Snecma affiliates Turbomeca and Microturbo plan to build a 5-million-pound ($9.5-million) manufacturing and maintenance facility at North Segensworth, England, to meet booming demand for small military and civil turbines. The 50,000-sq.-meter facility, which will add 100 new jobs to the existing 140-person U.K. operation, will complement existing maintenance activities at the McAlpine TurboSupport Center.
AirTran Airways Chairman/CEO Joe Leonard says many airlines will not survive in the long term if they do not accept the fact that the industry is undergoing fundamental and permanent changes. Speaking at the MRO show, Leonard said executives who think things will return to the "good old days" once fuel prices recede are mistaken. In addition, he says the Internet has shifted air travel pricing control to the consumer, and the market will be driven by what consumers are willing to pay. c
Stork Aerospace has snagged contracts for the Airbus Military A400M and Boeing's 747 freighter. Under the A400M deal, the Dutch supplier will provide electrical wing wiring for the transport. The effort is expected to run 15-20 years and total about 100 million euros ($130 million). Also last week, Boeing named Stork Fokker AESP to its team developing the 747-400 Large Cargo Freighter to transport Boeing 787 parts. Stork Fokker will work on the pressure bulkhead that shields the cockpit area from the cargo area, both in terms of cargo sliding and air pressure.
Mode-S surveillance is arriving in European airspace just in time, according to Eurocontrol, and is already becoming essential for handling air traffic safely and efficiently in the most congested areas.
Space veterans on the crew of astronauts scheduled to return NASA's shuttle fleet to service next month expect their STS-114 mission to be one of the safest ever flown, given the extensive technical and organizational analysis that followed the Columbia accident more than two years ago.
America West President/CEO Douglas Parker is one of the most outspoken advocates of the urgent need for consolidation in the U.S. airline industry. Last week, he had to button his lip about whether his carrier might play a leading role in that process.
Software is becoming an ever more critical component of the avionics technology that Honeywell Aerospace is developing for airlines, business aviation and the military, as sensors shrink in size and displays get more flexible. "Our business today is about 60% software-system oriented," says Roman Jamrogiewicz, vice president of technology and engineering at Honeywell. A similar percentage of the engineering workforce is dedicated to software. "This will grow to 75-80% in the next few years."
JetBlue Airways reported lower profits in first-quarter 2005, for the same reason its larger, "legacy" competitors logged losses--the price of fuel. Operating profits totaled $25.7 million, 21.4% less than in the same period in 2004, as revenues increased 29.5% to $374.2 million. The operating margin, the statistic JetBlue values most, was 6.9%. The carrier looks for double digits, and a year earlier it got them--11.3%.
There may be a future for commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) Internet hardware in space, according to Cisco Systems officials, who tested one of the company's Internet Protocol routers on a U.K. Disaster Monitoring Constellation satellite last year. Rick Sanford, Cisco's space initiatives director, says no radiation hardening was applied to the Cisco router for its stint in low Earth orbit.
Dale H. Goddeke, director for advanced solutions of Raytheon Intelligence and Information Systems, Falls Church, Va., has received the National Space Club's Dr. Joseph V. Charyk Award for "outstanding personal contribution to the national intelligence space program for 2004." Goddeke recently left the National Reconnaissance Office after 32 years' service.
Air France is using "discriminatory and unreasonable interline practices" to strengthen its SkyTeam alliance at Paris, American Airlines complains in a U.S. Transportation Dept. filing on behalf of the American-British Airways code-share renewal. The French carrier has been restricting since June 2004 the seat inventory from which non-SkyTeam airlines can sell interline segments, American says, and last September it started requiring prorate payments from these airlines based on the highest fares applicable to the class of service.
NATO leaders want to expand the scope of their reforms to political and operational matters, even though they are still wrestling with equipment shortfalls long topping the list of concerns. The concept of "military transformation" should be more far-reaching than technology, they maintain, but that does not mean equipment problems have been resolved. Those issues were spotlighted during a recent meeting of top alliance officials in Brussels.
The Galileo Avionica Mirach 100/5 target drone has become operational in France following a long qualification phase. The system is being bought under a contract between France and prime contractor MBDA. It will be used in French test ranges to support training activities and weapon systems qualification. French armaments agency DGA has specified very low-altitude flight profiles and a customized communication link connecting the targets and the control center's computer. Up to eight targets can be flown simultaneously, and the targets can transport specific payloads.
Chalk up another chapter in Raytheon Co.'s accounting woes. The defense electronics giant has placed Chief Financial Officer Edward S. Pliner on administrative leave and offered to pay a $12-million penalty to settle a Securities and Exchange Commission inquiry into accounting practices at its aircraft unit. In announcing the suspension, Raytheon said SEC staff had made a preliminary decision to recommend action against Pliner, who has not been formally accused of any wrongdoing.
Defense surveillance equipment supplier DRS Technologies Inc. is bolstering its product line with another niche acquisition. DRS wrapped up a $29-million deal to buy Codem Systems Inc., a Merrimack, N.H.-based signal intelligence systems manufacturer. The new company is expected to add $25 million to DRS' annual revenue, which is forecast to rise 30% to $1.3 billion in the fiscal year ended Mar. 31.
Thomas O. Hunter has been appointed president of the Sandia Corp./director of Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, N.M., effective Apr. 29. He was senior vice president-defense programs. Hunter will succeed C. Paul Robinson, who will be assisting the Lockheed Martin Corp. in its bid to operate the Los Alamos National Laboratory. Hunter will be succeeded by Joan Woodard, who has been executive vice president/deputy director.
Researchers are trying to understand the clues to early star formation contained in a recently discovered primitive star that contains extremely low levels of heavy elements. Designated HE1327-2326, the star (shown) is a southern-sky dwarf that lies an estimated 4,000 light-years from Earth. Based on measurements with Japan's Subaru Telescope High Dispersion Spectrograph and the Multicolor Active Galactic Nuclei Monitoring (Magnum) telescope, it has the lowest iron level ever measured in a star--only 1/250,000 that of the Sun.
Darryl W. Davis (see photo) has become vice president-Air Force Systems Global Strike Solutions for the Boeing Co. in St. Louis. He was head of the Joint Unmanned Combat Air Systems X-45 program.
SES Astra has issued a request for proposals for a 32-transponder K u-band satellite to replace Astra 1H. The new spacecraft will also ensure backup of other Astra spacecraft at 19.2 deg. E. Long., and guarantee additional capacity at the company's 28 deg. E. slot.
I am a huge air show fan. Several years ago, my wife and I attended a show in Frederick, Md. Among the air demonstrators were the USAF Thunderbirds. They flew in from another location and a few minutes into their routine, they had to cancel the rest of their show due to a mechanical problem on one aircraft, as announced to the crowd. So it is slightly inaccurate to state that "no performance has ever been canceled due to a mechanical problem."
U.S. Army Vice Chief of Staff Gen. Richard Cody and U.S. Air Force Gen. John Handy, head of Air Mobility Command and U.S. Transportation Command, represent those who organize and operate the two services' airborne medical evacuation organization as it has been shaped and specialized for the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. This multifaceted evacuation system is considered a major factor in increasing the survival rate of U.S. military wounded to 90% today from 75% as recently as the end of the Vietnam War.
The FAA has awarded a $57-million contract to Raytheon for 23 more Standard Terminal Automation Re- placement Systems--14 for the FAA and nine for the Defense Dept. There are 52 Stars in operation.
Yet another entrepreneur is banking on the new light jets under development being cheap enough to buy and fly that he can coax business travelers now driving between smaller cities out of their cars and into the air. This startup aims to offer regional "air taxi" services in mid-2006 with very light jets (VLJs) and plans to announce an order this week for 239 Eclipse 500 jets with options for an additional 70.
Randy S. Bolinger has become vice president-marketing and sales for the Lancair Co., Bend, Ore. He was vice president-marketing for the Cirrus Design Corp.
