In a decade at the helm of Arianespace, Jean-Yves Le Gall has consolidated the Paris-based company’s hold on the commercial launch sector, bringing it back from a catastrophic Ariane 5 ECA inaugural launch failure in December 2002 and instituting a policy of incremental performance improvements, minimum design changes and strict adherence to quality and reliability objectives that has helped it maintain a commanding market share.
BAE Systems has reduced its stake in Saab. BAE pared its holding to 10.25%, half its previous total by selling more than 11 million Saab “B” shares to Investor AB, the Swedish investment group that is already a major Saab shareholder. BAE signals it will sell the rest “in due course.”
Marzel Neckien, president of W Machine Works, San Fernando, Calif., has been appointed chairman of the Supplier Advisory Council , which is the Irvine, Calif.-based Supplier Excellence Alliance’s aerospace and defense supplier leadership panel. New council members are: Douglas C. Greene, president of Hixson Metal Finishing, Newport Beach, Calif.; Kenny Heifner, vice president of SMS Technologies of San Diego; Tim Holland, CEO of the Graco Supply Co. of Fort Worth; Joe Yockey, owner/principal of Joined Alloys of Phoenix; Patrick H.
Lawmakers are struggling to defuse the bomb dropped by House Appropriations Chairman David Obey (D-Wis.) and Rep. Norm Dicks (D-Wash.), now officially described as the incoming defense appropriations subcommittee chairman, prohibiting congressional spending earmarks geared for corporations and other for-profit entities and requiring audits to enforce the rule. “This new oversight measure is to ensure that earmarks go to their intended purposes and to prevent for-profits from masquerading as non-profits,” the lawmakers say.
U.S. Army Brig. Gen. (ret.) Peter M. Dawkins, who is founder and principal of ShiningStar Capital, has joined the board of directors of Iridium Communications Inc. , Bethesda, Md.
The last of Afghan aircrew and flight engineers (below) to undergo training at the U.K. Defense Ministry’s Boscombe Down flight test center in southern England will be heading home. The program—known as Project Curium—will end this month with 27 Afghan personnel having undergone the training (AW&ST Mar. 8, p. 33). The curriculum for pilots consists of two flying periods interspersed with ground school. Basic flying is performed on the Gazelle; advanced training takes place on Mi-17s.
Europe’s efforts to stabilize the Airbus Military A400M development and production program are far from finalized even though industry and the seven countries backing the program have agreed on a new financing scheme to cover several billion euros in cost overruns. There are still many difficult issues to be resolved, including exactly how many airlifters each country is buying, how to allocate €1.5 billion ($2 billion) in export levy facilities, and how to determine legal liabilities between the prime contractor and its suppliers.
Hawaiian Airlines, looking for long-range fleet expansion, last week added a firm order for one Airbus A330-200 to its existing order for six of the aircraft type as well as six A350-800s. The carrier also leases three A330s. The A330-200s, powered by Rolls-Royce Trent engines, are scheduled to be delivered this year. The aircraft will seat 294 passengers in a two-class configuration.
Heavy demand from government customers helped generate solid growth at Intelsat and Inmarsat last year—a trend that can be expected to accelerate in future years. The strong showing underscored continued growth across the satellite telecom sector (see p. 48).
The NTSB is determined to improve human-machine interface in modern general aviation (GA) cockpits after a study determined that advanced avionics in light aircraft are not yielding a better safety record than in aircraft with conventional instruments. The safety board last week released the findings of a study it launched more than a year ago with help from the FAA, General Aviation Manufacturers Assn., and aircraft manufacturers Cessna Aircraft and Cirrus Design Corp.
Northrop Grumman’s decision not to bid for the U.S. Air Force’s KC-X aerial refueling tanker contract is being met with a private sigh of relief from Pentagon officials. Another round of contentious competition has been averted. But the officials’ sigh is likely being followed by an uneasy gasp at the tough challenge of negotiating a sole-source deal with Boeing that could endure to 2027.
The average per-unit cost of the Lockheed Martin Joint Strike Fighter has jumped from $50 million to as much as $95 million in Fiscal 2002 dollars, says Ashton Carter, the Pentagon acquisition chief, in Senate testimony last week. In today’s dollars, that makes the per-unit cost an estimated $112 million. Senate Armed Services Chair Carl Levin wonders if Lockheed Martin knowingly “bought into” the program by proposing an unrealistically low price during the competition with Boeing, and later recouping the money through repeated cost overruns.
The parent company of U.S. low-cost carrier Allegiant Air has signed an agreement with an unidentified European operator to acquire six used Boeing 757-200 aircraft, after Allegiant’s leadership decided the financial reward from offering service to Hawaii offsets the complexity of adding a second aircraft type to its MD-80 fleet. Allegiant Travel President and Chief Financial Officer Andrew Levy says limiting the 757s to Hawaii service would also simplify mixed-fleet operations.
Somon Air has ordered two Boeing 737-900ERs to add to two 737-800s it flies on routes to Russia, Germany, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates. The -900ERs are its first direct purchase from Boeing.
United Airlines formally ordered 25 Airbus A350-900s last week, completing a pledge it made in December to draw from both Boeing and Airbus for updates of its mid-size, long-distance fleet. Deliveries are to begin in 2016 and run through 2019. The move pushes Airbus’s order book for the 270-350-seat family to 530 aircraft. United says the A350s will replace 24 Boeing 747-400s, while 787-8s succeed 35 767-300s.
If $25,000 and a commitment for two or more months in space is too steep a price for a student experiment on the International Space Station, how about a ride for less than $10,000 for two weeks on the space shuttle? That is the approach taken by American Aerospace Advisers, which agreed Mar. 5 to rent a “2U”—the equivalent of half a NanoRack—on STS-133, the last scheduled shuttle mission.
Capt (ret.) William M. Delaney states that the stick shaker is outdated and the air data computer should instead give the oral warning “Airspeed, Airspeed” when it sees a dangerous trend (AW&ST Feb. 15, p. 8). Perhaps that should be refined to “Airspeed too low, Airspeed too low” or “Airspeed too high, Airspeed too high.”
Finmeccanica is looking to further increase its business activity in the U.S., capitalizing on its acquisition of DRS Technologies. The company has long eyed the U.S. and, through a growing industrial footprint, has tried to make it a “home market” in addition to Italy and the U.K. A round of upcoming helicopter competitions will prove a crucial test case for that business plan.
Air China appears likely to take full control of Shenzhen Airlines, building up its position against rival China Southern Airlines in the country’s south, after gaining a foothold in Shenzhen management. The arrest of a second senior figure at Shenzhen Airlines has left an Air China executive running the company—one week after Air China said it had begun an audit of Shenzhen in preparation for a takeover. Air China already owns 25% of Shenzhen, whose consistent profitability has marked it as one of the country’s better-run carriers.
The RAF plans to more than double the number of its two-person General Atomics MQ-9 Reaper crews to support the additional five systems the service is planning to purchase. The Reaper unit, 39 Sqdn., has 17 crews available, but the aim is to grow to more than 40 to support the increasing number of these unmanned aerial vehicles. The government last December announced it was to double the size of the Reaper fleet. The RAF operates the type in support of combat operations in Afghanistan, with 39 Sqdn. based at Creech AFB, Nev. The RAF squadron operates alongside U.S.
The attempts at tanker procurement have blundered along long enough that there are now real tankers available as opposed to the requirements writers’ paper airplanes. Why not break the logjam by calling for bids for the Japanese or Italian Boeing 767 and Australian Airbus A330 derivatives, treating them as commercial off-the-shelf items. The U.S. Air Force should evaluate the price and performance of each, and buy 15 of the winner and 10 of the loser. The result should be almost as good, and offer a far cheaper and quicker solution than will continuing the broken process.
The next 12-month period is likely to be a time of reckoning for the mobile satellite service sector, with a spate of new high-speed satphone services set to enter service and some consolidation seemingly inevitable.
Germany’s RapidEye says it has completed a 7.8-million-sq.-km. imaging campaign of China under a contract with the ministry of land and resources. The campaign, which involves covering about 80% of China’s land area, was performed during a six-month period with a 10% allowance for cloud cover. Chinese officials say it was the first time so much of the country has been imaged in a single year. One use of the data will be for change detection, including how agricultural land is being lost to urban development.
Top U.S. Air Force generals in charge of space and cyber-operations tell senators that the country will have to consider how to attract and retain highly skilled cyber-warriors, and probably in unusual ways. Gen C. Robert Kehler, commander of Air Force Space Command, told the Senate Armed Services strategic forces subcommittee last week that the service is pushing National Guard and reserve service in front of active-duty personnel who are considering leaving. If they accept, USAF still gets to call upon the airmen as needed, even as they seek other opportunities.
