Boeing Phantom Works made the first flight of the A160 Hummingbird helicopter drone since a crash last October, and operated it at a much larger range of rotor speed than before. The company is building five new versions of the drones and plans to start flying them early next year under its contract with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, which is partly funded by the Army. After initial development is completed, the program will move to Boeing Integrated Defense Systems.
Raytheon has bought privately held, San Diego-based Photon Research Associates Inc. The company works on physics-based modeling, simulation and analysis and will report to Raytheon Space and Airborne Systems.
Although the recent expansion of the European Union into Central and Eastern Europe is expected to create significant growth opportunities for the business aviation community, even greater growth is predicted from Russia, whose economy is again on the upswing, driven by surging oil prices. "Russia is really starting to move; it will be one of our top prospects in the years to come," says Charles Edelstenne, chairman/CEO of Dassault Aviation, which has sold a dozen aircraft, mostly high-end models, in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS).
Lockheed Martin and MacDonald Dettwiler will build the unmanned spacecraft NASA needs to robotically service and eventually deorbit the Hubble Space Telescope. The space agency's Goddard Space Flight Center awarded Lockheed Martin Space Systems a $330.6-million contract to develop the Hubble Robotic Vehicle Deorbit Module. Delivery is due within 30 months.
Beginning on Dec. 1, Delta Air Lines will end the code-share agreement it has held with SNCF-French Rail since 2001. The French national rail system operates trains from the station at Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport to 12 European destinations.
Oman has selected the RTM322 to power 20 NH90 helicopters acquired last month. The Omani decision makes the country the first outside of Europe to order the Rolls-Royce Turbomeca engine, which already equips eight European NH90 fleets. It follows the recent award of a civil type certificate for the 2,428-shp. 01/9 version, the latest iteration of the RTM322. The Omani purchase will be for the upgraded variant.
World News Roundup 26 Merger of Belgian carriers reinforces European consolidation trend 26 Deep airline cost cuts and anguish taking their toll in executive suites 27 Two firms to build spacecraft NASA needs to service, deorbit Hubble 27 India rebuffs complaint about helicopter sale to Nepal 28 US101 completes first flight with CT7- 8E engines, large-screen displays 28 Willis M. Hawkins dies, a principal designer of C-130 World News & Analysis
Efforts are underway to speed acquisition of multirole fighters to "ensure that the Indian air force's squadron strength is not alarmingly depleted," Air Chief Marshal S. Krishnaswamy said late last week. Following a review some years ago, the IAF had asked for its strength to be increased to 45 squadrons from 39.5. British Secretary of State for Defense, Geoff Hoon, in Delhi for a three-day official visit, emphasized the need for coproduction of defense equipment and on programs for joint military training.
Japan's aerospace exploration agency (JAXA) plans to relinquish the in-house role it has followed in launch vehicle and spacecraft development to give more work to private industry. JAXA's predecessor agencies had handled all development work up to integration, which was farmed out to industry. Now, JAXA will expect industry to develop hardware from the beginning to meet government specifications, says JAXA Vice President Kaoru Maniya. The first project probably will be a new launcher, but eventually JAXA will hand off satellite development, too.
Canada has delayed a contract signature for its maritime helicopter because of an AgustaWestland protest. Sikorsky's S-92 won the competition, but AgustaWestland is claiming unfairness in the source-selection process. A court hearing is planned for Oct. 26.
Alitalia has reached agreement with labor unions and the Italian government over layoffs required to ensure the carrier's survival. The agreement grants furloughed employees two years of unemployment benefits. It also provides for the spinoff of Alitalia's ground services business. The measures were the final elements in a 400-million-euro ($488-million) recovery plan, which is subject to European Union approval.
J.E. (Sandy) Murdock has become senior vice president-administration/ general counsel of the Washington-based National Business Aviation Assn. He has been a lawyer in private practice, specializing in aviation affairs.
THE U.S. EXPORT-IMPORT BANK has approved about $60 million in financing to export 10 Sikorsky S-76C+ helicopters and spare parts to Lider Taxi Aereo, based in Belo Horizonte, Brazil. The Exim Bank is issuing the loan directly to Lider, which provides offshore transport to oil platforms. The company will use the helicopters to fulfill a five-year service contract with Petrobras and other customers in support of offshore oil and gas exploration and operations, as well as transport within Brazil.
USAF Maj. Gen. (ret.) Timothy J. McMahon (see photo) has been named vice president-Air Force and command and control strategic programs/corporate lead executive for the Northrop Grumman Corp.'s business in the Colorado Springs area.
U.S. Army Gen. (ret.) Wesley K. Clark and former U.S. Transportation Secretary Rodney Slater have been apppointed vice chairmen and senior advisers in the Washington domestic and international security consulting firm of James Lee Witt Associates. Clark also is chairman/CEO of Wesley K. Clark and Associates, Little Rock, Ark., while Slater is a partner in the Washington law firm of Patton Boggs.
Ryanair has sold its 20 Boeing 737-200s to Autodirect Aviation for $10 million. Six already have been withdrawn, and the remainder are to be pulled from service by the end of 2005.
AirTran Holdings Chief Executive Joe Leonard has told a conference in Atlanta that oil prices at $50 per barrel "will probably take some people out of the industry." Earlier in London, he said no airline business plan could work with oil prices that high. AirTran is better off than most U.S. carriers. It has hedged 48% of its fuel needs in the fourth quarter at $31-32 per barrel, which approximates $1 per gallon, says Stanley J. Gadek, senior vice president for finance. But if prices remain in the $50-per-barrel range, airlines will be put to the test.
Regarding the In Orbit column of Sept. 20 (p. 17), the NASA Genesis mishap investigation board should make it a priority to find out why a tried-and-true system for airborne recovery, going back to the 1960s Corona spy satellites, was abandoned for a totally new system using a parafoil and helicopters.
Jun Mokudai has been appointed chairman of NWA Japan. He has been president of Northwest Airlines Japan. Fred Deschamps will be vice presidentPacific operations, finance and administration. He was vice president-international. Laura Liu has become vice president-international marketing and sales. She was vice president-international marketing and revenue management. Pat Epting has been appointed managing director of the Amsterdam-based Atlantic Div. She was managing director of corporate and agency sales for North America.
THE NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR AVIATION RESEARCH, at Wichita State (Kan.) University has experienced 226% growth in the last decade and has 15 advanced laboratories as well as three FAA Centers of Excellence within the facility. NIAR is conducting work on composite airframe materials for a number of general aviation companies including Gulfstream Aerospace, Raytheon Aircraft Co., Bell Helicopter Textron, Cessna Aircraft Co. and Adam Aircraft.
Cray Inc. is aiming to make supercomputers more accessible for aerospace and automotive design projects by offering a new machine at a fraction of the cost of its traditional customized systems.
Joseph W. Pallot has been appointed to the board of directors of the Heico Corp., Hollywood, Fla. He is a partner in the law firm of Devine Goodman Pallot & Wells.
The British Defense Ministry and Thales are discussing meeting the Watchkeeper unmanned aerial vehicle requirement with one, rather than two, type of UAV. The Hermes 180 may be cut from the proposal, leaving the roles to be met by the larger Hermes 450.
