Airbus will require radio-frequency identification (RFID) tags to be attached to all seat and life vests for its aircraft, beginning in 2013. The European manufacturer says RFID is an “error-proof identification” system that boosts the efficiency of its supply chain by improving the visibility of how components move through it. The company estimates an annual volume of 120,000 tags for life vests and 40,000 for seats.
Indonesia's new offsets law is about to be put to the test. The Southeast Asian nation, which has woefully inadequate radar surveillance coverage, is poised to select a supplier for long-range, ground-based radar for its air force. “I have told my staff 'if they are ready to select a supplier for the ground-based radar, I am ready',” Defense Minister Purnomo Yusgiantoro told Aviation Week Nov. 6 on the eve of the IndoDefense exhibition here.
Sweden's parliament will probably decide to approve launch of the JAS 39E/F Gripen program in December, with a development contract to be issued in January, according to Lt. Col. Rickard Nystrom, head of aircraft programs in the requirements office at Sweden's armed forces headquarters.
Ferio Pugliese has been named executive VP of Calgary, Alberta-based WestJet and president of WestJet Encore. He will continue to have responsibility for WestJet's people and culture.
Precision Castparts Corp. (PCP) is again strengthening its market position, by acquiring Titanium Metals Corp. (Timet), the largest independent manufacturer in the U.S. of titanium billets used in aerospace structures.
Avic President Lin Zuoming said in April that the Chinese aeronautics group's first priority was engine development. As if to show that the boss was serious, group propulsion specialist Avic Engine unveiled two new turbofans at Airshow China here last week, one of them aimed at freeing the country from reliance on foreign engines—and therefore exposure to a foreign veto—in its quest to become a major military aircraft exporter.
The covers of both editions of this week's magazine show Northrop Grumman's production-ready, two-seat, optionally piloted Firebird UAV in flight at Mojave, Calif. Aviation Week, which revealed both the original Firebird and the first flight of this larger version, gets an inside look at the program as tests begin (see page 32). Northrop Grumman photo by Robert Brown. Also in both editions are reports on cyberwarfare (page 44), China's move to export stealth aircraft (page 26) and the EU's efforts to control airlines' greenhouse gas emissions (page 41).
A common central idea in defending military, government and commercial networks from cyberattack involves “operating through the attack.” To do so, the defender needs near-real-time awareness of an attacker's methods and targets and the ability to manage consequences on the fly.
Computer networks that control crucial industrial and manufacturing processes, and vital energy and water utilities, were once considered immune to cyberattack, because in theory they were “air-gapped,” with no physical connection to the worldwide Internet. But that notion has died as researchers have found obscure Internet connections in virtually every automated system.
Spencer Dickerson (see photos) and Todd Hauptli, under a reorganization at Alexandria, Va.-based American Association of Airport Executives, have been named to head two new business units. Dickerson has become president of AAAE Meetings and International and Hauptli president of AAAE Gov.
Not long ago, it was in vogue to talk about the coming end of the Boeing-Airbus duopoly in the commercial jet market, with the impending arrival of a new generation of competitors such as China's Comac and Russia's United Aircraft Corp. (UAC). Regional-jet pioneer Bombardier had already leaped into head-on competition in the narrowbody market with its CSeries jet, and many industry observers speculated that it was only a matter of time before Embraer moved into larger models.
It has been obvious since a number of countries threatened serious retaliation against Europe's Emissions Trading System (ETS) that the European Commission would have to find a way to back away from its plans in their current form with the least embarrassment. The shelving of parts of the contentious European Union ETS creates an opportunity to settle the dispute. But it is far from certain that a global scheme will be created.
Karen M. Campbell (see photo) has become VP of Northrop Grumman Corp.'s Marine Systems unit, based in Sunnyvale, Calif. She was director of bomber radar programs in the company's Global Sensor Solutions unit.
NASA 's long-lived Mars Odyssey orbiter completed a switch to a backup primary computer early last week, cementing the 11-year-old spacecraft's role as a critical communications relay for the agency's Curiosity and Opportunity rovers. The transition from the A- to B-side primary processor included a critical swap to Odyssey's backup inertial measurement unit, the navigation subsystem that controls pointing of the orbiter's antenna, solar array and science instruments.
One thing that stands out for me regarding the possibility of nuclear conflict in the Middle East is that Jerusalem contains holy sites not only important to Jews and Christians, but also to Muslims. The Iranians would never attack Jerusalem with a nuclear weapon. Not even Tel Aviv, due to its proximity, would be on a nuclear target list.
Tim Dumbauld has been appointed VP and general manager of Wood Dale, Ill.-based AAR Corp.'s Precision Systems. He was VP-military programs at Goodrich Aerostructures.
Aircraft orders from China are often political decisions, and that is also the case with the C919, for which the Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (Comac) received a flurry of orders at the Zhuhai air show Nov. 13-18. The numbers look less impressive, though, if one examines who the buyers are and why they ordered the aircraft: Hebei Airlines and Joy Air each signed for 20, and GE Capital Aviation Services (Gecas) for 10.
Long ago I learned to be wary of words ending in “st” when describing a particular model of aircraft. Identify at your peril any as being the fastest, quietest, longest-ranging, widest, or for possessing the highest cruise altitude, largest storage capacity or lowest SFC. Inevitably, someone will point to a forgotten one-off or a footnote that will prove your remark not quite right.
Next up for Swiss airframer Pilatus: a twinjet. Company executives are confirming that their PC-24 will be a twin business jet—their first twin and the first business jet. The company, which specializes in single-turboprop business aircraft and military trainers, has acknowledged development of the PC-24 over the past couple of years, but has kept quiet on details. The company verified that the aircraft would be a twin-jet as part of its announcement that COO Markus Bucher was named CEO, succeeding Oscar Schwenk.
Last week, Boeing topped 1,000 orders for the first time in a single year, with completion of a previously announced deal by Singapore-based SilkAir to buy 31 737-8s and 23 737-800s. The 737-8 will be the first MAX model, scheduled to enter service with Southwest Airlines in 2017. Boeing now has 969 MAX orders.
Your recent articles on the Iranian nuclear threat left out the possibility that Iran could put Hezbollah and others under its nuclear umbrella. Even if the world is not sure Iran could deliver on its nuclear threat, the threat that an attack on Hezbollah—or an attempt to open the Strait of Hormuz after Iran tried to close it—would be met with nuclear retaliation and would have to be taken seriously. It would surely make Israel and others think long and hard before defending themselves.
