Franck Aussedat (see photos) has become chief operating officer, Tim Rice vice president-Airbus and European programs, and Thierry Thomas vice president-engineering and research and technology of France-based Messier-Dowty . Aussedat was director of the Supply Chain Group for Rexel, while Rice was managing director of Messier Services (U.K.). He succeeds Joel Berkoukchi, who has been named chairman/CEO of Messier Services International. Thomas was director of the design office in Velizy, France.
In “Embraer Complaints About Japan’s Aircraft Subsidies . . . ” (AW&ST Apr. 14, p. 56), you wrote about Brazilian concern over Japan giving aircraft subsidies to the Mitsubishi Regional Jet program. The Japanese are not the only ones looking for new aircraft launch subsidies. Bombardier is seeking U.S. subsidies (State of Missouri) for the CSeries aircraft. The hybrid approach of subsidies will handcuff the U.S. Trade Representative.
Embraer kicked off a three-aircraft, 1,400-hr. certification campaign for the Phenom 300 with the light jet’s Apr. 29 first flight (aircraft no. 99801) at the manufacturer’s Gaviao Peixoto test facility in Brazil. The flight lasted 1 hr. 20 min., with Capt. John Sevalho Corcao and Embraer chief test pilot Eduardo Alves Menini at the controls. Deliveries are to begin in about a year. The aircraft trails development of the smaller Phenom 100 by about a year; deliveries of 10-15 of those very light jets are forecast for the second half of this year.
Lufthansa is testing a program that would allow true paperless travel—the delivery of boarding passes to passengers via Internet-enabled telephone or PDA. The service, which delivers a two-dimensional barcode pass via e-mail or SMS, is now available to passengers with carry-on baggage only and who are booked on flights between Hamburg and Munich or Frankfurt. The barcode and other travel information would enable passage through security. The barcode is also scanned at the boarding gate.
General Atomics Aeronautical Systems won a $177.1-million USAF contract for program management, urgent repairs, logistics support, software maintenance, engineering services, field support, depot repair, flight operations support and enhancements for Predator and Reaper unmanned aircraft.
A Royal Air Force Eurofighter Typhoon deployed to the U.S. Naval Air Weapons Station at China Lake, Calif., for trials work last week suffered a gear-up landing.
The Israeli air force’s complete baffling of Syria’s air defenses late last year—as part of a raid on a suspected nuclear facility—may have some of its roots in the raids on Baghdad in 1991 and 2003. Washington winked at Israel’s attack and provided some arm’s-length support. Why? “The Israelis can do things [in the region and within their political structure that] we sometimes can’t do,” says a senior U.S. Air Force official with long experience in clandestine operations.
The Swiss military has taken delivery of the first four of its anticipated six Pilatus PC-21 advanced trainers. The first pilot class using the PC-21 is to start in July. The PC-21 will allow Switzerland to shift jet training away from the F-5.
Pratt & Whitney has named Goodrich to be sole provider of nacelle systems for geared turbofan engines for both the Mitsubishi Regional Jet and Bombardier CSeries family. The award is valued at $5 billion over a 25-year period following the GTF’s service entry in 2013 on the MRJ. The CSeries has yet to be formally launched.
Shanghai Airlines has become the only listed Chinese airline to lose money in 2007. The company, which analysts say is a ripe takeover target because of its strong position in Shanghai and weakness elsewhere, lost 497 million yuan ($71.1 million) last year, compared with a profit of 82.2 million yuan in 2006.
The International Space Station is in position to receive the space shuttle Discovery on the STS-124 mission, now that Europe’s Jules Verne Automated Transfer Vehicle (ETV) has demonstrated its ability to reboost the station. That was one of the three critical ISS functions the European freighter was designed to perform. A 740-sec. burn by two of the ATV’s four main engines, executed at 12:22 a.m. EDT Apr. 25, raised the orbit of the 280-metric-ton ISS by 4.5 km. (3 mi.) to 342 km.
U.S. Army Brig. Gen. John E. Seward has been appointed deputy commanding general of the U.S. Army Pacific, Ft. Shafter, Hawaii. He has been deputy commanding general for operations of the U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command/U.S. Army Forces Strategic Command, Peterson AFB, Colo. Brig. Gen. David L. Mann has been named commanding general of White Sands Missile Range, N.M. He has been deputy commanding general of the U.S. Army Recruiting Command, Ft. Knox, Ky.
EMS Technologies has landed a $13-million contract from Northrop Grumman to supply a new extremely-high-frequency satellite communications system for USAF B-2s. With the upgrade, the aircraft is expected to send and receive battlefield information up to 100 times faster than the current ultra-high-frequency satellite communications. The system also supplies a connection to the Pentagon’s Global Information Network to improve situational awareness.
Lockheed Martin won a $190-million contract increase from the U.S. Navy for advanced acquisition of special tooling and test equipment associated with Lot 2 low-rate initial production of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter.
Edward H. Phillips (Atlantic City International Airport, N.J.)
In 2009, the FAA will conduct research into the load interactions of large, multiple-wheel landing gear systems on various types of pavement materials used at major airports worldwide.
Steve Bates (see photo) has been promoted to vice president-completions and modifications from senior director of maintenance sales and product management at St. Louis-based Midcoast Aviation .
European Union Emissions Allowance prices peaked at €25.67 ($40.04) on Apr. 22, as energy prices all rose on the back of crude oil’s run to a record high of just over $120 per barrel. With coal and gas prices both rising strongly, but coal remaining the more competitive fuel for power generation, utilities were the main buyers, backed up by speculative traders. The Apr. 22 price was the highest seen since May 30, 2007, and capped a 10-week bull run that saw the 2008 contract gain 28%.
USN Capts. Donald E. Gaddis, Paul A. Grosklags and Maude E. Young have been nominated for promotion to rear admiral (lower half). Gaddis is program manager for presidential helicopters in the Program Executive Office for Aviation, NAS Patuxent River, Md., while Grosklags is its manager for H-60 programs. Young is the major program manager for the National Reconnaissance Office and National Remote Sensing System, Chantilly, Va.
Planned procurement of upgraded Bell AH-1Z attack and UH-1Y utility helicopters will be increased to 349 from 280 aircraft to support the USMC’s “Grow the Force” initiative. The inventory objective has been increased to 123 “Yankees” and 226 “Zulus,” up from 100 and 180. The increase is possible because USMC is moving to new-build airframes for both rotorcraft types.
The U.S. Air Force’s Arnold Engineering Development Center (AEDC) this month is conducting high-altitude tests of a Pratt & Whitney F100 engine operating on synthetic fuel derived from the Fischer-Tropsch process. The F100 will be the first USAF fighter engine approved to use the fuel, according to AEDC.
Larry J. Dodgen (see photo) has become Huntsville, Ala.-based vice president/deputy general manager for the Northrop Grumman Corp. ’s Mission Systems Sector Missile Defense Div. He has been vice president-strategy for missile systems.
India will formally request government funding for a human space mission within seven years as it continues to push its spaceflight capabilities in the civil and military arenas. With China moving ahead on preparations for its third human launch (see p. 28), the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) will ask the government to approve a human spaceflight mission by 2014-15. The project is expected to cost $2.5 billion.
Three USAF units have built and tested a system to capture the effects of network warfare (a failure that has hampered exploitation of the technology’s warfighting potential). They captured events on a computer network range and transferred them into a model simulating an adversary’s communications network. The result, says a command analyst, is “the first time effects from a live network attack were transferred without any manual intervention.” Effects of the attack were transferred machine-to-machine to Hurlburt Field, Fla.
German engine manufacturer MTU Aero Engines is looking at acquisitions in the U.S. and mergers in Europe in an effort to mitigate the impact of the falling dollar and forge closer ties with original equipment manufacturers.
