James M. Schneider has been named to the board of directors of the Lockheed Martin Corp., Bethesda, Md. He is senior vice president/chief financial officer of Dell Inc.
If costs of the Joint Strike Fighter program go up, Australia's plans to buy 100 F-35s could shrink to a procurement as small as 50 aircraft, says a senior Australian defense official. That comment follows revelations last week that the U.S. Navy and Air Force are making plans to pull funding from the JSF's F136 alternative engine program as a cost-cutting measure.
Robert Lafontan, Senior Vice President-Engineering (Airbus A380 Program, Toulouse, France)
Regarding the article "Wake Warfare" (AW&ST Dec. 12, 2005, p. 36), I would like to clarify the Airbus position with respect to the A380 wake-vortex issue.
THE EUROPEAN JOINT AVIATION AUTHORITIES (JAA) has issued a three-year Type Rating Training Organization approval to FlightSafety International's Paris/Le Bourget Training Center, as well as certification of its Level D full flight simulators for the Dassault Falcon 900 EX EASy and Falcon 2000 EX EASy. Both simulators are located at FSI's Learning Center in Teterboro, N.J. The approvals at Le Bourget and Teterboro were granted after evaluations by the DGAC civil aviation authority of France representing the JAA.
The Pentagon's elusive program budget decision (PBD) 720 was issued and then withdrawn before anyone other than a few people in Congress could see it, and it was lawmakers' howls of rage that put it back in the box, say senior Air Force officials. Additional revelations about the document include a decision to reduce the operational fleet of B-52s by 20, taking the total to 56 from 76, and leaving Minot AFB, N.D., on the chopping block for closing.
Ulrich (Rick) Schmidt (see photos) has been named executive vice president/chief financial officer and David Walker senior vice president-sales and marketing for Spirit AeroSystems Inc., Wichita, Kan. Schmidt held the same positions at the Goodrich Corp. Walker was corporate vice president-international programs for Vought Aircraft Industries.
Sweden and France are exploring closer cooperation in space, and in particular Swedish participation in a French orbital observatory that will examine formation flying concepts.
Italian researchers are making breakthroughs in passive radar technology, opening the door to detecting previously hard-to-track targets such as stealthy aircraft.
Lockheed Martin is conducting aggressive tests of a new electric-based control-surface actuation system in preparation for the F-35A's first flight scheduled in August 2006. The F-35A's flight control system--the first of its kind to be installed in a U.S. fighter aircraft--utilizes an electrohydrostatic actuation system (EHAS) and a wing leading-edge flap actuation system (Lefas). Both are fully redundant.
The Air Line Pilots Assn. unit at Northwest Airlines will carry out informational picketing at Northwest's three U.S. hub airports against the airline's motion to reject the pilots' contract in U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York. Picketing started at Minneapolis and is expected to spread to Detroit and Memphis. ALPA says NWA's 5,700 pilots, 700 on furlough, have agreed to pay cuts of 39% in two rounds of concessions. Management is seeking another round of $145 million a year, which the union says is unacceptable.
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As a general rule, airlines are not known for being the best managed enterprises to populate the business landscape. Many decisions are driven by the heart instead of a clear-headed business rationale. Airline executives also continue to forget that they offer a service, and that taking your customers for granted has a nasty way of catching up with you.
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Your article "First Flight" highlights the truly sad state of NASA's manned spaceflight program. Since July 1969, NASA for the most part has functioned as a directionless, bloated incinerator of taxpayer dollars, striving to keep alive the notion that humans need to fly in space. What is the International Space Station for: to give the shuttle a place to go? Space tourists? We need the shuttle to, oh yes, build the ISS.
Scott Cottrill has been appointed vice president/controller of the Goodrich Corp., Charlotte, N.C. He was vice president-internal audit and succeeds Scott Kuechle, who was promoted to senior vice president/chief financial officer.
Laurent Schneider-Maunoury (see photo) has been appointed president of Aircelle subsidiary Societe Lorraine de Construction Aeronautique, Meudon, France. He was group vice president-operations for Messier-Dowty International.
Florian Hamm (see photo) has become chairman of the management board of Lufthansa Flight Training. He succeeds Dieter Harms, who has retired. Hamm was a managing director and head of the airline's pilot school in Bremen, Germany.
The Frank Morring, Jr., article "First Flight" (AW&ST Dec. 5, 2005, p. 30) documents NASA plans to put "exploration on the agenda" of the aeronautics directorate. This, combined with Administrator Michael Griffin's plans to use existing budgets to fund "dual-use" technologies for Mars/Moon exploration, appears to be a poorly camouflaged attempt to divert resources provided by Congress.
The U.S. Navy has awarded Boeing a $995-million logistics contract to support the F/A-18E/F fleet. The program allows consolidation of a number of efforts under a single contract overseen by the Navy, and covers new features such as automated maintenance. An integrated software package includes maintenance for older F/A-18Ds. Boeing will provide field support representatives at air bases in California and Virginia. Other Boeing employees already support F/A-18s at depots in California, North Carolina and Florida.
Singapore will use the General Electric GE F110-GE-129 engines to power the 12 Boeing F-15SG fighters it has ordered. The F-15SG is a version of the U.S. Air Force's F-15E Strike Eagle. Engine deliveries are set for 2008-09.
The Air Force has been frustrated in its plans to convert Air National Guard units from manned to unmanned aircraft. One problem: most states where the UAVs are to operate don't have the necessary restricted airspace, a requirement that will stand until the FAA allows UAVs to fly in national airspace. Nevada, Arizona, Texas, New York and North Dakota were among the states designated to lead the conversion. But there may be at least one breakthrough. California's 163rd Air Refueling Wing at March AFB will be assigned MQ-1 Predators.
Tadiran Communications will likely post a $10-15-million net loss for the fourth quarter of 2005, after a strike caused a $20-million reduction in revenue, Elbit Systems reports. Elbit owns 40% of Tadiran. A one-time charge to retire about 50 employees early contributed to the loss.
A pair of preliminary deals aimed at expanding the Russian satellite telecommunications industry into the Asian market have emerged after the recent Asean summit in Kuala Lumpur. One deal is between Russian Satellite Communications Co. and PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia to study development of a multimedia satellite and ground control system. In the other deal, Intersputnik and Industrial Scientists Corp. of Malaysia will evaluate joint procurement of a telecom satellite and establish a joint venture to operate it.
The man tasked with making the Pentagon plan, spend and invest more like a private corporation says his team's initial efforts should be apparent come spring. Paul Brinkley, head of the Defense Dept.'s Business Transformation Agency, says the unit is committed to making business modernization improvements every six months for the next 10 years. This will start in March, he tells an Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Assn. gathering, with "radical change . . .
Northwest Airlines by 2007 plans to launch a regional airline subsidiary tentatively dubbed "NewCo." The feeder is to operate 70-100-seat Embraer or Bombardier jets in about 100 small- to medium-size markets, replacing aircraft such as 50-seat CRJs and retirement-age DC-9s. Northwest intends NewCo to operate an estimated 105 aircraft by 2010. "Regional jets are a key to the company's growth," President and CEO Doug Steenland told employees on Jan. 5.
