The U.S. defense industry faces many questions as President-elect Barack Obama and his team prepare to take the reins of the Pentagon and as several international fighter competitions wrap up during the coming months.
Iran’s defense ministry says it flight-tested a Ghadr-110/Samen/Sejjil solid-propellant ballistic missile with a 1,200-mi. range Nov. 13. Defense sources say several characteristics of the missile are evident as it sits on the launch pad. The rocket has two solid-propellant stages, each about 1.35 meters (4.4 ft.) in diameter. The first stage uses steering vanes mounted in the rocket nozzle, a technique dating to German World War II-era V-2s. But the second stage uses liquid-propellant Vernier jets protected by covers midway up the launcher.
The Emirates Group expects a more robust second half of its financial year after the Dubai-based airline reported a massive plunge in profits in the first half of fiscal 2008. According to results released last week, its net profit declined to approximately $77 million, a decrease of 88% compared with the same period 2007.
Air France pilots struck late last week over the government’s plan to raise the retirement age for pilots to 65 and conform with International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) standards. The law to allow pilots to fly past age 60 would take effect in 2010. The issue of conforming with the ICAO standard is still under discussion within the European Commission and European Aviation Safety Agency.
British Airways and Iberia are stepping up efforts to reduce costs and capital expenditures, while the airlines’ executives also try to overcome obstacles to their proposed merger plans. Right now, one of the big issues between the two carriers is what their respective equity stakes would be in a combined entity. The problem on that front is how to account for BA’s pension deficit. “It is a complex process,” says Iberia CEO Fernando Conte, who indicates the pension deficit is only one of several issues that need to be resolved.
The Army’s top procurement officer overseeing helicopter programs says he’s concerned about spending for science and technology to advance future systems. “S&T is not a good story,” said Brig. Gen. William Crosby at a conference in Huntsville, Ala. Ground work for the Joint Multi-Role and Joint Heavy Lift are butting up against “fiscal realities.” The general is also worried about funding to replace helicopters.
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In aviation, we learn quickly from our own and others’ mistakes. If Alfred E. Kahn and many CEOs were pilots, aircrew and mechanics, there would be many smoking holes in the ground due to their inability and refusal to learn from mistakes. Of course, Kahn is wrong. Name one industry that can sell its product for what it did 30 years ago while having a tax of up to 48% on each ticket.
Delta Air Lines announced it will add 15 international routes next summer, including 12 to destinations not serviced by any other U.S. carrier and three involving Tokyo’s Narita airport, where newly acquired Northwest Airlines has a hub so it can carry local Japanese traffic as well as U.S.-connecting flights to other destinations in Asia. The expansion includes eight new routes to Africa—a continent to which Delta still is the only U.S. carrier offering direct service—and flights from its hub at New York’s John F.
In another major failure for the Chinese space program, a second DFH-4 satellite bus, this one for Nigeria, has failed in geosynchronous orbit. China’s first DFH-4 failure, in late 2006, was considered the worst in-space breakdown for China. That satellite, Sinosat-2, was to provide Chinese communications services to the Pacific. The Nigerian satellite is designated NigComSat-1 and was launched last May by a Long March 3B rocket.
SAS Group is facing the daunting task of having to restructure on its own in the middle of a deep economic downturn after Star Alliance partner Lufthansa pulled out of talks to take over the Scandinavian airline group.
Even though the industry has entered a down cycle, several major aviation-related construction projects are underway in preparation for the rebound. Cessna has begun building a 600,000-sq.-ft. design and assembly facility for its Citation Columbus super midsize jet at the Wichita, Kan., Mid-Continent Airport. The Columbus program is eventually expected to employ 1,000 people.
Aerospace industry layoffs are gathering pace, but so far there is no lemming-like rush to shed jobs. Nonetheless, the combination of the global financial crisis, Boeing strike aftermath and delays to military programs is being blamed for layoffs already into the thousands across the U.S. industry. Jobs are not being lost at the rate of the post-9/11 downturn because so far customers, rather than canceling orders, are deferring deliveries. But unless the financing drought eases, deferrals could turn into cancellations and layoffs could accelerate.
British Transport Minister Geoff Hoon reaffirmed to Parliament last week he hoped “to announce my decision on whether, and if so how, additional capacity might be added at Heathrow before the end of the year,” during a robust debate over the addition of a third runway at the airport. Even a go-ahead, however, would only mark the start of a tortuous approval process. The government and Conservative Party remain at odds over the need for a third runway.
Doug Cooke, a longtime NASA engineer, will become associate administrator for exploration systems with the departure of Rick Gilbrech later this month. Cooke will be in charge of developing the plans and hardware necessary to fulfill NASA’s goal of leaving Earth orbit to explore the Moon, Mars and beyond with humans and robotic pathfinders. Gilbrech, who has headed the Exploration Systems Mission Directorate at NASA headquarters, will leave government service for the private sector on Nov. 24.
Robert F. Weiss has been named executive vice president-global sustainment at the Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co. of Fort Worth. He has been vice president-business development and succeeds Marillyn Hewson, who is now president of the Lockheed MartinSystems Integration Co., Owego, N.Y.
The Royal Air Force is working to accelerate integration of the Paveway IV precision-guided weapon on the Tornado GR4 so the aircraft can have the capability when it deploys to Afghanistan in the second quarter of 2009.
Besides housing and banking crises in U.S., make room for another. Nearly half of the aerospace and defense industry’s development programs may experience “a vicious cycle of budget overruns” that will strain a system already facing an end of robust growth, according to an analysis by consulting firm Deloitte LLP.
Cessna will begin cutting 655 jobs in January as it slows production of most Citation business jets and its piston singles. The company says it will cut 4% of its 12,000 employees in Wichita, Kan., and 35% of the 470-person workforce in Bend, Ore. Sister Textron company Bell Helicopter laid off 500 employees last month. Rival general-aviation manufacturer Hawker Beechcraft has announced 490 job cuts, Cirrus 205 and Mooney 230.
David Neufeld of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore and two other astronomers have been selected by the Universities Space Research Assn. , acting on behalf of NASA, to participate in the first scientific observations to be conducted by the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (Sofia). Neufeld has been picked to study the chemistry of warm interstellar gas, using data obtained by the German Receiver for Astronomy at Terahertz Frequencies (Great).
Obama has a degree from Harvard Law School, but some in Washington think he needs a little more education. The Aerospace Industries Assn., the top U.S. aerospace and defense trade association, is quietly considering a media blitz, including ads in Washington-based newspapers. The plan: teach the incoming administration, as well as the new Congress, about issues facing the high-tech aerospace industry, according to officials close to the plan.
In the letter “New Realities With SpaceX” (AW&ST Oct. 27, p. 10), the writer shortsightedly expects the use of cheaper spacecraft components in light of an anticipated launch cost reduction. SpaceX will not drive down launch costs to $1,000 per pound. On its web site, flights for Falcon 1 and 1e are offered at $8,500 and $4,000 per pound. Falcon 9 numbers should not be seen as final before the first successful orbital flight.
Aerospace and defense companies already know they face a yawning talent gap that has been building for years. It’s a problem that is tough to solve, and easy to defer—but unless addressed soon, it will undermine industry growth.
Amid global economic gloom and doom, CAE is reporting continued positive financial results. For the quarter ending Sept. 30, the Montreal-based simulation and training provider reported a 15% revenue increase to C$407 million ($336 million) and a 25% increase in net earnings to C$49 million, compared to the same period last year. CAE had a C$43.2-million free cash flow at the end of the quarter. According to President and CEO Robert E. Brown, the company received C$390 million in new orders and ended the quarter with a C$2.7-billion backlog.
