Davud Kasparov has been named design engineer and Aaron Jo-Nes technical support manager for Raisbeck Engineering of Seattle. Anne Lockemy has been promoted to advertising and public relations manager from marketing assistant.
The Defense Dept.’s new national strategy aims to balance conventional war-fighting capabilities—which now dominate its force structure and planning—with irregular and asymmetric skills and weapons. “U.S.
Ground systems developed as part of the U.K.’s Astraea program to examine the use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) in non-segregated airspace are being tested throughout all this month. Pilots, navigators and air traffic controllers are taking part in trials using the ground station to fly a simulated UAV mission. Results of the tests will be used to help further development of ground control station software.
Canada is leasing helicopters and unmanned air vehicles to increase support for its troops in Afghanistan. Up to eight Mil Mi-8 chartered commercial helicopters will be available later this year under a renewable one-year contract worth C$36 million ($34.2 million). They will precede six used Boeing CH-47D Chinook helicopters that are to be purchased from the U.S. for $292 million and available by February 2009.
Amy Butler (Washington), John M. Doyle (Washington)
The Pentagon will take into account the extra capabilities—such as fuel offload—of its two tanker offerings, as well as 15 more years of life-cycle cost, as it proceeds with a fast-paced redo of the botched Boeing and Northrop Grumman/EADS tanker duel. The Defense Dept. issued the new draft request for proposals (RFP) for KC-X Aug. 6, kicking off another contest for up to $35 billion in work that the Pentagon hopes to award by year-end.
Raytheon will submit a proposal for a reduced-yield variant of the Paveway IV dual-mode weapon to the U.K. Defense Ministry in the next couple of months, likely shortly before the baseline version makes its operational debut.
Jerry Henry has become director of sales for Sandel Avionics , Vista, Calif. He succeeds the late Bill Wood. Henry was senior manager of customer support for Avidyne.
Tests by the Phoenix Mars lander are being reoriented toward verification that Martian soil contains totally unexpected salts like those consumed on Earth by extreme life forms. The salts, called perchlorates, have been discovered in back-to-back wet chemistry runs by the Phoenix Microscopy, Electrochemistry and Conductivity Analyzer (MECA) instrument. The team now hopes to obtain perchlorate data using the Thermal Evolved Gas Analyzer (TEGA) that has been tuned using commands from Earth to help it find perchlorates.
Northrop Grumman’s Integrated Systems Div. will supply engineering and technical services to support the two Global Hawk unmanned aircraft being flown by NASA’s Dryden Flight Research Center. The aircraft provide long-distance, long-endurance high-altitude platforms for NASA instruments.
Tom Cornell has been appointed San Francisco-based vice president in the Facilities and Operations Div. of Landrum & Brown . He had a similar position with the Jacobs Consultancy.
Michael Mecham (San Francisco), David Hughes (Washington)
In a deal that covers most of its commercial, military and space manufacturing, Boeing says it will retire a number of legacy lifecycle management systems in favor of the Teamcenter suite of tools produced by Siemens PLM Software. “We are partnering with Siemens to enhance Boeing’s product data management capabilities,” says Boeing Vice President Nancy Bailey, president of its IT Product Systems.
The U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) has awarded a $153-million contract to Boeing to demonstrate new concepts to make the GPS signal more jam-resistant. The High Integrity Global Positioning System demonstration is expected to run through 2010 and combine signals from the Iridium telecommunications system in low Earth orbit with signals from the GPS constellation in medium Earth orbit.
U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates has his work cut out for him in trying to influence the Air Force to support the warfighter in an efficient and safe manner. USAF will not entertain better and more efficient business models. Inefficiency ensures job security and command time.
Azerbaijan Airlines, which ordered three 787s in February 2007 and was not ranked high in Boeing’s delivery schedule, has substituted one of them for a 767 to satisfy its interim requirements. The carrier has not previously operated 767s, which the 787 is to replace, but also ordered a second one. In addition, the airline added orders for two 737s. This marks the first displaced order on record since Boeing began experiencing 787 schedule delays last September. First deliveries aren’t expected until third quarter 2009.
The British Defense Ministry has picked BAE Systems Insyte to develop its next-generation of naval surveillance and targeting radar for several classes of ships. BAE’s Artisan radar will equip the Royal Navy’s two future aircraft carriers, as well as being fitted to the Type 23 frigates, landing and helicopter assault ships.
The final MH-60R of 11 needed to equip the U.S. Navy’s first operational MH-60R helicopter maritime strike squadron (HSM-71) departed Lockheed Martin Systems Integration facility in Owego, N.Y., late last month for San Diego. The Owego plant is the prime air weapon systems integrator for the MH-60R for the Navy, an anti-submarine and anti-surface warfare helicopter. The HSM-71 squadron is due to deploy with the USS John C. Stennis aircraft carrier strike group in 2009. This model of a Sikorsky aircraft will replace the Navy’s SH-60B and SH-60F Seahawks.
China’s civil aviation administration will severely punish airlines when their poor service causes passenger protests. Airline service standards have resulted in protests ranging from sit-ins to the storming of aircraft. The administration says it has repeatedly told carriers to make improvements, but to no avail. The policy may seem odd, since passengers are surely more likely to kick up a fuss if they know the airline will be penalized. But the Chinese government routinely holds enterprises responsible for actions that result in any disturbance of social stability.
The X Prize Foundation says 10 teams will compete in the 2008 Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge, a two-level, $2-million competition requiring a vehicle to simulate trips between the Moon’s surface and lunar orbit. The teams competing are Texas-based Armadillo Aerospace; California-based teams BonNova, Unreasonable Rocket and Team Phoenicia; Colorado-based Paragon Labs, and Chicago-based TrueZer0.
Airbus has sealed the deal to sell its Laupheim plant to a Diehl/Thales joint venture; the transfer should take place on Oct. 1. This is the first successful site sale for Airbus, which made disposal of several facilities a key element of its Power8 cost-savings plan. Talks are still underway with GKN to take over parts of the Filton, England, location, but efforts to unload aerostrutures facilities in Germany and France have failed over a host of issues. Laupheim is active in cabin work, and will now also pursue business outside Airbus.
Canadian buyout firm Onex Corp. and investment bank Goldman Sachs raised eyebrows when they paid $3.3 billion to acquire Raytheon Aircraft last year. After all, the Wichita, Kan.-based business and general aviation aircraft manufacturer had once been such a mess that no buyers would touch it, let alone pay a premium (AW&ST Jan. 1, 2007, p. 26).
International Launch Services says the Aug. 14 launch of the third Inmarsat 4 satellite on a Proton M Breeze M has been delayed because of a problem with a vendor-supplied onboard computer. A new date will be released once a new unit has been installed and tested. The flight will be the Proton M’s first since a failure in March stranded an SES satellite. The new spacecraft will enable Inmarsat to expand its Broadband Global Area Network over the Asia-Pacific region, giving the high-speed mobile satellite network worldwide coverage.
The Russian Defense Ministry is working on a long-term strategy covering the period to 2030. A draft of the ministry’s “The New Face of the Russian Armed Forces Until 2030” is being circulated among senior officials. According to Russian news agency Novosti, the draft document stresses the importance of high-precision conventional weaponry as a complement to sustaining the strategic nuclear triad.
International Air Transport Assn. Director General Giovanni Bisignani recently warned that rising fuel prices are setting the stage for a global airline crisis, a situation he described as unprecedented in aviation history. IATA forecasts a $6.1-billion industry loss this year with crude prices at $135 per barrel. Several Wall Street investment banks see oil settling in at $200-250 per barrel. Some analysts argue economic sustainability of the industry as a whole is unlikely without government intervention, even if oil adjusts to $100 per barrel.
While an anticipated wave of retirements has kept the aerospace and defense industry on edge for the past couple of years, many older employees have simply stayed on in their positions. But that only delays the expected “silver tsunami”—with 26% of aerospace professionals eligible to retire this year alone—according to the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA). In a just-released report on ideas discussed at a May AIAA workforce forum, participants urged a number of actions to fill the soon-to-be vacant positions.
Iridium Satellite has tapped Lockheed Martin and Thales Alenia Space for the final phase of the procurement process for the company’s replacement satellite constellation, Iridium NEXT. During this last nine-month phase, the two companies will vie for the prime contract, slated to be awarded by mid-2009. The current generation of Iridium satellites is expected to begin reaching the end of its operational life around 2014. Iridium NEXT will replace the company’s current system of low-Earth orbiting satellites with 66 new spacecraft covering the entire globe.
