Sierra Nevada Corp. and the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) plan to work together to find potential uses—and alternative launchers—for the U.S. company’s Dream Chaser lifting-body commercial crew and cargo spacecraft. Under a “memorandum of cooperative understanding,” Sierra Nevada and JAXA will study “potential applications of Japanese technologies and the development of mission concepts for the Dream Chaser spacecraft,” the company says.
Sweden has decided not to make a formal offer of the Saab JAS 39E/F Gripen to Denmark because Sweden believes its neighbor’s requirement is loaded in favor of the Lockheed Martin F-35A Joint Strike Fighter. The Swedish FXM defense export agency announced on July 21 that it would not bid, leaving the Eurofighter Typhoon and the Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet in a contest against the F-35A. The decision follows “a comprehensive assessment that the state and the industry have made together,” according to FXM Director-General Ulf Hammarstrom.
India says the offer of Dassault Aviation for transfer of technology in the medium multi-role combat aircraft (MMRCA) deal is fully compliant to the specified requirements and negotiations are progressing to finalize the purchase of 126 Rafale fighters. The Indian air force hopes the deal will be completed during the fiscal year that ends March 31. “If that happens, we will probably start receiving the aircraft from late 2016 or early 2017,” says an air force official. For MMRCA, the defense ministry has been in contract negotiations with Dassault for about 20 months.
Giovanni Spitale (see photo) has been appointed president of Unison Industries, Jacksonville, Florida. He was general manager for GE Aviation’s Flight Efficiency Services and was its global C919 program leader in Shanghai.
Sean I. McCormack has been named vice president-communications for Seattle-based Boeing Commercial Airplanes , succeeding Mark G. Hooper , who plans to retire Sept. 1. McCormack has been Boeing’s corporate vice president-communications for government operations in Washington. Anne C.
Christina Johansson has become chief financial officer of Zurich-based SR Technics. She succeeds Angelo Quabba, who is leaving the company. Johansson was vice president-finance at the Poyry Energy Business Group of Switzerland.
David Hewitt, executive vice president for safety of Wheels Up, has been named chairman of the Alexandria, Virginia-based Air Charter Safety Foundation. Greg Kinsella, president/CEO of Key Air, is the new vice chairman. Hewitt succeeds Jeff Baum, president/CEO of Wisconsin Aviation.
Jim Welch has been appointed chairman of the Louisville (Kentucky) Regional Airport Authority board of directors. He was vice chairman and has been succeeded by Phil Lynch. Jon Meyer has been reelected secretary-treasurer. Welch is vice chairman of the Brown-Forman Corp. and Lynch is its vice president-corporate communications. Meyer is partner/chairman of Jones, Nale and Mattingly, certified public accountants.
The Vietnamese navy is close to completing its first fleet of fixed-wing aircraft with the delivery of the final pair of Viking Air DHC-6-400 Guardian maritime patrol and utility aircraft.
The surface of Mars is the most ambitious target for human explorers in the foreseeable future, given the state of technology, funding and political will today, according to a U.S. National Research Council study team that examined the issue over the past year and a half.
For the first several decades of human space activity, the economically and militarily valuable region of near-Earth orbit seemed like an infinite resource.
