Comparing Sikorsky’s S-97 X2 Raider coaxial counter-rotating main rotor concept aircraft to the Boeing-Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s disc-rotor concept aircraft is an example of how to make a rotorcraft fly fast simply and elegantly versus accomplishing the same end in the most complicated way imaginable.
Former Indian President A.P.J. Kalam has lent his name to a new cooperative effort by experts in the U.S. and India to advance space solar power as a way to improve life on Earth. Kalam, 79, is a space pioneer who served as the 11th president of India. He and his former associates at the Indian Space Research Organization have teamed with the Washington-based National Space Society for an initiative aimed at fielding a system of large satellites in space that collect solar energy and beam it safely to Earth’s surface.
Daniel J. Crowley (see photo) has been appointed president of Raytheon Network Centric Systems , succeeding Colin J.R. Schottlaender, NCS president since August 2002, who will retire Dec. 31. Crowley had a 27-year career at Lockheed Martin Corp., most recently as chief operating officer of Lockheed Martin Aeronautics.
Ash ElDifrawi (see photo) has been tapped to become executive vice president/chief marketing officer at Aircell . He joins the company from Hayneedle, where he led the rebranding of the company and development of a revolutionary online shopping experience. He also held leadership positions with Google, Wrigley and McKinsey.
Richard L. Johnson has been tapped to be president of D3 Technologies , a subsidiary of LMI Aerospace. He has held various executive and managerial positions with Gulfstream Aerospace Corp., including vice president/chief engineer, vice president-engineering and vice president/chief scientist.
John Purvis has been named vice president of Small Tactical Unmanned Air Systems at AeroMech Engineering . Purvis comes to AME from a large ISR systems integrator, where he was vice president-corporate strategic development and international business. He founded the aviation programs business area in Denver, leading more than 425 people in service of U.S. Special Operations Command and the U.S. Air Force.
Holden Shannon has been named senior vice president-corporate strategy and real estate at Delta Air Lines , as well as a member of the carrier’s Corporate Leadership Team. Before joining Delta, Shannon spent 15 years at Continental Airlines.
Nov. 22-24—University of Westminster Aviation Seminar: Air Transport Business and Management. London. Call +44 (207) 911-5000 ext. 3220, fax +44 (207) 911-5171 or see www.westminster.ac.uk/aviation Nov. 23-24—Shephard Group’s Military Logistics. Bristol (England) Marriott Hotel City Center. Call +44 (175) 372-7019 or see www.shephard.co.uk/events Nov. 23-25—International Aerospace Symposium of South Africa 2010. Villa Via Hotel, Cape Town. Call +27 (12) 841-4128 or see www.iassa.org.za/
Astronomers are evaluating a new trove of data from the old Deep Impact spacecraft, recycled as the Extrasolar Planet Observations and Characterization and Deep Impact Extended Investigation missions, and better known as Epoxi. On Nov. 4, the probe flew within 425 mi. of the comet Harley 2 to collect images like this one. Scientists hope the detail it returned will allow them to connect the comet’s activity to specific features on the nucleus.
Eutelsat will order a new satellite to replace a communications satellite that failed after launch last month. W3B, lofted on Oct. 29 atop an Ariane 5 along with Japan’s BSAT-3B, was declared a total loss after an anomaly was detected on the satellite’s propulsion subsystem, preventing its insertion into geostationary orbit. Engineers say fuel is insufficient to deorbit the spacecraft, so it will remain in low Earth orbit for several decades.
They are not Delta Air Lines’ core business, but the airline’s cargo-carrying and ground-handling subsidiaries, its frequent-flier program, Delta TechOps and private jet operation generate revenues that are important to Delta’s risk-reduction efforts.
A representative P80 first stage for Europe’s new Vega light launch vehicle is now in position on the pad at the European spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, awaiting the start of infrastructure/launcher tests. The full-scale stage, complete with instrumentation and a simulated solid propellant load, is set up on a pad originally built for the Ariane 1. The campaign will culminate early next year with a test of the full vehicle, including all three solid-propellant stages, the liquid-propellant upper stage and a simulated payload with fairing.
The U.S. Air Force is likely to begin implementing new purchasing practices for the Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) rocket family and existing and new satellite programs in the interest of efficiency, says Air Force Undersecretary Erin Conaton. This could include bulk buys of EELV—an effort the Air Force has been exploring for months—as well as multi-year satellite procurements and changes in how the service calculates financial awards for contractors.
Launch of the 26th mission of the U.S. Air Force’s Space Test Program (STP-26) on Nov. 19 will push boundaries for launchers and microsat technology. The Orbital Sciences Minotaur IV will carry a Hydrazine Auxiliary Propulsion System (HAPS) as a fifth stage to test the feasibility of using upper stages with a relight capability to satisfy the needs of multiple payloads at different altitudes. HAPS is to carry seven nano- to-micro-size satellites into 650-km.-high (403-mi.) orbits and then be refired to carry two ballast payloads to a 1,200-km.
Mark Bianchi has been named vice president and general manager of StandardAero ’s Los Angeles facility. He was senior and executive vice president of aircraft maintenance at NetJets. Dale Hawkins has been appointed airframe sales manager for the business aviation sector.
Founded: 1986 Ownership: Peter Zieve Employees: 430 Revenues: $100 million Business: Design and integration of complex manufacturing systems and automation controls for aerospace fasteners and robots.
Daniel Bunyan has been appointed head of portfolio management at Dublin-based lessor AWAS . He was the founder and CEO of BunyanAero Consulting Services. He also spent 10 years as director of Oliver Wyman Management Consulting’s aviation practice.
“Designs for Success” (AW&ST Nov. 1/8, p. 72) recognizes the problem but misses the target with the solutions proposed. Systems engineering is a time-proven tool for the management of complex projects. The discipline has withstood misuse, as well as repeated efforts to reduce its effectiveness, through unwarranted changes in the doctrine and founding documents.
Japanese technologists are committed to including a pilot in their proposed i3 sixth-generation fighter, regarding the need for onboard decision-making as indispensable in a combat aircraft for at least the next three decades. Among the range of technologies intended for pre-development for the prospective fighter, artificial intelligence has been left out.
John Saabas, president of Pratt & Whitney Canada, has been appointed chairman of the Aerospace Industries Association of Canada for 2010-11. He succeeds Marc Parent, president and CEO of CAE Inc., who held the position for the past year.
A draft document issued by the leaders of a White House-commissioned panel on reducing the federal deficit recommends scrapping the Lockheed Martin F-35B short-takeoff, vertical-landing variant and curtailing production of the Bell-Boeing MV-22 Osprey. It also calls for a 15% defense procurement cut. “The V-22 has had a troubled history with many developmental and maintenance problems,” say Democrat Erskine Bowles and Republican Alan Simpson.
Ironically, Democrat Erskine Bowles and Republican Alan Simpson may have given commercial human spaceflight advocates some ammunition with their suggestion last week that NASA drop its plans to spend “$6 billion over the next five years” on what is known as commercial crew transport. “This subsidy to the private sector is costly, and while commercial spaceflight is a worthy goal, it is unclear why the federal government should be subsidizing the training of the potential crews of such flights,” say the co-chairmen of President Barack Obama’s deficit-reduction panel.
Security Pact Remains U.S.-India Sticking Point The Indian air force is exploring upgrade options for U.S. military aircraft that will be handed over without key capabilities in the absence of an agreement governing those systems.
