Pratt & Whitney and NASA's Langley Research Center are beginning hot-fire tests of the hypersonic Ground Demonstration Engine (GDE-2) at the Hampton, Va., facility. The firings in a wind tunnel at Mach 5 conditions mark the first test of a hydrocarbon-fueled scramjet propulsion system using a single integrated flow path, fuel control system and closed-loop thermal management system. The GDE-2 engine is aimed at applications in propulsion systems for strike, global reach and space-access programs.
Rolls-Royce is nearing its goal of running the first Trent 1000, which is being designed to power Boeing 787s, by mid-month. Assembly is well underway with the first Trent 1000 build on target to the point that program officials are optimistic they will meet the Feb. 14 date set for the first engine run more than two years ago. The event will kick off an intense testing program on the road to certification of the 75,000-lb.-thrust engine July 24, 2007.
With futuristic platforms and weaponry getting battered in Fiscal 2007 budget planning, how can the 2006 QDR remain transformational? Indeed, how can senior leaders continue to promise a "wider range of options" for military response when programs involving directed energy, information operations, electronic warfare and cruise missile defense capabilities are in trouble? Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England, the guiding light behind the QDR, says the answer is not to focus on the fate of individual programs.
James M. Simon, Jr., has been appointed to the board of directors of Orbimage Holdings Inc., Dulles, Va. He is founding director of the Microsoft Institute for Advanced Technology in Governments, Reston, Va., and was assistant U.S. director of central intelligence.
We read Benjamin S. Lambeth's Viewpoint entitled "The Downside of Network-Centric Warfare" (AW&ST Jan. 2, p. 86) with some surprise and a degree of concern. While the observations that Lambeth makes about the command and control of air forces during Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) have merit, they are decidedly not a critique of network-centric warfare (NCW). The basic tenets of NCW are clear: *A robustly networked force improves information sharing.
Mary Margaret VanDeWeghe has been appointed senior vice president-finance of the Lockheed Martin Corp., Bethesda, Md. She has been CEO of Forte Consulting and was a managing director of J.P. Morgan.
Bombardier Aerospace will spend the next year hammering out a revised business plan for a stripped-down CSeries program while exploring opportunities in the 80-100-seat regional jet and turboprop markets.
Steven Harfst (see photo) has been named chief operating officer of the IndiGo airline subsidiary of India-based InterGlobe Enterprises Ltd. He held the same position with North American Airlines. Harfst has been succeeded by Jeff Wehrenberg, who was president of New Heights Aviation Services and had been president/COO of ATA Connection carrier Chicago Express Airlines.
The British Defense Ministry plans to push ahead with further development of its digital battle lab, dubbed Niteworks II, though the industry structure for the program is being reevaluated. The ministry concluded a "stock-take review" of the original Niteworks effort at the end of 2005, to support the investment case for a follow-on program.
Twenty-year-old First Flight Couriers, a freight forward service in India, will become more directly involved in what its name implies by starting a domestic air freight operation in the second quarter 2006. It has leased three ATP Freighters from BAE Systems Regional Aircraft, which will be configured as E-Class bulk freighters. Deputy Managing Director R.K. Saboo says the ATPs will allow First Flight to "tailor our products" to offer better service.
Glenn Latta has been promoted to president from vice president-operations and corporate development, and Neal Pilson has joined the advisory board of JetBlue Airways subsidiary LiveTV, Orlando, Fla. Pilson is head of Pilson Communications Inc.
Space Systems/Loral has begun building Telstar 11N for Loral Skynet for connectivity to the North American fixed satellite services market. Built on a 1300-series platform, Telstar 11N will have 39 K u-band transponders serving North and Central America, Europe, Africa and the maritime Atlantic region. It's to be launched to 37.5 deg. W. Long. and complement Telstar 12. Launch is set for 2008.
India's hunt for a successor to its aging MiG-21 fleet just got messier. The original call was for 126 Multi-Combat Role Aircraft (MCRA), but the Indian air force says it may increase the order to 200. That's the good news for contenders from Europe, Russia and the U.S. The bad news is the air force may buy from 2-3 suppliers, adding more complexity to maintenance, support and operational activities. The air force already flies 26 different types.
Sasidhar Eranki and John Scannell have become vice presidents of Moog Inc., East Aurora, N.Y. Eranki has been director of engineering, while Scannell has been program director for the company's role in the Boeing 787.
Landsat 5 has resumed operations following a two-month shutdown after engineers from the U.S. Geological Survey and NASA devised a way for its balky solar array drive mechanism to keep enough power flowing to the spacecraft payload for normal operations. Controllers shut down the 23-year-old spacecraft last November when the problem first appeared.
British officials won't discuss several of Astor's current and future capabilities, particularly those involved with information warfare and electronic attack. However, given that the laws of physics apply equally in Britain, such non-kinetic effects as intelligence gathering, jamming and production of electronically destructive pulses will be an intrinsic part of the Astor's radar technology, once the proper software and processor modifications are made.
Laura Mandala has become vice president-partnership research and Gary Oster vice president-development of the Washington-based Travel Industry Assn. of America. Both are former executives with the Marriott Corp.
Jeffrey L. Snyder has been appointed general manager of spare parts and service for MD Helicopters Inc., Mesa, Ariz. He was vice president-sales and marketing for Kelly Aerospace.
Lockheed Martin Advanced Development Projects is making perhaps the first realistic tests of a hybrid airship--a concept that dates back many decades but that is just now being tried at a significant scale. The Skunk Works had secretly built the craft and hoped for a quiet first flight at its Palmdale, Calif., facility, but a few passers-by noticed the strange object in the sky.
Maj. Gen. Ted F. Bowlds has assumed command of the Air Force Research Laboratory, Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio. He was deputy for acquisition at the Aeronautical Systems Center of Air Force Materiel Command.
Washington is working with Brussels on ways to make it easier to exchange politically important but secret intelligence. Bureaucratic hurdles to giving European policy makers insight into U.S. intelligence information have traditionally been high. Washington policy makers were happy with the results last year when they provided threat information on China to their European counterparts as the EU mulled lifting its embargo on arms sales to Beijing. But the process was cumbersome, says one Defense Dept. official.
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Bernard L. Schwartz is retiring as chairman/CEO of Loral Space and Communications after 34 years (see p. 12). Michael B. Targoff, vice president of Loral's board, was named CEO. Mark H. Rachesky, cofounder of a fund that invests in distressed companies, will be non-executive chairman.
