Douglas Barrie (London), Michael A. Taverna (Berlin)
The U.K. space science community is seeing red over the latest round of government funding for the European Space Agency. The paltry sum made available for the Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES) program is tempering glee at the level of support for Mars exploration.
Robotics engineers will have chances to win two more $250,000 prizes from NASA's Centennial Challenges office, which runs competitions as a spur to development of the technology that will be needed to explore the Solar System. NASA, in collaboration with the Spaceward Foundation of Mountain View, Calif., plans a two-year competition beginning in August 2007 for telerobotic construction techniques that could be used on the Moon.
An upcoming commission report on defense acquisition reform will pull no punches, promises panel chair and former Missile Defense Agency head Ron Kadish. The group's recommendations are "very radical, and therefore have a high probability of being ignored, but that did not deter us from suggesting them," Kadish said during the first public preview of the findings at Aviation Week's Aerospace & Defense Finance conference in New York. The group urges the Defense Dept.
European Union transport ministers last week gave the formal nod to the creation of an EU-wide airline blacklist, which should be in place around springtime. The list will be reviewed at least every three months. For now, the ministers have put a hold on EC plans to expand the mandate to negotiating a comprehensive aviation agreement with China. The issue will be reviewed again at a later date. Lastly, the ministers says they are looking to the U.S. for progress on airline ownership rules before a first-step open skies agreement can be inked.
Allen V. Compito (see photos) has been promoted to principal director from systems director in the Space Systems Directorate in the National Systems Group and Michael W. Fortanbary to principal engineer in the office of the group's senior vice president from chief systems engineer for communications technology programs, both in the Chantilly, Va., office of The Aerospace Corp. In the Columbia, Md., office, Kenneth B.
Boeing Phantom Works is trying again to demonstrate its X-50A canard rotor/wing helicopter, which attempts to blend virtues of fixed- and rotary-wing aircraft. The No. 2 X-50A Dragonfly made its first flight at the U.S. Army's Yuma Proving Ground in Arizona on Dec. 2, after a 20-month recovery following the crash of the No. 1 prototype on Mar. 23, 2004, on its third hover flight (AW&ST Apr. 5, 2004, p. 19).
Colleen Back has been named director of sales, marketing and business development and Scott Clarey regional director of aircraft sales for Western Aircraft Inc., Boise, Idaho.
Bruce Drum has been appointed deputy director of operations and Ronald Smith chief of general aviation airports for the Miami-Dade Aviation Dept. Smith succeeds Drum and was manager of airside operations at Miami International Airport.
David ReDavid has become South Central U.S. vice president-operations for the Aircraft Service International Group, Orlando, Fla. He succeeds Gene Roy, who is now vice president-sales and customer service. ReDavid was a regional services director for AirNet Systems.
China will build a new medium-lift helicopter in partnership with Eurocopter, and reinforce cooperation on turboshaft engines and telecommunications satellites with European suppliers.
Bell/Boeing delivered the first Block B version of the MV-22 Osprey tiltrotor to the U.S. Marine Corps on Dec. 8 at the company's facilities in Amarillo, Tex. The latest version has software, maintenance and reliability upgrades, according to Bell.
Dutch package delivery giant TNT's new strategy to sell off its logistics division is sending a ripple through the global mail, express and logistics industry. UPS is a likely contender, says Emilio Pedrinaci, analyst with London's Datamonitor, so the Atlanta-based transportation company can increase its European presence in logistics, an area in which it specializes.
Michael J. Piscatella has been named to the board of directors of International Water-Guard Industries Inc., Burnaby, British Columbia. He is president of the Industrial Tube Corp. and vice president-business development for Hartzell Propeller Inc., both subsidiaries of Charter Aerospace Inc.
NETJETS WILL ACQUIRE 50 HAWKER 4000 business jets for its global fractional fleet. The contract with Raytheon Aircraft Co. calls for deliveries to begin in 2007 and continue through 2013. The deal, worth more than $1 billion, is the largest single commercial order received by the Wichita, Kan.-based airframe manufacturer. Formerly known as the Hawker Horizon, the super-midsize Hawker 4000 is powered by two Pratt & Whitney Canada PW308A engines each rated at 6,900 lb. static thrust and features a composite fuselage.
The way is finally cleared for full-scale development of the Galileo satellite navigation system, and the conclusion of negotiations for the concession to deploy and operate it.
While in complete agreement with the majority of Michael J. Morrison's concerns regarding outsourcing--such as job losses, over-emphasizing profit with respect to maintenance and management's regard for maintenance as a necessary evil, I would take exception to the safety concerns he expresses (AW&ST Oct. 10, p. 6).
EADS Space Transportation will incorporate the assets of Dutch Space BV into its space launch and orbital infrastructure business, after acquiring the Leiden-based concern for an undisclosed sum. Spun off from the Fokker group in 1995, Dutch Space employs about 300 to build advanced solar arrays and develop hardware in the fields of robotics, lightweight structures and spacecraft thermal protection.
Finmeccanica's AgustaWestland unit is adding a second production line here for civil helicopters as it continues a push to build and sell more rotary wing aircraft in North America.
SAAB IS ACQUIRING AEROSPACE MONITORING AND SYSTEMS (AMS) of Midrand, South Africa, and plans to integrate it into Saab Avitronics, a merger of SaabTech and South Africa's Avitronics. The deal is valued at approximately $4.75 million and will take effect in April 2006. AMS has proprietary aircraft monitoring and recording systems, and Saab Avitronics President Bjorn Erman says this should extend his company's global business in these types of systems. AMS has annual sales of $9 million and employs 75 people.
Hainan Airlines, China's fourth-largest carrier, will increase its planned investment to a controlling majority in a start-up carrier called Lucky Air, to be based at Dali Airport in south China's Yunnan Province. According to the official Xinhua Financial Network News, the Hainan Airlines Group will invest 102 million yuan ($12.7 million) and own 68% of Lucky Air, with Shanxi Airlines holding nearly all the rest of the stock. Hainan's original plan, announced last April, was to invest barely 3 million yuan and supply three aircraft for a total stake valued at 49%.
The FAA has certified Bell Helicopter Textron's TR918 Eagle Eye unmanned aircraft, clearing it for a series of flight tests scheduled to begin next year at Bell's XworX research and development facility in Arlington, Tex. Kevin Connell, vice president of XworX, says the airworthiness certificate awarded on Dec. 5 is the first issued to a UAV for experimental testing.
After completing cryogenic tests to verify systems functionality at its Tanegashima Launch Center, JAXA has set the liftoff for the eighth H-IIA mission at 10:33 a.m., Jan. 19. The mission will carry the Japanese space agency's Advanced Land Observing Satellite. A daily launch window of 10 min. can be extended to Feb. 28 (AW&ST Nov. 28, p. 67).
Brazil's main international airline, Varig, has two crucial deadlines looming in its bankruptcy proceedings that could likely determine its fate. Varig has to present restructuring plans to a U.S. bankruptcy court on Dec. 19 and to a Rio de Janeiro/Brazil-based court on Jan. 8. The airline gained a short 20-day reprieve, after the Brazilian court said it miscalculated the timing with the original rescue plan also due by mid-December.
Jon C. Jones has become president of Raytheon Space and Airborne Systems (SAS), Waltham, Mass. He succeeds Jack R. Kelble, who will retire in February. Jones has been vice president/general manager of SAS and was vice president/deputy general manager of Raytheon Missile Systems.
