Steve Kantor has become president of New York-based L-3 Communications’ Services Group . He is also a corporate senior vice president and succeeds Carl E. Vuono, who will retire. Kantor has been corporate senior vice president/president of L-3’s Marine and Power Systems Group. He will be succeeded by Robert E. Leskow, who has been the group’s executive vice president/CFO.
The U.S. Air Force has ambitious plans to eventually educate 100 F-35 pilots per year from a new multiservice training center being constructed with $400 million in upgrades at Eglin AFB, Fla.
Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne will push for further exploitation of a deep-throttling cryogenic engine for space exploration after demonstrating an unprecedented thrust range from 104% of rated power down to 5.9% on a test unit.
A top civilian official is retiring from the Air Force, leaving another influential slot open as the service struggles to keep its key programs on track. Gary Payton, deputy undersecretary of the Air Force for space, is retiring effective July 31 to pursue other opportunities. For the past five years in that role, Payton has overseen slow but steady progress with electro-magnetic interference and control software issues on the delayed and over-budget Space-based Infrared System early warning missile defense satellite program.
Royal Navy Adm. (ret.) James Burnell-Nugent has become an independent non-executive member of the board of directors of U.K.-based Qinetiq . He was commander-in-chief of the fleet and had been commander of the aircraft carrier HMS Invincible and three other ships and submarines.
Robert Clare has become director of North American marketing for Universal Avionics , Tucson, Ariz. He was director of original equipment manufacturer marketing.
Janicki Industries’ 1,600F annealing furnace is designed to handle large-scale, high-precision metal, composite, ceramic and thermoplastic projects. The 72-ft.-long, 24-ft.-wide, 11-ft.-high furnace is one of the largest in the U.S., according to the company. Expansion plans to accommodate even larger projects were built into its design and construction. The design allows for a loaded truck to drive parts into the furnace via steel rail tracks.
John Kharsa (see photo) has been appointed engineering manager of the Aerospace Div. of Fluid Components International , San Marcos, Calif. He was a senior program manager for Hamilton Sundstrand.
The U.K.’s Mantis unmanned combat air vehicle demonstrator was under the spotlight briefly on July 12 when it was rolled out at BAE Systems’ Warton, England, site. The program, most of which remains classified, will see the low-observable test vehicle fly for the first time in 2011. Mantis is a key program for both the U.K. Defense Ministry and the country’s aerospace industry, providing the opportunity to develop and test the design for an unmanned low-observable aircraft.
Restructuring the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program may have given Lockheed Martin more time to complete development, but flight testing must still pick up the pace to meet the new schedule.
AgustaWestland and Thales are proposing a modified AW101 Merlin to meet the U.K.’s future maritime surveillance and control aircraft requirement. The companies are offering to shift the Cerberus mission system from the Royal Navy’s Sea King Mk7 airborne surveillance and control helicopter to the Merlin. The Cerberus system includes a Thales Searchwater 2000 pulse doppler radar and the joint tactical information distribution system Link 16 data link. The Mk7 is scheduled to be withdrawn in 2016.
Thomas E. Vice (see photos) has become corporate vice president/president of the Los Angeles-based Northrop Grumman Corp. ’s Technical Services Sector. He was sector vice president/general manager of the Bethpage, N.Y.-based Battle Management and Engagement Systems Div. of the Aerospace Systems Sector. Vice has been succeeded by Patricia McMahon, who has been promoted from vice president/deputy of the division. Scott D. White has been appointed Arlington, Va.-based vice president-intelligence for the Northrop Grumman Corp. He was associate deputy director of the CIA.
Stephane Ginoux has been named CEO of Japanese operations for Airbus . He succeeds Glen Fukushima, who will become chairman of Airbus Japan. Ginoux will continue to head Eurocopter Japan, another EADS affiliate.
Boeing has begun flying the conformal weapons bay (CWB) for the Silent Eagle as it awaits an export license to provide data on the aircraft to South Korea, the first potential customer for the stealthier version of the F-15E. The CWBs replace the conformal fuel tanks, and each has two internal bays for missiles and bombs. The single prototype CWB flying on testbed aircraft F-15E1 has only the upper bay, carrying an AIM-120 missile. A test launch of the missile will be conducted to validate the bay design, says Boeing.
David Barrow (see photos) has been appointed CEO and Joseph Johnson chief operating officer of Grantley Adams International Airport , Georgetown, Barbados.
Greg Dawson has been appointed Crawley, England-based director of corporate communications for Virgin Atlantic Airways . He was director of communications for Travelodge Hotels Ltd.
Sennheiser’s T50-certified professional headsets feature safeguards that protect pilots’ hearing while ensuring reliable voice transmission, according to the company. The level of passive noise attenuation exceeds the total attenuation (active and passive) of other lightweight active noise reduction headsets on the market via a technology that actively reduces low-frequency continuous noise by up to 18 dB. The HMEC26T offers a talk-through function, so pilots can experience noise cancellation but still be able to hear others in the cockpit.
A group of science activists claims the Obama administration plans to cut the U.S. nuclear arsenal by up to 40% by 2021, while also spending nearly $175 billion over the next 20 years to build new facilities and maintain and modify thousands of weapons. Last week, the Federation of American Scientists and the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) revealed what they say are elements of the administration’s long-awaited Stockpile Stewardship and Management Plan, which was sent to Congress in May.
The FAA recently issued a Special Airworthiness Information Bulletin covering certain engines in several Rotax models that stated: “In some cases if the input pressure to the mechanical fuel is high, output pressure from the mechanical fuel pump could be excessive. High fuel pressure may cause the engine to malfunction from flooding and/or cause fuel leakage.” The Corbi Billet fuel pump and billet solve this potential problem, and offer extended life, inexpensive rebuilds, compatibility with any fuel Rotax can burn and top reliability.
The U.K.’s military and commercial aerospace industry this year is expected to hit bottom in order intake, after showing a 10.4% decline in 2009. “Either the second or third quarter of 2010 is the trough,” believes Ian Godden, chairman of ADS, the AeroSpace, Defense and Security trade organization. He is optimistic the industry could start showing growth and head toward a boom, particularly in commercial aerospace, as long as a double-dip recession does not affect the global economy.
The VirtualHUD Wingman is a first for portable attitude display and electronic flight information systems (EFIS), according to the company. The Wingman connects to a handheld GPS via a standard RS-232 serial Interface cable and allows for planning flight details with a GPS and then having that information automatically transferred to the Wingman. The display features the standard symbology for an EFIS, but in a compact battery-powered form. With built-in sensors, the Wingman is able to “project” flight-path information via highway-in-the-sky path markers.
USAF Gen. (ret.) Arthur J. Lichte has been named to the board of directors of EADS North America , Arlington, Va. His last post was commander of Air Mobility Command.
Michael Barbalas has been named as president of China activities of the Goodrich Corp. , Charlotte, N.C. He was president of the American Chamber of Commerce in China and succeeds Ken Wood, who has retired.
“Heavy-Lift Boosters” (AW&ST June 28, p. 28) is timely and helps to commemorate, in its way, the historic day 41 years ago, July 20, 1969, when millions watched Astronaut Neil Armstrong take his first historic step on lunar soil. For one shining moment, it seemed that humanity took one giant leap into the future.
