The need to put more effort into sustaining aging equipment and the introduction of platforms with new support schemes should make the near-term outlook bright for military maintenance, repair and overhaul organizations. But the fiscal reality in Europe and the U.S. is such that those two trends are merely compounding a gloomy budget picture and darkening the prospects for industry.
EADS is facing crucial decisions over its ownership structure now that Germany's government must decide within weeks about how to best protect its interests in Europe's largest aerospace company. According to industry sources, Daimler AG is losing patience in the slow-moving process to sell at least part of its stake as planned. It could, those sources say, decide to float its shares on the stock exchange if no other investor is found by the end of the year.
As if volatile oil prices, a European recession and an aggressive low-cost airline rival were not enough to deal with, EasyJet management's main threat appears to come from its inability to resolve a long-running dispute with one its founder—and one of its main shareholders—Stelios Haji-Ioannou. The two sides have sparred over a host of issues—from the composition of the board of directors to fleet plans—and in the latest twist, EasyJet suggests Haji-Ioannou may be threatening to set up a rival airline.
SAS Scandinavian Airlines is embarking on a new strategy that will build on the deep cuts already made to its cost structure and move the airline even further away from the traditional hub-and-spoke legacy business model.
They tend to whoop once it's over, but going into the centrifuge at the National AeroSpace Training And Research (Nastar) center here in the Philadelphia suburbs, would-be suborbital space travelers usually are a bit subdued. After two days of classroom work, some preparatory “flights” and an unpleasant session in the high-altitude chamber, they have a better understanding of how a real flight—and their bodies' reactions to it—could go wrong.
NASA hopes to devote $1.6 billion in the next two years to commercial crew vehicles able to reach the International Space Station (ISS). That is extremely encouraging to those who want to see the terrestrial economy move off the planet, but it may not be the only path to commercial orbital transportation.
Staring at the bright lights and immaculate floor of The Spaceship Co.'s (TSC) new suborbital spacecraft and launch vehicle factory, Mojave Air & Space Port CEO Stuart Witt smiles and shakes his head.
Europe may lag behind the U.S. in the field of commercial space tourism, but its agencies and companies are poised to move into the market if it develops. European industry is already taking advantage of facilities for commercial research aboard the International Space Station (ISS), and plans are afoot for tourist flights from the Swedish arctic.
Oct. 12-13—Fifth Edition of Lean Six Sigma for MRO Forum. San Francisco. Oct. 20-21—MRO IT Conference and Showcase. Chicago. Oct. 24-26—A&D Programs. Phoenix. Nov. 2-3—Engine MRO Forum. Istanbul. Nov. 8-10—MRO Asia. Beijing. Nov. 16-17—Lean Six Sigma for MRO Europe. Amsterdam. Nov. 30-Dec. 1—Aerospace & Defense Finance Conference. New York. Feb. 1-2—MRO Middle East 2012. Dubai, United Arab Emirates. March 7—54th Annual Laureate Awards. Washington.
We know about bubbles all too well. We are still recovering from the housing bubble and financial crisis. A decade earlier, we experienced the tech bubble, before that another real estate bubble and so on. Economic bubbles are caused by speculation that drives unsustainable growth. We also know that bubbles inevitably burst, with disastrous consequences to their respective industries and often to the overall economy.
Maintenance, repair and overhaul is a growing business worldwide, but MRO companies in Europe must contend with high costs, a strong euro and a decline in defense budgets and fleets. But contrary to widespread belief, Europe still manages to take in more MRO business than it sends offshore (see pp. 62, 64). Air France Industries-KLM Engineering & Maintenance fills its hangars with a significant amount of third-party work, as evidenced by the cover photo by Patrick Delapierre.
In the 10 years since 9/11 we have had no successful attempts to wreak havoc on airlines, thanks to the vigilance and actions of crew and passengers and an extraordinary intelligence effort. But an argument can be made that what was lacking in common sense 10 years ago has been taken to extremes at airports today, “Assessing Risk” (AW&ST Sept. 12, p. 48).
I am concerned about the latest NASA heavy-lift Space Launch System (SLS) proposal. With the shuttle's retirement, we were given an opportunity to create a new heavy lifter that did away with the solid rocket boosters that cost the lives of the Challenger crew. How NASA could ever consider solid rockets—with their inability to be turned off in a crisis—to be human-rated is beyond me.
After reading Richard Aboulafia's Viewpoint, “Boeing Made The Right Call” (AW&ST Aug. 22, p. 58), I came away feeling that technologists, economists and “market reactions” were represented, but the most important party—the passenger—was not even mentioned!
As an aerospace engineer by training and a retired, conservative manufacturing executive, I was appalled by Sen. Jon Kyl's (R.-Ariz.) comment in “Lines in the Sand” (AW&ST Sept. 12, p. 23): “I'm off of the committee if we're going to talk about further defense spending [cuts].” Having just endured the legislative intransigence that delayed agreement to raise the debt ceiling in August, we now have an experienced senator—not a hot-headed “tea partisan”—saying there's a place he won't go for deficit reduction.
In a recent Letter From The Editor: “Workforce: Mixed Messages” (AW&ST Aug. 22, p. 3), the fact that women are underrepresented in the engineering and maintenance technician fields is bemoaned. This so-called problem is referred to as “systemic and persistent” and as a “glaring gender gap.”
In response to an AviationWeek.com story Senate Appropriators Slice $700M Off JSF: MikeSar wonders: If you were in charge of an attack on a well-defended ground site with rifles and machine guns and could choose between two F-35s or two squadrons of 20 Boeing OV-10 Broncos with Gatling guns, what would you chose? The price of one JSF is equal to that of 25 Broncos. weasel 1962 says:
In response to an AviationWeek.com story: Northrop, BAE To Team for USAF T-X Work exgrum writes: Wait. A U.S. derivative of the British Hawk trainer. Isn't that what the McDonnell Douglas (now Boeing) T-45 is? Why not just buy the T-45 and save a couple of million dollars? sandygreenlyn asks: Why couldn't Boeing offer a version of the Hawk too?:
Tim Peters has become VP and general manager of surveillance and engagement for Boeing Military Aircraft. Peters, who was VP-global security systems in the company's Network and Space Systems Division, succeeds Bob Feldman, who will move to Boeing Commercial Airplanes to lead development of the 737 MAX.
Charles S. Phalen, Jr. (see photo) has been appointed VP-corporate and enterprise shared services industrial security at Northrop Grumman, Falls Church, Va., succeeding Ed Halibozek, who has retired. Phalen was director of security for the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency. Valerie Caproni (see photo) has been named VP and deputy general counsel for litigation and investigations, succeeding Joseph O. Costello, who plans to retire at year-end. Caproni was general counsel for the FBI. Douglas P. Larsen is the new general counsel for government contracts and relations.
Nelson J. Chai has been promoted to president of CIT Group of New York from executive VP, chief administrative officer and head of strategy. Neil Burgess has been appointed director of the Financial Institutions Group. He rejoins the company from Amentum Capital.
Alfonso J. Ramonet will become president of Falls Church, Va.-based General Dynamics European Land System and a VP of the corporation on Dec. 1, succeeding John C. Ulrich, who will become chief operating officer of General Dynamics Ordnance and Tactical Systems.
Bill Minkoff (see photo) has been named regional sales director for New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware and sections of New York City at Hawker Beechcraft Corp., Wichita. He was VP-business development at Corporate Flight Management, Smyrna, Tenn.
Joe Kolo has been promoted to VP and general manager from VP-sales and marketing at Prime Turbines, Carrollton, Texas. He has held senior positions with Atlantic Turbines and Dallas Airmotive.
Christian Duhain has been named a non-executive director for London-based A.J. Walter. He was corporate VP-international development for EADS for Asia-Pacific and Latin America and led major sales campaigns for Airbus.
