Britain's air traffic authorities have made a push toward further introduction of digital technology, with the country's second busiest airport, Gatwick, to go live with an improved system during the second quarter of the year. Heathrow will follow toward the end of 2006.
General Dynamics is seeing "significant pricing improvement" for its Gulfstream business jets, thanks to a surge in demand in the fourth quarter of 2004, says Chairman and CEO Nicholas D. Chabraja. He says production will increase in 2005, but cautions that the pace will depend on how quickly suppliers can gear up.
JSAT, Japan's oldest satellite communications company, had a couple of bad days beginning Jan. 17 when it lost stability control of its Boeing JCSAT-1B spacecraft. The outage affected about 50 industrial clients. A JSAT/Boeing investigation revealed that one of 12 attitude-control thrusters had failed, and after two days controllers were able to bring the system back online and restore service. JSAT had an in-orbit spare, JCSAT-R, but didn't have to use it because of the relatively quick recovery. Meanwhile, on Jan.
Final funding and launch decisions for the CosmoSkyMed radar surveillance satellite system will be nailed down by mid-year, the Italian space agency ASI asserts. The program is on track, ASI says, despite budget restrictions at the defense ministry, which is co-funding the program (AW&ST Jan. 24, p. 31). ASI issued a 775-million-euro ($1-billion) award at the end of last year, but the funds covered only construction and launch of the first three spacecraft, plus long-lead items for the fourth.
The British Defense Ministry is introducing pulse-line maintenance for its BAE Systems Harrier GR7s, and anticipates saving 44 million pounds ($88.3 million) in the next 48 months. It has shifted from four to two maintenance lines, so-called forward and depth. The latter is being run in collaboration with BAE.
Ron Kaplan has become interim director of the National Aviation Hall of Fame, Dayton, Ohio. He has been marketing director and succeeds Mike Jackson, who has retired. Jackson is now executive director emeritus and has been appointed chairman of Operation Welcome Home, which is a plan to stage simultaneous "welcome home" parades for Vietnam War veterans this year, 30 years after the fall of Saigon. Tara Dixon-Engel is co-chair of Operation Welcome Home and was the Hall of Fame's research center director.
Liam Weston has been elected chairman of the Space Enterprise Council of the Washington-based U.S. Chamber of Commerce. He is senior program manager for business development at the Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., Boulder, Colo., and a member of the U.S. Commerce Dept.'s Aerospace Industry Trade Advisory Committee. Matthew Jones has been elected council vice chairman. He is associate director for GPS and weather programs for Boeing.
Lorraine Martin has been appointed vice president-flight solutions for Lockheed Martin Corp.'s Simulation, Training and Support, Orlando, Fla. She was vice president/deputy of joint command, control and communications systems at Lockheed Martin Integrated Systems and Solutions in Colorado Springs. Martin succeeds Nick Ali, who has retired.
Most of the discussion on a U.S. Air Force tanker replacement has been focused on its ability to carry cargo. USAF certainly could use some tankers that can carry channel cargo efficiently. In combat, most or all of its tankers are needed as tankers. Refuelings predominantly occur less than 1000 naut. mi. from takeoff. The amount of fuel that can be carried relative to operating weight is more important than aerodynamic efficiency provided by a A330-200-like wing.
Plans by the Japanese Defense Agency to increase the pace of aircraft acquisitions in fiscal 2005 have been turned aside, which means the three military services will buy only three-quarters as many airplanes as they wanted.
The brashness of Airbus is not simply about "launch aid for the A350." Since the U.S. invaded Iraq, the French government has ferociously criticized the U.S. And the criticism is not limited to military affairs. There is a clear economic agenda. The French seek to create a coalition of countries even beyond the European Union that agree with their "views." They urge these countries to side with the French and the EU on economic and other issues.
Ronald Marcotte (see photo) has become vice president-Air Force airlift and tanker programs and site executive for the Boeing Integrated Defense Systems units in Long Beach, Palmdale and Edwards AFB, Calif. He was vice president/ deputy general manager of Air Force Systems.
Aeronavali, Finmeccanica/Alenia Aeronautica's overhaul and repair arm, will convert 10 Boeing 767-200s into freighters for Seattle-based Cargo Aircraft Management Group. The contract is valued at nearly $100 million.
EADS' research and technology focus may be tweaked in the coming years to support the larger corporate goal of becoming less reliant on Airbus for future earnings.
The new chairman of the House Appropriations Committee knows a thing or two about defense and space issues. Rep. Jerry Lewis (R-Calif.) spent the last six years as chairman of the subcommittee on defense, which oversees a good chunk of classified intelligence spending as well as the Pentagon budget. Prior to that, he chaired the subcommittee that funds NASA. Lewis generally has been a strong supporter of military programs, although he tried unsuccessfully in 1999 to deny initial production funds for the F/A-22.
As EADS tries to implement its growth plan, executives will have to navigate carefully around multiple pitfalls, any of which could seriously undermine the company's ambitions.
NATO says it hopes to receive authorization to fund acquisition of the ground segment of its Satcom V telecommunications satellite system early this year so the new system can become available for the organization's growing out-oftheater operations. In September, NATO authorized funding for the space segment of Satcom V's superhigh-frequency (SHF) and ultrahigh-frequency (UHF) capability. France, the U.K. and Italy are to supply the SHF and UHF capability under a 15-year agreement (AW&ST May 10, 2004, p. 26).
Japan has committed $44 million to developing a "fifth generation" of information-gathering satellites, the country's euphemism for its military reconnaissance satellites. The satellites are expected to have improved performance, and are planned for launch in about 2009. Japan has a pair of recce spacecraft in orbit--one optical and one radar. It lost an identical pair in the 2003 H-IIA failure. Since the original intent was to operate a four-satellite constellation of two optical and two radar spacecraft, a replacement pair is on order.
Robert P. Bell, who is retired group supervisor/technical lead for the C-141 Aircraft Structural Integrity Group at the Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co., has received the 2004 John W. Lincoln Award at the U.S. Air Force Aircraft Structural Integrity Program Conference. The award is named for the late John W. Lincoln of the Aeronautical Systems Center at Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, who was considered a pioneer and major contributor to the development and application of durability and damage tolerance design to ensure the safety and longevity of aircraft.
Ireland's defense ministry has contracted for four Bell/Agusta AB139s for the Irish Air Corps. The helicopters would be used for troop transport, medical evacuations, search and rescue operations and VIP missions. Bell/Agusta Aerospace Co. reports 80 orders from customers in more than 40 countries.
Smiths Aerospace has delivered the first mission systems avionics for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter to Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co. in Fort Worth. The Tactical Data Equipment avionics will be used in the airplane's mass memory and file system for mission planning and systems health debriefing. The first preproduction F-35A is tentatively scheduled to fly in 2006.
Delta Air Lines is seeking U.S. Transportation Dept. authority to serve Moscow daily from Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport with Boeing 767-300ER aircraft. Delta now operates daily service between New York JFK and Moscow Sheremetyevo International. The airline, which is undergoing a vast transformation from a legacy to low-cost carrier model, plans to start services in May to Chennai, India, via Paris Charles de Gaulle, and to Berlin Tegel International from JFK.
Bombardier says it is eliminating 60 corporate positions, part of its restructuring (AW&ST Dec. 20, 2004, p. 16). Richard Bradeen succeeds Michael Denham as senior vice president-strategy while maintaining responsibilities for corporate audit services and risk assessment.
Aspen 30, the Lockheed/USAF SR-71 Blackbird designated as "primary" for an unusual intelligence reconnaissance mission, was already on the runway at Beale AFB, Calif., when I taxied into the nearby "last-chance" inspection area. As backup pilot, I didn't expect to get airborne that day, though. The primary aircraft had maintained a very high launch-rate record, and this mission should be no exception.
