With contracts awarded for designs of initial supersonic X-plane concepts, NASA's High Speed Project is working on a new set of foundational technologies, instrumentation and test techniques that will prepare the way for its development later this decade. “The High Speed Project feels the next major step is to build a flight demonstrator, and we're trying to do everything we can to be prepared for when the time comes,” says Tom Jones, High Speed Project deputy project manager at NASA Armstrong Flight Research Center at Edwards AFB, Calif.
Patrice Moreau (see photo) has been named general sales manager for Europe, the Middle East and Africa for Dunlop Aircraft Tires, Birmingham, England. He was commercial manager for continental Europe for Barnes Aerospace, Derby, England and had been a sales manager for Bombardier regional aircraft.
Russian officials considered delaying the return of Soyuz TMA-10M from the International Space Station March 11 because of blowing snow and 0F cold at the landing site 230 mi. southwest of the Karaganda staging area, but decided to proceed with a reduced helicopter-recovery force instead. ISS Expedition 38 Commander Oleg Kotov, cosmonaut Sergey Ryazanskiy and NASA astronaut Mike Hopkins later parted ways after 166 days in space, with Hopkins headed straight back to Houston and the cosmonauts returning to their Star City base near Moscow.
USAF Brig. Gen. Michael D. Rothstein has been appointed commanding general of the NATO Air Training Command-Afghanistan, NATO Training Mission-Afghanistan and Combined Security Transition Command-Afghanistan/commander, 438th Air Expeditionary Wing of Air Combat Command in Kabul. He has been commander of the 56th Fighter Wing of Air Education and Training Command, Luke AFB, Ariz. Rothstein will be succeeded by Col. Scott L. Pleus, who has been selected for promotion to brigadier general. He has been executive officer to the Air Force chief of staff at the Pentagon.
In the last decade, Congress has moved increasingly toward the use of multi-year contracts to save on big-ticket defense programs. But the Pentagon's current long-term budget plans call for stopping the purchase of Sikorsky MH-60 helicopters one year before its current fixed-price, multi-year agreement expires. That prompts the contractor to raise the specter of the decision reversing the trend in multi-year contracting.
I would like to see Aviation Week return to more engineering and technology and less political coverage. I seldom use the online site because I spend all day at a computer screen, but I would like to see a return of the Check 6 podcasts (with better sound production). They were an excellent complement to the print magazine. Albuquerque, N.M.
USAF Gen. (ret.) Duane H. Cassidy has been named to receive the Ronald N. Priddy NACA-CRAF Partners in Airlift Medal for 2014 from the Arlington, Va.-based National Air Carrier Association (NACA). The award recognizes the contributions of Cassidy to the “close relations between U.S. non-scheduled airlines and the Department of Defense through the Civil Reserve Air Fleet (CRAF) partnership in peace and war.” The award is named for USAF Col. (ret.) Priddy, who was CRAF director during Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm.
April 1-2—SpeedNews Second Annual Aerospace Manufacturing Conference. The Battle House Renaissance, Mobile, Ala.speednews.com/aerospace-manufacturing-conference April 8-10—MRO Americas. Also, April 9—MRO Military. Both at Phoenix Convention Center. events.aviationweek.com/current/mro/index.htm April 11—Society of Experimental Test Pilots' East Coast Section Symposium. NAS Patuxent River, Md. www.setp.org/table/east-coast April 14-17—Asian Business Aviation Conference and Exhibition. Shanghai. www.abace.aero/2012/
Susan Herring (see photo) has been named director of initial-phase operations finance for the Gulfstream Aerospace Corp., Savannah, Ga. She has been finance manager of Gulfstream G450 and G550 product lines and senior finance manager of initial phase operations and advanced aircraft programs.
At least 38 Democratic and Republican senators are joining Airlines 4 America and the union umbrella group Transportation Trades Department's calls for the U.S. Transportation Department to demur on Norwegian Air International's (NAI) application for a foreign air carrier permit. The senators last week signed on to a letter to Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx claiming NAI's application violates the spirit, at least, of the EU-U.S. open-skies agreement.
Raymond Moore (see photo) has become a senior professional manager in the New York office of Parsons Brinckerhoff, responsible for aviation business development and pursuit of airport projects throughout the Northeast U.S. He was director of strategic initiatives at OTG Management and had been regional director of corporate real estate at Delta Air Lines.
As a current airline pilot and the director of the Manpad Task Force, I strongly disagree with the recent viewpoint by Rachel Ehrenfeld (AW&ST Feb. 17, p. 58). Man-portable air-defense systems (Manpads) are highly effective against helicopters and light fixed-wing aircraft; that is what they were designed to shoot down. But they have a dismal, if not nonexistent record against large fixed-wing aircraft. Airliners are extremely robust platforms that are highly resistant to such attacks.
With the Indian government and AgustaWestland on the verge of what could be lengthy litigation over the cancellation of a deal for 12 AW101 VVIP helicopters, the Indian air force (IAF) has decided to fast-track a back-up, with time running out for its shaky fleet of Soviet-era Mi-8 executive transport rotorcraft. India's defense ministry has formally initiated paperwork and discussions that will potentially lead to a fresh competition. Until then, however, the air force must have helicopters to ferry government leaders and visiting dignitaries.
Japanese engineers have ground-tested a turbojet in conditions equivalent to Mach 4, which they believe is the highest simulated speed at which a turbine engine has operated. The February round of tests was a step toward building an engine that, unlike a ramjet, has the thrust and efficiency advantages of mechanical compression and the ability to propel an aircraft from takeoff to Mach 5.
After several years of talking about the overhaul of Europe's air traffic management technology, the time for action finally may be arriving. European regulators and their industry partners have been working to develop detailed blueprints for a next-generation ATM system that would be standard across Europe, and in some cases provided collectively. Now they are launching two initiatives that represent the transition to implementation.
I was introduced to Aviation Week & Space Technology four decades ago at the Air Force Command and Staff College where the magazine was recommended to help us stay current on what is happening around the world. (We were warned that it may contain some classified references.)
