With a four-year contract offer last year that came as a surprise to the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM), Boeing ended a nasty National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) suit and won peace into 2016 with its most militant labor union.
Competition in the Philippines' domestic regional airline market is heating up. At least three carriers plan to enter the fray in coming months, but rather face off directly against the large incumbents, they have a different strategy in mind.
The U.S. Navy is making strides in developing “networked” weapons that can be redirected in flight from any nearby aircraft carrying the right data-linking system. Raytheon's Joint Standoff Weapon (JSOW) C-1 achieved just such a mission, retargeting from a small ship to a larger, maneuvering ship target during flight, as part of its first integrated test experiment. An F/A-18F Super Hornet released the glide bomb roughly 90 km (56 mi.) from the small ship, its first designated mark.
David W. Machuga has been named a senior fellow of the Potomac Institute for Policy Studies, Arlington, Va. He is president and CEO of Elta North America and was head of the biometric and radio-frequency identification businesses for Northrop Grumman.
Tom Eff (see photos) has been promoted to senior vice president/general counsel/secretary from vice president at New York-based FlightSafety International. Three other promotions, also from vice president, are: Scott Fera to senior vice president-marketing; Greg McGowan to senior vice president-operations and Ken Motschwiller to senior vice president/CFO.
Edgar Orsi (see photo) has been named general manager of Gulfstream Aerospace Corp.'s service center in Sorocaba, Brazil. He was Sao Paulo-based South America aftermarket sales manager for Honeywell and had been its on-site technical and program manager for the Embraer 170 and 190.
Senior Editor Graham Warwick writes about the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency awarding SAIC a contract to develop an antisubmarine-warfare continuous trail unmanned vessel (Actuv) that can shadow a submerged submarine throughout its patrol. Specifics about this “submarine stalker,” can be found on the Ares defense blog. Marcase says:
While Qantas has seized the opportunity presented by Boeing's timetable problems to cancel its 35 787-9 orders, it has left the door open for the stretched variant to feature in its future fleet plans.
Russia's new regional Sukhoi Superjet 100 aircraft may lose its first customer—Armavia—if the parties cannot agree on the terms for delivery of two aircraft ordered in 2010. The dispute started in July when the Armenian airline threatened to cancel the delivery of the second SSJ100, due to failure to reach agreement on leasing terms worked out by Russian Vneshekonombank.
Ethiopian Airlines has begun operating its first Boeing 787, using it to inaugurate scheduled service to Dubai, United Arab Emirates, on Aug. 18. Ethiopian plans to operate the 787 on services within Africa for several weeks before putting it on the Washington route in September. Initial African destinations include Johannesburg and Nairobi.
Christoph Debus has become head of Thomas Cook Airlines UK and will be leading the group's airline board together with Ralf Teckentrup, CEO of Thomas Cook's German airline division Condor. Debus was chief commercial officer at Air Berlin.
Instead of the U.S. Army, Navy, Air Force and the engine manufacturers funding research on biofuels, there should be just one agency spearheading the effort. I suggest NASA. The results should be unclassified and available to all countries, except for what is necessary to protect patents. Military leaders should concentrate on warfighting, not on alternative energy. Redding, Calif.
U.S. Army Gen. (ret.) Peter W. Chiarelli, a former vice chief of staff, has been appointed to the board of directors of the Harris Corp., Melbourne, Fla. He is CEO of One Mind for Research.
HUNTSVILLE, Ala. - The U.S. Army is making headway with plans to demonstrate the utility of nanosatellites and small, low-cost, mobile launchers. (Kestrel image: U.S. Army)
USN Rear Adm. (lower half) Cindy L. Jaynes has been appointed commander of the Fleet Readiness Centers at NAS Patuxent River, Md. She was assistant commander for logistics and industrial operations at Naval Air Systems Command, also at NAS Patuxent River, Md.
Sept. 4-5—Association of Aerospace Industries' Human Factors and Error Management Short Course. Nah Wah Building, Singapore. See www.aais.org.sg/human_factors Sept. 4-7—Netherlands Association of Aeronautical Engineers' 38th Annual European Rotorcraft Forum. Amsterdam Marriott. See http:erf2012.nlr.nl Sept. 6-9—56th Annual Tailhook Reunion/USMC Aviation Centennial. Nugget Hotel, Reno, Nev. See www.tailhook.org Sept. 8—Barberton-Lowveld Air Show and Fly-In. Barberton Airport, South Africa. See www.bushair.co.za/fly-in
EADS company Cassidian Aviation Training Services (CATS) has selected Cirrus SR20s and SR22s to provide training services to the French air force and navy. A fleet of 13 SR20s will be used for training pilots at the Salon de Provence air base. Seven SR22s will provide navigator training and liaison flights. Another three SR20s will train students of the Ecole Navale at Lanveoc-Poulmic naval air station.
India and Russia are likely to sign a contract soon worth more than $11 billion for the research and development phase of the T-50 fifth-generation fighter aircraft. The first prototype of the jet is scheduled to arrive in India by 2014, after which it will undergo extensive trials at the Ojhar air base. The second prototype is expected to arrive in 2017 and a third in 2019. The aircraft, to be jointly developed by Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. and Sukhoi Design Bureau, is called the Perspective Multi-Role Fighter, and will be based on Russia's PAK FA program.
