The new darling of the Obama administration's fiscal 2014 budget request just may be the FAA's NextGen. The president is asking Congress to approve nearly $2 billion for the air traffic modernization system. The FAA's facilities and equipment accounts would grow by 7% over the past year. And $212 million of that would fund the Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast program. Plus, NextGen would receive an additional $1 billion from a Transportation Department effort to fund infrastructure improvements and create jobs.
Bonhams, the British auction house, moves a good bit of art, jewelry, coins, special road vehicles and similar collectibles. It handles aircraft occasionally, but, explained one of the company's representatives, those must be “quite special” and likely to generate a successful sale.
Tom Hartmann Vice President-Customer Business Rolls-Royce Defense (Indianapolis, Ind. )
Bill Sweetman's recent Commander's Intent column on UAVs (AW&ST March 18, p. 14), offers some peculiar observations, including an oblique reference to the Rolls-Royce AE 3007 engines on the Northrop Grumman Global Hawk.
Over the last decade, the French government's equity interest in several large defense companies has been questionably managed, according to a new report by France's auditing arm, the Cour des Comptes, which says the state's shareholder interest in companies such as EADS, Thales and Safran is often at odds with its role representing the French taxpayer. And in a couple of cases, according to the audit, the government has shown itself to be incompetent.
On this, the eve of the reemergence of the Eclipse, the original very light jet (VLJ), Diamond Aircraft has put its little jet on indefinite hold pending further infusion of cash into the program.
The top officer in charge of U.S. Pacific Command asserts U.S. readiness and capability to intercept any North Korean medium- or long-range missile launched against the U.S. or allies, but he tells senators that a decision could be made quickly to hold off if intelligence and the missile's trajectory does not indicate a threat. Navy Adm. Samuel Locklear tells the Senate he would not unilaterally recommend shooting down a North Korean missile. He confirms the U.S.
TWA Capt. (ret.) Wally Roberts (San Clemente, Calif. )
No one is more deserving of recognition than my longtime friend and industry associate Don Bateman, truly the tireless father of ground proximity equipment (AW&ST March 25, p. 52). A nit-pick, though, about your mention of the GPWS-equipped American Airlines crash in December 1995 near Puga, Colombia. Four people and, I believe, a dog survived—found two days later when the recovery team reached the wreckage high in the mountains. Four survivors in what was essentially a non-survivable crash. Amazing.
Christian D. Becker is one of six U.S. Navy captains who have been nominated for promotion to rear admiral (lower half). He is major program manager for Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command, Space Field Activity, Chantilly, Va. The others are: Jon A. Hill, major program manager for the Program Executive Office for Integrated Warfare Systems in Washington; Roy J. Kelley, chief of staff and commander of the Naval Air Force of the U.S. Pacific Fleet in San Diego; Michael T.
NASA is teaming with the Air Force Research Laboratory on a one-year study of advanced spaceflight-computer applications for the coming decade. The civilian agency's Space Technology Mission Directorate joined AFRL in a broad agency announcement seeking 2-4 companies to evaluate potential space-processor applications for the 2020-30 period, with about $2 million to be shared among proposers under cost-reimbursement contracts.
This statement appears in “Charging Back” (AW&ST Mar. 18, p. 28), regarding the Boeing 787 battery problem: “Securiplane, the charging system developer, tested the unit with a simulated electric load instead of an actual battery. The company apparently took this precaution after having earlier suffered a fire at its facility during battery testing.”
Boeing is developing a family of small satellites—from 4-1,000 kg (8.8-2,204 lb.) in size—to whet the growing appetites of commercial and government customers interested in lower-cost space platforms. This small satellite market, potentially worth billions in the next 10 years, is “coming of age,” says Alex Lopez, vice president of advanced network and space systems at Boeing. The company has yet to get a committed customer.
Boeing has made a not surprising choice for the headquarters of its Brazilian research and technology center: Sao Jose dos Campos, home of Embraer and the center of the country's aerospace industry. The center is to open later this year to “investigate and develop aerospace technology projects.” It is among a series of cooperative initiatives the company has made in Brazil where it is trying to win new business, including selection of the F/A-18E/F fighter by the Brazilian air force.
If stock market fluctuations are considered to be good indicators, the next big airline industry disaster is just around the corner. Because of the outbreak of avian influenza in China, airline stocks started to plunge at the start of the month. That country's carriers were hit particularly hard; some share prices were down by as much as 15%. Even European airlines experienced significant drops. And the situation escalated further when EasyJet's stock dropped by 3%, even though it had just reported significantly reduced losses for the seasonally weak first half.
The baseline funding request for fiscal 2014 for the U.S. National Intelligence Program is $48.2 billion, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper says. An undisclosed additional amount will be sought as part of the supplemental, off-book budget request for warfighting. Altogether, $53.9 billion was appropriated for 2013, while $52.6 billion was requested. Meanwhile, the baseline Military Intelligence Program budget request is $14.6 billion, the Pentagon says.
Matt Pothecary (see photos) has been promoted to vice president-group communications from communications director of Paris-based Thales Avionics and Alexandre Perra to deputy director from head of media relations of Thales International. Perra will remain head of group media relations.
Mark Saxton (see photo) has been named director of aircraft sales and acquisitions for TWC Aviation, San Jose, Calif. He was West Coast U.S. sales director for Embraer Executive Jets and has been executive director of Corporate Flight International. Honors And Elections
Brazil's purchase of 36 new fighters, a key target for competitors Boeing, Saab and Dassault, is “on the desk” of President Dilma Rousseff. Industry executives seem united in believing that the decision cannot be deferred much beyond the summer without costing Brazil more money—or even putting force structure at risk—as aging fighters are forced into retirement. Competing officials also report signals from the Brazilian military that the deal will move quickly through the contract stage once Rousseff has made her choice.
Sean Williams has been appointed vice president-state and local government affairs for Washington-based Airlines for America. He has been a Connecticut state representative, assistant Republican leader and ranking member of the legislature's Finance Committee, and a member of the Connecticut State Bond Commission.
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