EADS' defense electronics business will build the digital map generator system for the A400M transport, the company announced recently. The win is one of several subsystem contracts the division is vying for. The digital map computer uses EADS' Modular Mission Avionics Computer. The company also supplies the map system for the NH90 and Tiger helicopters.
The eye-popping gains of 2004 are history, but defense stocks continue to post better-than-average performances. Aviation Week's Aerospace 25 index is up 7.6% for the year, compared with a 2.2% decline for the S&P 500 index. And first-quarter earnings results widely beat Wall Street's expectations.
Tom Sullivan has been named senior manager of corporate communications of Rolls-Royce North America, Chantilly, Va. He has been manager of media relations for the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority.
The Clessidra private equity fund and Italian government-owned air traffic management company Enav are emerging as the leading candidates to acquire the defense and aerospace operations of privately held Vitrociset. The defense and space segment has revenues of around 130 million euros, while the air traffic control maintenance activity generates about 80 million in revenue. A wide gulf remains between the asking price and what potential buyers are willing to spend. Nevertheless, Clessidra appears to be the leading candidate to purchase the defense and space segment.
Two Russian aerospace luminaries, one a rising young manager favored by President Vladimir Putin and the other an old school Soviet-era apparachnik, are locked in battle over control of Energia, Russia's most powerful space company. Energia builds Soyuz and Progress spacecraft, operates the Russian side of the International Space Station (ISS) and manufactures key launch vehicle and satellite hardware for a variety of other programs.
The U.S. Navy's third demonstration of unmanned aircraft is expected to attract up to 30 UAV manufacturers June 27 at the Webster Field Annex of NAS Patuxent River, Md. Imagery from the aircraft will be broadcast live on large outdoor video screens. While the Navy has been slow to buy into unmanned aircraft, this military-industry demonstration may be the largest in the world dedicated to UAVs.
As China accelerates work toward a second Shenzhou manned flight by the fall, it is also tasking a dozen robotics and aerospace systems facilities to propose competing technologies for development of an unmanned lunar rover planned for launch to the Moon by 2012. The Chinese manned Earth orbit and robotic lunar mission developments offer the potential for major new U.S. cooperation and competition. The rover would follow the planned 2007 launch of a Chinese lunar science orbiter already in advanced development.
Australia is boosting military spending and, as part of a new defense budget, is allocating money for new weapons to meet some of the military's long-lingering equipment requests. The total 2005-06 budget request is A$17.5 billion ($13.5 billion)--up from A$16.4 billion requested last year and A$1 billion above what Canberra expected to request for 2005-06. Continued budget growth is projected. Budget plans have spending increasing to A$19.3 billion in 2008-09.
America West Airlines and US Airways last week announced a proposed merger, as expected. They also disclosed the combined carrier will borrow $250 million from Airbus and become the launch customer for the A350.
According to two books on the Boeing 707/KC-135: Modern Combat Aircraft 27, Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker, 1987, by Robert Dorr and In Detail and Scale, Boeing 707 & AWACS, 1987, by Alwyn Lloyd, Boeing funded development of the aircraft, taking the risk on its own nickel. Of course, it was hoped that the Air Force and the airlines would buy the aircraft, which would lead to recovering development costs after the fact. The assumption of government-funded develop- ment is wrong. Boeing took the risk and it worked. Now it's Airbus' turn.
Forget about very-light business jets. The action is in high-end aircraft, including airliner derivatives, as the bizjet market slowly bounces back. At least that's one conclusion that could be drawn from last week's European Business Aviation Convention and Exhibit here.
Canadian low-cost carrier WestJet increased revenue passenger miles 35% in April to 585.7 million from 433.7 million in April 2004. RPMs are up 40% a year to date, while available seat miles (ASMs) are up 30%. The rapidly growing carrier had 28.5% more ASMs in April versus the same month last year. The airline's load factor for the month was 68.8%, up slightly from 65.5% a year ago even though Easter holiday traffic didn't fall in April this year as it did in 2004.
McHale characterizes the U.S. government response to the May 11 small-aircraft scare that emptied the National Mall in minutes as a "clear success." He says he hopes the response will deter would-be terrorists from undertaking a similar flight targeting the Capitol or White House. Top U.S. government officials had a "reasonable degree of confidence" that the Cessna 150 flying into the heart of forbidden airspace over Washington was not a threat.
Pennsylvania State University won a $27.6-million contract for the Persistent Littoral Undersea Surveillance Network. The concept is to develop a semi-autonomous controlled network of sea floor and floating, mobile sensors to improve detectability and tracking of quiet, diesel-electric submarines operating in shallow water typical of the Western Pacific.
Sikorsky Aircraft Corp. will provide three S-92 helicopters to South Korea for transport of the president. The first of the twin-engine, medium-lift S-92s is scheduled for delivery in 2007. The aircraft will be configured with VIP interiors. The S-92 was chosen over the AgustaWestland EH-101 in a competition conducted by the Ministry of National Defense. In addition to South Korea, the S-92 has been selected by Turkey, Turkmenistan and Gulf Helicopters of Qatar for head-of-state and VIP missions.
The U.S. Air Force's Arnold Engineering and Development Center will be responsible for reopening the National Full-Scale Aerodynamics Complex at NASA Ames Research Center near San Francisco. The complex, which has been closed since 2003, will be used primarily for rotorcraft research by the U.S. Army. Congress is expected to authorize reactivation of the facility this summer, followed by initial operating capability 11 months later.
Passenger demand for inflight broadband and telephone services is the premise behind a billion dollar industry that is just now beginning to take off. How much demand exists for these services is the question. Boeing and Lufthansa, which are celebrating the first year of operation of Lufthansa's Flynet portal, surveyed 1,600 passengers about viewing habits. The survey, conducted in Asia, Europe and the U.S., found that 85% of respondents said availability of the Internet would influence their choice of airlines.
United Airlines, which won bankruptcy court permission May 10 to scuttle its defined-benefit pensions, suffered an earlier setback, on May 6, as a federal appeals court reversed a bankruptcy court ruling on aircraft leases. The bankruptcy court had accepted United's argument that leasing firms had formed an illegal cartel to negotiate with the carrier and thus weren't entitled to repossess eight aircraft for which United was making less-than-full lease payments, and it issued a temporary restraining order to bar repossession.
Divesting of regional airline subsidiaries would offer at least temporary relief for financially strapped legacy operators, but the path to merger and acquisition is strewn with formidable obstacles. Need for cash is driving Delta Air Lines to look for a buyer of its wholly owned subsidiaries, Comair and Atlantic Southeast Airlines (ASA). A recent contender, SkyWest of St. George, Utah, the number three regional, ultimately decided against acquiring them.
Considering the rancor between Airbus and Boeing these past few years, it saddens me to find the recent cover (AW&ST May 2) showing the A380's first flight with the word Boeing on the front. Couldn't you have given Airbus its day? To be fair, when you feature the 787's first flight can I expect the word Airbus to appear in the same font, color and location?
The shares of New Skies Satellites of Netherlands, acquired by the Blackstone Group in late 2004, have begun trading on the New York Stock Exchange--part of an accelerating return of public equity controlled satcom companies back to the market. The initial public offering, which followed a PanAmSat IPO in March, could see the sale of up to 11.9 million shares of common stock, representing 39% of stock--plus 1.8 million more if options are exercised.
BRITAIN'S NATIONAL AIR TRAFFIC SERVICES LTD. has contracted with Sensis Corp. of Dewitt, N.Y., to expand the use of multistatic dependent surveillance at London Heathrow Airport. This will add surface surveillance coverage to the area surrounding a new ATC tower that will open in 2006. Heathrow has been using the Sensis surveillance system since 2002 and controllers there handled 476,000 movements in 2004, up 2.6%. Unlike radar, the Sensis system has no rotating sensors, yet provides accuracy near that of GPS.
ARINC OF ANNAPOLIS, MD., GOT ITS START providing airline communications, and still does, but today it earns a lot of money on civil/military aircraft engineering support. The company's Aircraft and Mechanical Systems unit, for example, has grown from three employees to 300 during a 13-year period and operates in a 170,000-sq.-ft. facility in Oklahoma City, among other locations. The business unit handles the design, fabrication, installation and support of the latest avionics equipment, and upgrades aging civil and military aircraft.
Bernard W. Chau (see photos) has been promoted to general manager from senior vice president of the Imagery Programs Div. of the Chantilly, Va.-based National Systems Group of The Aerospace Corp. Stephen A. Stoops has been been promoted to principal director of the Communications Systems and Information Engineering Directorate from systems director for high-level engineering and technology initiatives supporting the Defense Information Systems Agency. At company headquarters in El Segundo, Calif., Randolph L.
