Beate Sauter (see photo) has been named director of European sales at Intense, North Brunswick, N.J. She was a key account manager for southern Europe at Edmund Optics.
USAF Lt. Gen. Clyde D. Moore, 2nd, has been nominated to become commander of the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center of Air Force Materiel Command, Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio. He is the command's vice commander.
General Electric has delivered the 1,000th GE90-115B engine to Boeing as it continues to ramp up production in lock-step with the move to increase the assembly rate for the Boeing 777 family. The GE90-115B became the exclusive powerplant for the 777-200LR and -300ER in July 1999. Since the first 777-300ER entered service in 2004, more than 1,500 GE90-115Bs have been ordered for the extended-range family which also includes the 777 Freighter. GE logged orders and commitments for 400 GE90-115Bs in 2011, exceeding the previous record year of 2007, when 250 orders were taken.
Congressional researchers say lawmakers should prepare for Obama administration or Israeli requests for additional U.S. appropriations for joint U.S.-Israeli missile defense and an extension of U.S. loan guarantees to Israel beyond fiscal 2012, when they are set to expire, as well as new funding for joint U.S.-Israeli scientific research. Already the administration's fiscal 2013 request includes $3.1 billion in foreign military financing for Israel and $15 million for refugee resettlement.
Shelley Rubino (see photo) has been named VP-government affairs at Washington-based Airlines for America. She was a staff member in the office of Rep. John B. Larson (D-Conn.), chairman of the House Democratic Caucus.
Ten years ago, airlines just had to be in. If they were not part of one of the three global alliances, they were second class, or their home market was too small and uninteresting to be considered. Alliances gave them the access to markets they needed and, as importantly, to their future merger partners.
The Eurofighter Typhoon consortium will be the only European aircraft maker to do battle against U.S. rivals in the South Korean F-X3 fighter competition. The team, led by Airbus Military in Spain, hopes South Korea's interest in finding an industrial partner for the future KF-X program may offset some of the U.S. historic advantage there. Saab does not plan to bid the Gripen in South Korea, and Dassault also has decided it will not pursue the F-X3 program. South Korea is looking to buy 60 aircraft in the latest tranche of its fighter and field the first in 2016.
April 2-3—Engine MRO Forum. Dallas. April 3-5—MRO Americas 2012. Dallas. April 4-5—MRO Military Conference & Exhibition. Dallas. April 23-25—NextGen Ahead: Air Transportation Modernization. Washington. May 8-9—Civil Aviation Manufacturing. Charlotte, N.C. May 23-24—MRO Regional: Eastern Europe, Baltics and Russia. Vilnius, Lithuania. Sept. 19-21—MRO IT Conference & Showcase. Miami. Oct. 9—MRO IT Europe. Amsterdam
Both India and Pakistan are increasingly focusing on air dominance and effects-based operations as airpower is becoming a mainstay of their militaries.
Europe faces a tricky balancing act. Even as it tries to end its tendency to field competing missile programs, many of the existing but duplicative systems need to be upgraded to bridge the gap until the new ones are fielded around 2030.
Consolidation has led to the formation of the Big Three airline groups in Europe: Air France-KLM, Lufthansa and the International Airlines Group (IAG). But all three are finding that some takeovers simply do not work, and antitrust authorities and economic realities might block further steps.
In the troubled world of defense acquisition, the U.S. Navy's Boeing P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft shines as a rare example of a program that appears to be broadly staying on both schedule and cost. After a slow start, test and development aircraft are racking up flight hours and the first production aircraft was delivered to NAS Jacksonville, Fla., on March 5, opening the way for the start of fleet training.
Government payloads riding piggyback on commercial spacecraft are likely to win only 1% of the worldwide satellite-market revenue in the next few years, as bureaucratic inertia and a “not-invented-here” mentality work against the potential cost savings.
European engine makers MTU and Avio have followed the lead of airframers EADS Cassidian and Alenia Aermacchi in teaming for potential cooperation in the field of engines for unmanned medium-altitude, long-endurance (MALE) aircraft. The move is part of a German-Italian effort to offset the Franco-British defense strategic partnership, which aims to foster closer technology cooperation, including for unmanned aircraft. A cooperative unmanned MALE program is the first thrust.
On Nov. 18, 2011, Gulfstream Aerospace secured provisional type certification (PTC) for its much-anticipated G650, the largest, fastest and, at $64.5 million each, the most expensive Gulfstream to date. The G650 quickly gained market acceptance with orders for more than 200 and a backlog extending into 2017. It is a masterpiece of many, headed by one: this year's Business and General Aviation Laureate winner, Pres Henne, Gulfstream's senior vice president of programs, engineering and test.
Larry Clinton, president of the Internet Security Alliance, has been elected chairman of the Washington-based Information Technology Sector Coordinating Council. He was vice chair and has been a member of the council's executive committee since 2006.
Robert Hooks has been appointed division director for CMRNE Technology at TASC in Chantilly, Va. He was deputy assistant secretary for weapons of mass destruction and biodefense in the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
Throw a broad net to catch a big fish, the Chinese say. In English: have a lot of irons in the fire. Following that principle, China is contemplating at least nine business aircraft, of which five would be dedicated private jets while the others would be adapted commercial airplanes. Not all of those ideas will materialize, but five chances is a lot, even if a truly home-grown Chinese business jet is many years away.
Some air forces ponder whether to dedicate a portion of their fleet to counterinsurgency operations, but in Latin America the question is more likely to be how long that mission will remain the primary focus. If there is a major shift in how the region's air forces approach their future defense needs, the impetus is likely to emerge from Brazil or Venezuela.
I read with dismay “Un-extravagant Bomber,” which deals with developing the Long Range Strike-Bomber aircraft (AW&ST Feb. 20, p. 27). Include me among the skeptics who doubt that the U.S. Air Force can develop an LRS-B for $550 million apiece, given what we now pay for C-17s in series production and will pay for tankers. A very big part of the cost of military aircraft is the prolonged development of complex systems.
Dassault Rafale fighter launched the MBDA Scalp-EG cruise missile in last year's Libya campaign. This week's special report, beginning on page 56, focuses on how such new weapons, as well as sensors and networking, will be used more widely, as stealth systems and traditional fighters jointly meet airpower needs between now and 2030. Dassault Aviation photo.
Sikorsky plans to demonstrate the use of its fly-by-wire and autonomous flight technologies on a newly purchased S-76, according to Igor Cherepinsky, who leads these efforts in the company's Innovations Div. The aircraft was purchased this year and is now undergoing modifications in preparation for flight tests. He says he hopes for first flight late this year or early in 2013.
Pop quiz: What do these have in common—the Army Aerial Common Sensor intelligence aircraft, the V-XX presidential helicopter, the Army/Air Force Joint Cargo Aircraft, the KC-X tanker and the Air Force Light Air Support aircraft?
