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As they continue to navigate through a prolonged weak market, commercial communications satellite operators and the manufacturers of their spacecraft are eagerly awaiting the return of a balance between geostationary telecommunications capacity and demand. Expected late in this decade, a rebound cannot come fast enough for manufacturers.
Here is my spin on your list of six issues that demand action in 2007 (AW&ST Jan. 1, p. 66): *The broken U.S. military. The U.S. military is broken because we are doing too much for too many countries and people all over the world. The U.S. has 4.5% of the world's population, yet our military spends more than half of the world's military dollars. That ratio is way out of balance. It is time to bring our military-industrial complex back down to Earth and encourage or force our friends and allies to pick up their pro-rata share of defense costs.
USN Rear Adm. (lower half) (selectee) Kathleen M. Dussault has been appointed deputy assistant Navy secretary for acquisition management. She has been chief of the acquisition division of the Defense Logistics Agency, Ft. Belvoir, Va.
Air strikes in southern Somalia, at least one acknowledged by the U.S., are targeting principal Al Qaeda leaders in the region and troops that fled from the north when Ethiopian forces moved into the war-ravaged country to save the U.N.-backed transitional government.
Airbus has named Didier Evrard as head of the A350 program. Evrard previously worked at missile maker MBDA, where he led stand-off weapons programs when the organization was run by current Airbus COO Fabrice Bregier.
Oksana Bardygula has been appointed vice president-business development for Textura's aerospace and aviation practice in Southern California. She was a junior partner in the aviation practice at Mercer Management Consulting.
After nearly a decade of development and restructuring, Lockheed Martin has finally received the go-ahead from the Missile Defense Agency to begin producing the Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense (Thaad) system. The $619-million contract includes two Thaad fire units, 48 interceptors, six launchers and two fire control and communications elements. Delivery is scheduled for 2009.
The U.S. Navy oceanographic ship Mary Sears is helping Indonesian accident investigators locate the Adam Air Boeing 737-400 that vanished Jan. 1 from radar screens. Despite knowing the last known coordinates of the aircraft, searchers as of Jan. 10 had not yet located wreckage.
Delivery of six aircraft last month confirmed that European turboprop-maker ATR met its target to ramp up production. The EADS/Finmeccanica joint venture has been bolstered by a surge in orders resulting from high fuel prices that have made the turboprops more attractive than their small regional jet rivals. The close-out deliveries included an ATR 42-500 to Pakistan International Airlines and one to Finncomm Airlines. Two ATR 72-500s went to Kingfisher Airlines, while Air Caraïbes and Air Deccan received one each.
Larry B. Lehmann entered the U.S. Air Force in 1966, served in Vietnam, and is still involved in a 40-years-and-counting aviation career. He has done it all--repairing, flying, selling and recruiting. "Aviation is my love, second only to my faith and family," he says.
Goodrich Corp. announced Jan. 9 that it has been contracted by EADS unit Airbus to provide nacelle and thrust reverser systems for all versions of the European manufacturer's recently launched A350XWB. According to Goodrich, the contract is expected to generate about $10 billion in original equipment, service and spare part revenues over 20 years. The company's main competitor in this market is Aircelle, part of French group Safran.
