French company Thales has initiated legal action against the India-based weekly publication Outlook, claiming it printed a defamatory article accusing Thales of bribery to obtain a contract worth $3.4 billion to build six Scorpene submarines. The company is suing the publication for about $4 million. Outlook has been directed to send its reply to the courts.
Airline seat data for Denver in last week's Market Focus Commentary (p. 12) should have been listed as seats per week, counting arrivals and departures.
French President Jacques Chirac's concept of levying airline ticket taxes to help pay for development of Third World countries received a boost last week when 11 countries joined France in pledging to introduce such a levy. Although the list included some nations, such as Ivory Coast, in France's orbit, heftier players, such as Brazil, also figured prominently. Chirac received strong backing from U.N. Secretary General Kofi Anan. His support drew a retort from International Air Transport Assn.
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World freight traffic growth is showing a "definite strengthening trend," according to Giovanni Bisignani, director general of the International Air Transport Assn. December 2005 showed 5.5% growth compared with the same month in the previous year, and January showed 6.2%--marking the first time in one year the industry had two consecutive months of freight traffic above 5%, notes Bisignani. In the first month of the year, the Asia-Pacific region led at 8.3%, compared with a full-year growth of 4.2% for 2005.
Torbjorn Karlsson has become a principal in the Singapore office of Heidrick & Struggles International, joining its Industrial Practice Group, which focuses on aviation, aerospace and transportation. He was head of Honeywell Aerospace's Asia-Pacific commercial business.
Boeing's board has amended the company's bylaws to require the annual election of directors, putting all directors up for a vote at this year's shareholders meeting, set for May 1 in Chicago. The board is expected to eliminate a 75% supermajority provision from its bylaws and charter documents.
BBA Aviation Services Group has acquired Ontic Engineering & Manufacturing Inc., a supplier of original equipment manufacturer (OEM)-licensed parts and an MRO services provider based in Chatsworth, Calif. The company's chief focus centers on developing product licensing agreements with major OEMs and having full responsibility for supply and support for a specific OEM product or service. Ontic is the latest in a series of acquisitions by BBA Aviation aimed at strengthening its MRO business.
Improved communications protocols could make spacecraft function better in network settings, and networking giant Cisco Systems is now working with others toward a standard- ized set of formats. If a good protocol set can be devised, the company plans to publish it openly. Cisco's interest is not so much in the spacecraft communications link itself, but in how a merged ground-space architecture increases the number of ground systems using Internet Protocol (IP)--its primary market.
Artist's concept depicts an XB-70-like carrier aircraft dropping a manned spaceplane at high altitude. Possibly developed in the late-1980s, the highly classified two-stage-to-orbit "Blackstar" system could place a small payload in low Earth orbit or serve as a rapid-response reconnaissance platform. The two vehicles were seen several times throughout the 1990s, but may have been shelved in recent years, according to officials familiar with the program (see p. 48). Graphic by James Petty and Travis Thatcher.
Gulfstream Aerospace netted 12 orders for new business jets in China and other Asia-Pacific nations last year, accounting for nearly 10% of its total sales of 124 aircraft. "We've spent a decade cultivating business alliances in Asia," said President Bryan Moss. "It is obviously starting to pay dividends."
When the Airbus A380 wing failed its static ultimate load test roughly 3% short of the required 1.5 times limit load on Feb. 14 (AW&ST Feb. 20, p. 44), it raised serious issues: *Ultimate load includes a required safety factor of 1.5 times limit load.
Boeing will build six flight test airplanes for the standard 787-8, scheduled to begin flying late next year and enter service in mid-2008 with All Nippon Airways. This version will carry 220-250 passengers and have a range of 8,000 naut. mi. Two airplanes will be built for the 787-3 version, which will accommodate up to 330 people and will fly 3,000 naut. mi. Another two airplanes will be built to test the 787-9. It will have a maximum gross weight of 540,000 lb. and a range of 8,600 naut. mi.
The H-1 helicopter upgrade program has completed developmental testing. It is to replace aging U.S. Marine Corps UH-1N transports and AN-1W gunships with upgraded UH-1Y Venoms and AH-1Z Vipers. Two of five developmental test aircraft have been transferred to operational testing. Sixteen aircraft are under production contracts totaling $297 million. Plans call for the aircraft to enter fleet service in Fiscal 2008.
Germany and the U.S. are finalizing agreements to allow a German optical data relay system to be tested on the Defense Dept.'s Near Field Infrared Experiment (NFIRE), which is tentatively set for launch this fall.
The U.S. Army's new Armed Reconnaissance Helicopter (ARH) is scheduled to make its first flight this quarter, followed by initial performance testing in August. Bell Helicopter Textron is under contract to build 368 of the single-engine, turbine-powered rotorcraft. Plans call for the ARH to become operational with Army combat units in the fourth quarter of 2008. The first four aircraft for the systems design and development phase are under construction at the company's XworX facility in Arlington, Tex.
After years of hectoring the Homeland Security Dept. about using unmanned aerial vehicles to patrol the U.S.-Mexico border, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) is urging the Pentagon to do the same in the U.S. and abroad.
USAF has reversed itself on who has administrative control for combat search-and-rescue (CSAR) units. The service switched selected active-duty assets from Air Force Special Operations Command back to Air Combat Command. There were concerns the CSAR had become underfunded and understaffed. The switch is intended to enable CSAR to mobilize faster, integrate into combat training and better support expeditionary force rotations. Affected are HC-130P/N and HH-60G aircraft and most combat rescue officers and pararescuemen.
Boeing subsidiary Alteon Training will test a multi-crew pilot licensing (MPL) program at its Brisbane, Australia, facility in November. Alteon says the goal is to have a first officer course fully underway in November in order to produce a batch of qualified pilots by January 2008.
Farnborough International has snagged a contract with Aero India to run the international sales and marketing effort for the 2007 air show, to be held in Bangalore Feb. 7-11.
Korean Air Chairman/CEO Yang Ho Cho has received a Medal of Honor from the government of South Korea. He was cited for contributing to the establishment of South Korea as Northeast Asia's transportation and logistics hub and an increase in exports by tapping into world airline markets.
The European Commission's plan to issue common aviation-security rules across the 25 European Union member states has made its way to the European Parliament. The EC also intends to issue guidelines on financing aviation and other transport-security efforts in the next few months. Leaders of the Parliament's transport and tourism committee have voiced support for the states to fund elevated security measures, rather than passing the costs on to governments.
A team that includes ATK/Mission Research, Northrop Grumman, Voss Scientific, Electro Magnetic Applications, ITT and SAIC snagged a $24-million contract for research and development into electromagnetic (EM) effects. The concept is to search for new capabilities in all aspects of high-power EM lethality. It also is to find ways to protect U.S. military assets operating in high-power microwave environments. The program will take advantage of work and facilities already available at the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory's directed-energy facilities.
USAF's Warfare Center at Nellis AFB, Nev., has escalated integration of Air National Guard and Reserve personnel into UAV operations. Reserve Lt. Col. John Breeden was named to command the 11th Reconnaissance Sqdn., one of three active-duty Predator squadrons. The wing plans to graduate 105 crewmen in Fiscal 2007 and 120 in Fiscal 2008. Fourteen reservists and 47 guardsmen are now involved in Predator operations.
