AeroVironment’s Global Observer high-altitude, long-endurance unmanned aircraft makes its first flight from Edwards AFB, Calif., on Aug. 5. The 175 ft.-span aircraft reached almost 4,000 ft. on the hour-long, battery-powered flight. Eventually, the Global Observer is planned to fly for seven days at 65,000 ft. on liquid hydrogen fuel. AeroVironment photo.
U.S. universities are acutely aware of the challenges faced by the aerospace and defense industry because they have a front-row seat to students’ shifting interests. This year’s top schools, as identified by the Aviation Week Workforce Study, are implementing aggressive plans to align themselves and their students with industry.
With startling regularity, every 20 years or so we seem to rediscover an urgent need for Counter-Insurgency (COIN) aircraft; when our enemies refuse to conduct their aggressions on the same upward technology trajectories we have prepared for our defenses. Thus, we now seem surprised that we may not have appropriate aviation remedies—either in quality or quantity—to address the “down and dirty” fighting our military confronts.
John Gough has been named leader of GE Aviation ’s OnPoint Fuel and Carbon Solutions, Evendale, Ohio. He will remain head of the flight operations team.
On June 4, Falcon 9 achieved orbit, and I won a number of bets. In most cases, the people I bet against were predicting failure for reasons related to SpaceX’s lack of experience and heritage hardware. The young crew at the heart of SpaceX, and their leader, Elon Musk, sure don’t look like their peers at Lockheed Martin, Boeing or Orbital Sciences! They do lack experience and definitely lack heritage hardware. Yet, I won my bets because I strongly believe there are things more important than experience and heritage, such as an entrepreneurial culture and talent.
A majority of young professionals and students view the terms “nerd” and “geek” either in a positive or neutral way. Less than 20% of young professionals and less than 30% of students see the terms as disrespectful.
The U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) has dismantled the last W62 nuclear warhead, officials announced Aug. 12. “Completed a full year ahead of schedule, the W62 dismantlement program safely and securely took apart the retired 1970s-era warhead, which will never again be a part of the U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile,” states NNSA. Meanwhile, NNSA and USAF recently conducted a successful flight test using a joint-test assembly of the B83 Modern Strategic Bomb.
Berkshire Hathaway boss Warren Buffett wanted to stanch the flow of red ink at NetJets in a hurry (the fractional ownership business jet operator lost $711 million in 2009 before taxes) and tapped David Sokol, a no-nonsense Mr. Fix-It. Sokol, who was chairman of Berkshire subsidiary MidAmerican Energy, arrived with sabers slashing.
Marion Blakey CEO, Aerospace Industries Association (AIA) Gregory Hamilton Publisher, Aviation Week Strategic Media Marshall O. Larsen Chairman, President & CEO, Goodrich Corp. Anthony Lawson President, Hitco Richard McNeel President & CEO, Lord Corp. Lee Palmer Managing Vice President for Aerospace and Defense Department, Hitachi Consulting Robert Stevens Chairman & CEO, Lockheed Martin Corp.
Backed by its big new shareholders, India’s Tata and Mubadala of the United Arab Emirates, Piaggio is entering the vast and lucrative Brazilian business aviation market. The Italian manufacturer recently signed up Noar Aviacao of Recife as exclusive Brazilian agent for the P.180 Avanti twin-turboprop, and plans to deliver the first P.180 in January, following Brazilian certification.
Phil Condit, a former CEO of Boeing, has joined the board of advisers of Los Angeles-based Icon Aircraft . Other members include Vern Raburn, founder/former CEO of Eclipse Aviation.
Kevin Mitchell (see photo) has become vice president of production operations for the Northrop Grumman Corp. ’s Technical Services Sector as site manager of the Lake Charles (La.) Maintenance and Modification Center. He was production director/site manager at Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems’ Palmdale (Calif.) Manufacturing Center.
“Reflecting on Glass” (AW&ST July 26, p. 66) admirably distills the ongoing debate triggered by the NTSB’s recently released study of the safety impact of glass cockpits. But alas, that debate has all but ignored the most important issue, namely that glass cockpits’ user interfaces (UIs) are too easy to “fat-finger,” and it’s too hard to recover when you do. Glass cockpit UIs suffer from two seemingly contradictory problems: they have too few buttons and knobs, and they have too many buttons and knobs.
ELV will develop new guidance and control software for Europe’s Vega launcher, following French armaments agency DGA’s decision to embargo the original software because of its potential use in ballistic missiles. The rocket is slated to perform its inaugural flight in early 2011, carrying the Lares scientific satellite. The first missions will use the older software, developed by EADS Astrium, but it will be replaced on later vehicles.
Michael Bruno (Washington ), Paul McLeary (Washington), Michael Mecham (San Francisco)
At the heart of U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates’s new gambit lie two bold guesses: first, that his budget cuts and force reductions will do more good than harm; and second, that Congress, the White House and even the public will accept the sacrifices and dig no deeper into warfighting capability. This strategy constitutes an epic wager that, perhaps, only a trained historian like Gates can truly appreciate. And he is set to make its success or failure his legacy.
Following an initial hour-long, battery-powered flight, AeroVironment’s Global Observer unmanned aircraft is beginning a test program planned to culminate in a week-long flight in the stratosphere using liquid-hydrogen fuel. The flight debuts an innovative approach to persistent surveillance and marks a dramatic departure for a company that dominates the market for small, hand-launched UAVs.
South Korea’s huge transportation conglomerate, the Hanjin Group that owns Korean Air, says it is accelerating efforts to create a Central Asia logistics hub for multi-model freight, with the opening of an air cargo terminal at Navoi International Airport in Uzbekistan. Calling the terminal part of a modern-day Silk Road, Korean Air President Chang Hoon Chi says the airline will “spare no effort” to support freight growth at Navoi. Hanjin has helped manage the airport for the past 20 months.
Former space shuttle astronaut John Grunsfeld, who has been nicknamed “the Hubble Repairman,” has been appointed a research professor in the Henry A. Rowland Physics and Astronomy Department at the Krieger School of Arts and Sciences and deputy director of the Space Telescope Science Institute at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.
Fresh from demonstrating airborne control of the Insitu-developed ScanEagle from a NATO E-3 AWACS, Boeing is studying the possible deployment of several types of unmanned air vehicles, including the ScanEagle Compressed Carriage (SECC), from the back of the V-22 Osprey. Boeing says interest in airborne deployment and control of UAVs is growing following successful utility demonstrations such as the NATO-ScanEagle interoperability exercise last week.
The first Global Positioning System IIF satellite is in its final phase of in-orbit checkout following its arrival on station Aug. 1. Orbital testing should be completed by September, when the satellite will be cleared to serve as part of the operational constellation. Launched in May, the Boeing-built satellite features a new civil safety-of-life signal, known as L5.
Efficiency remains a major hurdle to the fielding of effective laser weapons, as the power and cooling required makes them too big and heavy for all but the largest of platforms. In a bid to drive down size and weight, the U.S. Defense Department has awarded contracts to demonstrate more efficient electric lasers that can be scaled to lethal power levels. So far, General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Lockheed Martin and Raytheon have received contracts under the Robust Electric Laser Initiative (RELI). A fourth is expected to be awarded to Northrop Grumman.
NASA is seeking industry feedback on its plans for a new five-year, $150-million program to help integrate unmanned aircraft into civil airspace. The feedback is likely to be mixed, as the agency’s last major unmanned aircraft research program was canceled before it got off the ground, despite industry backing.
Concerns over dwindling military spending and shifting priorities among key customers are forcing U.S. and European aerospace and defense companies to pay top prices for niche businesses as they look to realign their industrial footprint.
Most students ranked defense and national security as desirable career fields, but 44% saw aerospace as desirable. An interest in aircraft, defense and space was an important motivator for more than 70%. Salary was important to just over a third.
Scientists have discovered a so-called Trojan asteroid in the L5 Lagrangian point at Neptune, where the gravitational tug between the gas giant and the Sun cancel each other out, allowing smaller bodies to remain stable. Sharing a planet’s orbit, Trojan asteroids give astronomers insight into how the planet and the Solar System formed. Other Trojans have been discovered at other Lagrangian points near Neptune and Jupiter.
