Raytheon and the U.S. Navy have teamed to upgrade the Standard Missile-2 for improved maneuverability. The additional performance is needed to match that of new, anti-ship weapons. SM-2 is the Navy's primary surface-to-air fleet air defense weapon and is operational on cruisers, destroyers and frigates.
Buoyed by the ramp-up of work on NASA's Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle, Orbital Sciences Corp. saw first-quarter revenues rise 19% compared with the same period last year. OSC is a subcontractor to Orion prime contractor Lockheed Martin, and its Orion work was a major contributor to a 21% increase in revenues for Orbital's satellites and space segment, according to the company. First-quarter revenues were $228.2 million, compared with $192 million a year ago. First-quarter operating income rose 10% to $17.5 million, compared with $16 million in 2006.
Analysis of key large-capitalization defense stocks during the last six presidential election years indicates those issues outperformed the Standard & Poor's 500 in four of those periods.
Your recent article about the proposal to build an American-funded Lunar Beagle spacecraft using backup hardware designed for the Beagle 2 lander provides a double-strength dose of irony (AW&ST Apr. 9, p. 26). Surely nobody has forgotten that Colin Pillinger routinely bashed NASA while trying to gain funding for Beagle 2, and now seeks funding for Lunar Beagle. Beagle already has bitten the NASA hand it now wants to feed it.
Southwest Airlines, disappointed with first-quarter unit revenues and wary of "cooling domestic demand," is studying new ways to leverage its brand to offset rising operating costs.
Chinese airlines are showing improved profitability but a new threat is emerging in the form of high-speed railway service. On Apr. 18, China increased system-wide train speeds for the sixth time since 1997, slashing average travel times by 20-30% thanks to track improvements. The upgrades will make it more difficult for airlines to compete on routes of less than 1,000 km. (600 mi.). China has 1,000 km. of track rated at 200 kph. and 14,000 km. approved for speeds of 160 kph.
A Transportation Security Administration-industry initiative to improve employee screening at airports draws fire from labor, claiming it was "skipped over" as a potential partner. The TSA and its collaborators--the American Assn.
Delta Air Lines has overcome the last substantive hurdle to emergence from 19 months in bankruptcy protection by winning decisive support from creditors for a reorganization plan. On Apr. 25, the carrier will ask U.S. Bankruptcy Court to confirm the proposal and, with approval, intends to emerge from protection by Apr. 30. Delta officials say more than 95% of the airline's creditors, measured both in numbers and in value of claims, voted in favor of the plan. Delta's wholly owned regional carrier, Comair, has won similar support from its creditors.
The Turkish defense ministry plans to buy two command-and-control aircraft for its air force. Required parameters for the eight-passenger, four-crew aircraft include a range of at least 6,000 naut. mi., speed of Mach 0.8 and a maximum take-off weight of 180,000 lb. The minimum certified altitude should be 40,000 ft. Other requested performance metrics include a maximum take-off distance of 6,500 ft. and landing distance of less than 3,000 ft. Onboard radios should include VHF, UHF and HF communication devices. Bids are due for the business jet-based platform by mid-June.
The British Air Accident Investigation Branch, U.S. National Transportation Safety Board, Boeing and component manufacturers are working to determine the cause of failures in the Boeing 777 electrical power system. A 777-200 was involved in an incident in February at London Heathrow Airport, with the aircraft suffering an electrical failure and fire in the main equipment center. The aircraft's P200 power panel suffered extensive heat and fire damage.
Boeing's largest 737 customer, Southwest Airlines, will introduce a Maintenance Performance Toolbox for its entire fleet. The toolbox is a software suite with library, authoring and tasks functions that digitizes and quickly updates maintenance cards, manages task cards and allows customization of work procedures. It updates Boeing's Portable Maintenance Aid.
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An internal review board formed after NASA lost contact with the Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) last fall is putting final touches on its recommendations for preventing a repeat of the failure, apparently caused when an erroneous computer command sent to the spacecraft in June 2006 triggered a "complex sequence of events" that left its batteries dead five months later. The faulty command set up an error on Nov. 2, 2006, when a routine solar-array-adjustment order triggered a series of alarms on the spacecraft.
Derek Chang has become executive vice president-content strategy and deve- lopment, Dan Hartman senior vice president-programming acquisition and Eric Shanks executive vice president-entertainment for DirecTV, El Segundo, Calif.
Roy Azevedo (see photo) has been named manager of Raytheon's Space and Airborne Systems' Electronic Warfare unit, Goleta, Calif. He succeeds Pat Hurley, who has retired. Azevedo was director of advanced programs.
David W. Ewald, the long-time and well-known publisher of AVIATION WEEK's Business & Commercial Aviation (B&CA) magazine, died at his home in Greenwich, Conn., on Apr. 19. He was 80 and had been ill for several months. A memorial service is being planned for the Westchester County (N.Y.) Airport, probably in early May. Ewald, who was a Naval Aviation cadet at the close of World War II, was one of a handful of people who helped conceive and launch B&CA just as the first aircraft designed specifically to serve businesses were coming into service.
Air Chief Marshal Fali Homi Major has been named chief of the Indian Air Force. He succeeds Air Chief Marshal S.P. Tyagi, who has retired. Major was head of the Eastern Air Command.
Ted Yellman has been around long enough to know that the surest way to kill an issue, in this case the Part 121 Age 60 Rule, is to demand the government "sponsor a high-quality analysis to determine how much risk is expected to increase as a result of changing the pilot-age rule" (AW&ST Feb. 19, p. 7).
As the fully engaged, perhaps overextended U.S. military pursues wars in Iraq and Afghanistan with unexpected pitfalls and limited prospects, many strategists find themselves baffled by a larger, longer-running question: how to equip and prepare U.S. forces to deal with China, the 21st century version of Winston Churchill's "riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma."
Wes Cummins and James A. Schwartz have been appointed to the board of directors of Flight Safety Technologies Inc., Mystic, Conn. Cummins is director of capital markets at B. Riley and Co. in Los Angeles, while Schwartz is founder of New York-based investment management firm Harvey Partners.
U.S. Marines say the V-22 Osprey tiltrotor's enhanced flight and airframe capabilities will make it harder for insurgents to knock the aircraft out of the sky when it begins its first, seven-month tour in Iraq in September. Ten V-22s will fly mostly in a forward-flight mode, they say, making it a harder target to hit than the CH-46. "It's twice as fast, going 240 knots," says Lt. Gen. John Castellaw, the Marines' deputy commandant for aviation.
The moment of truth is near for AleniaAermacchi, as the company wraps up development work on the M-346 advanced jet trainer. There appears to be little doubt as to the aircraft's technical credentials, but offering a high-end trainer in a distinctly low-end budget environment will pose a formidable challenge.
NATO's North Atlantic Council met last week, with subject specialists on hand, to discuss issues regarding U.S. and European missile defense efforts. The NATO nations stressed missile defense should be considered in the "context of the indivisibility of security." The U.S. is in discussions on site interceptor missiles based in Poland, and a radar in the Czech Republic, as part of its own missile defense architecture. This would not provide coverage for Southeast Europe. A NATO missile defense system could be developed as a bolt-on to the U.S.
Britain is developing closer ties to NASA at the same time it is increasing pressure on the European Space Agency (ESA) to establish a dedicated center in the U.K. Keith O'Nions, director general of the U.K.'s research councils, was in the U.S. last week to sign an "outline agreement" intended to further develop ties between NASA and the U.K.
