After a long and unusually contentious debate in Congress, President Obama signed into law a bill to extend the Export-Import Bank's charter and provide $140 billion in lending authority by 2014. The debate this year turned into a tiff between aerospace giants Boeing and Delta Air Lines, with Delta expressing fear that Ex-Im financing of widebody jets undercuts its global competitiveness. And some Republicans and conservative interest groups called for an end to the bank and its corporate welfare.
Jim Fraser has been tapped to be vice president-government relations of Thales USA, Arlington, Va. He has been vice president-political relations and compliance at BAE Systems.
Tom Herring has been promoted to chief operating officer from senior vice president and general manager for unmanned aircraft systems at AeroVironment, Monrovia, Calif.
Munir Al-Dzhidi has joined Swiss Aviation Consulting in Holzhausern/Zug as manager of Middle East operations of the group's United Arab Emirates-based company, Swicamo.
The Eaton chief suspects that the introduction of new technologies that make aircraft cheaper to operate may have permanently shortened their economic lifecycles.
Joseph Weiss (see photo) has been named president and CEO of Israel Aerospace Industries, succeeding Itzak Weiss, who has retired. Joseph Weiss has been corporate vice president and general manager of the Systems, Missiles & Space Group.
Defense companies that primarily provide services rather than products will be among the first to be hit by reductions in military spending, Moody's Investor Services warns in its latest commentary. Beyond the next fiscal year, a decline in troop deployments overseas will lead to lower services outlays, Moody's says. And as contracts roll over and the Defense Department's heightened focus on procurement cost control takes hold, margins are likely to shrink.
David M. Van Buren (see photo) has been named senior vice president-business strategy of New York-based L-3 Communications. He was the U.S. Air Force service acquisition executive. Craig Reed and John Heller have been appointed to the L-3 Services Group executive leadership team, Reed as senior vice president-strategic development and Heller as president of the C2S2 division. Reed was senior vice president-strategy and corporate development at DynCorp International, and Heller was president of Harris IT services.
Six months from a potential blunt cut to federal spending and government is continuing to warn, industry is starting to act, and lawmakers are looking for an escape hatch. If Congress does not approve $1.2 trillion in deficit reduction or reverse a law passed last year, the entire federal government will suffer an across-the-board budget cut of the same amount. And half of that will be targeted at the Pentagon.
Momentum is growing behind the desire for a step-change in rotary-wing performance. More speed is most often mentioned by customers and manufacturers, but range and payload limitations are also seen as holding back rotorcraft from wider use.
Before they move any earth, Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA) officials are going to have to move a mountain of paper. The airport has launched the multi-year regulatory approval process needed for a major expansion, one of the most important aviation infrastructure projects in the Asia-Pacific region. Built on a 1,250-hectare (4.8-sq.-mi.)man-made island, HKIA was considered an engineering marvel when it was completed in 1998. Now efforts are underway to add another 650 hectares to the north side of the island to accommodate a third parallel runway.
As Tom Enders assumes the role of chief executive of EADS, he finds himself at the helm of an enterprise much changed from five years ago, when he and his predecessor, Louis Gallois, last shared responsibility for running the company. To his credit, Enders agreed to step down to lead Airbus and help simplify the corporate structure. The internecine warfare between French and German factions has eased. Even the A380 appears to be on a solid footing.
European attack-helicopter makers have not been blessed with large export deals in recent years, but manufacturers are hoping upgrades maturing now will attract new buyers. Key development milestones are approaching for both the Eurocopter Tiger and AgustaWestland T-129, the latest variant of the AW129 being developed for Turkey. Although Italy funded the AW129's original development, the major capability upgrades of the T-129 would not have been fielded solely for Rome.
The U.S. Army's Northrop Grumman Long-Endurance Multi-intelligence Vehicle (LEMV) hybrid airship could fly in June. Without giving a date for the flight, originally expected in mid-2011, Army Space & Missile Defense Command (SMDC) says “the team is assembling the airship, and integrating motors and electronics onto and into the vehicle. The first flight will occur when the airship has completed these integration activities.” Northrop Grumman, teamed with U.K.
Martin Sedlacky (see photo) has been appointed chief operations officer of Air Baltic, Riga, Latvia, and a member of the executive board. He was BCG project leader focusing on AirBaltic's Reshape program.
With billions being spent in pursuit of fuel savings, closer integration of engines and aircraft may hold the greatest untapped potential for improvement. But extracting synergies from the intermingling of propulsion and airframe design is demanding changes in the way the stove-piped aerospace industry operates.
Malaysia Airlines has become the eighth Airbus A380 operator, with delivery of the first of six of the aircraft the carrier has ordered. MAS will commence operations between Kuala Lumpur and London Heathrow on July 2. Malaysia will operate Rolls-Royce Trent 900-powered A380s in a 494-seat configuration. Initial operations will be limited to three times per week, growing to daily service in August when the second A380 is delivered. Thai Airways International is due to become the ninth A380 operator later this year.
The top priority of France's newly elected president, Francois Hollande, is to slash government debt. Although this is no surprise, such a primary goal requires sacrifices as well as new priorities in an environment such as the current very challenging one: The economy is weak, growth is minimal, and the aerospace and defense industry's production costs are too high to efficiently sustain competition.
One of the few promising airlines in Eastern Europe until its near-collapse last year, Air Baltic is slowly returning to financial stability and rebuilding its strategy—and now it faces new competition from Estonian Air.
Richard Fontaine has become president of the board of the Center for a New American Security, Washington. He is a senior adviser and senior fellow of the center.
