After years of little presidential attention during the last administration, aerospace and defense industry executives are now more in the loop with top Pentagon officials—but they don't feel any better. In the latest in a series of get-togethers, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and several CEOs and trade organization leaders sat down last week to discuss the so-called sequestration budget cuts that are set to take effect in January. But from reports of the meeting, neither side walked away with answers or reasons to feel less anxious.
Aug. 7-10—Association of Unmanned Systems North America 2012 Exhibition. Mandalay Bay Hotel. Las Vegas. See www.auvsishow.org/auvsi2012 Aug. 13-14—Bombardier 2012 Safety Standdown Latin America. Grand Hyatt Sao Paulo Hotel. See www.safetystanddown.com Aug. 13-16—American Institute Aeronautical and Astronautics/American Astronautical Society's Astrodynamics Specialist Conference. Hyatt Regency Minneapolis. See www.aiaa.org
In all the jabbering that followed Hawker Beechcraft's remarkable announcement that it planned to sell itself to a Chinese mogul, one revelation resonated especially: If the deal does not proceed, the company will shut down jet production.
Politics—not policy or technology—is proving to be the biggest obstacle to developing alternative-fuel programs for the military that could prove to be successful commercial energy alternatives, says Phyllis Cuttino, director of the Pew Project on National Security, Energy and Climate. The Pentagon is employing and deploying ships and aircraft using sound technology for alternative energy, particularly biofuels, Cuttino says.
Damon D'Agostino has been appointed chief commercial officer of CIT Aerospace of New York. Based in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., he has covered global marketing and sales functions. Gwyn Scourfield has become senior VP and global head of marketing. He was senior regional director for marketing in Dublin. And, Steve Mason has joined CIT in New York as VP-aircraft analysis. He was an executive at International Aero Engines and Rolls-Royce.
Jack Pelton (see photo) has joined the board of Denver-based Bye Aerospace. He was president and chairman of the Cessna Aircraft Co. until retiring in 2011.
AirAsia and ST Aerospace have signed an $80 million, 10-year agreement for component repair management maintenance-by-the-hour support for 75 Airbus A320s. The two companies have an existing agreement covering 100 AirAsia A320s, bringing the total under the new contract to 175. The companies signed their first component management agreement in 2002 for AirAsia's five Boeing 737-300s.
Liao Linghong and Liu Chunxi (see photos) have become executive directors of Ameco Beijing. Liao will head the Operation Division and Liu the Safety and Management Division. Liao was deputy general manager of the Chengdu base of Air China Technics, and Liu was subdivision manager of aircraft overhaul at Ameco.
DigitalGlobe's proposed $453 million takeover of competitor GeoEye ends a year of speculation as to whether the two commercial satellite imaging providers could survive the current U.S. budget crunch.
Eleven years ago, Ryanair CEO Michael O'Leary famously predicted that one day most or all of the airline's fares would drop to zero because the low-cost carrier would be raking in so much ancillary revenue from other flight and non-flight products and services.
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.
