Industry predictions call for 12,000 aircraft to be replaced in the global fleet over the next 20 years as they reach the end of their service lives. As airlines move to more fuel-efficient, quieter and more environmentally sensitive aircraft, older ones are shuffling downstream, often to be parked or dismantled. This may be happening faster than in the past, since operators appear to be deciding more quickly to disassemble, taking advantage of the spare parts market for early end-of-life aircraft and engine models.
Congress has often come to the rescue of programs cut for budget reasons, and the Lakota light-utility helicopter may join that list this year. The Army's fiscal 2014 budget request grounded procurement of the program long-term, and trimmed its purchase over the next two years by 31 aircraft compared with the Army's earlier plans. The cut is a major blow to EADS North America, which was hoping to keep its Columbus, Miss., production line “hot” for the Army's potential Armed Aerial Scout program (AW&ST Sept. 12, 2011, p. 56).
Timothy Harrington (see photos) has been named VP-finance and controller for Northrop Grumman's Linthicum, Md.-based Electronic Systems sector. He was VP and controller of the Technical Services sector. Rich Lambert has become VP-operations and international for the Enterprise Shared Services organization. He was director of operations and chief information officer.
Manfred Bischoff, who heads Daimler's supervisory board, first told me about 25 years ago that the French government should abandon its stake in Aerospatiale Matra, the predecessor of EADS aerospace/defense group's French arm. Bischoff was then chief financial officer of DaimlerChrysler Aerospace and, like most of his German colleagues, firmly believed the time was right to give the private sector some long-overdue freedom and suppress cumbersome political interference. Although he was convincing, he could not persuade his French counterparts to act accordingly.
An article on page 54 of the March 18 issue should have said the December 2010 launch failure that led to the loss of three Russian Glonass satellites was due to overfueling of the Proton rocket's Energia-built Block DM-03 upper stage, while a manufacturing defect in the Breeze M upper-stage helium pressurization system led to the loss of Russia's Express-MD2 and the Indonesian Telkom-3 satellites.
USAF Maj. Gen. David W. Allvin has been named director of strategic planning/deputy chief of staff, strategic plans and programs at USAF Headquarters at the Pentagon. He was commander of the 618th Air and Space Operations Center (Tanker Airlift Control Center) of Air Mobility Command, Scott AFB, Ill. Brig. Gen. James N. Post, 3rd, who has been selected for promotion to major general, has been appointed director of operations at Air Combat Command Headquarters, Joint Base Langley-Eustis, Va.
Saab and the Swedish Defense Procurement Agency, FMV have signed a 10.7 billion kronor ($1.65 billion) contract for development work on the next-generation Gripen fighter jet. The contract, for definition and development work as well as adaptation of test and trial equipment, simulators and rigs follows a 2.5 billion kronor award in February. The development order funds operations on the Gripen E program from 2015-23.
GE Aviation, which developed its Winnipeg Engine Testing, Research and Development Center to take advantage of the Manitoba city's winters for cold-weather testing, is celebrating its first anniversary, with updates that will allow the facility to test year-round (AW&ST April 23/30, 2012, p. 84). Owned by GE Aviation, but operated by StandardAero, the facility underwent a $7.5 million upgrade over the summer.
Lawmakers came up with a budget penalty bad enough to prompt themselves to deal with taxes and entitlements. Until now, the consequences of the $85 billion budget penalty known as sequestration were largely an academic exercise, but the looming closure of FAA contract towers is already making that tangible (see p. 18).
Bombardier has powered up the first CSeries as it moves toward an initial flight of the new narrowbody airliner by the end of June. The first aircraft, flight-test vehicle FTV-1, has left the final-assembly line near Montreal and begun avionics and subsystem ground- testing. Five aircraft will be involved in 12 months of flight-testing for the initial 110-seat CS100 variant, targeting entry into service by mid-2014. Aircraft FTV-2-4 are in final assembly.
Eclipse Aerospace has powered up the first Eclipse 550 as it returns its iconic very light jet to production. The Albuquerque, N.M.-based company has received an amended production certificate from the FAA and plans to begin deliveries of the Pratt & Whitney Canada PW610F-powered Eclipse 550 in the third quarter. The 550 is an updated version of the EA-500, more than 260 of which were delivered by Eclipse Aviation before it went into liquidation.
Eric Byer has been named senior VP of Alexandria, Va.-based Obadal, Filler, MacLeod & Klein. He was VP-government and industry affairs at the National Air Transportation Association.
I'm all for prizes and competitions to spur innovation (AW&ST March 4/11, p. 48), but encouraging several organizations to drop a number of rovers, along with their transports, onto the Moon with no scientific goal is madness. There is already far too much junk on that body, thanks to decades of Soviet and U.S. missions. And the newly space-capable nations such as India, Japan and China will soon be adding a lot more. (Boldly going where man has gone before.)
Also, USAF Maj. Gen. Kenneth D. Merchant has been named director of global reach programs in the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Acquisition at the Pentagon. He was program executive officer for weapons at the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center of Air Force Materiel Command, Eglin AFB, Fla. He will be succeeded by Brig. Gen. Scott W. Jansson, who was aviation commander for the Defense Logistics Agency, Richmond, Va. Brig. Gen. Michael J.
A new NASA mission to bring an asteroid closer to Earth in time to meet President Obama's goal of landing humans on one by 2025 would do more than bring the mountain to Mohammed. It also would add relevance to some of lawmakers' favorite NASA programs—the Orion crew vehicle, heavy-lift Space Launch System and commercial human spacecraft. NASA's fiscal 2014 budget request will include $100 million for the mission to find a small asteroid, capture it with a robotic spacecraft and bring it into range of human explorers somewhere in the vicinity of the Moon.
A backlog of foreign repair station applications created by a byzantine U.S. congressional mandate is forcing airlines to reconsider both expansion and contract maintenance strategies, because desired stations don't have FAA-approved shops to work on U.S.-registered aircraft. (Credit: Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings)
Veronique Creissels (see photo) will become head of communications for Airbus in Toulouse, starting in June. She is head of group communications at Vallourec.
Both Chromalloy and Honeywell are seeking an FAA approval that would allow them to act on behalf of the agency to approve certain types of engineering data, such as major alterations or repairs.
