USMC Reserve Brig. Gen. William T. Collins has been nominated for promotion to major general. He is commanding general of the New Orleans-based 4th Marine Aircraft Wing. Honors And Elections
When it comes to the fiscal 2015 budget request from the Obama administration, if you like your current major aerospace and defense program, you can keep it—for now. With the politically charged nature of final 2014 appropriations and their late-cycle passage Jan. 17, and next month's release of the 2015 request and accompanying long-term budget blueprint, more than the usual high-level information is already known about the White House's formal request as far as 2018.
Tom Arseneault has been appointed chief operating officer of BAE Systems Inc., Arlington, Va. He was executive vice president of BAE's Product Sectors, overseeing both the Electronic Systems and Land & Armaments businesses. Dave Herr, executive vice president of the Service Sectors, is retiring.
Laura J. Schumacher has been named to the board of directors of General Dynamics, Falls Church, Va. She is executive vice president-business development and external affairs/general counsel for AbbVie.
Rep. Sam Graves (R-Mo.), chairman of the House of Representatives Small Business Committee, has been named to receive the Alexandria, Va.-based National Air Transportation Association's William A. Ong Memorial Award on March 3. Marian Epps, CFO of Epps Aviation of Atlanta, is to receive NATA's Distinguished Service Award. The Ong award is named in memory of NATA's co-founder and first president.
This week, Aviation Week & Space Technology publishes two editions. On the covers of both is a Lockheed Martin Skunk Works concept for a hybrid wing-body design that combines aerodynamic and structural efficiency with existing airlift and airdrop operations. The company is working with the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory to define a future tanker/transport fleet that will burn 90% less fuel than today's models (see page 40). The aircraft would use available technology to reduce development time, cost and risk.
Sikorsky has begun ground runs of the U.S. Marine Corps' CH-53K heavy-lift helicopter and is aiming for a first flight by the end of the year. The ground test vehicle (GTV), which will never fly, achieved “bare head light off”—engines running and rotor hubs turning, but no blades attached—on Jan. 24 in West Palm Beach, Fla.
The rover of China's Chang'e 3 lunar mission is showing signs of life after being almost declared dead. Jade Rabbit, as the rover is known, is again receiving signals from Earth, Chinese media report. But engineers are still sorting through possible origins of a mechanical fault that appeared to cause the rover to cease functioning when it was supposed to go into hibernation mode for the punishing lunar night that began on Jan. 25. The mechanical fault, blamed on the “complex environment of the lunar surface,” is described only as a structure-control anomaly.
Developing the C-130J as a private venture, Lockheed Martin had to use FAA certification to prove its airworthiness to prospective customers. The earlier C-130E had been certified and produced as the L-100 civil freighter, but when Lockheed began delivering C-130Js for military customers in 1999, it did not see a commercial market for the aircraft.
I have been a subscriber for more than 45 years. I read your magazine from cover to cover—starting with the table of contents—and therein lies my complaint. The TOC is on two pages, with almost always an impediment between them. The photographs on the first page are for articles listed on the second page, and vice versa. If you must have photos and article listings on separate pages, at least have them on facing pages.
Count me among those who would like to see your content return to a higher proportion of technical engineering, and testing-and-operations-related information. I could happily forego much of the business, government and budget material. Recent indications are that Aviation Week is returning part-way toward its “technical” roots and for that I am grateful. I enjoy the print edition because even though have access to the online material, I rarely use it because of the amount of screen time I must spend related to my work.
Iran claims to have successfully flight-tested two ballistic missiles as the U.S. continues to struggle with technical problems with its Ground-Based Midcourse Defense (GMD) missile shield (see p. 34). Tehran test-fired a long-range ballistic missile with penetration aids, according to Turkish Defense Minister Brig. Gen. Hossein Dehqan. Such aids are designed to fool missile defense radars and guide interceptors to false targets. Iran also flew a laser-guided, air-launched “Bina” missile capable of destroying targets such as bridges.
I have been active in the aviation maintenance sector since 1958 when I worked for Pan Am, cleaning aircraft as a summer job at the heavy maintenance base at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport. My career spans hands-on in-the-trenches experience as well as high-level executive positions, and I've learned from and loved all of it.
Please continue to emphasize technology and limit political editorializing. High-quality print editions are valuable. Digital has a useful role, but there is a place for both. Avoid sensationalizing events, for example: “Boeing's 787 program was thrown into chaos . . .” (AW&ST Dec. 30, 2013/Jan. 6, p. 34). Actually, the program was seriously disrupted.
You should rename the magazine “MRO Bean-Counters and Advertisers Weekly” so you would not have to deal with all that pesky aviation and space stuff. Alternatively, spin off a separate MRO publication and return to the roots that made Aviation Week & Space Technology the publication of record for news related to aviation and space. Surrey, British Columbia
At first glance, not a great deal is remarkable about the black-and-white photograph (below) in which one can see the Queen Mary, portside at Long Beach, Calif. The luxury liner is clearly visible in the large-format image, with a degree of detail showing portholes, lifeboats, balconies and balustrades. Yet the image's exceptional qualities lie in where it was taken: from an aircraft flying at 40,000 ft., 72 nm away.
I regard Aviation Week as the publication of record for a world that I have always been an enthusiast of, but never a part of. You sit on the mother lode of the nuts-and-bolts history of every major aerospace program since at least post-WWII. I would love to read more archival coverage of some legacy programs such as the F/A-18, the X-15 and so many more. Also, complete histories of engine development could be compiled that just might affect future designs.
Airbus is at a crossroads. It needs to address its major twin-aisle product line disadvantage to Boeing, while simultaneously implementing organizational reforms that could leave the company with less cash for new product development.
