Boeing's 7E7 program team can feel relief at the presidential election outcome. The company is confident China will place a big order for the new mid-sized jet--as many as 80 aircraft, according to some China watchers. But the Chinese view change with suspicion. Most likely, Beijing would have wanted to assess the implications of a Kerry presidency, had he won, before ordering about $10 billion worth of aircraft. For the Chinese, aircraft orders are more about their relations with Europe and the U.S. than a strict engineering and business assessment (see p. 34).
A recent advanced concepts exercise at Kirtland AFB, N.M., featured a laser weapon-armed F-16 in a simulated aerial combat scenario. Aimed at developing tactics for using speed-of-light weapons, the event drew on networked simulators throughout the U.S. The simulated laser cannon--developed over four years by the Air Force Research Laboratory's Directed Energy Directorate--was mounted in a turret underneath F-16 fighters, giving pilots a ±35 deg. off-boresight firing capability.
World News Roundup 18 ATC executives see Europe taking modernization lead 19 European venture concludes wind tunnel testing of China's ARJ21 World News & Analysis 24 Army planners embrace unmanned helos for next-generation offensive 26 Pentagon identifies potential weapon gaps down the road 27 U.S. vulnerability assessment expands beyond SAM threat 30 U.S. intel being stretched by de- mands of high-tech terrorist war
Separately, the ministry has awarded Thales, Boeing and Qinetiq a contract for the Joint UAV Experi- mental Program. The Thales-led team will attempt to define common maritime specifications for an unmanned aerial vehicle, using a modified Boeing ScanEagle, and will evaluate the use of UAVs within a future naval network-centric warfare system.
United Airlines has launched three-class seating on Boeing 757s that have been reconfigured to capture what remains of premium service on flights between major business centers in the U.S. The first route is New York Kennedy-Los Angeles International, and about four months later United plans to operate 13 such flights per day--seven between JFK and LAX and six between JFK and San Francisco. The airplanes will have 12 seats in first class, 26 in business and 72 in economy, with increased legroom.
All the usual trappings of a global aerospace expo were on display at the fifth Air Show China in Zhuhai last week. Chinese Vice Premier Huang Ju graced the event on opening day, and intriguing models, such as the LFC-16 high-agility fighter, were on view. But as London Bureau Chief Douglas Barrie discovered, real aircraft were noticeably absent, even on the flight line. Whether Chinese industry was unwilling or unable to exhibit actual hardware is unclear, but some attendees suspected the latter.
Peter Weir and Terry Levett, director of cargo operations and head of cargo security, respectively, for U.K.-based Menzies World Cargo, have been honored by the London-area Metropolitan Police. They were cited under its Airfreight Industry Minimum Security Standards for their efforts to prevent high-value thefts at London's Heathrow Airport and establish a common standard of security across the air cargo industry.
Andrew David has been appointed chief operations officer of Australia-based Virgin Blue. He was general manager for Pacific routes for Air New Zealand.
Robust military sales and an improving civil aviation market helped Rockwell Collins best Wall Street's earnings expectations. The company reported net income of $86 million (48 cents per share) in the fiscal fourth quarter, which ended Sept. 30, an 18% increase from the same period a year earlier. Sales rose 13% to $839 million. Discounting the company's acquisition of NLX's simulation and training business, sales rose 8%.
The Savannah/Hilton Head International Airport is a good example of how airlines are bypassing hubs. In 1995, three carriers flying to only two destinations--Atlanta and Charlotte--served the airport. It now handles 17 nonstop flights daily flown by seven airlines to a dozen major markets, including three in the New York area, two in Washington, and airports in Dallas, Chicago, Houston, Cincinnati, Orlando, Boston, Philadelphia and Pittsburgh.
Gary Weichert highlights the wasted time in an airline pilot's work schedule. He ends his letter by saying, "Management is lax to address these inefficiencies since wasted flight crew time costs them nothing" (AW&ST Oct. 18, p. 11).
Aermacchi is testing the EA version of the piston-powered primary trainer SF-260, which performed the maiden flight Oct. 25 (shown). The SF-260EA is custom designed for the Italian air force, which has ordered 30 to replace the previous generation SF-260s now flown by the 70th Wing in Latina. Aermacchi will take back the air force's remaining 21 SF-260s, which had been ordered in 1976. These will probably be refurbished and offered on the secondhand market. SF-260EAs sport an avionics suite, redesigned cockpit and improved maintainability.
Fighting a pilot shortage, JAL Express (JEX), a subsidiary of Japan Airlines, will begin recruiting pilots with only private licenses next spring. Until now, Japanese carriers have only recruited pilots with commercial licenses, including graduates of the National Flight Academy. They could be made copilots immediately. But JEX can't find enough of them, so applicants willing to cover their own costs to obtain commercial licenses will have jobs waiting for them. Training takes about a year and costs nearly $95,000.
Eurocopter has begun operating at its facility in Columbus, Miss., which was officially opened on Oct. 20. The plant, which includes 85,000 sq. ft. of floor space, eventually will employ 100 workers in manufacturing and support roles for Eurocopter helicopters.
Ronald Stanley has been named chief financial officer of US Airways. He succeeds David Davis, who has become an executive with Kraton Polymers of Houston. Stanley has been chairman of the board of directors' audit committee. George Philip has been appointed to the board. He is executive director of the New York State Teachers' Retirement System.
U.S. Air Force Space Command has activated new Counter-Communications Systems (CCS), which are designed to jam an adversary's satellite communications links. The 76th Space Control Sqdn.--a unit of the 21st Space Wing, headquartered at Peterson AFB, Colo.--is operating three ground-based, transportable CCS packages. Built primarily of commercial off-the-shelf hardware, the jammers provide a reversible, nondestructive means of denying an enemy the use of satellite communications services during a conflict.
Dublin-based Ryanair expects to sustain superior profitability in the next several months despite record fuel prices. Chief Executive Michael O'Leary says the carrier will remain unhedged against rising fuel prices "until forward rates return to their previous 'normal' levels." Jimmy Dempsey, head of investor relations, stresses that the current $50 per barrel oil price adds 55 million euros ($70 million) to Ryanair's annual operating budget.
China is rapidly emerging as a player in the guided-weapons market with new families of antiship missiles for export. Domestically, manufacturers are pursuing technologies for a fourth-generation imaging infrared-guided air-to-air missile. The Hongdu Aviation Industry Group unveiled its TL-10 lightweight and TL-6 antiship missiles (ASM) at Air Show China. Meanwhile, China Precision Machinery Import-Export Corp. presented a version of the C-701 ASM fitted with a millimeter-wave radar seeker. It has previously been shown with only an electro-optical seeker.
Aviation Week & Space Technology readers may have noticed that the magazine avoids referring to the U.S. as "the nation" in news and enterprise stories. Readers won't see the word "foreign," either. Here's why: As the journal of record of the aerospace and defense industry, Aviation Week by definition is multinational. To put it another way, while Aviation Week is headquartered in the U.S., we take great pride in being a global publication, and we are committed to keeping it that way.
American Airlines is in talks with Boeing about changing terms of the carrier's firm-order contracts for delivery of 47 737-800 and nine 777-200ER aircraft, currently scheduled between 2006 and 2010, CEO Gerard Arpey told securities analysts Nov. 3. The carrier is "excited" about the in-development 7E7, but not for now, he said--given American's difficult financial condition and its aversion to risk--"this doesn't feel like the time" to order it. Arpey indicated that American is interested in the longer-range 7E7-9 model, which is scheduled to enter service in 2010.
The F136 engine team of General Electric and Rolls-Royce has received a $122-million contract to bridge F-35 engine work between the pre-system development and demonstration program and the SDD phase. Activities will include preliminary design and development of technical requirements, and purchase of long-lead hardware to preserve the program's schedule. The F136 is the alternative engine to Pratt & Whitney's F135.
Charlene Brett has been promoted to manager of inside sales from sales executive and Steve Vedeskas to manager of aircraft logistics from U.S. operations manager, at PrivatAir's U.S. headquarters, Stratford, Conn.
Minimum fare is not the way to save airlines, and Southwest and the low-cost carriers are not going to suffer the same fate as the legacies. Air travel has become a commodity. It is no longer a status symbol. Those who know how to run a commodity-type business will do well. The demand for air travel exists, and whatever cash flow it takes is available. What more could a business want? Forget the frills; the airline that takes in more than it shells out will be successful. The real status symbol for airlines is flight safety. Every passenger will pay for that.
The U.S. Air Force plans to reduce the different types of oscilloscopes in its inventory to three from a high of 190. Avionics technicians use oscilloscopes to measure rapidly changing electrical waveforms. The new general-purpose o-scopes will fit three categories: a low-cost device in the 350-MHz. range, a unit in the 500-MHz. range and a high-capability o-scope in the 1-GHz. range with additional performance options. Most of the products being consolidated were analog or older digital storage oscilloscopes (DSOs) that are no longer manufactured.
Wide-ranging applications of security systems are playing a key role in Sagem's strategy. For example, it is developing a gate-to-gate airport security system and, with Airbus, considering embedded biometrics.
