Neelam Mathews (Bengaluru ), Leithen Francis (Bengaluru )
India’s aerospace industrial growth strategy is about to get a major shot in the arm, with the government planning to spend more than $80 billion on procurement in 2011-15, triggering a huge inflow of offset deals by the winners. The activity is also causing the industry to restructure, with streamlining efforts and consolidation on the horizon as businesses shift focus from serving the local market to becoming globally viable players.
Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) has received Airports Council International-North America ’s 2011 Commissioners Congressional Leadership Award for his “ongoing support of the aviation industry.” New board members at the Washington-based Aviation Suppliers Association are Richard Levin, managing director of A.J. Levin Co.; David J. Susser, president and CEO of Seal Dynamics; Brent Webb, president of Aircraft Inventory Management and Services; and Mitchell Weinberg, president of International Aircraft Associates.
The U.S. Air Force is adapting two sensors from the canceled civil-military National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (Npoess) and is working to define a third for the military’s version of its replacement, the Defense Weather Satellite System. The Defense Weather System Directorate, the Air Force program office heading the DWSS spacecraft development effort, is to present findings to Defense acquisition chief Ashton Carter Feb. 23 on the overall program’s progress, including plans for the third instrument, a microwave sensor.
Doug Murri has been hired by inflight broadband platform Row 44 , Westlake Village, Calif. He was a longtime operations-technology professional at Southwest Airlines, where he worked on the Wi-Fi passenger initiative.
On the 25th anniversary of the space shuttle Challenger tragedy, I found myself reading Frank Morring, Jr.’s “Rocket Recycling” with absolute disbelief about the reactions from some of our national lawmakers (AW&ST Jan. 17, p. 18). He describes Sen. Bill Nelson’s (D-Fla.) instruction to NASA Administrator Charles Bolden to have a new rocket flight ready by 2016 and within budget, even after NASA issued a preliminary report stating that it cannot be done under the present funding. Nelson counters that NASA must do so because “it’s the law.”
Quickstep Technologies will become Australia’s largest independent composites maker with an expansion tied to the confirmation of its role as a supplier to the Lockheed Martin F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program. The company hopes eventually to apply its out-of-autoclave composites curing process to parts that it and U.S. partners will make for the F-35, with a view to cutting program costs.
Air France-KLM expects its operating result for the full year to come in below prior estimates of more than €300 million but remain in the black. The airline notes that labor disruptions and poor weather in the last quarter hampered financial performance to the tune of €100 million. Results also were affected by political turmoil in North Africa.
At some point, Allegiant Airlines was bound to inspire an imitator. The rapidly growing Las Vegas-based low-cost carrier has been wildly successful, at least by aviation industry standards, with consistent profits and near-routine double-digit margins. Now Allegiant’s imitator has arrived, more or less: Vision Airlines. Since 1994, Vision has operated primarily as a charter service for hotels, casinos, professional sports teams and the U.S. government. It ventured into scheduled service in the past two years—in limited amounts.
With gear down and spoilers partially deployed, Northrop Grumman’s X-47B slows toward one of three target speeds below 200 kt during its 29-min. first flight from Edwards AFB, Calif., on Feb. 4. Hailed as the start of a new era for Naval Aviation, the first flight of the unmanned combat air system demonstrator comes as the service celebrates 100 years of seaborne aviation and marks the start of a roughly 10-month initial test phase. First autonomous carrier landings are planned for 2013. Northrop Grumman photo.
Orbital Sciences Corp. plays an unusual role in the Glory mission to study the Earth’s energy balance that is due to lift off on Feb. 23 from Vandenberg AFB, Calif. Orbital designed, built and tested the 1,160-lb. spacecraft and provides the launcher, a Taurus XL. In addition, it will manage the mission’s operations.
Canada’s Transportation Safety Board is calling for changes to helicopter gearbox design and certification standards following the fatal March 2009 crash of a Sikorsky S-92A off Newfoundland. The board wants certification rules changed to require all S-92As to be able to fly for 30 min. after the loss of main gearbox oil, and for the U.S. FAA to assess whether a 30-min. run-dry requirement is adequate for rotorcraft operating in extreme environments. Cougar Helicopters Flight 91 crashed after titanium studs broke on the main gearbox filter bowl.
The British government is once again returning to the drawing board on a major rotorcraft acquisition—this time after being forced to pull the plug on the $9.6 billion search-and-rescue helicopter (SAR-H) program.
Henry A. Hubschman, former president and CEO of GE Capital Aviation Services (Gecas), died of cancer at home in Greenwich, Conn., on Feb. 9. He was 63. Hubschman joined General Electric in 1992 as general counsel of its Aircraft Engines Division and became head of Gecas in 1997. Under his stewardship, the commercial aircraft financing and leasing business of GE saw rapid growth, expanding to a fleet of 1,800 aircraft placed with nearly 250 airlines in more than 75 countries.
Prab Varma, chief technical officer of Blue Pearl Software, Santa Clara, Calif., has been named an IEEE Fellow for 2011 for his contributions to system-on-chip test technology.
Pat Marano is the new vice president-business development for the eastern U.S. for charter operator JetFlite International , Long Beach, Calif., and Michael Rogers is the new vice president-customer service. Marano comes from Key Air, Van Nuys, Calif., and Rogers was founder of Los Angeles Helicopters, which he sold last year.
Meanwhile, FAA’s decision to help fund an ADS-B demonstration with JetBlue Airways is drawing some yawns. “We’ve had demos like that already,” Rockwell Collins boss Clay Jones tells reporters in Paris. “What we need is the critical next step—a systemwide test.” Moreover, Jones remarked, NextGen technology maturity is not the issue.
Leslie Blaker, chairman of C3I Solutions Business Development for Rockwell Collins , has joined the board of the Washington-based Satellite Industry Association for 2011. Other new members are: Jennifer Warren, vice president-technology policy and regulation for the Lockheed Martin Corp.; and Susan Eid, senior vice president-government relations at DirecTV Inc.
Jean-Paul Ebanga (see photo) has become president/CEO of CFM International , West Chester, Ohio, succeeding Eric Bachelet, who moved to CFM partner Safran Group in Paris as executive VP-research and technology. Ebanga has been chairman/CEO of PowerJet since 2007.
A four-stage Orbital Sciences Corp. Minotaur I placed a classified National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) payload into a polar orbit after a pre-dawn liftoff from Vandenberg AFB, Calif., on Feb. 5. The launcher uses decommissioned Minuteman ICBM motors for its first two stages and Pegasus XL components for Stages 3 and 4. It was the ninth straight successful Minotaur I mission since 2000.
Terry Flaishans (see photo) has been named vice president and general manager of ACSS , an L-3/Thales company, headquartered in Phoenix. He comes from L-3 Avionics Systems, where he was vice president of engineering.
Astrium will join with Singapore in building a suborbital demonstrator to underpin its fledgling spaceplane program, with a first flight expected perhaps as early as next year. Singapore-based companies will be building a small-scale demonstrator of the spaceplane, and the first series of test flights will occur here, Astrium executives disclosed at the Global Space & Technology Convention in Singapore on Jan. 25-26.
Pratt & Whitney has a “handshake” on the fixed-price contract for low-rate initial production (LRIP) Lot 4 of F135 engines for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, at a 16% unit cost reduction from LRIP 3, says Warren Boley, president of the company’s Military Engines Div. “That is right on our cost-reduction plan,” which aims to get the cost of an F135 down to that of an F119—$10 million at today’s prices—by the 250th engine. Pratt also expects to receive contracts totaling around $1 billion under the Pentagon’s plan to extend F-35 development into 2016.
Leithen Francis (Bengaluru, India), Neelam Mathews (Bengaluru, India)
True to form, India’s military planning appears to be shifting, with the newly announced delay in the award for the Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft competition, which was due this year. A downselect is still anticipated in 2011, leaving those left in the competition to discuss commercial terms.
John Duval, national aviation director for Austin Commercial of Dallas, has won the Distinguished Service Award of the American Association of Airport Executives in recognition of nearly four decades of service to the international aviation industry. He was immediate past chairman of AAAE.
Japanese industry is urging the government to keep the country’s planned F-X fighter in production until 2028, raising the stakes for the three Western companies competing for the program.
