Finmeccanica expects to take full control of Selex Sensors and Airborne Systems by mid-year, putting it in a position to launch the long-planned reorganization and integration of its defense electronics activities and set the scene for more possible consolidation moves. Finmeccanica acquired 75% of Selex in 2005 under a put/call agreement with BAE Systems that allows the Italian aerospace and defense contractor to buy out BAE's remaining 25% share. The price of the transaction, set two years ago, will be around €400 million ($524 million).
Douglas Barrie (London), Joris Janssen Lok (Berlin), Robert Wall (Paris)
Combat operations in Afghanistan and the need to keep Tornado strike fighters in operations for another two decades are driving a flurry of upgrades, the most ambitious of which is a British effort to fly an active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar by mid-year. Also on the agenda in London and Berlin are nearer-term upgrades to the Tornados, including several self-protection enhancement initiatives.
GENERAL AVIATION AVIONICS MANUFACTURER Garmin Ltd. posted record fourth-quarter revenues of $611 million--up from $319 million during the same quarter a year ago. Of that amount, the company's aviation segment earned $61 million--a 3% gain over the previous fourth quarter. For the 2006 fiscal year, Garmin reports the segment increased its revenue 2% to $233 million compared with 2005 earnings. Company officials expect aviation revenues to rise 20% this year, driven by sales of the G1000 fully integrated avionics suite and aftermarket shipments.
Air Force leaders continue to narrowly focus on fixing one judging issue contributing to its disputed decision to buy Boeing Chinooks for search-and-rescue missions. But, the losing contractors are expecting the service to address a number of other points of contention in the $15-billion competition.
The Air Force is continuing to look for options for a "portfolio" approach to the airborne electronic attack mission, Wynne says. The closest to a sure thing, the B-52 Standoff Jammer, was terminated last year because of major cost growth. But Wynne says the Air Force still needs a jammer capable of traveling with advanced fighters. "We need to make sure that we have the right match to assist us to go into various areas," Wynne says. "I see a role for all of the developments that are going on, and it is going to be a question of application.
China's cabinet is considering a proposal to build passenger aircraft that would compete with Airbus and Boeing products, Reuters reports from Shanghai, citing industry sources. If the project proceeds, it will aim to fly a prototype in 2010. China is already building a large regional jet, the GE-engined ARJ-21, about as big as the larger Embraer and Bombardier aircraft, although it has been tailored to Chinese hot-and-high runway conditions.
Airline traffic gained across all sectors worldwide last year, with total passengers up 5.1% to 4.4 billion and total aircraft movements up 1.2% to 73 million, according to Airports Council International. The results included a 6.7% gain to 1.8 billion passengers in international flights and a 3.7% gain for cargo, which reached 84.5 million metric tons (including mail). Of that, 51 million metric tons was shipped internationally, a 6.3% gain.
Richard Pasciuto has become New York-based vice president-U.S. sales for Emirates. He was vice president-U.S. marketing and distribution for Air France.
Todd Fierro has been appointed vice president-manufacturing for Eclipse Aviation, Albuquerque, N.M. He was plant manager of the Ford Motor Co. facility at Sterling Heights, Mich.
Frank Flores (see photo), who is vice president-engineering, logistics and technology for the San Diego-based Western Region of the Northrop Grumman Corp.'s Integrated Systems Sector Western Region, has been selected by the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers for its Technical Achievement Recognition Corporate Achievement Award. He was honored for his work to promote math and science to U.S. students, and his contributions to the development of satellite communications systems, avionics communications systems for advanced fighters and terrestrial radio systems.
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Italian aerospace research center Cira has successfully performed an initial drop test of its Unmanned Space Vehicle (USV), intended to help base future European reusable launcher technologies. The USV was dropped from an altitude of 21 mi. from a stratospheric balloon launched from the joint military test range in Sardinia. After initiating a 70-sec. glide, it reached a top velocity of Mach 1.05 and then performed transonic maneuvers before opening a three-stage parachute for a splashdown recovery.
COMP AIR AVIATION WILL FLY ITS NEW COMP AIR CA12 AT THE SUN 'N FUN FLY-IN SCHEDULED FOR APR. 17-23 IN LAKELAND, FLA. THE SINGLE-ENGINE, COMPOSITE AIRPLANE, POWERED BY A TPE331-14GR, WILL BE CERTIFIED BY THE FAA. FOR MORE INFORMATION GO TO WWW.COMPAIRINC.COM.
USAF Col. (ret.) David A. Carlson (Melbourne, Fla.)
The KC-X request for proposals (RFP) states a requirement for 179 aircraft. The proposed Northrop Grumman/EADS KC-30 is larger than the Boeing KC-767. To level the playing field, the requirement should be for 143 aircraft for the KC-30 with an approximate 250,000-lb. fuel capacity, or for 179 KC-767s with an approximate 200,000-lb. fuel capacity.
In the 1980s, my country had innumerable reservations about its part in the NATO alliance. While Danish combat troops now stand shoulder to shoulder with our U.S. and U.K. allies to keep Iraq a free and democratic state, it seems Germany may be taking the "Danish attitude." German parliamentary reservations entail a 4-hr. delay or more for the release of intelligence for operational use (AW&ST Feb. 12, p. 34). This can only mean friendly U.S. troops face a greater risk of casualties, while Al Qaeda boasts with videos of alleged U.S. camps being destroyed.
Latecoere says it is preparing to build a second composite fuselage assembly facility, and would be interested in acquiring any activities shed by Airbus (see p. 18). Company revenues surged 22% last year, to €433 million, on the strength of strong demand for Airbus, Dassault Falcon Jet and Embraer aircraft. But earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) fell 8%, to €34.7 million, dragged down by A380 and Falcon 7X delays, higher composite R&D expenditures and the transfer of activities to subsidiaries.
USMC Cols. William D. Beydler and Mark A. Clark have been nominated for promotion to brigadier general. Beydler is commanding officer of Marine Aircraft Group 31, Beaufort, S.C., while Clark is the same for VMMT-204 of Marine Aircraft Group 26, Jacksonville, N.C.
The Israel Air Force (IAF) has accepted into service the medium-altitude, long-endurance Heron unmanned aircraft. Later this year, the service is expected to reveal the larger, missile-carrying Heron II, which is built by Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) and is to become the mainstay of strategic operations. The UAV also is being considered as an unmanned tanker.
The first concrete results are emerging from the High Speed Aircraft project, a European program designed to prepare the groundwork for a supersonic business jet. After two years of analysis, a group of 37 industrial, government and academic institutions from 13 countries has settled on preliminary aircraft and engine configuration concepts to explore in more detail in the next two years. Their goal is to identify viable supersonic business jet configurations. There are no plans yet for the feasibility study to spawn a formal development program.
THE 2007 HELICOPTER SAFETY FORUM, hosted by FlightSafety International, will be held at the Embassy Suites DFW Hotel in Irving, Tex., Apr. 12-13. Attendees will include operators involved in law enforcement, emergency medical services, fire, offshore oil and corporate aviation. The event will focus on safety and risk management, human factors, decision making and new technologies, as well as recommendations made by the FAA, the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board and Transport Canada to reduce the accident rate.
Much of China's latest defense spending surge is likely to head toward pay raises for poorly remunerated soldiers, sailors and airmen. China is also avowedly aiming for higher levels of military technology, and the latest budget doesn't suggest any slowdown in that effort. But it doesn't suggest acceleration, either, because the unusually large 17.8% rise in official defense spending, the largest in a decade, coincides with a big scheduled raise in military salaries.
Airbus employees in France took to the streets last week to protest the planned reduction of 10,000 jobs as the aircraft maker implements its Power8 cost-cutting program. The number of strikers in Toulouse was estimated at around 12,000, almost three times the number of positions France is set to lose. German labor groups also have voiced their dismay, but not on the same scale. Airbus plans to cut half of the jobs by eliminating temporary workers not on its direct payroll, while it hopes the rest of the cuts will come from attrition or early retirement.
Clive Richardson has been appointed managing director of European, Middle Eastern and Australasian operations for U.K.-based Qinetiq, effective June 1. He has been CEO of BAE Systems Insyte. Andrew Sleigh, currently managing director of the company's U.K. Defense and Technology Sector, has been named group chief technology officer, effective Apr. 1. Hal Kruth, who has been managing director of the U.K. Security and Dual Use Sector, will become chairman of Qinetiq Ventures.
In the International Civil Aviation Organization regional office here, a promising trial program that advocates GPS monitoring of air traffic is dramatically illustrated by a computer display that tracks air activity over Indonesia based on GPS data at three stations.
Galileo satellite navigation system planners are moving to stop loss of frequency rights from deployment delays. Last week, the European Space Agency (ESA) issued a contract to Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd. (SSTL) of the U.K. for a third Giove (as in the Roman god of the sky, Jupiter) test satellite. It is intended to prove key technologies, particularly atomic clocks, and to meet in-orbit operation requirements set out by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU).
