The British government plans to set up a technology center to foster work on satellite applications. In a wide-ranging speech aimed at laying out the government's plans to improve science and technology, Science Minister David Willetts tells the Policy Exchange that the satellite effort “will provide business with access to in-orbit test facilities to develop and demonstrate new satellite technologies. It will also provide access to advanced systems for data capture and analysis, supporting the development of new services delivered by satellites.
Bell Helicopter has entered final negotiations for the sale of 15 429s to the Turkish National Police, the company reports. The 429 is a new entrant in the light twin-engine helicopter market and the company sees Turkey's selection “as a significant win in the European market.”
Kent Renner (see photo) has been named senior VP-chief accounting officer of Buchanan, Mich.-based XPO Logistics. He was global controller with GE Energy Services.
The past year has seen a lot of turbulence in the stock market, but there have been a few bright spots for investors in aerospace and defense companies. Shares in suppliers of aerospace components fared particularly well in 2011 as Airbus and Boeing ramped up output, and soaring order numbers added to the airframers' already bulging backlogs. Notable performers among suppliers include Hexcel (up 34%), TransDigm Group (33%), Triumph Group (31%), Sifco Industries (23%), Rolls-Royce (20%), Precision Castparts (18%), Safran (12%) and Moog (10%).
Chinese airlines are refusing to pay EU charges on carbon dioxide emissions and say Beijing is planning unspecified countermeasures against the policy. The carriers are also considering legal action against the EU, says Chai Haibo, deputy secretary-general of the China Air Transport Association.
I agree with reader Todd Fredricks' comments about the T-38 (AW&ST Dec. 19/26, 2011, p. 8). A logical replacement for the trainer would be the supersonic F-5F, which is equipped with an internal M-39 20-mm cannon and two engines, and can expend a wide variety of air-to-air/air-to-ground ordnance. The F-5F also carries the AN/APQ-159 X-band air-to-air search, range and angle tracking radar with off boresight acquisition capability. Maintenance costs for the aircraft are similar. Years ago, Northrop prototyped composite components for the F-5—now mothballed.
When Obama signed into law the defense authorization act, he also took a baby step toward expanding the use of UAVs inside the U.S. civil airspace. As part of the New Year's law, Congress directed the Pentagon, with help from the FAA and other agencies, to assess how fast the integration is taking place and look at the potential for creating test ranges to speed up the process.
The president's appointment of three new members of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) could disrupt a delicate agreement on the FAA reauthorization bill. The current bill extending the agency's operating authority expires Jan. 31, and Congress has a limited number of days in session to pass an agreement this month. Congressional leaders have been negotiating a final deal that would allow the first full-fledged FAA bill since 2007 to finally pass, but labor issues have been key sticking points.
Eliminating duplicated maintenance required by different regulatory agencies could take billions of dollars out of maintenance and engineering work for leased aircraft when they transfer across borders. That's not a typo—it's billions. Given that leased aircraft comprise about 40% of the world's total commercial fleet, and that figure continues to climb, these costs if not corrected will grow with the leased fleet.
Stefan Gardefjord (see photo) will join the Swedish Space Corp. in Solna as CEO on May 1. He will succeed Lars Persson, who is moving on after five years in the role. Gardefjord is CEO of Logica Sweden.
NASA's twin Gravity Recovery And Interior Laboratory (Grail) spacecraft straddled the New Year as they eased into orbit around the Moon, where they will provide the most detailed gravity maps available and important clues to the origins of Earth's big satellite. Before the mission is over, the two spacecraft will also give thousands of middle-school students some hands-on experience in space research. After spending 3.5 months on a low-energy trajectory that started with a tandem launch Sept. 10, 2011, the first of the Grail orbiters braked into lunar orbit at 5 p.m.
Nick Whitney (see photo) has been appointed managing director of the Operational Support Services unit of Marshall Aerospace, Cambridge, England. He comes from AgustaWestland, where he handled all business with the U.K. Defense Ministry.
President Barack Obama's changing of the Pentagon's global military focus from Europe to the Middle East and Asia-Pacific regions could breathe new life into dormant plans for a new stealthy bomber, and fuel the development of improved intelligence and surveillance aircraft and ballistic- and cruise-missile defenses around the globe.
More than 20 scheduled carriers now vie for a share of Indonesia's commercial air transport market, with intense price competition and more regulatory requirements the order of the day. But such conditions will eventually force some airlines out, says Rusdi Kirana, head of Lion Air, the country's largest domestic airline. He foresees a massive shakeout through mergers and business failures, leaving just four airline groups to serve the world's largest archipelago, within the next 6-7 years.
The Chinese space community is building momentum for its objective of a manned lunar landing, with the central government approving research on a launcher rocket. Approval for work on the launcher in the 2011 China Space Activities white paper, presumably covering the five-year plan period to 2016, does not mean that the government has approved a mission to land astronauts on the Moon. But it does mean preliminary studies already conducted will now move on to more detailed investigations.
Launch of France's first Pleiades Earth-imaging satellite plus a quartet of French military radar-mapping microsatellites atop the second Russian Soyuz flying from the European spaceport near Kourou, French Guiana, suggests that some cross-fertilization may be in order for the troubled Russian space program. The Dec. 16 mission marked the second flight of the Europeanized rocket from the new Soyuz pad at Sinnamary (see photo).
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.
