Midway through an industry assessment phase, the British Defense Ministry is casting an eye over the progress on a key procurement for both army and naval aviation. The Defense Ministry is now beyond the halfway point in the 18-month assessment phase for its Battlefield Light Utility Helicopter/Surface Combatant Maritime Rotorcraft (BLUH/SCMR). A single-source contract for this phase of the program was awarded to Westland Helicopters, the U.K. subsidiary of AgustaWestland, in March 2002. The work package is due to be completed by September of this year.
Lawrence J. Delaney has been appointed senior vice president of the Titan Corp. of San Diego and president/CEO of its Washington-based Advanced Systems Development Sector. He was chairman/CEO/president of Arete Associates and previously was assistant Air Force secretary for acquisition and chief information officer.
Mary A. Simmerman has been named vice president-materiel for the Northrop Grumman Corp.'s Integrated Systems Sector, El Segundo, Calif. She was vice president-supplier management and procurement for Boeing Space and Communi- cations Operations, Seal Beach, Calif.
WORLD NEWS ROUNDUP Europe's Artemis satellite arrives on station Limps home on the strength of its last ion thruster 17 Air Canada weighs sales of maintenance subsidiaries Also regional carrier Jazz, all to stem flow of red ink 18 Summer restart seen for 328JET program New owner predicts many sales to corporate operators 18 Hungary and Sweden revise Gripen sales agreement Central European nation will receive NATO interoperable version 19
Greg Canavan of the Physics Div. of the Los Alamos (N.M.) National Laboratory is one of three laboratory researchers who have been named senior fellows. The others are: Hans Frauenfelder of the Center for Nonlinear Studies and Geoffrey West of Los Alamos' Elementary Particles and Field Theory Group. Canavan was honored for research in remote sensing, missile defense systems and issues related to national security. Frauenfelder was named for work in biological physics and leadership of the Center for Nonlinear Science.
The Transportation Security Administration needs to exercise better contract oversight, according to U.S. Transportation Dept. Inspector General Kenneth M. Mead. Mead told the Senate subcommittee on Aviation that the lack of infrastructure and heavy reliance on contractors in 2002 resulted in a deficiency of management oversight and a "tremendous growth in contract costs." One contract rose from an initial estimate of $104 million to $700 million, Mead reported.
Bill Connors has been appointed executive director of the Alexandria, Va.-based National Business Travel Assn. He was senior vice president-meetings, education and member services for the American Society of Travel Agents.
Keeping options open on its fighter choice, Norway signed an industrial partnership on the Eurofighter Typhoon program. The country is already a Level III partner in the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. The government and industry will each contribute $10.8 million through 2007.
Hungary and Sweden have signed a revised agreement covering the acquisition of 14 Gripen combat aircraft. Offset on the lease and purchase contract has been increased, with a later standard of the aircraft to be supplied. Hungary will receive 12 single-seat aircraft, along with a pair of two-seat trainers.
French dissatisfaction with the pace and scope of efforts to reform operating rules threatens to divide the European helicopter community. Operators have labored for years to engineer changes in Europe's helicopter operating standard, JAR-OPS 3, so that it does not unduly penalize single-engine rotorcraft and older twin-engine models. Introduced in the mid-1990s at the behest of the North Sea oil-producing countries, JAR-OPS 3 is based on Annex 6 of the International Civil Aviation Organization code, which is largely outdated.
Heading into a congressional reauthorization year, the FAA seeks to preserve--but not expand on--budget gains it made three years ago in AIR21. But to do so, the Bush administration will increase the pressure on the aviation trust fund, which is taking in less money because of the industry downturn.
Edward H. Phillips (Dallas), Pierre Sparaco (Paris), Michael A. Taverna (Paris)
The global commercial helicopter business is flat, and prospects for growth this year are few as operators struggle to cope with rising costs and security issues that threaten to blunt opportunities for expansion.
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BAE Systems has sold a 25% share in space firm Astrium, along with its part of U.K. military communications satellite venture Paradigm, to EADS. Troubled BAE took a substantial loss on the two moves, which it explained by saying that "space is not our core business."
David A. Fulghum (Washington), Robert Wall (Washington)
Iraq has test flown an unmanned aircraft with unrefueled 500-km. range, bought rocket motors to boost its ballistic missiles to prohibited ranges, built at least 18 trucks for manufacturing biological weapons and continues to hide contraband items in cars that are continually driven around the country, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell told members of the United Nations Security Council last week.
U.S. Navy Cdr. William C. McCool, 41, was on his first space shuttle mission, as the pilot. A native of San Diego and the son of a Navy/Marine veteran, he was second in his class at the U.S. Naval Academy, where he received a bachelor's degree in applied science. He also held master's degrees in computer sciences from the University of Maryland and in aeronautical engineering from the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School. He was an EA-6B pilot, TA-4J and EA-6B test pilot. His assignments included the advanced capability program for the EA-6B.
If you enjoyed the U.S.-Europe aircraft noise regulatory fracas that culminated in 2001 at the International Civil Aviation Organization, you'll eagerly await international deliberations on engine emissions in 2004. Ed Stimpson, U.S. ambassador to the 188-member standards-setting body, predicts a reprise of the market-incentives-versus-government-controls debate, this time pitting U.S. preferences for voluntary action and emissions-trading schemes against Europe's reliance on taxes and fees.
The U.S. Air Force's Arnold Engineering Development Center and Lockheed Martin Space Systems Co. (LMSSC) are evaluating the effects of electric propulsion thruster plume ions on microwave signal propagation in AEDC's 12-volt vertical space test chamber (see photo). William J. Meyer, design engineer for LMSSC in Sunnyvale, Calif., hailed the tests as groundbreaking. They centered on a BPT-4000 Hall Thruster using gaseous xenon, which offers improved performance compared with chemical-based thrusters used for satellite station-keeping and orbital transfers.
Kirby Ikin has been named the Sydney-based senior vice president-risk management for the Orbital Recovery Corp. of Washington. He is a member of the Australian government's International Space Advisory Group and is chairman of the U.S.-based National Space Society.
David Mitchell has been named vice president/general manager of the Contractor Logistics Support unit and Duncan Koerbel vice president/general manager of the Aircraft Maintenance, Modifi- cation and Upgrades unit of Lockheed Martin Aircraft & Logistics Centers, Greenville, S.C. Mitchell was director of KC-135 life cycle customer support operations for the Boeing Aerospace Support Center in San Antonio. Koerbel was a vice president at Fairchild Dornier in Germany.
The military is kicking off a much anticipated effort to fill one of the most visible spots at the White House. The Naval Air Systems Command has formally unleashed the competition to replace Sikorsky's VH-3D presidential helicopter operated by Marine Helicopter Sqdn. 1 (HMX-1). The existing fleet is reaching the end of its life, so the Marines want to field at least an initial capability by 2007-08. A full operational capability should be available 5-6 years later. U.S.
General Electric is claiming a world record for thrust generated by a gas turbine engine. The company says its GE90-115B reached 127,900-lb. thrust during final certification tests at the company's Peebles, Ohio, facility. First flight of a Boeing 777-300ER powered by GE90-115Bs is planned later this month.
U.S. Army Lt. Gen. Robert W. Wagner has become deputy commander of the United States Joint Forces Command, Norfolk, Va. He succeeds U.S. Navy Vice Adm. Martin J. Mayer. Wagner was commander of the Army's Southern European Task Force (Airborne), Vicenza, Italy.
