David Maclean has been appointed managing director of the Defense Div. of U.K.-based BMT Ltd. He was managing director of BMT Defense Services (Australia) in Melbourne. Maclean will be succeeded by Nathan Harding, who has been a director at BMT Marine Projects Ltd.
General Electric is angling to parlay its systems engineering expertise into a lead position in the fast-growing airport security market. GE's Security Div. has been a rising force in the sector since it acquired computer tomography (CT)-based baggage scanner maker InVision Technologies in March 2004. The InVision business complemented GE's own Ion Track ion trace explosives and narcotics detection systems, widely used in baggage and passenger screening applications.
Phil Straub (see photo) has been appointed director of engineering for aviation, Carl Wolf (see photo) senior director of aviation marketing and sales and Tim Casey director of aviation aftermarket sales, all for Garmin International Inc., Olathe, Kan.
Russia will change its space policy this year to combine robotic and manned planning for the Moon and Mars as increased funding becomes a reality. The shift is underway as Russia is beginning advanced development of a robotic sample return mission to the Martian moon Phobos. If successful, the three-year flight planned for launch in 2009 will mark the first round trip between Earth and the direct vicinity of Mars.
Qantas welcomed the government's move this month to lift limits to air services on the "Kangaroo Route" between Australia and the U.K. The move would enable the airline to plan for future growth, according to Qantas CFO Peter Gregg. He says the airline has no immediate plans to add more flights, having only recently reached its limit of 28 services a week to the U.K. The relaxation also opens up routes for Virgin Blue and Jetstar.
It isn't every day that a crane lifts a 700-ton island onto the flight deck of the U.S.'s newest aircraft carrier, the George H.W. Bush (CVN 77), but that's what happened July 8 at Newport News, Va. The nuclear-powered carrier, which is named for the 41st U.S. President, is the 10th and final Nimitz-class carrier (after World War II Fleet Adm. Chester W. Nimitz). "We're witnessing the end of an era," says Mike Petters, president of the Northrop Grumman Corp.'s Newport News Sector, which is building the ship.
Boeing says the 787 will achieve better laminar flow over its engine nacelles if they are painted a single color. That will hardly come as news to many in the industry. The news is that Boeing wants to enforce a one-color policy. Its color of choice is gray to match the metallic appearance of the engine inlet. Contrasted with the flowing blue-and-white livery that Boeing's marketing department has selected for the rest of the airplane, the gray nacelles look, well . . . gray.
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Dan Sellas has become vice president-sales and marketing for the Aircraft Service International Group, Orlando, Fla. He was vice president-marketing and business development.
Delegates from 300 airlines and 600 airports are expected to attend the annual forum sponsored by Routes Ltd. of Manchester, England, Sept. 17-19 in Dubai, where the key topic is development of new airline services. Alexander Strahl, Routes' president, a former secretary-general of the Airports Council International, says the forum, the 12th in a series, has grown annually to an expected 2,000 delegates this year.
Robert Peckham (see photo) has been appointed president/general manager of the Sea Launch Co., Long Beach, Calif. He has been head of marketing and sales.
Joseph H. Howell has become general manager of Stevens Aviation's Donaldson Air Park, Greenville, S.C. He was service manager for Raytheon Aircraft Services, Tampa, Fla.
Britain's long-term defense equipment program faces a multibillion-dollar shortfall, with combat aircraft acquisition and upgrade funding needs projected to double in the middle of the critical period.
General Electric's aviation operations expects 2006 revenue to reach a record $12.8 billion, up from $11.9 billion the year before. GE expects to increase by 50% the number of its engines in service through 2015.
Prickly issues continue to divide research universities and the U.S. government over export control regulations even as long-running tensions between federal agencies and academe have eased somewhat with recent developments.
USAF Maj. Gen. (select) Douglas L. Raaberg has been appointed director of plans and programs at Air Combat Command (ACC) Headquarters. He has been deputy director of operations at United States Central Command Headquarters. He will be succeeded by Brig. Gen. Jack B. Egginton, who has been commander of the 325th Fighter Wing of the Air Education and Training Command (AETC), Tyndall AFB, Fla. Egginton, in turn, will be succeeded by Brig. Gen. (select) Tod D. Wolters, who has been commander of AETC's 47th Flying Training Wing, Laughlin AFB, Tex. Brig. Gen. Thomas W.
Kevin Brown (see photo) has been promoted to senior vice president-finance and corporate development from vice president-corporate development for M7 Aerospace of San Antonio.
European aerospace executives and industrial policy makers should make it a priority to identify the root of the EADS-Airbus crisis, devise more realistic management rules and ensure that the chaos that prevailed in the past several weeks is never repeated. However, whether EADS's is capable of going beyond a mere reshuffling of management is in doubt. The six-year-old group's structure already looks outdated. Moreover, it continues to suffer from political interference, proving once again that old habits die hard.
A new French strategic plan, backed by a favorable public opinion survey, is expected to help convince whoever wins the upcoming presidential elections to maintain France's ongoing arms buildup. The three-year rolling plan, which was made public on July 6 and is expected to be updated on a regular basis, sets out top priorities for military planners through 2008, when the existing five-year defense spending agenda ends.
To some, the dismantling of aging aircraft is the main occupation at Evergreen Air Center's desert facility here. In fact, being a "boneyard" is only part of its work as a heavy maintenance center, mostly for wide-body aircraft.
Matrox Graphics Inc. has expanded monitor and graphics hardware support for its Graphics eXpansion Modules. The palm-sized external upgrades add multi-display support to a system by dividing the monitor output of a computer into separate displays. The original DualHead2Go now supports the graphics hardware already supported with TripleHead2Go, including add-in cards from ATI Technologies, Nvidia and SLI-configured systems. In addition to existing support for three monitors at a time, Matrox now covers two monitors at a time with wide screens and higher refresh rates.
Dick Christopher has been named Hawker program manager and Jim Williams as Beechcraft service director for the Donaldson Center facility for Stevens Aviation, Greenville, S.C.
With defense spending stagnating in Europe, BAE Systems has focused on growing its business outside the U.K. Last year, about 30% of the company's $28 billion in sales came from the U.S., making it by far the most successful European company to tap into the lucrative American defense market. But BAE's decision to sell its 20% stake in Airbus--and likely use the money to expand its defense business--has been called into question by a surprisingly low valuation of the commercial aircraft company.
