USN Capt. Maude E. Young, who has been selected for promotion to rear admiral (lower half), has been named program executive officer for space systems/commander of the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command Space Field Activity/director of the Communications Directorate of the National Reconnaissance Office in Washington.She has been major program manager for NRO and National Remote Sensing System.
As flight-testing of the Lockheed Martin F-35 Joint Strike Fighter accelerates, the pace of engine work is equally frenetic—Pratt & Whitney is starting qualification of a fix to the F135 turbine cracking issue and General Electric/Rolls-Royce is building the first production-representative F136 alternate engine.
USAF Maj. Gen. Michael C. Gould has been named director of operations and plans for the U.S. Transportation Command, Scott AFB, Ill. He has been commander of the Second Air Force of Air Education and Training Command, Keesler AFB, Miss. Gould will be succeeded by Maj. Gen. Alfred K. Flowers, who has been commander of air force officer accession and training schools in the Air University Air Education and Training Command, Maxwell AFB, Ala. Flowers succeeds Maj. Gen. Mike Gould, who is now operations and plans director for U.S. Transportation Command. Col. Darryl W.
Gary Lidstone has been appointed director of engineering for Seattle-based Raisbeck Engineering . He was an operations manager for Pratt & Whitney’s Seattle Aerosciences Center.
The initial M-346 advanced trainer in the industrial preseries configuration logged its official first flight on July 7 from Alenia Aermacchi’s Venegono, Italy, facility. The company says its goal of structural optimization has been achieved through a different spacing of wing spars and fuselage frames, plus a wider use of composite and titanium parts. These combined changes have led to a reduction in empty weight of about 700 kg. (1,543 lb.).
USAF Gen. (ret.) Lance W. Lord has been appointed CEO of the Colorado Springs-based Astrotech Space Operations subsidiary of Spacehab Inc. He was commander of Air Force Space Command at Peterson AFB, Colo.
Europe’s goal of deploying the Galileo satellite navigation system by 2013 and making its Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES) network sustainable by 2015 or so could encounter stiff headwinds unless a number of policy issues are resolved. The European Commission (EC) and the European Space Agency issued a request for proposals for 28 Galileo full operating capability (FOC) satellites and their related ground segments on July 1. The EC expects to short-list candidates for negotiation by Aug. 7 and to have all contracts signed by mid-2009.
Amy Butler (Washington), Graham Warwick (Washington)
Lockheed Martin expects to fly its Advanced Composite Cargo Aircraft (ACCA) X-plane in the summer of 2009, demonstrating the ability to quickly craft a fuselage from composite materials with far fewer parts than today’s structures.
Michael Ruecker (see photo) has been named senior vice president/general manager of Jet Aviation ’s maintenance and fix-based operations in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. He was maintenance director for the Basel, Switzerland, facility.
Umeco Group’s Pattonair Americas has begun providing warehouse management for Safran’s Turbomeca USA’s Grand Prairie, Tex., facility. Services underway include a direct-to-line-feed for parts. Pattonair will add enterprise resource planning systems development as well as modernize the layout and stocking procedures.
Michael A. Taverna (Paris), Douglas Barrie (London)
There are signs that the space intelligence policy of Europe’s two strategic powers, long at loggerheads, may at last be beginning to converge. The two nations, Europe’s biggest defense spenders, have traditionally taken very different approaches to space surveillance. France, the continent’s premier space power, has pursued an independent capability; Britain, with the notable exception of communications, has preferred to rely on privileged access to U.S. assets.
The Senate confirms Army Gen. David Petraeus as the next head of U.S. Central Command (Centcom). Petraeus was nominated for the post after Adm. William Fallon’s March resignation following reports of a possible schism between Fallon and the White House. Army Lt. Gen. Raymond Odierno will receive a fourth star and take Petraeus’s place as chief of the Multi-National Forces in Iraq. Not everyone in the Senate is happy about the Petraeus confirmation, however.
When the Lockheed Martin F-35B lifted off for the first time on June 11, it was an outward sign of an inner shift in the program, a growing confidence that the Joint Strike Fighter is finally and firmly on a schedule that is executable and can be used by international customers to begin planning their purchases.
Airbus has broadened the airframe work that Spirit AeroSystems will complete for the A350XWB to include the wing leading edge, which will be produced mainly at Spirit’s Prestwick facility in Scotland. The contract, for which no award price was given, also includes the composite front spar, to be manufactured in Kinston, N.C., and composite subassemblies, to be turned out at the Spirit Malaysia facility at Subang, near Kuala Lumpur. Spirit made its A350 breakthrough in May with a contract to build the airplane’s center fuselage section.
Germany’s anti-trust authority Bundeskartellamt is expected to block the planned merger of Air Berlin and leisure carrier Condor, opening opportunities for a new round of talks among various industry players. The authority told Air Berlin in March that it will likely not allow it to take over Condor as planned, as the two airlines would gain a dominant position on leisure routes from Germany to Southern Europe. However, Air Berlin argues the combination would enhance competition on long-haul routes.
The Russian air force would like to field 48-72 Sukhoi Su-35s multirole fighters as an interim until its fifth-generation combat aircraft enters service, if the government will approve funding for the acquisition. The first prototype of the Su-35 derivative of the Su-27 Flanker was presented in front of senior air force officers last week. So far, the aircraft, Bort 901, has chalked up 20 test flights since it was first flown in February. Air force chief Col. Gen. Alexander Zelin says the service wants 2-3 regiments of the Su-35.
Michael Mecham (North Charleston, S.C., and Wichita, Kan.)
After months of headlines featuring 787 delays, the news from Boeing now heralds milestones being achieved. Factories still are not pulsing as they’re supposed to, but the large-assembly production system that is at the heart of the new airplane’s global supply strategy is beginning to gel.
Graham Warwick (Washington), Michael A. Taverna (Paris)
The boom in demand for business aircraft may be passing its peak in the U.S., if not elsewhere, but manufacturers are already looking beyond the current cooling toward the next upswing of the cycle by building orderbooks for aircraft that will not enter service before early next decade.
Gloomy headlines may proclaim oil around $150 a barrel, but Boeing says travel is so essential to the world’s economy that airplane sales should top $3 trillion in the next 20 years. And, besides, it figures oil prices will average only half current rates. In its annual market review, the company forecasts demand for 29,400 new airplanes through 2027 valued at $3.2 trillion, an uptick over last year’s prediction of 28,600 orders valued at $2.8 trillion.
The pilot hiring picture remains bleak. Southwest Airlines is the only U.S. major airline still hiring pilots, according to Atlanta-based FLT.ops, an aviation career consulting firm. In the last six months, airline shutdowns resulted in the permanent loss of 2,377 pilot jobs. About 2,000 pilots, mainly from American Airlines, are now on furlough, with another 3,000 expected to be laid off by the year-end.
Amparo Calatayud (see photos) has been named manager of FlightSafety International ’s Learning Center in Lafayette, La. Barbara Taylor has been promoted to manager from assistant manager of FSI’s Bell Helicopter Learning Center in Fort Worth. Calatayud has been assistant manager of the Dallas/Fort Worth Learning Center. Taylor succeeds George Ferito, who will remain director of rotorcraft business development.
Simon Maurer (see photo) has been appointed chief safety officer for Geneva-based Skyguide . He will succeed Jurg Schmid, who will be retiring at year-end. Maurer has been deputy aviation safety officer for the Swiss Environment, Transport, Energy and Communications Dept.
EADS Astrium says the second Galileo test satellite, Giove B, has successfully completed in-orbit testing. The spacecraft is intended to validate key technologies of the European satellite navigation system, notably a passive hydrogen maser clock, and to provide test signals that replicate the actual frequencies and formats that will be used in the operational system (see p. 70).
