Raytheon Co. received a $34.4-million contract from the U.S. Air Force to continue design work on the AGM-65E2/L laser-guided Maverick missile. This version will sport an enhanced laser seeker and new software. The contract specifically calls for developing, integrating and testing the munition’s guidance and control section.
Reader Steven D. Green’s letter hit the mark (AW&ST April 19, p. 9). I, too, am a product of both military and airline training. For many years I instructed in the U.S. Air Force and in the training department of a huge legacy airline for which I fly now. The cost-constrained military and airlines have honed training to a fine edge. It consists mostly of rote learning, practicing V1 cuts and reasonable recall of vast quantities of information from an often poorly assembled collection of manuals and written guidance.
Intelsat engineers continue efforts to disable the payload on Galaxy 15, which has been drifting away from its orbital slot at 133 deg. W. Long. since it went out of control on April 5 and is threatening to interfere with surrounding satellites. Work is being closely coordinated with SES World Skies, whose AMC 11, located at 131 deg. W., will be approached by the Galaxy satellite on May 23. SES executives say they are evaluating all possible maneuvers to mitigate potential interference, and are confident they will be able to minimize the impact.
The new British government did not waste any time in delivering a blow to U.K.’s air travel sector—nixing runway expansion while planning introduction of a commercial aircraft tax. The impact on defense will take slightly longer to begin to emerge. That the Defense Ministry will feel the budget squeeze is already being made clear by Secretary of State for Defense Liam Fox. Addressing staff on his first day last week he warned that “resources will be tight” and that the “organization and the structure” of the Defense Ministry will need to be re-examined.
Airbus and Boeing could boost narrowbody production ratesas a result of airlines’ growing interest in new aircraft and the renewed availability of commercial financing.
Key defense authorizers in the U.S. House have approved $18.5 billion for Navy and Marine Corps aviation programs in Fiscal 2011, with an additional $547 million above the Obama administration’s budget request for so-called unfunded requirements as listed by the armed services themselves. In marking up their early version of the Fiscal 2011 defense authorization bill, seapower and expeditionary forces subcommittee members endorsed all requested 206 aircraft, as well as more controversial efforts such as an alternative engine for the Joint Strike Fighter (see p. 21).
The first strike by shop-floor workers in 27 years at the last outpost for large aircraft manufacturing in Southern California will be a test of wills for Boeing’s C-17 program.
Chinese airport development is marching ahead at a furious pace, seemingly oblivious to the financial risk of millions of passengers switching to a massive high-speed rail network that is also under construction.
S. Pete Worden, who is director of the NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif., has been recognized by the Arthur C. Clarke Foundation for leadership in space exploration. Worden has written or co-written more than 150 scientific technical papers in astrophysics, space sciences and strategic studies. He also was a scientific co-investigator for two NASA space science missions. Earlier, Worden was a research professor of astronomy, optical sciences and planetary sciences at the University of Arizona.
Fears within the French defense community that the current five-year defense spending plan will be threatened by fiscal belt-tightening are likely to be confirmed by new cuts announced last week by Prime Minister Francois Fillon to help pay down France’s enormous public debt. Fillon said budgets for the next three years will be frozen, with no allowance for inflation, and that there will be no further economic stimulus funding.
Dan Crowley has been appointed chief operating officer of Lockheed Martin Aeronautics of Fort Worth, effective June 7. He has been executive vice president/general manager of the F-35 program. Crowley will be succeeded by Larry A. Lawson, who has been executive vice president/general manager of the F-22 program. Following Lawson will be George Shultz, who was the program’s vice president/deputy general manager.
Kidde Aerospace & Defense will supply the integrated fire and overheat protection system for Commercial Aviation Corp. of China’s C919 regional jet under a $250-million contract. Kidde, a Hamilton Sundstrand unit, will provide fire detectors for the engines and auxiliary power unit, wheel wells, cargo bay and lavatories, plus portable extinguishers.
Southwest Airlines plans to add its first two destinations in South Carolina in 2011, following an extensive lobbying effort from within the state. The carrier will begin service to Charleston International Airport (CHS) and Greenville-Spartanburg International Airport (GSP) but has not unveiled a start date or schedule. Both cities were pushing to attract Southwest, and speculation over the carrier’s interest spurred state lawmakers to propose up to $15 million in incentives for low-cost carriers to serve South Carolina.
U.S. airlines, not faring well under recent Obama administration decisions, have started to fight back. The Air Transport Association says it plans to take the National Mediation Board to court for issuing a final rule that will change union election rules at airlines and railroads. The new rule will allow a majority of those voting to determine the outcome, and not a majority of eligible voters of the entire employee group. This comes as Delta Air Lines and U.S.
GE Aviation is renaming its Czech turboprop subsidiary “to better represent the organization’s strategy, which is to develop, manufacture and support turboprop engines,” says Brad Mottier, head of its business and general aviation operation. The unit will now be called GE Aviation’s Business & General Aviation Turboprops. It is the former Walter Engines, which GE has been expanding since purchasing it two years ago. Besides new facilities, GE has introduced the H80 as an 800-shp. derivative of Walter’s M601 turboprop.
Recognizing that technology to make commercial airliners cleaner and greener will take 20 years to mature, NASA asked industry to look ahead at how air travel might look in 2030-35, to define what kinds of aircraft could be needed and identify the technologies that would be needed to make them a reality (see p. 40). Aviation Week & Space Technology has exclusive access to the findings, which will help NASA shape its aeronautics research. Cover shows a Boeing concept for a high-efficiency airliner with strut-braced wing and hybrid-electric propulsion.
The Finnish army is exploring upgrades to its nascent NH90 capability with an eye on providing enhanced support to the country’s fledgling special operations forces.
Chang Cheow Teck has been named president of Singapore Technologies Aerospace Ltd. He was president of Singapore Technologies Marine Ltd. and succeeds Tay Kok Khiang, who has retired. Following Chang is Ng Sing Chan, who was deputy president of ST Engineering and president of ST Marine’s defense business.
U.S. space policy remains the object of heated debate as the federal funding cycle grinds on, but powerful members of Congress are softening their outright opposition to the plan advanced by the White House in the Fiscal 2011 NASA budget request.
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The Golden Eagle—an F-15C fitted with an active, electronically scanned array (AESA) radar—is slated to lead strike packages because of its greater fuel capacity, which will give it “persistence” in the combat area (AW&ST April 26, p. 45). Just how this will enhance the low-observability (LO) mission of the F-22 is a bit of a puzzle.
