Russian arms exporter Rosoboronexport is denying reports that it has lost Indian air force (IAF) competitions for heavy-lift transport helicopters and refueling aircraft. A senior Indian defense official indicated in October that Boeing's CH-47F Chinook had emerged as the lowest bidder for the helicopter deal, besting an upgraded Russian Mi-26T2 after life-cycle costs were calculated. At the same time, there also were reports that the Russian Ilyushin Il-78MK-90 aerial tanker aircraft had lost to the Airbus A330 MRTT.
Dec. 11-13—Middle East Business Aviation. Al Maktoum International Airport, Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Call +44 (208) 846-2740 or +971-4603-3300 or see www.meba.aero Jan. 7-10—AIAA's 51st Aerospace Sciences Meeting including the New Horizons Forum and Aerospace Exposition. Gaylord Texan Hotel and Convention, Grapevine, Texas. See www.aiaa.org/asm2013 Jan. 9-10—Fourth Annual China Aerospace Manufacturing Summit. Post Hotel, Harbin City. See www.galleonevents.com/2013CAMS
Great job on the Hail and Farewell tribute to FSI founder Al Ueltschi. It was a masterful synopsis of the life of this legend, especially considering the single-page constraint. McLean, Va.
James Free has been named director of the NASA Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, succeeding Ramon Lugo, who plans to retire in January. Free has been deputy director.
The U.S. Air Force's classified research and development budget is supporting two major programs, according to industry and government sources: an unmanned intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance aircraft developed by Northrop Grumman and a bomber demonstrator from Lockheed Martin. In the last few weeks, an industry executive has told Aviation Week that Lockheed Martin is building a “Next Generation Bomber”—the name NGB was used, although the Air Force's requirement is now known as the Long-Range Strike Bomber—at Palmdale, Calif.
Regarding the “Bigger Bang Theory” about a “a devastating explosive that is safe to handle (AW&ST Nov. 19, p. DT17), I still remember Tritenol-filled, Mk-80-series bombs. I saw reports and ship-board CCTV recordings of the USS Oriskany disaster in which two sailors aboard the aircraft carrier were restoring aircraft flares off-loaded from aircraft returning from a mission over Vietnam on Oct. 26, 1966. I watched a forward munitions dump explode (high-order) at Chu-Lia, a U.S. Marine Corps base in South Vietnam, at the start of Tet Offensive in 1968.
Kevin Markette (see photo) has become Lufthansa's general manager for Ghana, succeeding Yannick Aplogan, who was appointed general manager for Gabon. Markette was regional manager for marketing and business development in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
During the Cold War, it is said that the main concern of the CIA was a merchant vessel sailing up the Hudson River with a thermonuclear bomb in its bilge. A contemporary situation might be the acute vulnerability of civilian nuclear reactors to attack from the air. Low-flying light aircraft packed with high explosives impacting the containment vessel and core could engender a Chernobyl-type meltdown and radiation release.
Moves are afoot to rename NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards AFB, Calif., as the Neil A. Armstrong Flight Research Center. At the same time, proponents of the move suggest the enormous test area—the Western Aeronautical Test Range—be renamed as the Hugh L. Dryden Aeronautical Test Range. The change is proposed by Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), who announced legislation for this purpose on Nov. 29.
Sunil Navale (see photo) has been appointed VP-business management for Northrop Grumman Corp.'s Space Systems Sector, Redondo Beach, Calif. He was sector director of financial planning and reporting.
Jim Coon, who has been chief of staff for the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, will join the Alexandria, Va.-based National Air Transportation Association as executive VP in January. Amy B. Koranda has been promoted to VP from head of NATA's Safety First program.
In response to your editorial, “Could the JSF Problem Be Fixed With Competition?” (AW&ST Oct. 1, p. 58), I say: “Yes.” Look at the reductions gained in deregulating the airlines. A secondary problem is Congress's fetish to try and build one aircraft to do too much, as if past history (the F-111 comes to mind) was not a satisfactory lesson.
On our main cover, the University of Iowa's two Aero Vodochody L-29 Delfins fly in formation (photo by Tom Schnell and Brian Ray). Rockwell Collins is working with the university to experiment with “pseudo-simulators” to reduce the number of aircraft needed for military exercises (see page 48). A second “cover” follows in our digital edition and highlights a digital-only special report on classified programs from our defense technology team (see page 29).
George Birsic (see photo) has joined Boulder, Colo.-based Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. as Washington-based director of defense and intelligence. A retired USAF colonel, Birsic was director of the Systems Technology Group at the National Reconnaissance Office.
Embraer began flight tests of its Legacy 500 mid-size business jet on Nov. 27 at San Jose dos Campos, Brazil, after delays caused by the clean-sheet aircraft's fly-by-wire (FBW) flight control system. Deliveries are expected to begin in 2014, more than a year behind schedule. Problems with certification of software for the Parker Aerospace-supplied fly-by-wire system caused the delay, and forced Embraer to transfer responsibility for the software to BAE Systems—an experienced FBW developer and supplier of the main flight-control computers to Parker.
I disagree with reader Kevin A. Capps's “Location as a Deterrent” (AW&ST Nov. 19, p. 10). It would be nice to believe Muslims living in and around Israel might insulate the country from a nuclear attack, but since when has any place been holy enough to prevent Muslim-on-Muslim violence? Muslims have attacked pilgrims in Mecca, and holy shrines and mosques have been bombed in Iraq by opposing Sunni and Shiite factions. Sacrificing fellow Muslims to advance an agenda against Jews has never been a deterrent to jihadists' goals.
AgustaWestland-built AH-64 Apache attack helicopters have performed exceedingly well for the U.K. in Afghanistan and elsewhere, but they need upgrading to maintain that record. Options for the Attack Helicopter Capability Sustainment Program (AH CSP)—understood to be worth around £1 billion ($1.59 billion) for the winning bidder—are currently being assessed by the U.K. Defense Ministry, which is expected to reach a final decision in the spring.
The global aviation community appears to agree in principle to broad new equipage architectures for a next-generation air traffic management (ATM) system under an International Civil Aviation Organization plan that defines airborne and ground navigation infrastructure upgrades through 2028. Details of the Block 0-3 aviation system block upgrades (ASBU), and the specific modules within the blocks, were debated by delegates from 191 member countries as part of the 12th Air Navigation Conference (ANC) in Montreal Nov. 19-30.
Following a successful test-firing of its Advanced Air Defense (AAD) system, India says it is likely to deploy its first ballistic missile defense shield in 2014. The indigenously developed supersonic interceptor missile hit an incoming ballistic missile target at around 12:52 a.m. local time Nov. 23, according to an official at the Defense Research and Development Organization.
