Boeing partners with US Air Force to reduce supply chain costs

By BA Staff

Boeing and the U.S. Air Force Sustainment Center (AFSC) have entered into an overarching public-private partnership that will streamline supply chain contracting, saving money and speeding up execution by as much as 10 months.

The partnership – the first of its kind – allows the three Air Force logistics complexes that are under the AFSC to immediately execute implementation agreements with Boeing.

Scott Strode, vice president and general manager of Maintenance, Modifications & Upgrades for Boeing Defense, Space & Security said:

“Boeing is proud to lead the way for industry by developing a new, more efficient and affordable way to do business.”

In the past, each complex – Oklahoma City Air Logistics Complex, Ogden Air Logistics Complex and Warner Robins Air Logistics Complex – would enter into an individual partnering agreement with Boeing, a process that took 12 to 16 months to complete.

The enterprise partnering agreement now in place allows the complexes to move directly to executing the details of the agreement, allowing implementation eight to 10 months earlier.

Ken Shaw, vice president of Supply Chain Management for Boeing Defense, Space & Security said:

“The new partnering agreement will make our supply chain more agile so we can deliver maximum mission readiness to our customers.”

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Boeing VP Jean Chamberlin receives lifetime achievement award from women in aerospace

By BA Staff

Jean Chamberlin, Boeing Defense, Space & Security (BDS) vice president of Program Management, has been honoured by Women in Aerospace for her “outstanding career and lifelong commitment to furthering the advancement of women’s opportunities in aerospace.”

Chamberlin said as she accepted the group’s 2013 Lifetime Achievement Award on Oct. 29:

“This speaks to the power of diversity as Boeing’s calling card to the world. Our success is defined by the respect and value we have for different perspectives and everyone’s contributions. Throughout my career, I have witnessed diversity fuel the innovation that drives us to do what others dream.”

Women in Aerospace annually recognizes women who have made significant contributions to the aerospace community.

Dennis Muilenburg, BDS president and CEO said:

“We are incredibly proud of Jean as she is honored by Women in Aerospace for her many contributions to our industry that span her entire career. As one of aerospace’s great leaders today, Jean is both a true champion of diversity and an inspiring role model throughout our company and our industry.”

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Video: Capsule of Felix Baumgartner's record breaking free fall from the edge of space

Red Bull has produced this video capsule of Sunday's record breaking free fall of Felix Baumgartner from an altitude of 128,100 ft. or 39km above earth. This is from the stratosphere - the edge of space.



See the video online here.

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Felix Baumgartner breaks records as he free falls from the edge of space

Austria's Felix Baumgartner earned his place in the history books on Sunday when he jumped out of his capsule from the stratosphere at the edge of space.

After spending almost two and a half hours flying in his helium filled balloon to an altitude of 39,045 meters (128,100 feet) Baumgartner broke the record for the highest free fall jump, almost 52 years after project mentor Col. Joe Kittinger, set it.

During his free-fall descent Baumgartner reached an estimated speed of 1,342.8 km/h (Mach 1.24). The 43-year-old Austrian skydiving expert also broke the world record for highest manned balloon flight at close to 130,000 feet or almost 40km above the earth.

Whether by design or by chance, Baumgartner still left the record for the longest time for a freefall jump still intact with Kittinger.

Baumgartner landed safely with his parachute in the desert of New Mexico after jumping out of his space capsule. During his 4:20 minute long freefall, Baumgartner quickly hit a maximum of speed of 1,342.8 km/h in the near vacuum of the stratosphere, before being slowed by the thickening air of the lower atmosphere.

At one point during his freefall, Baumgartner appeared to spin rapidly, but he quickly re-gained control and moments later opened his parachute as members of the ground crew cheered and viewers around the world heaved a sigh of relief.

Commenting after his landing, a relieved Baumgartner said

"It was an incredible up and down today, just like it's been with the whole project," "First we got off with a beautiful launch and then we had a bit of drama with a power supply issue to my visor. The exit was perfect but then I started spinning slowly. I thought I'd just spin a few times and that would be that, but then I started to speed up. It was really brutal at times. I thought for a few seconds that I'd lose consciousness. I didn't feel a sonic boom because I was so busy just trying to stabilize myself. We'll have to wait and see if we really broke the sound barrier. It was really a lot harder than I thought it was going to be."

Baumgartner and his team spent five years training and preparing for the mission. The effort had endured several weather-related delays before finally lifting off under bright blue skies and calm winds on Sunday morning US time.

Millions of people around the world watched his ascent and jump live on television broadcasts and live stream on the Internet. The millions of viewers on the Youtube channel were double of the previous record.

Bangalore Aviation and its readers congratulate Felix Baumgartner, Joe Kittinger, and the entire Red Bull Stratos crew. This is one of those moments in history when the word AWESOME is appropriate.

Please do extend your congratulations via a comment. Remember our Disqus comment system allows you to share your comments via Twitter and Facebook. You can also award stars in the commenting system.

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