USAF Brig. Gen. Kenneth S. Wilsbach has been selected for promotion to major general and appointment as commander of the 9th Air and Space Expeditionary Task Force-Afghanistan of Air Combat Command/deputy commander-Air of U.S. Forces-Afghanistan/deputy chief of staff-Air of the International Security Assistance Force Joint Command in Kabul. He has been deputy director for operations at U.S. Pacific Command Headquarters, Camp H. M. Smith, Hawaii. Brig. Gen. Jay B.
Europe's network airlines are finally realizing that low-cost carriers are here to stay. More importantly, they are also conceding that passengers are willing forgo some creature comforts and pay extra for add-ons such as checked baggage, seat selection and food.
Scott E. Kuechle and H. Jay Winship have been appointed to the board of directors of the Esterline Corp., Bellevue, Wash. Kuechle is former executive vice president/CFO of the Goodrich Corp., and Winship is principal/senior managing director of Relational Investors.
Steve Cass (see photo) has been appointed vice president-communications for the Gulfstream Aerospace Corp., Savannah, Ga. He was director of sales support. Brian Schank and Darwin Stout have been named East Coast and West Coast U.S. product support sales directors, respectively. Schank will be based in Savannah, and Stout in Southern California. Schank was director of business and program support for product support sales, and Stout was a West Coast-based national sales manager for product support sales.
Air Force Lt. Gen. Christopher Bogdan has become a procurement “fixer” for the service, which has endured a decade of acquisition foul-ups resulting in thorny relations with top contractors.
Richard Baudouin, co-founder of Aviation Capital Group and a principal in Infinity Aviation Capital, has been appointed to the board of directors of the Air Transport Services Group, Wilmington, Ohio. He succeeds Jeffrey A. Dominick, who has resigned to join an aviation investment unit of Blackrock Inc.
The U.S. Navy is expected to spend $31.9 billion for F/A-18-related programs in fiscal 2008-17, which would be about the same amount that the service spent for all fixed-wing aircraft in the previous decade. The biggest chunk of expected F/A-18 spending will be for the production of E/Fs, about $14.1 billion, according to an exclusive Aviation Week Intelligence Network analysis of data provided by Avascent050. Likewise, the Air Force will spend about $5.8 billion on F-15 programs, with F-15E Strike Eagles accounting for $3.2 billion.
For a glimpse of China's commercial aviation future, take a look at Shenzhen, the mainland's most developed city. The immediate outlook for the metropolis of 10 million, and therefore the more distant future for the rest of the country, is slower commercial aviation growth and less urgent need for new infrastructure.
The U.S. Army is leaning toward starting a competition to replace the OH-58D Kiowa Warrior with a new Armed Aerial Scout (AAS) rather than upgrading the fleet. But, Vice Chief of Staff Lloyd Austin, 3rd, has requested more information, adding to a delay to kick it off. He wants more analysis of how the AAS will fit into forthcoming Army technologies. If a competition commences, the Army is slated to buy up to 368 new rotorcraft.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel is Aviation Week & Space Technology's Person of the Year, selected for the degree of her influence on the aerospace and defense industries in 2012. It was Merkel who ultimately stopped a merger of EADS and BAE Systems. She also pushed through a German state ownership in EADS to balance her country's stake with France's. EPA/Landov file photo.
The U.S. Navy has delayed plans until spring to kick off a long-awaited competition for the Unmanned Carrier-Launched Airborne Surveillance and Strike aircraft. A draft request for proposals was slated for release this month. Ongoing discussions on requirements are to blame for the slip.
Robonaut 2, a NASA and General Motors collaboration to develop an astronaut-friendly humanoid, is due a pair of legs and a battery backpack later this year to give it more mobility inside and eventually outside the ISS. The two-armed, camera and force-sensor-laced torso launched to the station aboard a February 2011 space shuttle mission. It has been restrained to a stanchion in the station's U.S. Destiny laboratory since it was awakened electronically late in August 2011.
Reader Todd M. Edward made offensive remarks about Muslims that struck me as extremely prejudiced (AW&ST Dec. 3, 2012, p. 10). Unfortunately, this kind of thinking has been common in our country since the 9/11 attacks, attempting to paint all Islamic culture with one brush. These views reveal a breathtaking absence of historical perspective, let alone facts.
Non-government test pilots will make the initial flights in commercial crew vehicles under development with NASA funds, and later train astronauts once the agency certificates their spacecraft for human flight, according to agency and company managers. Garrett Reisman, the commercial crew project manager at SpaceX, says his company plans to begin flying its own test pilots in 2015 on an upgrade of the Falcon 9/Dragon combination that already has reached the International Space Station (ISS) twice in a cargo configuration.
Now that he has retired from Congress, outspoken former Rep. Steven LaTourette (R-Ohio) and his wife Jennifer are creating a Washington branch of a law firm that is based in his hometown of Cleveland. His wife served as her husband's chief of staff before becoming a lobbyist for Van Scoyoc Associates, representing Airports Council International-North America. He was a member of the House Appropriations transportation subcommittee and a leading voice on transportation matters. Revolving-door rules prevent him from lobbying Congress for one year.
Chris Miner has been promoted to vice president of in-service aircraft carrier programs for Huntington Ingalls Industries' Newport News (Va.) Shipbuilding Div. from director of the Virginia-class submarine program. Honors and Elections
Boeing has achieved its highest widebody production rate—8.3 aircraft per month, or 100 per year—with a Korean Air 777 Freighter that rolled out Jan. 8. The company has increased 777 production rates twice in the past 31 months, moving from five to seven per month to the 8.3 in about 16-month intervals. Last year, Boeing shipped 83 777s, the equivalent of 6.9 per month. Previously, the 747 had been the rate champion at a peak of seven per month. The 737 narrowbody production line is now turning out 38 aircraft per month.
U.S. Army Col. Leon N. Thurgood has been nominated for promotion to brigadier general. He has been deputy program executive officer for missiles and space, Redstone Arsenal, Ala.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), were presented with a challenge at the start of 2012: get their parties to agree to cut $1.2 trillion from the budget and deal with a series of tax extensions. Failing meant a likely recession caused by inaction, and election-year inertia only raised the stakes.
Limited and uncertain funding has forced NASA to make hard decisions as it selects which technologies to take to the next level in its pursuit of aggressive fuel-burn, noise and emissions reductions for next-generation commercial transports. A victim of its own success, NASA's refocused aeronautics research program has advanced more technologies than its diminished budget can afford to take forward into the next phase of its Environmentally Responsible Aviation (ERA) project.
Virgin Atlantic Airways' choice to recruit American Airlines executive Craig Kreeger as CEO indicates the London-based airline is preparing for a new chapter in its history, jettisoning its historic independent streak to embrace a future as a fully fledged network carrier and possible alliance member. But the new CEO will have his hands full.
