Gen. Moseley, USAF chief, says spiraling cost in some programs means "it is time to be killing some things." During an American Enterprise Institute speech, Moseley deviated little from the agenda of his predecessor, Gen. John Jumper, saying USAF needs the F/A-22, the Joint Strike Fighter and a replacement tanker. But termination is not off the table for programs experiencing "exponential" cost increases. Which programs are in the crosshairs?
Michael A. Taverna (Rome), Alexey Komarov (Moscow)
European space officials want to see a change in attitude from their Russian space partners after a pair of mission mishaps involving converted ballistic missiles raised questions about the reliability of some of the partners.
India may select two aircraft types to fulfill its requirement for 126 multirole fighters in a competition pitting the U.S. against France. The likely candidates are the Dassault Mirage 2000-5 and Boeing F/A-18E/F--nods to longtime supporter France and India's new partner in the worldwide fight against terrorism, the U.S. Dassault and Boeing are considered the frontrunners in the request for proposals phase.
Ray H. Siegfried, 2nd, chairman of The Nordam Group of Tulsa, Okla., died Oct. 6 from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease. He was 62.
The European Commission has approved UPS's acquisition of Lynx Express, a U.K.-based parcel express company. The decision came shortly after the conclusion of a deal by Deutsche Post, the owner of rival DHL, to acquire British logistics firm Exel for 3.7 billion pounds ($6.7 billion)--reportedly in competition with UPS. Exel will expand Deutsche Post's reach in the U.K. and Asia greatly, and give it 10% of the global logistics business.
Alcatel Alenia Space has contracted to supply a K u-/K a-band payload for Israel's Amos-3 communications satellite, to be built by Israel Aircraft Industries. Alcatel will also provide four antennas and a telecommand and ranging system for Amos-3, which is to be launched late in 2007. The award is the first for the venture since the merger of Alcatel and Alenia Spazio on July 1, and the fourth for the combined companies this year. Alcatel previously supplied the payload for Amos-1, which Amos-3 will replace, while Alenia provided hardware for Amos-2.
Thales has agreed to sell its High-Tech Optics activities to private equity firm Candover for 220 million pounds ($352 million). HTO makes high-precision optical components and modules for civil and military applications.
In "Bad to Worse"(AW&ST Sept. 19, p. 26), airline industry consultant Mike Boyd says ". . . something is going to have to snap." The article then says: "That snap arrived with the bankruptcy filings by Delta and Northwest." There's been no "snap" yet. The bankruptcies of United, US Airways, Aloha, ATA and Hawaiian haven't yet produced a single workable airline. Why should the Delta and Northwest cases be different? Even if all these bankruptcies result in Southwest-like airlines, do we need 8-9 Southwest-sized low-cost carriers (LCC)?
Poland's PZL will install a Swedish surveillance system on Polish M28 aircraft to be used for monitoring the eastern border of Poland and the EU. The Swedish Space Corp. (SSC) will supply PZL with its MSS 6000 Marine Surveillance System, including a mission management system, infrared/ultraviolet line scanner, video and still-camera recorders and communications gear. SSC will also deliver a forward-looking infrared sensor and search radar for the border guard aircraft.
SpaceShipOne, winner of the $10-million Ansari X Prize as the first private craft to reach space, has taken its place alongside other historic aircraft at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington. Museum crews hung the 28-ft.-long air-launched hybrid-fueled rocket plane between Charles Lindbergh's Spirit of St. Louis and the Bell X-1 that took Chuck Yeager through the so-called sound barrier. Built by Burt Rutan's Scaled Composites, SpaceShipOne topped 100 km.
The new House Homeland Security Committee chairman says the issue of screening cargo on board passenger aircraft for weapons of mass destruction is a top priority. Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.), who took over the panel last month, says the goal should be 100% screening of air cargo, although he admits that's almost impossible to achieve. The government must resist industry claims that widespread screening can't be conducted without slowing commerce, King tells Aviation Week & Space Technology.
First Officer Magnus Rasmusson (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.)
Regarding "Bad to Worse,'' one major reason why U.S. labor costs are 38% of expenses versus 30% for Europe is that in most civilized societies with universal health care, corporations are not burdened with multimillion-dollar insurance premiums. Without that burden, I'll bet American companies would be in line with those in Europe. It is long overdue to stop blaming labor in this ever worsening catastrophe that is U.S. commercial aviation.
The U.S. Air Force doesn't face any major program terminations for the next couple of years, and the F/A-22 program may even get some extra money, says Michigan Sen. Carl Levin, ranking Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee. But he sees some clouds on the horizon. The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter is likely to be trimmed back, and a new tanker program isn't expected anytime soon. "There's going to be budget pressure on those programs and others," he says. "The top five procurement programs have doubled [over] their projected costs.
You can now register ONLINE for Aviation Week Events. Go to www.AviationNow.com/conferences or call Lydia Janow at +1 (212) 904-3225/+1 (800) 240-7645 ext. 5 (U.S. and Canada Only) Oct. 18-20--MRO Europe. Estrel Hotel & Convention Center, Berlin. Nov. 8-10--MRO Asia, Suntec City, Singapore. Nov. 14-16--A&D Programs & Productivity Conference, Phoenix. PARTNERSHIPS Oct. 25-27--ARA '05. Shangri-La Hotel, Singapore. Nov. 3-4--UV North America. Hyatt Regency Hotel, Miami.
When Qantas applied to Australia's International Air Services Commission to start a five-year code-share agreement with Singapore's Jetstar Asia for flights into Thailand and India, Tiger Airways saw a media opening and pounced. Since Qantas owns 44.5% of Jetstar Asia, for Tiger the act of starting a code-share amounts to a merger of the identities of Jetstar and Qantas. That would leave Tiger as Singapore's only budget carrier, although it's hardly an independent one because it is controlled by Singapore Airlines (SIA).
A new U.S./Russian crew on the International Space Station faces a lonely spell as NASA and its partners wrangle over the future direction of the orbiting laboratory. Even as William McArthur and Valery Tokarev settled in for at least six months on ISS without visitors, the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) was asking NASA what would happen to its spending if space shuttle processing were held to only one shift per day. The short answer, it appeared, would be that NASA couldn't keep its promise to launch all the partners' hardware.
Meanwhile, the Canadian dollar has something in common with oil prices--it keeps going up. That's bad news for the export-oriented Canadian aerospace sector because it makes its products more expensive. Canada exports about 65% of its aerospace output to the U.S. and another 15% to Europe. Service-oriented companies with large payrolls, such as those in the maintenance, repair and overhaul business, have been particularly hard-hit. "We had a Canadian dollar that not very long ago was worth 62 cents [U.S.]," Boag says. "Right now it's worth 86 cents."
UNITED STATES Editor-In-Chief: Anthony L. Velocci, Jr. [email protected] Managing Editor: James R. Asker [email protected] Assistant Managing Editor: Michael Stearns [email protected] Senior Editors: Craig Covault [email protected], David Hughes [email protected] NEW YORK 2 Penn Plaza, 25th Floor, New York, N.Y. 10121 Phone: +1 (212) 904-2000, Fax: +1 (212) 904-6068 Senior News Editor: Nora Titterington
Cathay Pacific Airways will begin flight-testing and certification in Hong Kong of the first 747-400 Boeing Converted Freighter following the aircraft's delivery from a conversion factory in China.
Back in the late 1980s, United Airlines broadcast some television commercials promoting the excellence and professionalism of its aircraft mechanics. Oh my, how times have changed! I find United's recent decision to send its Boeing 777s to China for heavy maintenance to be worrisome (AW&ST Sept. 12, p. 13). I expect other U.S. airlines will be quick to follow United's lead in outsourcing maintenance to low-wage countries.
David M. Stone, a former director of the U.S. Transportation Security Administration, has joined the board of advisers of Vidient Systems Inc., Sunnyvale, Calif.
Charles E. Bowen, Jr., has been appointed Dallas-based director for Latin America of Target Logistics Inc. He has been an executive at Team Worldwide and Distribution Services.
