LOCALS SEEK HUB CAP The controversy surrounding DHL Express' plan to expand its Belgian hub is intensifying. In less than 10 years, the courier operator's Brussels Zaventem-based fleet is estimated to increase to 75 all-cargo aircraft, up from 24, on the condition that more nighttime takeoff/landing slots, which are needed to serve additional city-pairs, are obtained.
Kevin Sharer, chairman/CEO of Amgen Inc., has been named to the board of directors of the Los Angeles-based Northrop Grumman Corp., along with J. Michael Cook, retired chairman/CEO of Deloitte & Touche.
An ambitious expansion focusing on the Baltics and Northern Europe is the strategy that the SAS Group's top executives believe will be the key to further strengthening the Scandinavian concern as the fourth largest European player behind Air France-KLM, British Airways and Lufthansa German Airlines.
Richard A. Baldridge, who has been executive vice president/chief operating officer of ViaSat Inc., Carlsbad, Calif., is now president/COO. He succeeds Mark D. Dankberg, who remains chairman/CEO.
The goal of designing a multirole aircraft that can optimize its performance by changing shape may be moving closer to reality. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is about a year into the morphing-aircraft project. With Darpa's support, Lockheed Martin and NextGen Aeronautics are designing technology for future unmanned aircraft, while Raytheon is concentrating on applications for better cruise missiles. Engineers are focused on the wing design because it is considered the most critical component for reconfigurable air vehicles.
While embryonic ambitions exist to reconstitute an air element of Afghanistan's army, for the foreseeable future coalition airpower will remain fundamental to ongoing operations. A 70,000-strong Afghan armed force is to be built up under the tutelage of Combined Joint Task Force (CJTF) Phoenix, including a small army air wing. With no plan to create an air force, the army will rely on an air corps for support.
Sidney E. Fuchs (see photo), vice president and director of Northrop Grumman Corp.'s Intelligence Operations unit, and member of the National Defense University's board of visitors, has been selected as an NDU distinguished visiting fellow. Visiting fellows usually focus on an area of study or are appointed to conduct research, and are integrated in the activities of the university by the NDU president.
The International Air Transport Assn. believes international passenger traffic will "bounce back" in 2004 with 7-8% growth, making up for an estimated 3-4% downturn in 2003 caused mainly by SARS and the Iraq war. The Asia-Pacific region, hit hardest during the severe acute respiratory syndrome outbreak, will lead the traffic recovery, IATA Director General and CEO Giovanni Bisignani predicted Dec. 30.
ASAP MEETING NASA's reconstituted Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel has its first meeting Jan. 29. Up for discussion are the space shuttle, International Space Station and related programs. The meeting at agency headquarters will be the first since the old ASAP resigned en masse after it was criticized by the Columbia Accident Investigation Board. Public comment on human flight safety at NASA will be accepted for the first half-hour of the scheduled 2-hr.
ESA PICKS EUROCKOT Eurockot has contracted to launch the Gravity Field and Steady-State Ocean Circulation Mission (GOCE), the first Earth Explorer Core Mission planned under the European Space Agency's Earth Observation Envelope Program. GOCE, designed to produce global and regional models of the Earth's geoid with unprecedented accuracy and resolution, is expected to be a boon for scientists studying ocean circulation--its main application--as well as geophysics. The 1,200-kg. (2,640-lb.) spacecraft is to be sent into Sun-synchronous orbit in August 2006.
The USAF C-17 force took a step forward in combat capability recently when the first class of pilots completed a course that incorporates all the "lessons learned" on how to fly into harm's way in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Francois Courtot has become senior vice president-international development of France-based Snecma. He succeeds Philippe Humbert, who will become a French foreign affairs adviser. Courtot was vice president-aeroengines of Turbomeca.
BORDER WATCH A study of the Enhanced Border Security and Visa Entry Reform Act of 2002 by immigration specialists notes major loopholes that still allow illegal aliens, including terrorists, to enter the U.S. undetected. The study by the independent Center for Immigration Studies and the Numbers USA Education and Research Foundation think tank in Washington notes that 13 of the 22 mandated deadlines have been missed. The study's authors say the U.S.
Poland will buy 55 Pratt & Whitney F100-PW-229 engines as well as ITT Avionics ALQ-173 Advanced Integrat- ed Defense Electronics Warfare suites for its 48 F-16s under agreements worth a total of more than $327 million. The contracts include spares and support activities.
Harry Benjamin Combs died Dec. 29 in Phoenix of heart failure. He was 90. Combs founded the AMR Combs chain of fixed-base operations to service business aircraft, and early in the 1970s orchestrated the financial turnaround of Gates Learjet Corp. In 1974, Combs was voted General Aviation Man of the Year, and received the Wright Brothers Memorial Trophy in 1985. In 1996, he was inducted into the National Aviation Hall of Fame and was honored as one of America's top 100 aviation pioneers, on Dec. 17, 2003, during the celebration of the 100th anniversary of powered flight.
USAF Brig. Gen. (ret.) Pete Hennessey has become vice president-strategy development for Columbus, Ohio-based Battelle. He was director of logistics for the USAF Air Mobility Command and director of resources at USAF Headquarters at the Pentagon.
Israel is planning to expand collaboration with India in the space arena, and is negotiating a role in Europe's Galileo satellite navigation system. The Israel Space Agency (ISA) and Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) signed an agreement last month that will allow ISA to launch a telescope payload on an Indian experimental telecom spacecraft, GSAT-4, in late 2005. The telescope package, dubbed Tauvex, consists of three 32-kg. (70-lb.) telescopes designed to study black holes, the formation of stars and other astronomical phenomena.
Lockheed Martin has won a $423-million contract to deliver 172 common cockpit kits for 71 MH-60R and 101 MH-60S helicopters in 2005-08. The company's Systems Integration Div. in Owego, N.Y., also snagged a $11-million contract for an avionics maintenance trainer serving the MH-60R and MH-60S. Moreover, a joint venture between Lockheed Martin and Sikorsky received a $417-million Navy contract to support 540 of the service's H-60-type helicopters.
USAF Lt. Gen. (ret.) Leslie F. Kenne has been appointed to the board of directors of the New York-based EDO Corp. She was deputy chief of staff for warfighting integration at Air Force Headquarters in Washington.
An Indonesian carrier named for its 24-year-old president, PT Adam Sky Connections Airlines (Adam Air), has opened operations with four Boeing 737-400/-500s on six domestic routes, adding to the increasingly crowded Southeast Asian skies. It is to begin offering international flights in the second quarter. The company is owned by the Suherman family and linked to the ruling Golkar Party, with a prominent politician, Agung Lasono, as one of its directors.
In the face of sharp criticism over problems in developing some of its secret intelligence satellites, the National Reconnaissance Office is trying to revitalize its technology and management prowess. Managers are pursuing a number of initiatives, ranging from re-assessing whether they are pursuing the right technologies to scrutinizing whether collection architectures need to be changed. Moreover, NRO may alter some of its acquisition management practices to slash the time it takes to build spacecraft.
Authorities in the West African nation of Benin and a U.S. NTSB team will jointly seek to determine why a Boeing 727-200 crashed on Dec. 25 shortly after taking off from Cotonou airport. Although no official toll had been determined late last week, no more than a dozen passengers are believed to have survived. A total of 156 passengers and crewmembers were on board the aircraft operated by Union des Transports Africains de Guinee, a small carrier headquartered in Guinea.
ITT Industries' aerospace and defense business--having doubled its funded backlog in the last three years--expects to sustain strong revenue growth at least through 2005.
