Former New York Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik, President Bush's expected choice to replace Tom Ridge as Homeland Security secretary, will have one of the toughest jobs in Washington or any other capital. As an anonymous Irish Republican Army terrorist noted after an unsuccessful 1984 bomb attempt on British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher: "We only have to be lucky once; you will have to be lucky always." Kerik will have to finish consolidating the 22 agencies merged in 2002, bringing together some 180,000 federal employees in the biggest U.S.
Latricia Gleed has been named director of inflight standards and regulatory compliance for SkyWest Airlines. She has been president/secretary of the SkyWest InFlight Assn.
Seeking to tap a growing freight market between China and Israel, Guangzhou-based China Southern Airlines has hired a freight-handling agent, Turbo China, at Ben-Gurion International Airport. Turbo China will ship freight from Israel to China Southern's European cargo hubs in Amsterdam or Liege, Belgium. From there, China Southern will haul it to Shanghai for distribution inside China. Turbo China reports shipping 30-40 tons of freight a month into China and General Manager Eran Zilberman calls the opportunities between the two "incredible."
Aurora Flight Sciences, BAE Systems and Honeywell International have each received contracts from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency for the first phase of the Organic Air Vehicle-II (OAV-II) program. They will develop prototype ducted fan UAVs for small Army units. Aurora received a $2.4-million contract; BAE Systems, $2.5 million; Honeywell, $4 million. The three-phase program would result in an OAV-II-type system ready for development and demonstration. The envisioned 112-lb. systems, which are to have 2-hr. endurance and a 10-km.
India has a long way to go in the field of microelectronics, says Indian Space Research Organization Chairman Madhavan Nair, calling for a national strategy on microelectronics for space, defense and atomic-energy applications. "We need to exploit expertise in software and trained manpower," Nair tells the International Microelectronics and Packaging Society at a conference in Bangalore. Challenges India faces in developing microelectronics include the capital-intensive nature of the technology and its rapid obsolescence.
The FAA still faces critical decisions on how to complete the Standard Terminal Automation Replacement System (Stars) program, and the agency agrees it needs to act soon to replace aging ATC displays at Chicago, Denver, St. Louis and Minneapolis.
Rockwell Collins has won a $31.4-million contract to provide 25 Global Air Traffic Management production kits for installation on C-135-type aircraft at the Oklahoma City Air Logistics Center.
Marc Parent has been named group president for simulation products for Montreal-based CAE. He has been vice president/general manager of Bombardier Aerospace, also in Montreal.
Jim Banke has been promoted to vice president-Florida operations for the Colorado Springs-based Space Foundation. He will remain director of the Coalition for Space Exploration. Chris DeGrant has been named director of events and plans, Mary Ann Bobko director of marketing, Niki Moore director of education development and Andy Roake director of media relations. Moore was contract and grant manager for the Colorado Corrections Dept., while Roake was chief of media relations for Air Force Space Command, Peterson AFB, Colo.
Satcom customers using the Intelsat Americas IA 7 spacecraft to relay their North and Central American programming have been shifted temporarily to the Echostar 9/Intelsat Americas IA 9 following the failure of IA 7 in geosynchronous orbit Nov. 28. Longer term, more traffic from the failed satellite will be shifted to the Intelsat Americas IA 8 spacecraft, set for launch Dec. 17 on a Sea Launch Zenit.
Eric S. Rosenfeld has become non-executive chairman of CPI Aerostructures Inc., Edgewood, N.Y. He has been chairman of CPI's strategic planning committee and president/CEO of Crescendo Partners. Rosenfeld succeeds Arthur August, who will be retiring.
Boeing's latest version of the advanced display core processor has flown for the first time on an F-15E Strike Eagle. It processes target data faster, displays additional information and allows the control of more advanced weapons including the Small-Diameter Bomb. It also uses less power and is cheaper by half than the unit it replaces. USAF will retrofit its F-15E fleet starting in 2006.
The space shuttle was sold to the American public and developed in the 1970s as the U.S.' all-purpose, national Space Transportation System (hence the STS in shuttle mission numbers), able to launch satellites of all sorts, and serve as an orbital laboratory and a base for astronauts to service or construct other spacecraft.
USN Adm. (ret.) David E. Jeremiah and Paul G. Stern have been named to the board of directors of the ManTech International Corp., Fairfax, Va. USAF Gen. (ret.) Thomas C. Richards has become chairman of the advisory board. Jeremiah is president of the Technology Strategies and Alliances Corp. Stern is co-founder of Thayer Capital Partners and Arlington Capital Partners, while Richards is a member of the Center for Advanced Aviation Systems of the Mitre Corp.
Britain's Civil Aviation Authority and National Air Traffic Services face a clash over air traffic pricing proposals. The CAA calls for year-over-year cost reductions from 2005 to 2010. Prices would be reduced by 7.8% in 2005, with an average 3% cut for the following years. NATS says it is "surprised" at the proposed reductions.
The European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), FAA and Transport Canada approved an increase in intervals between scheduled maintenance for the Airbus A320 family. Time between A checks will increase to 600 hr. from 500 hr., and C checks to every 20 months or 6,000 flight hours from 15 months. The five-year heavy check is extended to six years, and the 10-year heavy check to 12 years. Airbus says the move is aimed at reducing overall maintenance costs.
I work at the Boeing plant in Long Beach, Calif., that builds the C-17 airlifter. I am disgusted by the use of the buzzword "war- fighter" that is going around the industry and was used by Editor-In-Chief Anthony L. Velocci, Jr., as he congratulated Boeing on receiving the Aviation Week Quality Award. I quote: "The Air Force and U.S. warfighters owe the C-17 team a debt of gratitude for their dedication and professionalism."
Boeing is turning to a software maker its space engineers know well to help manage parts production on the factory floor. The 7E7 represents Minneapolis-based Intercim's initiation into Boeing Commercial Airplanes, but the company's FactoryNet software has long been at work in Boeing's Integrated Defense Systems business unit, most prominently on the Delta launcher and space shuttle. FactoryNet has evolved into Velocity, the 7E7's shop floor software.
AirAsia will next week unveil the single largest order from the region's emerging so-called low-cost carriers, with a deal for up to 80 narrowbodies from either Airbus or Boeing. The three-year-old low-cost airline is in the final throes of deciding on the make-up of a 40-strong firm order, with a further 40 options, with the decision slated for Dec. 17.
USAF's recent tests in Hawaii--to strike moving ships with precision aerial bombs--weren't entirely successful. Boeing's JDAMs and Raytheon's laser-guided bombs all made direct hits, but Raytheon's two JSOW glide bombs missed 25-ft.-long targets being towed at speeds of 10-12 kt. Company officials are analyzing what went wrong. The initial take is that both weapons were receiving target position updates through a data link, but that the JSOWs were directed to earlier target coordinates and not the most recent positions.
THE FIGHT AGAINST CONTROLLED FLIGHT into terrain (CFIT) is moving in the right direction, according to the Flight Safety Foundation (FSF). At the first international safety meeting held recently in Shanghai, FSF presented preliminary data indicating that from Jan. 1 until Nov. 1 of this year, eight of 12 hull loss accidents involving large commercial jets had no fatalities, but occurred on approach and landing. FSF says CFIT and loss of control are the leading causes of fatal aviation accidents worldwide.
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Jim Kershaw has been named U.S. military and government sales account manager and Shaun R. Flanagan as European account manager for the Aeronautical Group of EMS' Ottawa-based Satcom Div.
USAF Brig. Gen. Ricardo Aponte has been appointed director of transformation and standing at Joint Force Headquarters of the U.S. Southern Command in Miami. He was deputy director of operations.
