, wondering which programs will be sustained and what further cuts may loom. A lack of clear direction on which weapons systems will be supported going forward is a big planning headache, warns a senior industry official. “I am still slightly confused what the future holds for us,” he says.
Further development of the world’s largest and smallest unmanned air vehicles hangs in the balance as AeroVironment seeks new funding to secure the future of its innovative Global Observer (GO) and Hummingbird concepts.
Bombardier Inc. stands out among aircraft manufacturers for the degree to which it has integrated China into its global supply chain. The fuselage for the Canadian company’s Q400 turboprop is produced here, and Shenyang Aircraft Corp., a subsidiary of state-owned Avic, is building a plant that will manufacture fuselages for Bombardier’s new CSeries jet. You might think all of that sourcing would result in big sales, but so far it hasn’t. Bombardier has not sold a passenger aircraft in China in more than seven years.
Russia is ramping up fielding of its newest long-range air defense system and has put the follow-on missile defense capability on a firm development path.
The U.S. Navy expects its first Broad Area Maritime Surveillance (BAMS) unmanned aerial system (UAS) base to achieve initial operational capability in late 2015, somewhere in the Persian Gulf. “The intention is to base BAMS in the 5th Fleet,” says Capt. Robert Dishman, the U.S. Navy’s program manager for BAMS.
U.S. Air Force officials have confirmed they signed a $3.5 billion contract with Boeing to design and deliver the first 18 KC-46A refueling tankers by 2017. The company won the contract over EADS North America, after a nearly decade-long battle to start building 179 replacements for the KC-135.
As Mesa Air Group emerges from 13 months of bankruptcy protection, the U.S. regional’s top executive warns that challenges still await the newly restructured company.
Eumetsat member states have given final approval to a new geostationary weather satellite system that will ensure improved weather and climate forecasting for the next three decades. Belgium, the lone holdout, agreed last month to release funds for the space segment of the €2.8 billion ($3.8 billion) project, permitting full-scale development to proceed. Work has been underway since late January, when Portugal, Spain and Switzerland gave their formal OK (AW&ST Feb. 21, 14).
It will take the U.K. several years to cure the ills that currently afflict the Eurofighter Typhoon program, and auditors worry that further cost increases lie ahead. Among the concerns highlighted by the National Audit Office (NAO) are shortfalls in training and spares supply that are hampering day-to-day operations, as well as slow progress in fielding essential air-to-ground capabilities.
Frank Morring, Jr. (Washington), Michael A. Taverna (Paris)
Satellite operators who have faced an uphill battle trying to sell space on their platforms to government customers believe the new wave of congressional budget-cutters may give their hosted-payload business a boost—once the dust settles. While the idea of piggybacking specialized government and commercial applications hardware on satcom and other commercial spacecraft is not new, governments are only beginning to overcome their inertia and adopt the approach as a way to stretch their space budgets.
Japan Airlines, which at one time had the largest fleet of Boeing 747s, retired the aircraft entirely as of March 1. Symbolizing JAL’s downsizing amid bankruptcy protection, the 747 will be replaced with smaller aircraft.
The helicopter industry here is in an uproar over a government move to limit rotorcraft activities in urban areas. The ministry of ecology, energy and sustainable development published an order on Oct. 20, 2010, that severely restricts helicopter use in densely populated areas, except for emergency services or government/military applications. Densely populated areas are defined as any conglomeration greater than 3.6 km (2.2 mi.) wide or any point within 0.5 nm of these areas, or for coastal regions, 0.25 nm distant.
Avic Electromechanical Systems and Hamilton Sundstrand will begin developing a facility in Xi’an, China, in June following formation of a joint company on March 3. It will supply the electrical system for the Comac C919 airliner and support programs outside of China. All foreign suppliers for the C919 are required to work in China; most use Chinese partners, usually Avic subsidiaries.
Tracking aircraft from space using payloads hosted on Iridium’s planned constellation of 66 next-generation communication satellites is a concept that is rapidly gaining momentum. Rather than waiting for a government customer to define the requirement and develop the payload, Iridium is pulling together a venture that will fund and operate a global aircraft monitoring service, selling the data to the FAA and air navigation service providers.
Struggling Dubai Aerospace’s aircraft leasing business has further reduced its order book, shedding 18 Airbus A350-900 and 18 A320 commitments and relinquishing many of its Boeing orders. DAE signed a $27 billion contract in 2007 for 200 aircraft from each of the two manufacturers. The cancellations represented the bulk of the order book adjustment for Airbus, which also saw one A330-200 cancellation with an order intake of eight. Airbus delivered a total of 73 aircraft in January and February.
Brazil’s TAM Linhas Aereas is continuing fleet expansion plans, with a $3.2 billion order for Airbus single-aisles and Boeing widebodies. Brazil is gearing up for the soccer World Cup and Olympic Games in the coming years, which is driving demand for capacity. TAM has committed to taking 32 A320 single-aisles, 22 in the NEO (New Engine Option) configuration. TAM also has ordered two additional 777-300ERs and signed purchase rights for two more widebodies.
Fractional pioneer NetJets is reversing course on its large-cabin fleet with its March 1 order for up to 120 Bombardier Global business jets. The order, valued at as much as $6.7 billion, is the largest Bombardier has ever received for its business jets. It also is the first such deal between NetJets and Bombardier, which operates a competitor fractional company, Flexjet.
Fortune has graced us with time,” says Col. David Hlatky, commander of the 33rd Fighter Wing at Eglin AFB, Fla., which is the F-35 multinational pilot and maintenance schoolhouse.
Three-time space shuttle astronaut John “Mike” Lounge died of cancer on March 1. He was 64. A U.S. Naval Academy graduate who flew 99 combat missions in Vietnam as an F-4J Phantom radar intercept officer, Lounge joined NASA in 1978 as lead engineer for shuttle-launched satellites. Selected as an astronaut candidate in 1980, Lounge flew on the STS-51I, STS-26 and STS-35 missions.
An air traffic controller demonstrates Saab’s remote tower system, which allows a distant airport to be monitored via a live feed displayed on a wrap-around screen. Swedish air navigation service provider LFV is working toward the first operational deployment of the Saab system in Sundsvall. This is just one of the many new technologies that are emerging to transform all facets of air traffic management and discussed in a special report on pp. 60-74. Saab photo.
