Military planners hope that Europe’s revised institutional framework—as outlined in the Lisbon Treaty—will help broaden the mandate of a key satellite center and the European Defense Agency (EDA) so they can contribute more meaningfully to continental defense.
With the 22nd Boeing 787 in final body join, the company has put the brakes on further large assembly deliveries to the aircraft’s integration plant in Everett, Wash., as its supply chain struggles with airframe—not systems—parts shortages.
Flight testing of an upgraded radar on the U.S. Air Force’s Rockwell-built B-1B bomber has begun at Dyess AFB, Texas. The Reliability and Maintainability Improvement Program (RMIP) replaces the receiver/transmitter and radar processor in the B-1’s APQ-164 radar with derivatives of units from Northrop Grumman’s APG-68(V)9 radar for the F-16. Software has been rewritten from Ada to C++ to improve supportability. Boeing was awarded a $180-million contract to upgrade 67 B-1s, with RMIP kits to be delivered beginning in 2011 and installation to be completed in 2014.
Kevin Moschetti has been promoted to president of the Bellevue, Wash.-based Esterline Corp. ’s Communication Systems from president of subsidiary Palomar Products.
Brian Barrett (see photos) has been promoted to vice president-aftermarket services for the Aerospace Group of Crane Aerospace & Electronics , Lynnwood, Wash., from director of repair and overhaul services. Eric Wilson has become the group’s Burbank, Calif.-based vice president-human resources. He held the same position at Crane Composites.
Tony Fernandes Age: 46 Education: Educated at Epsom College; graduated from the London School of Economics in 1987. Career: Became financial controller of Warner Music International in 1987; worked as an auditor at Virgin Atlantic and as the financial auditor for Virgin Records. Named managing director at Warner Music Malaysia in 1992. Became vice president of Warner Music-Southeast Asia in 1999 and left in 2001 to buy the ailing AirAsia.
India has proved once again that it cannot push the pedal too hard for speedy procurement of a major weapon system. It has been forced to notify vendors seeking the coveted 126 Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) award that they will need to rebid, prompting a schedule delay that might drive up costs. The bidders represent the industry’s biggest fighter manufacturers—MiG Russian Aircraft Corp., Dassault, Eurofighter, Saab, Boeing and Lockheed Martin.
Officials at U.S. Special Operations Command have tested the integration of Boeing’s Small Diameter Bomb I, a 250-lb. GPS-guided weapon, against fixed targets on the wing of the new Dragon Spear variant of the Lockheed Martin C-130, according to a senior Socom official. Dragon Spear refers to an armament package designed for the MC-130W, which has the original mission of transporting elite troops behind enemy lines. Current armaments include a 30-mm. gun and the 35-50-lb. Special-Operations Precision-Guided Munition.
The FAA has proposed a $348,000 civil penalty against regional carrier Chautauqua Airlines for allegedly operating regional jets that had not undergone lower wing, engine and electrical inspections mandated by airworthiness directives. The FAA in its April 27 penalty notice blamed problems in management of the airline’s maintenance program and AD-compliance tracking system for the alleged violations. One directive, for example, required repetitive checks for cracks in the lower wing planks of Bombardier Canadair Regional Jets after every 5,000 flights.
USAF Col. (ret.) Paul Comtois has been appointed director of aircraft upset training and research of the Environmental Tectonics Corp. , Southampton, Pa., and its National Aerospace Training and Research Center. He was commander of the 111th Fighter Wing of the Pennsylvania Air National Guard at Willow Grove Air Reserve Station.
Fuel-burn, emissions and environmental issues are no longer the airlines’ and operator’s top priorities, according to findings from two recent customer surveys conducted by the General Electric-Snecma joint engine company CFM International. Despite uncertainty over fuel prices, operators now consider reliability as their top priority with fuel burn slipping back to fifth slot behind cost in second place, followed by quality and time-on-wing.
Aerojet and Florida Turbine Technologies will continue the work they have conducted together on the USAF Hydrocarbon Boost Technology Demonstrator and Upper Stage Engine Technology efforts in a teaming arrangement set up to seek new business at NASA. The partnership announced April 29 will compete with at least Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne and Space Exploration Technologies Inc. in bidding to build a new liquid-oxygen/hydrocarbon rocket engine for the first stage of NASA’s proposed new heavy-lift launch vehicle.
Eurocopter is giving its improvement program, Shape, a boost in light of the evolving competitive nature of the helicopter market and the glimmer of light that some see in the dark economic cloud that has hovered over most of the world’s manufacturers for the last several years. More than €1.3 billion ($1.7 billion) will be invested in its self-funded research and development budget; this follows the doubling of its R&D allocation from 2007-10. The added monies will fund new helo programs and bolster enhanced global support and services.
Hans Almer, outgoing chairman of the Alexandria, Va.-based Flight Safety Foundation ’s European Advisory Committee, has received FSF’s Citation for Outstanding Service for his work in advancing air safety. As chairman, he was responsible for The Operators Guide to Human Factors in Aviation. Almer was also recognized for safety efforts while president of Saab Aircraft and with the Swedish Civil Aviation Authority’s Flight Safety Department.
House legislation to buttress nascent science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) educational efforts has cleared an authorizing committee with strong backing and could be approved by the full House before June, leaders say. The America Competes reauthorization bill would also continue widely bipartisan efforts started under the George W. Bush administration to stimulate federal grant-making for technology modernization.
When the transport ministers of the European Union countries convene this week, they will have an opportunity to do good for the aviation industry. But as usual, the potential for damage is also large. In recent years, aviation has been a whipping boy of governments in Europe. But the disruptions in air travel that Europe suffered last month due to volcanic ash has underscored the economic importance of the industry. Perhaps now transport ministers will seize the opportunity to push some much needed structural improvements.
The business aviation community’s anxiety about Europe’s Emissions Trading System (ETS) is far from over, with operators continuing to express deep misgivings about the system’s administrative burden and cost.
T. Allan McArtor, who is chairman of Airbus Americas Inc. and a former president of the Wings Club , has been named to receive the New York-based club’s 2010 Distinguished Achievement Award on Oct. 22. Before joining Airbus in 2001, McArtor was founder/chairman/CEO of Legend Airlines, FAA administrator, head of air operations for Federal Express and an associate professor of engineering mechanics at the U.S. Air Force Academy.
Rainer von Borstel has been appointed president of Diehl Aerosystems , Uberlingen, Germany. He will succeed Rainer Ott, who will be retiring Sept. 10. Von Borstel was head of the aviation sector of EDAG.
European Space Agency scientists are checking out the quality of data generated by the new CryoSat-2 by comparing it with aerial data produced by NASA’s airborne Operation Ice Bridge, a series of DC-8 flights over the Arctic ice to measure its elevation. So far results are good, ESA says, although the Synthetic Aperture Interferometric Radar Altimeter (Siral) instrument on CryoSat-2 has only been returning data since April 11 and faces a six-month commissioning period.
Under an FAA airworthiness directive final rule issued April 29, operators of Bombardier Q400 aircraft will be required to replace AOA (angle-of-attack) vane resolvers that could cause vane seizure at low temperatures. The directive, which becomes effective May 14, closely follows the Transport Canada directive of Feb. 2, and outlines the unsafe conditions: freezing of the resolver could restrict the vane’s dynamic behavior, lead to seizure and provide inaccurate AOA data to the aircraft’s stall protection system.
Innovative funding could be crucial in securing a deal to sell advanced jet trainers to Iraq, with Baghdad beginning to consider an acquisition. Sources confirm there have been exploratory contacts with London over the BAE Systems Hawk, although they add that there are other options such as the Alenia Aermacchi M-346 and Korea Aerospace Industries/Lockheed Martin T-50. Iraq is understood to be also interested in using any advanced trainer in the light attack role. Funding such a procurement for the Iraqi air force faces challenges.
BMI may be downsizing to stop the financial hemorrhaging of recent years, but it has not given up on long-term growth ambitions, even if its pursuit is on hold for the moment.
During the next 18 months, the ability of a conventionally based military to reshape itself into a surgical strike unit that can irreparably damage or misdirect a flexible, quick-learning and fast-moving irregular force will be tested by the U.S. in Afghanistan. That critical period also will see early products from the accelerating convergence of small, precise new weapons and electronic, information and cyber-operations, and their fusion with next-generation intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR).
