The U.S. Air Force's nascent plans for a cheaper jammer program for its B-52 fleet are being mauled, most recently by the Navy and Marine Corps in a high-level Pentagon meeting.
After discovering Navy and Air Force plans to cut and delay their portions of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program, Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England called in senior leaders, including the service secretaries, to "re-energize" the military's dedication to the program and reassure international partners. Although the Navy never made public its proposal to delay production, the move had become known around the Pentagon well in advance of a meeting, planned in about four weeks, of the Defense Acquisition Working Group to discuss JSF.
The Pentagon is making the undersecretary of Defense for intelligence (USDI) responsible for deciding how to label information "For Official Use Only"--a restriction that exempts unclassified documents from mandatory release under Freedom of Information Act requests. In a Federal Register notice, the department says it "removes. . . and reserves" non-USDI guidance on marking unclassified material as FOUO. The reason: to "eliminate confusion" over who and what guidance to follow.
David A. Davis has been appointed senior vice president/general manager of the business aircraft division of New York-based CIT Aerospace. He was president/manager of the Specialty Finance Group Aircraft Div. of 1st Source Bank.
Your article "Small Yield, Big Bang" (AW&ST Sept. 25, p. 46) discusses methods of reducing the damage-causing "footprint" of weapons that will limit destruction to specific targets. One possible design improvement for any of these missiles or bombs would be a change in the fuze, as follows: Develop a long-distance proximity fuze that would, optionally, be set off 50-100 ft. prior to expected target impact, and connect the fuze to a highly inefficient detonator that would only cause an "enhanced deflagration" to blow the body of the missile/bomb apart.
The U.S. air traffic control system and Ford Motor Co. are in the same boat, says FAA Chief Operating Officer Russell Chew. They both have to reinvent themselves--and fast. While a lot of the planning for ATC modernization in Washington has focused on reinventing the system by 2025, Chew told ATC specialists at an Air Traffic Control Assn. conference that major improvements will be needed as soon as 2016. The good news is that a recent simulation exercise run by the FAA and Mitre Corp.
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EADS is continuing to remake Airbus, drawing it closer under its parent company, with more management reshuffling underway. Eurocopter chief Fabrice Bregier is moving to Airbus to take the position of chief operating officer, left vacant after the previous COO, Charles Champion, was dismissed. Bregier, who is replaced at Eurocopter by Lutz Bertling, reports to EADS Co-CEO and Airbus President and CEO Louis Gallois.
RAC'S CHIEF COMPETITOR, CESSNA AIRCRAFT CO., REPORTED receiving orders for 115 new business jets worth more than $1 billion during the NBAA show. Combined with agreements made before the event began, to date Cessna has logged more than 160 orders in the fourth quarter. In addition, Bell Helicopter Textron officials say the company booked 10 orders, including agreements to buy new Model 429 and Model 430 aircraft.
The pouring of millions of dollars of new concrete to create a perimeter taxiway system around the runways will serve as a monument to the incompetence of the controllers at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport. "Give us more runways, and that will take care of the problem." So, a configura- tion similar to Denver's dual Vortac parallel arrival route system was added along with a fourth arrival runway. The result: 10-15-min. airborne delays became ground delays of the same length.
EADS plans to review its research and technology agenda with an eye toward assessing what work to bolster and what to shed. The effort could affect critical technology areas such as how the aerospace and defense company pursues vital composites work. The activity is part of a broader review at EADS to restructure its organization and better integrate its various units to improve efficiencies. The goal was developed this summer, but given added weight by the financial problems the company is facing as a result of Airbus A380 assembly delays.
I cannot believe the lack of humility the U.S. Missile Defense Agency has shown about the interceptor systems (AW&ST Oct. 9, p. 34) we now have in silos in Alaska and California.
Faced with the threat of increasingly sophisticated anti-ship missiles, the U.S. and Germany are preparing a major overhaul of one of their primary ship self-defense weapons.
Dahlia Sokolov has been promoted to staff director of the House Science subcommittee on energy. She succeeds Kevin Carroll, who is now working at the White House Office of Management and Budget. Johannes Loschnigg has been promoted to staff director of the House Science subcommittee on space and aeronautics. He succeeds Bill Adkins, who is now a space consultant. Sokolov and Loschnigg were members of the parent committee's professional staff.
For unmanned aircraft to be accepted into national airspace, where they would share the airways with manned aircraft, aerospace companies will have to demonstrate that pilots of remotely piloted vehicles can see other aircraft and avoid them, as on a piloted vehicle.
JetBird, which plans to establish a low-cost jet service using Embraer Phenom 100s and Phenom 300s, is receiving a capital infusion from Conrado Dornier. JetBird wasn't actively seeking outside investment for the business slated to start in 2009, but was interested in having Dornier involved, in part because of the family connections to the air transport industry in Germany.
Israel Aircraft Industries is continuing to pursue its growth strategy with a $6-million acquisition of 30% of Tiltan, a Matrix subsidiary that produces simulation products for the military. IAI officials say the partnership with a leading software vendor will maintain IAI's role as innovator in command and control applications. Tiltan specializes in advanced visualization.
Controllers are maneuvering China's 5.1-ton SinoSat-2 direct broadcast satellite toward its geosynchronous-orbit parking location at 92.2 deg. E. Long. following a Sept. 29 liftoff (see photo) from the Xichang launch site on a Long March 3B. Developed by the China Academy of Space Technology, the new spacecraft has 22 transponders and a design lifetime of 15 years. Eighteen of the transponders operate at 36 MHz., while the other four are 54-MHz. systems.
Rick Reaser (see photo) has become head of the Spectrum Management Dept. at Raytheon Space and Airborne Systems, El Segundo, Calif. He was deputy system program director for the Navstar GPS for the U.S. Defense Dept.
The Homeland Security Dept. has resumed patrolling a stretch of the Arizona-Mexico border with an MQ-9 Predator B unmanned aerial vehicle. The aircraft is the second to be deployed by Customs and Border Protection (CBP) along the Southwest U.S. border. Michael Kostelnik, chief of CBP Air and Marine operations, says the agency will take delivery of three more Predators in 2007 and have them patrolling borders as well as the Gulf Coast by year-end.
Pentagon acquisition chief Kenneth Krieg is scheduled to review Space Based Infrared System-High's progress this month. The space-based early missile warning program has experienced five major cost overruns, and Krieg has increased oversight of the system.
Boeing is fighting a familiar battle to save its C-17 military transport production line. The Pentagon walked away from the C-17 in 2005, leaving Boeing with too few customers to keep a sustainable production rate. Congress stepped in with extra funding in Fiscal 2007 to keep the line open, but Dave Bowman, Boeing's C-17 vice president, says he now needs a nod from the Pentagon for a buy of 12 of the aircraft in Fiscal 2008 to continue work beyond 2009. Boeing advanced tens of millions of dollars of C-17 funding this year.
Joe R. Reeder (see photo) has been named to the board of directors of Elbit Systems of America of Fort Worth. He is Mid-Atlantic U.S. managing shareholder for the law firm of Greenberg Traurig, chairman of the Panama Canal board and a former Army undersecretary.
U.S. network carriers are increasingly hitching their futures to international flights, which lately have garnered higher fares and more revenue than domestic services. Delta, in particular, is planning a multi-year global expansion more aggressive than many expected as a key part of its strategy to thrive after it emerges from bankruptcy protection next summer.
