An audacious project to convert land-based helicopters for shipborne amphibious operations has been given the go-ahead by the U.K. Defense Ministry. The £330 million ($546 million) program, awarded to AgustaWestland in December but only formally announced on Jan. 29, helps to secure the U.K.'s amphibious power projection capabilities, which will become a key part of the country's ability to mount a Responsive Force Task Group (RFTG) on its future Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carriers.
Brian Moran has been appointed Brussels-based president for Boeing of European Union and NATO relations. He succeeds Antonio De Palmas, who has been named president of Boeing Italy. Moran has been the Berlin-based head of Boeing International's activities in Northern Europe and had been senior manager of international business development for the Nordic region, Switzerland and the U.K. De Palmas succeeds Rinaldo Petrignani, who is retiring.
Aaron Gellman has been named to receive the Francis X. McKelvey Award for 2014 from the Transportation Research Board of the National Academies in Washington. Gellman is a professor at Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University and was director of Northwestern's Transportation Center. He is being honored for his commitment to the betterment of the aviation industry. McKelvey was also a consultant and co-author of the textbook Planning and Design of Airports.
Eric Hinson (see photo) has become CEO of SimCom Training Centers, Orlando, Fla., in addition to president. As CEO, Hinson succeeds company founder Wally David, who is now non-executive chairman.
Europe's version of the Russian Soyuz rocket has more customers than launch slots this year, a problem that complicates a European Commission plan to see six Galileo positioning, navigation and timing satellites orbited by the end of 2014. With four prototype Galileo satellites already in orbit, EC Vice President Antonio Tajani is on a quest to see six more fully operational spacecraft lofted in pairs from the European spaceport in French Guiana starting in June, followed by subsequent launches in October and December.
Dann Runik (see photos) has been promoted to executive director of advanced training programs for New York-based FlightSafety International from manager of OEM and customer relations at the FSI Learning Center in Savannah, Ga. Marin Todorov has been promoted to manager of specialty and enrichment training programs from manager of e-learning systems.
Tyler Evans has been named vice president of “Rocket Shop” Defense Advanced Programs unit of Aerojet Rocketdyne, Sacramento, Calif. He was executive director of international programs and business development for Pratt & Whitney Military Engines.
Diane L. Damos, President (Gurnee, Ill. ), Damos Aviation Services Inc. (Gurnee, Ill. )
Sean Broderick's Airline Intel column “No Easy Answers” (AW&ST Dec. 9, 2013, p. 17) did not mention pilot selection as a possible contributing factor to the Asiana Airlines Flight 214 accident in which a Boeing 777 crash landed on approach to a major U.S. hub on a clear morning July 6, 2013. Note that pilots with lower scores on certain types of selection tests may have trouble learning and retaining complex material. They also may be slower to recognize critical situations developing.
The U.S. Air Force should restructure up to 10% of its active-duty force into either its federal reserve component or the Air National Guard, including aircraft, to save money and maintain optimal capability in a post-war era of austerity, says a highly anticipated report issued Jan. 30.
U.S. Strategic Command (Stratcom) has signed a new data-sharing agreement with France that will permit the exchange of space situational awareness information. The deal will allow the French defense ministry to request information gathered by Stratcom's Joint Space Operations Center at Vandenberg AFB, Calif., for launch support, satellite maneuver planning, in-orbit anomalies, electromagnetic interference, spacecraft decommissioning and collision avoidance, according to Stratcom.
The price of carbon dioxide allowances (EUAs) under the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS) rallied to a four-month high in January, as the European Commission's short-term market intervention proposal drew nearer to final agreement. The price of EUAs for delivery in December 2014 rallied to €5.61 per metric ton ($7.66) on Jan. 28—the highest price since Sept. 26, according to Platts data. Prices took support last month from proposed short- and long-term reforms of the ETS.
As efforts to strengthen India's defense-industrial base have fallen far short of the country's self-reliance target, the military is continuing to look abroad for its defense hardware. That is encouraging to international equipment manufacturers from the U.S., Russia, France, Israel, the U.K. and Germany, which have been establishing relationships in India to sell aircraft, tanks, howitzers, unmanned aerial vehicles, combat vehicles, missiles, infantry weapons, submarines and support equipment.
Stephen A. Fuselier (see photo) has been appointed director of the Space Science Department in the San Antonio-based Southwest Research Institute's Space Science and Engineering Div. He was a program director and had worked in the Space Physics Department at Lockheed Martin's Advanced Technology Center.
For years, reauthorizing the Export-Import Bank was a matter of course for Congress. But in 2012, after a blistering lobbying fight between Boeing and U.S. airlines, the bank's authority to operate nearly lapsed. With the airlines arguing that export financing allows foreign airlines to offer flights at lower cost, undercutting their competitiveness, the final agreement to keep the bank open included a few requirements. The bank was directed to notify the public before it approves export assistance and outline the economic impact of the help.
