Clement Greek has been appointed director of Army aviation and unmanned aircraft systems initiatives for Kratos Technology & Training Solutions of San Diego. He was senior director for business development for unmanned systems.
USAF Brig. Gens. Rowayne A. Schatz, Jr., John F. Thompson and Joseph S. Ward, Jr., have been selected for promotion to major general. Schatz is director of strategic plans, requirements and programs at Headquarters Air Mobility Command, Scott AFB, Ill. Thompson is program executive officer for strategic systems at the Aeronautical Systems Center of Air Force Materiel Command, Kirtland AFB, N.M. And, Ward is director of budget operations and personnel in the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Financial Management and Comptroller at the Pentagon.
Suzanne Goin (see photo) is the newest member of Singapore Airlines' International Culinary Panel. She is co-proprietor of Los Angeles restaurants Lucques, A.O.C. and Tavern.
Helmut Hederer has been promoted to managing director from head of development of TDW, Schrobenhausen, Germany, succeeding Helmut Muthig, who has retired. Hederer was general manager of Taurus System, where he oversaw production of German and Spanish Taurus guided missiles.
Christopher Carmody (see photo) has joined Executive AirShare, Kansas City, Mo., as sales director for Missouri and Northeast Kansas. He has worked for Southwest Airlines and Kansas Air Center.
Bel Lazar has been appointed president/chief operating officer of API Technologies Corp., Orlando, Fla. He was senior VP-operations at Microsemi Corp. and had been VP-aerospace defense at International Rectifier.
Richard Ingram has been named president of the engine control and electrical power systems business unit of Goodrich Corp., Charlotte, N.C. He was VP-primary flight controls of the actuation systems business.
USN Rear Adm. (lower half) Michael C. Manazir has been appointed commander of Carrier Strike Group Eight, Norfolk, Va. He has been head of naval aviation programs in the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations (OCNO) in Washington. Rear Adm. (lower half) Matthew L. Klunder has been named chief of naval research and director, test and evaluation, and technology requirements in the OCNO. He has been its director of intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities.
The iconic founder and now chairman emeritus of Southwest Airlines is adding a new wrinkle to the debate over Boeing's next move in the single-aisle aircraft market.
China's airline industry needs to consolidate further, with the aim of building only two or three internationally competitive airlines, says the Civil Aviation Administration of China. The remarks by CAAC chief Li Jiaxiang seem to suggest at least one merger among China's four main airlines—China Southern, China Eastern, Air China and Hainan. The consolidation should happen as soon as possible, under the guidance of the government and through market activity, says Li, presumably referring to the purchase of publicly traded shares.
AirAsia X expects to issue its initial public offering next year, rather than in 2011 in part owing to continued weakness in the IPO market. But airline CEO Azran Osman-Rani notes that if markets recover, the procedure could be accelerated. Meanwhile, AirAsia X says it will switch its long-haul destination in London to Gatwick from Stansted starting Oct. 24. The move is expected to boost yields and will be followed, next year, by replacement of Airbus A340-300s with more fuel-efficient A330-300s to improve profitability.
The Australian government is including airlines in its new carbon emission tax plan, and carriers say this would cause a fare rise of more than AU$3 ($3.21) per domestic flight sector. Under the government proposal, which is slated to come into effect in July 2012, the largest Australian companies would pay an annual carbon fee of AU$23 per metric ton. This would apply to Australian domestic carriers such as Qantas and Virgin Australia, although not to their international services.
A leading aerospace and defense executive is calling on the U.S. industry to lobby Washington in favor of starting new A&D programs and to keep alive engineering teams within major prime contractors. In the final speech of the National Aeronautic Association's 2010-11 luncheon series on July 13, Jim Albaugh, president of Boeing Commercial Airplanes, also sounded ominous warnings over the future of U.S. A&D leadership if major cuts to projected defense spending come to fruition while U.S.
The U.S. Defense Department says it is partnering with its so-called defense industrial base (DIB), the public, and private organizations and corporations that support the Pentagon, to increase the protection of sensitive information. To address growing cyberthreats to the department and DIB, the department launched the Defense Industrial Base Cyber Security and Information Assurance program in 2007.
The British government expects to face a bill of at least £140 million ($226.8 million) to replenish weapons expended during military operations over Libya. The figure is based on current consumption rates and could increase depending on the duration of the engagement.
NASA does not have a strong history of canceling contracts, but that may change in a big way soon, congressional auditors warn in a new report. “NASA contract terminations—the complete or partial cancellation of work under a contract before the contract's period of performance ends—are rare but could become more common in the future,” Government Accountability Office auditors told key science authorizers in Congress. Federal spending pressures will force difficult choices, but there is scant evidence the agency can do so.
A House panel gives the sternest possible rebuke it could to the troubled James Webb Space Telescope—a near death experience. The subcommittee in charge of funding the Hubble successor cut the entire budget request for the Northrop Grumman-led program in a $16.8 billion bill to fund NASA, but as the full panel moved the bill ahead, committee leaders agreed to find a way to keep the program going. But Rep.
Globalstar controllers are operating the company's latest batch of six second-generation, low-Earth-orbit communications satellites, which were lofted July 13 by a Soyuz rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The launch was conducted on behalf of Europe's Arianespace by its Starsem affiliate. The rocket's Fregat upper stage performed two engine firings and injected the six Globalstar-2s into their targeted orbit 1 hr. 38 min. after liftoff. Originally scheduled for July 11, the launch was postponed for two days as a result of a pad-equipment malfunction.
NASA has selected a Space Florida-led team called the Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (Casis) to manage commercial, industrial and other non-NASA uses of the U.S. National Laboratory portion of the International Space Station (ISS). Partners in the project, which initially will be worth up to $15 million a year, include Boeing, Bionetics and Dynamic Corp. Space Florida is a state-backed economic development board focused on building and diversifying Florida's aerospace businesses.
NASA's Dawn spacecraft collected this image of the asteroid Vesta on July 9 from a range of 26,000 mi., using its German-made framing camera as it closed in for orbital insertion. Designed to be the first spacecraft to orbit a main-belt asteroid, Dawn was expected to be captured by the protoplanet's gravity as it drew near to it early on July 16, instead of firing thrusters to slow itself into orbit.
A cancellation pegged by analysts to Dubai Aerospace Enterprises (DAE) has reduced Boeing's net 737 orderbook by 35 aircraft, meaning its hot-selling 777s are on a net order par with its single-aisle family. Counting 94 cancellations thus far, the 2011 net orderbook for all model types stands at 138, compared to 640 for Airbus, which has seen a great reception for the A320NEO (new engine option).
Oregon's Precision Castparts (PCC), a powerhouse as a supplier of investment castings, forgings and fasteners for aerospace, is making a $900 million move to broaden its product line with the purchase of another specialist in highly engineered aluminum, titanium and composite parts and assemblies from the Northwest, Primus International.
American Airlines is becoming the first carrier to install automatic identification technology (AIT) on civilian aircraft by attaching contact memory buttons to replaceable structural components, such as doors, stabilizers, rudders and elevators (lower photo). Doing this will allow the carrier to monitor the components' individual histories more efficiently because the high-memory-capacity buttons—which are about the size of a dime—enable automated data collection, which can save labor costs and improve data accuracy.
