Gene Autry's “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” may have helped Santa find his way, but Jackie Autry, the singing cowboy's widow, understands how unwelcome outside illumination can be for passengers trying to sleep, view computer screens or watch videos.
Editor-in-Chief Joseph C. Anselmo recently asked for suggestions and ideas as Aviation Week heads into its 100th anniversary (AW&ST Dec. 31, 2012/Jan. 7, p. 154) Well, I am 62 so I am a “legacy reader,” but one who reads the magazine now almost 100% on my Samsung 7-in. tablet. Until not so long ago I had a clear preference for the paper version even though I have spent a lifetime among computers and avionics.
Two Lockheed Martin F-35As ordered by the Netherlands and due to be delivered this year may go directly into storage, according to a Feb. 8 letter from its defense ministry to a parliamentary committee. The Netherlands ordered the two $140 million aircraft in 2008, on the basis of assurances from Lockheed Martin and the Joint Strike Fighter Project Office that initial operational test and evaluation of Block 3 software would start this year. The ministry now says this will not happen until at least early 2015.
With insurgent-hunting missions in Mali underway, the U.K.'s Sentinel radar reconnaissance aircraft might be making friends in high places, but it still remains on the chopping block after 2015. Three weeks into the deployment, the single Sentinel R1 operating out of Dakar, Senegal, has been flying a series of missions that has helped to counter threats from improvised explosive devices and indirect fire from the Al-Qaeda-linked rebels retreating into the desert from the rapidly advancing French and Malian government forces.
Northrop Grumman officials have begun ground testing for integration of an upgraded Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP) with the stealthy B-2 bomber. Pentagon officials are mum on the upgrade, but have previously complained about an unreliable fuze. And, engineers have been working to improve GPS accuracy. Flight-testing of the two systems together is to begin shortly.
Phil Stearns (see photo) has been promoted to general manager of Greenville, S.C.-based Stevens Aviation's Dayton, Ohio facility, succeeding Ron Tennyson, who plans to retire after 25 years with the company. Stearns was technical sales manager. Honors And Elections
Christine Tovee (see photo) has been selected as chief technology officer of Herndon, Va.-based EADS North America. She was the CTO's chief of staff to the CTO.
I noticed in “Question Time” (AW&ST Jan. 28, p. 30) that you write about the two 32-volt main lithium-ion batteries on the 787. Later, you say that the batteries are made up of eight 3.7-volt cells Do your math and you will find that 8 X 3.7 is 29.6 volts—a far cry from 32 volts. Are there more cells or is the voltage per cell wrong?
Matt Ganz has been appointed president of Berlin-based Boeing Germany and Northern Europe and VP-European technology strategy, effective April 1. He succeeds Marlin Daily, who has retired. Ganz has been VP and general manager of Boeing Research & Technology.
French arms exports were down sharply last year, from €6.5 billion ($8.7 billion) in 2011 to an estimated €5 billion in 2012, thanks to stiff competition from increasingly hungry U.S. contractors and technological gains in countries that until now posed little threat to the world's No. 4 defense exporter.
Dan Nale (see photo) will become senior VP-programs, engineering and test at Savannah, Ga.-based Gulfstream Aerospace Corp., effective April 1, succeeding Pres Henne, who plans to retire March 31. Nale is VP-advanced aircraft programs.
Boeing's Phantom Eye hydrogen-fueled, long-endurance unmanned air vehicle undergoes a 40-kt. taxi test Feb. 6 at Edwards AFB, Calif., on its takeoff trolley before a second flight attempt. The 150-ft.-span aircraft was damaged on its first flight in June 2012 when its landing skid dug into the lakebed runway, but Boeing is persisting in its hopes of building a still larger operational version. A survey of intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance technology strategies worldwide, including new and unconventional platforms, starts on page 38. NASA/Carla Thomas photo.
March 5-6—Defense Technology Requirements. Arlington, VA. March 7—Aviation Week's Laureate Awards. Washington. March 12-14—ATC Global. Amsterdam, Holland. March 12-14—JEC Europe. Paris, France. March 19-21—AeroDef Manufacturing. Long Beach, CA. April 8-11—Space Symposium. Colorado Spring, CO. April 16-18—MRO Americas/MRO Military. Atlanta. April 17-18—MRO Military. Atlanta. May 7-8—Civil Aviation Manufacturing. Charlotte, NC.
Warfare has always been dependent on intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance. Good ISR is a force multiplier; a force with inferior ISR is trusting to luck. Military operations today are even more reliant on ISR and this trend will continue. The reason? Ubiquitous and more precise guided weapons shift more targets from the “easy to find, hard to kill” category (a Soviet tank army crashing through the Fulda Gap was the Cold War exemplar) into the “hard to find, easy to kill” column. Osama bin Laden typifies the last category.
Dean Athans has been named president of the East Hartford, Conn.-based Engine Alliance, succeeding Mary Ellen Jones, who will return to a senior leadership position at Pratt & Whitney. Athans led the LMS100 power turbine product line at GE Power & Water Aero Derivatives business.
The long-delayed solicitation for proposals to host six unmanned aircraft system (UAS) test sites across the U.S. has been issued by the FAA, along with the agency's proposed approach to addressing public concerns over privacy. Initially ignored by the FAA, concerns voiced by civil-liberties organizations that UAS operations at the sites could potentially violate individuals' privacy forced a lengthy delay in responding to the February 2012 congressional direction to establish the test centers.
For an idea of where intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance could be headed in the future, a good place to start is the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (Darpa), which prides itself in looking well beyond even the most far-sighted of its service customers.
A massive U.S. troop withdrawal from Afghanistan next year will trigger a shift in Pentagon priorities and force structure, but do not expect any major changes for the Air Force's intelligence collection fleet. At least, not for now.
Paul Dailey has been named managing director of revenue and competitive analysis and corporate forcecasting at Delta Air Lines, succeeding Dwight James, who will become managing director of transatlantic/joint-venture pricing and revenue management. He follows Mark DeFrancesco, who has become director of domestic pricing.
Turning raw information into useful intelligence for commanders and operators is one of the biggest challenges in intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition and reconnaissance (Istar). The process involves managing the collected data and fusing it into comprehensive products, which has become more complex as better sensors gather more information and new sources are exploited.
