Jeff Moore has become senior vice president-operations of Rockwell Collins, Cedar Rapids, Iowa. He succeeds Kent L. Statler, who is vice president/general manager of Rockwell Collins Services.
LANDMARK AVIATION OF TEMPE, ARIZ., WILL INSTALL Arinc Direct's SKYLink K u-band, ultra-high-speed satellite data and broadband communication system in business aircraft. SKYLink provides users with high-speed Internet, e-mail, virtual private networks, voice over telephone, corporate intranet and facsimile services. Coverage currently is limited to North America, Europe and the Middle East, but will expand to include the North Atlantic region this year.
Arianespace reported a 6.33-million-euro pretax profit last year on revenues of 1.07 billion euros ($1.3 billion)--up 60% over the previous year--as its Ariane 5 heavy-lift launcher has finally moved into cruising gear. It also posted its first operating profit since 1995. With prices continuing to firm and this year's manifest showing six Ariane 5 missions--one more than last year--and three Soyuz launches, CEO Jean-Yves Le Gall expects a further 10% rise in revenues in 2006.
Not too long ago, at an event at the National Air and Space Museum, we found ourselves chatting with Steve Squyres, the chief of Mars rover science operations. There we were, by the X-15. As if on cue, Scott Crossfield walked up. We realized the men had never met. Introductions made, we stepped aside and watched as two light bulbs lit up. Boyhood hero, meet the man on Mars.
Supporters of the 777/A380-size tanker for the U.S. Air Force are missing some critical warfighting points. It's not just how much gas you can get into the air, it's how fast you can offload it. Can you afford to put the success of a campaign in the hands of a few big tankers? Bigger isn't always better. A fleet of 767-size tankers, with multipoint refueling options and transport capability, will provide the flexibility we need.
The New York Air National Guard Syracuse-based 174th Fighter Wing was declared Initial Operational Capable with Lockheed Martin's Sniper advanced targeting pod in April, the latest ANG F-16 unit to meet a formal set of Air Combat Command requirements for Sniper training and equipment. The new-generation targeting pods--carried on ANG, Reserve and Air Force active-duty F-15Es and F-16s--have proven very effective in combat ops.
NATO has released to a transatlantic industry team the request for proposal for the Alliance Ground Surveillance program's design and development phase, the precursor to the more formal engineering and manufacturing development stage. Contract award for the 2.5-year effort is slated for late this year, with fielding of ground-surveillance Airbus A321s and Global Hawk UAVs to begin in 2012.
Fuel costs continue to burn holes in airline pockets, including low-cost carriers JetBlue and AirTran. They factored in JetBlue Airways' logging a second consecutive quarterly loss, in the period ending Mar. 31--a $25-million operating loss that resulted in a negative 5.2% operating margin. The results were enough to drive JetBlue CEO David Neeleman to launch a "return to profitability plan" for the six-year-old carrier. "We like industry-leading margins, not industry-lagging margins."
A new U.S. Air Force Space Command squadron is assembling the nation's first "space test pilots," who will conduct experimental space-based demonstrations and pathfinder projects.
Gregg Donley (see photos) has become vice president/general manager of systems support, George Petteys, Jr., vice president/general manager of strategic operations and planning, R. Michael Roberts vice president/general manager of training and simulation and David W. Werkheiser vice president/general manager of life cycle optimization and engineering, all for the Los Angeles-based Northrop Grumman Corp.'s Technical Services Sector.
I agree with the writer of the letter "What's the Big Deal?" (AW&ST Mar. 13, p. 8). At some point, the "passion to exceed" as your editor describes it, reaches a point of diminishing returns. When the Federation Aeronautique International's duration record for gliders exceeded 55 hr. in 1943, it became clear that the record was only limited by the ability of pilots to stay awake. Further advances in aeronautics would be better served with goals that focus on efficient airframes, engines and fuels--not just distance and duration.
Although French armaments agency DGA says delays in deliveries for major weapon programs such as the Tiger and NH90 helicopters are now under control, the tardiness continues to grow. The average lag was close to three months in 2004 and surpassed the three-month period last year. DGA plans to apply stricter penalty clauses, improved risk management and closer cooperation with suppliers to reduce the figure to two months by year-end.
Wilson N. Felder has become director of the FAA's William J. Hughes Technical Center, Egg Harbor Township, N.J. He was the FAA's director for technology development and succeeds Ronald Esposito, who has retired.
Sofradir says its new high-definition midwave infrared detector will be the highest-definition 15-micron-pitch model of its type on the market. The detector, named Jupiter, will offer a 1,280 X 1,024-pixel TV format, a major improvement over the 640 X 512-pixel Scorpio model. Both are compact and low-consumption, and use third-generation mercury-cadmium-telluride technology (AW&ST Mar. 27, p. 51). Sofradir plans to augment capacity of its molecular beam epitaxy processing line to boost output of the 4-in. wafers on which detector arrays are produced.
The second Darpa/Boeing X-50A Dragonfly canard rotor/wing drone demonstrator crashed on Apr. 12 at the Yuma Proving Grounds, Ariz., destroying the aircraft and halting the test program. Two Dragonflies were built, and the first one crashed on its third hover flight on Mar. 23, 2004 (AW&ST Dec. 12, 2005, p. 20). It was not completely destroyed but has not been repaired, and Darpa (U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) and Boeing officials were discussing last week how to proceed with the program.
The 2006 Laureate Awards sponsored by Aviation Week & Space Technology honored nearly 70 people from around the globe for their outstanding achievements in aviation and aerospace (hundreds, counting the men and women who worked as teams in rescue or development efforts).
Anthony H. Cordesman holds the Arleigh A. Burke Chair in Strategy at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. Khalid R. Al-Rodhan is a visiting fellow at the center. Together, they have been assessing Iran's nuclear program and options for dealing with the threat. Last week, they released a detailed report on delivery options. Excerpts follow.
Paul Wiedefeld has become a senior vice president in the Baltimore office of Parsons Brinckerhoff Quade and Douglas Inc. and head of its aviation consulting practice. He was executive director of the Maryland Aviation Administration.
A new world record for total weight carried by an aircraft when launching from an aircraft carrier was recently achieved during a trial aimed at increasing existing approved launch weight limits for Harrier aircraft. It was carried out with a GR7A on board HMS Illustrious. Twelve sorties took place over a 12-day period by the Air Test and Evaluation Center team from the Defense Ministry airfield at Boscombe Down.
FM radio broadcasters are opposing WorldSpace's proposal to offer hybrid satellite/terrestrial mobile radio service in India. The radio industry association wants India's Ministry of Information and Broadcasting to deny a terrestrial repeater license for the digital audio radio (DARS) service, which WorldSpace wants to roll out by the second half of this year. India is one of three markets, along with China and Western Europe, targeted for expansion by WorldSpace following an initial public offering and a share-purchase by XM Satellite Radio last year (AW&ST Jan.
A European workshop for airline officials and regulators was held this month to examine safety problems associated with anti-icing. In particular, they looked at problems caused by thickened fluid residues and inconsistent standards of service provision within Europe.
AERONAUTICS/PROPULSION Airbus Senior Vice President for Engineering Robert Lafontan, Vice President for Flight Test Fernando Alonso and Chief Test Pilot Jacques Rosay and the entire A380 engineering and flight test team, for their technical achievement in bringing the mega-transport to first flight in April. OPERATIONS
The British Parliamentary Defense Committee is criticizing the Defense Ministry over its inability to validate claimed logistics savings. The committee's report into the 2004-05 defense resource accounts describes as "worrying" the ministry's lack of capacity to determine cost savings within logistics support. The ministry claims more than 400 million pounds ($711 million) was saved, but cannot validate an indeterminate element of this figure. The committee also expresses amazement at a 147-million-pound loss concerning a building at the Atomic Weapons Establishment.
UNITED STATES Editor-In-Chief: Anthony L. Velocci, Jr. [email protected] Managing Editor: James R. Asker [email protected] Assistant Managing Editor: Michael Stearns [email protected] Senior Editors: Craig Covault [email protected], David Hughes [email protected] NEW YORK 2 Penn Plaza, 25th Floor, New York, N.Y. 10121 Phone: +1 (212) 904-2000, Fax: +1 (212) 904-6068 Senior News Editor: Nora Titterington
