The data are still raw and will require alternate views from ground-based telescopes and the Hubble and Spitzer orbiting observatories to weed out false leads, but results are pouring in from the Kepler mission to find Earth-like exoplanets in the Cygnus and Lyra constellations. The mission’s science team has released the first 43 days of data from views of 156,000 stars. The information has not been reduced into visible images yet, but the team says it has identified 400 objects as top candidates to be exoplanets.
Pierre Sparaco blames the tanker mess on politicians, “Tanker Quagmire” (AW&ST May 31, p. 58). Actually, politicians are reactive. The ones I know say they have been bombarded with constituent correspondence expressing strong objections to our armed forces buying even one airplane from the French. My sources say constituents cite the fear that one day the French will say, “No more tankers. We disagree with your presence in this or that war.” That is one reason politicians react the way they do toward the tanker buy.
British industry in particular—and the wider sector in general—will want to put its best foot forward at the Farnborough showcase, but it is also taking a stride into the unknown. Turmoil in the U.K. domestic economy, as well as the recently elected government’s warning of an age of austerity and cross-departmental budget cuts form a challenging backdrop for one of the world’s premier aerospace trade shows.
A small groundswell is rising in Congress for a faster start on the heavy-lift launch vehicle President Barack Obama says he wants, but it may be swamped by the backwash from growing irritation over NASA’s sluggish production of justification for its “game-changing” new approach. A bipartisan gang of 62 House members wants Obama to initiate “the immediate development and production of a heavy-lift launch vehicle that, in conjunction with the Orion crew exploration vehicle, may be used for either lunar or deep-space exploration.”
The Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agency has obtained approval from the FAA for a certificate of authorization that will allow Predator B flights along the Texas border with Mexico, and throughout the Gulf Coast.
European Space Agency Director General Jean-Jacques Dordain is expected to remain at the helm through June 2015, following a meeting of the ESA council.
Mark A. Gunzinger has been appointed senior fellow of the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments in Washington. He was a senior adviser to the U.S. Air Force for the 2010 Quadrennial Defense Review and deputy assistant Defense secretary for force transformation and resources.
U.S. low-cost carriers used to be loath to compete against each other. After all, there were plenty of easy pickings to choose from: routes served by no one or only a higher-cost legacy carrier, where they could come in to stimulate demand and steal market share with their lower but still profit-producing fares.
To say Europe’s aerospace and defense industry faces a difficult period would be an understatement. Even when European governments had healthy budgets, the growth in military contractors’ business was relatively modest compared with that of their U.S. counterparts. Now, with the onset of a fiscal reckoning, the future is uncertain indeed. In the U.K., an overheated modernization program and a government deficit are setting the stage for a rough road ahead for the Defense Ministry and suppliers.
Regarding the top-performing aerospace companies (AW&ST May 31, p. 44), after more than two decades in commercial (competitive) technology enterprises and several years in aerospace, I have learned that cost-plus business management is an oxymoron. The primary business skill in cost-plus contracting is managing staffing so talent can rotate through active contracts. Efficiency, even competence, falls second to cost tracking and reporting. Meanwhile, aerospace companies’ true customer, the U.S.
USN Vice Adm. James A. Winnefeld, Jr., has been nominated for promotion to admiral and assignment as commander of Northern Command/commander of North American Aerospace Defense Command, Peterson AFB, Colo. He has been director of strategic plans and policy and senior member of the U.S. delegation to the United Nations Military Staff Committee at the Pentagon. Rear Adm. (lower half) Terry J. Benedict has been named the Navy’s director of strategic systems programs at the Pentagon. He has been program executive officer for integrated warfare systems. Rear Adm. Michael S.
Bob Gower (see photo) has been named vice president of Boeing Military Aircraft (BMA) India . He was vice president of F/A-18 and EA-18 programs. Gower has been succeeded by Kory Mathews, who was vice president/chief engineer of St. Louis-based BMA.
The French defense ministry will have to find up €5 billion ($6 billion) in cost savings, extra revenues and program cuts to keep its multiyear spending plan from unraveling.
Fresh on the heels of its successful June 4 test flight of the Falcon 9 launch vehicle, Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) is enjoying a financial boost with its win in a hotly contested contract to put the next-generation Iridium communications satellites into orbit. The $492-million contract, announced June 16, covers an unspecified number of launches for Iridium Communications Inc., which recently announced a $2.1-billion contract with Thales Alenia Space to build the 72-spacecraft Iridium Next network (AW&ST June 7, p. 34).
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There are concerns other recession-hit countries could follow Denmark’s lead in withdrawing from NATO’s 15-nation, $1.7-billion Alliance Ground Surveillance (AGS) program to buy eight radar-equipped Northrop Grumman Global Hawk unmanned aircraft. Denmark has pulled out of AGS as part of a move to cut almost $500 million from its 2010-14 defense spending plan. The decision comes after Northrop Grumman submitted its proposal for the long-awaited AGS contract, which NATO hopes to sign in October after years of deliberation.
The prime contractor for the Orbcomm 2 communications constellation was misidentified in the June 7 issue, p. 34. It is Sierra Nevada Corp.’s Space Systems Group of Louisville, Colo.
Gilles Bouctot (see photo) has been appointed chief operating officer of Messier-Dowty , Velizy, France. He was deputy to the executive vice president-aircraft equipment for parent Safran.
The PowerJet joint venture between France’s Snecma and Russia’s NPO Saturn expects to ship its first production-standard SaM146 turbofan to Sukhoi for the Superjet regional jet next month. The European Aviation Safety Agency granted the type certificate on June 23. This much-delayed milestone clears the way for certification of the Superjet itself, with deliveries of a total of four Superjets to launch customers Aeroflot and Armavia still planned this year. Powerjet expects to hand over 12 SaM146s to Sukhoi by year-end.
Anthony L. Velocci Jr. (New York), Mark A. Flinn (New York)
The Aviation Week & Space Technology you are reading represents the latest iteration of the publication introduced in 1916 to serve aviation and aerospace professionals. If its founders were around today to assess the magazine they started, they would find much that is still familiar: in-depth articles about technology trends, information that is exclusive to AW&ST and artist concepts of new aircraft.
Eurocopter used the Eurosatory defense exhibit, earlier this month in Paris, to unveil a militarized version of its 3.5-metric-ton EC145 medium twin helicopter. The EC645 is designed to perform armed reconnaissance, fire support, observation, airlift, and search- and-rescue missions. It will be equipped with a standalone weapon system, developed by Eurocopter and ATE, and a glass cockpit.
Lockheed Martin is trimming its Orion spacecraft labor force by 20% as it works with NASA to redefine the vehicle as a rescue capsule for International Space Station crews. The personnel reductions amount to 300 Lockheed Martin employees and 300 with subcontractors. While the company is working to find new positions for displaced staff, “layoff notices are probably inevitable, and that will happen shortly,” says Linda Karanian, Washington director of human spaceflight programs.
USAF Col. (ret.) John J. Kohout, 3rd (Alexandria, Va.)
I find your Viewpoint piece (AW&ST June 14/21, p. 86) advocating the new Start treaty in spite of its restrictions on missile defense seriously wrong-headed. U.S. and Russian strategic weapons numbers are declining as each nation explores residual nuclear force structures appropriate for new global strategic realities. Start negotiations may stroke Russian sensibilities, but are irrelevant to eventual U.S. and Russian nuclear force numbers.
