The conflict in Libya introduced to combat a new weapons system: the Boeing EA-18G Growler electronic attack aircraft. But that first exposure came without warning, and the spur-of-the-moment redeployment forced the U.S. Navy to demonstrate its operational and technological flexibility within NATO and U.S. Air Force frameworks.
E. Robert Lupone has been appointed executive VP, general counsel and secretary of Providence, R.I.-based Textron, succeeding Terrence O'Donnell, who is retiring. Lupone was senior VP and general counsel of Siemens Corp.
Airbus says it has already developed a fix to wing cracking found on some A380s. The cracks, first reported by the Sydney Morning Herald, have been seen by at least Qantas and Singapore Airlines. Airbus confirms the cracking on “on some non-critical wing rib-skin attachments on a limited number of A380 aircraft.” The aircraft maker adds that safe operation of the fleet is not affected, and no flight limitations are being put on the A380. Airbus says an inspection and repair process has been identified.
David Smith has become senior manager of financial planning and analysis and Richard Squire-Tibbs controller at The McGraw-Hill Companies' Aviation Week. Smith was manager of accounts receivable and credit analysis in MGH's Financial Reporting Department, and Squire-Tibbs was controller in the MGH Business Services Center. Both work in New York.
Giorgio Vismara will join Zurich-based advanced composites manufacturer Gurit as general manager-marine, effective Jan. 17. He is general manager for Vismara Marine.
If the U.S. defense budgeting process could be any more disconnected from reality, it's hard to imagine how—which is precisely what comes to mind as we reflect on efforts by the Obama administration and Congress to reconcile the national security strategy the U.S. needs in a world of rapidly evolving threats with the spending it can afford.
Pat Long (see photo), vice chairman of Longistics, has been named a finalist for two Stevie Awards for Women in Business. Long's nominations are for Best Entrepreneur and Best Overall Company in the Service Business.
The Qantas Airbus A380 that was badly damaged after an engine failure near Singapore in November 2010, VH-OQA, is due to return to service in March. Repairs began in May 2011, and are expected to cost AU$135 million ($139.75 million), Qantas says. The costs are covered by insurance. VH-OQA was forced to make an emergency landing in Singapore due to an uncontained failure in one of its Rolls-Royce Trent 900 engines, with flying debris causing significant structural damage. The engine failure was eventually traced to a Rolls-Royce manufacturing fault.
An item in the Who's Where column last week (p. 12) incorrectly stated Tom Horton's job status. He remains chairman, president and CEO of the AMR Corp.
Discussions over price escalation clauses remain the main sticking point in talks between Saudi Arabia and BAE Systems for a follow-on purchase of Eurofighter Typhoon combat aircraft. The two sides have been in talks about changing the terms of an initial deal, under which the first 24 aircraft would be assembled in the U.K. and production would then shift to Saudi Arabia. The plan now is for all to be assembled in Europe.
Satellite trackers predict Russia's Phobos-Grunt Mars mission will reenter the Earth's atmosphere on or about Jan. 15, with a more precise forecast possible as it winds down toward the atmosphere. Carrying a Chinese probe piggyback, the 13,200-kg (29,101-lb.) spacecraft was left stranded in low Earth orbit after its Nov. 8, 2011, launch on a Zenit 2-SB rocket. Most of the probe's liftoff mass was hypergolic fuel that may be frozen, and it carried a sample-return capsule that may survive reentry and reach Earth's surface.
Boeing's decision to lower costs and increase efficiency in its defense operations by shifting work at its huge Wichita facility to elsewhere in its network may well be the first of many plant closures this year as U.S. military spending dries up.
SNPL France ALPA, France's leading airline pilot union, says its members will not report to work Feb. 6-9 as part of a retaliatory initiative against a proposal to revise rules governing walkouts in the airline industry. Eric Diard, a right-wing member of parliament, is proposing that unions be required to give carriers notice 48 hr. before a walkout to make it easier for airlines to plan contingency flight schedules. The proposal also calls for alerting air passengers about cancellations no later than 24 hr. before departure dates.
William Garvey's “Problem Prop” (AW&ST Dec. 12, 2011, p. 14) talks about the Center for Environmental Health's (CEH) push to ban avgas. They have been lobbying for years to get this disparaging legislation passed. Here is some more ammunition to fight CEH. As of 2006, Chevron's Riverside, Calif., refinery was producing large quantities of leaded motor fuel because the 1950s-vintage tractors in the state's agricultural belt need lead to protect their engines. The state gave the farmers approval to use leaded fuel and Chevron permission to refine it.
Andrew Gale has been named CEO and Dennis Nolan CFO at Numet Machining Techniques, Old Greenwich, Conn. Gale was CEO of Veridiam and Nolan was senior VP and general manager at Rockwood Services Corp.
Pat Long (see photo), vice chairman of Longistics, has been named a finalist for two Stevie Awards for Women in Business. Long's nominations are for Best Entrepreneur and Best Overall Company in the Service Business.
John Grunsfeld has been named associate administrator for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington, succeeding Ed Weiler, who retired in September. Grunsfeld, a physicist and former astronaut, was deputy director of the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore.
In “Saudi, U.S. Finalize F-15SA Sale,” Amy Butler reports that though the buy buoys Boeing's St. Louis production line, the company's hopes dim for selling a semi-stealthy version of the aircraft abroad. Warrant9 says: A purchase of U.S. fourth-generation warplanes by its richest client state? It is a dog-bites-person snooze. Can't Europe keep its rich client states in line? Of course, if Saudi Arabia bought a Euro Canard it would mean much more than whether they were buying the “best warplane” or not.
Complaints are just now being voiced by U.S. and allied participants in the NATO-led operations over Libya about the cobbled-together, understaffed and segmented joint command-and-control system. In particular, some early U.S. Navy missile attacks were launched without coordination with the Air Tasking Order, some allies did not have access to key information and personnel without the right skills were assigned to pivotal jobs.
Flanked by the newly enlarged Joint Chiefs, President Barack Obama made a rare appearance at the Pentagon to announce changes that, in part, will rely even more on the Guard and reserve troops to maintain strategic capabilities (see p. 21). Among programmatic ramifications of the new Pentagon road map is likely a reduction in the numbers of Joint Strike Fighter F-35s the U.S. will buy. That worries the U.K.'s new defense secretary, Philip Hammond. “We are concerned that any slippage in the program and any reduction in U.S.
Todd Fredricks' recent letter may cause some confusion. F-5s have never been part of the Israeli air force. The Israeli connection, however, is in the retrofit of updated electronics/avionics suites performed for a few foreign air forces by such top-notch Israeli companies as Elbit Systems and IAI. Tivon, Israel
The FAA's long-awaited crew-rest requirement immediately prompts cheers from many airline pilots. But the rule, published Dec. 21, has also prompted a legal filing from UPS flight crews, represented by the Independent Pilots Association, which blasts the FAA for exempting cargo pilots. The association has until Jan. 23 to file preliminary documents to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit outlining its challenge.
