EADS's plan to grow in the U.S. defense market may have been set back by losing the bruising tanker battle to Boeing, but the European giant has other weapons at its disposal. And in the company's arsenal, Eurocopter is as powerful a force as Airbus. Now the company is aiming at the Pentagon again, in the form of Eurocopter's X3 high-speed helicopter demonstrator. The proof-of-concept X3 arrived in the Washington area last week on the final leg of its U.S. tour, with flight demonstrations from Fort Belvoir, Va., and a static display at the Pentagon.
NASA is pressing to use everything from robots to Russians in an effort to stretch the crew time available on the U.S. side of the International Space Station for research. William Gerstenmaier, associate administrator for human exploration and operations, says he is “narrowing down” the list of candidates he will select as early as this week for the agency's Commercial Crew Integrated Capability effort, which will provide substantial seed money for at least three private efforts to deliver crews to the ISS as early as 2015.
Robert J. Stevens, Lockheed Martin's CEO, went to Capitol Hill on July 18 to deliver a warning: If Congress does nothing to halt another $500 billion in automatic cuts to U.S. defense spending due to begin next January under a process known as “sequestration,” the Pentagon's largest contractor will be forced to hand out 10,000 pink slips, riffing 8% of its workforce.
Jonathan Gaffney, President/CEO (Washington, D.C. ), National Aeronautic Association (Washington, D.C. )
I enjoyed William Garvey's hail and farewell to first-generation business jets, “Quiet Exit” (AW&ST July 16, p. 20). It brings back memories of when the Boeing 727 was dubbed the “Whisper Jet” by United Airlines!
Even as the congressional clock ticks away, a bill to prevent U.S. airlines from paying the EU for carbon emissions may yet receive attention. The Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee is expected to mark up the bill aimed at blocking the EU's emissions trading system (ETS) on July 31. “If we could get a good, strong vote out of the committee, it would increase the likelihood we could get it voted on the floor,” says bill co-sponsor Sen.
International Space Station Expedition 32 crewmembers should be unloading supplies and equipment this week from the third of Japan's H-II Transfer Vehicles (HTV-3) following its launch July 20 from the Tanegashima Space Center in southeast Japan. Carrying 4.6 tons of cargo, the Kounotori supply ship was scheduled to rendezvous with the orbiting science lab on July 27.
The U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee, which does the official work of vetting new defense officials for Congress, has approved President Barack Obama's latest nominations for the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The panel late last week approved USAF Gen. Mark Welsh, 3rd, for Ar Force chief of staff, as well as the promotion of Army Lt. Gen. Frank Grass to general and to become chief of the National Guard Bureau.
If industry officials were right, a common travel experience at European airports may soon have looked like this: Very long queues—in the worst cases, five times as long as the current average—slow security checks, confusion about what passengers are allowed to bring on board and what is forbidden. And spending up to €50 million ($62 million) per terminal would have been required to facilitate upgrades.
Amer Hadidi (see photo) has been tapped to become CEO of Royal Jordanian Airlines, succeeding interim CEO Abdel Rahman Al Khatib. Hadidi was Jordan's minister of industry and trade.
Italy and Israel have signed a series of defense and space agreements valued together at almost $2 billion. Under one pact, Alenia Aermacchi will supply 30 M-346 advanced jet trainers to the Israeli air force under a contact worth about $1 billion, including simulators, maintenance and logistics. Deliveries will begin in 2014. Meanwhile, Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) will furnish two Gulfstream G550-based compact airborne early warning (CAEW) aircraft to the Italian air force in a deal worth $750 million, including ground-support systems and logistics.
Arthur “Gene” Goldman (see photo) will join Sacramento, Calif.-based Aerojet's Southeast Space Operation as executive director. He has been the acting director of NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala.
Israel Aerospace Industries/Elta's Conformal Air Early Warning aircraft is one of several Gulfstream-based special-mission jets being developed for long-range air, ground- and electronic-surveillance missions. The aircraft are already being operated by the Israel Defense Forces and several foreign air forces including Singapore's and Turkey's. IAI's new CEO plans heavy investment to increase the introduction of advanced technologies including reduced signatures and cyberoperations. IAI photo.
Arati Prabhakar has been tapped to become director of the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency on July 30. Prabhakar served a seven-year tour with Darpa starting in 1986, first as program manager and then as director of the Microelectronics Technology Office. She later became director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology and joined U.S. Venture Partners.
Jeffery Adams has joined South Bend, Ind.-based AM General as executive director-communications and marketing. Adams has held leadership positions at Lockheed Martin.
Senior Editor Graham Warwick's post on the Ares Defense blog about hypersonic gliders reads in part: You have to love optimists. Despite premature ends to both attempts to fly a hypersonic glider, the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency wants to try again. Darpa's new Integrated Hypersonics program looks a lot like its unsuccessful Falcon Hypersonic Test Vehicle 2 (HTV-2) project, with a few tweaks—including the addition of a rocket motor to increase range and maneuverability.
Nearly 10 years have passed since Raytheon lost a contract to Boeing for the U.S. Air Force's next generation of satcom terminals. Known as FAB-T (Family of Advanced Beyond-line-of-sight Terminals), the program, estimated at $4.7 billion, will facilitate communications between military aircraft and the Pentagon's new Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF) satellite constellation.
When it comes to UAVs over America, lawmakers have a new boogeyman: hackers. At a congressional hearing July 19, a University of Texas professor described how he and his students hijacked an $80,000 Adaptive Flight Hornet Mini at the behest of the Homeland Security Department (DHS) during a demonstration last month at White Sands Missile Range, N.M. The Hornet Mini is just the kind of small rotorcraft a local police force might use.
Finally, some Democrats and Republicans are finding one defense issue they can unite behind: trying to outlaw U.S. purchases of military equipment from Russia's Rosoboronexport. In a long-standing relationship, the U.S. is paying the Russian arms exporter to provide Mi-17 helicopters to the Afghan army. But with Rosoboronexport also shipping attack helicopters, sniper rifles, mortars and possibly tactical fighter jets to Syria, these lawmakers want to boycott the Russian weapons exporter—or, at least, boycott future work. Rep.
With a new service contract covering 15 additional 737NGs, Norwegian Air Shuttle has become Boeing's largest landing gear exchange customer. Under the program, Boeing offers customers fully overhauled and certified landing gear shipsets as alternatives to buying new landing gear. Norwegian has already undergone three landing gear exchanges with Boeing, and the next is scheduled for October 2013. Norwegian has ordered 100 737 MAX airplanes and 22 737-800 aircraft.
While the harsh U.S. budget-cutting enforcement known as sequestration would not take effect until Jan. 2, “jobs are already being lost under the BCA (Budget Control Act),” says Pratt & Whitney President David Hess. “We're effectively feeling the impact today,” he said last week at a House Aeronautics Caucus luncheon. For his company and the defense industry, that means holding off on hiring and investing decisions. At some companies, it means hoarding cash and for others, deciding to invest research money on commercial instead of defense projects.
Limited landing slots and traffic rights at a number of Asia's capital-city airports will see some airlines switching to widebodies on select short-haul routes, a trend that has caught the attention of aircraft lessors, particularly those that have Airbus A330s (see photo).
