USN Rear Adm. (ret.) James A. Robb has been named president of the National Training and Simulation Association, Arlington, Va., succeeding Rear Adm. (ret.) Fred Lewis. Robb was an officer in command of Top Gun and has been an independent consultant specializing in defense acquisition and global political/military affairs.
All eyes are on SpaceX and this Falcon 9 launcher, which is poised to send its first Dragon cargo capsule to the International Space Station. Success could open the door to routine commercial human spaceflight, as envisioned by the Obama administration. Failure probably would not slam the door shut, given the other vehicles vying for a piece of the action. Either way, the plan to support the International Space Station with commercial cargo and crew transport has started big changes in the space launch industry that could enable the hoped-for low Earth orbit economy.
More than a decade after the bottom dropped out of the prospective U.S. commercial launch market, the U.S. Air Force is struggling to deal with the continued financial ramifications of that unrealized opportunity. Those challenges are compounded by NASA's decision to rely on Russian rockets for its cargo missions in the near future, so the burden of shepherding the bloated U.S. launch infrastructure has now fallen into the lap of the Air Force.
Safran's Aircelle division struck a new accord with Applied Composites Engineering in Indianapolis to repair Aircelle thrust reversers for the Embraer ERJ 145 and E-170 and E-175. Marc Laubreaux, senior vice president for customer service, says Aircelle also is pursuing repairs for parts for other single-aisle aircraft. He sees an opportunity for the nacelle work on first-generation CFM56-5-powered Airbus A320s.
Boeing has regained some lost ground in 787 sales with the addition of four orders from Russia's Transaero Airlines. But it also reduced its net order count by one as of its April 10 listing, leaving it with 25 lost orders against 19 additions for the year. The company's total order book stands at 415 net orders, including 413 from the 737 NG/MAX series.
USAF Maj. Gen. Michael J. Carey has been appointed commander of the Twentieth Air Force, Air Force Global Strike Command/commander, Task Force 214 of U.S. Strategic Command, F.E. Warren AFB, Wyo. He was deputy director for command and control and nuclear operations for the Joint Staff at the Pentagon. He will be succeeded by Col. Timothy G. Fay, who has been nominated for promotion to brigadier general. Fay has been commander of the 2nd Bomb Wing, Air Force Global Strike Command, Barksdale AFB, La. And, Maj. Gen. Barbara J.
Jean-Pascal Meo (see photo) has been named general counsel at Eurocopter Group, Marignane, France. He was head of corporate matters in the legal department.
Finnair is launching labor talks to shed 280 positions as the airline moves to outsource engine and component services to SR Technics. The move is part of a wider Finnair group effort to realign the business and seek €140 million ($185 million) in savings. The airline did not disclose the value of the outsourcing deal or expected savings. Airline COO Vile Iho says, “This plan is based on a thorough analysis, where we first examined the costs and structures of our own operations, and then compared the results to tens of external service providers.”
Winglets and a lift-distribution control system are next on the agenda as Lockheed Martin and the U.S. Air Force pursue fuel-burn improvements on the large fleet of C-130s. Although principally aimed at the C-130J, with more than 250 now in operation, some of the features could also find use on older models. The effort fits in with a larger USAF effort to reduce fuel-burn fleetwide.
With the ability of heavy-lift rockets to perform piggyback launches, and even after making 100 A2100 geosynchroneous communications satellites since 1996, Lockheed Martin has not seen two launched on the same ride.
The race is on to become one of the six U.S. sites responsible for testing UAVs in civilian airspace. The contest represents a huge opportunity at the dawn of a new industry, and a call last week from the FAA attracted interest from businesses large and small, universities, airports, lawmakers and the U.S. Army. The FAA says it will choose the test sites by December and is currently looking for comments that will help it winnow the many contenders.
Senior Editor Amy Butler's article “Can USAF Buy a $550 Million Bomber?” about pursuit of a stealthy aircraft with a capped price, elicited a lively exchange that included: Sukhoi noting: NO! Typical game-playing will go on and in the end, if the program survives budget cuts, we'll end up with maybe 10 bombers at $10 billion apiece . . . and possibly obsolete by the time they are deployed—10-15 years late.
Ron de Bos has been appointed head of sales in North America for Air France Industries/KLM Engineering & Maintenance. He was director of integrated services.
In Ares, our defense-related blog, International Editor Robert Wall reports on RAF commencing MRTT operations. Airpower notes: Initial multi-role tanking trials with the Tornado GR4s uncovered unexpected problems. The first “training” mission was a crew familiarization sortie only.
NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center is expanding opportunities for payloads that cut across multiple technologies to fly on suborbital reusable launch vehicles or high-altitude balloons. The agency's goal is to help technologies mature, but it is not funding their development, only their chance to fly. NASA also notes that its current manifest for parabolic flights is full through “at least late 2013.” Specifics on opportunities may be found at http://nspires.nasaprs.com
The murky world of U.S. electronic warfare and its more esoteric airborne electronic attack (AEA) subset is being overtaken by a new generation of international threats. Cyberweapons and other sophisticated countermeasures can now attack aircraft, ships and ground vehicles through their antennas and sensors.
It's no secret that Hawker Beechraft has been having a tough time since the business aviation market took its swan dive in 2008. That was just a year after the Wichita maker of King Airs (photo upper right), Hawkers and T-6 military trainers was acquired by Goldman Sachs and Onex Corp. for a hefty $3.2 billion, two-thirds of which was borrowed. The company has streamlined operations and reduced costs, but suffered operating losses of $1 billion, and servicing the debt has added mightily to its burden. Something had to give.
That the face of Europe's network carriers is changing has been clear for some time, but even those in the drivers' seats are wondering just how deep those changes will go.
Three years ago, Rolls-Royce & Partners Finance was leasing an engine for a large narrowbody jet for $120,000 a month. Today, a similar powerplant commands a rate of just $50,000. Underpinning the 58% price cut is a simple equation: supply and demand.
