Richard Pasciuto has become New York-based vice president-U.S. sales for Emirates. He was vice president-U.S. marketing and distribution for Air France.
Todd Fierro has been appointed vice president-manufacturing for Eclipse Aviation, Albuquerque, N.M. He was plant manager of the Ford Motor Co. facility at Sterling Heights, Mich.
Frank Flores (see photo), who is vice president-engineering, logistics and technology for the San Diego-based Western Region of the Northrop Grumman Corp.'s Integrated Systems Sector Western Region, has been selected by the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers for its Technical Achievement Recognition Corporate Achievement Award. He was honored for his work to promote math and science to U.S. students, and his contributions to the development of satellite communications systems, avionics communications systems for advanced fighters and terrestrial radio systems.
UNITED STATES Editor-In-Chief: Anthony L. Velocci, Jr. [email protected] Managing Editor: James R. Asker [email protected] Assistant Managing Editor: Michael Stearns [email protected] Senior Editors: Craig Covault [email protected], David Hughes [email protected] NEW YORK 2 Penn Plaza, 25th Floor, New York, N.Y. 10121 Phone: +1 (212) 904-2000, Fax: +1 (212) 904-6068 Senior News Editor: Nora Titterington
Italian aerospace research center Cira has successfully performed an initial drop test of its Unmanned Space Vehicle (USV), intended to help base future European reusable launcher technologies. The USV was dropped from an altitude of 21 mi. from a stratospheric balloon launched from the joint military test range in Sardinia. After initiating a 70-sec. glide, it reached a top velocity of Mach 1.05 and then performed transonic maneuvers before opening a three-stage parachute for a splashdown recovery.
COMP AIR AVIATION WILL FLY ITS NEW COMP AIR CA12 AT THE SUN 'N FUN FLY-IN SCHEDULED FOR APR. 17-23 IN LAKELAND, FLA. THE SINGLE-ENGINE, COMPOSITE AIRPLANE, POWERED BY A TPE331-14GR, WILL BE CERTIFIED BY THE FAA. FOR MORE INFORMATION GO TO WWW.COMPAIRINC.COM.
USAF Col. (ret.) David A. Carlson (Melbourne, Fla.)
The KC-X request for proposals (RFP) states a requirement for 179 aircraft. The proposed Northrop Grumman/EADS KC-30 is larger than the Boeing KC-767. To level the playing field, the requirement should be for 143 aircraft for the KC-30 with an approximate 250,000-lb. fuel capacity, or for 179 KC-767s with an approximate 200,000-lb. fuel capacity.
In the 1980s, my country had innumerable reservations about its part in the NATO alliance. While Danish combat troops now stand shoulder to shoulder with our U.S. and U.K. allies to keep Iraq a free and democratic state, it seems Germany may be taking the "Danish attitude." German parliamentary reservations entail a 4-hr. delay or more for the release of intelligence for operational use (AW&ST Feb. 12, p. 34). This can only mean friendly U.S. troops face a greater risk of casualties, while Al Qaeda boasts with videos of alleged U.S. camps being destroyed.
Latecoere says it is preparing to build a second composite fuselage assembly facility, and would be interested in acquiring any activities shed by Airbus (see p. 18). Company revenues surged 22% last year, to €433 million, on the strength of strong demand for Airbus, Dassault Falcon Jet and Embraer aircraft. But earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) fell 8%, to €34.7 million, dragged down by A380 and Falcon 7X delays, higher composite R&D expenditures and the transfer of activities to subsidiaries.
USMC Cols. William D. Beydler and Mark A. Clark have been nominated for promotion to brigadier general. Beydler is commanding officer of Marine Aircraft Group 31, Beaufort, S.C., while Clark is the same for VMMT-204 of Marine Aircraft Group 26, Jacksonville, N.C.
The Israel Air Force (IAF) has accepted into service the medium-altitude, long-endurance Heron unmanned aircraft. Later this year, the service is expected to reveal the larger, missile-carrying Heron II, which is built by Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) and is to become the mainstay of strategic operations. The UAV also is being considered as an unmanned tanker.
The first concrete results are emerging from the High Speed Aircraft project, a European program designed to prepare the groundwork for a supersonic business jet. After two years of analysis, a group of 37 industrial, government and academic institutions from 13 countries has settled on preliminary aircraft and engine configuration concepts to explore in more detail in the next two years. Their goal is to identify viable supersonic business jet configurations. There are no plans yet for the feasibility study to spawn a formal development program.
THE 2007 HELICOPTER SAFETY FORUM, hosted by FlightSafety International, will be held at the Embassy Suites DFW Hotel in Irving, Tex., Apr. 12-13. Attendees will include operators involved in law enforcement, emergency medical services, fire, offshore oil and corporate aviation. The event will focus on safety and risk management, human factors, decision making and new technologies, as well as recommendations made by the FAA, the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board and Transport Canada to reduce the accident rate.
Much of China's latest defense spending surge is likely to head toward pay raises for poorly remunerated soldiers, sailors and airmen. China is also avowedly aiming for higher levels of military technology, and the latest budget doesn't suggest any slowdown in that effort. But it doesn't suggest acceleration, either, because the unusually large 17.8% rise in official defense spending, the largest in a decade, coincides with a big scheduled raise in military salaries.
Airbus employees in France took to the streets last week to protest the planned reduction of 10,000 jobs as the aircraft maker implements its Power8 cost-cutting program. The number of strikers in Toulouse was estimated at around 12,000, almost three times the number of positions France is set to lose. German labor groups also have voiced their dismay, but not on the same scale. Airbus plans to cut half of the jobs by eliminating temporary workers not on its direct payroll, while it hopes the rest of the cuts will come from attrition or early retirement.
Clive Richardson has been appointed managing director of European, Middle Eastern and Australasian operations for U.K.-based Qinetiq, effective June 1. He has been CEO of BAE Systems Insyte. Andrew Sleigh, currently managing director of the company's U.K. Defense and Technology Sector, has been named group chief technology officer, effective Apr. 1. Hal Kruth, who has been managing director of the U.K. Security and Dual Use Sector, will become chairman of Qinetiq Ventures.
In the International Civil Aviation Organization regional office here, a promising trial program that advocates GPS monitoring of air traffic is dramatically illustrated by a computer display that tracks air activity over Indonesia based on GPS data at three stations.
Galileo satellite navigation system planners are moving to stop loss of frequency rights from deployment delays. Last week, the European Space Agency (ESA) issued a contract to Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd. (SSTL) of the U.K. for a third Giove (as in the Roman god of the sky, Jupiter) test satellite. It is intended to prove key technologies, particularly atomic clocks, and to meet in-orbit operation requirements set out by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU).
Privately owned Chinese carrier Shenzhen Airlines tripled its net profit last year to 360 million yuan ($46.8 million) amid a 24% rise in passenger numbers, state media report.
Sustained combat operations in Afghanistan and Iraq reveal a growing gap between operational demands and planning assumptions, which is forcing the British government and the Defense Ministry to reevaluate strategic plans. The U.K.'s armed forces, and in particular elements of the army and air force, are running at higher operational tempos--and for longer--than have been envisioned in the government's long-term strategic assumptions.
USAF Col. (ret.) Michael R. Gallagher (Hillsboro, Ore.)
Your article "Engine Quandary" (AW&ST Feb. 19, p. 30) states ". . . some C-17s are being used for intratheater lift, not one of the system's proposed missions." The last part of the statement is false. The C-17 was always envisioned for use in intratheater airlift. How soon some forget how we sold the airplane in the 1980s as a swing airlifter that would replace the C-141, augment the C-130 and perhaps eventually replace the C-5.
China says it has finished assembling its first lunar orbiter--Chang'e I--after three years of development and that the Long March 3-A that will launch it this year is undergoing testing.
Let's get this straight: Russia is shocked that the NATO nations would consider basing an anti-ballistic missile radar in the Czech Republic and interceptors in Poland without consulting the former superpower. The West has kept Russia informed throughout its deliberations on the anti-missile move, which is directed against Iran's growing capability to target Europe, not any potential threat from Russia. But Russia considers itself to have been briefed, not consulted.
