To say Europe’s aerospace and defense industry faces a difficult period would be an understatement. Even when European governments had healthy budgets, the growth in military contractors’ business was relatively modest compared with that of their U.S. counterparts. Now, with the onset of a fiscal reckoning, the future is uncertain indeed. In the U.K., an overheated modernization program and a government deficit are setting the stage for a rough road ahead for the Defense Ministry and suppliers.
Regarding the top-performing aerospace companies (AW&ST May 31, p. 44), after more than two decades in commercial (competitive) technology enterprises and several years in aerospace, I have learned that cost-plus business management is an oxymoron. The primary business skill in cost-plus contracting is managing staffing so talent can rotate through active contracts. Efficiency, even competence, falls second to cost tracking and reporting. Meanwhile, aerospace companies’ true customer, the U.S.
USN Vice Adm. James A. Winnefeld, Jr., has been nominated for promotion to admiral and assignment as commander of Northern Command/commander of North American Aerospace Defense Command, Peterson AFB, Colo. He has been director of strategic plans and policy and senior member of the U.S. delegation to the United Nations Military Staff Committee at the Pentagon. Rear Adm. (lower half) Terry J. Benedict has been named the Navy’s director of strategic systems programs at the Pentagon. He has been program executive officer for integrated warfare systems. Rear Adm. Michael S.
Bob Gower (see photo) has been named vice president of Boeing Military Aircraft (BMA) India . He was vice president of F/A-18 and EA-18 programs. Gower has been succeeded by Kory Mathews, who was vice president/chief engineer of St. Louis-based BMA.
The French defense ministry will have to find up €5 billion ($6 billion) in cost savings, extra revenues and program cuts to keep its multiyear spending plan from unraveling.
Fresh on the heels of its successful June 4 test flight of the Falcon 9 launch vehicle, Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) is enjoying a financial boost with its win in a hotly contested contract to put the next-generation Iridium communications satellites into orbit. The $492-million contract, announced June 16, covers an unspecified number of launches for Iridium Communications Inc., which recently announced a $2.1-billion contract with Thales Alenia Space to build the 72-spacecraft Iridium Next network (AW&ST June 7, p. 34).
Sept. 28-30—MRO Europe. London. Nov. 1-3—A&D Programs Conference. Phoenix. Nov. 2-3—A&D Supply Chain Conference. Phoenix. Nov. 2-4—MRO Asia Conference and Exhibition. Singapore. Dec. 8-9—A&D Finance Conference and Exhibition. New York. You can now register ONLINEfor Aviation Week Events. Go to www.aviationweek.com/events or call Lydia Janow at+1 (212) 904-3225/+1 (800) 240-7645 ext. 5 (U.S. and Canada Only)
There are concerns other recession-hit countries could follow Denmark’s lead in withdrawing from NATO’s 15-nation, $1.7-billion Alliance Ground Surveillance (AGS) program to buy eight radar-equipped Northrop Grumman Global Hawk unmanned aircraft. Denmark has pulled out of AGS as part of a move to cut almost $500 million from its 2010-14 defense spending plan. The decision comes after Northrop Grumman submitted its proposal for the long-awaited AGS contract, which NATO hopes to sign in October after years of deliberation.
The prime contractor for the Orbcomm 2 communications constellation was misidentified in the June 7 issue, p. 34. It is Sierra Nevada Corp.’s Space Systems Group of Louisville, Colo.
Gilles Bouctot (see photo) has been appointed chief operating officer of Messier-Dowty , Velizy, France. He was deputy to the executive vice president-aircraft equipment for parent Safran.
The PowerJet joint venture between France’s Snecma and Russia’s NPO Saturn expects to ship its first production-standard SaM146 turbofan to Sukhoi for the Superjet regional jet next month. The European Aviation Safety Agency granted the type certificate on June 23. This much-delayed milestone clears the way for certification of the Superjet itself, with deliveries of a total of four Superjets to launch customers Aeroflot and Armavia still planned this year. Powerjet expects to hand over 12 SaM146s to Sukhoi by year-end.
Anthony L. Velocci Jr. (New York), Mark A. Flinn (New York)
The Aviation Week & Space Technology you are reading represents the latest iteration of the publication introduced in 1916 to serve aviation and aerospace professionals. If its founders were around today to assess the magazine they started, they would find much that is still familiar: in-depth articles about technology trends, information that is exclusive to AW&ST and artist concepts of new aircraft.
Eurocopter used the Eurosatory defense exhibit, earlier this month in Paris, to unveil a militarized version of its 3.5-metric-ton EC145 medium twin helicopter. The EC645 is designed to perform armed reconnaissance, fire support, observation, airlift, and search- and-rescue missions. It will be equipped with a standalone weapon system, developed by Eurocopter and ATE, and a glass cockpit.
Lockheed Martin is trimming its Orion spacecraft labor force by 20% as it works with NASA to redefine the vehicle as a rescue capsule for International Space Station crews. The personnel reductions amount to 300 Lockheed Martin employees and 300 with subcontractors. While the company is working to find new positions for displaced staff, “layoff notices are probably inevitable, and that will happen shortly,” says Linda Karanian, Washington director of human spaceflight programs.
USAF Col. (ret.) John J. Kohout, 3rd (Alexandria, Va.)
I find your Viewpoint piece (AW&ST June 14/21, p. 86) advocating the new Start treaty in spite of its restrictions on missile defense seriously wrong-headed. U.S. and Russian strategic weapons numbers are declining as each nation explores residual nuclear force structures appropriate for new global strategic realities. Start negotiations may stroke Russian sensibilities, but are irrelevant to eventual U.S. and Russian nuclear force numbers.
Work on the new Soyuz launch site at Europe’s South American spaceport near Kourou, French Guiana, is moving ahead rapidly. Here, the 52-meter-tall mobile gantry that will allow the medium-lift rockets to roll to the pad in the vertical position takes shape at left. At the Baikonur Cosmodrome, which Russia leases from Kazakhstan, rockets move to the pad on horizontal rail cars and are erected there.
Neelam Mathews (New Delhi), Robert Wall (Washington), Andy Nativi (Washington)
Boeing is once again renewing proposals for a C-17 derivative to try to maintain its military airlifter business line. The latest iteration is the C-17FE concept. The “FE,” which stands for fuel efficient, would have a narrower fuselage by several feet than the aircraft now in production. It also would involve lightening of the structure through use of composites. The goal is to meet the nominal Joint Future Theater Lift (JFTL) program threshold.
The Obama administration’s looming National Space Policy likely will represent a return to a more international approach to space; a more balanced view of civil, commercial and military uses of space; and a greater openness to arms control and cooperative solutions to international space security issues, predicts the Union of Concerned Scientists. “Press attention likely will focus on the National Space Policy’s implications for changes at NASA and the future of the piloted spacecraft program,” UCS forecasts
As the sun sets on the duopoly in the narrow and widebody commercial airplane market, airlines and aerospace suppliers are eyeing new opportunities and the responses of Airbus and Boeing to new challengers.
The Next-Generation Jammer (NGJ) program will open the door for sophisticated air-launched electronic attacks and penetration of integrated command-and-control networks. Operationally, the NGJ could change the face of both irregular and conventional wars. Programmatically, the U.S. Navy’s decision to allow contractor input to precede a specifications list or request for proposals could be revolutionary.
David A. Fulghum (Washington), Douglas Barrie (London)
In a high-profile visit to view what is Russia’s first “low-observable” aircraft, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin watched the prototype Sukhoi T-50 being put through its paces at the Zhukovsky flight test research center near Moscow and got a tour of the new aircraft’s cockpit June 17.
Anthony J. Tether has become a member of the board of regents of the Potomac Institute for Policy Studies , Arlington, Va. He was director of the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.
A new commercial X-band radar satellite orbited by EADS Astrium will provide one-meter-resolution, three-dimensional radar imagery in combination with TerraSAR-X, launched in 2007. Tandem-X, the second commercial X-band radar satellite launched by Astrium, will make it possible to market high-resolution stereo radar global digital elevation models and other products not currently available on the market.
