The U.K. next year is expected to kick off a competition to modernize and upgrade deployed forces’ ability to use geospatial intelligence products. The effort should produce a cultural shift within the British armed forces, pushing geospatial intelligence to lower levels of command and proliferating the availability beyond a small group of specialists. The program, called the Future Deployable Geospatial Intelligence (FDG) capability, is designed to modernize part of the Joint Aeronautical and Geospatial Organization.
Star Alliance members have been left awaiting the prize of Air India’s entry into their membership and the promise of increased access to the subcontinent that comes with it. The carrier, sponsored by Lufthansa for membership in December 2007, says an ongoing struggle with information technology (IT)-related matters has prompted it to push back its entry into the global airline alliance to summer 2011 instead of the first quarter, as planned.
Nov. 1-3—A&D Programs Conference. Phoenix. Nov. 2-3—A&D Supply Chain Conference. Phoenix. Nov. 2-4—MRO Asia Conference and Exhibition. Singapore. You can now register ONLINEfor Aviation Week Events. Go to www.aviationweek.com/events or call Lydia Janow at+1 (212) 904-3225/+1 (800) 240-7645 ext. 5 (U.S. and Canada Only)
The Brazilian government is undertaking a broad-based review of the country’s defense industrial base with the goal of identifying spending areas to strengthen its local supply base. The 18-month effort is being led by the Brazilian agency for industrial development and supported by several ministries. The goal is to assess the competitiveness of public and private elements of the country’s defense industrial base and then devise an industrial development policy as Brazil strives to become less dependent on foreign suppliers for defense products.
Arianespace is warning members of its supply chain and European governments that they must bear more of the operating costs for Europe’s expanding panoply of launcher systems if the systems are to remain viable in the face of growing competition and a tightening launch market.
As the fastest and longest-range business jet ever developed from a clean sheet, the Gulfstream G650 is a bright spot in a beleaguered industry (page 52). The $65-million jet is scheduled to enter service in 2012, but it won’t be alone at the top for long now that Bombardier has unveiled plans to field a competitor (page 59). G6001, the first G650 flight-test aircraft, flies over Savannah, Ga., with a nose boom for gathering data. Gulfstream Aerospace photo.
Bill Colleran (see photo) has been named director-technical information services of Gulfstream Aerospace Corp. ; Tony Swift has become field service representative in northern New Jersey, and Robert Glasscock and Mitchell Cannon have been appointed program administrators within the company’s Organizational Designation Authorization office.
Robert Wall (London), David A. Fulghum (Washington)
Evidence continues to emerge that ballistic missile development ties between North Korea and Iran are active and producing improvements in the arsenals of both countries. While Iran has been the junior partner in the relationship in the past—acquiring No Dong and other missile technologies to build its own systems—a reverse flow of technical know-how is now underway.
Michael J. Paul has been named executive director of Stamford, Conn.-based Passur Aerospace Inc. ’s Technology Advisory Board. He was president of Predictive Business Systems and had been chief information officer and vice president-materials planning at Sikorsky Aircraft.
As Italy reconsiders its overall involvement in Afghanistan as part of its NATO commitment, military planners are preparing the ground for a potential quick purchase of Hellfire missiles to arm unmanned aircraft in the region.
India’s domestically developed airborne early warning and control system is taking a big step forward with the first of three modified Embraer EMB-145s headed for flight trials in Brazil. The preliminary testing, due to kick off in the next two months, will be carried out in Brazil by Embraer and a team from the Indian air force’s Aircraft and Systems Testing Establishment (ASTE) in association with Brazil’s Agencia Nacional de Aviacao Civil and its Indian counterpart, the Center for Military Airworthiness and Certification (Cemilac).
Space Systems/Loral will supply a 6-metric-ton, 12-kw. telecommunications satellite to Asia Broadcast Satellite. The Hong Kong-based operator had inked a preliminary agreement for the spacecraft, ABS-2, in June 2009, but lacked the financing to close the deal until a management buyout in partnership with the Permira private equity fund, which was announced last month.
Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo is being readied for a second glide test following a trouble-free initial unpowered flight at Mojave, Calif., on Oct. 10. The 13-min. glide boosted Virgin Galactic’s hopes of staying on track to become the world’s first commercial space line, and comes as final preparations begin for the runway opening ceremony on Oct. 22 at Spaceport America in New Mexico, where Virgin’s future space operations will be based.
Chinese controllers have achieved a velocity within 1 cm./sec. of prediction in the braking maneuver that brought the Chang’e 2 spacecraft into its 100-km.-altitude (62-mi.) working orbit around the Moon. The lunar probe, China’s second, is now in a position to begin surveying the lunar surface, says the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp.
General Dynamics’ $2.2-billion purchase of Jet Aviation in 2008 was costly, sensitive and arguably ill-timed, but those in charge insist the acquisition makes solid strategic sense and that business, which suffered during last year’s recession, is returning. Moreover, they say initial concerns by airframe manufacturer-customers who compete with Gulfstream, another General Dynamics unit, seem to have been assuaged by a clear and continued arm’s length separation of those entities. Finally, the acquisition by a U.S.
Shortly before the National Business Aviation Association’s (NBAA) 2010 convention began, Gulfstream Aerospace President Joe Lombardo met at the company’s Savannah, Ga., headquarters with Aviation Week editors William Garvey and Joseph C. Anselmo. He talked about the industry’s prospects for recovery and why Gulfstream is faring better than most other business jet manufacturers. AW&ST: The business aviation industry is still announcing layoffs and production cuts. Are you disappointed that the market has not rebounded faster?
“Crunch Time” (AW&ST Sept. 13, p. 26) clearly shows that commercially based crew transportation to the International Space Station is dead. Albeit late, large and small companies are forming symbiotic teaming relationships. Smaller companies without the financial foundation to go it alone are teaming with larger companies who need them for strategic name recognition as well as a possible infusion of new thinking.
