The union for Spirit Airlines’ pilots filed a lawsuit against the carrier Sept. 3, accusing airline management of repeatedly violating the collective bargaining agreement by unilaterally changing its terms. The lawsuit, filed in U.S.
The French defense ministry is assessing procedures and materiel used in Afghanistan to identify what changes are needed to avoid repetition of an engagement last month in which 10 French soldiers were killed and 21 wounded.
EADS plans to invest heavily in carbon-fiber technology to prepare two of its units to manufacture large composite subassemblies. EADS’s new fully-owned subsidiary Premium Aerotec GmbH. will use around €360 million ($522 million) to build facilities in the German cities of Augsburg and Nordenham, where fuselage parts of the A350XWB are scheduled to be built.
There is little question that space systems have transformed military operrations. The establishment of GPS as a global utility, the easy and ubiquitous access to satellite communication and imagery and the expansion of broadband services to mobile platforms have fundamentally altered the role that information plays in military decision-making. Satellites are a logical extension of Gen. Omar Bradley’s prescient observation: “A piece of paper makes you an officer; a radio makes you a commander.”
Boeing and NASA are preparing to stall the X-48B research aircraft for the first time under the latest block of tests at Dryden Flight Research Center. Stall testing is a key milestone for the unconventionally shaped blended wing body (BWB) concept and its sophisticated flight control system, and follows completion of the second test phase, which focused on higher speed flight.
Fitch Ratings has assigned Sukhoi Civil Aircraft Co., builder of SuperJet 100 regional jets, long-term issuer default and senior unsecured ratings of BB+ for foreign and local currency debt, with a stable outlook, and a long-term rating of AA (Russian) for national debt.
Two accidents in a three-day period—both involving airlines banned from Europe’s skies—confirm the pressing need for rigorous global aviation safety standards. The European Commission, in an effort to maintain safe airspace, instituted its “blacklist” of carriers operating below minimum standards. Kyrgyzstan’s Itek Air, involved in a fatal crash on Aug. 24, appears on that list.
The British armed forces continue to fall short of their “full time trained strength requirement,” according to the latest figures released by the government. The target is 179,160 personnel, but as of July 1 the actual figure stood at 173,370, a shortfall of 3.2%. The navy is 1,220 personnel short of its 36,140 requirement, the army is 3,500 short of its 101,790 requirement, and the air force is down 1,070 on its required strength of 41,230.
Both presidential candidates’ views on defense procurement may become clearer next month when Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Barack Obama (D-Ill.) square off in the first of three nationally televised debates. Foreign policy and national security will be the primary topics at the first debate Sept. 26 at the University of Mississippi. Obama and McCain both favor changes to the national security budget, which worries industry (AW&ST June 30, p. 54). The Aerospace Industries Assn.
The U.S. Air Force has boosted its projected Global Hawk buy from 54 of the surveillance UAVs to 78 and funding for the extra aircraft is expected in the Fiscal 2010 budget request, according to a program source. The additional aircraft are needed for two reasons. Air Combat Command has recently executed a series of force structure studies, leading the service to believe it needs more of the aircraft to provide the anticipated intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance coverage.
Are the parts Textron Inc. worth more than its sum? A swoon in the share price of the industrial conglomerate that owns Cessna Aircraft Co., Bell Helicopter and Textron Systems is raising speculation that an opportunistic buyer could seek to acquire the company and sell it off in pieces.
Rand H. Fisher (see photo) has become Rosslyn, Va.-based senior vice president-systems planning and engineering for The Aerospace Corp. He was senior vice president-special studies and had been vice president/senior adviser on space situational awareness at the Lockheed Martin Corp.
I enjoyed David Hughes’s article “SmartDeck Seeks a Foothold” (AW&ST Aug. 18/25, p. 83) and look forward to operating some of these new systems at some point in the future. Cockpits have come a long way in the many years I’ve been flying. Along with David, I’ll also admit to having flown around a water tower or two in Texas to try to determine just where the heck I was!
Two of Russia’s main airlines appear headed for bankruptcy, sending the clearest signal, yet, that years of unbridled growth for the country’s air transport sector are over. Several airlines belonging to the AiRUnion alliance were refused fuel at several airports due to outstanding debt. The service disruption led to several dozen flights being delayed or canceled. Fuel companies defend their action, even though it came at the peak of the summer travel season, noting that months of negotiations for payment had been fruitless.
The FAA finds itself at a crossroads as it celebrates its 50th anniversary. Seldom in its history has the agency confronted so many questions about its financial future, authority and operational effectiveness. The U.S. government will be forced to address these issues soon, and whatever it does could set the FAA’s direction for the foreseeable future.
The first combat use of a GBU-54, 500-lb. Laser Joint Direct Attack Munition—which was developed and tested in a blazing 17-month program—destroyed a “moving enemy vehicle” in Diyala Province, Iraq, on Aug. 12, say U.S. Air Force officials at Joint Base Balad. For additional accuracy and position updating of moving targets, the LJDAM uses a combination of GPS and laser guidance. The mission was conducted by F-16s of the 77th Expeditionary FS. The joint terminal attack controller with a ground unit validated the target while the F-16 pilot guided the weapon.
Lockheed Martin has offered Brazil a tailored version of the F-16 instead of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter originally specified in the request for information issued in July. The F-16BR is one of six contenders for the 36-aircraft F-X2 program.
The F-16C Block 40—loaded with two AIM-120s, two AIM-9s air-to-air missiles, two precision-guided GBU-31 joint direct attack munitions, two fuel tanks, an ALQ-184 jamming and towed decoy pod and a Lantirn navigation and targeting pod—is deployed with the 36th Fighter Sqdn.,“The Fiends,” at Osan AB, South Korea. Along with modernized A-10Cs, it will be the mainstay of U.S. defensive air power as the U.S. upgrades its strike, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities for the peninsula.
Antitrust authorities, union, and potential industrial partners will now get to weigh in on the “new” Alitalia, after banks and politicians have spent weeks crafting a plan to allow the airline to survive despite massive structural and financial problems.
All the networking, command-and-control streamlining and high-speed intelligence analyses planned for South Korea come together in the cockpit of sensor- and bomb-laden aircraft. In South Korea, there are advanced aircraft ready to take advantage of these many digitally based enhancements. But planning for future threats also requires significant upgrades to both Korean and U.S. warplanes.
SAP, whose signature enterprise resource planning software has expanded over the years to include suites for managing supply chains and product life-cycles, says managers are increasingly uncertain about handling regulatory issues. SAP Director Paul Pessutti, who spoke recently at Aviation Week’s Risk Management Seminar, says managing compliance is the company’s largest growth area. He says security concerns since the 9/11 terrorist attacks include ensuring that hostile elements do not gain access to sensitive materials or ship dangerous goods into the U.S.
Sigma Space has delivered the main elements of the Cloud Physics lidar (light detection and ranging) instrument to be flown on NASA’s two Global Hawk UAVs beginning in March 2009. Built for Goddard Space Flight Center, the lidar is similar to that flown on the agency’s ER-2 high-altitude research aircraft and will provide information on cloud and aerosol properties used in atmospheric research and hurricane surveillance.
Nick Oster has been promoted to manager of material/supply chain from purchasing manager for Circor Aerospace-Aerodyne Controls at its Ronkonkoma, N.Y., facility. Jacqueline Osborne has become market analyst and communications specialist at Circor headquarters, Corona, Calif. She was a marketing manager for SunCal Companies.
As the nation closed in on the Labor Day weekend, Boeing Commercial Airplanes made a best and final offer to machinists—after two earlier offers were rejected—that includes an 11% wage increase over three years and bonus payments if the deal is closed on Sept. 3, the previously agreed deadline.
