The European Commission is forcing Finmeccanica, Piaggio and Avio to repay the Italian government around €450 million ($688.5 million) that Rome provided in state loans the EC has deemed violations of subsidy rules. The companies have 60 days to repay a first installment exceeding €100 million. The other payments can stretch out until 2018. Review of the loans began in 2003, starting with six programs but growing to 17 aerospace projects that benefited from zero-interest long-term research and development loans provided by the economic development ministry.
With Vandenberg AFB launch pads for the Boeing Delta IV and Lockheed Martin Atlas V rockets now in service—the first Atlas V launch occurred Mar. 13—officials at the Space and Missiles Systems Center in Los Angeles are looking at what’s next for military launch. The elusive concept of reusable systems appears to be the only way to get cost efficiencies beyond what is offered by these newest boosters, says Lt. Gen. Michael Hamel, the center’s director. Knowing the pitfalls of past failures, Hamel says he’d like to develop a reusable first stage as a first step.
Amy Butler (Washington), Michael A. Taverna (Paris), Robert Wall (Paris)
Boeing is risking a potentially huge backlash from the U.S. Air Force after the company protested the loss of a $35-billion tanker award to a Northrop Grumman/EADS team. Also on the horizon is a more daunting future as European rivals pour into the Pentagon market, bolstered by victory in the high-stakes KC-135 replacement program.
One of NASA’s leading Democratic overseers in Congress sees the need for a hefty boost in agency spending, and wants to send a signal to the next occupant of the White House to that effect. Rep. Bart Gordon (D-Tenn.), chairman of the House Science Committee, says the short-term NASA authorization bill he and his congressional counterparts hope to adopt this year (AW&ST Mar. 3, p.
Mike Rinn (see photo) has become vice president/program director for the Airborne Laser for Boeing Missile Defense Systems . He succeeds Greg Hyslop, who is now vice president/manager for the Ground-based Midcourse Defense program. Rinn was air vehicle integration and test director and ABL deputy program manager.
French prosecutors are calling for manslaughter charges to be brought against Continental Airlines and four people believed to be connected to the crash of an Air France Concorde in 2000 in which 113 people died. French legal officials have not decided whether to implement the request. A titanium strip from a Continental DC-10 caused a tire to burst on AF4059; tire debris then punctured the fuel tank.
Initial development trials of the European Meteor rocket/ramjet-powered air-to-air missile have ended following a successful guided firing at the Vidsel missile test range in Sweden. The missile, being developed by MBDA, was launched from a Saab Gripen against an MQM-107B high-subsonic target drone. The shot was the last in a series of firings to prove the missile’s basic performance. During the fly-out to the target, the missile’s data link was used to communicate with the launch aircraft.
European Commission investigators have raided the offices of Air France, Alitalia, KLM and Lufthansa to investigate claims of price-fixing on flights to Japan. The offices of Japanese airlines have not been visited.
Lockheed Martin’s production prototype F-35A Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter completed the first stage of in-flight refueling qualification on Mar. 12 near Fort Worth. A KC-135R from Edwards AFB, Calif., was deployed in support of refueling missions that are scheduled to continue for another two weeks, says Doug Pearson, vice president of Lockheed Martin’s F-35 Integrated Test Force. Test pilot Jon Beesley flew the fighter to 20,000 ft.
Niko Herrmann in Zurich and Tim Hoyland and Chris Spafford, both in Dallas, have been named directors of the Oliver Wyman Aviation, Aerospace and Defense Practice .
Angela Gittens has been appointed director general of Geneva-based Airports Council International-World , effective Apr. 30. She has been vice president-airport business services for the HNTB Corp., and was director of the Miami-Dade County Aviation Dept. and general manager of Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport.
Lufthansa Airlines will acquire another four Cessna Citation business jets to expand its private jet fleet. The carrier has ordered two CJ3s and two of the larger XLS+ Citations in addition to the four CJ1+ jets already on order for its pilot training program. Plans call for all of the airplanes to be delivered by mid-2009 and will be operated in point-to-point flights to 1,000 destinations in Europe and Russia, according to Lufthansa.
The National Aeronautic Assn. has selected an Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) team of public and private sector organizations as winner of the 2007 Robert J. Collier trophy. The award will be presented at a dinner on June 12 in Arlington, Va., recognizing participants who have collaborated for nearly a decade. “ADS-B is a ground-breaking effort for next-generation airborne surveillance and cockpit avionics,” notes NAA Chairman and Collier Selection Committee Chairman Walter Boyne.
China may have big ambitions for its Beidou/Compass satellite navigation system, but for now it appears focused on forming a geostationary regional network. The International Telecommunications Union says that as of Mar. 7, its space services unit had received advance publication and coordination requests for 10 GEO Compass satellites earmarked for 110.5, 140, 160, 58.7 and 80 deg. E. Long. In contrast, the organization had received advanced publication and notification requests for just five medium-Earth-orbit spacecraft (MEO) for a proposed 30-satellite global system.
Denmark’s leading aerospace and defense company, Terma, anticipates a bigger share of the U.S. space systems market as a result of a recent change in Danish defense offset regulations. The change, approved by the Danish enterprise and construction authority in February, means that space-related contracts now qualify as direct offsets for defense procurements made by the Scandinavian country.
Frances Fiorino (Washington), Michael Mecham (San Francisco)
Southwest Airlines finds itself dead center in a finger-pointing match between the FAA and a congressional investigation of the agency’s safety oversight. But the question is, in the end, will the airline’s reputation as a safe, fun-loving, reliable carrier remain unscathed? The complex events that unfolded this month threaten to undermine passenger confidence not only in a carrier that has had just one fatal accident causing a single death in its 37-year history, but in the U.S. air transportation system, the safest in the world.
The Aerospace States Assn. (ASA), with the help of industry and academia, is mounting a fresh offensive in the perennial effort to streamline U.S. export control policies. At a meeting here last week, a dozen lieutenant governors heard the heads of major trade organizations, leading universities and media describe the negative impact that current export controls have had on various segments of the aerospace/defense industry.
EADS Military Aircraft has started static tests on the A400M airlifter. The objective of the tests, to be carried out at facilities in Getafe, Spain, is to prove the reliability and integrity of a full static aircraft, and in particular elements made of carbon fiber, which will make up a large part of the fuselage. Loading will be applied by means of 125 hydraulic actuators and stress measured at 6,000 locations on the aircraft.
KLM is the latest carrier to allow passengers to buy carbon offsets under its new CO2 Zero program. The airline plans to reinvest 100% of the money passengers spend on carbon offsets in Gold Standard compensation projects for renewable energy. The Gold Standard, created under the Kyoto Protocol, includes the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), which ensures that projects cut CO2 emissions and foster sustainable development.
Fuel surcharges—along with fears of recession, depression and overall economic calamity—are rising in parallel to oil prices, which have climbed above $108 per barrel. The Center for Asia Pacific Aviation forecasts no improvement this year for the U.S., which is “deep in a slowdown/recession.” The U.K. is following the same trend, although Europe is “faring somewhat better.” And the assumption that China’s economy would help maintain global economic stability was “clearly flawed,” says the analysts group.
Lufthansa is identifying possible acquisition targets in the European airline sector, as the company pushes to become the most profitable carrier in the region.
The declining dollar is eating into the performance of European aerospace contractors and sending them scurrying for new ways to deal with the exchange-rate problem. EADS—already on the prowl since last year for ways to expand its Power8 cost-cutting effort—has now launched a more near-term drive to boost earnings margins. Management and the board of directors aren’t satisfied with the projections they’ve been given for the immediate future, says EADS CEO Louis Gallois.
Exclusive pictures of the B-2 crash site at Andersen AFB, Guam, show the composite-body stealth bomber survived the Feb. 23 accident and subsequent fire largely intact. The now-enhanced images were taken by an airline passenger as he flew past the base.
Chinese airports handled 388 million passengers last year, the civil aviation administration says. That was up 16.8% over 2006, but the growth rate slowed from the previous year’s 19%. International passenger numbers grew faster than domestic ones. More than 10% of air travelers in China pass through Beijing Capital International Airport.
The U.S. Air Force says it chose the Airbus A330 because it has an advantage in fuel upload, cargo and passenger capacity over the Boeing 767 even though the A330 can operate from fewer bases. The A330 is simply a bigger airplane than the 767. Since USAF has shifted tanker preferences, the question remains why should U.S. taxpayers buy anything other than American-made?
