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.
Constance Arnold (see photo) has been named director-safety and technical affairs at the Regional Airline Association . Arnold joins RAA from the technical operations group at US Airways in Phoenix, where she spent four years holding key safety, environmental and regulatory compliance roles. In addition, Arnold was an environmental quality specialist and safety analyst for the City of Phoenix.
Airlines are facing much tougher security standards for airfreight in the wake of the printer-bomb scare that may threaten current operational practices and raise costs considerably. Authorities in the U.S. have tamped down on security, banning shipments from Yemen and Somalia and adding restrictions on transporting printer cartridges and toners. Meanwhile, European interior ministers are pushing for new and stricter regulations to be adopted in December.
The European Commission has launched so-called “infringement procedures” against France, Germany, Austria and Finland over their discussions with Russia. The EC is worried the countries are working out bilateral deals on the charges that European Union-designated carriers must pay to Aeroflot in order to fly over Siberia on their way to Asia. European law requires aviation agreements to be negotiated at the EU level.
South Korean low-cost carriers have been targeting Japan as their major market for international expansion, but Japanese airlines will soon be fighting back. All Nippon Airways’ new low-cost carrier—no name for it has yet beeen made public—will start flying in the second half of 2011, and its first international stops are likely to be in China and South Korea.
The Royal Thai Air Force is adding unmanned aircraft to its shopping list as part of a plan to keep an eye on potential insurgent activities. The move is the latest in a series of procurement efforts aimed at upgrades across a range of capabilities. Although small in scale, owing to limited defense budget resources, the modernization drive spans mission sets from high-end fighters to establishing an air combat network and employing a host of surveillance tools. Helicopter updates are yet to come.
General Electric is poised to start testing a major upgrade to its GEnx-1B engine for the Boeing 787. The company’s goal is to bring specific fuel consumption within a percent of the original performance specification.
An attention-grabber in the Citation Ten is its instrument panel (below), which centers on three 14-in. LCD displays supplemented with four touch-screen control panels, an all-new capability. The integrated system’s laundry list of features includes synthetic vision, electronic charts, TCAS II, dual FMSs, solid-state weather radar with turbulence detection and vertical scan, ADS-B Out, and data link.
Astrium will acquire a majority stake in ND Satcom from SES Astra, reinforcing its government services business. The EADS affiliate will take a 75.1% stake in the Immenstaad, Germany-based integrator and supplier of satellite communications ground systems and equipment. ND Satcom has annual sales of €80 million ($110 million). Early this year SES announced its decision to unload the company, which was a non-core activity and weight on its profitability.
The French navy is planning a major overhaul of its airborne maritime surveillance fleet, and the first elements of the strategy are starting to take shape. The activity, due to unfold in the coming few years, involves several parallel paths that will extend the life of existing types but also introduce both new manned and unmanned systems.
Robert Behler (see photo) has been named president and CEO of Syracuse Research Corp. , succeeding Bob Roberts, who plans to retire by year-end. Behler was senior vice president and general manager of Mitre Corp.’s Command and Control Center. He also was the general manager of Precision Engagement at Johns Hopkins University’s Applied Physics Laboratory. Before joining industry, he retired from the Air Force as a two-star general after a 31-year military career.
The Canadian defense ministry did a poor job estimating the cost and complexity of two of its main helicopter modernization projects, leading to a large underestimation of costs, the Auditor General of Canada has determined in a report issued Oct. 26. The audit looked only at government actions and missteps in purchasing 28 CH-148 Cyclones (modified Sikorsky S-92s to replace Sea Kings) and acquiring 15 CH-147 Chinooks. The combined life-cycle bill is several billion Canadian dollars higher than estimated, and both efforts have suffered delays, the report notes.
NASA is upping the ante for commercial human space travel with $200 million in the offing for companies to flesh out or flight-test technologies, an effort that will bolster a new market being pioneered by Bigelow Aerospace to operate leased outposts in orbit.
Sea Launch has completed its Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization under a plan that cedes control of the company to Energia Overseas Ltd., a unit of Russian space contractor Energia. Return to launch of the Land Launch derivative, carrying Intelsat 18, is planned in the first quarter of 2011, and Marine platform launches in the third quarter.
Tel Aviv’s major manufacturer, Israel Aerospace Industries, has flipped the American export industry model on its head. Instead of focusing on cheap, off-the-shelf products, it is moving into the role of providing foreign customers with systems tailored to their specific military needs.
