The U.S. is planning a number of sales of air-launched missiles to Middle Eastern militaries. One foreign military sales (FMS) offer is to Jordan to buy 85 AIM-120-C7 Amraam missiles for $131 million. The country has just started fielding former Dutch F-16s. The Pentagon announced a proposed FMS deal with Bahrain for 25 of Raytheon’s C-7 Amraams. The biggest sale, though, is proposed to the United Arab Emirates for 362 Hellfire air-to-ground missiles.
Row 44 has received the first certification from the Federal Communications Commission for satellite-based broadband services for commercial aircraft in the U.S. The Westlake Village, Calif.-based company previously won approval from Canada and Mexico. Its Ku-band satellite technology is the first competitor to the direct air-to-ground system from AirCell that has been in commercial operation by some U.S. carriers since early this year. Row 44’s satellite linkage allows it to operate over open water, which air-to-ground transmissions cannot.
Tyler Chase has been promoted to vice president from director of operations and Gary Lidstone to vice president from director of engineering for Seattle-based Raisbeck Engineering .
John Porter, who is senior vice president of the Houston-based Astrotech Corp. , also will be interim chief financial officer. He succeeds Brian K. Harrington, who resigned as senior vice president/CFO.
Brian DeCamp (see photos) has been appointed general manager for DeCrane Aerospace ’s Precision Pattern Interiors Div., Wichita, Kan., and Patty Raisor general manager of DeCrane’s Carl F. Booth Veneers Div., New Albany, Ind. DeCamp was the division’s vice president-manufacturing, while Raisor was her division’s assistant general manager.
The Afghan National Army would have to grow by an order of magnitude to secure the entire country, the director of national intelligence (DNI) estimates. Applying the Army Counterinsurgency Handbook’s coarse formula of 25 personnel per 1,000 population, the DNI told the Senate Intelligence Committee 818,000 soldiers would be needed. Narrowing the objective to controlling the Pashtun areas, where most of the insurgents are, would bring the number down to 325,000. But the Afghan army has only about 83,000 personnel, the DNI reported to the intel panel in April.
Boeing has completed its checkout of GOES-O and has handed the weather satellite to NASA for operation on behalf of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Renamed GOES-14, it is scheduled to begin operation later this year.
The Finnish air force has received upgrades for three F-18 weapons tactics and situational awareness training (WTSAT) systems. The Boeing aircrew trainers now provide experience for aerial refueling and offer a long-haul networking capability that allows the systems to link over a wide-area network.
“Some of the DNI’s statements are surprisingly flimsy,” writes Steven Aftergood in FAS’s Secrecy News. In 2003, the director of national intelligence says, Russian military personnel prepared for an exercise that included attacking a broad array of U.S. military satellites. It turns out, Aftergood says, that assertion, in the DNI’s answers to the Senate intel committee, was lifted almost word for word from an article in the Russian newspaper “presenting it as an established fact, with no attribution at all.”
Joseph Ackerman, president/CEO of Elbit Systems, Haifa, Israel, has received an honorary doctorate from the Israel Institute of Technology (the Technion) . He was cited for “contributions to Israel’s security, in recognition of your pivotal role in making Elbit Systems a world leader in the development of advanced security systems and a major contributor to the Israeli economy through the export of its innovative technologies.”
Russia’s leading guided-weapons manufacturer will wheel out revised—if long- touted—versions of its two key air-to-air missile products this month, as it tries to bolster its position in the export arena. Tactical Missile Corp.—also known as TRV—will formally unveil its so-called RVV-SD and RVV-MD missiles for the first time at the Moscow air show later this month. The RVV-SD is an improved version of the R-77 (AA-Adder), while the RVV-MD is a variant of the R-73 (AA-11 Archer).
Sally Adee (left) won the National Press Club’s 2009 Michael A. Dornheim Award, which carries a $2,000 prize and celebrates the career of Aviation Week’s late senior engineering editor and Los Angeles bureau chief. Dornheim’s mother, Charlene (right), presented the award, which recognizes a journalist writing about aerospace, aviation, defense or related science or engineering subjects, at a dinner at the club in Washington last week.
Oliver Bootz has been appointed vice president-business development of CSafe , Dayton, Ohio. He was vice president-sales and customer support of Zodiac Aerospace.
I can understand why there would be an interest in liquid oxygen/liquid methane propulsion for lunar missions (AW&ST July 13, p. 16); liquid methane is next to liquid hydrogen in performance, while being superior in storability and density. But I don’t understand why hypergolic propellants (methylated hydrazine and nitrogen tetroxide) would be possible contaminants of lunar landing areas. There is no indigenous life to be harmed, nor is anyone likely to be breathing contaminated vacuum.
Ulrich Ogiermann, who is president/CEO of Cargolux Airlines International, has been elected chairman of The International Air Cargo Assn. , and Michael Steen, chief marketing officer of Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings as vice chairman. New directors are: Issa Baluch, chairman of Swift Freight International and Air Cargo Trader; James R. Edgar, regional marketing director of Boeing Commercial Airplanes; Brad Eyster, director of industry affairs of UPS; Chris Leach, chairman of Air Charter Service; T.
John Duval, director of operations, planning and development for Beverly (Mass.) Municipal Airport, has become chairman of the Alexandria, Va.-based American Assn. of Airport Executives . Also elected recently are: Jim Bennet of Washington, first vice chairman; Kelly Johnson of Bentonville, Ark., second vice chairman; and Bruce Carter of Moline, Ill., secretary/treasurer. James Elwood of Aspen, Colo., is first past chairman; and Krys Bart of Reno, Nev., second past chairman.
Winds of change have blown into Washington with the new Obama administration and Dan Murphy likes the feel of them. Murphy, a retired U.S. Navy vice admiral, is chairman and CEO of Alliant Techsystems Inc. (ATK), a scrappy manufacturer of ammunition, precision weapons and space propulsion and satellite systems. He believes Defense Secretary Robert Gates’s new emphasis on near-term warfighting requirements aligns well with ATK’s emphasis on weapons systems that are affordable and can be rapidly fielded—or, as Murphy bluntly labels them: “good enough.”
Neelam Mathews (New Delhi), Douglas Barrie (London)
When Russian President Dmitry Medvedev visited the shipyard responsible for converting the aircraft carrier Admiral Gorshkov for the Indian navy at the beginning of last month, he suggested there would be “serious consequences” if Moscow failed to deliver.
Jeffry D. Frisby, who has been president of the Triumph Aerospace Systems Group , Wayne, Pa., now also will be chief operating officer. He succeeds Richard C. Ill, who has been president and now will be chairman/CEO. David Kornblatt has been promoted to executive vice president/chief financial officer from senior vice president/CFO.
ProtoStar Ltd.—a Bermuda-based company set up by a group of U.S. satellite and finance executives to acquire existing geostationary satellites and run them for profit—has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in Delaware and plans to sell its spacecraft to cover its debts. The company operates ProtoStar I and II, Space Systems/Loral and Boeing spacecraft, respectively, for the Asian direct-to-home market.
Israel Defense Forces is considering the purchase of an unmanned aircraft for evacuating injured people, with Urban Aeronautics’ ducted-fan Mule the leading candidate, according to the IDF’s Medical Corps. Urban Aeronautics is preparing a prototype for flight this year, with an operational version accommodating two stretchers and an attendant to be available in 2012. The Medical Corps says the Mule’s narrow width will allow it to land in urban areas inaccessible to helicopters.
Rolls-Royce is preparing to test an upgraded version of its venerable T56 turboprop to boost performance of the Lockheed Martin C-130, as well as cut fuel consumption by up to 12%.
Lockheed Martin has added spoilers to the outer wing panels of the F-35C carrier variant of the Joint Strike Fighter to avoid a wing-drop phenomenon that plagued development of the Boeing F/A-18E/F. Wing drop can occur when maneuvering at transonic speed and high turn rate, when shocks set up at slightly different locations on the left and right side, creating a lift gradient that causes one wing to drop and the aircraft to roll out of the turn.
Sukhoi’s Superjet 100 is now well into flight testing, with the first three prototype aircraft participating in the program. The third aircraft was flown for the first time at the end of July. The first two, the second of which is shown on the cover, have amassed more than 270 flights totaling 700 hr. The Superjet program is a key element of Russia’s effort to reinvigorate what was an ailing commercial aircraft sector (see p. 48). Sukhoi photo.
