13 Jan 05. Boeing is strengthening its position as a leading provider of network-centric operational (NCO) solutions by realigning its Strategic Architecture unit. The reorganization will build upon the established success of the unit and improve customer support by better leveraging advances in NCO As part of the reorganization, the Boeing Integration Centers (BIC) in California and Virginia, and the Virtual Warfare Center in St. Louis, will be managed by Integrated Defense Systems’ Analysis, Modeling and Simulation organization under Vice President Guy Higgins. Strategic Architecture’s engineering and NCO program support groups will be integrated into the Company’s Phantom Works’ Integrated Defense Advanced Systems (IDeAS) IDeAS NCO Programs and Technologies, under Vice President and Deputy General Manager Rick Baily, will be the conduit for transitioning NCO technologies to the businesses within Integrated Defense Systems and for creating and capturing new NCO programs. Carl O’Berry, who led the Strategic Architecture group, will remain with Boeing as vice president of Network Centric Architectures, reporting into Albaugh and continuing to serve as executive chairman of the recently established NCO Industry Consortium.
13 Jan 05. EADS took its biggest step yet towards setting up a US-based plant to construct air-to-air refuelling tankers for the US Air Force, announcing a search to find a home for the new facility. Although the Pentagon has not yet announced a new tender for tankers, rival Boeing’s deal with the air force – a $23bn contract to convert 100 767s into refuellers – is widely regarded as dead. This follows revelations that the air force procurement official overseeing the programme steered billions of dollars in contracts to Boeing to secure a job at the company. Ralph Crosby, head of EADS in North America, said it hoped to select a city by the end of the year where the company would at first build a small engineering centre to support Airbus’s A330, A340 and A350 commercial aircraft. The engineering centre would be operational by the first quarter of 2006, employing just 50 people to begin with. However, EADS was budgeting an investment of $500m-$600m to expand the facility in case it was chosen to build a “sizeable” number of tankers for the air force. The site would then be able to overhaul A330s into tankers, and potentially do more advanced assembly work on the aircraft.
10 Jan 05. A former Air Force base, once used to train pilots for duty in World and the Vietnam War, may again play a role in training pilots to defend America’s freedom. In its bid for a U.S. Air Force Introductory Flight Training contract, Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT – News) has selected Craig Field Airport near Selma, AL, as its preferred pilot-candidate training site. The Air Force Air Education and Training Command’s Introductory Flight Training program will provide flight screening and support services for approximately 1,300 to 1,700 students annually. If selected as prime contractor, Lockheed Martin would establish Craig Field Airport as the single location for all Air Force introductory pilot training. The Air Force is expected to award the contract during the first half of 2005.
13 Jan 05. Northrop Grumman Corporation broke ground on its new San Bernardino Missile Engineering Center, located on Hospitality Lane in the Tri-City Corporate Centre. San Bernardino Mayor Judith Valles joined center director Burt Yamada and other senior Northrop Grumman officials and employees in a patriotic ceremony to initiate construction of the site and emphasize the importance of the center’s work in missile defense and intercontinental ballistic missile systems.
13 Jan 05. Philippe Camus, French co-chief executive of EADS, on Thursday attacked the way he had been ousted from his position at Europe’s leading aerospace and defence group after weeks of bruising infighting between French political and industrial interests. Mr Camus, who i