Plans by Goldman Sachs and Canada's Onex Corp. to buy Raytheon Aircraft Co. have gained European regulatory approval. Given the large number of business aircraft builders and the fact that the acquisition shouldn't reduce competition, the approval was expected.
ITT ELECTRONIC SYSTEMS-RADAR SYSTEMS GILFILLAN has two new air traffic control systems on the market including one with a novel modification for a Precision Approach (PAR) and similar radars to allow them to send Instrument Landing System-type guidance signals to the cockpit. Military pilots have relied on PAR approaches at military bases as an alternative to ILS for years, but civilians seldom use the technique. A PAR involves a ground controller observing an aircraft on radar and giving the pilot course and glideslope corrections until touchdown.
Navy officials say they are expecting to select a contractor for the Broad Area Maritime Surveillance program this fall, and Australia is considering entering in the formal development phase then.
It wasn't until Airbus launched the A320 that it became a true threat to its American aircraft maker rivals. Now, the single-aisle family once again is key to the future of the company. Fixing the A380, which has suffered significant schedule delays due to wiring design problems that slowed the assembly process, will probably remain a dominant focus this year as the aircraft maker tries to recover from its two-year crises of delayed delivery and muddled product strategy.
Ray Johnson has been promoted to senior vice president/chief technology officer from vice president/CTO of the Lockheed Martin Corp., Bethesda, Md. Sondra L. Barbour has been named vice president-shared services. She has been vice president-internal audit. Barbour will be succeeded by Maryanne R. Lavan, who has been vice president-ethics and business conduct.
USMC Maj. Gen. (ret.) Joseph T. Anderson (see photo) has been promoted to deputy director from associate director of the National Air and Space Museum's Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, Chantilly, Va.
NASA's next International Space Station assembly mission hopes to do in one launch what it took two flights to accomplish last year as the race to complete the ISS picks up speed.
The U.S. Marine Corps expects to wrap up a formal analysis of alternatives on the service's options for a vertical takeoff unmanned aerial vehicle, according to Capt. Paul Morgan, UAV program manager for the Navy and Marine Corps. The system must be able to operate from a variety of ships and provide intelligence from long distances, relay communications from forward soldiers back to a ship and, possibly, designate targets remotely. A competition is expected to follow.
The annual Helicopter Assn. International show held in Orlando, Fla., last week drew more than 15,000 people and hundreds of exhibitors. Key news at the event included . . .
The Block 20 Global Hawk flew for the first time on Mar. 1. The Northrop Grumman unmanned aerial vehicle flew from the company's Palmdale, Calif., plant to nearby Edwards AFB to begin a flight test program there.
BAE Systems and the British Defense Ministry last week took the first step to hammering out a strategic partnership in the defense aerospace arena. They signed a foundation agreement intended to pave the way for a long-term partnership. The foundation document provides a framework for the next steps, with the aim being to conclude a full partnering agreement by the end of 2007. Part of the work will likely include plans for rationalization of some BAE sites.
The Israel Air Force plans to unveil its big, new long-range unmanned aircraft within the next few weeks. The Eitan, also known as the Heron II, has the wingspan of a Boeing 737. The aircraft has flown clandestinely several times. IAF will announce its introduction to military service. It also may be displayed at the Paris air show in June.
The Middle East may be just ahead of Africa as the second-smallest region in the world in terms of available seat miles, but that's set to change by 2010 when that corner of the globe surpasses Latin America and garners a 7% share, up from its current 4.5%.
Third time's a charm--at least that's what Airbus management is hoping as it embarks on its most ambitious effort to date to overhaul the company. History doesn't favor the manufacturer, though. When Airbus became an integrated company in 2000, melding its French, German, British and Spanish constituents, it remained saddled with structural and cultural problems. Next came the Route06 cost-cutting program, which fell short of its financial goals. Will the latest effort, Power8, with its proposed 10,000 job cuts and structural overhaul fare any better?
Herman Chai has been named vice president-sales for China, Japan and South Korea, and Peter Hoi vice president-sales for Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan and the Philippines, for Gulfstream Aerospace, Savannah, Ga. Chai was director of completion design for Gulfstream, while Hoi was director of engineering and certification for Alliant Techsystems in Fort Worth.
More Asian airports are complying with standards established by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) that prohibit passengers carrying liquids, gels or aerosols more than 100 ml. (3.3 oz.) in hand luggage on board aircraft. The recommendations, which are in response to threat of liquid explosives, are to come into force in March. Countries not complying risk having passengers stopped at destination airports. Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Indonesia and Taiwan began implementing the rules on Mar. 1.
Senior Space Technology Editor Frank Morring, Jr. (left), interviews New Horizons Principal Investigator Alan Stern, in the mission operations center at The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory Feb. 28. They spoke moments after controllers confirmed the spacecraft survived its closest encounter with Jupiter en route to Pluto (see p. 31). The encounter gave the nuclear-powered probe a 9,000-mph. gravity assist for the eight-year cruise to Pluto, and Stern's science team picked up some lessons as it started planning for the 2015 encounter.
Embraer and M1 Travel, a subsidiary of Dubai-based M1 Group, contracted to buy five Embraer 190 aircraft with options for five of the 190s or the larger 195s. The aircraft, which will have steep approach capability, will be leased to Geneva-based Flybaboo, in which the M1 Group is a major shareholder. Flybaboo began operating in May 2004 and flies Dash 8-Q315s to European destinations, including Florence, Italy; Ibiza, Spain; Nice, France; and Prague.
So the FAA wants to institute "User Fees" to access our airspace infrastructure (AW&ST Feb. 19, p. 24)? That is a grand idea! But why stop there? Why not turn unemployment checks, welfare checks and agricultural subsidies into loans? Why not institute a user fee system for access to every other government service? For example, why not have a prompt to input your credit card number whenever you call 911 or any of the government offices listed in the phone book? The possible ways to fund the government are endless.
NASA has shifted its letter contract with United Space Alliance for space shuttle and International Space Station operations support to a fully defined agreement worth $6.34 billion. The final contract covers the period from Oct. 1, 2006, to Sept. 30, 2010--the planned retirement date for the shuttle fleet--and includes five one-year options after that.
When aerospace procurement decisions are based on political factors, rather than objective engineering criteria, smart and capable engineers move to an industry where the successes of their efforts and organizations is correlated. In this context, Reagan's "Star Wars" program helped win the Cold War by forcing the Soviet Union to spend money on an impossible task, but damaged the U.S. aerospace industry by removing the correlation between engineering realism and political success.
With an order for three Boeing 787-8s, Azerbaijan Airlines becomes the first airline in the former Soviet republics to buy the twin-engine jet. It also signed up for two 737-900ERs.
The Bush administration for the first time says it has intelligence proving detailed and ongoing collaboration between Iran and North Korea in the development of new ballistic missiles. The Pentagon has also just released previously secret intelligence data on new Iranian and North Korean ballistic missiles under development. North Korean and Chinese missiles already threaten the Middle East, Asia and Europe and could eventually target the U.S.
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The Antonov An-148-100 regional twinjet has received its airworthiness certificate from the Interstate Aviation Committee, which governs such issues in former Soviet countries. The flight test program began in 2004, with two prototypes performing more than 600 flights for the certification. The An-148-100 can carry up to 80 passengers in an all-economy-class layout, with a maximum range of 3,600 km. (2,250 mi.). Airlines from Ukraine, Kazakhstan and Russia have ordered more than 40 aircraft. The first two are to be delivered by year-end.
