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USAF Maj. Gen. James J. Jones has been named director-operational planning, policy and strategy and deputy chief of staff-operations, plans and requirements at USAF Headquarters at the Pentagon. He has been deputy commander, and combined force air component commander of the U.S. Central Command, as well as vice commander of the 9th Air Expeditionary Task Force's Air Combat Command in Southwest Asia. He is succeeded by Maj. Gen. Lori J. Robinson, director-legislative liaison in the Office of the Secretary of the Air Force, also at the Pentagon.
USAF Maj. Gen. James J. Jones has been named director-operational planning, policy and strategy and deputy chief of staff-operations, plans and requirements at USAF Headquarters at the Pentagon. He has been deputy commander, and combined force air component commander of the U.S. Central Command, as well as vice commander of the 9th Air Expeditionary Task Force's Air Combat Command in Southwest Asia. He is succeeded by Maj. Gen. Lori J. Robinson, director-legislative liaison in the Office of the Secretary of the Air Force, also at the Pentagon.
As part of its long-running funding stream to assure a national unmanned aircraft design and development capacity, the U.K. Defense Ministry has awarded BAE Systems a £40 million ($62 million) contract for four years of work under the Future Combat Air System (FCAS) focused research contract.
Bill Sweetman (Washington), David Fulghum (Washington)
The small unmanned aircraft was carrying sensor balls mounted in an internal compartment with specially treated transparent panels—developed for the F-22.
Boeing Satellite Systems has won a $296.1 million firm fixed-price contract to produce and launch the eighth Wideband Global Satcom spacecraft for the U.S. Air Force. The award is part of a $1.09 billion follow-on contract announced in September for the WGS Block II program. Work on the spacecraft is to be completed by July 31, 2016. Meanwhile, Astrotech Space Operations in Titusville, Fla., has completed the encapsulation and a key testing milestone on WGS-4 prior to its scheduled Jan. 19 launch from Cape Canaveral.
Mark Schwab (see photo) has been appointed CEO of the Frankfurt-based Star Alliance, succeeding Jaan Albrecht, who was named CEO of Austrian Airlines in November. Schwab comes from Star member United Airlines, where he was senior VP-alliances.
U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood reportedly plans to resign his post at the expiration of President Barack Obama's first term in office. The business aviation community will view such an exit with decided ambivalence.
There is nothing like the end of the year to prompt New Year's resolutions, particularly among the worst-performing carriers. Malaysia Airlines (MAS), Jetstar Pacific in Vietnam and Thai Airways International all have the distinction of being businesses that have much promise and potential, but until now have largely failed to deliver on the financial front.
In “Penny Wise, Pound Foolish” (AW&ST Dec. 5, 2011, p. 62) Prof. Dwight C. Streit frets over drop-in-the-bucket sequestered cuts in aefense “spending” not “programs.” First: Nobody in Washington will cut anything in an election year. Second: In a White House and Congress where no one knows the meaning of “cuts,” it is doubtful any will be made in the foreseeable future beyond 2012. Makes you wonder what students are learning at UCLA. New York, N.Y.
After months of negotiations over how to combine their optronics businesses to create a more powerful single entity, Thales and Safran have signed a memorandum of understanding to create a joint venture in optronics. The new entity, being set up with the blessing of the French government, will pursue aftermarket business and development of new equipment, including an electro-optical/infrared payload for the planned Franco-British MALE aircraft program.
The smallest and the biggest companies in the aviation supply chain should attract equal attention in the airline aftermarket this year. The first driver is the increase in narrowbody production by Airbus and Boeing, and suppliers to those original equipment manufacturers (OEM) who get squeezed to service both aircraft types.
Tom Horton (see photo) has been promoted to chairman of the New York-based Oneworld alliance, succeeding Gerard Arpey, who has retired. Horton is chairman/president/CEO of AMR Corp. and American Airlines.
USN Adm. (ret.) Eric T. Olson has been appointed to the board of directors of McLean, Va.-based Iridium Communications. He was commander of the U.S. Special Operations command.
United Technologies Corp. Chairman and CEO Louis R. Chenevert shook up the aerospace and defense industry in 2011 with a series of business deals and achievements that improbably came together in a single year. He is pictured in front of a geared turbofan engine developed by UTC's Pratt & Whitney unit at a cost of more than $1 billion. And, UTC has agreed to pony up another $18.4 billion to acquire Goodrich in the biggest aerospace deal in more than a decade. UTC photo by Jeff Corwin.
You wouldn't know it from reading the headlines, but the aerospace and defense industry turned in a strong performance in 2011. A new forecast released last week by the Aerospace Industries Association (AIA) projects that sales will end the year at $218 billion, up 3.5% from 2010. U.S. contractors are expected to see income from military aircraft rise 7%, civil aircraft grow by 3% and missiles and space increase by 2% each. “It's not as bad as we expected,” says Bill Chadwick, research director at the Washington-based trade group.
