Space Systems/Loral shipped Telstar 14R/Estrela do Sul 2 to the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan last week where it is to be launched in late May by an International Launch Services Proton Breeze M. The Ku-band satellite has 46 transponders and five antenna beams with on-orbit switching capability so its capacity can be adjusted to meet market demand. Telstar was built in less than two years and delivered ahead of schedule. It will enter service this summer, says Telecast President and CEO Dan Goldberg. From a parking spot at 63 deg. W.
The U.S. Navy's P-8A Poseidon multimission patrol aircraft will be the first of the service's airborne weapons systems to undergo a new Support System Design Review initiative. The Navy is trying to develop and implement a formal design review construct “to ensure that all aspects of the support system are appropriately designed, integrated, testable and sustainable.” Rear Adm. Timothy Matthews, commander of the service's Fleet Readiness Centers, highlighted the initiative at Aviation Week's MRO Military conference in Miami Beach.
Richard Addi has been promoted to president and chief executive officer of Exostar, Herndon, Va. He was vice president of finance at Data Systems & Solutions and had been director of tax at Rolls-Royce North America.
Lockheed Martin is studying initial airframe weight savings of 100 lb. plus an additional 100 lb. in engine thrust as part of plans to increase the vertical-lift bring-back margin of the F-35B short-takeoff-and-vertical-landing variant, one of the key characteristics that will determine whether the F-35B survives the two-year probation period imposed by Defense Secretary Robert Gates.
Ron Stefano (see photo) has been named vice president of Mission Operations Solutions for Raytheon Co.'s Intelligence and Information Systems business in Garland, Texas. He came from Lockheed Martin Information Systems and Global Solutions, where he was head of the Enterprise Information Technology Solutions business.
Christophe Million-Rousseau has been hired by San Francisco-based aviation lessor Jackson Square Aviation to set up the company's Toulouse office. He joins Jackson Square from Airbus Customer Finance.
Aircraft makers are banking on a raft of emerging technologies to make their next-generation airliners quieter, more fuel efficient and lower on emissions.
James Fults has been promoted to director of engineering from principal engineer in the space business sector of Chatsworth, Calif.-based Aitech Defense Systems, succeeding Anthony Lai.
Inspectors for the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) will know by May whether Kakuda Space Center (KSPC), the research group's leading site for rocket engine work, will require a major refitting after the earthquake that struck northeast Japan on March 11. The JAXA facility is the closest research site to the epicenter of the earthquake and is threatened by potential radiation from the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.
Embraer and Avic have reached a compromise to avert the shutdown of a joint Chinese production line that has been assembling Embraer jets since 2003. Output would shift from ERJ 145 regional jets to Legacy 600/650 business jets, which are derived from the now-discontinued ERJ 135/145 family. The last of 41 to be assembled at the Chinese plant in Harbin is scheduled for delivery this month.
If there's one fact illustrating the extent of Israel's exposure to rocket and mortar fire from hostile forces it is that a looming tripling of systems to counter such threats will still leave large parts of the country vulnerable. If there is an upside to the situation, it is the knowledge that years of investment to field an effective defense—first into lasers and then a missile interceptor—have proved fruitful. Now the focus is turning to increasing defensive capacities and capabilities.
Barbara Margulis (see photos) has been named vice president of safety and performance management and Stacey Lora vice president of security, both at JFKIAT, manager of Terminal 4 at New York John F. Kennedy International Airport. Margulis, who joined JFKIAT in 1998, has held positions in operations, marketing and concession management. Lora has been operations manager at JFKIAT since 2005 and earlier was security manager for American Airlines at JFK's Terminal 8.
With the Tornado GR4 fleet now forming the backbone of the RAF's ground attack capability, the U.K. Defense Ministry has decided to fund an urgent operational need for a helmet-mounted, air-to-ground cueing system. The device is being adapted from the Harrier GR9, which should help to limit development time and effort. The goal is to have the system operationally ready this year.
Adding to the many decisions to be made in designing a commercial aircraft, the choice of material is becoming more complicated as more choices become available. Yet the issue is as decisive as almost any other, since overly costly construction will burden an aircraft with a competitive disadvantage throughout its life, while an airliner that is cheap but heavy will burn too much fuel for decades ahead—decades in which fuel prices could rise far beyond expectations.
Steve Moulton (see photo) has joined Chicago-based Parsons Brinckerhoff as a vice president, responsible for oversight of airside/landside aviation design and engineering projects. He was a vice president and National Airfield Service Group leader for a Florida-based consulting firm.
Bob Holt (see photo) has joined San Francisco-based URS Corp. as senior vice president and national director of program and construction management. He was vice president of program and construction management at Jacobs Engineering.
The Libyan armed forces have shown themselves to be agile in learning to avoid a NATO airpower “Choke Hold” (AW&ST April 4, p. 25). The SA-24 surface-to-air missile is optically guided and all the electronic countermeasures in the inventory will not stop them. When it comes to man-portable anti-aircraft weapons, it turns out we, and our allies, may not rule all the airspace.
Boeing Material Services business unit has extended a landing gear overhaul and exchange program to cover the 777-300ER, -200LR and 777F. The overhaul and exchange program is used by 75 customers with eight aircraft types.
The SJ30 business jet is facing a potential new life as long-time supplier Metalcraft Technologies has emerged as the owner of the beleaguered aircraft program. Metalcraft, a producer of sheet metal and precision parts in Cedar City, Utah, bought the light-jet program for $3.5 million, plus the assumption of debt including $1.688 million related to the production of SJ30 No. 12, court documents say. The U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Delaware cleared the sale on April 7, and an asset purchase agreement was executed the same day.
Changes in the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program are forcing Israel to consider buying a squadron of used F-15Es or F-16s as a gap-filler, although such a move is not uniformly supported by the country's military. Israel has pledged to acquire 20 F-35As under a $2.75 billion contract, the first of which are to be delivered in 2016. However, schedule slippage in the core F-35 program means the aircraft will be delivered in their most basic configuration, without any Israeli electronic warfare systems. Those could only be incorporated into the JSF by 2018.
Nobody should believe that American Airlines' bid to remove the global distribution system (GDS) from the travel booking process is merely an attempt to eliminate GDS service fees. Ancillary revenues and passenger loyalty are very much at the heart of the “direct connect” philosophy.
Ronen Sen, a former ambassador of New Delhi, shares some insight for companies seeking to get in on India's multibillion-dollar defense modernization. First, India will remain heavily dependent on Russia for defense equipment, at least for the time being. Next, price alone will not determine the winner of competitions. “Russia, the U.S. and other partners will have to demonstrate their competitiveness through a substantially increased serviceability of their [weapons] systems,” he says. That includes product support as well as upgrades.
While annual sustainment spending for U.S. manned fighters will remain around $1 billion or even decline for the rest of the decade, unmanned aerial system (UAS) sustainment will grow to nearly $3 billion a year by 2018, according to Hal Chrisman, a principal at AeroStrategy. Moreover, operators are beginning to look for alternative providers to the original equipment manufacturers, he says.
