U.S. Army Lt. Gen. (ret.) Thomas G. Rhame, who has been vice president-membership and meetings of the Assn. of the United States Army, has become vice president-administration and finance, succeeding Arthur S. Welch, who has retired but will be an AUSA consultant.
General Dynamics and Textron reported double-digit earnings improvements for the third quarter, while Honeywell International posted a 49% drop in net income, to $282 million. Meanwhile, Raytheon showed signs of being able to sustain its financial turnaround, posting income from continuing operations of $133 million, or 39 cents a diluted share. That compares with a net loss of $89 million, or 26 cents a share, in the same period a year ago.
In good times and in bad, labor unions have been successful at retaining members and organizing employees in the world airline industry. As globalization trends put jobs and wages at risk, labor will continue to grow in size and influence.
TAG Aviation has received approval for a series of runway, air traffic control and safety improvements at Farnborough airport designed to make the facility a key base for business aviation in Europe, according to Roger McMullin, CEO of the London-based company. The airport, currently operated under the auspices of the Ministry of Defense, would eventually undergo certification by the British Civil Aviation Authority in the third quarter of 2002.
The Aerochem Inc. Div. of Ducommun Inc. will supply finished detail parts for satellite battery assemblies for Hughes Space and Communications Co. under a $4.6-million work order over two-plus years.
GALAXY AEROSPACE PRESIDENT AND CEO BRIAN E. BARENTS said the company expects to begin marketing its Galaxy business jet and the Astra SPX through a major fractional ownership operator within the next 60 days. He said the Fort Worth-based manufacturer also is studying expansion of the product line, and is interested in pursuing development of a supersonic business jet (SSBJ).
Congress killed the Discoverer 2 space-based radar satellite demonstration all because of a big ``misunderstanding,'' opines Pentagon's acquisition czar Jacques Gansler. The Defense Dept. had no plan for out-year funding to actually buy a full constellation of the satellites. Congress read that as a lack of support for D2 within the Pentagon, Gansler believes. Still, he insists, this was one of the few projects that the National Reconnaissance Office, the Air Force and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (Darpa) agreed on funding.
Despite a failed bid to provide the launch engine to Singapore Airlines for its Airbus A3XX mega-transports, the engine alliance formed by General Electric and Pratt&Whitney is looking forward to the next round of competition that will again pit its GP7270 against the Rolls-Royce Trent 900. Airlines likely to be shopping for A3XX engines in the near future are Emirates, Air France and possibly Qantas.
Airport planners and consultants are warning that today's air traffic delays will worsen in the coming decade as strong air transport growth continues to outpace runway-building projects in much of the world.
Japan is proposing a new policy for distributing and pricing remote-sensing data. The policy would create a single pricing mechanism offering raw imagery to all users based on reproduction cost, except for an additional royalty fee for commercial users. Value-added imagery would be sold at market prices, or made available to users on a task-sharing or cooperative basis. Web use would be free. The current two-tier pricing policy, which charges scientific users at cost and the general public at market rates, has failed to generate widespread demand for imaging services.
Singapore Airlines' selection of the Rolls-Royce Trent 900 to power its Airbus A3XX aircraft has not only given Rolls-Royce the prestige of being the launch engine for the mega-transport, it also means that customers seeking delivery slots during the first six months of A3XX production may have no alternative other than to select Rolls' engines.
SALES OF NEW BUSINESS AIRCRAFT THIS YEAR will reach 555 units, according to AvData and The CIT Group. In addition, sales of used aircraft could increase to 2,400 before declining slightly to 2,375 next year.
The Joint Strike Fighter is still the front-runner to fulfill a U.K. requirement for a new carrier-based aircraft, although a final decision is not expected to come until later this year. The U.K. has to make a decision by January 2001, if it wants to take full advantage of being a full collaborative partner in the next phase of the JSF program.
Joseph F. Wambolt (see photo) has received the Trustees' Distinguished Achievement Award, the highest honor of The Aerospace Corp., El Segundo, Calif. He was recognized for ``sustained, outstanding management and technical leadership of the highly successful Medium Launch Vehicle programs.'' Wambolt's contributions have spanned 40 years and included support for Scout, Delta and Atlas boosters carrying weather, communications, navigation, space exploration, experimentation and national security spacecraft.
Needed or not, the Airbus A3XX will become a reality when Singapore Airlines receives its first of 10 in 2006. At more than 1 million lb., this 555-seat, three-deck behemoth could revolutionize international air travel or become a financial disaster for Airbus.
The Global Aviation Information Network is accelerating efforts to expand the collection, analyses and dissemination of operational data that can be shared and used by the world's airlines to increase safety margins.
France Telecom and Europe Star have agreed to establish a satellite joint venture, Stellat. Manufactured by Alcatel Space Industries and based on the Spacebus 3000 B3 platform, Stellat is scheduled to be launched by April 2002 and positioned at 5 deg. W. Long.
Motoren- und Turbinen-Union has established a maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) subsidiary in Brazil aimed chiefly at the growing fleet of airline aircraft in Latin America powered by the IAE V2500 engine. Located in Campinas, Sao Paulo, the company has two 15-year contracts to service the powerplants and Rolls-Royce Tay 650 engines for Brazilian airline TAM. MTU also has MRO facilities in Zhuhai, China, and Vancouver.
It's going to be a hectic end of year for F-22 officials (see p. 48). ``They've got an enormous amount of work to do, and they're right up against the stops as far as the schedule goes,'' says Philip Coyle, the Pentagon's chief of operational testing and evaluation. Aircraft No. 4001 goes to Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, to be the victim of live-fire testing, 4002 continues weapons ejection tests, 4003 will continue flight tests. The first representative stealth aircraft, 4004, will fly to Edwards AFB, Calif., to begin tests Dec. 13. That, Coyle warns, gets close to a Dec.
Russia has moved to shore up its deteriorating Glonass global navigation satellite network with the launch of three Urgan-type satellites on Oct. 13. The satellites, launched on a Proton-K booster from Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, are expected to become operational next month. The $2.4-billion Glonass system was designed to have a constellation of 24 satellites. But funding shortages have left it well short of its full complement. By the end of September, only eight satellites were operational.
The Boeing X-32A Joint Strike Fighter demonstrator had completed 14 flights for a total of 9.1 flight test hours as of Oct. 19, meeting 13% of the test objectives. The aircraft's first flight with fully retracted landing gear was on Oct. 12 after minor hardware changes to the main and nose gear systems (AW&ST Oct. 16, p. 22).
Forecasters say the world cargo business will nearly triple and its fleet double in the next 20 years as it meets the challenges of a competitive global marketplace seeking faster, efficient service. According to the International Air Transport Assn.'s Freight Forecast published in October 1999, air freight will reach 20.7 million tons by 2003 from 15.9 million tons in 1998--an increase in a five-year period ending in 2003 that reflects an average yearly growth of 5.5%.
Missouri Gov. Mel Carnahan, his son Roger and chief aide Chris Sifford were killed last week in the crash of a twin-engine Cessna 335 near Festus, Mo., 30 mi. south of St. Louis. The aircraft, No. 8354N, piloted by the Democratic governor's son and operating under an IFR flight plan, departed Parks Airport at Cahokia, Ill., at 7 p.m. en route to New Madrid, Mo., where a campaign event was scheduled. According to the preliminary accident data, the aircraft was at 6,500 ft. when the pilot reported a gyro problem.
Yasmin Seyal has become corporate treasurer of GenCorp., Sacramento, Calif. She was director of treasury and taxes for subsidiary Aerojet and assistant treasurer/director of taxes for the corporation.
