Bob Kramer has been named senior vice president-marketing and strategic development for Lockheed Martin subsidiary Savi Technology, Sunnyvale, Calif. He was director of military satellite communications programs.
Larry Dickenson (see photo) has been appointed vice president-sales of Seattle-based Boeing Commercial Airplanes. He succeeds Scott Carson, who is now president/CEO. Dickenson was head of Asia-Pacific sales. Larry Coughlin has become managing director of BCA's New Delhi-based India operations. He was a director of strategic projects. Mike Devers has been appointed vice president of Boeing Integrated Defense Systems' India operations. He has been regional director for Asia and director of Asia market development.
An article inaccurately described the proposed Falcon 9 rocket that SpaceX is developing to launch its planned Dragon vehicle for NASA's Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) effort (AW&ST Oct. 9, p. 66). The Falcon 9 first stage carries nine engines; its upper stage is a truncated version of the first stage, and both stages are planned to be reusable.
The crash of a Cirrus SR-20 into a New York high-rise residential condominium is raising doubts--yet again--about the security risks of general aviation.
Makino's online seminars for the remainder of 2006 will focus on cutting-edge machining techniques and processes such as machining compacted graphite iron, titanium, large molds and lean cellular automation. The free series employs the company's extensive experience to help shops of all types and sizes to compete in the global market-place. Previously aired seminars on topics ranging from automation to hard milling are available as archives.
Few developments reveal the depth of the crisis at Airbus and EADS more than the departure of Airbus CEO Christian Streiff after only three months on the job. Streiff's decision to throw in the towel so soon casts a harsh light on something European politicians would rather keep in the dark: Airbus is a business that governments in Paris and Berlin can't stop meddling with. When your cost-cutting moves affect one country more than another, you're in trouble all the way up to German and French cabinet levels.
Eugene Hoeven has been appointed Montreal-based director of International Civil Aviation Organization affairs for the Civil Air Navigation Services Organization.
Adchem Corp. offers a range of custom foam bonding adhesive tapes for sound attenuation and vibration dampening uses in the aerospace and heavy equipment markets. Solutions include adhesion to synthetic and natural materials. The company provides acrylic and rubber adhesive systems and acrylic/rubber hybrid products for OEMs and foam and gasket fabricators. The viscoelastic properties of the adhesive tapes create structural-borne wave interference and refraction when placed between two sheets of material.
You'd have to be crazy to claim to have conducted a nuclear test if you didn't really do it, so let's assume North Korea truly did detonate a nuclear device last week. Even though Kim Jong-il probably would fit most people's definition of crazy," let's assume a test occurred anyway. Let's ignore, too, Western assessments that as nuclear weapons go, this one was a weakling, if not a dud or a non-nuke. What's next?
Breno Correa has been appointed vice president-executive jets sales and marketing for Latin America for Embraer. He was sales director for major business aircraft and charters.
Lawrence R. Benson's comments in "A Foolish Data Lockout" (AW&ST Aug. 14, p. 6) are right on the mark. Many of the federal government's current attempts to suppress information are indeed foolish. I recently discovered that Uncle Sam has now withdrawn from the Internet the "Orange Book," a major source of guidance for computer system security. This is the height of folly. Information systems professionals determined decades ago that it's better to share system security information as widely as possible, rather than sequester it.
Boeing is turning to Alenia Aeronavali for its 767-300 passenger-to-freighter conversion program. The Italian modification and maintenance specialist recently began work in Venice converting its first 767-200, which it contracted for separately from Boeing. Venice also is expected to be home to the 767-300 Boeing Converted Freighter (BCF) program, but has not yet been formally selected, an Alenia official said.
U.K. linear motion device provider Power Jacks is using SolidWorks 3D PartStream.NET service to create an interactive online catalog that allows customers to configure screw jack, gear box or other products for their designs. Since the 1930s, Power Jacks has offered screw jack technology. Today it supplies motion control devices to global firms such as Airbus, Alcoa and Siemens. Power Jacks used catalogs and static web sites to market its products. Now, with 3D PartStream.NET, customers can configure and download specific products in the CAD format of their choice.
Janet Dhillon has been named senior vice president/general counsel and Thomas B. Chapman Washington-based vice president-congressional and federal affairs for US Airways. Dhillon succeeds Jim Walsh, who is retiring. She will continue as compliance officer and has been vice president/deputy general counsel. Chapman succeeds Rosemary G. Murray, who is retiring. He has been legislative counsel for Southwest Airlines.
USN Vice Adm. Ann E. Rondeau has become deputy commander of the U.S. Transportation Command, Scott AFB, Ill. She has been director of Navy staff in the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations at the Pentagon.
Andrew Walmsley has become vice president-sales and marketing for Jet Aviation Specialists Inc. of Miami. He was an executive with Windsor Airmotive, British Airways and Air New Zealand.
Douglas Barrie (London), Michael A. Taverna (Paris)
The U.K. is seeking assurance that Washington will not interfere with the proposed weapon packages for the Royal Saudi Air Force Tornado and Typhoon combat aircraft. Senior British and Pentagon officials met earlier this month to discuss the packages being offered by London for the Tornado capability sustainment program (CSP) and as part of the purchase of 72 Eurofighter Typhoon aircraft by the kingdom.
With one more quarter to go, CFM International has already set a new engine sales record for itself, something some top executives didn't think possible at the start of the year. The company, through Sept. 30, had sold 1,772 CFM56s, topping the 1,640-order intake for all of 2005.
Libya could be the first export customer for the French Rafale fourth-generation fighter. Paris has reportedly cleared export of the Rafale, along with the Tiger attack helicopter and other advanced weapons, to the North African country, two years after the lifting of an arms embargo. However, industry observers say Libya is more likely to start by upgrading its Mirage F1s, as Morocco--another potential Rafale buyer--is doing.
Mike Gruntman, chairman of the Astronautics Dept. at the University of Southern California, has received the Luigi Napolitano Award from the International Academy of Astronautics for his book Blazing the Trail: The Early History of Spacecraft and Rocketry, published by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics.
The International Air Transport Assn.'s (IATA) member airlines this year will pay a record-breaking fuel bill, $115 billion, or 26% of their direct operating costs, up from 13% five years ago. Low-fare carriers, which have a simpler cost structure, are feeling the impact even more. Of course, economic difficulties resulting from high fuel prices are nothing new, but the time has come to take bold initiatives, consider innovative solutions and plan for alternative energy sources in the form of synthetic fuels.
The U.S. Export-Import Bank has cleared one of its largest transactions for Air India's acquisition of 68 aircraft from Boeing. The bank will guarantee a loan of up to 85% of the aircraft cost; the remaining 15% will be funded through commercial borrowings. The Indian government will in turn insure 85% of the loan guaranteed by the Bank.
USAF Col. (ret.) David M. Votipka has become the warfighter advocate for professional services firm Gestalt, Orlando, Fla. He was commander of USAF Agency for Modeling and Simulation.
A consortium of global motion control companies has launched the Motion Control Assn. (MCA). The trade group will promote the use of mechanical and electronic (mechatronics) motion control technology, which now accounts for more than $44 billion in annual sales worldwide, according to the organization. MCA will be a source for industry statistics; it also plans to develop and coordinate standards and provide educational programs. See www.motioncontrolonline.org for additional information.
