PanAmSat reported a 7.6% rise in adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization in 2005, to $672.2 million. Revenues rose 4.1% to $861 million. Net income was $72.7 million, compared to a $79-million loss the previous year.
Colombia's AeroRepublica is buying five Embraer 190s and has taken options for another 20 of the company's regional jets. Deliveries are to start in November.
About half of the 65 Lockheed Martin F-22As may have a problem with the strength of Alcoa-built titanium frames in the fuselage, say U.S. Air Force and industry officials. "The parts may not have been heated up sufficiently on several sets of frames," says an aerospace industry official with insight into the program. The Air Force described the part as a forward boom, a spar that connects the tail surfaces and main structure of the fighter.
Airbus is looking to boost the performance of its A320 family even beyond the addition of wingtips now heading for several weeks of flight trials, which could impact timing decisions on a next-generation narrowbody. But that's not the only area of activity. On the A350 widebody, Airbus is continuing to evolve its configuration (already in flux for months) and will continue to do so for the near-term. Although the design freeze date is fast approaching, it will be extended indefinately for specific elements.
Indian Defense Minister Pranab Mukherjee tells Parliament that a surface-to-surface version of the BrahMos cruise missile has been made operational. He says it will be fired from a mobile launcher developed indigenously. Mukherjee says the air-to-ground version remains in development. The naval version, with a range of 300 km. (186 mi.), has been mounted on a number of new ships acquired from Russia.
French industries association Gifas reported a 7.5% increase in sales last year, to 28.1 billion euros ($33.7 billion), and a whopping 48% leap in orders, to 51.7 billion euros. However, Gifas President Charles Edelstenne warned that uncertainty about research spending, a weakening dollar, the health of lower-tier suppliers and future defense spending--particularly in France--could cloud future prospects.
Boeing missile defense officials refuse to answer questions about whether they are developing techniques for high-energy weapon effects from their SBX sea-based radar. However, since large distributed-array devices can be focused to deliver large spikes of energy, powerful enough to disable electronic equipment, the potential is known to exist and is being fielded on a range of U.S., British and Australian aircraft.
BAE Systems' Brough, U.K.-based Offshore Logistics has delivered the first shipment of raw material for the Hawk advanced jet trainers to be built under license in India. Key suppliers include Apollo, Rockfords, Aeropia and Rolls-Royce. India has ordered 66 AJTs, 24 of which are being supplied by BAE Systems "ready to fly," six in kits and the rest to be manufactured by Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. Also, $22 million has been allotted for creation of an AJT-related infrastructure facility at Bidar in South India.
Steven M. Kellner (see photo, p.10) has been promoted to director of intelligence from quality control manager for the Intelligence Div. of Houston-based Air Security International.
There is an odd lack of imagination in the U.S. refueling tanker aircraft replacement debate. All of the current proposals use 1950s flying boom technology. A better solution would be to mount the boom tip on a small "flyer" towed at the end of a flexible hose. Modern computerized flight control systems could drive the control surfaces to stabilize, and steer the flyer with enough force so it can penetrate the receiver's slipstream.
Australia's rapidly modernizing Air Force counts on the network-centric approach to overcome long distances and small force size. The service's leadership decided more than a decade ago that a focus on strike should be supplanted by long-term investment in the technologies that would allow Australia to field the central nervous system for an international expeditionary force tailored to meet a wide range of natural and military emergencies.
The emergence of new long-haul aircraft could alter the commercial aviation insurance business, which is already in a state of flux. "The Airbus A380 has begun to make its presence felt, with at least one program increasing its liability limit in anticipation of the aircraft coming into commercial service," notes insurance and reinsurance broker Aon in its annual review of the industry.
A European Union-funded project led by Alcatel Alenia Space has demonstrated the feasibility of using Europe's Egnos wide-area GPS augmentation system to enhance emergency call positioning and rescue coordination. The project, dubbed Score, was demonstrated in Lisbon with Portuguese civil security forces and fire brigades using an end-to-end system composed of specially developed processing algorithms and servers and off-the-shelf receivers integrated with state-of-the-art cell phones and ground networks.
Douglas Barrie (London), Michael A. Taverna (Paris)
A funding crunch within Europe's fledgling aviation safety agency is raising the specter of delays in the certification process. The Airbus A380 widebody is one of the aircraft the agency is dealing with.
House Armed Services Committee Chairman Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.) isn't buying industry complaints about overzealous Pentagon enforcement of the Berry Amendment, the decades-old law that requires metals in military hardware to be of U.S. origin. Contractors protest that government lawyers are holding them to an impossible standard by demanding verification of domestic metal in every component, right down to screws and bolts that literally cost pocket change (AW&ST Mar. 13, p. 24). But Hunter, Congress' leading "Buy America" advocate, isn't swayed.
EUROPE IS PRESSING AHEAD with the implementation of 8.33-KHz. channel spacing: Operations above Flight Level 195 in the ICAO European Region are due to go into effect on Mar. 15, 2007. The reduced spacing (down from 25 KHz.) was introduced for Area Control Center services for aircraft operating above FL245 in seven nations in 1999; 23 other nations joined in 2002. In theory, the change allows a single 25-KHz. channel to be replaced by three 8.33-KHz. ones. In practice, owing to the fact that the 118-137-MHz.
What is the better tanker for the Air Force? Analyzing all of the statistics published in Aviation Week & Space Technology, and Boeing and Northrop Grumman web sites, the KC-30 is not even close to the Boeing 777LR or KC-10. It is only marginally better than the KC-135R and KC-767. *KC-135R: payload 183,000 lb. or 31,000 gal. of Jet A fuel. *KC-10: payload 348,973 lb. or 51,319 gal. of Jet A fuel. *KC-30: payload 212,500 lb. or 37,000 gal. of Jet A fuel. *KC-767: payload 166,600 lb. or 31,000 gal. of Jet A fuel.
Cessna Aircraft Co. CEO Jack Pelton cites an order backlog that will keep the company's production line humming into 2009. Orders for all of the product line are up compared with previous years, with a 60/40 split for domestic/ international sales. Pelton says the next challenge will be to "revamp" Cessna's piston-powered light airplanes.
Alaska Airlines is opening the next chapter of its transformation plan--adopting a single fleet type--which the airline expects will yield huge savings and help lead to sustained profitability. Last week's move to speed up retirement of Alaska's MD-80s and opt for an all-Boeing 737 fleet by December 2008 is a "major milestone" in Alaska's "2010" transformation plan, the long-term vision for the airline, says Chairman, President & CEO Bill Ayer.
Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) is trying to get his colleagues to take seriously the threat posed to commercial aviation by ash clouds spewed 30,000-40,000 ft. into the sky by erupting volcanoes. The ash can cause millions of dollars in damage to aircraft and, in some cases, render them helpless. The Alaska Volcano Observatory (AVO), a joint federal-state-university operation, monitors Alaska's active volcanoes, which can disrupt the schedules of aircraft flying over the state between North America and Asia.
The success of the KC-10A in Iraq and Afghanistan dictates that the future U.S. Air Force refueling tanker should be at least as capable (AW&ST Mar. 6, p. 26).
Southwest Airlines raised its fares for the second time this year, boosting many one-way tickets by $2-10 and raising its one-way fare cap by $10 to $309. With its lucrative fuel hedges set to wind down over the next few years, analysts say Southwest has to raise fares to meet its goal of 15% annual earnings growth. J.P. Morgan analyst Jamie Baker calculates the increase as the single largest fare hike ever undertaken by the airline. The move was good news for money-losing legacy carriers, which quickly moved to match the increases.
I just wanted to compliment you for publishing the articles on the Blackstar system you believe was operated by the U.S. Air Force (AW&ST Mar. 6, p. 48). Disclosing this information on a previously secret program (apparently now defunct) was a bold and moral act. Often, our obsessive secrecy on such programs is suffocating America's space program, both military and civilian, and denies us the safe, reliable and effective vehicles we have spent so much time, effort, treasure--and so many lives--to develop.
At Sikorsky Aircraft Corp., union workers are in the fourth week of a strike that began Feb. 20. No discussions between representatives of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters and company officials have occurred, according to Sikorsky.
