Karyn Greenfield has become vice president-new business pricing and contracts for BAE Systems, Arlington, Va. She was vice president-contracts, pricing and procurement at the Northrop Grumman Corp. Information Technology Sector's Civilian Agencies business.
France's TNT Group has selected Eutelsat to provide satellite backup for its nationwide free-to-air digital terrestrial network. By adding space coverage, the 20 channels offered by TNT, since it began operating last year, will be available to customers not served by terrestrial networks. Satellite service could start by year-end. Eutelsat, which beat out service provider CanalSat, says it probably will earmark its Atlantic Bird 3 spacecraft for the service.
Boeing has been awarded a $138-million option to build three additional GPS satellites under its U.S. Air Force Navstar GPS Block IIF contract. This will make a total of 12 Block IIF spacecraft built. The first--SV-1--is to be delivered next year.
Harry (Mac) McClaren has become vice president of the H-1, VH-71 and U.S. Coast Guard programs at Fort Worth-based Bell Helicopter Textron. He was director of marketing for heavy-lift programs and advanced concepts at the Sikorsky Aircraft Corp.
Flight operations are down slightly at the three top U.S. airports, but Chicago O'Hare International has taken the lead over Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson for the first six months of this year. O'Hare recorded 477,001 flights through June, down 1.3% from the period in 2005. Hartsfield moved 472,431 aircraft, down 5%. Flights at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport declined 2.1% in the period to 348,434. Growth in large-jet flights (from 307,322 to 310,848) gave O'Hare the edge. Small-jet flying picked up at Atlanta, from 135,990 to 155,070, during the period.
Traffic patterns at Europe's major hub airports could shift significantly if the European Commission goes ahead with plans to regulate secondary slot trading. Smaller European destinations could suffer as a result of legalized slot-trading schemes, officials said at a European Union Airport Coordinators Assn. (EUACA) seminar here. Airlines warned of unknown risks if the current slot regime is changed substantially.
The closing of the merger between erstwhile rivals Intelsat and PanAmSat creates the biggest satellite operator in the industry's history and puts more pressure on smaller companies to join together or specialize to stay afloat in a marketplace still characterized by excess supply.
Ameco Beijing reports a 28% increase in engine overhauls for the first half of the year. The Air China-Lufthansa German Airlines partnership is finding its greatest growth spurt from international customers, particularly for Rolls-Royce RB211s. Under new contracts, Rolls-Royce itself has begun shipping engines to Ameco, as have TES, Astraeus, Royal Nepal Airlines, Cebu Pacific Air and Israir. RB211-535 E4 shop visits for Boeing 757-200s have had average annual growth rates of 40% since 2003.
As lead times narrow between the end of space shuttle flights in 2010 and fast-approaching Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV) development, the United Space Alliance shuttle operations contractor is beginning to seek collaboration with Italian and German companies. United Space Alliance (USA) hopes collaboration with the Europeans can help it retain key management and engineering talent as the CEV builds toward first flights by 2013-14.
Air force chiefs of the seven members of the European Air Group (EAG) have agreed to expand efforts to allow force integration in future Deployable Multinational Air Wings. During the meeting of air chiefs late last month, they agreed on the technical arrangements for creation of such a multi-national wing to be used in crisis situations. Moreover, they OK'd a framework to allow smooth data transfer to support simulated air combat. The EGA staff based at RAF High Wycombe, England, was also approved to serve as a support element for contingency operations.
Two tiny moons that astronomers using the Hubble telescope discovered orbiting Pluto last year will be known as Hydra and Nix. The International Astronomical Union, which names celestial bodies, drew on ancient mythology for the names. Hydra was the monster who guarded the underworld ruled over by Pluto. Nix was the Egyptian goddess of the night.
Thomas Horvath, who is senior research engineer in the Aerothermodynamics Branch at NASA Langley Research Center, Hampton, Va., has received the Engineer of the Year Award from the Reston, Va.-based American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA). He was recognized "for contributions to understanding of space shuttle orbiter aerothermodynamic phenomena," which were critical to the Columbia accident investigation and safe reentry of Discovery on the STS-114 Return-to-Flight mission.
Ellen Howe has been named assistant administrator for the Office of Strategic Communications and Public Affairs in the U.S. Transportation Security Administration.
Italy's Meridiana Group has been able to turn around its financial performance, delivering a small profit of 3.2 million euros ($4 million) in its last fiscal year ending Dec. 31, compared with an 18.3-million-euro loss for fiscal 2004. The carrier also was in the red in 2002 and 2003. Revenues in 2005 increased 12%, to 403 million euros. Total passenger traffic reached 4.1 million, a 10.3% increase, including charter operations. Load factor also improved in 2005, but was still soft, at 65.2% (up from 61.8%).
EADS North America's first win as a prime contractor for the Pentagon this month places the young company on the map as a serious contender in the largest defense market on the globe. This status could bolster its future bid to wrest some of Boeing's business building refueling tankers for the U.S. Air Force.
White Plains, N.Y.-based ITT Industries received a contract for 4,400 night vision systems from the Norwegian Defense Procurement Div. Each unit will include two AN/PVS-14 monocular devices and accessories. The initial $33-million award includes spare parts and training.
First-half deliveries indicate how much Boeing has ramped up rates on its 737 production line in Renton, Wash. The company says it handed over a total 142 aircraft through June, or an average 23 per month. At the same point last year, it had delivered 113 737s, for an 18-per-month rate. Boeing does not publish production rates, but the figures are indicative. Total hand-offs for the first half of the year reached 195 aircraft, putting Boeing on target to meet this year's goal of 395 aircraft.
It's a question worth pondering in light of the results of Aviation Week & Space Technology's 2006 Top-Performing Companies study. General Dynamics Corp., Lockheed Martin Corp. and Northrop Grumman Corp. first, second and third, respectively. Using this year's more rigorous methodology (see p. 70), General Dynamics would have ranked No. 1 from 1999 through 2005. Among airlines, readers may be equally struck by the results: seven of the 10 top-performing carriers are headquartered in Asia (see p. 62).
Lockheed Martin and the Pentagon officially named the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter "Lightning II" on July 7, in honor of the twin-boomed P-38 Lightning of World War II fame, and the Lightning supersonic jet fighter built by English Electric in the 1950s. English Electric later became BAE Systems, a principal partner with Lockheed Martin in the F-35 program. Northrop Grumman also is a key partner. U.S. Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England and U.S. Air Force Chief of Staff Gen.
Mark Valerio has been appointed vice president/general manager of special programs for Denver-based Lockheed Martin Space Systems. He succeeds Thomas J. Scanlan, who has retired. Valerio was vice president/deputy of the Space-Based Infrared System program.
MBDA CEO Marwan Lahoud says brighter sales prospects should enable the company to upgrade guidance for 2006. Sales and earnings are expected to be close to figures reported last year, instead of the 10% drop previously predicted. Among deals in the fire are a launch order for the vertical-launch Mica air-to-air missile, reportedly from Oman, and an antiship missile sale to the United Arab Emirates.
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Martin Weinstein, vice chairman/ CEO of the Sequa Corp. of New York, has received the Fellows Award from his undergraduate alma mater, the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute of Troy, N.Y. The award honors graduates or friends of RPI who "have set an example for the Rensselaer community." Weinstein is a 1957 graduate of RPI and received graduate degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He holds patents related to diffusion coating of metals and to electronic materials, and he has writtten for professional journals in various fields.
