UPS Canada officially opened its expanded 463,024-sq.-ft. Toronto hub distribution center on Dec. 1. The $70-million expansion effort doubles UPS’s package processing capacity and facilitates international commerce between Canadian businesses and more than 200 countries and territories worldwide. UPS Chairman/CEO Scott Davis says it might seem odd to invest millions “in the middle of the worst recession in recent history . . .
Strong but uncertain demand for satellites is driving test contractors in Europe to expand their capacity for space testing activities while diversifying into other fields. Unlike their U.S. rivals, which generally draw on their own test capabilities or the extensive engineering facilities at NASA and other government agencies, European satellite makers—with the exception of Thales Alenia Space—rely heavily on independent contractors for a big part of their testing needs.
Dan Komnenovich has been appointed chairman/president/CEO of Dallas-based Aviall Inc. He will succeed Paul Fulchino, who will be retiring in early 2010. Komnenovich has been executive vice president of Aviall Inc. and president/chief operating officer of Aviall Services. He will be succeeded as executive vice president/chief operating officer by Ed Dolanski, who has been senior vice president-operations.
NASA is gearing up to release $50 million in economic stimulus money to fund technology development for commercial crew transport to the International Space Station and any other low-Earth-orbit (LEO) destinations that may show up.
USAF Brig. Gen. Cary C. Chun and USN Rear Adm. (lower half) Sandy L. Daniels have become deputy commanders of the Joint Functional Component Command-Space of U.S. Strategic Command . Chun has been assigned to Chantilly, Va., and Daniels to Vandenberg AFB, Calif. Chun was commander of the 50th Space Wing of Air Force Space Command, Schriever AFB, Colo., while Daniels was director of warfare integration in the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations in Washington.
Safety-of-flight issues are playing a large role in the argument over how NASA should get crews to the International Space Station after the shuttle fleet retires, and are sure to figure in President Barack Obama’s decision on what to do.
Very long endurance and the ability to hunt enemy air defenses are emerging areas of interest in EADS’s long-term unmanned air vehicle road map, although the company’s near-term focus remains on securing a future for the medium-altitude Talarion project.
Boeing increased the unidentified customers’ count for 737s on its 2009 net order list by two last week, raising it to 55 and the year’s total order count to 149 airplanes.
The decision by Northrop Grumman/EADS North America not to submit a bid for the U.S. Air Force’s KC-135 replacement competition is largely seen as continued posturing by the team, rather than an end to its ambitions to win back the $35-billion deal to rebuild aerial refuelers.
Passenger figures continue to sag for British Airways, but the airline is continuing to see signs of hope that its premium traffic is starting to recover. “Long-haul premium is showing signs of improvement with volumes above the levels of last year and yields improving,” the carrier says in reporting November traffic figures. Short-haul premium traffic was reported as stable. Business-class traffic was up 1.5% in November.
The first Geosynchronous (GEO-1) satellite in the Space-Based Infrared System (Sbirs) that Lockheed Martin Space Systems is building for the U.S. Air Force has completed thermal vacuum testing, setting it up for its last major trials before shipment next December to Cape Canaveral AFS, Fla., for launch. While test data are analyzed, technicians will complete rework early next year on faulty spacecraft components identified prior to the beginning of thermal vac. Lockheed Martin says the components are not part of GEO-1’s early warning missile detection system.
The discussion in Washington Outlook (AW&ST Nov. 16, p. 24) concerning how thousands of fourth-generation Chinese fighters would wear down 187 F-22s, sounds rather like discussions in the 1930s concerning the outcome of a confrontation between the battleship fleets of the great powers. Both discussions were backward-looking.
France continues to reaffirm plans to modernize and expand its military space capability, despite budget constraints and the difficulty of enlisting other European nations in the effort, particularly for the next-generation Musis surveillance system.
Ecuadorian airline AeroGal this week plans to launch daily non-stop Boeing 767 service between New York JFK International Airport and Guayaquil Jose Joaquin de Olmedo Airport. The 767 will seat 210 passengers, 25 in business class and 185 in coach. It is the only Ecuadorian airline to operate to New York, according to President and CEO Gabriela Sommerfeld.
In the article “Ready to Play Host” this week’s issue, differences between Boeing’s 702B and 702 are misidentified on p. 68. The 702B will deploy antennas but will not use deployable radiators.
Jan. 4-7—48th Annual American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics’ Aerospace Sciences Meeting including the New Horizons Forum and Aerospace Exposition. Orlando (Fla.) World Center Marriott. Also, Jan. 20-21—Strategic and Tactical Missile Systems Conference. Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, Calif. Call +1 (703) 264-7500 or see www.aiaa.org Jan. 5-7 —AUSA’s Army Aviation Symposium and Exposition. Hyatt Regency Crystal City Hotel, Arlington, Virginia. Call +1 (703) 907-2672 or see www.ausa.org
The U.K. Defense Ministry and industry are trying to identify the cause of the failure of what was planned to be the last qualification test firing of the Royal Navy’s Sea Viper air defense missile system. The Sea Viper—the Royal Navy’s name for the MBDA Principal Anti-Air Missile System—is the primary anti-air armament of the navy’s Type 45 destroyer. The test is thought to have been a two-target engagement.
European mobile satellite service startup Solaris Mobile has inaugurated operating trials to demonstrate its ability to broadcast video and radio to phones, other hand-held devices and automobiles. Solaris, a joint venture of Eutelsat and SES Astra, is drawing on an S-band payload on Eutelsat’s W2A satellite and a ground network and cellular mobile technology provided by TowerCast and Alcatel-Lucent, respectively.
The tragedy of the Colgan Air crash near Buffalo, N.Y., on Feb. 12, like so many other accidents, need not have happened. While we cannot bring back the victims, we can honor their lives by using the knowledge we gained during this investigation to revamp how we deal with fatigue management.
Boeing is busy bringing the first 787 back to life in preparation for flight tests, which, depending on preflight test progress, could be brought forward to the week starting Dec 14.
Pratt & Whitney and Malaysia Airlines signed a memorandum of understanding to open an engine nacelle repair facility in Kuala Lumpur within the next two years. The 50/50 joint venture would service nacelles on the airline’s fleet and those on third-party aircraft in Asia-Pacific and the Middle East.
The U.S. and France have completed interoperability tests of a new Identification Friend or Foe (IFF) interrogator/transponder that is intended to reduce fratricide on the ground during ground air strikes. The trials, held at the U.S. Naval Air Systems Command test center in Patuxent, Md., demonstrated that Thales’s New Generation Mode S/Mode 5 IFF could communicate effectively with U.S. equivalents using Mode 5 encryption keys.
The Air Force chief says he is concerned about maintaining the industrial base during these lean financial times. But he is not one to be pushed around. At the Credit Suisse/Aviation Week conference, Boeing Integrated Defense Systems CEO Dennis Muilenburg said the C-17 production line at Long Beach, Calif., is a “national treasure,” the only facility suited to build large military aircraft left in the U.S. base. Boeing has lobbied hard to get funding for more C-17s from Congress each year despite the lack of a request from the Air Force.
Sea Launch Co. has won final U.S. Bankruptcy Court approval for debtor-in-possession (DIP) financing to keep it going while it reorganizes under protection of Chapter 11. The Dec. 3 ruling follows interim approval gained last month. Under the recovery plan, $12.5 million in DIP financing will come through Space Launch Services—an entity led by aerospace consultant and former Sea Launch Vice President Bohdan Bejmuk, with Excalibur Almaz and PlanetSpace as principal partners, according to Sea Launch.
Small businesses form the backbone of the U.S. economy—and the aerospace and defense industry. But the small operations that originate tens of thousands of components that go into aircraft and weapons systems are much more vulnerable to the industry’s downturn and an evaporation of credit. With an eye on better days ahead, some are doing whatever it takes to hold onto skilled employees, even at the expense of profits.
