India's Civil Aviation Ministry is threatening to impose a moratorium on new airplane licenses as one way to dampen the country's voracious appetite for new airlines and aircraft.
Qantas intends to move its information technology systems for support and maintenance operations to India-based Satyam Computer Services and Tata Consulting Services as of November. The decision means the loss of 340 positions.
Louise Hatfield (see photo) has become U.K.-based sales manager for Europe, the Middle East and Africa for OAG Cargo. She was a sales executive with DHL.
James D. Shields (see photos) has been appointed president/CEO of the Charles Stark Draper Laboratory Inc., Cambridge, Mass. He succeeds Vincent Vitto, who has retired. Shields was vice president-programs and will be succeeded by Darryl Sargent, who was director of the Space Systems Programs Office. John Stillwell has been promoted to vice president-strategic systems from principal director of the Strategic Systems Program Office.
Northrop Grumman has won a $2.7-million contract to develop new software for the ICAP III electronic attack package now being fielded on EA-6B Prowler aircraft. The Block 3 software upgrade is to tie the system to the larger warfighting networks and allow the aircraft to participate in electronic warfare battle management. The U.S. Navy intends to provide a single electronic combat operational picture that can then be prioritized for time-critical targets, assess threats, prepare responses and communicate those actions to anyone in the network.
No matter which party wins control of the House and Senate next month, there will be new leaders running several committees and subcommittees. Thanks to the term-limits rule imposed by Republicans, veteran leaders like Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John Warner (R-Va.) will have to step aside. Also leaving leadership posts at their six-year maximum mark: Rep. Don Young (R-Alaska), chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee as well as that panel's aviation subcommittee chief and Rep. John Mica (R-Fla.).
The paperwork is in hand for NATO to deliberate proceeding with the €3.3-billion ($4.1-billion) Alliance Ground Surveillance system program. After adjusting the project's scope during the summer to reduce development costs, the transatlantic industry team, AGS Industries, has submitted its proposal, with an eye toward a contract in the coming months for the design and development phase. The program is now focused on developing a radar and integrating it on an Airbus A321, after the unmanned aircraft adjunct was turned into an almost-off-the-shelf U.S.
Japan's Mitsui & Co. and Israel Aircraft Industries are expected to join a 50/50 joint venture in January for Boeing 767-300 conversions, according to the Nikkei business news service. IAI's Bedak unit is a major aircraft modification and conversion center but does not hold licenses from the Seattle manufacturer for such work. The announcement came as Boeing chose Italy's Alenia Aeronavali as its partner for the -300 Converted Freighter Program (AW&ST Oct. 16, p. 52).
BAE Systems' divorce from Airbus is now final, leaving EADS holding 100% of the aircraft maker. The nearly year-long drama of BAE Systems unloading its 20% stake to EADS ended Oct. 14. BAE Systems received €2.75 billion in cash from EADS for its shares. The amount was set by an independent financial institution after EADS and BAE Systems couldn't come to terms. BAE instigated the sales process in April.
Italy's Enav is set to complete the acquisition of the Vitrociset ATC radar support and maintenance business. The first installment of €21 million has been paid. The ATC support business generates about €80 million in revenue. Its main client is Enav, with annual contracts worth around €70 million.
Tired of waiting for the U.S. Transportation Security Administration to set standards, 14 House of Representatives members are calling for an investigation of security vulnerabilities at foreign repair stations working on U.S.-registered aircraft. The lawmakers want the Government Accountability Office to look into the potential risks of terrorist sabotage at overseas locations. U.S. carriers have outsourced 50% of repair and maintenance of their aircraft, according to the Transportation Dept.'s inspector general.
Jim Blasingame (see photo) has been promoted to senior director of sales from director of sales for Honeywell programs for Dallas Airmotive. Steve Barlage has been named the company's Rolls-Royce engine manager for the Northeast U.S. He was vice president-regional sales and East Coast general manager for The Air Group. Daniel McLandsborough has become Pratt & Whitney Canada regional engine manager for the North Central U.S. He has been manager of maintenance coordination for Jet Linx Aviation.
Alteon Training and Asiana Airlines are broadening their agreement as the airline expands its Boeing 777 fleet. The wholly owned Boeing subsidiary is to install a 777-200/-300 full-flight simulator at the airline's Seoul training center. The equipment should be ready by April 2007. Alteon also plans to move an Asiana-owned 737-500 full-flight simulator from Seoul to Alteon's new center in Singapore.
The U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency has performed what it describes as the world's first hands-off, autonomous air refueling engagement. It was a Navy-focused test using a probe-and-drogue refueling system. The tanker was linked to a NASA F/A-18 configured to operate as an unmanned testbed. On the tanker was the Autonomous Airborne Refueling Demonstration system that uses GPS-based relative navigation, an optical tracker to ensure the refueling drogue hits the center of a 32-in. basket.
The delays in Airbus A380 deliveries are forcing airlines to continue operating higher fuel-burn aircraft and carry the cost of unused infrastructure. Some are even still scrambling to fill capacity demands. The freighter conversion business is also falling victim to the A380 postponement. Companies that have taken slots at cargo conversion facilities now are struggling to find the airplanes to be modified since a number of 747-400 passenger aircraft are being forced into prolonged service life, industry officials say.
From Bouncing Bombs to Concorde: The Authorized Biography of Aviation Pioneer Sir George Edwards by Robert Gardner Sutton, 2006, 334 pp., $34.95, ISBN 0-7509-4389-0
EADS Astrium is prime contractor for France's Helios 2 intelligence satellite system (AW&ST Oct. 2, p. 36). Alcatel Alenia Space supplied the very-high-resolution camera subsystem and other payload components.
With its highly visible testing of what appears to have been a nuclear device (see p. 26), North Korea joins the small group of nations with a declared atomic weapons program. Despite the overheated statements by some within the Bush administration that "this will not stand," North Korea will remain a nuclear weapons state for a very long time, given the weak and unlikely-to-be-enforced sanctions by the U.N. Security Council--not to mention the lack of viable military options.
NATO is starting to address equipment deficiencies highlighted by its expanding mission in Afghanistan. One of the first lessons is that the sharing of surveillance video must be improved. In addition, NATO modernization priorities--including possible additions to the agenda mapped out in 2002 to boost allied warfighting capabilities--are expected to be discussed at the Nov. 28-29 alliance summit in Riga, Latvia.
Bradley Perrett has joined the staff of Aviation Week & Space Technology as Asia-Pacific editor. He is based in Beijing and will head Aviation Week's news coverage of the region. Perrett, a 42-year-old Australian, is a veteran correspondent and editor with the Reuters news service, holding posts in Canberra, Singapore, London and Beijing. Prior to his Reuters tenure, Perrett was senior political and economics correspondent for Knight-Ridder Financial News in Canberra. He has backgrounds in economics, business, and aviation and defense writing.
Counterinsurgency (COIN) experts put unmanned aircraft, better communication links and unattended sensors at the top their acquisition wish list, but one British general--a veteran of Bosnia and Iraq--says don't forget cyberspace. The virtual world of the Internet provides a virtual safe haven for terrorists and insurgents to communicate, plan operations and detonate improvised explosive devices (IEDs), says Maj. Gen. Jonathon Riley, the top British officer assigned to U.S. Central Command.
Sherry Carbary has been named president of Seattle-based Boeing subsidiary Alteon Training. She was vice president-strategic management for Boeing Commercial Airplanes. Carbary succeeds Pat- rick Gaines, who is now Boeing vice president-customer support for Asia-Pacific.
Lockheed Martin has completed sled-tests of its supersonic Rattlrs missile, carrying a simulated penetrating warhead. The company's Skunk Works plans to conduct flight tests late next year. Company officials say the lightweight Rattlers warhead, coupled with its supersonic speed, can "provide the penetration depot of significantly heavier penetrators."
Michael A. Taverna (Cherbourg, Biscarrosse and St. Medard, France)
Behind the multibillion-dollar effort to renew France's nuclear arsenal lies a huge investment in test infrastructure, most of it for the new M51 ballistic missile. Among the facilities--for the most part unique in Europe--is an underwater rig named Cetace (Cetacean), near the Toulon naval base in southern France. Cetace was built for water breach tests performed on a full-scale inert model (see cover) and to test prototype elements such as the launch tube, gas ejection system, membrane and control-command system.
