Solving a problem for NASA carries a cachet that ensures there is a strong response whenever the space agency posts a challenge to any of the online communities it uses to crowd-source new ideas.
The penalty that everyone said was too painful to occur is now happening, with Congress's failure to pass a deal to prevent nearly $1 trillion in government spending cuts over a decade. Now the question is how long the pain will last.
The White House is adopting a tough public relations campaign against China and other online hackers believed to be carrying out what has been described as the greatest theft of intellectual property in history. On Feb.
More than two decades have passed since the last commercial helicopter was built in the U.K., but civil rotorcraft production could be on the verge of a comeback. While the last flirtations with the commercial sector—in the 1980s by what was then Westland were not especially successful—AgustaWestland, the helicopter manufacturing arm of Italy's Finmeccanica, believes it is time for its Yeovil-based U.K. subsidiary to reembrace the commercial world.
Beechcraft and BAE Systems have undertaken the first flight of a specially modified BAe 146 transport aircraft for the U.K. Royal Air Force. The U.K. Defense Ministry purchased two ex-TNT Airlines BAe 146-200QTs in early 2012 as part of an urgent operational requirement to support and boost passenger and cargo transport capability in Afghanistan. The aircraft were delivered to BAE and Beechcraft Global Customer Support under a £15.5 million ($24.3 million) deal.
March 4—SpeedNews Third Annual Aerospace Raw Materials & Manufacturers Supply Chain Conference. Also, March 4-6—SpeedNews 27th Annual Commercial Aviation Industry Suppliers Conference. Beverly Wilshire Hotel, Beverly Hills, Calif. See www.speednews.com/ConferenceInfo.aspx?conferenceID=21 March 12-14—ATC Global Amsterdam 2013. RAI Exhibition & Congress Center. See www.atcglobalhub.com/events March 12-13—Second Annual California Aerospace Week. Sacramento. See https://www.aiaa.org/CAAerospaceWeek2013/
Jeffrey N. Shane has been named general counsel of Geneva-based International Air Transport Association, effective April 2. He has been a partner in Hogan Lovells US since 2008 and was U.S. undersecretary of transportation for policy.
I believe that for the first time in your Who's Where column every photo is of a woman executive (AW&ST Feb. 4, p. 10). This indicates just how dramatically the defense-technical business world has changed. For a vivid example of how few women held significant spots on the aerospace scene in the past, look to our company's main conference room—newly built in about 1958—where there was only one restroom—“Men's.”
USAF Maj. Joshua J. Chumley, commander, Operating Location Alpha, 3d Space Experimentation Squadron, USAF Space Command, will receive the Washington-based National Space Club's Gen. Bernard Schriever Award for leading a team responsible for operation of the Orbital Test Vehicle.
Over the years, France was—and remains, to some extent— an aerospace-proud nation. In the last several decades, it was often the vanguard for innovations. This forward-thinking momentum began more than 100 years ago when the great minds of the day gave a warm welcome to the Wright brothers after the two inventors failed to garner the support they needed in the U.S. In France, they were accorded respect, accolades and help in their efforts to make controlled flight a reality, including during their celebrated stay in Rheims, in 1909.
Short-takeoff-and vertical-landing (Stovl) Lockheed Martin F-35Bs returned to flight on Feb. 12 after being grounded for almost a month following the Jan. 18 failure of a fueldraulic hose to the actuator that drives the aircraft's swivelling exhaust nozzle. Investigation revealed the hose was improperly crimped. All 25 development and production F-35Bs were inspected and affected hoses replaced. Although Stovl flight-testing was running ahead of plan, Lockheed Martin says the grounding has impacted the program and that it is working to recover any delay.
Indian Foreign Secretary Ranjan Mathai, speaking in Washington, has called for joint design and coproduction of weapons and defense capabilities with the U.S. Appearing Feb. 21 at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Mathai told the audience that the two countries should enter into joint defense projects—a sign that New Delhi is increasingly interested in more than just utilizing traditional “offsets,” i.e., local spending by Western defense companies, to build up its own industry.
Russian aircraft manufacturer Sukhoi has started flight-testing the long-range version of its Superjet 100. But if the SSJ program is to become a success, the technical flaws that affect the baseline version must be conquered.
Linda Markham has been appointed president of Hyannis, Mass.-based Cape Air, succeeding Dave Bushy, who plans to retire. Markham was executive VP and will remain chief administrative officer.
For the first time, a Boeing union has endorsed the company's plan to back away from guaranteed pensions but a minority group said it would rather strike instead, so the airplane maker has more uncertainty on its agenda.
Now entering the final stages of designing its Model 525 Relentless medium twin, Bell Helicopter is taking lessons not only from its own past, but from another major manufacturer. Build will start in the second quarter, aiming for a first flight in 2014.
Greg Hyslop (see photos) has been appointed VP and general manager of Chicago-based Boeing Research & Technology, succeeding Matt Ganz, who was recently named president of Boeing Germany and Northern Europe and VP-European Technology Strategy. Succeeding Hyslop as VP and general manager of Boeing Strategic Missile & Defense Systems is Jim Chilton, who was VP and program manager for Exploration Launch Systems.
In Washington nobody likes to talk about the “s-word” but as March 1, the deadline for the across-the-board budget cuts grows closer, conversations about sequestration are becoming all-consuming. “It is just occupying everyone's time,” says Pentagon industrial base chief Brett Lambert. Unless lawmakers pass a new agreement by the end of the month, $85 billion in across-the-board budget reductions will take place for fiscal 2013. It is the first increment in a 10-year, nearly $1 trillion package of spending cuts.
Aug. 10, 1628: Vasa, first of a new class of ships intended to change the balance of power in Nordic waters, left her Stockholm yard for the first time. As she left the lee of the city, she heeled sharply, flooded and sank. The shipwrights blamed the sailors for demanding too many guns. This is related to the news that full-scale development of the JAS 39E version of the Saab Gripen will cost 13.1 billion kronor ($2.1 billion) over five years. That is about 1 billion kronor less than Saab's last major effort, the JAS 39C/D.
