A Barack Obama administration is not likely to slash defense weapons spending, although some major acquisition programs would fall under tighter scrutiny, according to the Democratic senator’s senior national security adviser, Richard Danzig. The former Navy secretary says the next set of national leaders will “need to come to grips, above all, with the affordability issues and the requirements process.” But Obama doesn’t have a “predisposition” toward particular programs.
Brazil’s TAM Airlines will be the first Latin American member of the Star Alliance following completion of its integration process in 12-18 months. Star’s board voted last week to accept TAM, which is South America’s largest carrier with a fleet of 116 aircraft that fly on 16 international and 42 domestic routes. A code-share agreement signed last week by TAM and Star founding member Air Canada becomes effective in November, subject to government approval.
David R. Apt (see photos), Catherine Lamb-Heinz and Daniel J. McClain have been promoted to vice presidents-communications at the Northrop Grumman Corp. Apt and Lamb-Heinz were directors of communciations at the Herndon, Va.-based Technical Services Sector and the Linthicum, Md.-based Electronic Systems Sector, respectively. McClain was corporate director of media relations at the company’s Los Angeles headquarters.
The Reduced Vertical Separation Minimum (RVSM) is now implemented in air traffic flows over most of the globe, says the International Civil Aviation Organization. The minimum vertical distance between aircraft was accomplished starting Sept. 25 for operations above ICAO’s Africa and Indian Ocean region, the last to put it into practice. The RVSM, to 1,000 ft. from 2,000 ft., is in effect between FL290 and 410.
It doesn’t take classified access to understand that the Royal Air Force’s new Astor intelligence-gathering system, being fine-tuned here in the green swales of East Anglia, will soon be bound for operations over the sand seas and knife-edge ridges of Afghanistan.
The Astor system is maturing, and has proven that airborne radar ground surveillance is a crucial battlefield capability for fighting both small terrorist groups and conventional army formations, say British Army and Royal Air Force officials. But more importantly—and largely hidden from view—is a long-term, multi-service effort to pull additional advanced capabilities from the airborne sensor.
Barry Brown (see photo) has become vice president-commercial of Oman Air . He was chief commercial officer of SriLankan Airlines and has been an executive at Qantas, American Airlines and Air France.
The Pentagon is planning to make no changes to its national security space management structure until the new administration is settled in 2009. Despite a growing threat to systems in space—including direct-ascent anti-satellite technologies (demonstrated by China) and jamming, as well as developments toward fielding high-energy lasers, high-powered microwaves and co-orbital attack systems—there appears to be no resolve in the executive branch to manage these issues soon.
Michael Wright, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (Greenbelt, Md.)
As burning of fossil fuels has both the airline industry and planet struggling to keep their heads above water, it’s time to start thinking outside the proverbial box. Rather than burning jet fuel while taxiing, wouldn’t it make sense to use a sustainable ground-based propulsion system rather than burn dirty and heavy onboard fuel? Linear induction motors (LIMs) could be added to aircraft to transport them while on the ground. LIM technology has been around for decades but only deployed on small scales.
All counterterrorism programs that collect or “mine” personal data, including web surfing, should be systematically evaluated for their effectiveness, lawfulness and privacy impact, a new report from the National Research Council asserts. Both classified and unclassified programs should be evaluated before being set in motion and then checked regularly, the report says. The danger of terror attacks is “real and serious,” says former Defense Secretary William Perry, co-chairman of the study group.
Britain’s new Astor R1 ground surveillance radar aircraft banks over the Mojave Desert in the Southwest U.S. earlier this year. Jim Haseltine, shooting for HIGH-G Productions, was flying in a T-38 chase plane. The aircraft carries a Raytheon-built, active electronically scanned array radar for observation of small ground targets from 45,000 ft. Five of the aircraft will be flown by No. 5 (Army Cooperation) Squadron based at RAF Waddington (see p. 56).
Technological advances are shifting the pilot’s role to one of flight manager—and at the same time are underlining the need to maintain basic stick-and-rudder skills.
The Serbian government is considering putting more money into flag carrier JAT to keep the company solvent until it can once again put the airline up for sale. A recent tender process yielded no buyers, which the government has blamed on poor economic conditions and high fuel prices. But JAT’s high debt level and need to modernize an aging fleet may see Belgrade put more money in the business in the short term, according to local reports. Government officials have indicated that once market conditions permit, they will put the airline up for sale once more.
Qatar has placed its first order for C-130s, ordering four stretched “J” models from Lockheed Martin for deliveries beginning in 2011. The contract is valued at $393.6 million. As a new customer, Qatar’s contract includes training of aircrew and technicians; spares; ground support and test equipment; and cargo-related equipment, such as forklifts, pallets and loading vehicles. Qatar is Lockheed Martin’s seventh foreign customer for the C-130J.
Britain and Raytheon have spent a lot of money developing the new Astor airborne ground surveillance system, but they think export of this advanced radar system—with variants based on the customer’s pocketbook—may slash away at the initial investment and development costs they’ve had to bear. “Astor offers a proven integration of complex mission systems that is a marketable commodity,” says British Army Maj. Simon Hanford, Astor chief of staff. “The U.K. covered the research and development cost of Astor so it has an interest in exports.”
Two Dassault Rafale fighters have arrived in Switzerland to complete their stint in the country’s flight evaluation for a partial F-5 replacement. The Saab Gripen has completed its trials, and two Eurofighter Typhoons are due in Switzerland on Nov. 6. The two-seat Rafales will undergo around 30 flights and then operate alongside F-5s and F/A-18s for another 50. The Swiss government hopes to name a winner in July.
The U.S. Air Force has grounded 127 of its 356 A-10 Warthog aircraft from flight status, pending inspection and repair of wing cracks. The issue is facing A-10s with thin-skin wings, the first models to roll off the production line, according to USAF officials. The service had noticed a spike in instances of fatigue-related wing cracks in A-10s around the world, prompting the grounding order. Aircraft supporting U.S. Central Command are being inspected as quickly as possible.
USAF Brig. Gen. (ret.) Frank Bruno has been named director of military sales for the Nordam Group , Tulsa, Okla. He was head of depot maintenance, supply management and sustainment transformation for Air Force Materiel Command at Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio.
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 Air Transport Assn. and FAA have named a team of industry and government officials as winners of the 2008 FAA-ATA Non-Destructive Testing “Better Way” Award. It recognizes a team who has worked to advance inspection or testing of aircraft structure, components or systems. The winning team comprises Jeffrey Kollgaard, John Linn, David Messner and Jeffrey Thompson from Boeing; John Bohler, David Piotrowski and Richard Watkins from Delta Air Lines; Russell Jones from the FAA; Andre Lamarre from Olympus Inc.; and Dorsey Perkins from Southwest Airlines.
Orbital Sciences Corp. plans a major expansion of its launch vehicle research and development, engineering, production and test facilities in Chandler, Ariz. The first phase of the plan will comprise an 82,000-sq.-ft. building housing 330 employees. Ultimately, the expansion will add 232,000 sq. ft. of space in three buildings, doubling the size of the facility.
Weak demand for business and first-class travel in their European and U.S. markets has led members of the Assn. of Asia Pacific Airlines to predict 2009 will be rough on profits. “The next 12-18 months will be extremely difficult times for airlines and some won’t survive the current crisis,” says AAPA Director General Andrew Herdman. While fuel prices have abated in recent months, they still are 15% above last year’s levels. Fuel costs coupled with weakened demand are making AAPA members “extremely cautious about prospects for the airline industry in 2009.”
Two years out of office and former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is still a figure of controversy. Revered for his vision for national security space management, Rumsfeld is losing some of his disciples. A. Thomas Young, chairman of the Allard Commission, a panel of space experts, says management in national security space is and has been woefully lacking. “It boggles my mind,” Young says on the subject of Rumsfeld’s leadership in this area. “You could not give a grade other than F.
Dassault has launched development of a Phase II upgrade for the EASy integrated flightdeck on its Falcon business jets. The update will include Honeywell’s synthetic vision system on both pilots’ primary displays. New options will include ADS-B Out, controller-pilot data link communications, GPS precision approach, runway awareness software and paperless charts. EASy Phase II will be certificated on the Falcon 900DX/EX in late 2009, and the Falcon 2000DC/LX and Falcon 7X in mid-2010.
