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.
Brian Moriarty has been named head of the Design Engineering Dept. at Aero Gear Inc., Windsor, Conn. He was design engineering manager at the Kaman Aerospace Corp., Bloomfield, Conn.
ExpressJet Holdings plans a December launch of its jet charter business, ExpressJet Corporate Aviation. It is a division of subsidiary Express Jet Airlines, which does business as Continental Express. The new operation will fly Embraer 145XRs in a redesigned 50-seat configuration with XM radio available at each seat. It will also offer customized flight service options. By May 2007, ExpressJet Corporate Aviation plans to operate 10 aircraft that will come from ExpressJet Airlines' current fleet.
The SETI Institute, which combs the radio spectrum for signs of intelligent life beyond Earth, is taking a page from its own history to offset Bush administration cuts in funding for astrobiology research. The Mountain View, Calif.-based institute was created with private funds from high-tech entrepreneur David Packard and others after congressional Luddites thought they'd found some political hay in canceling NASA funding for the use of radio-astronomy and advanced signals process to search for extra-terrestrial intelligence (SETI).
Charles E. Doyle has become San Francisco-based managing director for sales and service for United Services. He was managing director of materials management.
Eurocopter expects to reach €€4 billion ($5 billion) in revenue as early as next year, although no later than 2008, says CEO Fabrice Bregier. Sales this year should reach around €3.8 billion, or growth of 15%. Deliveries this year will reach around 390 helicopters, and orders are expected to be about 600--half of them Ecureuils. Also this week, the U.S. Government Accountability Office is to rule on a protest filed against Eurocopter's win of the Army Light Utility Helicopter program.
Annette Kreuziger has been appointed Swiss WorldCargo's manager for Germany and the Nordic countries. She has been trade lane manager for greater China for Lufthansa Cargo.
The German military is slated to formally take delivery of the first NH90 helicopter in a few weeks, says a Eurocopter official. The military type certificate should be issued in 2-3 weeks. The title transfer is slated for early December. Greece and Finland also are to get their first helos this year. That's more than two years late on the original contract.
NASA will probably buy seats on commercial suborbital space vehicles, Administrator Michael Griffin says. He tells a group of space entrepreneurs and financiers in Las Cruses, N.M., last week, that it would be logical to buy the commercial services both for microgravity experiments and astronaut training on vehicles such as Virgin Galaxy's planned SpaceShipTwo--if the nascent industry literally gets off the ground.
Boeing is expanding the nominal three-class seating capacity of the 747-8 Intercontinental to 467 passengers as its searches for its first customer in a sluggish market for very large aircraft.
French aerospace and defense executives are bracing for possible repercussions to a bill before the House of Deputies that would make it a criminal offense to deny that the death of one million or more Armenians in Turkey in the aftermath of World War I constitutes genocide. Although President Jacques Chirac has promised not to sign the bill, which follows an earlier law equating the killings with genocide, Turkish officials have called for economic reprisals. Among the casualties could be a large contract for transport helicopters.
For American and Continental, the minor victory of a profitable third quarter should be a prelude to an even more important achievement--both carriers are poised to record full-year profits after spending almost all of the past six years in the red.
The Japanese coast guard has selected the AgustaWestland AW139 helicopter to replace its fleet of Bell 212s for all-weather search-and-rescue duties. The initial firm order covers only three helicopters, but the coast guard is expected to buy up to 24 AW139s for about $300 million.
Airbus is starting to implement the first elements of a recovery plan to increase its competitiveness. The effort has taken on further importance as the company acknowledges A380 profitablility will be pushed back almost a decade.
Starsem indicates it is studying the possibility of launching the planned second-generation Globalstar mobile satellite system using the Soyuz Fregat, instead of the Ikar version employed for the initial spacecraft. The Fregat could orbit six spacecraft at once, despite the fact that the new spacecraft will weigh 200 kg. more than present units, executives say. Globalstar says it will decide by Nov. 15 whether to turn a €7.7-million authorization to proceed for 48 Globalstar 2s and a ground segment upgrade--issued to Alcatel Alenia Space--into a firm contract.
I agree with John Guthridge's letter "Turboprops Have Benefits" (AW&ST Sept. 11, p. 6) regarding the many advantages of turboprops versus jets for regional airlines. Unfortunately, the accident rate for "puddle-jumpers" has been less than stellar, causing some passenger avoidance. If turboprops are to gain wide acceptance on regional airlines, two important design issues should be addressed:
