Roger Lough has been appointed chief defense scientist and head of Australia's Defense Science and Technology Organization (DSTO). He succeeds Ian Chessell, who is retiring. Lough has been director of DSTO's Platform Sciences Laboratory.
KLM Royal Dutch Airlines' envisioned partnership with Air France, which would enlarge the SkyTeam alliance, could result in new threats for cockpit crews, according to leaders of the SkyTeam Pilot Alliance (SPA).
Pierre Sparaco, Aviation Week & Space Technology's Paris-based European bureau chief, has won the Guynemer Prize, which is given by the Union des Pilotes Civils de France. The prize, awarded every two years for the best book on civil aviation, was for Sparaco's Concorde-La Veritable Histoire (Concorde--The True Story). The book was first published in May 2002 by Lariviere. An updated edition covering the joint decision by Air France and British Airways to cease operating Concorde has just been released.
A Senate proposal to cut the lease of U.S. Air Force KC-767 tankers to 25 aircraft from 100 could provide EADS an earlier than anticipated opening to take on Boeing in the Pentagon's aerial refueling market.
William Chana and Jerome Lederer have been selected to receive the 2003 Cliff Henderson Award for Achievement from the Arlington, Va.-based National Aeronautic Assn. The award is given to living individuals "whose vision, leadership or skill has made a significant and lasting contribution to the promotion and advancement of aviation or space activity." Chana began his aerospace career in 1941 with the then-Consolidated Aircraft as a flight test engineer.
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Europe's burgeoning low-cost sector will prove far from immune to the economic travails now battering the rest of the airline sector, according to some top-ranking airline and industry officials. The failures and financial strife now visited upon the heads of the full-service sector will also be replicated among the plethora of low-cost operations springing up, including the progeny of some national carriers, industry officials say.
India, long one of the largest markets for offshore infotech contracts from the likes of Electronic Data Systems and Hewlett-Packard, is finding that airlines eager to outsource so-called back-office work are treading across its low-wage welcome mat, too. Lufthansa, Swiss, Emirates and Northwest are among those who have shifted back-office work to India, which has the world's second largest pool of English-speaking computer literates after the U.S.
Delta Air Lines Chairman Leo Mullin predicted last week that if bankrupt United Airlines wins a $1.8-billion federal loan guarantee, the needed restructuring of the U.S. airline industry will be difficult and stretched out from 3-5 years.
The U.S. Air Force made its first use of a classified Lockheed Martin stealth UCAV in the Iraq conflict. In the wake of that experience, Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. John Jumper, said Operation Iraqi Freedom confirmed the value of penetrating and long-endurance unmanned surveillance aircraft, but it also offered evidence that the UCAV may not meet all those demands. He pointed to the performance of a single Global Hawk that flew 18 days in a row and was able to locate armored forces during a heavy duststorm.
U.K.-based Jade Air will become Superior's European center at Shoreham airport. The company will overhaul in-service powerplants, produce the 180-hp. Vantage, which is in the FAA certification process, and build a 180-hp. engine for the sport aviation market.
Avic 1 has selected Sagem to develop and supply the ARJ 21's flight management system. First delivery of the Chinese 78-105-seat regional twinjet is scheduled for 2007.
The FAA and Transport Canada issued an emergency airworthiness directive on Sept. 17 requiring inspections of the lower panels of the main landing gear doors of Bombardier CRJ700 and 900 aircraft for cracking or deformation, or pulled or missing fasteners. Inspections of aircraft with more than 1,500 cycles must be conducted within 10 flight cycles of receiving the notice.
Magellan Aerospace will supply retrofit kits for the main landing gear axle for 150 F/A-18A, B, C and D aircraft for the Naval Inventory Control Point under an 18-month, $3.8-million contract. A total of 800 F/A-18s eventually will be retrofitted.
Hafei Aviation Industry Co. is to license-produce EC120 helicopters at its facility in Harbin. General Manager Qu Jingwen said Hafei is in talks with EADS Eurocopter and the China Aviation Technology Import and Export Corp. to secure the necessary airworthiness licenses. An agreement is expected later this year, with the first aircraft to roll out next year.
Inmarsat Ventures says it has downselected a team composed of Apax Partners Worldwide LLC and Perimra Advisers Ltd. to negotiate the purchase of its London-based global mobile satellite business. The losing bidders were reportedly Apollo Management and Soros Private Equity, and the tenders were said to be in the $1-1.3-billion range.
Reaching agreement over terms and conditions continues to dog the plan to integrate German missile manufacturer LFK with European missile house MBDA, while a lack of orders is forcing further layoffs within the German business. The three partner companies holding a stake in MBDA--EADS, BAE Systems and Finmeccanica--have been struggling to reach agreement covering the integration of EADS missile subsidiary LFK for well over 18 months. The partners are now hoping to have a deal by year's end.
Having once again seen its helicopters suffer, because of environmental conditions in Iraq, Army developers are taking yet another stab at trying to find technical solutions to make operations in the dusty conditions less arduous.
The space shuttle's return to flight has been pushed into next summer by factors beyond improvements to Atlantis, the next orbiter in line to fly, including how long the International Space Station could shelter a stranded shuttle crew, and the availability of another shuttle to go rescue them.
MORE CONNEXIONS Connexion by Boeing has continued its acquisition of satellite services for its inflight broadband Internet and data offering, picking up two transponder leases on Intelsat 907's K u-band Spot 1 beam. The link will give customers high-speed access to web pages, e-mail, data and entertainment on airliners over the Atlantic beginning next year. Aircrews also will be able to use the system to communicate with their ground operations.
Aerospace company executives are increasingly disappointed in the benefits of e-business but have not cut back spending on information technology, which more of them now view as merely a cost of doing business.
There may be market doldrums elsewhere, but Boeing's estimates of the China market remain optimistic. The U.S. manufacturer predicts that over the next 20 years China will require nearly 2,400 new aircraft--the vast majority in the single-aisle and smaller twin-aisle size that the company has staked its future on.
Thomas Shelman, vice president/chief information officer for the Northrop Grumman Corp. and vice president of its Information Technology Sector Internal Information Services unit in Dallas, was named the 2003 Information Systems Executive of the Year by the David D. Lattanze Center for Executive Studies in Information Systems at Loyola College in Baltimore. The award recognizes business leaders who have advanced the strategic application of information technology to achieve their organizations' objectives.
United Airlines is planning for a February 2004 launch of its low-cost operation (LCO) from the mainliner's Denver International Airport hub. The LCO, which will get an official name late this year, will be fully operated by United employees. The new carrier will operate 156-seat Airbus A320 aircraft and serve mainly leisure destinations such as Reno and Las Vegas, Nev.; Phoenix, Ariz.; Orlando, Fla.; and Ontario, Calif. According to United, the fleet will expand from four in initial service to 40 by the end of 2004.
L-3 Communications Aeromet Inc. has received a $3-million follow-on contract option from the U.S. Missile Defense Agency for the Airborne Infrared Surveillance program. The original contract was awarded in 2002 for $4.4 million.
