India's new Congress Party-led government says it will, by-and-large, keep the main principles of its predecessors in terms of a "transparent" defense procurement policy, privatization of airports, fleet enhancements for the national carriers, Air-India and Indian Airlines, and development of a much-needed national civil aviation policy.
Cessna Aircraft Co. plans to hire 400 workers to meet increased production schedules for its business jet product line, including introduction of the new Citation Sovereign. The Wichita, Kan.-based airframe manufacturer has raised production rates this year and anticipates a further increase in 2005, according to the company. Officials expect to deliver 170 jets in 2004 and about 200 next year. In related news, this month Cessna will deliver five Model 172R Skyhawks to the Theorie Training Center in Bonn, Germany.
Success of a multi-layered cruise missile defense would include being able to penetrate sophisticated enemy air defenses, a task that would depend heavily on jamming radars that control next-generation anti-aircraft missile systems. It was long a secret that the newly emerging active electronically scanned aperture (AESA) radars on the F/A-22, F-35, F/A-18E/Fs and some modified F-15Cs will be able to jam enemy emitters as well as search for enemy aircraft and diminutive cruise missiles.
More new models and continued growth in executive shuttle services and premium charter offerings--aimed at well-heeled former Concorde travelers--highlighted this year's European Business Aviation Convention and Exhibition (Ebace), as manufacturers and operators confirmed recovery is underway.
The International Air Transport Assn. is predicting that the airline industry this year will post losses as high as $10 billion. In a difficult economic environment, airlines are beset by rising aviation fuel costs while yields remain unstable as low-fare carriers gain market share.
Now firmly planned for June, the long-awaited privatization of Snecma is aimed at revitalizing the world's fourth biggest propulsion group behind General Electric, Pratt & Whitney and Rolls-Royce. However, the government of Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin does not intend to relinquish control of the company. Next month's initial public offering (IPO) will involve 35% of Snecma's shares (up from 25% initially planned), including 3.5% reserved for employees. After the IPO, the government's stake will be 62% (down from 97%).
Lee P. Steele (see photos) has been named senior vice president-operations, Jack Buckingham senior vice president-safety and quality assurance and Timothy Ng vice president-fleet planning, all for Aloha Airlines. Steele was vice president-flight operations for Polar Air Cargo, while Buckingham was vice president-maintenance and engineering for Aloha. Ng was assistant vice president-capital markets and portfolio management for the Aviation Capital Group.
Mars Exploration Rover managers took a long-delayed action on May 27--cutting off overnight power on the Opportunity rover to conserve large amounts of energy used to unnecessarily heat the robot arm. The heater has been stuck "on" since it landed, and could only be deactivated by turning off all power. However, another smaller 5-watt heater also relies on the overnight power, and it is essential to the health of the miniature thermal emission spectrometer (MiniTES) instrument. With the MiniTES heater off, officials think it will likely die of cold.
The rotorcraft sector may be winding up for further consolidation following Finmeccanica's move to acquire Westland from GKN, with the latter bolstering its war chest for additional acquisitions in aerostructures. Italy's Finmeccanica will pay 1 billion pounds ($1.82 billion) for GKN's 50% share in AgustaWestland. GKN is bowing out of a sector that's fraught with uncertainty, particularly in the military arena.
The Air Line Pilots Assn. endorsed presidential candidate John Kerry in a unanimous vote of its executive board, citing his pro-union positions on contract arbitration, outsourcing, cabotage and other issues.
American Airlines CEO Gerard Arpey also will be chairman of parent company AMR Corp. In that post, he succeeds Edward Brennan, who will remain on the board of directors.
BAE Systems' Flight Systems division will convert 13 F-4E aircraft into QF-4 FSATs as part of a $17- million follow-on contract from the U.S. Air Force for the QF-4 Full-Scale Aerial Target.
In a report on Europe's defense industry commissioned by the secretary of defense's office, Rand Corp. says the most likely near-term course is "muddling through," a continuation of the status quo in which the four big companies slowly rationalize their current level of consolidation. Researcher Katia Vlachos-Dengler speculates that integrated military procurement in Europe and more market opportunities in the U.S. might spur further consolidation, perhaps into two "mega-prime" companies.
EADS Sogerma Services and Albert Muehlenberg Apparatebau will jointly develop and install passenger cabin interiors. Both companies have been named as Airbus A380 preferred suppliers.
The U.S. Transportation Security Administration is seeking ways to improve passenger and luggage screening at Newark (N.J.) Liberty International Airport. A pilot program, to be launched next month, is to determine if the addition of new features on equipment in-use would speed up passenger throughput. Improvements might include the capability of stopping the X-ray machine's conveyor belt to allow an operator to view luggage contents, while at the same time allowing cleared carry-on bags to move unimpeded through the tunnel.
Aeroflot Russian International Airlines expects joining SkyTeam will revamp its image, which is tantamount to a fresh start. The Russian carrier is tentatively scheduled to become a full-fledged SkyTeam member next year after completing negotiations with the global airline grouping. A memorandum of understanding (MOU) paving the way was signed here on May 24 by Aeroflot Chief Executive Valery Okulov and Air France Chairman/CEO Jean-Cyril Spinetta.
Raytheon has delivered the first production Tactical Tomahawk Cruise Missile to the U.S. Navy. The missile will be the centerpiece of the Navy's new Tomahawk baseline IV weapons system that integrates the missile with improved mission planning and weaons control. At the heart of the improvements is a two-way satellite data link that enables the missile to be retargeted to respond to changing battlefield requirements. It can either strike a new target or loiter over the battlefield until a high-priority target appears.
Bombardier Aerospace revenues rose 9%, to $1.8 billion, for the first fiscal quarter ended April 30, on the strength of improving business aircraft demand, a favorable mix of regional aircraft deliveries and entry into service of the Challenger 300 and Learjet 40. However, the division still lost $23-million on a pre-tax basis as a result of higher costs associated with regional jet sales incentives, depreciation expense and the unfavorable exchange rate between the Canadian and U.S. dollar. Corporate-wide, Bombardier Inc.
Some of the Pentagon's more closely held secrets involve how the U.S. plans to combat cruise missiles, particularly those of stealthy design. Analysts point to the U.S.' complete surprise when cruise missiles were fired into Kuwait from the Basra area during early fighting in the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Air defense operators had no idea the relatively unsophisticated missiles had been fired until after they had struck.
Christopher B. Cool (see photo), vice president-lean and enterprise excellence for the Northrop Grumman Corp.'s Integrated Systems Sector, El Segundo, Calif., has been named industry co-chairman of the Lean Aerospace Initiative. It is a consortium focused on increasing the value of aerospace business practices and led by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, of U.S. government organizations, defense and aerospace companies, and organized labor.
BOEING SAYS ITS BUSINESS JET was the first noncommercial aircraft equipped with the Future Air Navigation System to cross the North Atlantic on May 24. Commercial FANS-equipped aircraft have been transmitting their GPS positions automatically via satellite data links, and communicating with controllers since tests began in the mid-1990s (AW&ST Sept. 4, 1995, p. 28). Benefits include faster communication and the ability to take more direct routes.
Michael A. Taverna (Paris and Cergy-Pontoise, France)
A drastic restructuring at Thales, now complete, aims to boost synergies that can be generated from its diverse business base while positioning the electronics company to exploit new markets in defense, homeland security and services.
Canada's Héroux-Devtek Landing Gear Div. has received $22 million in orders from the U.S. Air Force and Navy to produce landing gear components for the B-1B, F-15, F-16, B-52, E-3, KC-135R and P-3.
HONEYWELL WILL DEVELOP AN ALL-WEATHER traffic-alert and collision avoidance system (TCAS) that USAF C-17s will be able to use for formation flying. The Formation Flight System will provide all the anticollision capabilities of the current TCAS and surveillance out to a 100-naut.-mi. range, as well as assistance for formation flight. The crew will be able to adjust system functions through the C-17's mission computer, according to Honeywell, which expects the device to be available in 2006. The Air Force plans to buy 180 suites for new and retrofit C-17s.
U.S. cruise missile defense capabilities will undergo scrutiny next month during a major exercise to assess how far the military has progressed in building a shield against these hard-to-detect, sometimes stealthy weapons. The need for the U.S. to expand its air defense umbrella to include cruise missiles has only recently been embraced at the top levels of the Pentagon. But since 1999, a small office has been devising ways for the military to improve its operations against these threats.
