The financial crisis that originated in the U.S. cascaded down on Europe last week, sending leaders there racing to shore up their nations’ banks. The deepening credit freeze is also forcing European aerospace and defense companies to take a hard look at how it could impact their operations. A top concern is how the paralyzed credit markets will affect the smaller suppliers, which feed the operations of large A&D manufacturers.
Weak traffic, partly due to civil unrest in Thailand, is forcing Thai Airways International to cut services to China, India, South Korea and Japan. The carrier says traffic from those countries has dropped 10% since the unrest began. The global slowdown is also a factor.
The British government has approved an increase in flight and passenger numbers at London’s third airport. Air traffic movements at Stansted will be increased to 264,000 from 241,000, while the passenger ceiling will rise to 35 million a year from 25 million.
The Defense Dept.’s newest regional command, covering Africa, is open for business, although Africa Command (Africom) currently consists of just a small headquarters operation of about 1,000 military and civilian personnel—in Stuttgart, Germany. The 17th Air Force, reactivated Oct. 1 and based at Ramstein AB, will serve as Africom’s air arm, although it will act chiefly in a coordinating capacity, drawing its aircraft and much of its personnel from a “global force pool.” Gen. William (Skip) Ward, Africom’s commander, says there are no plans to base any U.S.
Across the U.S. Defense Dept. and industry, great amounts of resources and energy are being devoted to the issues of aging platforms and diminishing supply resources—from M-915 line-haul trucks to F-15s and A-10s to the space shuttle. Little of substance is heard regarding the “humint” element of resource obsolescence. The engineering classes of the 1960s and ’70s, tempered by Cold War and space race, must be treated as the most non-replaceable of diminishing resources.
Thomas J. Cassidy, Jr.’s complaint about the “unbalanced” article on General Atomics is curious, since the article was drawn directly from the Government Accountability Office report (www.gao.gov) in which the GAO rejected the Lockheed Martin/General Atomics protest of the U.S. Navy Broad Area Maritime Surveillance (BAMS) award to Northrop Grumman (AW&ST Sept. 22, p. 10; Sept. 1, p. 24). Amy Butler did not present her own opinions, she just accurately related what the government said. Thus, Cassidy should address his complaints to the GAO.
Recently appointed British Defense Secretary John Hutton last week said the U.K. will end its commitment to the NATO/European Union Balkans operational reserve force at year-end.
Australian Transport Safety Bureau, French and Airbus officials are investigating an uncommanded pitch-down event in which a Qantas A330-300 en route from Singapore to Perth, Australia, climbed 200 ft. from its cruising altitude of 37,000 ft., dived 650 ft. in about 20 sec., returned to the cruising altitude and then dived again by 400 ft. in 16 sec. before once more returning to the cruise level. More than 40 of the 313 people on board were injured, 14 seriously.
Air France subsidiary Brit Air will acquire six more Bombardier CRJ1000 NextGen aircraft for medium-haul operations in a deal valued at $299 million based on list price. The agreement reflects conversion of six options, which were part of the Morlaix, France-based airline’s initial February 2007 order for eight of the aircraft type. Brit Air was the launch customer for the CRJ1000 and the CRJ700.
Usually an ebullient event, this year’s National Business Aviation Assn. convention and exhibition unfolded in Orlando, Fla., on Oct. 6-8 against the unsettling backdrop of global economic turmoil (see p. 24). Looking past the uncertainty, it was a strong event with almost 1,200 exhibitors, 139 aircraft on display and almost 34,000 attendees, only slightly down from 2007
The British Defense Ministry is to sell the former Royal Air Force base at Machrihanish in the southwest of Scotland. Machrihanish has a 3,049-meter (10,000-ft.) runway, one of the longest in Europe.
BAE Systems is developing a compact head-up display for business and commercial aircraft using holographic-waveguide optics technology under development for military helmet-mounted displays. HUD use has been limited to airliners and larger business jets because of the bulky optics, but the Q-HUD is half the size and weight of conventional displays. The overhead electronics mount between the cockpit structure and liner, and only the combiner and control panel protrude into the cockpit.
Diehl and Thales have completed the acquisition of an EADS Airbus plant in Laupheim, Germany, that specializes in cabin system integration. The two companies were selected in August to acquire the facility, which employs 1,100 people and makes cabin linings, crew rest compartments, overhead baggage bins and air ducts for all Airbus aircraft. It will be known as Diehl Air Cabin and owned 51% by Diehl and 49% by Thales.
Nextant Aerospace plans to fly its re-engined Beechjet 400A light jet in June 2009, aiming for certification and delivery of the Williams FJ44-3AP-powered 400NXT in 2010. Replacing the JT15D-5s will reduce fuel consumption by 32% and extend range to 2,005 naut. mi., says Nextant. The company is selling fully remanufactured 400NXTs for $4.9 million and conversions of customer Beechjet 400As and Hawker 400XPs for $2.4 million. The upgrade includes a Rockwell Collins Pro Line 21 cockpit. This will be certificated by year-end, says Nextant.
Space Systems/Loral will supply a new telecom spacecraft for SES’s Sirius unit. Sirius 5 is scheduled to be launched in 2011 to 5 deg. E. Long. The unit is intended to provide broadcasting and broadband sevices to Sirius’s core Nordic and Baltic market as well as countries in sub-Saharan Africa.
FlightSafety International is expanding aviation training for Bombardier Learjet, Cessna and Hawker Beechcraft, increasing its five facilities in Wichita, Kan., by a total of at least 200,000 ft. and adding 250 staffers to the more than 450 it employs there. Grants and tax credits from state and local agencies are expected to underwrite the work. For Cessna, FlightSafety will expand pilot training and replace an existing maintenance training center.
The Transportation Dept. is facing multiple legal challenges to its final rule on slot auctions at New York-area airports—New York’s Kennedy and LaGuardia and New Jersey’s Liberty International in Newark—but department officials insist they will proceed with the auctions anyway. The rule will see the FAA auctioning 10% of slots at the three airports, with the first wave of auctions set for Jan. 12. The Air Transport Assn. says it will seek an injunction to halt the first auctions. Meanwhile, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey says it will too.
After Airbus won the U.S. tanker competition, many politicians said America should not depend on a non-U.S. company for its defense. To demand that America should be defended using equipment manufactured in the U.S. is a praiseworthy view and a common nationalistic one. But if you want U.S.-made defense equipment, don’t invite a European company to compete. Running the competition again in the hope of getting a different result should never be an option. If Boeing had won, would we be having a rerun now?
Ian Coxhill (see photo) has been appointed director of engineering at the Westcott facility of Ampac In-Space Propulsion UK . He was a propulsion engineering executive at Surrey Satellite Technology.
Alliant Techsystems says it successfully demonstrated the propulsion system for the proposed Non Line-of-Sight Launch System (NLOS-LS) Precision Attack Missile (PAM). Three tests were conducted at White Sands Missile Range, N.M., the company announced Oct. 6. NLOS-LS, developed for the Army’s Future Combat System, is slated for initial fielding in 2011. The Army plans to procure more than 25,000 PAM missiles for use against moving and stationary targets. The PAM is a 7-in.-wide, 60-in.-long, 118-lb. modular missile with a planned 40-km. range.
A Raytheon-led team claimed major progress Oct. 6 after completing stationary and moving target intercept tests under the Active Protection System, part of the U.S. Army’s Future Combat Systems program. The APS, which is supposed to protect FCS manned ground vehicles, comprises short- and long-range components. The short-range system was slated for a July test while the long-range countermeasure is planned for development and testing in 2010.
Labor representatives have endorsed a plan by EADS to sell a majority stake in its Socata unit to Daher. Worker councils at all three entities backed the move aimed at creating a larger aerostructures business, which would also be active in business aviation and services. Under the deal, Socata also is assured a Tier 1 supplier role on the Airbus A350.
Bob Bell has been named vice president-enterprise risk solutions for Strategic Thought Inc. of Washington. He was risk manager for the Joint Strike Fighter program at the Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co. in Fort Worth.
