One of the new members of the Senate Armed Services Committee is putting Defense Secretary Robert Gates on notice that moving contract numbers around is no longer a good way to avoid scrutiny. Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) says she will delve into numerous defense contracts that were let through other agencies and weren't competitively bid. "We can't tell how much of the money being spent through interagency contracts is being spent competitively," McCaskill, a former county prosecutor and state auditor, tells Gates during a hearing on the Fiscal 2008 budget.
Air Marshal Fali Homi Major has been appointed India's chief of air staff, effective Mar. 31. He has been air officer commander-in-chief of the Eastern Air Command. He will succeed Air Chief Marshal S.P. Tyagi, who will be retiring.
NASA has its share of budget woes (see p. 32), but it won't be able to fix them by retiring space shuttles early. The agency has tentatively decided to ground Atlantis following the Hubble servicing mission scheduled for late next year, since after that the orbiter is slated for overhaul and maintenance that could last almost until the fleet is retired in 2010.
Lockheed Martin was awarded a $748.3-million contract modification for a combined engineering change proposal for U.S. and international F-16 users. The plan deletes two existing modification kits and incorporates requested configuration changes for several customers. Boeing won a $136.9-million add-on contract for war replacement AH-64D attack helicopters. The company also gathered an $80.9-million contract for CH-47 helicopter parts.
"Find a Way" is a wonderful article about a wonderful guy, Alan R. Mulally (AW&ST Jan. 1, p. 50). I think it goes far beyond Boeing, far beyond airplanes--cars even. What if certain government functions could be rocked off the dead center of zero-sum politics and turned into a win-win game for all of us? Consider your editorial "Six Issues That Demand Action in 2007" in the same issue. Find a Way.
President Bush has unveiled his proposal for a $2.9-trillion budget for Fiscal 2008, and Congress is beginning this week to wade into the details. Over the next 10 pages, AVIATION WEEK editors analyze the proposal's probable impact on defense, space and aviation--showing how it would affect dozens of federal programs and explaining how players outside the Bush administration will try to change the White House's spending plan as it moves forward in Washington.
BEGINNING EARLY THIS MONTH, US HELICOPTER is increasing its shuttle service between New York's East 34th Street Heliport, JFK International Airport and Newark (N.J.) Liberty International Airport. According to the company, increasing demand for shuttle flights in Manhattan's midtown area is driving the expansion. There will be 10 flights to and from both airports in the afternoon, with each flight taking about 8 min.
Good news for British Airways: A potential strike by employees failed to materialize. Bad news--the threat of a walkout cost the airline £80 million ($157.5 million) as worried passengers opted for other carriers. The airline lost another £40 million in December because of inclement weather that caused massive schedule disruptions. Chief Executive Willie Walsh says the airline's performance in third-quarter 2006 showed operating profit plummeted £47 million with a pre-tax profit of £113 million. Fuel costs increased 3% while revenue rose only 0.5%.
In the years ahead, we will look back on the launch of the anti-satellite (Asat) weapon by China as a watershed event (AW&ST Jan. 22, p. 24). Sadly, but in keeping with its tradition, the U.S government will recognize the threat only after the Chinese disable an American satellite. We are given "make it go away" explanations: The Chinese did it to get us to the table for an Asat ban, or the Chinese army did it without political approval. The story lines are in conflict and absurd. The U.S. managed to produce an associate Air Force general counsel to explain the law.
Chinese passengers are most satisfied with the service from Air China and Hainan Airlines, a survey has found. Air China is one of the country's Big Three airlines, along with China Southern and China Eastern, which didn't get a gong. Customers were more satisfied in 2006 than they were in 2005, the civil aviation industry association says.
CESSNA AIRCRAFT CO. HAS DELIVERED THE 1,000TH CitationJet, a CJ2+, to Xpressdocs in Fort Worth. Cessna offers three versions of the CitationJet--the CJ1+, CJ2+ and the larger CJ3, all powered by Williams International FJ44 series engines. A fourth version, the CJ4, is under development and is tentatively scheduled to make its first flight in 2008. Since the first CitationJet entered service in 1992, the CJ fleet has accumulated 1.5 million flight hours. In other news, Cessna is experiencing strong interest in its business jets within the Indian aviation market.
Thai Airways International says it will retain its order for six A380s, as expected. It still isn't happy with Airbus's cash compensation offer, but is taking up a proposal for eight discounted A330s.
United Airlines paid down nearly $1 billion of the debt it incurred to finance its exit from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection early last year, reducing its interest rate, relaxing restrictive covenants and releasing about $2.5 billion in collateral. Using $972 million in cash from its unrestricted total of $4.1 billion as of Dec. 31, the carrier refinanced the $2 billion remaining from its original $3-billion exit facility. The new debt is a $1.8-billion term loan with a $255-million revolving credit line. Lower interest rates are estimated to save $70 million per year.
Delta has placed 30 firm orders and 30 options for Bombardier CRJ900 regional jets for Delta Connection. The order, valued at $2.3 billion with all options, was approved last week by U.S. Bankruptcy Court in New York. Delta has a fleet of 358 CRJs. Deliveries are to begin this year.
To propel international collaboration, India is attempting to use defense procurement leverage, including another round of competition for the engine on its light combat aircraft (LCA), as well as looming purchases of airborne early warning and combat aircraft, unmanned aerial vehicles and tactical missiles.
Despite continued dollar exchange rate and growing material cost pressures, Rolls-Royce expects to increase its underlying profit this year after a strong financial result in 2006. Company officials say they also have high expectations from the defense sector, and so far aren't overly concerned by the Pentagon's renewed proposal to end funding for the General Electric-Rolls-Royce F136 alternative engine for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter.
You can now register ONLINE for AVIATION WEEK Events. Go to www.aviationweek.com/conferences or call Lydia Janow at +1 (212) 904-3225/+1 (800) 240-7645 ext. 5 (U.S. and Canada Only) Apr. 17-18--MRO Military, Atlanta. Apr. 18-19--MRO Conference, Atlanta. Oct. 17-18--MRO Asia, Shanghai. PARTNERSHIPS Mar. 21-- Celebration of the 50th Anniversary of the Space Age, Unesco, Paris. Apr. 9-12--National Space Symposium, Colorado Springs. Apr. 30-May 2--RFID Journal Live, Orlando, Fla.
Normally, blowing your fuse isn't the best strategy for solving an in-orbit failure, but that's the course the Japanese space agency JAXA says it's pursuing to overcome a series of switches that won't stay "on."
The U.S. Air Force's Arnold Engineering Development Center (AEDC) is using conventional and advanced techniques to conduct aerothermal testing on a scale model of NASA's Orion crew exploration vehicle (CEV).
The FAA this week intends to send Congress a new blueprint for aviation funding that includes both user fees and higher fuel taxes, but the agency will face an uphill battle to convince Democratic leaders to approve the changes.
Austria's Austriamicrosystems, an analog integrated circuit manufacturer, will supply controllers for the Timed Triggered Protocol (TTP) technology that Hamilton Sundstrand will use in designing the distributed electric and environmental control systems for Boeing's 787. Austriamicrosystems' AS8202NF controller offers communications speeds up to 25 Mbps.
Top Northrop Grumman and EADS officials struggled until the last minute last week to create a competitive KC-30 tanker bid that trims airframe costs and highlights the design's greater cargo, passenger and fuel capacity. They now expect a strong showing against Boeing's smaller, less expensive KC-767 for the Air Force tanker contract. But experienced USAF acquisition officials say there is a deeper game afoot.
In its supply work for Boeing's 787, Spirit Aerosystems has delivered the first set of pylons for the Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 and General Electric GEnx engines, wing fixed leading edges, and has completed three Sec. 41 contoured fuselage test barrels for the nose. Its 787 supply work is on schedule for first assembly this year, President and CEO Jeff Turner told analysts last week.
