Richard R. Yuse (see photo) has become president of the Raytheon Technical Services Co., Waltham, Mass. He succeeds Bryan J. Even, who has resigned. Yuse was vice president/deputy general manager.
Wanda M. Austin has been named to succeed William F. Ballhaus, Jr., as president and CEO of The Aerospace Corp., upon his retirement on Jan. 1. Austin is senior vice president of The Aerospace Corp.'s National Systems Group in Chantilly, Va. She has been with the El Segundo, Calif.-based company since 1979 and has been general manager of the Military Satellite Communications Div. and senior vice president of the Engineering and Technology Group. Austin will be succeeded by Manuel De Ponte, who is general manager of the Milsatcom Div.
Hong Kong Dragon Airlines, better known as Dragonair, will add daily flights to the big western mainland Chinese cities of Chongqing and Xian beginning Aug. 1, while doubling services to coastal Fuzhou to twice daily.
SES has concluded a deal with International Launch Services and Arianespace to launch five spacecraft each. The pact, covering launches from 2009-13, guarantees backup between the Ariane 5 and Proton and--for medium Arianespace payloads--between the Ariane 5 and Soyuz.
Conformal radar arrays that a year ago were only concepts are now being prototyped. Large apertures are being designed as skin to hug the complex curves of aircraft wings and fuselages. A massive structure under construction by Raytheon will form one side of a three-football-field-long airship. About six million elements will make up the 6,000-sq.-meter antenna, says Mark Hauhe, a senior fellow working on advanced radar concept demonstrators.
Your editorial "U.S. Global Warming Intitiative Is A Step Backward" indicates you think men can control the climate and drastic government intervention in the world's economies is viable (AW&ST June 11, p. 66).
Colombia has ordered 15 Sikorsky UH-60L Black Hawk helicopters from the U.S. Army. Colombian officials say the aircraft will be used for battling narcotics trafficking and for national defense.
Airbus has begun exploratory talks with the General Electric-Pratt & Whitney Engine Alliance over a new powerplant for the A350XWB following the almost certain termination of GE's offering of the GEnx for all variants of the new Airbus twinjet family.
Jonathan Gaffney has been appointed president of the Alexandria, Va.-based National Aeronautic Assn., effective July 9. He has been vice president-communications for the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority.
Lt. Gen. David Deptula, the new Air Force deputy chief of staff for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, wants to exploit F-22 and F-35 fighter aircraft as sensor platforms that collect data and feed it throughout joint military forces. He tells reporters he's trying to catalog ISR realms and then will assign "integrators" to work with program officials and others to help coordinate acquisition with operational needs.
Frank Morring, Jr. (Washington), Michael A. Taverna (Paris)
Engineers and managers on three continents will spend the coming weeks hashing out the final assembly schedule for the International Space Station, now that all of the basic elements are in place on orbit for the final buildout. Although all of the station's major moving parts are in place and the way is clear to begin adding more pressurized modules, a disagreement between the European Space Agency and its contractors has thrown Europe's plans for its station contributions before the end of the year into disarray.
Three more companies have signed up with NASA to take part in the Commercial Orbital Space Transportation System (COTS) program, which is spending almost $500 million in seed money to spur a private-sector route to the International Space Station. SpaceDev, Spacehab and Constellation Services International won't get any of that money, which has already been split between SpaceX and Rocketplane Kistler (AW&ST Oct. 9, 2006, p. 66). But the three entrepreneurial space businesses will get information from NASA on the U.S.
Updating investors, United Airlines says it expects mainline unit revenues to be 2.75-3.25% higher in the second quarter, which ends June 30, than in the same quarter a year ago, while mainline unit costs excluding fuel and special items will increase no more than 0.5%. This suggests an improvement over last year's second-quarter operating profit of $260 million. United announced it will hire pilots this year for the first time since 2001, taking applications in the summer and putting the first pilots into scheduled flights as soon as December.
The potential adoption of stringent international noise standards for commercial helicopters in the next five years is driving airframe manufacturers to develop and implement new rotor designs and to seek alternative propulsion systems that eliminate tail rotors altogether.
After several unsuccessful tries, the Russian helicopter industry is attempting a new breakout into the international market. Rosonboron says it is in discussions with Eurocopter for a light helicopter in the 2-3-metric-ton category, and with AgustaWestland for a light-/ medium-lift machine in the 4-ton class. AgustaWestland executives were circumspect, saying talks were at a "very preliminary stage." But Eurocopter chief Lutz Bertling suggests a deal could be ready this week.
Honeywell and Pratt & Whitney have joined forces to develop a new 3,000-shp. turboshaft under the U.S. Army's Advanced Affordable Turbine Engine (AATE) technology demonstrator program. The engine, which will compete with a proposed powerplant from General Electric, is targeted at future versions of the Boeing AH-64 Apache and Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk, both currently powered by the GE T700. AATE is aimed at fuel-burn savings of 25% as well as a 65% increase in power-to-weight ratio.
Boeing is using a training center sponsored by the state of Washington to prepare the 800-1,200 factory workers it expects to employ on the 787 program. The school, which includes a five-week core curriculum followed by five weeks of hands-on job simulation training, opened last September and is pledged to Boeing exclusively for five years. It is part of a package of commitments the state made in 2003 to assure that Boeing wouldn’t shift final assembly of the 200-300-seat jet to another state.
India's top conglomerate Tata Group--with a defense-related business estimated at $500 million+--is looking at consolidating many of its entities under a single defense rubric. This is in reaction to the "most favored defense companies" status likely to be awarded by the government to companies including Tata Motor, Tata Power and L&T that would allow them to manufacture weapon systems and high-end defense equipment. It will also facilitate technology transfer from foreign players, limited, so far, to the defense private sector units.
First blood has gone to Rolls-Royce in the battle to develop a new 10,000-lb.-thrust-class turbofan following its selection by Dassault Aviation to power the Falcon super midsize (SMS) business jet. The win over stiff competition from General Electric, Honeywell, Snecma and Pratt & Whitney Canada also gives Rolls-Royce a headstart in the race to fulfill a host of emerging applications in the 6,000-25,000-lb.-thrust market, ranging from light business jets to next-generation single-aisle airliners under study by Airbus and Boeing.
In an unprecedented step, the FAA and European Commission say they will back transatlantic flight trials by Boeing, Airbus and a half-dozen airlines to show how new methods can cut fuel burn, noise and emissions.
Airbus has received airworthiness approval from the European Aviation Safety Agency for use of cell phones and e-mail devices on its aircraft. Airbus and Air France plan to start consumer trials with the system. Service will be limited to e-mails at first, but later opened to voice communications. Air France then will decide what type of service to offer more broadly. EASA also cleared the A318, powered by Pratt & Whitney PW6000 engines, for steep-approach operations at airfields such as London City Airport.
General Electric is gearing up for a vital blade-out certification test of the GEnx-1B engine due in late July and has begun building the first modules for the initial ship-set which is expected to fly on the Boeing 787 in the fourth quarter. The test, in which one of the 18 composite fan blades will be released while the engine is running at full power, is one of the last hurdles GE faces before completing certification, “which we’re still tracking toward in the fall,” says GEnx General Manager Tom Brisken.
The U.S. government has approved the Raytheon Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile (Amraam) C7 variant for sale internationally. Allies previously bought the C5, though the newer model contains modern disc-shaped electronics rather than longitudinal cards and software. Raytheon officials say the C7 is nearing the end of operational testing, and 10 missiles are being produced per week.
Bell Helicopter Textron's Model 429 is on track for certification in the third quarter of 2008. The twin-engine aircraft's flight test envelope has been expanded to 20,000 ft. and maximum speeds have reached about 200 mph. A second pre-production prototype has been delivered to Bell's flight test facility and is scheduled to fly for the first time in July.
Embraer's entry into the very light jet market, the Phenom 100, has made its debut at the manufacturer's headquarters at Sao Jose dos Campos, Brazil. The first Phenom 100, which rolled out June 16, will undergo ground testing for several weeks in advance of the first flight, which is scheduled for mid-July. Embraer launched the Phenom program in May 2005, cut the first metal one year later and mated the fuselage and wing in late March 2007.
