The top officer in charge of U.S. Pacific Command asserts U.S. readiness and capability to intercept any North Korean medium- or long-range missile launched against the U.S. or allies, but he tells senators that a decision could be made quickly to hold off if intelligence and the missile's trajectory does not indicate a threat. Navy Adm. Samuel Locklear tells the Senate he would not unilaterally recommend shooting down a North Korean missile. He confirms the U.S.
TWA Capt. (ret.) Wally Roberts (San Clemente, Calif. )
No one is more deserving of recognition than my longtime friend and industry associate Don Bateman, truly the tireless father of ground proximity equipment (AW&ST March 25, p. 52). A nit-pick, though, about your mention of the GPWS-equipped American Airlines crash in December 1995 near Puga, Colombia. Four people and, I believe, a dog survived—found two days later when the recovery team reached the wreckage high in the mountains. Four survivors in what was essentially a non-survivable crash. Amazing.
Christian D. Becker is one of six U.S. Navy captains who have been nominated for promotion to rear admiral (lower half). He is major program manager for Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command, Space Field Activity, Chantilly, Va. The others are: Jon A. Hill, major program manager for the Program Executive Office for Integrated Warfare Systems in Washington; Roy J. Kelley, chief of staff and commander of the Naval Air Force of the U.S. Pacific Fleet in San Diego; Michael T.
NASA is teaming with the Air Force Research Laboratory on a one-year study of advanced spaceflight-computer applications for the coming decade. The civilian agency's Space Technology Mission Directorate joined AFRL in a broad agency announcement seeking 2-4 companies to evaluate potential space-processor applications for the 2020-30 period, with about $2 million to be shared among proposers under cost-reimbursement contracts.
This statement appears in “Charging Back” (AW&ST Mar. 18, p. 28), regarding the Boeing 787 battery problem: “Securiplane, the charging system developer, tested the unit with a simulated electric load instead of an actual battery. The company apparently took this precaution after having earlier suffered a fire at its facility during battery testing.”
Boeing is developing a family of small satellites—from 4-1,000 kg (8.8-2,204 lb.) in size—to whet the growing appetites of commercial and government customers interested in lower-cost space platforms. This small satellite market, potentially worth billions in the next 10 years, is “coming of age,” says Alex Lopez, vice president of advanced network and space systems at Boeing. The company has yet to get a committed customer.
Boeing has made a not surprising choice for the headquarters of its Brazilian research and technology center: Sao Jose dos Campos, home of Embraer and the center of the country's aerospace industry. The center is to open later this year to “investigate and develop aerospace technology projects.” It is among a series of cooperative initiatives the company has made in Brazil where it is trying to win new business, including selection of the F/A-18E/F fighter by the Brazilian air force.
If stock market fluctuations are considered to be good indicators, the next big airline industry disaster is just around the corner. Because of the outbreak of avian influenza in China, airline stocks started to plunge at the start of the month. That country's carriers were hit particularly hard; some share prices were down by as much as 15%. Even European airlines experienced significant drops. And the situation escalated further when EasyJet's stock dropped by 3%, even though it had just reported significantly reduced losses for the seasonally weak first half.
The baseline funding request for fiscal 2014 for the U.S. National Intelligence Program is $48.2 billion, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper says. An undisclosed additional amount will be sought as part of the supplemental, off-book budget request for warfighting. Altogether, $53.9 billion was appropriated for 2013, while $52.6 billion was requested. Meanwhile, the baseline Military Intelligence Program budget request is $14.6 billion, the Pentagon says.
Matt Pothecary (see photos) has been promoted to vice president-group communications from communications director of Paris-based Thales Avionics and Alexandre Perra to deputy director from head of media relations of Thales International. Perra will remain head of group media relations.
Mark Saxton (see photo) has been named director of aircraft sales and acquisitions for TWC Aviation, San Jose, Calif. He was West Coast U.S. sales director for Embraer Executive Jets and has been executive director of Corporate Flight International. Honors And Elections
Brazil's purchase of 36 new fighters, a key target for competitors Boeing, Saab and Dassault, is “on the desk” of President Dilma Rousseff. Industry executives seem united in believing that the decision cannot be deferred much beyond the summer without costing Brazil more money—or even putting force structure at risk—as aging fighters are forced into retirement. Competing officials also report signals from the Brazilian military that the deal will move quickly through the contract stage once Rousseff has made her choice.
Sean Williams has been appointed vice president-state and local government affairs for Washington-based Airlines for America. He has been a Connecticut state representative, assistant Republican leader and ranking member of the legislature's Finance Committee, and a member of the Connecticut State Bond Commission.
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Jay Heublein (see photo) has been promoted to executive vice president-global sales and marketing from vice president-sales and marketing of Cleveland-based Nextant Aerospace. The company has named Peter Walker as Dubai-based vice president of sales for Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia-Pacific; and Richard “Butch” Lang as U.S. sales director.
This week, Aviation Week publishes two editions. The Lans Stous photo on both covers shows an Allegiant Air MD-83 at Flightstar Aviation Services in Jacksonville, Fla. While many carriers continue to get more out of workhorses like this 27-year-old aircraft, elsewhere some startlingly new airframes and engines are being sold for parts. Find out why in the special report starting on page 44.
South Korea has chosen the Raytheon Advance Combat Radar (RACR) over Northrop Grumman's SABR as the centerpiece of the upgrade of the bulk of its Lockheed Martin F-16s. Subject to U.S. approval, Raytheon will supply 134 RACR sets to South Korea, the company says. BAE Systems is modernizing the same number of South Korean F-16s. Until now, the main unresolved issue in the modernization program was the selection of radar.
Firoz Tarapore has been named interim president/CEO of StandardAero, Tempe, Ariz. He succeeds Rob Mionis, who has resigned. Tarapore has been a director and member of the company's executive committee. David Smoot, a current director, has been appointed vice chairman. He is CEO of Dubai International Capital.
Bell Helicopters is playing the speed card with a third-generation tiltrotor to meet the requirements for the U.S. Army's Future Vertical Lift (FVL) program. While its competitors look to hybrid, compound helicopters to meet the Army's need to fly at 230 kt. and still perform like a normal helicopter, Bell is gambling that increased speed and higher productivity on the battlefield will become the critical capabilities the service will be seeking in the coming years.
What could be the final, most important budget conflict in Washington since President Barack Obama took office has been engaged with last week's roll-out of his fiscal 2014 budget request. And for the aerospace and defense (A&D) sector, the results will be far clearer, far sooner than for any other community serving the American public.
Steve Forte has become chief operating officer of Virgin America. He was CEO of iJet Onboard and has been president/CEO of Naverus Inc. and senior vice president-flight operations of United Airlines.
The U.S. Air Force faces the prospect of 15-25% in annual reductions this fiscal year in its planned acquisition of the conventional F-35A Joint Strike Fighter. And believe it or not, that is the good news. The bad news is the cuts are likely to happen again next year due to the same political impasse that led to the 2011 Budget Control Act and its nightmarish “sequestration,” or widespread automatic budget cuts, which started to take effect last month and seem more than likely to do so again come October when fiscal 2014 begins.
