USAF Maj. Gen. (ret.) Bill Hodgkins has been appointed Colorado Springs-based senior executive/director of field marketing for Boeing's Colorado operations. He last served at North American Aerospace Defense Command and U.S. Northern Command headquarters at Peterson AFB, Colo.
Meanwhile, Alitalia's board of directors is down to two members, after Air France-KLM Chairman Jean-Cyril Spinetta resigned from his position on the board. Spinetta took the decision because of the ongoing Italian government effort to find a buyer for the troubled carrier. Air France has a potential stake in those deliberations, so Spinetta could have faced a serious conflict of interest. For one, Air France had once been considered a potential buyer, but now Spinetta could also be faced with having to look at details of financial offers from rivals.
The Indian Institute of Science and National Aerospace Laboratories in Bengaluru and the Indian Institute of Technology-Mumbai will benefit from an award of up to £500,000 ($985,000) to BAE Systems' research partner, Leicester University, to help develop control technologies for unmanned aerial vehicles and for micro-satellites used in search-and-rescue missions. Also under study are control technologies for high-performance piloted aircraft to reduce pilot-induced oscillations.
A radar problem left over from the days of "faster-better-cheaper" at NASA will send the agency's Phoenix Mars lander over budget, at the expense of other missions to the red planet. Drop tests a year ago revealed that the commercial aircraft radar altimeter set for the mission would not perform adequately to guide Phoenix to a safe landing in the planet's northern latitudes. The off-the-shelf altimeter is a carry-over from the failed Mars Polar Lander mission launched in 1998.
Paul Bogosian, Army program executive officer for aviation, says the service plans to propose its first aviation science and technology funding plan since termination of the Comanche armed scout helicopter program. The only S&T effort since then, the Joint Heavy Lift effort with the Marine Corps, is not funded in the Fiscal 2008 budget proposal, due next month. But Bogosian says he's working to craft a near-, mid- and far-term plan for investment to support the Future Combat System with vertical lift.
The potential entry price for supplier participation in the next-generation of Airbus and Boeing aircraft is beginning to act as a catalyst for fundamental business decisions--in Smiths' case, to exit the aerospace sector.
Emirates this month will begin offering new inflight activities for children. The goodies include a plush stuffed animal and one of five creature costumes, each reflecting an animal indigenous to the airline's destination. New Delhi-bound passengers receive an elephant, those destined for Sydney, a koala bear. Children will also be given a classic Dr. Seuss tale in paperback and an activity magazine designed for two age groups--the five-and-under set and the 6-12 age group.
Israel Aerospace Industries signed contracts worth $4.088 billion in 2006, a rise of 22% over $3.4 billion in 2005 and 35% over $2.7 billion in 2004. It's the first time IAI has exceeded $4 billion in new orders in a single year. Export contracts comprised 88% of total volume, an apparent result of IAI's wish to focus on large, international projects.
As a million-miler on several airlines, I was dismayed by the comment by Boeing and Airbus on the Market Focus page that "neither sees a replacement for the single-aisle A320 or 737 . . . until the middle of the next decade" (AW&ST Dec. 11, 2006, p. 12). I hope Embraer, Bombardier or the Russians see this as an opportunity to capture a substantial share of the biggest segment of commercial aircraft market.
SpaceX could make a second attempt to loft its Falcon 1 vehicle this week, working under a Jan. 21-22 launch window at the U.S. Army's Reagan Test Site on Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands. The company is seeking a few more contingency days, and founder Elon Musk says it could go beyond that "as we work with the upgraded vehicle, pad and procedures." The vehicle cleared its flight readiness review and has been rolled to the pad. A wet-dress rehearsal identified "a number of noncritical issues," but no showstoppers.
FedEx Express has named Singapore Technologies Aerospace's Mobile Aerospace Engineering (MAE) subsidiary to convert 87 Boeing 757-200 passenger aircraft to freighters. Work will be done in the Alabama facility in three blocks beginning this year and stretch out to 2014. No contract award price was released.
Italy is expected to sign the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter Production, Sustainment and Follow-on Development memorandum of understanding before the end of the month, joining the U.K., Australia, Canada, the Netherlands, Turkey and the U.S. in committing to the project's next phase.
Falling fuel prices appear to be leveling the landscape in the U.S. airline industry--at least temporarily--as the cost gap narrows between perennial high-flyer Southwest Airlines and the network carriers. Southwest has long used its much-envied hedging program to avoid the high fuel prices that have helped keep its competitors in the red, but its fuel cost advantage is now shrinking.
Defense Force Bell Helicopter Textron 47G (1) CASA C-212-300 (2) Cessna 182Q (1) Police Bell Helicopter Textron 412 (3) Dornier Do 27A (1) MBB BO 105 (1)
The Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) plans to deploy wide- area multilateration technology to provide parallel runway monitoring as well as surface movement management for Beijing International Airport. The parallel runway monitoring is a novel application of wide-area multilateration technology, according to Rannoch Corp. of Alexandria, Va. Radar is usually used for this type of monitoring.
ALSO IN THIS ISSUE World News & Analysis see p. 10 1. Outlook/Specifications 15 Outlook Overview 19 Military Aircraft Outlooks: Fighter/Attack 20 Bombers 27 Transports 28 Trainers 31 Top 25 U.S. DOD Procurement Programs 34 Top 25 U.S. DOD RDT&E Programs 35 --Military Aircraft Table 36 Information Technology Outlook 52 Commercial Aircraft Outlook 55 Airports Outlook 61
United Airlines will launch daily Washington-Beijing nonstop round-trip service this spring if the U.S. Transportation Dept. makes final its tentative decision to award the carrier the seven weekly U.S.-China frequencies available this year.
Provided with the Assistance of Alexander Velovich (Russian Correspondent, Forecast Interational)
ARSENAL MACHINE BUILDING PLANT OAO (St. Petersburg) is descended from the cannon foundries of Czar Peter the Great (1672-1725). It developed the R-31 (SS-N-17), the first Soviet solid-fuel submarine-launched ballistic missile, and continues to be involved in ship- and submarine-based missile launch systems. In the space field, Arsenal is involved in Rorsat, Eorsat and many satellite components used in both military and civil applications.
