MBDA Chief Operating Officer Guy Griffiths is moving to head up BAE Systems Integrated System Technologies (Insyte). He follows Clive Richardson, the former Insyte CEO, who is becoming a managing director at Qinetiq. Griffiths' move to Insyte could prove temporary, however, as he is touted as the prime candidate to lead the planned merger of BAE's and VT's naval shipbuilding business as well. MBDA is also about to lose its CEO, Marwan Lahoud, who is soon likely to join EADS to succeed Executive Vice President Jean-Paul Gut. He is widely expected to leave EADS shortly.
Safran shareholders have approved 2006 results, along with findings of independent auditors who concluded in April that problems at the Sagem Defense & Security Div. were linked to errors by Sagem officials who have since been dismissed, and not to Chairman Jean-Paul Bechat. The shareholder move, combined with strong backing from Supervisory Board President Francis Mer, considerably buoyed Bechat's position, perhaps signaling he may stay on beyond his planned September retirement date.
TPG has pulled out of the bidding for Alitalia, causing the airline's share price to tumble. Onerous privatization rules were among the reasons for TPG's withdrawal, leaving groups led by AirOne and Aeroflot in the running. AirOne, Italy's second-largest carrier, is seen as the front-runner.
Florida-based Piper Aircraft Inc. notes that the recent unanimous vote by the Vero Beach City Council and Indian River County Commissioners to develop a financial incentives package is "a sign there is a legitimate effort underway to partner with Piper." The company's facilities have been at their site for 50 years.
Amy Butler (Los Angeles AFB and Sunnyvale, Calif.)
The Pentagon's acquisition chief is planning to review the Air Force's next-generation space-based missile warning system's progress after years of cost overruns and delays, as program officials continue to report encouraging results from the first system on orbit. Pentagon acquisition czar Kenneth Krieg is scheduled to review the $11-billion Space-Based Infrared System (Sbirs) June 14 at Sbirs sensor provider Northrop Grumman's Asuza, Calif., production site. During this meeting, Krieg is expected to decide the future of the program.
Dassault Aviation is investigating adding winglets to its Falcon 900EX family, after getting good performance and customer results from a similar exercise on its Falcon 2000EX.
Finnair has taken delivery of the first of its three Airbus A340-300Enhanced aircraft, each equipped with four CFM56-5C4 engines. The carrier has subsequently increased its order for long-haul aircraft, adding seven A330/340s and 11 A350XWBs.
ADAM AIRCRAFT OFFICIALS SAY THE FIRST A700 ADAMJET built to fully conform to the production airplane has joined the flight test fleet after making its initial flight in April. The aircraft is being used to evaluate a production configuration of the flight control, landing gear and avionics systems as well as the data acquisition system used for testing. The Englewood, Colo.-based airframe manufacturer is scheduled to complete a fourth A700 this summer and a fifth later this year.
Delta Air Lines is in the process of selecting routes for its subsidiary Comair to operate 14 new Bombardier CRJ900s, which will replace a similar number of 50-seat CRJ100s. Delivery will start in August and continue through February. The 76-seat aircraft will be configured for 12-seat first-class cabins (a first for Comair as a passenger option) and 64 coach seats. In providing the aircraft, Delta recognizes Comair as "a strategic part of the Delta Connection network," says Chief Operating Officer Jim Whitehurst.
Lockheed Martin should receive the third HC-144A Maritime Patrol Aircraft (MPA), built by EADS CASA in Spain under the Deepwater program, by the middle of this month, an Integrated Coast Guard Systems (ICGS) official says. Under a revised schedule for then installing and validating C4ISR systems, the first MPA should be delivered to the U.S. Coast Guard in the early fall, and all three are to be handed over to the service by ICGS by December. Production delivery of the MPAs has occurred on time, if not slightly ahead of schedule, according to the official.
Every time I see an article featuring the inflatable manned space modules of Bigelow Aerospace Inc. (AW&ST Apr. 9, p. 22), I am struck by the similarity to the Walt Disney Presents television programs of late 1950s that featured space. Using the expertise of scientists Willy Ley and Wernher von Braun as a foundation, the Disney team produced concepts of space stations formed around inflatable cores described as: "The space station consists of airtight plastic into which strong threads or wires are imbedded for greater strength. The sections are carried . . .
GE Aviation's plant at Batesville, Miss., will feature the manufacture of carbon fiber and epoxy resin composite components. Groundbreaking for the 200,000-sq.-ft. facility is set for August. In 2006, GE teamed with Mississippi State University's College of Engineering Raspet Laboratory to demo component production. Raspet fabricates "fan platforms," which are installed between front fan blades of GE commercial jet engines.
CAE has contracted with Nippon Cargo Airlines, launch customer of the Boeing 747-8 Freighter, to design and manufacture an electric-motion-based CAE 7000-Series 747-400 full-flight simulator (FFS) plus a Simfinity suite of 747 training devices. The FFS may be converted to a 747-8F simulator--which would make it the first--pending Japan Civil Aviation Bureau approval.
Barry Eccleston, who is president/ CEO of Airbus North America, has received an honorary doctor of science degree from Vaughn College of Aeronautics and Technology in New York.
The American Civil Liberties Union is suing Boeing subsidiary Jeppesen Dataplan Inc. for allegedly assisting secret CIA rendition flights of suspected terrorists. The federal lawsuit, filed in California, claims flight and logistical support services provided by Jeppesen enabled the clandestine transportation of three men to secret locations, where they were tortured and subjected to other "forms of cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment." Jeppesen officials said they had not seen the lawsuit and had no immediate comment. Neither Boeing nor the U.S.
After a long, hard slog, business aviation leaders are upbeat about amended regulations that will accommodate the specific operating requirements of bizjet owners.
Onera says it plans to begin work on an advanced derivative of the Nostradamus over-the-horizon ionospheric radar that was brought into service in late 2005 with the French air force. The new version, which is expected to receive a green light by early 2008, probably will employ the same star-shaped network architecture as Nostra- damus. But it has not been decided whether to upgrade the existing facility or build a new installation.
Brad Furukawa (see photos), who is vice president/chief information officer for the Northrop Grumman Corp.'s Space Technology Sector, and Kim L. Ong, an industrial engineer and statistician within the Information Technology Sector, have been honored for contributions to engineering and community service at the 2007 Asian American Engineer of the Year Awards in Washington. The awards were presented by the Chinese Institute of Engineers-USA.
U.S. Navy Cdr. William Oefelein, the astronaut at the center of the love triangle involving a former astronaut, Navy Lt. Cdr. Lisa Nowak, has been fired from the NASA astronaut office and is being reassigned to a Navy space planning facility in Virginia. Oefelein allegedly had relationships with Nowak and USAF Capt. Colleen Shipman. Nowak's discovery of the Oefelein-Shipman relationship prompted her to allegedly accost Shipman in an Orlando, Fla., parking lot. Nowak's trial for attempted kidnapping and burglary with assault begins in September.
Army acquisition executive Claude Bolton has given the nod for the service to negotiate with officials at Bell Helicopter on a get-well plan for the Armed Reconnaissance Helicopter (ARH). Paul Bogosian, program executive officer for aviation, says he has until the end of June to report back to Bolton with a final restructuring proposal. He predicts an 18-month slip, until April 2010, for the first unit to be equipped with the modified 407 airframe. Cost hasn't yet been ironed out.
Alexey Komarov (Samara, Russia, and Baikonur, Kazakhstan)
Space contractors plan to begin work next year on a rejuvenated version of the venerable Soyuz booster to support Russian development of a new-generation space transportation system. Soyuz builder Samara Space Center (TcSKB Progress) is proposing the new variant, known as the Soyuz 2.3, as a launch system for the Advanced Crew Transportation System (ACTS) and Parom freighter planned by Russian Space Agency Roscosmos and vehicle manufacturer NPO Energia to replace the Soyuz and Progress spaceships.
Alaska Airlines will fly due west for new destinations for the first time in its 75-year history (AW&ST May 28, p. 60). Alaska will launch daily flights Oct. 12 from Seattle-Tacoma International Airport to Honolulu and will connect Seattle-Lihue on Hawaii's island of Kauai starting Oct. 28. Seasonal service from Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport and Honolulu will start Dec. 9. The Seattle-based carrier has FAA approval of the maintenance program for extended operations in Boeing 737-800s.
MARKET FOCUS Allegheny soars as airframers turn to specialty metals 10 NEWS BREAKS Lockheed Martin begins assembly of first Stovl F-35B 18 Italian air force will start receiving M-346 advanced jet trainers in 2009 20 Fourteen agencies draft Global Exploration Strategy for space programs 21 Northwest Airlines emerges from Chapter 11 with $3.2 billion in cash 22 Guy Norris becomes AW&ST's Southern California senior editor 22 WORLD NEWS & ANALYSIS
George Hertz has become chief of staff for Massachusetts Port Authority's Executive Director/CEO Thomas J. Kinton, Jr. Hertz was executive vice president. John Pranckevicius has been named director of administration and finance. He was chief financial officer of the City of Worcester (Mass.).
