Blair French, director of supplier management information and communications systems for Boeing in Seattle, has been elected chairman of the Washington, D.C.-based Aerospace Industries Assn.'s Supplier Management Council Executive Committee. He succeeds Fred Finely, vice president-operations for Raytheon Systems Inc. Vice chair will be Judy Northup, vice president-materiel operations for the Northrop Grumman Corp.
Entrepreneur and EchoStar Communications Corp. founder Charlie Ergen has repeatedly defied the skeptics--raising capital without deep-pocketed corporate backers, launching high-powered digital satellites into orbit, capturing a substantial share of the direct broadcast satellite (DBS) market. If there are any skeptics left, they may soon witness Ergen's crowning achievement (not counting his life-long dream of putting a satellite dish in every U.S. home).
Russia is poised this week to launch a two-man cosmonaut crew back to the Mir space station to reactivate the 125-ton vehicle for commercial operations--or prepare it for deorbit if the commercial venture fails. The success of the business strategy will depend on the condition of the 14-year-old station and whether MirCorp., which is partially funding the venture, can obtain more commercial users for downstream operations. The Soyuz TM spacecraft carrying cosmonauts Russian air force Lt. Col. Sergei Zalyetin and flight engineer Alexander Kalen is to lift off Apr.
Lufthansa plans to add Cirrus Airlines, based in Saarbrueck, near Luxembourg, to its network of regional airline franchises. The network, known as Team Lufthansa, already includes Augsburg Airways and Contact Air, also based in Germany, as well as Rheintalflug of Austria, Cimber Air of Denmark and French carrier Air Littoral. The system serves 45 destinations with 35 aircraft and 1,500 flights per week.
Pratt&Whitney and KLM Royal Dutch Airlines are discussing a plan to provide full ``nose-to-tail'' aircraft and overhaul component maintenance services to airline customers. The U.S. engine maker is negotiating the agreement with KLM to tap into an annual market that could be worth about $1 billion, Louis Chenevert, president of Pratt&Whitney, said. Initial talks are focusing on expanding Pratt's engine services to include KLM maintenance customers in a joint venture agreement.
Allan Palmer has been promoted to executive director from curator of the San Diego Aerospace Museum. He succeeds Edwin McKellar, who has retired. Mark Davis has become director of cargo and logistics of Global Aviation Associates of Washington.
A former vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff calls the U.S. an ``exhausted superpower'' in a prepublication version of his book. A proponent of a high-tech military, Adm. William Owens (Ret.) also firmly rejects the ``conclusion that portrays the [Kosovo] NATO operation as a military victory'' in the book, Lifting the Fog of War, which is scheduled for release in April.
U.S. relations with India have been more or less cranky since the British Raj ended in 1947, and the subcontinent was partitioned between Jawaharlal Nehru's India and Muhammad Ali Jinnah's Pakistan.
Stephen McNally (see photos) has been named director of Dallas-based Bombardier Aerospace Business Aviation Services (BAS). He was operations manager for non-Gulfstream aircraft for K-C Aviation at Dallas Love Field. Bert Moas has been promoted to regional manager for Latin America for BAS from service sales representative at the Fort Lauderdale, Fla., facility. Mark Neihaus has become manager of engine service sales for BAS. Walter Cram has been named manager of sales and support at Lufthansa Bombardier Aviation Services in Berlin.
Taking an ecotourism trip to the Galapagos Islands, hiking through rain forests and swimming with dolphins just isn't enough anymore. Adventure travelers, always in search of uncharted territory, are looking to space for the next thrill ride of their lives.
The DRS Optronics unit of DRS Technology has received a $6.5-million contract from Electro Design Manufacturing Inc. for manufacture of components and assemblies for the TOW (Tube-launched Optically-tracked, Wire-guided) missile system.
The Austrian Airlines Group has joined the three-year-old Star Alliance, extending its reach into the eastern and southeastern parts of Europe as well as the Middle East. The newest member comprises Austrian Airlines, Lauda Air and Tyrolean Airways. They serve 120 destinations in 67 countries, with a combined fleet of about 90 aircraft. The move is only the first of four expansions set for Star this year. Singapore Airlines is set to join the alliance in April, to be followed later this year by Mexicana Airlines and British Midland Airways.
SensAble Technologies makes the FreeForm system, a touch-sensitive 3D tool and software that mimics sculpting in clay or foam (AW&ST Oct. 18, 1999, p. 21). It was launched last August and the new Version 2 incorporates feedback from customers such as Boeing and Honda. Version 2 has a more realistic clay sculpting feel and better smoothing tools to remove unwanted marks. CAD 2D and 3D models can be imported for reference or to directly build the model, as objects to be refined by sculpting, or serve as ``no-fly'' boundary zones.
When the decade began, the Internet was for sending files between universities and carrying electronic mail traffic for niche providers like CompuServe. Five years ago, the World Wide Web was inhabited by college students and teenagers, with only brief, escorted forays by curious parents. Today, the Internet is such a big part of popular culture that nearly a third of the ads during this year's Super Bowl telecast were for the dot.coms--companies doing business on the Internet or involved in Internet-focused markets.
The Ballistic Missile Defense Organization plans to consolidate some of its software processes to help discriminate reentry vehicles from decoys. BMDO director Lt. Gen. Robert Kadish says he wants to create a ``national effort'' rather than have different companies pursue their separate approaches. The combined activity is called ``Hercules'' and will try to develop target discrimination algorithms that could be applied to various missile defense programs.
Plans to revamp the Joint Strike Fighter's acquisition plan could tack up to an additional 33%--about $4 billion--onto early phases of the program. The revelation has produced an explosive environment in the Pentagon, which is already under heavy congressional pressure to cut spending on tactical aviation. Advocates say a reconfigured program could create savings and preserve a larger subcontractor base by feeding two competing assembly lines and maintaining yearly competition through the end of JSF production.
The European Commission has approved a pair of 50-million euro ($48-million) research projects intended to provide more efficient and environmentally friendly engine technologies for future generation civil air transports. The Efficient and Environmentally Friendly Aero-Engine project, planned under the EC's Fifth Framework Program for research and development, will involve two groups, one headed by Snecma and MTU and the other by Rolls-Royce.
DY4 Systems Inc. will design and manufacture the Flight Control Computer for the BA-2 heavy-lift rocket. Developed and constructed by Beal Aerospace, the BA-2 rocket will lift and deploy payload such as telecommunication satellites.
J. Scott Kirby has been named senior vice president for America West Holdings Corp.'s electronic business, Internet and on-line investments. He was vice president-revenue management.
Finmeccanica/Aeronavali concluded an agreement with the Finova Capital Corp. to modify six DC-10-30 trijets into all-cargo configuration and optioned the conversion of three additional aircraft.
SITA and SH&E have received a five-year contract to provide their Strategy Revenue Management System to Venezuela-based Avensa Airlines. Designed for regional and international carriers, Strategy offers flight inventory information.
Ballistic Missile Defense system components will be the first to undergo major testing in a new $100-million radiation test facility just opened at the Arnold Engineering Development Center at Arnold AFB, Tenn. Although the collapse of the Soviet Union has lessened the overall nuclear threat to the U.S., the reliance on satellites in military/commercial infrastructure and work on a U.S. BMD system have spawned the need for the new facility. The Defense Threat Reduction Agency helped lead development of the facility with the Air Force.
Howard C. (Pat) Curtiss, Jr., professor of aeronautical engineering at Princeton University, is scheduled to deliver the annual American Helicopter Society Alexander A. Nikolsky Honorary Lecture on May 2. The lectureship is awarded to an individual ``who reflects the highest ideals, goals and achievements in the field of helicopter and V/STOL aircraft engineering and development.''
