The National Reconnaissance Office builds and operates a constellation of space reconnaissance and surveillance systems second to none. Last year it completed an aggressive launch schedule deploying six systems. The organization continually invests in research and development to provide modernization to address cost, reliability and essential mission enhancements to meet stringent demands to provide timely understanding of low-signature targets with global imagery and signals collection.
“We build capabilities that our adversaries cannot imagine.” This was a common description of the National Reconnaissance Office's mission during the last century and was commonly provided to new engineers during their indoctrination briefings. The world's dangers were clear and the need to provide the country with capabilities to gather intelligence against the threats was an imperative. The hardest problems were purely technical, not budgetary, and they required innovation and creativity.
The Pentagon, contractors and defense mavens in Congress are in a state of high anxiety, and with good reason. A Nov. 23 deadline looms next week for a “Super Committee” of Congress to produce a plan to trim at least $1.2 trillion from the federal budget deficit over a decade. Automatic cuts—agreed to last summer in the budget deficit debate that almost led to an embarrassing default on treasury bonds—are a sort of meat cleaver dangling over the committee to induce the panel to use its scalpel to craft a better plan.
The Pentagon is setting up an Air-Sea Strategy Office to act as a “focusing lens” for the armed services, defense officials told reporters last week. The Navy, Air Force and Marines are the main players, but the Army is joining soon. The office's mission will be to counter growing anti-access/area denial threats in the global commons—oceans, airspace, outer space and cyberspace. “We cannot cede a single domain in order to prevail,” the officials said. Understanding the problems will help eliminate redundancy, they claim.
Despite program setbacks at Airbus (see p. 30) and Eurocopter, EADS is upping its financial projections for the full year, with stronger revenue and order bookings. The Airbus parent now expects a gross order intake of around 1,500 units, with 1,372 on the books through October. Deliveries at Airbus should be 520-530 units. EADS CFO Hans-Peter Ring also notes that A380 improvements are progressing, perhaps at a slightly better pace than thought, and he has an increased confidence for output next year.
Airbus Military is betting a connection with state-owned aerospace conglomerate Indonesian Aerospace will revive the fortunes of its tactical transport business. Indonesian Aerospace already assembles the CASA C212 and CASA CN235 under license, but the CASA C295, the largest tactical transport in Airbus Military's product range, has always been made in Spain, although that is about to change.
Reduced retirement savings accounts and depressed home values are keeping older workers on the job longer than expected, postponing a wave of retirements that could have decimated the aerospace and defense (A&D) workforce. But the generation behind them is planning for shorter careers.
Europe's next flagship space mission is hanging in the balance, but that is not the fault of the European Space Agency (ESA), which is building six new satellites to carry out the Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES) mission. Putting the program at risk is none other than the 27-nation EU itself, which may renege on a political commitment to fund GMES operations and maintenance in its next multiyear budget. If that happens, which is looking increasingly likely, the first GMES Sentinel satellite might never get off the ground.
USAF Gen. (ret.) Bruce Carlson, director of the National Reconnaissance Office, says in “Strike Out” (AW&ST Oct. 17, p. 32) that China's military believes in deception, which concerns him. Doesn't the U.S. military believe in deception? I would be concerned if they did not. Dianella, Western Australia
A pair of advanced-technology development projects at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center illustrates how the agency is making the transition from work that had focused on the Bush administration's back-to-the-Moon exploration approach to a more open-ended drive to advance technology readiness levels. Efforts behind the technology work that was once directed at the Constellation program's goal of planting a human outpost on the Moon have been shifted to support NASA's latest plans to push beyond low Earth orbit with human crews on an as-yet-uncharted route to Mars.
CAE said revenues for the quarter that ended Sept. 30, were $435.5 million, up 12% from a year earlier on the back of strong demand for its civil training products and services. The Canadian company's backlog is valued at $3.6 billion. President and Chief Executive Marc Parent said the company's New Core Markets segment signaled a “turning point” and is expected to generate $120 million in the next fiscal year.
The National Reconnaissance Office, a secretive intelligence agency that operates out of a posh headquarters a stone's throw from Washington Dulles International Airport, has earned its cache during its 50-year history. The agency's development of the nation's first classified imaging satellites helped to end the Cold War by revealing the Soviet Union's true military might—or lack thereof.
The 777 remains the star of the show this year for Boeing as the company is in sight of passing the record of 154 net orders received for the twin-aisle jet in 2005, says 777 General Manager Larry Loftis. As of Nov. 8, the company had recorded 132 net 777 orders. The majority are for the 365-seat 777-300ER or 777F. Loftis spoke as a 97-ft. wing spar was loaded into an automatic drilling machine at Boeing's Auburn, Wash., fabrication plant for the 1,000th airplane. A 777-300ER, it is to be delivered next March to Emirates, which boasts the largest 777 fleet, with 95.
Richard Wittington (see photo) has joined Drexel Hamilton of New York, as senior VP of research analysis for aerospace and defense. He has held executive positions in defense electronics and industrial companies, most recently for JSA Research.
Struggling to stay within a flat budget for the heavy-lift Space Launch System (SLS), NASA plans to halt development of the J-2X rocket engine that will power its upper stage after the ongoing development-test series.
In “Regaining Control” (AW&ST Oct. 24/31, p. 86), Boeing's chief pilot for regulatory affairs presents a list of six points to follow in a stall or approach to stall. These are fine if the stall is recognized, which it would appear was not the case in either the Air France Flight 447 or Turkish Airlines crashes, both in 2009. There have been many examples of intuitive airmanship in the face of severe inflight problems. This is a capability and mindset that I expect of any pilot. Train to fly the aircraft first.
Despite efforts by industry and educational institutions to cultivate young women's interest in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM), things have not changed much since 2001, at least not on paper. Women still represent less than a quarter of the aerospace and defense (A&D) workforce and only make up a small fraction of engineers.
Senior Editor-Technology Graham Warwick's recent blog in Ares on progress in the F-35 program drew this exchange: Solomon asserts: Talk about damned if you do, damned if you don't! Concurrency was supposed to prevent a lot of these problems but the critics slam that plan and then get all atwitter when the alternate . . . life extensions are done. And Warwick responds:
Nov. 23-24—BCI Aerospace's European Defense Meetings. Palais de Congres, Bordeaux, France. See en.edm-bordeaux.com/391-homepage.html Nov. 28-30—Airports Council International-Europe/Asia's 2011 Airport Exchange. Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Center, United Arab Emirates. Also, Power of India: “New Horizons for Airport Commercial Revenues. Novotel, Hyderabad. See www.aci.aero
Richard Davey has been elected chairman of the Massachusetts Port Authorityboard of directors. He is the CEO of the Massachusetts Transportation Department.
Airlines, pilot hiring committees, flight instructors and the FAA should have heeded reader Capt. Roger Waldman's letter of more than a decade ago (AW&ST Sept. 6, 1999, p. 6). Pilot attitude was and is the key to safety. Waldman's letter outlined exactly what's wrong and how to fix it. The serious situation facing pilots at all levels today is the same. The basics of piloting any airplane are either not understood, not being taught, not reinforced by practice or not applied in actual flight.
Lockheed Martin has acquired Netherlands-based commercial flight simulator manufacturer Sim-Industries in a bid to diversify as defense budgets decline—and not for the first time. In 2000, citing a similar rationale for expanding into closely adjacent markets, Lockheed built a commercial flight training center in Orlando, Fla., equipped with three full-flight simulators for the Airbus A320 and Boeing 737. In 2007, it leased the center to civil training provider SimCom.
Air France is entering an area of unprecedented difficulties, an indication it urgently needs to improve its corporate governance. But it is also the victim of problems it can't control. In other words, Air France (and the entire Air France-KLM Franco-Dutch group) is in dire straits.
This time around, Tehran was merely the propaganda target of Israel's test launch of a Jericho III intermediate-range ballistic missile, but there is no question that Iran is also the primary target for any potential use of the nuclear weapons delivery system.
