Saudi Arabia will likely need to commit to a midlife upgrade of its Tornado strike aircraft within the next 6-9 months if it wants to garner the full benefits of mirroring the British Royal Air Force's Tornado fleet upgrade program, now nearing completion. The RAF is upgrading 142 Tornado aircraft from the GR1 to the GR4 standard, at a cost of 1.2 billion pounds ($1.7 billion). The GR4 upgrade package includes avionics, sensors and weapons systems improvements, intended to help see the Tornado through to the end of its service life, around 2020.
New space and communications business will form the ``growth engine'' within Boeing to help the industry giant counter the impact of lagging air transport orders, according to Vice Chairman Harry C. Stonecipher. In a wide-ranging discussion here, he said, ``the decline of commercial airline business caused by the economy and the events of Sept. 11 are going to give Boeing the opportunity to prove to the world that indeed we are a multifaceted company.''
As wrenching as the last four months have been for airlines in North America, a few have proven to be exceptionally adept at making money and growing shareholder value in a harsh economic environment.
Straightforward changes to ignition software and cleaning procedures are expected to allow the Ariane 5, sidelined since a launch failure last summer, to return to operational service on Feb. 28. The Flight 142 failure, which led to the loss of Japan's BSAT-2b telecommunications satellite and compromised the European Space Agency's Artemis technology mission, was attributed to a malfunction in the upper-stage Aestus engine that caused it to shut down prematurely (AW&ST July 23, 2001, p. 38).
Earlier this month, BAE Systems launched an in-house financial advisory group to exploit its defense customers' growing interest in private and partnership program funding arrangements. BAE Systems Capital Ltd. will provide advice and support, both internally and to government customers, on nontraditional finance packages as a route to acquiring defense equipment and services.
Hainan Airlines is set to expand aggressively into the international market following approval by the Civil Aviation Administration of China for the carrier to fly to Australia, Japan, Singapore and Thailand.
PENN STATE RESEARCHERS ARE USING PARALLEL PROCESSING and 4D imaging to visualize aerodynamic flow noise as a step toward reducing the noise and drag from turbulent air flow. They are presenting the simulations on 8 X 8-ft. visual reality projection panels that fully engulf the user. Traditional graphics are inadequate--the 3D structure of turbulence, shock waves and particle simulations has to be looked at in stereographics, they say. The separated flow on helicopters is particularly difficult.
Singapore's Asian Aerospace is by far the region's most important aerospace exhibition, but it hasn't had an easy time of it recently. Asia was deep in a currency recession four years ago amid concern that political instability could tear the region apart. By 2000, politics had, indeed, grown nasty in some regions, but the Asia-Pacific basin looked like it was climbing out of its prolonged airline recession.
The increased precision with which the military can deliver weapons may further reduce the need to ever use nuclear weapons, then again it might not, says Dale Klein, the Pentagon's assistant secretary for nuclear, biological and chemical programs. The greater accuracy of munitions means conventional weapons can be much more consistently effective, making nuclear warheads less attractive, he outlines. On the other hand, he notes that because weapons can be put precisely on a spot, that opens possibilities for a much smaller, tailored nuclear weapon. His conclusion?
Germany's Bird infrared remote sensing spacecraft has proven its ability to detect and study wildfires that cannot be safely or easily observed from the ground. In trials during the in-orbit commissioning phase on Jan. 4-5, Bird was able to accurately measure temperature range and other parameters of brushfires that broke out in New South Wales, Australia, while determining the propagation characteristics of the firefront, according to German aerospace center DLR, which managed the project. Launched on Oct. 22, the 92-kg.
Continental Airlines and Amtrak plan to launch the U.S.' first domestic air-rail code-share in mid-March. The airline and the rail line last week announced a partnership that will link the Amtrak stations at Philadelphia, Wilmington, Del., and Stamford and and New Haven, Conn., to airline services at Newark (N.J.) International Airport. Passengers at the airport rail station may board the recently opened AirTrain monorail to connect to airline terminals.
Eric W. Stallmer, former president of the Space Transportation Assn., has become director of government relations for Analytical Graphics Inc., Malvern, Pa.
Martyn Lewis has become London-based director of marketing for Tyco Capital Aerospace of New York. He was aircraft trading manager for British Airways.
Continuing its reshuffle in the wake of acquisitions and the expansion of its U.S. footprint, BAE Systems unveiled a further round of restructuring on Jan. 17. Charles Masefield has been appointed vice chairman. He was the BAE's group marketing director. The company also will have three, rather than two, chief operating officers, with Mark Ronald, president of BAE's U.S. operations, also named a COO.
James M. Whitehurst has been named senior vice president-finance, treasury and business development of Delta Air Lines. He has been acting head of Delta's Ventures Group and acting treasurer. Chris Duncan has been promoted to vice president-finance/chief risk officer from director of finance, insurance and risk management. Michelle Frymire has been promoted to vice president-finance for marketing and international from assistant controller/managing director for finance.
The U.S. is subsidizing its airlines and defense industry, according to senior European aerospace industry officials. EADS specifically noted that they want a chance to present Airbus alternatives to Boeing's 767. ``In the aftermath of Sept. 11, the U.S. established a sort of Marshall Plan,'' said Noel Forgeard, Airbus' chief executive. ``The [Pentagon's] decision to procure 100 767s is heavy subsidization of the program.''
In response to the threat of international terrorism, Narita Airport and Japan Airlines are conducting a joint evaluation of a biometric identification system. A photo of the passenger is taken at check-in, and the system checks features of the face, such as the distance between facial parts. The photo is affixed to the boarding pass if it matches the one on the passport. JAL also plans to install a camera at the boarding gate to check whether the passenger actually boards the designated flight.
Claude Valle (see photo) has been appointed director of military export operations at France-based Snecma Moteurs. He succeeds Thierry Hurtes, who has been reassigned within the Snecma group. Valle was deputy director of customer support for Thales Airborne Systems.
Lonnie Arima has been named vice president-worldwide consumer sales and marketing and Karen Carbonnet vice president-corporate communications for Thales Navigation, Santa Clara, Calif.
Astronomers are using NASA's Chandra X-Ray Observatory to investigate some of the most violent events in the cosmos, ranging from the explosive death of stars to eruptions at the center of galactic clusters that send out ``bubbles'' the size of the Milky Way galaxy that Chandra's instruments can resolve.
Thales generated sales of around 10 billion euros ($9 billion) last year, compared with 8.6 billion euros in 2000, Chairman/CEO Denis Ranque said last week. He declined to venture a figure for orders, which he termed ``satisfactory,'' or to speculate on financial results for the company, whose books do not close until March. Revenues, orders and earnings were all up sharply in the first half of the year (AW&ST Oct. 29, 2001, p. 74; Mar. 19, 2001, p. 42).
The disappointing performance of stocks in both Aviation Week indexes--the Aerospace 25 and Airline 25--for the week ending Jan. 16 would suggest the two industry sectors essentially are moving in lockstep.
Despite the perennial tensions on the Taiwan Strait and the war fever in Kashmir, the military trend in Asia-at-large is one of technological advance, not feverish arms competition. The focus on modernization and streamlining reflects a consensus of U.S. threat assessments that American defense technology will outpace Asia's for decades, including China's. Asian governments recognize they have a lot of catching up to do with the West.
Italian national carrier Alitalia plans to lay off 2,500 employees in an effort to lower costs, bringing job cuts to 6,900 employees. The carrier also intends to eliminate unprofitable routes. Its board last week approved the cost-saving plan presented by CEO Francesco Mengozzi. According to Italian legislation, however, the company now has to negotiate with unions but could implement job cuts unilaterally if no agreement is reached in 75 days.
