Deputy NASA Administrator Lori Garver raised some eyebrows last week with a provocative sound bite: “We're going back to the Moon.” A prime mover in the Obama administration decision to kill the “Moon, Mars and Beyond” Constellation program, Garver explained that she was talking about cislunar space, with a mission as early as 2017. That would be the planned first flight of the Orion multi-purpose crew vehicle atop the planned heavy-lift Space Launch System.
Airbus Military is once again investigating the loss of a boom from one of its A330-based Multi-Role Tanker Transports (MRTTs). On the eve of the ILA Berlin Air Show, the company encountered an embarrassing problem with its A330-based tanker program. During a post-production checkout flight, the refueling boom of a tanker bound for the United Arab Emirates fell off the aircraft in flight. This is the second such incident for Airbus Military.
Can industry really police itself? That's the question the Transportation Department's Inspector General will pose the second time starting Sept. 19, in an audit of the FAA's voluntary disclosure reporting program. The IG's review of the program comes as lawmakers continue to be concerned about the findings of a 2008 Inspector General's audit that found an FAA inspector and Southwest Airlines ducked the system.
Last week, a fresh set of calls urged Congress to address the nation's financial situation. Executives from Lockheed Martin, BAE Systems and EADS North America are proceeding with pre-election plans to warn thousands of workers that they might be laid off early next year. Two former Treasury secretaries, one Republican and one Democrat, said failing to address America's debt problem has dire economic and foreign policy implications. And Moody's rating agency now says the nation's long-held AAA rating hinges on congressional budget negotiations. Sen.
Francesco Caio Title: CEO, Avio Age: 55 Birthplace: Naples, Italy Education: Engineering degree from Milan Politecnico and MBA from INSEAD in Fontainebleau, France.
As Airbus's new CEO, Fabrice Bregier, and COO, Gunter Butschek, make major changes to the aircraft manufacturer's organization, the company's position within the EADS group has been strengthened. Two Airbus executives, Butschek and COO for Customers John Leahy, have been added to EADS's executive board, which now has 13 members including CEO Tom Enders.
WASHINGTON – The earlier phases of the proposed U.S. ballistic missile defense (BMD) plan to protect European allies through the European Phased Adaptive Approach ( EPAA ) should work if the right technology is in place, says a recent report by the National Research Council. However, the NRC report raises flags about the final phase.
Click here to view the pdf Fiscal 2013 Defense Senate Appropriations Markup: Changes to RDT&E Lines: Defense-wide, Army, Navy, Air Force ($ in thousands) Fiscal 2013 Defense Senate Appropriations Markup: Changes to RDT&E Lines: Defense-wide, Army, Navy, Air Force ($ in thousands)
The National Research Council ( NRC ) calls for the U.S. to stop investing in the Precision Tracking and Surveillance System (PTSS) for ballistic missile defense ( BMD ) in a recent report. “MDA should terminate the PTSS unless a more convincing case can be made for its efficacy for the mission that it is supposed to carry out,” says the report, “Making Sense of Ballistic Missile Defense : An Assessment of Concepts and Systems for U.S. Boost-Phase Missile Defense in Comparison to Other Alternatives,” released Sept. 11.
The high-profile military exercise Austere Challenge 12 – initially scheduled for April but postponed as Israel and the U.S. mulled Iran and their own relations – is now rescheduled for October. Although there seems to be a considerable reduction of U.S. military manpower taking part in the exercise in Israel, “Austere Challenge-12 remains the largest-ever ballistic missile defense exercise between our nations and a significant increase from the previous event in 2009,” said Air Force Lt. Col. Jack Miller, a Pentagon spokesman.
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While the Pentagon has made great strides lately in developing its UAV programs, the Defense Department needs to boost its training and simulation efforts, says a recent Defense Science Board (DSB) report. “There is no high-fidelity training environment for UAV pilots and sensor operators today,” DSB says in its “Final Report on the Role of Autonomy in Department of Defense Systems,” released in July. “There is no computer-based training system for Predator crews to operate in conjunction with real-world weapons tactics training,” DSB says.
BACK OFF: Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) has asked Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to back off public statements calling on President Obama to set clear conditions on when he would use the U.S. military to respond to Iranian nuclear activity. That’s an issue that Obama and GOP nominee Mitt Romney continue to disagree on. But Boxer is backing up the White House, pointing to U.S. aid for a counter-mortar system as evidence of the nation’s support for Israel.
At the Military Aviation Museum in the heart of tactical aviation country in Virginia Beach, Va., Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney told a Virginia television station Sept. 8 that if he were elected president, he’d add more fifth-generation F-22 Raptor jets. But not even all of the F-22’s allies on Capitol Hill immediately agreed that is the right course to take.
Three elements could change the march toward a conflict with Iran over its nuclear weapons program – the fall of the Syrian regime of Bashar Assad, Iran’s big supporter, and decisions by Russia and China to not pour advanced weapons into the region and to pressure Tehran to stop its indigenous development of weapons of mass destruction.
BAE Systems and EADS have told the London Stock Exchange that they are in talks over a possible merger that would create the world's largest aerospace and defence company.
