Sen. John McCain strikes again, this time literally reshaping the Army's Future Combat Systems (FCS) acquisition. The service owed the Arizona Republican no more than a report on cost impacts of converting Boeing's contracting status in the $21-billion program from its "Other Transaction Authority" status--typically used for small research or prototyping projects--to a traditional contract.
Daniel J. Crowley (see photo) has been appointed executive vice president/general manager of the Lockheed Martin Corp.'s F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program, effective June 30. He will succeed Bob Elrod, who plans to retire. Crowley will join Tom Burbage, executive vice president/general manager of JSF Program Integration, at the helm of this international program. Crowley has been president of Orlando, Fla.-based Lockheed Martin Simulation, Training & Support.
Your articles on the Blue Angels and Thunderbirds were very welcome! You mentioned the Blues eventually getting F/A-18C/D Hornets. A better idea would be the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet. As some Echo models are finished with testing or made available from other fleet sources, it would be great to see them in Blues markings for the team's 60th anniversary. Also, I hope we will soon see an expired Blues F/A-18A in the National Air and Space Museum.
You published two fine articles on the Blue Angels and Thunderbirds. It was also nice to see us maintenance types get some good press. I have been fortunate to see the Blues fly every aircraft from the Grumman F11F in 1962 to then-McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 in 1989.
There is a widening gap between Europe and the U.S. over aerospace research and development. It may not seem like a big deal, but it's the nature of the gap that ís intriguing.
Boeing has named Asian Composites Manufacturing Sdn Bhd of Malaysia to produce aileron panels and components for the 737NG aircraft. ACM is an alliance between Sime Darby Bhd and Naluri Bhd of Malaysia, Hexcell Corp. and Boeing. It will supply the components to Hawker de Havilland, a Boeing subsidiary in Port Melbourne, Australia. ACM currently produces composite structures for all Boeing aircraft in production.
The Hellenic Air Force has added the Joint Helmet-Mounted Cueing System (JHMCS) to its F-16 Block 52 fighters, and completed tests of the air-to-air and air-to-ground modes of operation. The JHMCS is supplied by Vision Systems International of San Jose, Calif.--a joint venture of Elbit Systems and Rockwell Collins. JHMCS allows a pilot to cue a high-off-boresight air-to-air missile onto a target with a turn of the head, and permits head-on engagements against enemy aircraft without air combat maneuvering. The system is in its fourth block of LRIP.
This is the first of a series of articles on the technologies and policy issues with which NASA has been grappling in preparation for the space shuttle's return to flight. Discovery and a crew of seven are scheduled to be launched next month on Mission STS-114. Four thermal protection repair technologies will be carried by the STS-114 mission on Discovery when the space shuttle program resumes flights as early as mid-May. Three of the concepts will be tested in orbit and the fourth kept in reserve.
New Zealand will buy NH Industries NH90s to replace the air force's aging Iroquois transport helicopters. Details about the cost, total number and delivery timeline are still being worked out.
Gulf Air has signed an agreement with Lufthansa Technik for inventory and component maintenance services over a five-year period. The Total Component Support contract is worth $138 million. Outsourcing the work to Lufthansa Technik will improve the availability of components and reduce downtime and schedule disruptions, according to Gulf Air. The airline will save about $21 million over the life of the contract.
Low-fare carriers are demonstrating they hold the key to customer satisfaction--they ranked first in performance in the 2005 Airline Quality Rating report. The AQR report might be described as the Oscars for airlines. The 15th annual report prepared by the University of Nebraska at Omaha and Wichita (Kan.) State University rated 16 carriers with at least 1% of domestic passenger volume in 2004.
With the ink on an accession agreement with TAP Air Portugal barely dry, Star Alliance is already gearing up to add new partners and expand joint operations. TAP became the alliance's 16th member on Mar. 14, and is set to be joined by South African Airways early next year (AW&ST Mar. 21, p. 43). Three European regionals--Adria, Croatian Airlines and Blue One--are also on the roster. The next addition, says Star Alliance President Jaan Albrecht, is likely to be Air China, although the timing is largely driven by deliberations in Beijing.
French and German industry leaders are urging approval of a package of projects to continue critical work on restartable cryogenic engine technology and maintain vital launcher engineering know-how. Industry officials have cautioned that, with development work on the Ariane 5 ECA heavy-lift launcher, Automated Transfer Vehicle and M51 ballistic missile nearing an end, and funding for a new-generation Ariane 5 ECB cryogenic upper stage about to run out, Europe's ability to maintain critical launcher engineering expertise may soon be at risk.
The German army has taken delivery of its first Tiger attack helicopter in UH-Tiger support configuration. Like the initial French HAP unit, which was handed over in late March, the German aircraft is earmarked for the Franco-German pilot training school in Le Luc. Deliveries were cleared following the resolution of software problems that had delayed final acceptance for months.
The launch of a $1-billion secret National Reconnaissance Office spacecraft from Cape Canaveral on board a U.S. Air Force Titan IVB will be postponed indefinitely. This is due to problems with ground fueling equipment and reported concerns by the Canadian government that the launch, to a high-inclination orbit, could drop booster stage debris near oil platforms near Newfoundland. The flight was planned originally for Apr. 11.
Boeing and Northrop Grumman have completed the preliminary design review for the Space-Based Space Surveillance (SBSS) pathfinder satellite. With SBSS, the Air Force intends to launch a satellite capable of providing intelligence on other orbiting spacecraft as part of a space control program. Under the program, the companies are expected to deliver a satellite containing a visible sensor and a ground segment. Launch is set for 2008.
Lockheed Martin, Kennedy Space Center and Cape Canaveral Air Force Station are reaching key milestones for the launch of the 4,800-lb. Jet Propulsion Laboratory Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) toward Mars in mid-August. The Lockheed Martin Atlas V Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle for the flight has been delivered to Kennedy from Denver by a Volga-Dnepr Antonov An-124 freighter (see photo). In a separate flight, the same aircraft was used to deliver the mission's Centaur upper stage. The big cargo hauler landed on the Shuttle Landing Facility runway at Kennedy.
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) Apr. 19-20--MRO Military Conference. Also, Apr. 20-21--MRO USA Conference & Exhibition. Gaylord Texan Resort & Convention Center, Dallas. May 10-11--Net-Centric Operations Conference 2005. Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center, Washington. May 24-25--Homeland Security Summit & Exposition, Washington.
The writers of the "Birds and Blues" articles (AW&ST Mar. 21, p. 44) present a clear case for the fact that excellence does not just happen because you adopt a catchy phrase or mission statement. It is achieved and maintained only by dedication, execution and the willingness of everyone in the unit not just to be accountable, but knowledgeable, in everything they do.
German travel giant TUI has acquired a 50% stake in New Delhi-based agency Le Passage to India Ltd., with a view toward setting up a joint tour operation and catering to European vacationers in India. TUI recently entered the China market.
The space shuttle Discovery is carrying some 300 waivers to technical specifications as it enters the home stretch of its planned return to flight next month. There were about 6,000 waivers in place when Columbia crashed.
A second Yak-130 prototype has joined the test program after making its first flight on Apr. 5. The Russian air force selected the twin-engine jet to replace aging L-39 trainers for its advanced training/light attack aircraft requirement.
Italy's aerospace and defense giant Finmeccanica heads into the second phase of its restructuring plan bolstered by predictions of double-digit revenue growth in the next two years.
All three of the Pentagon's big advanced tactical aircraft programs are safe from elimination under budget constraints in the near term, the senior Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee believes. Sen. Carl Levin (Mich.) says he doesn't think Fiscal 2006 cutbacks in the F/A-22 Raptor program signal a consolidation of the Raptor, the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter and the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet projects.
