Former astronaut Frank L. Culbertson, Jr., has been appointed Dulles, Va.-based senior vice president/deputy general manager of the Orbital Sciences Corp. ’s Advanced Programs Group and Mark A. Pieczynski vice president of the company’s Southern California Engineering Center in Huntington Beach. Culbertson was a senior vice president at the Science Applications International Corp. and head of its Global Climate Change Programs sector. Pieczynski was Delta program site executive in Southern California for the United Launch Alliance.
Charlotte, N.C.-based General Dynamics Armament and Technical Products has tapped Goodrich Corp. to provide scanner modules and associated data items for the U.S. Army Joint Services lightweight standoff chemical agent detector (JSLCAD) system. Deliveries are expected to begin in second-quarter 2009 and work will be performed by Goodrich’s ISR Systems team in Barrington, Ill. The JSLCAD uses a passive infrared detection system that automatically searches the 7-14-micron region of the surrounding atmosphere for chemical agent vapor clouds.
The CRJ series is a family of twin-engine, 44-100-seat regional jets. The initial model was the 50-seat CRJ100, which is no longer in production. It first flew in May 1991, and deliveries started in October 1992. The CRJ100 was replaced by the 50-seat CRJ200, which is powered by a pair of 9,220-lb.-thrust GE CF34-3B1 turbofans. Other variants have included the 44-seat CRJ440, which is also powered by CF34-3B1s; 64-78-seat CRJ700, powered by two 13,790-lb.-thrust CF34-8C5 turbofans; and the 86-90-seat CRJ900, powered by two 14,255-lb.-thrust CF34-8C5s.
The A318 is a twin-engine, 107-129-passenger narrow-body jetliner. Initial flight occurred in January 2002. In May 2003, the A318 (with CFM56 engines) was certificated by the European Joint Aviation Authorities (JAA), and this was followed by the FAA a month later. Deliveries began in July 2003. Through 2007, Airbus produced 53 A318s. The A318 is powered by two 21,600-23,800-lb.-thrust turbofan engines, either the Pratt & Whitney PW6000 or the CFM International CFM56-5B. Primary competition includes the Embraer 190 and 195.
Lockheed Martin promoted a positive forecast for its C-130J and C-5 programs during the Air Force Assn.’s 2008 conference in Washington at mid-month. “As we enter a ‘pull’ market where demand for C-130Js is growing rapidly, our production rate will increase substantially over the next several years,” said Jim Grant, Lockheed Martin’s vice president-business development for air mobility and special operations programs.
U.S. air traffic controllers will require a new set of skills to work in the NextGen aviation system, and under a $437-million contract, a Raytheon-led team will help FAA tower personnel transition to a new way of doing business.
Michael Toscano has become executive director of the Arlington, Va.-based Assn. of Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI) . He has been chairman of the Physical Security Equipment Action Group and program manager for research and development for nuclear security in the Office of the Deputy Assistant to the Secretary of Defense for Nuclear Matters. Toscano will succeed Daryl Davidson, who is now executive director of the AUVSI Foundation.
A new congressional report sharply criticizes the Bush administration for failing to fulfill myriad critical homeland and national security mandates outlined in the 9/11 commission bill passed in 2007. According to House majority staffs of the Homeland Security and Foreign Affairs committees, the administration has made little progress on Secure Flight and missed opportunities in screening of cargo carried on board passenger transports.
Air Force Reserve pararescuemen from the 331st Air Expeditionary Group prepare to retrieve a family trapped on the roof of their home by flood waters following Hurricane Ike. The pararescuemen, along with aircrews, two HH-60G Pave Hawk helicopters and two HC-130P/N refueling tankers—deployed from the 920th Rescue Wing at Patrick AFB, Fla.—rescued 17 people from Nederland, Tex., on Sept. 13. Rescue and recovery operations in the wake of the massive storm also were mounted by aviation units of the Homeland Security Dept.
Andy Plyler (see photos) has become vice president-Hawker Beechcraft Services and David Bernstorf vice president-safety and certification for the Hawker Beechcraft Corp. , Wichita, Kan.
It’s no secret terrorists are determined to obtain and use nuclear weapons, says CIA Director Michael Hayden, adding that Osama bin Laden has said repeatedly that he considers acquisition of nuclear weapons “a religious duty.” “By that measure alone, there is no greater national security threat facing the U.S. than Al Qaeda and its associates,” Hayden told members of the Los Angles World Affairs Council last week. The CIA is fighting the nuclear terrorism threat on two fronts: the supply side and the demand side.
The 747 is a four-engine, intercontinental wide-body commercial transport aircraft. A total of 1,396 were produced through 2007. The current 747-400 production model is available with 62,100-lb.-thrust GE CF6-80C2B5F, 63,300-lb.-thrust Pratt & Whitney PW4062 or 59,500-lb.-thrust Rolls-Royce RB211-524H2-T engines. The 747-400 carries 416 passengers in a typical three-class configuration. First flight and certification of the 747 occurred in 1969. The -400 variant was certificated, and deliveries began, in January 1989.
There seems to be only one sure thing about the future for low-fare carriers, particularly in the U.S. and Europe—their ranks will be thinned. But by just how much is not yet clear.
NASA Administrator Michael Griffin is getting positive feedback on Capitol Hill as he pushes for authority to keep buying seats on Russian Soyuz capsules after Dec. 31, 2011. That’s when NASA’s exemption to the Iran, North Korea and Syria Nonproliferation Act expires, blocking further payments to Russia for rides to the International Space Station. “Every single person that I have talked to, on either the House or the Senate side, and on either side of the aisle, has said they understand, they are supportive,” Griffin says.
The C-212, an unpressurized, 21-28-passenger regional turboprop once known as the Aviocar, made its first flight in March 1971. Initial delveries occurred in May 1974. It is built in Spain by EADS CASA, and under license in Indonesia by Indonesian Aerospace (IAe). Some 473 C-212s were built through 2007. The C-212-200 is powered by two Honeywell TPE331-10R-511C/512C engines rated 900 shp. each. The C-212-300 uses two TPE331-10R-513C turboprops, also rated 900 shp. each. The new C-212-400 uses two TPE331-12JR-701C engines rated 925 shp. each.
After beta testing with 5,700 users in more than 170 companies, Exostar has formally launched ForumPass4, a successor to its SharePoint collaboration web-based platform. Rolls-Royce used ForumPass4 on the Trent 1000 for the Boeing 787 and found that it was able to reduce design collaboration time to 23 weeks from an expected 45.
Missile defense and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) will be the primary forces driving an almost $33.6-billion “airborne and space-based electro-optical” market, according to consultancy Forecast International (FI). “Manufacturers are projected to produce roughly 10,000 airborne platforms over the next decade, and most of these will be equipped with at least one EO system such as a targeting pod, thermal imaging equipment, missile warning system or IR countermeasures,” says Theresa Hartley, FI aerospace and defense analyst.
Sirius XM has issued subscriber forecasts that fall well below analysts’ anticipations, raising investor concerns about a pending early 2009 refinancing and the ability of the Sirius-XM Radio merger to expand usage and cut costs. A continuing worry is the availability of radios able to receive both companies’ broadcasts. The company’s stock value has plunged 40% since the merger (AW&ST Aug. 4, p. 6).
The newly designed twin-engine, extra-wide-body jetliner is intended to compete with Boeing’s 787 and 777 airliners. The XWB will be powered by new Rolls-Royce Trent XWB engines rated in the 74,000-92,000-lb.-thrust range. The aircraft has a cruise speed of Mach 0.85. Three basic versions are being marketed: the -800, -900 and -1000. Depending on version, the XWB seats 276-369 passengers and has a range of 8,000-8,300 naut. mi. An ultra-long-range version, the A350-900R, will also be available, as will a -900F freighter. The A350XWB is scheduled to enter service in 2013.
Lobby group the U.K. National Defense Assn., which has the patronage of some former top ranking military officers, last week launched a critical report on the state of Britain’s defense expenditure: “Overcoming the Defense Crisis.” The report flags concern over low morale among many service personnel, and what it views as substantially inadequate defense spending. The Defense Ministry contends its budget “is experiencing its longest period of sustained real growth for over 30 years.”
EchoStar Corp. says it is still looking to repurpose a broadband mobile service satellite (MSS) that was to be launched in mid-2008 for China Multimedia Mobile Broadcasting, a unit of the state administration of radio, film and TV. EchoStar indicated in May that it had asked Space Systems/Loral to suspend work on the spacecraft, CMBStar, because of a dispute over satellite performance criteria.
French Caribbean carrier Air Caraibes is the European launch customer for the Airbus A350-1000—the largest version of the company’s A350XWB. The airline has signed a memorandum of understanding to acquire three of the twin-engine transports that will be configured to carry up to 440 people in three classes. Air Caraibes already operates an all-Airbus fleet and plans to use the A350-1000s on routes between its Paris hub and the islands of Guadeloupe and Martinique, and French Guiana.
Navin Mithel has been appointed managing director of customer relationship management for Alaska Airlines . He was managing partner at Ascentium Corp., Bellevue, Wash.
Nora Lin (see photo) has been named president-elect of the Society of Women Engineers . She is manager of the Supportability Engineering Group at the Rolling Meadows, Ill., facility of the Northrop Grumman Corp.
Lufthansa is making an audacious play to become the world’s biggest airline, having set in motion a series of acquisitions that would fundamentally reshape not just the carrier’s structure, but the entire European airline landscape.
