RSC Energia reported a record 469-million-ruble ($17.7-million) net profit in 2006, with a 37% increase in revenues, and expects to maintain strong sales and earnings through the end of the decade, according to Chief Executive Nikolay Sevastiyanov. In 2007, Energia will deliver nine Block DM upper stages, used on the Sea Launch Zenit booster, along with two Yamal-300 telecommunications satellites. Over the next three years, the corporation also plans to manufacture four Soyuz manned space vehicles and up to seven Progress cargo vehicles.
Boeing has officially begun the worldwide assembly cycle for the 787 with the delivery of two composite fuselage sections made in Japan and air-freighted to Charleston, S.C. The assemblies include the 23-ft.-long Section 43 forward fuselage made by Kawasaki Heavy Industries and the 28-ft.-long Sections 11/45, the center wheel well and center wing tank, made by KHI and Fuji Heavy Industries, respectively, and joined by FHI.
A U.S. Air Force MQ-1 missile-firing Predator UAV crashed 5 mi. southeast of Baghdad International Airport just before midnight Jan. 17. Hostile ground fire does not appear to have been involved.
Although Airbus's cargo activities are moving into high gear with the formal launch of the commercial A330-200 freighter, it is the military side of the equation that will prove critical in determining whether the A400M transport will fly on time in the second half of the year. Meanwhile, the European manufacturer also has downscaled modernization plans for its cash-cow, the A320 family, lowering fuel-burn improvement targets that were set last year.
Kayser-Threde was instrumental in setting up RapidEye, a German company building a constellation of medium-resolution Earth observation satellites. However, RapidEye is now an independent company (AW&ST Nov. 20, 2006, p. 24).
Airbus faces at least another six months of turbulence as it deals with lingering issues on the A380 mega-transport, its A350XWB new twin-widebody and Power8 competitiveness plan, even though the company is trying to leave most of its bad news behind in 2006. One of the focal points in the coming weeks will be ongoing talks between the aircraft maker and its sole remaining A380 freighter customer, UPS, over whether that deal will stand. FedEx, Emirates and International Lease Finance Corp. have already withdrawn from the cargo version.
Yosef Fouks (see photos) has been named general manager of the Signal Intelligence, Electronic Warfare and Communications Div. of Israel Aerospace Industries subsidiary Elta Systsms Ltd. He was director of naval systems. Yosef Oren has become general manager of the Imint and Radar Div. He was director of visual intelligence.
Virgin America is willing to make substantial changes to its investor agreements and board structure as part of a final plea to the U.S. Transportation Dept. to reverse a December tentative rejection of the carrier's start-up application. As part of the new structure, U.K.-based Virgin Group is dropping a board seat, leaving it with only two of eight voting seats. Virgin Group has agreed to put all of its voting shares in a trust with a department-approved U.S. trustee. The company's board is prepared to remove CEO Fred Reid "should the DOT find that necessary."
Katherine G. Ovalle and Elizabeth J. Wadsworth have joined the Washington law firm of Eckert Seamans Cherin and Mellott as associates focusing on aviation and aerospace law. Ovalle was associate counsel of the U.S. Transportation Dept. Office of Inspector General. Wadsworth was an associate for a Washington firm that specializes in aviation regulatory and commercial issues.
Alliot-Marie indicates she wants to make the former Giat arsenal, now known as Nexter, the center of the European munitions sector. This could involve merging the munitions activities of Thales affiliate TDA, MBDA and Eurenco.
A South Korean requirement for another 20 fighters looks certain to go to Boeing's F-15K, even though the government says it's looking for "next-generation" equipment and stresses that the deal is open to competition. Deliveries from 2010-12 are planned, following the 40 F-15Ks that South Korea ordered under a $4.2-billion contract in 2002.
Hong Kong's Dragonair carried 5.57 million passengers last year, 8.3% more than in 2005. The Cathay Pacific unit's cargo business rose 2.6% to 395,384 tons.
USAF Maj. Gen. (ret.) Bill Hodgkins has been appointed Colorado Springs-based senior executive/director of field marketing for Boeing's Colorado operations. He last served at North American Aerospace Defense Command and U.S. Northern Command headquarters at Peterson AFB, Colo.
Meanwhile, Alitalia's board of directors is down to two members, after Air France-KLM Chairman Jean-Cyril Spinetta resigned from his position on the board. Spinetta took the decision because of the ongoing Italian government effort to find a buyer for the troubled carrier. Air France has a potential stake in those deliberations, so Spinetta could have faced a serious conflict of interest. For one, Air France had once been considered a potential buyer, but now Spinetta could also be faced with having to look at details of financial offers from rivals.
The Indian Institute of Science and National Aerospace Laboratories in Bengaluru and the Indian Institute of Technology-Mumbai will benefit from an award of up to £500,000 ($985,000) to BAE Systems' research partner, Leicester University, to help develop control technologies for unmanned aerial vehicles and for micro-satellites used in search-and-rescue missions. Also under study are control technologies for high-performance piloted aircraft to reduce pilot-induced oscillations.
A radar problem left over from the days of "faster-better-cheaper" at NASA will send the agency's Phoenix Mars lander over budget, at the expense of other missions to the red planet. Drop tests a year ago revealed that the commercial aircraft radar altimeter set for the mission would not perform adequately to guide Phoenix to a safe landing in the planet's northern latitudes. The off-the-shelf altimeter is a carry-over from the failed Mars Polar Lander mission launched in 1998.
Paul Bogosian, Army program executive officer for aviation, says the service plans to propose its first aviation science and technology funding plan since termination of the Comanche armed scout helicopter program. The only S&T effort since then, the Joint Heavy Lift effort with the Marine Corps, is not funded in the Fiscal 2008 budget proposal, due next month. But Bogosian says he's working to craft a near-, mid- and far-term plan for investment to support the Future Combat System with vertical lift.
The potential entry price for supplier participation in the next-generation of Airbus and Boeing aircraft is beginning to act as a catalyst for fundamental business decisions--in Smiths' case, to exit the aerospace sector.
Emirates this month will begin offering new inflight activities for children. The goodies include a plush stuffed animal and one of five creature costumes, each reflecting an animal indigenous to the airline's destination. New Delhi-bound passengers receive an elephant, those destined for Sydney, a koala bear. Children will also be given a classic Dr. Seuss tale in paperback and an activity magazine designed for two age groups--the five-and-under set and the 6-12 age group.
Israel Aerospace Industries signed contracts worth $4.088 billion in 2006, a rise of 22% over $3.4 billion in 2005 and 35% over $2.7 billion in 2004. It's the first time IAI has exceeded $4 billion in new orders in a single year. Export contracts comprised 88% of total volume, an apparent result of IAI's wish to focus on large, international projects.
As a million-miler on several airlines, I was dismayed by the comment by Boeing and Airbus on the Market Focus page that "neither sees a replacement for the single-aisle A320 or 737 . . . until the middle of the next decade" (AW&ST Dec. 11, 2006, p. 12). I hope Embraer, Bombardier or the Russians see this as an opportunity to capture a substantial share of the biggest segment of commercial aircraft market.
SpaceX could make a second attempt to loft its Falcon 1 vehicle this week, working under a Jan. 21-22 launch window at the U.S. Army's Reagan Test Site on Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands. The company is seeking a few more contingency days, and founder Elon Musk says it could go beyond that "as we work with the upgraded vehicle, pad and procedures." The vehicle cleared its flight readiness review and has been rolled to the pad. A wet-dress rehearsal identified "a number of noncritical issues," but no showstoppers.
FedEx Express has named Singapore Technologies Aerospace's Mobile Aerospace Engineering (MAE) subsidiary to convert 87 Boeing 757-200 passenger aircraft to freighters. Work will be done in the Alabama facility in three blocks beginning this year and stretch out to 2014. No contract award price was released.
Italy is expected to sign the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter Production, Sustainment and Follow-on Development memorandum of understanding before the end of the month, joining the U.K., Australia, Canada, the Netherlands, Turkey and the U.S. in committing to the project's next phase.
Falling fuel prices appear to be leveling the landscape in the U.S. airline industry--at least temporarily--as the cost gap narrows between perennial high-flyer Southwest Airlines and the network carriers. Southwest has long used its much-envied hedging program to avoid the high fuel prices that have helped keep its competitors in the red, but its fuel cost advantage is now shrinking.
