Managers are assessing the risks of taking advantage of a one-time opportunity to shoot high-definition video and still photography of the International Space Station while each of the major ISS partner agencies has a crew transport or cargo vessel docked to the orbital outpost. The photo op would come near the end of the shuttle Discovery’s upcoming mission to the ISS.
Even as the Pentagon’s proposed fiscal 2012 budget outlines a new era of austerity that pales in comparison to the robust growth rates of the last decade, concern is building around deeper, de facto cuts that would result from Congress’s inability to appropriate new funds for the current fiscal year. “I want to make clear that we face a crisis on our doorstep if the Department of Defense ends up with a year-long continuing resolution or a significant funding cut for fiscal 2011,” Defense Secretary Robert Gates declared last week.
EchoStar Corp. has agreed to acquire Hughes Communications in a move that will recast the battle for control of the fast-growing broadband satellite service sector. The transaction, for about $2 billion—including the refinancing of Hughes debt—will give EchoStar control of Hughes’s main operating company, Hughes Network Systems, as well as its manufacturing unit, which is a leader in broadband and high-speed mobile satellite service (MSS) technologies.
Moscow is officially vague about perceived threats to Russia in the Western Pacific, but it has declared the need for a military build-up in the Kuril Islands, which Japan has been trying to recover since the Soviet Union invaded them in 1945. The dueling claims have blighted relations between the two countries and derailed even the conclusion of a peace treaty.
An industry team will work to find and eliminate suspected areas of drag around the General Electric engine on the Boeing 787 as part of efforts to bring performance closer to specification.
Australia is integrating three new operational elements into its advanced, network-centric military—a squadron of Wedgetail aircraft, the first two squadrons of F/A-18F Super Hornets and the Vigilare theater surveillance integration system. All are designed as the backbone of a small, highly responsive force. The country is refashioning its armed services as the core of an international force—integrating a variety of foreign participants—that will be capable of responding to military emergencies or natural disasters.
Boeing is edging closer to deciding whether to upgrade the 777 or embark instead on a major derivative as it focuses on the competitive threat of Airbus’s similarly sized A350-1000.
Jennifer C. McGarey has been named corporate vice president and secretary of the board of Northrop Grumman Corp. of Los Angeles. She was general counsel and secretary of RCN Corp., where she also was vice president-human resources and vice president/compliance officer.
Greg Kinsella and Margie Bricker (see photos) have been promoted to senior management positions at New York-based Arcadia Aviation . Kinsella is chief operating officer and Bricker vice president of finance. Both are veterans of the company and were instrumental in its integration of Wayfarer Aviation.
Boeing expects to complete introduction of its 737 improvement package into service in the first quarter of 2012, resulting in fuel savings of $120,000 per aircraft per year, says product marketing regional director George Alabi. The first “wave” of improvements, scheduled to enter service in the first quarter of this year, includes reduced-drag anti-collision light fairings, low-drag wheel-well enclosures and control-surface improvements. This should yield around a 0.6% fuel-burn reduction.
March 8—Laureates Awards. Washington. April 12-13—MRO Military Conference & Exhibition. Miami. April 12-13—MRO Latin America Conference & Exhibition. Miami. April 12-14—MRO Americas Conference & Exhibition. Miami. May 10-12—NextGen Ahead. Washington. May 24-25—A&D Cybersecurity Conference. Washington. May 26-27—Inventory & Engine Asset Management Forum. Zurich. Sept. 27-29—MRO Europe 2011. Madrid. Oct. 24-26—A&D Programs. Phoenix.
While the marketplace has shown little appetite for light and medium-sized business jets in the past two years, its hunger for really big birds remains hearty. The percentage of new airliners outfitted for VIP travel is small, but it is profitable enough that Airbus and Boeing have established sales units devoted entirely to serving governments, potentates, the super rich and, to a lesser degree, corporations.
Geoff Hill has been tapped by the Aircraft Electronics Association as director of communications and editor of Avionics News, Lee’s Summit, Mo. He comes from the University of Missouri-Kansas City, where he managed communications and marketing for the intercollegiate athletics department.
AeroVironment has flown a prototype flapping-wing unmanned aircraft to complete the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s Nano Air Vehicle program. With a 19-cm wingspan and weighing just 19 grams (less than 1 oz.)—including batteries, motors, video camera and communications links—the remote-controlled Nano Hummingbird has hovered for up to 11 min. on internal power, demonstrated precision maneuvers and transitioned to forward flight at speeds up to 11 mph.
Flight tests of the newly unveiled 747-8 Intercontinental will face key challenges ranging from handling to fuel burn as Boeing tries to drum up new orders and meet performance guarantees.
Your obituary for Charles Kaman (AW&ST Feb. 7, p. 15) gives the impression that he invented the intermeshing rotor helicopter concept. This principle was conceived and perfected by Anton Flettner (1885-1961) in Germany in the late 1930s, first with the model Fl 265, and later with the Fl 282 Kolibri “Hummingbird,” which was used in combat reconnaissance roles by both the German navy and army in World War II. Fl 282s were captured and evaluated by the Americans, and Flettner came to the U.S. in 1945 as a military consultant.
“Heavy Lift” (AW&ST Jan. 17, p. 18) illustrates the ambiguities of democratic rocket science. The NASA Authorization Act (PL 111-267) is not a concise engineering requirements document; its truncated democratic assembly favors contradictory interpretations. Administrator Charles Bolden has it right with regard to his space launch system priorities “Affordable, Sustainable and Realistic.”
Johanne Lecomte (see photo) has been appointed vice president of sales, marketing and communications for International Launch Services , Reston, Va. She was vice president of sales and marketing at EADS North America and also managed business development projects for Dynegy Communications and Teleglobe International.
After years of struggling with how to proceed with the Medium Extended-Altitude Air Defense System (Meads) with Italy and Germany, the Pentagon has finally cut its losses at $4 billion for development and canceled plans to deploy the system. The idea now is to “harvest” technology from this Lockheed Martin-led development while also providing its partners with the opportunity to do the same or, potentially, to buy components of the air and missile defense program once a proof-of-concept effort is complete.
Growth at Eutelsat continued unabated in the first half of its 2009-10 fiscal year, prompting the No. 3 fixed satellite service provider to reiterate its strong forecast for the full year and the next three years. Eutelsat reported revenues up 13.3% to €575.9 million ($783 million) and earnings before taxes, depreciation and amortization up 12.5% to €463 million. Profits jumped 25% to €174 million.
Khoi Vu (see photo) has been named vice president and general manager of Gar-Kenyon Technologies , Naugatuck, Conn. He was vice president of aeronautics for Smiths and before that, vice president and general manager-aerospace and defense for Mortiz Aerospace.
It can be difficult to tell when a congressional vote is a mere tactical victory or represents a tectonic shift of the political landscape, but our sense is that the House’s 233-198 rejection of the alternate engine for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter registers on the Richter scale. After the vote, General Electric and Rolls-Royce made the obligatory observation that the Senate has yet to have its say, but this likely is the end of the match for the F136 engine they are jointly developing as an alternative to Pratt & Whitney’s F135.
Canberra is facing natural disasters that include epic floods in the east and large-scale brush fires in the west, plus the restrictions of a smart but small demographic and the rapid growth of industries such as mining that soak up the country’s limited pool of technically talented people. These last elements inhibit the military’s efforts to field a highly integrated, joint force that exploits creative recruiting, developmental agility and sophisticated networking to make up for its small size.
Although I found the Space Shuttle Era articles (AW&ST Dec. 6, 2010, pp. 48-68) to be outstanding overall, I do have one quibble. Expecting the shuttle “to fly back and forth to orbit like an airliner” is unrealistic because the shuttle is a rocket, not an aircraft. If it is intended to operate like an airliner, it must be designed like an airliner.
