Obama may intend for national security not to get caught up in his federal budget freeze, formally announced in his State of the Union address last week, but don’t count on it. Obama appears primed to seek total defense spending that could surpass his archrival, former President George W. Bush, according to presentations by independent Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments (CSBA). But before Obama spoke Jan. 27, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said the Pentagon should—and could—sacrifice financially along with the rest of the government.
Flight testing of the 747-8 Freighter will expand Boeing’s performance and certification work into new geographic regions as it strives to keep the 787 on track.
At three years late and €6 billion ($8.5 billion) over budget, there is much to lament about the A400M military transport’s development history. There is the hubris with which Airbus entered the program, the interference from national governments in the selection of an engine to promote their individual industrial policies and the general lack of effective program management. But the biggest regret may be yet to come: the possibility that Europe will fail to extract from the A400M debacle any real lesson about what it takes to run a complex multinational program.
Michael Montelongo (see photo) has been appointed to the board of trustees of The Aerospace Corp. , El Segundo, Calif. He is senior vice president/chief administrative officer of Sodexo Inc. and was assistant Air Force secretary for financial management and comptroller.
Russian military spacecraft controllers are operating a new Raduga-1M military communications satellite, following its launch on a Proton-M rocket with the Breeze-M upper stage. The satellite, which is also known as Globus-1M, lifted off from Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, at 7:18 p.m. EST Jan. 27, and achieved its designated orbit. It was the first of more than 30 space launches planned from Baikonur this year.
Israel’s Elbit Systems is developing a single cockpit display for fighter aircraft to ease operator workload and is quietly in talks with Boeing on the application of the new technology on F-15s and F/A-18s. Elbit has focused on devising a generic, single 9 X 11-in. touchscreen monitor on which pilots would be able to view all flight indicators, information from the aircraft’s sensors and information received from off-board inputs. The system is still in the conceptual stage
The U.S. has 15,000 troops and 24 ships involved in Haitian relief. The airport is handling about 200 flights per day. But what comes next is still a question. How many forces, doing what kinds of things for how long and at what kind of expense are the discussion at the Pentagon, says Defense Secretary Robert Gates’s spokesman, Geoff Morrell. “We’re still wrestling with it. It is a very expensive operation . . . probably hundreds of millions of dollars.
Finmeccanica has beat its 2009 financial expectations and hopes to sustain business around these record levels this year. Full-year results are due in March, but the Italian aerospace and defense giant says revenue will come in at €17.9-18.3 billion ($25.2-25.8 billion), against a forecast range of €17.1-17.7 billion. Order intake will reach at least €21 billion and cash flow also is above predictions, at €530-570 million. While 2010 will be focused on maintaining stable order intake and revenue , Finmeccanica hopes to return to growth in 2011.
Alabama is playing hardball as locals eye a potential bevy of jobs in Mobile on the Airbus A330-based tanker EADS North America and Northrop Grumman would build if the team wins an Air Force contract for 179 KC-135 replacements. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) is continuing to hold up the confirmation of two key nominees for Pentagon jobs because of his concerns with a draft request for proposals (RFP) for the so-called KC-X. They are Erin Conaton, the pick for the No.
UTair Aviation is getting ready to field Western -made regional jets and new helicopters as it tries to maintain years of growth and sustain its newly found position as one of Russia’s top four airlines.
The Airport Cooperative Research Program (ACRP) is sponsoring two projects that will examine the effectiveness of airport-to-airport mutual aid groups. Two of them responded to help airports hit by Gulf Coast hurricanes. The voluntary work by the Southeast Airports Disaster Operations Group (Seadog) and later the Western Airports Disaster Operations Group (Westdog) has sparked interest in forming other regional-based operations. The ACRP has set a Feb.
Patrick Dulac (see photos) has been promoted to manager from assistant manager of FlightSafety International ’s Learning Center at Paris LeBourget Airport. He succeeds Richard Deuve, who has left the company. Spencer Power has been promoted to assistant manager from manager of product marketing at FSI’s Bell Helicopter Learning Center in Fort Worth and Debbie Jones to manager from assistant manager of the Hawker Beechcraft Learning Center in Wichita, Kan. Rich High has been named regional operations manager, succeeding Marlin Schaefer, who has retired.
A JetBlue Airways Airbus A320 fitted with large, non-standard winglets was seen conducting multiple flights out of San Bernardino (Calif.) International Airport in the latter half of January. The winglets were similar in shape to the “blended” kind produced by Aviation Partners Inc. (API) of Seattle. When asked about the aircraft and the apparent flight trials, API founder and CEO Joe Clark declined comment. However, other sources have confirmed that the new airfoils were created by API.
Cessna and Gulfstream are edging up business jet production plans for 2010 amid early glimmers of a recovery in order activity. Cessna plans to deliver 225 Citations this year, down from 289 in 2009 and 467 in 2008 but up slightly from the number planned six months ago. The company booked 32 gross orders in the fourth quarter of 2009, compared with 38 for the first three quarters combined.
Israeli defense firm Elbit contracted in November 2008 for a 19% stake in Azimuth Technologies , and on Jan. 24 spent around $46.5 million to buy the remaining shares. The purchase price may be adjusted depending on potential dividend payouts by Azimuth. The deal is the latest in a string of acquisitions of technology companies Elbit has made both in Israel and beyond . Anti-trust authorities in Israel still need to bless the transaction. Azimuth is active in technologies associated with target acquisition and fire control.
European Union emissions allowance (EUA) prices crept higher in January, in what traders said was a disconnection from underlying energy fundamentals. December 2010 EUA prices rose to €13.62 ($19.20) on Jan. 26 from €12.60 per metric ton of CO2 equivalent on Dec. 31 .
With an eye on its first batch of second-generation satellites, Globalstar is vying to become the first satphone operator to offer a global high-speed voice/data service.
Lebanon’s Directorate General of Civil Aviation is leading the investigation into what caused an Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737-800 to crash into the Mediterranean Sea on Jan. 25. The aircraft (ET-ANB), bound for Bole Interational Airport in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, with 82 passengers and eight crew onboard, plunged into the water shortly after its 2:35 a.m. (local time) departure from Beirut International Airport, according to preliminary accident data.
Mark Elliott, an independent non-executive director of the U.K.-based Qinetiq Group , has been appointed chairman, effective Mar. 1. He will succeed John Chisholm, who will retire.
Henri Koffel has been appointed vice president-purchasing of Messier-Dowty International , Velizy, France. He was vice president-aerostructures procurement at Airbus.
Temperatures comparable to those that would be found in the Kuiper Belt at the edge of the Solar System exist at the Moon’s north pole, kept as cold as 25K by the permanent darkness at the bottoms of deep craters there. The Diviner lunar radiometer experiment on NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter generated this map of the lunar north pole last October, during the winter solstice.
Delta Air Lines’ acquisition of Segrave Aviation, announced Jan. 21, makes it one of the larger charter operators of business jets, raising its mixed fleet of Citations, Hawkers, Falcon Jets, Challengers and Gulfstreams to 45. The carrier already operated 24 business jets through Delta AirElite, a charter/aircraft management subsidiary based in Cincinnati. Delta also acquired Segrave’s headquarters fixed-base operation in Kinston, N.C. AirElite operates an FBO at Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport.
Japan Airlines— after its sharp downsizing—will likely weather the worst financial crisis in its nearly 60-year history. The proposed restructuring plan, which involves more than 15,000 job cuts (a third of the total workforce) and a deep fleet overhaul, is being monitored in Europe with great attention.
John Burnum and Blair Descourouez have been named sales managers in the Eastern U.S. and Western U.S., respectively, for the King Aerospace Commercial Corp. , Addison, Tex. Burnum was a completion sales executive for Gulfstream Aerospace, while Descourouez was vice president-operations for the Ambassador Jet Center.
