Last year's administration initiative to increase draw-downs from the aviation trust funds to finance FAA operations--and thus reduce general-fund appropriations--will accelerate in the 2005 budget year. The outflow totaled $9.6 billion in Fiscal 2003 and $11.5 billion in Fiscal 2004, and the Fiscal 2005 proposal is $12.7 billion.
Bowing to the budget impacts of war, domestic security and an unprecedented federal deficit, the FAA intends to make do with nearly half a billion dollars less than it expected in near-term air traffic control system modernization funding during the year that begins Oct. 1.
Four space advocacy groups have formed a Washington-based alliance to coordinate their lobbying, public relations and other efforts so as to "most effectively advance the exploration and development of space, and the utilization of space and satellite systems and technologies." Joining forces under the "National Space and Satellite Alliance" umbrella are the National Space Society, Satellite Industry Assn., Space Foundation and the Washington Space Business Roundtable.
EADS faces demanding negotiations as it moves to clinch a multibillion-pound deal for tanker aircraft for Britain, with the government's finance department casting a long shadow over the talks. An EADS-led consortium, Airtanker, was selected Jan. 26 as the preferred bidder for the U.K. Defense Ministry's Future Strategic Tanker Aircraft (FSTA) program, worth up to 13 billion pounds ($23.6 billion). Rolls-Royce, Cobham and Thales are also part bid.
Champion low-cost carrier Ryanair is warning that its previously stellar performance may be less spectacular for the coming fiscal year, with the airline braced also for an unfavorable ruling from the European Commission over subsidies.
Homeland security, a somewhat nebulous concept that aerospace/defense companies saw two years ago as a potentially promising new source of revenues, is beginning to come into its own as a strategic business opportunity. This was driven home in spades last week when Alliant Techsystems Inc. announced that it intends to purchase Mission Research Corp. (MRC), a privately held company that specializes in directed-energy, electro-optical and infrared sensors, advanced signal processing and other technologies. The transaction is expected to close in March.
Human factors engineers at Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co. have completed flight tests in a Pitts S2B aerobatic biplane aimed at determining high-g combat maneuvering characteristics of a helmet-mounted display under development for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter.
Air Canada is expanding its new, simplified low-fare structure to include 80 U.S. destinations. The carrier's plan, introduced in May 2003, reduced the number of fare categories to six from 24 and was initially dedicated to travel within Canada. The carrier claims to have tripled bookings since the plan's inception. By late January, 10 U.S. destinations will be available, and by spring 2004, all 80 U.S. cities now served by Air Canada will be added. Meanwhile, Air Canada is supporting current U.S.-Canadian efforts to liberalize the countries' 1995 open skies arrangement.
Horst Bergmann, retired chairman/president of Jeppesen, has been appointed to the board of directors of the Aviation Technology Group, Englewood, Colo., along with David Liniger, who is chairman of RE/MAX International.
Robert B. McKeon has been appointed to the board of directors of DRS Technologies Inc., Parsippany, N.J. He is president of Veritas Capital Management of New York and was chairman of Integrated Defense Technologies Inc. before it was acquired by DRS.
Mexico purchased three Israel Air Force E-2Cs from the Israeli defense ministry for use by the Mexican navy. IAI Bedek was selected to refurbish the aircraft, including reconditioning mission systems. Bedek has completed the first aircraft at Tel Aviv.
In his article "Avionics Will Play Key Role in Transforming U.S. Aviation System" (AW&ST Dec. 15, 2003, p. 74), Bruce Holmes offers an optimistic and inspiring outlook on how advances in avionics may drive improvements in aircraft and airline performance in an increasingly networked 21st century air-ground system of systems.
NASA has postponed plans to set up an International Space Station Research Institute (ISSRI) while it sorts out just what role space station science will have under President Bush's new space exploration policy. The agency had long intended to set up a non-governmental organization (NGO) to manage research on the orbiting laboratory, based on priorities established after consultation with the microgravity science community.
Alan R. Mulally, executive vice president of Boeing and president/CEO of Boeing Commercial Airplanes, has been named chairman of the board of governors of the Washington-based Aerospace Industries Assn. Robert D. Johnson, president/CEO of Honeywell Aerospace, was named vice chairman. John W. Douglass was reelected AIA president/CEO, and Ginette C. Colot was elected treasurer/secretary. Members of the executive committee are: Mulally; Douglass; Johnson; Robert P. Barker, president of Parker Aerospace and vice president of the Parker Hannifin Corp.; David L.
ALLIANT TECHSYSTEMS HAS AGREED TO PURCHASE MISSION RESEARCH CORP. FOR APPROXIMATELY $235 MILLION. SANTA BARBARA, CALIF.-BASED MRC HOLDS CONTRACTS WITH THE HOMELAND SECURITY DEPT. TO RETROFIT STANDARD AIRCRAFT FOR BORDER PATROL AND RECONNAISSANCE MISSIONS. IT ALSO IS DEVELOPING NEXT-GENERATION WEAPONS SUCH AS LASER CANNONS AND MISSILES, MEANT TO STRIKE MOVING TARGETS ON LAND OR AIR PRECISELY, WITH LITTLE DAMAGE TO NEARBY OBJECTS. MRC HAS NOT MADE GREAT HEADWAY INTO SECURING LONG-TERM GOVERNMENT CONTRACTS, AN ALLIANT SPECIALTY.
The Velocity Group has been formed through the merger of three aviation industry consultancies: AvStat Associates, Miller Air Group and Potomac Aviation. The new entity has offices in Washington, San Francisco and Orlando, Fla.
U.S. national security laboratories are countering the "brain drain" that once threatened to decimate their technical workforces. The turnaround is being attributed to a downturn in the U.S. economy and a wealth of stimulating science and technology projects associated with extending the useful life of nuclear weapons.
NASA will decide how to handle safety waivers in future spaceflight missions--and other agency activities--in "a matter of weeks," according to O'Keefe. That will come as a relief to retired Adm. Walt Cantrell, a member of the newly rechartered Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel (ASAP) that will advise O'Keefe on safety matters. At the panel's first meeting last week, Cantrell expressed some personal "anxiety" that the agency had yet to create an "independent technical authority" as recommended by CAIB.
Although the end of the paper era is just beginning, the transition is about to accelerate as aircraft manufacturers, avionics companies and data providers perfect their new electronic products. Most airlines are only now considering how to make the switch. In contrast, bizjet operators are leading the way with the use of electronic charts in both flight planning and in the cockpit. The rate of adoption in business aviation is likely to be much faster as operators opt for high-end systems with added safety benefits.
USN Rear Adm. (lower half) Steven L. Enewold has become director of the Joint Strike Fighter Program for the Navy in the Office of the Secretary of Defense at the Pentagon. He has been OSD deputy director for joint air strike technology.
Peter Morris has become head of the Airclaims' International Transport & Tourism Consultancy. He was chief economist for the International Air Transport Assn.
Triumph Group this week announced the acquisition of Rolls-Royce Gear Systems from Rolls-Royce North America for $36 million. The business, to be renamed Triumph Gear Systems, is projected to add $55 million of revenue for fiscal 2005. The Park City, Utah-based company employs about 200 people and specializes in design, manufacture, sale and repair of gearboxes, high-lift flight control actuators and gear-driven actuators.
For the first time in years, India showcased its military might during a Jan. 26 parade celebrating its 1950 founding as a republic. Hosting such a show reflected improved ties with Pakistan. Displays included newly acquired T-90 tanks and indigenously designed Agni-II and Prithvi missiles. A flyby of MiG-29s and Sukhoi-30s was a highlight.
President Bush's call for a "renewed spirit of discovery" in space has sparked a new round of creative thinking to meet his plan for human and robotic exploration beyond Earth orbit, as well as congressional doubts over its funding. While senators at the first public hearing on the plan were predictably concerned about its impact on their constituents and worried that Bush hasn't accounted for the long-term cost of his vision, engineers and scientists quickly offered concepts and wish lists for the new program.
