Brian Moran has been appointed Brussels-based president for Boeing of European Union and NATO relations. He succeeds Antonio De Palmas, who has been named president of Boeing Italy. Moran has been the Berlin-based head of Boeing International's activities in Northern Europe and had been senior manager of international business development for the Nordic region, Switzerland and the U.K. De Palmas succeeds Rinaldo Petrignani, who is retiring.
Singapore is synonymous with MRO in the Asia-Pacific region, but the fast-paced growth of Asia-Pacific airlines is drawing local and global companies to establish aftermarket support entities in Indonesia and Malaysia as well.
The U.K. Ministry of Defense is expected next week to sign a long-awaited contract for the country's first squadron of F-35B Joint Strike Fighters. The so-called Main Gate 4 decision had been expected late last year, but it is now expected to be announced before Defense Secretary Philip Hammond visits Washington Feb. 4-6. The order will be for 14 aircraft to form the U.K.'s first operational F-35B unit. The U.K. already has three F-35Bs and a fourth on order.
As efforts to strengthen India's defense-industrial base have fallen far short of the country's self-reliance target, the military is continuing to look abroad for its defense hardware. That is encouraging to international equipment manufacturers from the U.S., Russia, France, Israel, the U.K. and Germany, which have been establishing relationships in India to sell aircraft, tanks, howitzers, unmanned aerial vehicles, combat vehicles, missiles, infantry weapons, submarines and support equipment.
Jim Roche, deputy CEO of Pilatus Aircraft, explains how the Swiss company expects to expand its presence in both defense and general aviation markets in India, in an interview with AW&ST Contributing Editor Jay Menon. AW&ST: What are the short- and long-term business plans for Pilatus in India?
“Open and Shut?,” on page 46 of the Jan. 20 issue, should have stated that it is the HS748 aircraft, known as the Avro in India, that is facing retirement.
Westchester County Airport (HPN), 30 mi. due north of Times Square, is one of business aviation's global hubs. Fittingly, it has always been home to five fixed-base operators (FBO) that fuel and pamper the based and visiting business jets, and those who fly and ride in them. But no more.
As one studies the FAA Part 117 regulation in terms of single augmented flight crews on flights between 8-10 hr., the rule becomes a step backward in terms of fatigue mitigation. An item in a recent Washington Outlook, “Chilly Rollout” (AW&ST Jan. 13, p. 47), underscores the dissension.
Stephen A. Fuselier (see photo) has been appointed director of the Space Science Department in the San Antonio-based Southwest Research Institute's Space Science and Engineering Div. He was a program director and had worked in the Space Physics Department at Lockheed Martin's Advanced Technology Center.
Sterile-cockpit rules demand that pilots pay attention to the business at hand at altitudes below 10,000 ft. to minimize distractions during the “critical phases” of a flight, namely takeoff and landing. While the workload during the portion of a flight above 10,000 ft. is typically much lower, particularly during cruise at altitude, does that mean pilots can let their guard down?
Boeing and General Dynamics have finally reached an agreement in the long-standing dispute over the cancellation of the U.S. Navy's A-12 Avenger stealth aircraft program. The nearly $400 million agreement would bring the case to an end in exchange for in-kind payments from the companies. Under the agreement, General Dynamics will provide $198 million in credits to the Navy toward the design, construction and delivery portions of the DDG-1000 program, according to spokesman Rob Dolittle. The agreement was contingent upon Congress providing authorization for the deal.
A new ruling by those on the Hill who referee federal contractor bid protests could serve as a warning to government contracting officers and A&D businesses alike as industry heads for a new wave of spinoffs, mergers and acquisitions. In a Dec. 27, 2013, decision published Jan. 13, the Government Accountability Office sided with Wyle Laboratories against Science Applications International Corp. (SAIC) and its spinoff Leidos over a potential $1.76 billion deal NASA awarded the latter for medical, biomedical and health services supporting human spaceflight programs.
Offer the airlines new ways to save millions of gallons of jet fuel and they will practically bite your hand off. That is the clear signal to the aerospace industry as Airbus and Boeing continue to rack up record-breaking orders for their new generation of reengined and more efficient commercial aircraft.
Louis C. Seno, who has been a trustee of the Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, is now vice president-corporate relations and government affairs. He was president/CEO of Jet Support Services Inc. and remains chairman emeritus and special adviser to its board of directors.
Feb. 10—Singapore Aerospace Technology/Engineering Conference. siae.org.sg/satec/ Feb. 11-13—Afcea West 2014. San Diego Convention Center. www.afcea.org/events/register.cfm?ev=214 Feb. 11-16—2014 Singapore Airshow. Changi Exhibition Center. www.singaporeairshow.com Feb. 13—Royal Aeronautical Society Washington Chapter's 10th Anniversary; Transatlantic Award and AGM. British Embassy, Washington.raeswashingtondcbranch.cloverpad.org/Default.aspx?pageId=603363
ATK's Solar Electric Propulsion MegaFlex solar array design is in line for thermal vacuum deployment testing at NASA's Glenn Research Center Plum Brook Station this month, following a full-deployment demonstration at the company's Goleta, Calif., facilities in December. ATK Space Systems and Deployable Space Systems, also of Goleta, are under contract to NASA's Space Technology Program to develop compact, low-mass, high-power solar arrays for robotic and human exploration initiatives of the type envisioned for the space agency's Asteroid Redirect Mission.
When presented next month, NASA's fiscal 2015 budget request will be the first to be shaped by a new strategy for aeronautics research. The tough choices made by the agency to align its limited aeronautics funding with that strategy will become clear. Research into ultra-efficient subsonic and low-boom supersonic aircraft will make the cut, as will efforts to increase system safety, efficiency and autonomy, but work in areas such as rotorcraft and all-electric light aircraft are hanging in the balance.
