MTU Aero engines has improved its revenue guidance by €50 million, to €2.65 billion, with operating earnings also expected to come in above projections. Earnings before interest, taxes and appreciation are expected to reach at least €400 million. The earnings boost comes, in part, from greater efficiency efforts. Currency issues continue to hobble results, with revenue from new equipment up 4% rather than 13% without currency exchange effects. On the MRO side, the effect was even greater.
The first AgustaWestland Future Lynx fuselage will be delivered in the next few weeks, but just how many more will be manufactured is the critical question. The Future Lynx program—the model is unofficially now dubbed Wildcat—is intended to provide a key capability for both the army and navy. The army is to receive 40 of the type; the navy, 30. The fate of the project, however, apparently hangs in the balance as the Defense Ministry struggles to deal with a substantial near-term mismatch between procurement aspirations and available funding.
What unfortunate timing that Mitsubishi announced it’s seeking to run a final assembly line for the Boeing 737 replacement program in Japan. Boeing’s machinists union in Washington State has shut down commercial airplane production with a strike that shows no sign of resolution. Job security is a primary issue for the machinists, while Boeing has focused on the necessity of staying flexible. Boeing makes it clear it will not guarantee employment in the face of stiff competition and a dynamic marketplace.
Alexis Livanos, who is corporate vice president/president of the Northrop Grumman Corp. ’s Redondo Beach, Calif.-based Space Technology Sector, has received the International von Karman Wings Award from the California Institute of Technology . The award was presented by the Aerospace Historical Society , in recognition of Livanos’s achievements in space science and technology. He has more than 30 years’ experience in research and applications in microelectronics, solid-state physics, electro-optics and signal processing.
United Technologies has named Hamilton Sundstrand President David Hess, 53, to succeed Stephen Finger as president of Pratt & Whitney when Finger retires on Jan. 1. Hess led Hamilton Sundstrand as it became Boeing’s largest component supplier for the 787 and as it won major awards to supply the Airbus A380, Lockheed Martin F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, Sikorsky CH-53K helicopter, and Embraer and Mitsubishi regional jet families. Alain Bellemare, 47, will take over for Hess at Hamilton Sundstrand.
Boeing researchers say they successfully tested a new fuze well and fuze for high-speed warheads by penetrating reinforced concrete at supersonic speeds. The improvement is supposed to open the envelope for attacking hardened and buried targets. The new, hardened fuze stays in place while the bomb penetrates where needed for maximum damage.
American Airlines and British Airways still believe they can get their joint venture application approved before the Bush administration leaves office, although they admit the window is closing. “As time goes on, [the decision] could very well be made by the next administration,” says Will Ris, American’s senior vice president for government affairs. Other industry observers believe a decision in the middle of next year or later is more realistic, based on previous cases. Once the Transportation Dept.
The new marriage between Air Force space and cyber warfare efforts is expected to be more successful than the service’s often awkward relationship with the nuclear intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) mission. Gen. Robert Kehler, who oversees Air Force Space Command and its new numbered Air Force for cyber warfare, says this mission and the nuclear efforts are “getting a lot of attention.” Oversight of nuclear forces—including bombers and ICBMs—will shift to a yet-to-be-named new major command.
A congressional move to shut down the use of Chinese launch services by overseas satellite manufacturers may move from theory to practice now that the Fiscal 2009 defense authorization measure is law. The measure includes a provision instructing the Defense Dept. to review whether the engagement of its contractors or subcontractors for Chinese launches poses a security risk. The main target of the move is Thales Alenia Space, whose owners, Thales and Finmeccanica, have targeted the U.S. defense business as a major strategic objective.
Dennis O. Hines has become associate director of programs, John G. Zellmer chief of protective services, Albion H. Bowers director of the Aeronautics Mission Directorate and Brent R. Cobleigh director of the Exploration Mission Directorate, all at the NASA Dryden Flight Research Center , Edwards AFB, Calif. Hines headed departments involving the Ballistic Missile Defense System at the Missile Defense Agency in Washington, while Zellmer was chief of program protection for acquisition security at Edwards.
Engineers at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center will spend the next five weeks checking out the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) in a spacelike environment as preparations continue for its planned Apr. 24 launch on an Atlas V vehicle. The LRO has been placed in Goddard’s four-story-tall thermal vacuum chamber for the tests, which will include mission simulations to continue training the controllers who will operate the spacecraft in orbit.
The shuttle orbiter Endeavour descends the ramp from Launch Complex 39B Oct. 23 on its crawler transporter en route to Pad 39A, the first such vehicle/pad switch in Apollo-Saturn or space shuttle program history. It was one of the busiest weeks for the 2,700-ton twin crawler transporters in the 45-year history of the Kennedy Space Center. The shuttle Atlantis that had been on Pad A was rolled back to the Vehicle Assembly Building Oct. 20 to await decisions on whether it can fly the STS-125 Hubble servicing mission as early as February.
Marc Kaplan (see photo) has been appointed vice president-investor relations of the Raytheon Co. , Waltham, Mass. He was vice president-strategic planning for the defense and intelligence segment of Textron Inc. and had been its director of investor relations.
Digital Audio Radio Services (DARS) pioneer WorldSpace has filed for bankruptcy protection in an attempt to regroup so that it can begin offering DARS service in Europe next year. The Chapter 11 reorganization, which will include a 90-day $13-million “debtor-in possession” financing facility, will seek to raise funds to repay senior secured and convertible notes, either by restructuring the company or by winding up its assets. An initial $2-million payment was authorized on Oct. 22.
Iridium Satellite, a pioneer of the universal mobile phone, is introducing a model that is smaller, has a brighter display and features programmable international codes for dialing, improved short messaging services and e-mail capabilities. With their ability to access satellite transmissions anywhere, handsets have traditionally been bulkier and sport more pronounced antennas than consumer phones. The new handset is notably lighter, smaller, and has a retractable antenna supplied by Sarantel Ltd.
As NASA celebrates its 50th anniversary, I have mixed feelings as to whether I should rejoice in the accomplishments or lament in the missed potential. Since the Apollo program, NASA has suffered from congressional indifference and a lack of presidential leadership. While there have been tremendous successes, the U.S. now has a space program in search of a mission as NASA engineers struggled to overcome technical challenges on shoestring budgets.
Critics continue to opine that the U.S. airline industry needs to be re-regulated. In a sense, the formidable issues facing the industry have generated an odd sentimentality about resurrecting economic regulation of the airlines. Some critics believe that government needs to play a more active role in determining how airlines price and distribute their product, and even where, how often and what size airplanes they should fly.
Thales has achieved Level D certification of the first Sichuan Airlines Airbus A320 simulator in China. The full-flight simulator (FFS) will be installed at the airline’s new training center at Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan province. It is part of a more than $20-million contract awarded to Thales this year. The deal includes another FFS and a Thales formation system trainer (TFST) device. The two new Level D FFSs are equipped with Thales’s new eM2K, a six-degree-of-freedom electric motion system that uses hydraulic mass compensation and transmission.
The four-star commander of USAF space forces says he supports, and actually proposed, a pause to the Transformational Satellite (TSAT) in order to avoid missteps in the jam-proof communications spacecraft program that brought massive cost overruns and delays on other efforts.
Croatia Airlines has signed a firm contract with Airbus to acquire four A319s powered by CFM International CFM56-5 engines. The cabin is designed to seat 132 in two-class configuration, and the aircraft will be operated on the carrier’s European and domestic networks. Croatia’s flag carrier will add the four A319s to the eight A320-family aircraft already in operation.
NASA is expanding research into fiber-optic strain and deflection sensors to include potential applications in monitoring spacecraft heat shields and shape sensing in composite aircraft skins.
Business aviation accidents would be reduced with improved runway safety and crew resource management training, and an awareness of the risks of human fatigue, NTSB Chairman Mark V. Rosenker told the Bombardier Safety Standdown last week at Kansas City, Mo. For example, runway safety could be improved by the FAA requiring that Oct. 21 warnings of potential collisions/incursions be supplied directly to flight crews. In the cockpit, on-demand air taxi flight crews might be required to receive resource management training.
Sidney E. Anderson has been appointed chief financial officer of the Hawker Beechcraft Corp. , Wichita, Kan. He has been vice president-finance and treasury for Hamilton Sundstrand.
Speculation has begun on who would replace NASA Administrator Michael Griffin, should the next President desire a change at the space agency. Former astronaut Sally Ride’s name has come up on both candidates’ lists. But Chirinjeev Kathuria, an Indian-born, Chicago-based physician and technologist who made his fortune in medical equipment sales, is reportedly also on Obama’s shortlist.
