The second Lockheed Martin Space-Based Infrared Satellite (Sbirs) was successfully launched on a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket March 20 for the U.S. Air Force. The company has acquired the downlink signal for the missile-warning spacecraft and is executing a series of six liquid apogee engine burns to maneuver it into geosynchronous orbit. The payload is scheduled to engage about 30 days after launch.
Guillaume Faury (see photo) has been appointed CEO of EADS's Eurocopter division, succeeding Lutz Bertling, who has resigned. Faury returns to Eurocopter after a tenure as executive VP for research and development at Peugeot.
A highlight of Aviation Week's Laureates gala is always the presentation of the award for heroism. This year, the recipients were the personnel of U.S. Coast Guard Air Station Elizabeth City, N.C., who rescued seafarers of the HMS Bounty caught in Hurricane Sandy in October 2012.
Russia's modernized Ilyushin Il-76MD-90A military heavy airlifter, also known as Il-476, started the first stage of assessment trials for the country's defense ministry. The first of 22 test flights planned for this stage took place March 18 in Zhukovsky, near Moscow, lasted 1 hr. 55 min. and involved the prototype 002. The older D-30KP2 turbofans were replaced by more powerful PS-90A-76 engines so the airlifter can use shorter runways. The Il-76MD-90A prototype made its maiden 40-min. flight on Sept. 22, 2012.
NASA has taken down a popular technical reports server after the chairman of the House Appropriations subcommittee that funds the space agency complained the website was particularly popular in China. Shutdown of the NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS) follows the March 16 arrest of a NASA contractor employee as he awaited takeoff at Dulles International Airport on a flight to his native China.
India is preparing to integrate scientific payloads with its first Mars orbiter, which is scheduled to be launched Nov. 27, says the ISRO chairman. Subsystems are being tested and ground station augmentations are being made at the satellite center in Bengaluru, he says. Integration of the satellite should be complete in September. The Maangalyaan orbiter will carry nine scientific instruments to study the Martian atmosphere, climate, geology, origin and evolution, as well as its past and current habitability.
Immediately after Congress passed a spending bill last week to fund the government for the rest of fiscal 2013, lawmakers' attention has turned to the fiscal 2014 budget. While Congress continues to wrestle with how to reduce the federal deficit and overturn sequestration before its potential consequences become a chilling reality, that does not mean it will be any easier to agree on spending Pentagon dollars. Last year, Congress thwarted Air Force plans to put Global Hawk Block 30 aircraft in storage.
Your editorial “Pettiness, Paralysis and Power” (AW&ST Feb. 25, p. 58) perfectly summarizes the causes of—and lack of a solution to—the sequestration-related dilemma in Washington. Neither Democrats nor Republicans, neither the Congress nor the White House (nor the voters who elected them), seem to realize that their combined actions throughout our nation's history have cumulatively resulted in our crushing national debt. Revenue and spending both caused this crisis; revenue and spending together will solve it.
Inspired by two Roman palaces, the National Building Museum was constructed in the 1880s with the dual purpose of housing the U.S. Pension Bureau and providing “a suitably grand space for Washington's social and political functions.” On March 7, nearly 300 aviation and aerospace luminaries from around the globe gathered in the cavernous building for Aviation Week's 56th annual Laureate Awards.
For the second time in just over a year, Lockheed Martin's premier aeronautics division in Fort Worth is getting a new boss. Larry Lawson is leaving as executive vice president for Lockheed Martin Aeronautics—which oversees the F-35, F-22, C-130J and C-5 reengining programs—after only a year (see article above). His predecessor, Ralph Heath, who held that position for seven years, left last April.
Peggy Nelson (see photo) has been named VP-engineering and global product development for Northrop Grumman's Redondo Beach, Calif.-based Aerospace Systems sector. She was the lead executive for mission assurance, quality systems, engineering capabilities and university alliances for the company's then-Space Technology sector.
April 16-18—MRO Americas/MRO Military. Atlanta. May 7-8—Civil Aviation Manufacturing. Charlotte, N.C. May 14-15—MRO Eastern Europe. Vilnius, Lithuania. Sept. 9-11—NextGen Ahead. Washington. Sept. 24-26—MRO Europe. London. Oct. 29-31—MRO Asia. Singapore. Nov. 12-14—A&D Programs. Phoenix. You can now register ONLINEfor Aviation Week Events. Go to www.aviationweek.com/events or call +1 (212) 904-4682.
Jose Montero, director of planning of Copa Airlines, has become CFO of Panama-based Copa Holdings, succeeding Victor Vial, who will become an adviser to the board of directors.
India has maintained its position as the world's leading arms importer for the third year in a row, ahead of China, which moved up a spot as one of the five largest weapons exporters, a Swedish-based research institute says. India replaced China as the leading importer of weapons in 2011 and has maintained its lead spot, accounting for 12% of global arms imports, or almost twice that of China, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (Sipri) says. During 2008-12, India's arms imports rose 59% from 2003-07 and were 109% higher than those of China.
In 2012, deliveries of large commercial jets manufactured by Airbus and Boeing exceeded $88 billion in value, at estimated prices, up 57% since 2008. During that same four-year period, the global economy had its worst years since World War II. The macroeconomic recovery has been anemic, and demand for air travel only marginally better. While airline revenue passenger kilometers grew 6.9% in 2010 following a 3.5% decline in 2009, growth eased to just 5.3% in 2011.
Prof. Zaichun (Frank) Feng (Columbia, Mo. ), Mechanical/Aerospace Engineering Dept. (Columbia, Mo. ), University of Missouri (Columbia, Mo. )
I have worked out a mathematical model to show that “internal charge sloshing” among the parallel units inside a lithium-ion cell can cause the “internal electric short” and result in thermal runaway. The Boeing 787 module consists of eight cells in series. However, each cell has three parallel units. These three units are expected to charge and discharge uniformly. A worst-case scenario may arise when one unit starts to charge one of its neighbors.
Ken Aso (see photo) has been named senior VP-corporate strategy and customer development for Tempe, Ariz.-based StandardAero. He was a partner at Oliver Wyman.
On March 31 a full decade will have passed since Chicago's then-Mayor Richard M. Daley sent municipal crews in the dark of night to bulldoze the runway at close-in Meigs Field.
This week, Aviation Week publishes two editions. The cover at the far left shows the Gulfstream G650 (photo courtesy of Gulfstream). Our chief evaluation pilot's report on the state-of–the-art business aircraft begins on page 40. Also in both editions are reports on our Laureate Awards (page 43), the 787 battery (page 35), China's Long March 5 launcher (page 30), new avionics for surface operations (page 37) and missile defense (page 28).
