The first of two Boeing C-17 Globemasters destined for the Kuwait Air Force has emerged from the production line at Long Beach, Calif. Boeing has not yet formally announced Kuwait as a customer for the airlifter, but the U.S. Defense Security Cooperation Agency detailed a request from Kuwait for a single C-17 in September 2010. The country registered interest in a second aircraft in April 2013. The aircraft, KAF342, is yet to make its initial flight and first appeared outside on Jan. 6.
1984 A team of 10 managers starts work on a business plan for a new airline based in Dubai. 1985 Emirates is formally launched with Maurice Flanagan at the top. He has $10 million and five months to get the airline off the ground. Sheikh Ahmed bin Said Al Makhtoum and Tim Clark join. On Oct. 25, EK600 takes off from Dubai to Karachi, Emirates' first scheduled flight. The airline also flies to Mumbai and New Delhi.
In 2013 scientists announced that, for the first time, a man-made object had left the Solar System. Voyager I actually entered interstellar space in August 2012, but its operators had to wait until a solar storm generated enough data at the spacecraft to confirm the historic moment. Voyager I has been traveling away from the Sun since 1977, and is more than 11.7 billion mi. from Earth now. In 1996 it pointed its camera back on the Solar System it was leaving and collected this narrow-angle image of Earth at a distance of more than 4 billion mi. (below left).
Worsening the plight of airlines suffering unexpectedly weak demand, the Chinese government has limited most of its employees to flying economy class. Air China is likely to suffer the most from the new rules, which are part of President Xi Jinping's campaign against the efforts of millions of Chinese bureaucrats to divert public funds to their own benefit. The limits took effect on Jan. 1 and apply to the vast majority of Chinese officials.
Now it will be called Airbus Group, instead of European Aerospace, Defense and Space Co. (EADS), a name it used proudly for the last 13 years. This is a formidable rebranding initiative for a global 144,000-employee group headquartered in the Netherlands (for fiscal reasons only). The new title, which is scheduled to be ratified in May by the shareholders, has been in use since Jan. 1.
As a retired UPS DC-8 captain, I agree strongly with the “startle and surprise” approach to simulator training discussed in “Safety Shut-Up” (AW&ST Dec. 16, 2013, p. 18), but disagree with Wayne Martin's proper [recommended] response to the cargo-fire-warning scenario.
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Timing is everything, and the chronology of signatures President Barack Obama provided Dec. 26, 2013, to a couple of A&D-related laws has lowered and reformed a key tax benefit that federal contractors received. Under the Bipartisan Budget Act—the so-called Ryan-Murray budget deal that helps avoid another shutdown and allows fresh appropriations—federal reimbursement of certain contractor compensation packages applied to cost-type contracts has been capped at $487,000. That is down from more than $952,000 under an automatically adjusted regulatory formula.
Barely a decade ago, the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (Darpa) demonstrated that driverless vehicles could navigate desert roads and negotiate city streets. Now car manufacturers from Audi to Toyota are promising that autonomous driving technology will make their vehicles safer by the middle of this decade.
Walid Abukhaled (see photo) has become Riyadh-based chief executive for Saudi Arabia for the Northrop Grumman Corp. He was his country's deputy minister for industrial affairs and was president/CEO of General Electric Saudi Arabia and Bahrain.
Details of closely held efforts to make the Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet more stealthy have been revealed, perhaps inadvertently, by the appearance of a full-scale test specimen at the U.S. Air Force “boneyard” in Arizona. Lacking wings and its forward fuselage, it appears to be part of a radar cross-section (RCS) model to measure the effects of changes to the fighter's structure and engine nozzles.
Textron's Scorpion two-seat advanced trainer is now in the flight-test phase. The company's public relations efforts remain minimal, although this is a valuable initiative, company-funded programs of such magnitude being a rare occurrence. But can an all-new military aircraft expect export success in the absence of domestic orders? Can Textron overcome such a handicap ? On the opposite side of the Atlantic, Dassault Aviation has not developed the Alpha Jet's long-overdue successor: Perhaps they should talk and jointly create a global product.
1. Wi-Fi Remote-Controlled Test Supplier: Barfield Offering: Barfield introduced a new fully automated, Reduced Vertical Separation Minimum (RVSM) compliant air data test set, the DPS1000, last year, and now just added a new feature—Wi-Fi-enabled remote control via a tablet or an iPad. This air data test set is designed to feature a user-friendly interface and customer-programmable test routines. Barfield is a Sabena technics company. www.barfieldinc.com Link 605
South Korea's 2014 defense budget, if approved as is, will see a 3.8% increase—good news by global standards, but well below the country's 10-year average growth rate of 7%. The government's campaign pledge to boost social welfare programs is squeezing defense spending, pushing its share of the budget below 15%.
Across Europe, nations are taking innovative approaches to foster their home defense industries despite limited budgets, without relying on complex international programs. After the 2011 Operation Unified Protector in Libya, for example, Italian military leaders noted the high cost of mounting long patrols at a considerable distance using supersonic fighters. This year, the Italian air force will be pursuing at least two new programs unveiled in 2013 and aimed at reducing the cost of persistent operations.
After a year of heavy order-taking in commercial aviation and with steep cuts looming in defense spending, execution of programs will be pivotal in 2014. Development and production of new airliners must hit their targets, and defense and space programs must stay on track if industry is to deliver on its promises. That is the theme of Aerospace & Defense 2014, with its expanded analysis of global security concerns, defense programs and commercial aviation.
Now that the last of the big three mergers is finally done, the U.S. majors have to make 2014 the year of implementation and integration. American and US Airways, only weeks into their new coexistence, are at the beginning of a journey that—as United Airlines and Continental Airlines have found—can be extremely difficult.
