Brian Sheridan (see photo) has been appointed VP and general manager of BAE Systems' SpecTal business, based in Arlington, Va. He was VP and deputy general manager for the Intelligence and Security sector.
Greg Mays has joined Alaska Airlines as managing director of airframe, engine and component maintenance, repair and overhaul. He was managing director of global cargo operations at Delta Air Lines.
Aubry Mayse (see photo) has been promoted to director of planning and distribution for product support materials from senior manager at Gulfstream Aerospace, Savannah, Ga.
Bernd Heinrich has taken over the operating management of RUAG Aviation's Geneva-based business aviation unit and Tobias Laps has become the head of the global sales team. Both share more than three decades of experience in international aviation.
Daniel Allen will become president of U.S. operations at CACI International, Arlington, Va., Jan. 1. He will succeed William Fairl, who will become chief development officer. Allen has been chief operating officer.
Gilles Garczynski (see photo) has been appointed executive VP-human resources at Messier-Bugatti-Dowty, Velizy-Villacoublay, France. He succeeds Stephane Legrand, who transferred to another position.
Chris Ferguson, retired U.S. Navy captain and a former NASA astronaut, has joined Boeing's Houston-based Space Exploration Div. as director of commercial crew interface.
Andrew Ladouceur (see photo) has been promoted to VP-charter sales and client services from manager of the air charter group at Meridian Air Charter, Teterboro, N.J.
Suzanne Rubin has been named president of the American Airlines AAdvantage program, succeeding Maya Leibman, who has become chief information officer and senior VP-information technology.
Shinichiro Ito, president and CEO of the ANA Group, has been named Person of the Year 2011 by Tokyo-based Orient Aviation magazine. He was selected for demonstrating “the highest level in leadership, imagination, outstanding business ability and appetite for revolutionary change.”
Robert Burke of Northrop Grumman has been elected to the board of directors of Washington-based Women in Aerospace. Other new board members are: Tammy Cameron of Boeing, Susan Chodakewitz of Tetra Tech, Giovanna M. Cinelli of law firm Jones Day, Stephanie Fraser of Metron Aviation, Christina Frederick-Recascino of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Susan Saadat of Thrane & Thrane, Barbara Slayton of Lockheed Martin Corp., Rebecca Spyke Keiser of NASA and Judy Smith of ITT Exelis.
Russia's national satellite navigation system, Glonass, finally has once again reached its full operational capability to provide global coverage. The Glonass operational fleet now includes 24 satellites with eight on each of the three orbital planes. The last, 24th Glonass-M spacecraft entered into service on Dec. 8. It is from the last batch of the three satellites orbited on Nov. 4 aboard a Proton-M launch vehicle. Three more satellites (two this year and another early in 2012) will become operational.
The launch of a Japanese radar satellite on Dec. 12 is to be followed by a second in 2012-13, as the country builds up its space-based reconnaissance capability. It joins three optical reconnaissance spacecraft and helps replace two units that failed in orbit. Japanese media credit radar satellites with resolutions of 1-3 meters (3-10 ft.), although the performance depends in part on the frequency of the radar. The same, rather wide, range of resolutions has been quoted for earlier Japanese radar satellites.
U.S. Air Force officials plan to turn the new Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF) jam-proof communications satellite over for operational use in early 2012 after a protracted journey into orbit and subsequent testing period. The Lockheed Martin satellite, worth more than $1 billion and launched Aug. 14, 2010, experienced an onboard liquid apogee engine failure, forcing operators to employ other thrusters for a 14-month journey 22,000 mi. into geosynchronous orbit. To date, they have demonstrated use of the new, higher data rate capability provided by AEHF.
It is hard to tell if USAF Gen. (ret.)Michael Hayden, former director of both the National Security Agency and CIA, was being coy, ironic or very straightforward when he suggested the “Stuxnet” attack on Iran's nuclear industry was “incredibly precise” and targeted enough to have been carried out by “responsible nations.” That addresses, to a degree, the notion that the U.S. and Israel in some way colluded to slow down Tehran's nuclear program. Hayden made the comment at the Black Hat Abu Dhabi conference for cyberoperations specialists.
Airbus Military now projects type certification for the A400M airlifter will be delayed until the second quarter of 2012. A few weeks ago, Airbus Military officials still thought a 2011 certification might be possible. Issues have been finding the right weather conditions to allow completion of the anti-icing trials and a delay in some flight trials because of problems with the TP400D turboprop.
Oman is adding 12 F-16 Block 50s to its fleet under a $600 million foreign military sales deal with the Pentagon. The contract covers 10 F-16Cs and two F-16Ds. Oman also is in talks with Eurofighter for purchase of the Typhoon.
The World Trade Organization's long-running effort to adjudicate large commercial aircraft subsidies is due for another airing on Dec. 19. The Dispute Settlement Body (DSB) will hear U.S. objections to the EU's claim that it has withdrawn subsidies, which the EU published on Dec. 1. The EU insists it has fully met its obligations to withdraw subsidies, a claim Washington rejects. On Dec. 19, the EU delegate is expected to formally introduce the Dec. 1 document outlining how the bloc has complied with the WTO's findings and the U.S.
The 251 new orders Boeing added as of Dec. 14 marked its best week of the year and raised its net order intake to 778 for 2011. Orders for passenger aircraft include Southwest's agreement to buy 150 737 MAXs and 58 737 NGs; and two 777s and 10 787s from Etihad. Also coming in were orders for two 777s from unidentified customers, six 777s from China Southern Airlines and the revelation that six previously ordered but unidentified 777s belong to Hong Kong Airlines.
Boeing also received orders from FedEx for two 777Fs and 27 767-300Fs, the latter as replacements for some of the carrier's ancient MD-10Fs. FedEx is deferring delivery of 11 other 777Fs. The moves will allow FedEx Express to lower its operating and maintenance costs, and to balance international capacity with expected demand, the carrier said. FedEx's original plan was to replace the MD-10s, which are operated in domestic U.S. service, with MD-11Fs that would be moved from international routes as the carrier took delivery of 777Fs.
Boris Chertok, who led development of flight control systems for rockets and spacecraft from the beginning of the Soviet Union's program and was the longtime deputy to General Designer Sergei Korolev, died Dec. 14 of pneumonia at home in Moscow. He was three months short of his 100th birthday. An aviation expert during World War II, Chertok followed the Red Army into Germany at war's end to recruit German engineers and learn what he could about their work on the V-2 ballistic missile and other rocket weapons.
The FAA has granted Boeing type-design approval for four 777 models to fly extended operations (ETOPS) up to 330 min., boosting the long-distance safety rating for the big twinjet by 123 min.
With the first version of the Trent XWB engine for the Airbus A350 poised for the start of test flights, Rolls-Royce is already stepping up studies of what comes next in its big-engine lineup.
