Arianespace will boost annual production of the Ariane 5 ECA launch vehicle to seven from six beginning next year, reflecting an uptick in anticipated business. An agreement signed by CEO Jean-Yves Le Gall and Evert Dudok, president of Ariane prime contractor Astrium Space Transportation, on Feb. 15 includes provisions for an additional mission annually for the European Space Agency's Automated Transfer Vehicle or other special application.
BOEING DEMONSTRATED THE USE OF AN ELECTRO-optical/infrared targeting pod on a B-1. The Lockheed Martin Sniper XR pod was used to illustrate a B-1 crew's ability to positively identify moving and stationary targets in a variety of conditions. It was mounted on an external pylon below the cockpit. Images and data are displayed at all four crew positions. B-1s recently provided close air support via GBU-38s for international forces in Afghanistan who were under mortar and small arms fire.
European countries are sharpening their focus on communications satellite research and development as they vie with one another to support domestic suppliers and react to rising military and civil R&D expenditures in the U.S. and elsewhere.
Italy's Galileo Avionica is to provide 12 mission systems for Australian maritime surveillance aircraft/helicopters. The company's surveillance information management system will be fitted to 10 Bombardier DHC-8s along with two helicopters for use in Australia's Coastwatch program under the €20-million ($26-million) contract.
Your articles on the aerospace workforce provide more evidence that American CEOs have not given a second thought about creating a stable, competent American engineering workforce. The onetime CEO of Hewlett-Packard, Carleton S. Fiorina, once said no American has a birthright to a job. This, after she outsourced a majority of HP's engineering projects to China and India.
MARKET FOCUS Northrop Grumman wins applause by naming new CFO 10 NEWS BREAKS Israel in new Arrow ballistic missile defense weapon test 18 Safran expects to turn around troubled Defense Security division this year 19 U.S. Navy testing models of its F-35C version in wind tunnel 20 Telecom satellite operator Eutelsat again posts solid growth 20 USAF to test eight Stage 3 booster motors for Minuteman ICBMs 22 WORLD NEWS & ANALYSIS
Airlines have long protested Toronto Pearson International Airport's high fees. Now Greater Toronto Airports Authority (GTAA), which runs the airport, has joined airlines as well as business and community groups in seeking a fair rent deal from the landlord, the Canadian government. The group has launched a public awareness campaign, asking passengers to support the effort by ballot or online. The government, according to GTAA, made an election promise to address the rent issue.
USAF Brig. Gen. (ret.) Pete Hennessey has been promoted to vice president-business development for Columbus, Ohio-based Battelle's National Security Div. from head of the company's business with the Air Force.
Field Aviation Co. of Toronto will modify and deliver three de Havilland Dash 8-300s for use as maritime patrol/search and rescue aircraft for the Japan Coast Guard (JCG). Plans call for all three airplanes to be delivered by the end of 2008. Beginning in November, Field Aviation will perform the modifications that include a suite of surveillance sensors, search radar, a stabilized electro-optical, multi-spectral imaging payload; large conformal observation windows, air-drop capability and navigation and communications equipment.
Letters 6-7 Who's Where 8-9 Industry Outlook 13 Airline Outlook 15 In Orbit 17 News Breaks 18-22 Washington Outlook 23 Inside Avionics 47 Classified 63 Contact Us 64 Aerospace Calendar 65
The Global Hawk has resumed flight operations at Beale AFB, Calif., after a standdown to training missions last year. The FAA was concerned about coordinating flights in dense California airspace. Procedures have now been set to continue ramping up training missions there, program officials say.
F-22s are on the move as part of a Pentagon effort to install the stealth fighter in the Pacific and imprint its capabilities on operations in what U.S. strategists see as an increasingly worrisome area.
Pentagon officials tell Congress that plans to train and equip national security forces in Afghanistan include providing a "small but capable air corps." This would increase the Afghan army's combat mobility, officials say.
Sweden is looking for a training service provider to prepare air and ground crew to use the NH90 transport helicopter. Before April, the government plans to issue its request for proposals within a six-month turnaround. The government notes that due to delays in getting the procurement going, a determinant will be the ability to quickly establish a program. Because Sweden is buying only 18 helos, it doesn't want to purchase its own full-flight simulator.
The British Defense Ministry is beginning to consider whether it may need additional C-130 airframes following the loss of a third aircraft in combat operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. One of the Royal Air Force's Lockheed Martin C-130J-30s was destroyed following an incident on landing at a "temporary" strip in southern Iraq on Feb. 12. Two personnel were injured. The cause of the initial damage has not been made public. The aircraft was destroyed to avoid a recovery attempt in a hostile environment.
Pilatus Aircraft has signed an agreement with the Swiss air force to deliver six PC-21s starting late this year. The Jet Pilot Training Systems PC-21 program is to commence operations in March 2008, allowing pilots to transition directly to the F/A-18.
Alan Stern, newly named as NASA's science chief to replace the retiring Mary Cleave, must try to fulfill a burgeoning agenda of worthy missions at a time when the agency's top leaders have put science on a downhold to pay for human spaceflight and exploration. Although scientists' complaints about the agency's priorities have found some traction on Capitol Hill that may translate into extra dollars for missions, the agency's science-spending priorities also are under attack.
Judy Cavanaugh has been appointed vice president-market analysis at Input, Reston, Va. She was vice president-business intelligence for the L-3 Communications Titan Group.
The Italian government has dumped embattled Alitalia Chief Executive Giancarlo Cimoli, hoping to ease the process of finding a buyer for the struggling Italian carrier. Cimoli's political support had become increasingly tenuous after he had little success in improving Alitalia's performance. A new management team has yet to be named, but first the government wants to reconstitute the board that has effectively been disbanded by resignations. New chairman Bernardino Libonati is to be confirmed at a shareholder meeting Feb. 22, along with four other new members.
I started flight lessons in 1992 when I was 17. Ever since, I've been told countless times there will be a major pilot shortage in the next five years. Fifteen years and thousands of small-jet hours later, I'm still waiting.
A move into the Australian domestic market by Singaporean budget carrier Tiger Airways will challenge the profitability of Qantas budget unit Jetstar, just as the Australian airline prepares to be taken over by private-equity buyers. Tiger's plan also means the airline--still a small business, but an ambitious one with the backing of big-name aviation investors--will run a narrow-body network stretching from southern China, to the Philippines, southeast Asia and across the Australian continent, which is itself about as big as the continental U.S.
Communications satellite operators, manufacturers and launch providers see a glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel, as the industry emerges from a decade of stagnation.
Adam Isles has been appointed deputy chief of staff in the U.S. Homeland Security Dept. He has been counselor to Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff and was counsel to the assistant attorney general in charge of the Justice Dept.'s Criminal Div.
General aviation manufacturers, reporting a "spectacular" 2006, point to user fees as No. 1 among the challenges to continued growth in 2007. The General Aviation Manufacturers Assn. members last week reported 4,042 total aircraft shipments in 2006, a 12.9% increase compared with 2005, and a 24.1% climb in total billings to an all-time high of $18.8 billion (see chart)--a banner year, according to GAMA President and CEO Pete Bunce. This is attributed to several factors:
