Showtime for the biennial Middle East Business Aviation convention is set for Dec. 11-13 at Dubai's Al Maktoum International Airport-Dubai World Central. Previous commitments in the U.S. that week preclude my attending, which is too bad, since the previous gathering (photo) was an eye opener for this first-time visitor to the glittering UAE, and well worth the ticket price.
How do you maneuver an unmanned aircraft around the carrier deck without a pilot onboard? By using a wireless hand-controller strapped to your arm. That's what the U.S. Navy is doing during testing of the Northrop Grumman X-47B unmanned combat air system demonstrator at NAS Patuxent River in Maryland. See the video on the Ares defense blog. Mac says:
Brian Hogan, Steven Allen and Charles Johnson have been named management partners of U.K.-based Mango Aviation. Hogan and Allen were CEO adviser and chief compliance adviser, respectively, at Zest Airways. Johnson was promoted to partner for product & ancillary revenue.
NASA plans to hold a workshop in February on possible uses for two 2.4-meter telescope mirrors transferred in June by the National Reconnaissance Office. Although the optics have been proposed for a wide-field infrared survey of the sky, other possible uses are for focused space-technology research, human exploration and operations, heliophysics, astrophysics and planetary science. The mirrors were crafted but never used for terrestrial reconnaissance.
Jan. 22-23—MRO Middle East. Dubai, United Arab Emirates. March 5-6—Defense Technology Requirements. Arlington, Va. March 7—Aviation Week's Laureate Awards. Washington. 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. 24-26—MRO Europe. London. You can now register ONLINEfor Aviation Week Events. Go to www.aviationweek.com/events or call +1 (212) 904-4682.
Isle of Man-based airline Manx2 is to be renamed Citywing following a management buyout. The airline, which will remain headquartered on the island, plans to begin services under its new identity on Jan. 2. Current Chairman Noel Hayes will remain in the role at Citywing along with Managing Director David Buck. The airline flies to regional destinations around the U.K. and hopes to develop further city-to-city routes outside the Isle of Man.
Eight experiments—four commercial and four academic—will fly on the International Space Station (ISS) in December 2013 as winners of a competition jointly sponsored by Space Florida, the state's aerospace development organization, and NanoRacks, which provides cubesat-standard accommodation on the orbiting laboratory.
Boeing beat out Lockheed Martin for a $179.6 million contract to build the tail kit as part of a life extension to the B61-12 weapon that will also allow for it to be carried by the F-35 fighter. The tail kit work will require high geolocation accuracy, much like what Boeing provides with the Joint Direct Attack Munition family of weapons. This contract covers development, which should wrap up in October 2015.
U.S. soldiers on the move can finally use the Navy's next-generation mobile, narrowband communications satellite now that it has been turned over for operational use, though not all capabilities will be usable for months to come. The Lockheed Martin Mobile User Objective System (MUOS) satellite, launched Feb. 24, carries an engineering version of a new, 3G-like voice, data and video capability for soldiers called the Wideband Code Division Multiple Access.
EU carbon dioxide allowances (EUAs) crashed in November after the system's regulator, the European Commission, proposed a delay to the auctioning of allowances in 2013-15. December 2012 EUAs rallied as high as €9.08 per metric ton ($11.71) ahead of the announcement on Nov. 12, and fell to €6.73 by Nov. 19.
Los Angeles Bureau Chief Guy Norris writes on the Ares defense blog that “with temperatures hovering around zero, few witnesses were around Mojave, Calif., to see a new two-seat production derivative of Northrop Grumman's secretly developed Firebird make its first flight. Enoiel notes:
Cost-effective readiness training for fifth-generation fighter aircraft is driving new simulation technologies that will change the way military pilots are trained within five years.
Pierre Chao, a longtime aerospace and defense (A&D) industry sage and managing partner at Renaissance Strategic Advisors, succinctly sums up what the outcome of the budget impasse in Washington between Republicans and Democrats should be. “Your taxes are going to go up, your benefits are going to go down, and spending is going to go down,” he said in a post-election address to Aviation Week's A&D Programs conference. “My six-year-old daughter knows this.”
American Airlines received its last Boeing 737-800 from International Lease Finance Corp. earlier this month as part of its 15-aircraft sale-leaseback program. The financial arrangement started in November 2011, when American filed for bankruptcy protection, and helped American diversify its funding sources.
Inflight connectivity provider Gogo says its bandwidth-boosting ATG-4 (air-to-ground-4) upgrade will be installed on approximately 500 airliners by the end of 2013, up from the 40 aircraft equipped today.
Dec. 3-5—Worldwide Business Research's Defense Logistics. Marriott Crystal Gateway, Arlington, Va. See www.wbresearch.com/defenselogisticsusa Dec. 3-5—University of Westminster Aviation Seminar. “Air Transport Business and Management.” London. Call +44 (203) 506-6559 or see www.westminster.ac.uk/airtransportshort Dec. 4-6—Aeromart Toulouse 2012. Center de Congres Pierre Baudis, Toulouse. See www.bciaerospace.com/toulouse
Tony Grindberg (see photo) has joined Appareo Systems, Fargo, N.D., as aviation business unit manager. He recently launched the North Dakota State University Research & Technology Park.
Jeffery L. Turner, the CEO who transitioned Wichita-based Spirit AeroSystems from a onetime Boeing subsidiary into the industry's largest independent airframe maker, says he will step down early in 2013. He is 60. The board of directors has convened a search committee that will identify internal and external candidates for his replacement.
While there is general acceptance of the trend toward more-electric aircraft, few can predict the near- or even mid-term debut of electrically propelled vehicles, let alone one that could be capable of Mach 4-plus.
German prosecutors believe EADS paid at least €50 million ($63.5 million) in bribes to Austrian officials to secure a $2 billion deal for Eurofighter jets, according to a document seen by Reuters. Authorities in Germany, Austria and Switzerland raided EADS locations earlier this month in connection with investigations into suspected bribery, money-laundering and fraud related to the 2003 deal for 15 jets. The deal depended on EADS guaranteeing offsets intended to generate twice the value of the agreement for the Austrian economy.
Space Systems/Loral is performing checkout procedures on EchoStar XVI after the satellite was placed in orbit Nov. 21 by an International Launch Services Proton Breeze M launch vehicle from the Baikonur Space Center in Kazakhstan. EchoStar has a 20-kw power rating for direct broadcast television services in the U.S. and is fully leased by Dish Network.
Denmark is set to become the second non-U.S. operator of the Sikorsky MH-60R Seahawk maritime helicopter. The aircraft was selected over the AgustaWestland AW159 Lynx Wildcat and Eurocopter AS565 Panther, although the latter was eliminated from the competition in January. Denmark will acquire nine Seahawks, with deliveries due to take place between 2016 and 2018. The aircraft will replace the aging fleet of eight Westland Lynxes. Australia was the first foreign customer for the MH-60R, ordering 24 in June 2011.
