At this time of year, the Pentagon is always wrangling over future budgets. But this year, the ongoing budget indecision is forcing a more open discussion. The Pentagon outlined on July 31 the findings of its Strategic Choices Management Review (SCMR), which are best viewed as the parameters for negotiations on its fiscal 2015-19 budgets.
The recent Washington Outlook column “Dead Cat Bounce” (AW&ST July 22, p. 21), piqued my interest, especially the quote by Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.): “If I were the Iranians I would send a thank-you note to the Congress for grounding more Air Force planes than they could do on their own.” The same article goes on to say that Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel is touring the U.S. telling defense and military personnel to expect life to get more difficult.
EADS has sought to be a broad and balanced aerospace group ever since its inception in 2000. That the group is now renamed Airbus—consolidating its weaker businesses—indicates it remains what it was: a commercial aircraft manufacturer with a defense/space and helicopter division.
Franck Terner (see photo) has been appointed president of Air France-KLM Engineering & Maintenance. He was executive vice president-strategy and commercial, engineering and maintenance, a member of the Air France-KLM Group and has been president of Air France Industries.
When you operate the world's safest, most advanced and most lucrative aviation system—as the U.S. does—others are naturally going to want a piece of that pie. It is up to the U.S. government, therefore, not to slice it up at the expense of the American aviation industry and its workforce.
A testbed for future fuel-efficient transport and unmanned aircraft with slender, flexible wings has made its first flight at the NASA Dryden Flight Research Center, Calif. The X-56A Multi-Utility Technology Testbed was built by the Lockheed Martin Skunk Works for the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) and NASA to test active aeroelastic control technologies for flutter suppression and gust-load alleviation.
Thomas Kennedy has been appointed Singapore-based vice president-sales for Asia of the Mubadala Aerospace maintenance, repair and overhaul network. He was director of business development for Asia-Pacific, the Middle East and Africa for Parker Aerospace.
An FAA mandate for safety management systems (SMS) at repair stations should be scalable, results from a recent survey suggest. The survey, conducted by St. Louis University's Center for Aviation Safety Research (CASR), was designed to help the FAA create an SMS strategy for maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) facilities. Among the results: 65% of the 438 respondents say MROs working on airline equipment should have an SMS. Among those that work on transport category aircraft—7% of the U.S. fleet—55% say they would “likely” voluntarily implement SMS.
John Turner has been appointed non-executive director for flying for U.K.-based Farnborough International Ltd. He also is chairman of the Flying Control Committee of Farnborough International Airshow. Turner succeeds Vic Lockwood, who has retired. Turner was director of the Military Aircraft Div. of BAE Systems.
India will test the air-launched variant of the BrahMos supersonic cruise missile by the end of this year, a top scientist says. The missile, developed in cooperation with Russia, will be fitted onto an Indian air force Sukhoi Su-30MKI aircraft for its “first flight trial,” according to A. Sivathanu Pillai, missile scientist and CEO of BrahMos Aerospace. Presently, fitness tests are underway for integrating the air-launched BrahMos with the Sukhoi fighter. “Because of the size and weight of the missile, we are fitting the aircraft with one missile each,” Pillai says.
The coming generation of 90-seat turboprops will be more powerful than the aircraft now garnering the most orders, the ATR 72. But some of the intending manufacturers are pushing more than others for high power, and therefore high speed and fast climb—at the cost of fuel efficiency.
Phil Lynch has been appointed chairman of the board of the Louisville (Ky.) Regional Airport Authority. Jim Welch was reelected vice chairman and Jon Meyer secretary-treasurer. Lynch is vice president and director of corporate communications and Welch vice chairman of Brown-Forman. Meyer is chairman of the accounting firm Jones, of Nale & Mattingly.
Thank you for the editorial “Ending Automation Addiction” (AW&ST July 22, p. 58). Using autothrottle on final approach is like using cruise control to park your car in the garage. Placerville, Calif.
An article on the U.K. Merlin helicopter fleet in the July 29 issue, “High Expectations” (page 24), misstated the name of the mission system on the Merlin Mk2. The correct name is MCSP Tactical System.
A Lunar X-Prize contender plans to mount a commercial mission to the Moon as a step toward a private lunar sample-return flight around 2020 and ultimately, perhaps, lunar mining for water and valuable minerals. Moon Express Inc.—a strong contender in the $30 million Google Lunar X-Prize competition—says it will mount a follow-on mission to the Moon's south pole in partnership with the International Lunar Observatory Association (ILOA), one of the piggyback customers for its X-Prize entry.
Brendan Curran (see photo) has become president of the Aerospace Group of Crane Aerospace & Electronics, Lynnwood, Wash. He was vice president-strategy, business development and partnerships for Pratt & Whitney Commercial Engines and had been an executive with Hamilton Sundstrand, another United Technologies company.
I picked up a subscription to Aviation Week while attending the Oshkosh (Wis.) air show in 2011 and have enjoyed your publication immensely ever since, although mail delivery from the U.S. to Australia can be a little erratic. I know you have to cater to a broad audience, but I'd like to see more on aircraft design, construction, technology, performance, maintenance, safety, usage, retirement and industry trends.
