James McConville has been named president/CEO of AeroMech Engineering Inc. , San Luis Obispo, Calif. He was vice president-strategy and business development at parent company Chandler/May.
The Thommen HSL 1600 IR provides high-performance, multifunction capabilities in a solid-state design that increases reliability, performance and ease of installation, according to the company. It will be certified under the auspices of EASA and the FAA. The assemblies, mechanisms and connecting wires are within the streamlined casing of the searchlight. Integration of these components into the unit itself eliminates aerodynamic issues and the need for additional remote junction boxes and intermediate cabling, the company says.
Krishna Mikkilineni has become senior vice president-engineering and operations for Honeywell , based in Bangalore, India. He succeeds Larry Kittelberger, senior vice president-technology and operations, who will retire. Bask Iyer has been appointed chief information officer and will remain head of global security and functional transformation.
Moscow is restructuring key elements of the defense ministry as it tries to improve procurement performance, particularly on strategic programs. Vladimir Popovkin, recently appointed first deputy defense minister for arms procurement, says the ministry is splitting administrative and operational functions.
U.S. airports are empowered to levy higher landing fees on airlines as a means to control congestion and reduce flight delays under a decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.
Douglas Barrie (London), Robert Wall (London), Michael A Taverna (Paris)
The U.K.’s Taranis UCAV—London’s entree into any European or U.S. joint unmanned combat air vehicle development—is making its debut just as debate about the country’s near-term combat aircraft mix is heating up. The Taranis demonstrator is a key element of a British research program examining the technology required for a low-observable (LO) deep-strike platform that could be employed as part of the Defense Ministry’s Future Combat Air Capability. The vehicle will undertake both ground and airborne signature-characterization trials.
As the jewel in the crown of Boeing’s international presence, Australia strategically represents more than the sum of its parts. Described by Boeing Australia and South Pacific President Ian Thomas as a “microcosm of Boeing,” the country is home to the company’s largest footprint outside of the U.S.
July 26-29—Practical Aeronautics Short Course. “Introduction to Aeronautics: A Practical Perspective.” Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio. See www.practicalaero.com July 26-Aug. 1—2010 Experimental Aircraft Association Airventure. EAA Aviation Center, Oshkosh, Wis. Call +1 (920) 426-4800 or see www.airventure.org July 27-30—American Astronautical Society’s International Space Conference of Pacific Basin Societies. Delta Montreal Hotel. Call +1 (703) 866-0020 or see www.astronautical.org
USMC Col. Gary L. Thomas has been nominated for promotion to brigadier general. He has been commanding officer of Marine Aviation Weapons and Tactics Sqdn. 1, Yuma, Ariz.
William Maglio has been appointed CEO of Arkwin Industries Inc. , Westbury, N.Y. He was president/chief operating officer. He has been succeeded by Frank Robilotto, who was executive vice president/general manager.
Nina Laserson Dunn has been named Washington-based senior adviser to the chairman/CEO of Finmeccanica and vice chairman of Meccanica Holdings Inc. She was executive vice president/general counsel/secretary of Finmeccanica subsidiary DRS Technologies Inc., Parsippany, N.J.
Capt. Tom Hendricks has become vice president-operations and safety, Lori J. Tully managing director of revenue accounting and Susan K. Tonner assistant vice president-acquisition policy of the Arlington, Va.-based Air Transport Association of America . Hendricks was director of line operations for Delta Air Lines in Atlanta, while Tully was director of interline and revenue recognition with US Airways. Tonner was senior director for federal public policy at TechAmerica.
Having generated loud, widespread objections to its initial proposal for a Large Aircraft Security Plan (LASP), the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is taking its time to work up a revision. It has been so quiet for so long, some business aviation people are getting a bit edgy.
Astrium Services and Cisco will jointly study space Internet protocol router applications. Space routers permit large blocks of data to be merged in orbit and transferred to multiple terrestrial receivers, obviating the need to rely on ground-based teleports and considerably augmenting download rates. Initially, the two companies will study the Internet Routing in Space hosted payload supplied by Cisco for Intelsat 14 under a U.S. Defense Department joint-capability demonstration project, and how Astrium’s satcom expertise could improve this capability.
Sept. 28-30—MRO Europe. London. 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. Dec. 8-9—A&D Finance Conference and Exhibition. New York. 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)
Walter Visser has become vice president of the CAE Global Academy in Montreal. He succeeds Kris Van Den Bergh , who has been named chief learning officer for civil aviation. Visser was vice president for the Middle East and India/managing director of Emirates-CAE Flight Training in Dubai.
Sheila C. Cheston (see photo) has been named corporate vice president/general counsel effective Aug. 30 for the Los Angeles-based Northrop Grumman Corp. She will succeed Stephen D. Yslas, who is retiring Dec. 31. Cheston has been executive vice president for strategy and planning, finance, mergers and acquisitions, and all legal matters for BAE Systems Inc.
Pedro Morenes Eulate has been appointed executive chairman and Daniel Garcia-Guelbenzu general manager in Spain for France-based MBDA , and Fred Harrison vice president-technology for U.S.-based MBDA Inc. Morenes was chairman of Construcciones Navales del Norte, while Garcia was a senior manager at GE Aviation. Harrison was an executive at Alliant Techsystems, Plymouth, Minn.
As new competitors enter the commercial aircraft market, Boeing and Airbus face big decisions about how to keep their products on the leading edge. Should they make incremental upgrades now, or wait until game-changing technologies are ready? Boeing Chairman, President and CEO Jim McNerney sat down at the company’s Chicago headquarters with AW&ST Senior Business Editor Joseph C. Anselmo to discuss the options the company is mulling and why he thinks China will become the industry’s next big power.
African leaders are hoping a new spacecraft will give fresh impetus to a bold plan to set up the continent’s first coast-to-coast indigenous satellite system. Scheduled for liftoff from Kourou, French Guiana, onboard an Ariane 5 ECA booster on Aug. 4, the 3-metric-ton, 6.4-kw. spacecraft, Rascom-QAF1R, will replace an initial satellite, Rascom-QAF1, orbited in December 2007. It suffered a helium leak shortly after launch that cut its expected lifetime from at least 15 years to three.
As the defense industry bemoans dwindling money in Defense Department coffers, it is benefitting from brisk business abroad, with billions of dollars in Foreign Military Sales (FMS) and Direct Commercial Sales (DCS) each year. The helicopter industry in particular may be able to take advantage of overseas markets as production stateside slows.
In the push for ever-longer endurance for unmanned aircraft, conventional fuels are being left behind. Liquid hydrogen is the flavor of the day because its energy content is almost three times that of jet fuel, offering the lightest solution for the longest duration.
AmSafe has introduced cargo and bulk-hold nets manufactured using lightweight Dyneema, the world’s strongest fiber, according to the company. Safety-critical aviation barrier nets are the only certified form of textile restraints that are structural to the aircraft and are designed to meet or exceed the requirements of aviation regulatory authorities worldwide. The company says cargo restraint system made with 100% Dyneema can substantially contribute to the reduction of weight when compared to those made with conventional polyester or nylon.
The U.S. is preparing to launch a study of its future theater airlift options, but affordability could doom the more advanced concepts offering new battlefield capabilities. The Joint Future Theater Lift (JFTL) analysis of alternatives could answer the question of whether the principal role of tactical transports will continue to be moving people and pallets or evolve to include the delivery of combat forces direct to the battlefront.
