Boeing reports success in the first test of a simultaneous drop of three Mk.82 Joint Direct Attack Munitions from the F-15K multirole fighter it has begun delivering to the South Korean air force. The tests, conducted at Eglin AFB, Fla., all scored direct hits. Boeing is certifying the aircraft to carry up to 12,500-lb. JDAMs on its conformal fuel tank pylon stations.
Robert B. Hotz, who as editor-in-chief of Aviation Week & Space Technology for nearly 25 years turned the magazine into "the bible of the aerospace industry" and a major international news competitor, died Feb. 9 of complications from Parkinson's disease at a hospital in Frederick, Md. He was 91.
Graham K. Thornton has been named London-based executive director of Northrop Grumman-U.K. He was vice president-business development for TRW Aeronautical Systems and has been a consultant to defense and high-technology companies.
Sea Launch placed EchoStar X in its geostationary transfer orbit Feb. 15, overcoming a mechanical problem with the Russian-built erector on its floating launch pad to get its Zenit-3SL vehicle underway from a point on the equator at 154 deg. W. Long. Built by Lockheed Martin Commercial Space Systems, the high-power K u-band A21-AX satellite is to deliver direct-to-home broadcast services across the U.S. through the DISH Network from a final orbital position at 110 deg. W. Long.
The aerospace industry is under pressure to increase aircraft capability by adding features and functionality while reducing costs. Manufacturers' focus on integrating various electromechanical systems into aircraft increased the complexity of embedded systems. Software programmers often must consume thousands of work hours developing data buses robust enough to assure system integrity.
Britain's National Air Traffic Services (NATS) and its Spanish counterpart Aeropuertos Espanoles y Navegacion Aerea have formed a joint venture to develop air traffic management systems. The venture will basically evolve the Spanish air traffic control system to be able to manage U.K. airspace as well. The enhanced Spanish system is to become operational in 2007, first at NATS's new center at Prestwick and then at the Swanwick center.
The Portuguese air force has hired the Swedish Space Corp. (SSC) to upgrade the SSC maritime surveillance systems in use over Portugal's fishing zone, the largest in Europe, since the early 1990s. Portuguese surveillance aircraft will be fitted with the MSS 6000 system, which includes modernized signals and data processing, and a new presentation system for the system's Side-Looking Airborne Radar, IR/UV Line Scanner, Search Radar, Forward-Looking Infrared, Microwave Radiometer and Pyrometer.
Bonnie Peat has been appointed group marketing director of the Americas, Art Gagnon group marketing director for the Asia-Pacific region and Mark Flohr strategic marketing director for Parker Aerospace, Irvine, Calif.
Air France-KLM saw its third-quarter operating profit increase to 190 million euros ($226 million) from 20 million euros the year before, with record load factors and recovery in its cargo operations. Overall turnover for the period was up 12.4%. The carrier is aiming at a full-year operating income of more than 900 million euros. The group's performance has benefited from fuel surcharges and a strong fuel-price hedging position.
Dutch aerospace component supplier Stork is considering going private as part of a larger restructuring of its total operations. The company earlier this year said aerospace, along with food systems and technical services, would be its future focus areas, and other activities would be divested. But a private company may be better able to make the changes than a public one, says Stork CEO Sjoerd Vollebregt.
Saab has won a 190-million-Swedish-kronor ($24-million) contract to supply Bol electronic countermeasures systems for Tranche 2 Eurofighter Typhoons. The company this year also expects to finalize terms with Pakistan on the sale of eight Saab 2000-based airborne early warning systems and complete announced layoffs totaling 1,500 employees. Saab reported a 2005 net profit of $141 million on $2.4 billion in sales. Saab executives expect 10% growth again this year, in part due to recent acquisitions.
USMC is expanding its fleet of AeroVironment's Dragon Eye unmanned aircraft. The service last week awarded the Monrovia, Calif.-based contractor a $9.7-million fixed-price contract for 303 of the small vehicles, as well as ground equipment.
Steve Opel has become senior program manager for Air Force-related programs for L-3 subsidiary Interstate Electronics Corp., Anaheim, Calif. He was a USAF colonel and Materiel Command's representative to Air Mobility Command at Scott AFB, Ill.
Regarding Curt Cannon's letter about humans versus robots in space (AW&ST Jan. 9, p. 6), the plan to go to the Moon and Mars once we build a shuttle replacement, while keeping the political workforce and cost-plus contracts in place, is a mistake.
Much of the air cargo industry is potentially facing severe fines from international competition authorities. Investigators on three continents are trying to determine whether a group of cargo airlines engaged in anti-competitive behavior such as illegal fixing of rates and surcharges.
Aluminum suppliers will have to devise new alloys if they want to arrest the dwindling of their role in commercial aircraft production, suggest Airbus and Boeing officials. But while design decision and public statements at two main large aircraft makers represent a warning shot to the aluminum industry, aerospace company officials also note that in recent years their metal's supply base has adapted to be more responsive.
Citing the potential for oil supply disruptions in response to nuclear diplomacy in Iran, a major terrorist attack in the Middle East or any number of possibilities, House Aviation Subcommittee Chairman John Mica (R-Fla.) says it's time to "seriously consider" creating a national jet fuel reserve, patterned after the strategic petroleum reserve. Mica also notes that U.S. refiners, who provide most of the U.S. jet fuel supply, worsen airlines' cost problems by exporting fuel for more profitable sales abroad.
Manufacturers of general aviation aircraft are reporting a record 2005 with "outstanding" shipment and billing figures. The Washington-based General Aviation Manufacturers Assn.'s Industry Review and 2006 Market Outlook released Feb. 13 shows $15.1 billion in billings, for a 27.2% increase compared with 2004. And the GAMA report shows shipments of piston-engine, turboprop and business jet aircraft manufactured worldwide reflected a double-digit growth percentage (see table), increasing to 3,580 units from 2,963 in 2004.
Steve Gross (see photo) has been promoted to director of worldwide sales from Northeast U.S. market manager for New York-based FlightSafety International. He succeeds Scott Fera, who has been promoted to vice president-marketing. Julie Goodridge (see photo) has been promoted to manager from assistant manager of the West Palm Beach (Fla.) Learning Center. She succeeds Pat Knott, who is retiring.
It's shades of the past regarding "Future of CSAR" (AW&ST Jan. 30, p. 12). In the early 1950s, the McDonnell Aircraft Corp. did a considerable amount of R&D work on the very concept now being proposed for the combat search-and-rescue (CSAR) vehicle, and built a prototype known as the XV-1 Convertiplane for the U.S. Army. The XV-1 was essentially a fixed-wing aircraft that used a tipjet-driven rotor for helicopter-mode flight and a pusher propeller for forward flight. The idea was that the rotor would autorotate in forward flight.
Northrop Grumman has started flight testing an extended-range version of the Hunter unmanned aircraft, which boosts endurance by 10 hr. to 21 hr. The increase is generated by adding fuel in the center wing and increasing engine efficiency.
The much-touted documentary that aired last week on Britain's Channel 4 about Ryanair and alleged security lapses failed to show anything significantly wrong at the large low-cost carrier, or raise concerns that require investigation--depending on whom you ask. The "Dispatches" program prompted French justice minister, Dominique Perben, to instruct the French civil aviation authority to seek more detail from its British and Irish counterparts on possible safety lapses at Ryanair, while acknowledging that inspections in France last year and three this year found nothing.
In a brief encounter early this month, Rockwell Collins Inc. Chairman/CEO Clay Jones got an earful from an investment manager at a large pension fund. "You've got to get the stock price up," she lectured him. "We own a lot. Why is it so low?"
The British Defense Ministry will fly a near-production-standard active electronically scanned array radar on a Tornado GR4 strike aircraft in 2007. Project ARTS (Advanced Radar Targeting System) is intended to explore the use of active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar in the air-to-surface role. With growing interest in extending the GR4 service life the project raises the possibility of replacing the GR4 original terrain-following/ground-mapping radar with an E-SCAN system (AW&ST May 9, 2005, p. 22).
