Despite deep divisions in the U.S. Congress, lawmakers are not missing an opportunity to express their support for the defense of Israel. The question is just how much they will provide in the end. The Pentagon recently said it would ask for more cash to purchase Rafael's Iron Dome short-range rocket and mortar defense system for Israel. And while some lawmakers are so enthusiastic about Iron Dome that they have already introduced a bill toward that end, there is no consensus about the amount of the allocation.
Virginie Guyot and Birgitte Stalder-Olsen have joined the Paris-based Airbus Corporate Foundation as external board members. Guyot is the former leader of the Patrouille de France and a fighter pilot. Stalder-Olsen is head of logistics of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. Samantha Sharif (see photo) has become interim director general of the Amsterdam-based Civil Air Navigation Services Organization, succeeding Graham Lake, who stepped down last month.
USAF Maj. Gens. James F. Jackson and Andrew E. Busch have been nominated for promotion to lieutenant general. Jackson has been appointed chief of Air Force Reserve/commander, Air Force Reserve (AFR) Command at USAF headquarters at the Pentagon. He was deputy to the AFR chief. Busch has been named vice commander of Air Force Materiel Command, Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio. He has been commander of the command's Ogden Air Logistics Center, Hill AFB, Utah. Brig. Gen. Stephen A. Clark has been named deputy commander of Joint Special Operations Command, U.S.
MD Helicopters injected swirl of speculation around the U.S. Army's Armed Aerial Scout (AAS) requirement when it unveiled the MD 540F light combat helicopter at last week's Army Aviation Association of American convention in Nashville, Tenn. MDHI says it will offer the 540F—its first new helicopter in 15 years—for the AAS requirement despite having already agreed to supply the airframe for Boeing's contender, the AH-6i, which is also a derivative of the original Hughes 500/OH-6 model.
Northrop Grumman's newly implemented Integrated Assembly Line (IAL) is now producing F-35 Joint Strike Fighter center fuselages at the rate of one every five days as the company continues to ramp-up toward a target of one per day. The first unit to roll off the IAL was delivered to Lockheed Martin's Fort Worth assembly line on March 16.
That the BrahMos high-speed anti-ship missile is a formidable weapon is not in doubt, but its air-launch suitability remains a question. Now industry is pursuing a dual path to ease those concerns.
Kenya Airways has selected General Electric's GEnx-1B engine for its forthcoming Boeing 787 fleet as the contest with Rolls-Royce heats up over the remaining customers yet to select an engine. The GEnx-1B will power the carrier's nine firm-order 787s and four options. The deal bolsters GE's claim to around two-thirds of the 787 orderbook and underscores the company's bullish outlook as it makes progress with the latest engine performance upgrade work. The uptick in the tempo of engine marketing comes as both GE and Rolls continue to perfect improvement packages.
James G. Brunke and Peter Bull have joined the advisory board of AirVault, Addison, Texas. Brunke is a consultant on commercial and defense aviation, and Bull was executive director on the board of Airclaims.
Relations between Thailand and its neighbors have been improving, but some border disputes with Cambodia and Myanmar remain unresolved. This means intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) will continue to be an important requirement. There were incidents last year in which Thai and Cambodian troops exchanged gunfire near the ancient Khmer temple of Preah Vihear. Thai and Myanmar troops, meanwhile, exchanged gunfire in 2001 along their border, near the Thai town of Mae Sai.
Sal Cipres has been named head of global programs at Smiths Detection, Edgewood, Md. He was general manager of the Edgewood facility and director of global chemical and biological programs.
The major tactical problems that analysts foresee in the Asia-Pacific theater are the anti-access, area-denial (A2AD) environments that could be created by the array of military products that China sells to other countries and incorporates into its own forces.
Boeing's decision to close its Wichita facility by the end of next year may be good for the company's books, but a senior U.S. Air Force official says it adds risk to its ability to execute the KC-46A aerial refueling contract.
Mary M. Miller, VP-industry and government affairs at Signature Flight Support, has been named the recipient of the Alexandria, Va.-based National Air Transportation Association's Distinguished Service Award. Kenneth C. Ricci, chairman of Flight Options and CEO of Nextant Aerospace, received NATA's William A. Ong Memorial Award.
The CSeries family of medium-range airliners may end up meeting the same fate as the short-lived Boeing 717. So says Bryan Bedford, the CEO and chairman of Republic Airways Holdings, the CSeries' largest customer. Bedford's remarks seem rather curious, particularly since one would expect him to be touting the aircraft. Republic placed a firm order in February 2010 for 40 CS300s for delivery starting in 2015. The U.S. group said the aircraft would be assigned to its carrier Frontier Airlines.
Abraham Karem, founder of Karem Aircraft and a pioneer in aeronautics, has been named a recipient of a 2012 Navigator Award, given by the Potomac Institute for Policy Studies, Arlington, Va. His successes include developing the Predator UAV and the predecessors, Amber and Gnat.
Paper airplanes—not the kind schoolboys fold and toss, but rather the detailed imaginings designers hope will one day take full form and ply the world's airways—could be bound into a thick volume of dreams unfulfilled. Most are quickly forgotten, but a few are so bold in concept and their backers so stubborn that, however unlikely, they might someday actually take flight.
Pinnacle Airlines, the third-largest holding company for U.S. regional airlines, is citing a “race to the bottom” among the country's regionals as a major contributor to its filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection this month.
Gregory Keeley has become VP-defense and homeland security policy at Washington-based TechAmerica. He has held senior staff positions in the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate. Peter Kaminskas is VP-business development. He was director of membership at Business Software Alliance. Meryl Hickman is the new director of member relations.
Wanda M. Austin, president and CEO of The Aerospace Corp., has won the 2012 Horatio Alger Award, given by the Washington-based Horatio Alger Association of Distinguished Americans. The award, which includes lifetime membership in the society, is presented to individuals who overcame challenges early in their lives and achieved success in their fields.
The photo of the muzzle blast (AW&ST March 5, p. 33) is reminiscent of a photo taken in the mid-80s at the Maxwell Labs Green Farm Electric Gun Test Facility (GFEGTF) in San Diego. It showed a then-world-record-setting blast of almost 9 mega-joules of muzzle energy. The GFEGTF was also instrumental in developing electro-thermal gun technology, using electrical power to enhance conventional gun performance.
Diamond Aircraft has completed the first flight of its DA52. The 5-6-seat aircraft is powered by two 180-hp AE300Es built by sister company Austro Engine. The Austrian company's chairman, Christian Dries, and head of flight testing, Ingmar Meyerbuch, were in the cockpit for the 1-hr. flight from Wiener Neustadt, taking off at 2:30 p.m. local time on April 3. The flight involved landing gear retraction and saw the aircraft reach 12,000 ft. at its cruise speed of 190 kt.
The government is already struggling to overcome technical and procedural hurdles to expand the use of UAVs in civil airspace. The Association of Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI) and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) are teaming up to make sure policymakers craft privacy rules for UAVs before they take flight.
