A rotorcraft industry once characterized by rugged individuals flying simple machines is seeing an influx of technology not witnessed since the Vietnam War. Introduced at the top end of the market, in larger helicopters for demanding offshore oil-and-gas and search-and-rescue operators, new technologies are spreading down the size range as costs and weights fall so more customers can see the safety, performance and economic benefits.
Mike Mount has been appointed director of media relations for DRS Technologies, Arlington, Va. He was senior national security producer for Cable News Network.
Due to a production error, a Top-Performing Companies table on the Average 5-Year Ranking for companies with revenues between $1-5 billion (May 27, p. 52) displayed incorrect scores. The correct version is here.
Martin Aguera has been named head of corporate media relations within the EADS Corporate Communications Department. Jeff Burridge has become head of content and production. He was head of communications for Airbus in the U.K. Philippe Lemasson has been named head of corporate protocol, events and sponsoring as well as head of communications in France. He was head of EADS corporate protocol for France.
A robotic albatross gliding at 200 mph is a dramatic demonstration of how wind power can be harnessed. But it is just one of several projects showing how unmanned aircraft can use air currents, from thermals and ridge lift to wind shear and even turbulence, to increase their endurance from hours to days.
Ken Coleman has been named vice president/general manager of Thales Avionics Services Worldwide-Americas, Piscataway, N.J. He was CEO of the Thales Components Corp., Totowa, N.J., and had been vice president-sales and marketing of Antenna Research Associates.
Claudia Sender (see photo) has been appointed CEO of Brazil-based TAM Airlines. She has been vice president of the Brazil Domestic Business Unit of the merged LAN and TAM and was vice president-commercial and marketing of TAM.
Soon, pilots may be able to use a new type of synthetic vision-based cockpit display that will help them line up more easily for a runway and land with very low visibility. Honeywell photographer Eugene Cupps captured this image of the flight deck of a Dassault Falcon 900EX during a test approaching Tucson, Ariz., in April as the company prepared to demonstrate the new tools to the FAA and European Aviation Safety Agency.
John C. Bierwirth, who led the Grumman Corp. in the 1970s and '80s through the development of the U.S. Navy's F-14 fighter and other military aircraft, NASA space shuttle and space station work, and various diversification efforts, died May 26 in a hospice on Long Island, N.Y., of congestive heart failure. He was 89.
Christine McGlade and Andrew W. Reynolds (see photos) have been named vice presidents-manufacturing operations and site managers for the Northrop Grumman Corp.'s aircraft integration centers of excellence in St. Augustine, Fla., and Palmdale, Calif., respectively. McGlade has been program director for the St. Augustine site's E-2/C-2 international programs and deputy program director for U.S. Navy E-2D production. Reynolds has been director of manufacturing operations/deputy manager for the Palmdale site.
The U.S. Marine Corps plans to declare initial operational capability (IOC) for the F-35B Joint Strike Fighter in late 2015, says the commandant, Gen. James Amos. The Marines are the first JSF customer slated to declare IOC, and as such are willing to use the 2B software package, which allows for a limited flight envelope and limited weapons carriage in the near term. For IOC, the short-takeoff-and-vertical-landing aircraft must be “shipboard-qualified,” Amos told an audience in Washington on May 29.
Given years of economic recession in Southern Europe, airlines based in the region are all suffering. But some are dealing with the situation far better than others.
The International Space Station (ISS) returned to a six-person crew May 28 with a second Soyuz “express” mission. The Russian capsule docked with the orbiting science lab at 10:10 p.m. EDT—less than 6 hr. after lifting off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan (shown)—delivering veteran cosmonaut Fyodor Yurchikhin, NASA astronaut Karen Nyberg and the European Space Agency's (ESA) Luca Parmitano of Italy.
Slowly but surely, Washington's attitude is changing from total denial of nearly $1 trillion in cuts to planned defense spending over the next decade to learning how to live with those restrictions and not completely bollix national security. This week, news could emerge of the Pentagon's formal recommendations to the White House and Congress on how to implement the full effect of the 2011 Budget Control Act and the automatic sequestration toll it levies.
While London will always be identified with certain touchstones of long tradition—The Tower, The Tube, The Few and undercooked bacon, among them—the British capital is vibrant with change, as its thicket of construction cranes attests. The Shard and London Eye have reshaped the city's skyline. Last year's Olympics drew global attention and applause. The royals are flying commercial. 'Will that be beef or chicken, Ma'am?'
British and French industry partners are hailing a research program that intends to drive new technology into European missile development and production.
The advantages of UAS for reducing cost and risk and their growing sophistication will continue to make it tempting to use the aircraft more often and in new situations.
The 50th Paris air show will offer French space agency CNES an opportunity to detail engineering tradeoffs being weighed as it designs a leaner, more cost-effective successor to Europe's Ariane 5 heavy-lift rocket. The new launcher is expected to fly in 2020, assuming European Space Agency (ESA) governments approve the estimated €4 billion ($5.2 billion) project at a meeting of ESA ministers slated for 2014.
Michael Fabey (Singapore), Bill Sweetman (Washington)
The U.S. Navy's amphibious assault ships will have to undergo flight-deck renovations before the world's most sophisticated fighter, the F-35B Joint Strike Fighter, can be welcomed aboard. Five years after the first flight of the F-35B, significant work will need to be done on 50,000-ton ships to accommodate the intense heat of the fighter's exhaust.
Stephane Cueille has been appointed managing director of Snecma affiliate Aircelle Ltd., Burnley, England. He was general manager of Snecma's Turbine Airfoils Center of Excellence.
