Mitsubishi Heavy Industries will build a plant in Hanoi for making flaps for the Boeing 737 with a workforce that is planned to hit 200. The factory will begin production in 2009 and work toward an output of 10 shipsets of flaps a month by 2011.
Afghanistan’s air force is likely to see its fixed-wing transport capacity grow substantially under international plans to build up a tactical transport fleet of 18-24 aircraft starting around mid-2009.
Lori Hunt has been promoted to vice president-people from director for the Delta Connection in Salt Lake City for SkyWest Airlines . She succeeds Necia Clark-Mantle, who has resigned.
Despite several years of strong revenue growth, Finmeccanica believes it can add another €3 billion ($4.4 billion) to its sales figures by 2010 and strengthen its financial performance at the same time. Company CEO Pier Francesco Guarguaglini says revenues by 2010 should reach €16.5 billion, compared with €13.1-13.7 projected for this year.
Integration of the Taurus KEPD 350 cruise missile on Spanish EF-18 fighters is due to be completed in first-quarter 2008. The MBDA/Saab Bofors Dynamics joint venture has delivered the first two of the 250-km.-range-plus missiles to Spain, its first export customer. The handover, which took place early, says MBDA, marks the start of delivery of a total order of 43 weapons. Captive flight trials of the missile on EF-18s is underway.
The French military has been conducting trials with the Russian Mi-26T heavy-lift helicopter to assess needs for a future heavy-lift transport. After trials in Ukraine, Romania and Italy, the latest set of assessments involved an Mi-26T flying at the test center at Istres in southern France. The French armament agency (DGA) worked with the French army’s technical department to determine how such a vertical takeoff and landing system could support the future army. Planning efforts for the eventual heavy-lift transport program are supposed to progress next year.
A year after U.S. voters turned over Congress to the Democrats, Washington is girding for a political and constitutional showdown in December that could sock the federal government with weakened appropriations until the next President takes office.
Pakistan International Airlines and Surinam’s Blue Wing Airlines have been dropped from the European Union’s “blacklist” of dangerous carriers. Several other carriers are making progress toward coming off the list: TAAG Angola Airlines, Mahan Air of Iran and Ukrainian Mediterranean Airlines.
Galileo Avionica is preparing its first Falco unmanned aircraft system for operations after completing end-user operational tests and evaluation. Pakistan is the launch customer for the UAS program, although the Italian manufacturer will not confirm who the “undisclosed” buyer is.
An agreement by two European small-satellite specialists to bid jointly for future Galileo navigation system spacecraft may provide the key to putting the troubled and complex undertaking back on its feet.
As the legislative clock runs down for this session of the 110th U.S. Congress, House and Senate negotiators have yet to schedule a conference to reconcile their differing versions of the Fiscal Year 2008 Homeland Security Dept. appropriations bills.
I understand the need for reducing pilot workload in the proposed two-seat fighters (AW&ST Oct. 1, p. 27) for combined air-to-air and air-to-ground operations. What I don’t understand is why the U.S. Air Force is not combining efforts of Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicle development to allow the additional workload to be conducted remotely. A rear-seat crewman is usually looking at data displays and not helping the pilot fly. Why not save the weight of a second seat and have that crewman focus on the data without the distractions of g-forces?
The U.S. Navy, backed by several allied navies including those of Japan, the Netherlands and Spain, is continuing to make progress toward building a credible sea-based missile defense capability. The latest milestone was achieved off Kauai, Hawaii, Nov. 6 when the Aegis cruiser USS Lake Erie (CG 70) intercepted and destroyed two short-range ballistic missile targets simultaneously.
The Netherlands has agreed to acquire six Eurocopter EC135 P2i light twin helicopters for the Dutch police. The aircraft, to be delivered in the second half of 2009, will replace Eurocopter BO105s.
Ken Allen Peterman has been appointed president of the ITT Corp. ’s Fort Wayne, Ind.-based Aerospace/Communications Div. He succeeds Lou Dollive, who will retire. Peterman has been vice president/general manager of Rockwell Collins’ C3 Systems, Richardson, Tex.
Robert Wall (Tel Aviv), David A. Fulghum (Tel Aviv)
Upgrades to Hamas's low-cost rockets now targeting Israel are placing an increased number of cities at risk, leading to an aggressive pursuit of crash programs to counter these attacks.
Thomas Hills (see photos) has been appointed director of business development, marketing and sales for the GE Rolls-Royce Fighter Engine Team , Plainfield, Ind. He was a U.S. Navy captain on staff at the Inter-American Defense College in Washington. Jim E. Payton has been named deputy director of business development, marketing and sales. He was director of OEM sales and international business development for Rolls-Royce Helicopter Engines in Indianapolis. Greg J. Fedele has become director of strategic business operations.
The top 20 U.S. airlines carry 98% of the nation’s passengers. “What if there are 19 instead of 20?” asks Gordon Bethune, who led the rebirth of Continental Airlines and is advising hedge fund Pardus Capital Management on industry consolidation.
Cirrus Design has opened its order book for a “new-from-nose-to-tail” version of its trademark SR20 that will be ready for deliveries in early January. The debut of the 2008 SR20-Generation Three marks the 10th anniversary of the certification of the original SR20 in 1998. The initial SR20, a composite aircraft, offered innovative design and safety features, including the Cirrus Airframe Parachute System that is now standard on Cirrus aircraft.
Amid international pressure on Iran to discontinue its alleged program to build nuclear weapons and doubts about North Korea’s commitment to end its own, the U.S. Missile Defense Agency (MDA) is stepping up the sophistication of flight testing for its burgeoning layered ballistic missile defense system.
United Airlines has added three more destinations to its growing European high-speed rail feeder network. United says it will expand its interlining agreement with French national railway SNCF-Tgvair, to include Champagne, Lorraine and Strasbourg. Service to the destinations, all of which are situated on the SNCF’s newly opened high-speed train line to eastern France and Germany, will start Dec. 9. The carrier already allows passengers from 13 French cities to connect by rail to U.S. destinations through Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport using a single ticket.
Tiger Airways Australia took to the air on a revenue flight for the first time Nov. 23 from Melbourne Airport to Australia’s Gold Coast, bringing a new low-cost carrier into service. The airline will also serve Adelaide, Alice Springs, Canberra, Darwin, Hobart, Launceston, Perth and the Sunshine Coast out of Melbourne.
Boeing has completed first flight of Japan’s second KC-767, following its modification to an aerial refueler. The company also has flight-tested a new pylon for the Wing Air Refueling Pod designed for Italian KC-767s. The Japanese tanker will conduct night refueling using a fifth-generation boom to complete FAA certifications.
Lack of agreement on FAA funding could have a direct impact on the potential for a severe pilot shortage. The stalled FAA reauthorization bill contains a provision that would increase the mandatory pilot retirement age to 65 from 60, greatly accelerating an agency rulemaking that would accomplish the same thing. According to one regional airline executive, there are a slew of retirements pending, and things are starting to look bleak. A higher retirement age could greatly ease the problem.
