By ANTHONY L. VELOCCI, JR. ( WICHITA, KAN., and LEXINGTON, MASS.)
Raytheon Aircraft Co.'s (RAC) operations probably will lose around $15 million this year. While such a prospect hardly inspires confidence, there's a growing body of evidence--still not widely known--that a turnaround is underway at this long-troubled business. For the first time in years, management is regaining control of RAC's manufacturing operations. At the operating level, there are meaningful, documented results in many areas, and positive momentum is building. Moreover, the progress is reflected in the bottom line.
Lockheed Martin's F-35 Joint Strike Fighter will require seven years and more than 10,000 flight hours and 5,700 sorties to wring out the new aircraft before it enters low-rate initial production in 2006. Current plans call for first flight of an F-35A conventional takeoff and landing (CTOL) version for the U.S. Air Force in October 2005. However, the company's goal is to fly the first airplane on Aug. 28, of that year, said Paul Metz, director of Lockheed Martin's F-35 Integrated Test Force and former chief test pilot for the F-22 program.
President Bush said he will not spend $5.1 billion of the $28.9 billion in Fiscal 2002 emergency supplemental appropriations. The White House didn't ask for the amount, and Congress told the President he would have to spend it all or none of it. Tied up in the maneuver is funding for F-15 radios, Coast Guard aircraft, and command, control and communications systems.
Kenneth E. Gazzola Executive Vice President/Publisher
More than a month has passed since my Publisher's Message ``The Danger of Playing It Safe'' (AW&ST July 1, p. 3), and there continues to be little encouraging news to report, either from governments or industry/business.
William J. Lynn has become senior vice president-government operations and strategy of the Raytheon Co., Lexington, Mass. He was executive vice president of DFI International of Washington.
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and Boeing's Rocketdyne Propulsion & Power unit have completed design tests of their MB-XX prototype cryogenic upper-stage engine designed as an option for Delta IVs or the heavy-lift proposals for Japan's H-IIA rocket. The full-scale Combustion Chamber/Injector Assembly tests were conducted at MHI's Tashiro Test Facility at full operating pressure and temperatures. Over the past two years, the team has conducted a series of four tests, the last involving 26 burns, usually of about 20-sec.
Thai Airways International is to add Bahrain to its Middle East destinations as of Nov. 2. It will use an Airbus A300-600 in the thrice-weekly offering. It already flies to Dubai, Muscat, Kuwait and Jeddah.
A string of crashes involving older aircraft has prompted the Civil Aviation Administration of China to begin planning a three-year phase-out of aging airframes, a move that will affect nine airlines that come under the management purview of the regulatory body. The CAAC began reviewing carriers' fleets after a May 8 China Northern Airlines MD-82 crashed on a flight from Beijing to Dalian. The crash occurred after a cabin fire broke out while the aircraft circled above the Yellow Sea in a holding pattern for landing.
Erik Antonsson, who has been chairman of the Mechanical Engineering Dept. at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, has been named chief technologist of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which is also in Pasadena.
The smaller you are, the slower you think the FAA should go with its plan to reduce vertical separation between aircraft over the continental U.S. The agency proposes separation of 1,000 ft. instead of the current 2,000 ft. at altitudes between 29,000 ft. and 41,000 ft. (Flight Levels 290-410), starting in December 2004. This would nearly double the capacity of airspace at altitudes where jet aircraft cruise most efficiently. But it also would require altimeter, autopilot and TCAS II upgrades (AW&ST May 13, p. 38).
Ken A. Peterman has been named vice president-business development for Rockwell Collins Government Systems, Cedar Rapids, Iowa. He was director of communication systems marketing.
The British Royal Air Force has carried out firing trials of the Storm Shadow land-attack cruise missile in the run-up to the missile entering service, with the air force also beginning to consider future options for development of what is a key weapon in its future precision strike inventory. At least one test firing of a Storm Shadow was by a Royal Air Force (RAF) aircrew at the U.S. Naval Air Warfare Center at China Lake, Calif., during July, with the missile hitting extremely close to the aim point on the target.
Micron-thin, stick-on sensor arrays, which give researchers real-time insights into dynamic airflow changes, could hold the key to advanced, active flight controls. Tao Systems developed the hot-film sensor arrays to monitor aerodynamic phenomena such as buffet, flutter, stall and wing rock by electrically measuring the viscous airflow on the surface of interest, as opposed to using conventional pressure taps.
The U.S. Air Force Special Operations Command has used the CV-22 special operations version of the tiltrotor in the Millennium Challenge 2002 exercise to test how well joint forces can execute a rapid, decisive operation in about 2007. The latest test emphasized the exchange of command, control and information between forces. In it, pilots flew the CV-22 flight simulator at Bell Helicopter Textron facilities in Fort Worth. A second simulator is scheduled to become operational next month at Kirtland AFB, N.M.
When air traffic controllers notice something suspicious about an aircraft, such as a light plane nearing restricted airspace, they get on the horn. Dave Canoles, FAA director of emergency operations and communications, says ``anything that is suspect'' in the air traffic system gets talked up on a party-line phone connection that's been operating since Sept. 11. It plays through speaker phones at 30 FAA enroute and terminal air traffic control centers, the North American Aerospace Defense Command, and dozens of military and law enforcement agencies.
THE 55TH NATIONAL BUSINESS Aviation Assn. convention scheduled for Sept. 10-12 in Orlando, Fla., has signed up 945 exhibitors, including 120 new vendors, according to NBAA officials. The show is projected to draw 25,000-30,000 people. A hot topic will be the ongoing closure of Ronald Reagan National Airport to business aircraft. NBAA officials have been told that although Transportation Secretary Norman Y. Mineta advocates a gradual phase-in of general aviation flights at the airport, it is not likely to occur in the near future.
Both Standard & Poor's and Moody's Investors Service downgraded the debt ratings of UAL Corp., parent company of United Airlines. The ratings actions reflect the increased probability that United could default on large debt payments later this year.
In the wake of considerable restructuring, the Eurofighter industry team now wants to see the four participating governments mirror its overhaul in trying to guarantee a cohesive future development path and thus control costs. Eurofighter GmbH. has effectively reinvented itself as the prime contractor for the Typhoon program, rather than simply serving as the vehicle for the partner industries. The next few months will be spent hammering out the detailed structure of the revamped company.
Thales' first half revenues increased 15% to 4.98 billion euros ($4.88 billion), including 11% in North America. The French group's aerospace sales remained flat, a trend resulting from the airline industry's crisis, but defense sales soared 29% to nearly $3 billion. Airborne, air defense and naval systems were the fastest growing businesses.
Boeing and German airship builder Cargolifter hope to become significant players in the potential market for stratospheric airships. The two companies recently signed an agreement to jointly launch a study of lighter-than-air stratospheric platforms to serve in the communications and surveillance markets. They intend to submit joint bids once governments see a concrete requirement for the technology. However, Cargolifter's survival is more than uncertain. The company entered permanent insolvency (protection from creditors) at the beginning of August.
Worried about its federal loan guarantee application and the potential for a fourth-quarter cash crisis, United Airlines has embarked on a 30-day attempt to win what it termed ``broader, deeper and longer term cost savings'' from employees and other stakeholders. If it fails, it is likely to file this fall for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
Electric, fuel and hydraulic lines were sheared in cockpits of six F-4EJ fighters and an RF-4EJ reconnaissance aircraft undergoing maintenance for Japan's air force at Mitsubishi Heavy Industries' Komaki plant at Nagoya over a four-month period that began in April. MHI officials said the shearings look intentional and note that the plant is guarded. They say access from the outside is impossible. The air force's F-15Js are overhauled in another shop at the same plant and were not damaged.
All bets would seem to be off for commercial aerospace suppliers now that the U.S. airline industry has entered a period of even greater uncertainty than existed until just recently. In that short, intervening period, US Airways Group has filed for bankruptcy, United Airlines has announced it may be forced to follow suit and American Airlines has committed to a major restructuring (see p. 22). In addition, the Air Transportation Stabilization Board, the federal panel created to help airlines weather the financial repercussions from the Sept.
R.G. Heydt has become senior vice president-sales, David Koch vice president-domestic sales, Rudi Kohnke vice president-national accounts and Leo Ramos director of Caribbean sales and operations, all for Air Plus Ltd. of Minneapolis. Heydt was vice president of AIT Worldwide Logistics, and Koch was vice president-sales. Kohnke was vice president-sales and marketing for Cargo Inc.
