Bradley Perrett covered China, Japan, South Korea and Australia. He is a Mandarin-speaking Australian.
Before joining Aviation Week in 2006 he was a macroeconomics, politics and aerospace journalist with Reuters. Perrett holds a bachelor’s degree in law from Macquarie University, Sydney. He left Aviation Week in 2020.
BEIJING — China’s Tiangong 1 orbital laboratory, successfully launched Sept. 29, will serve as a docking target for three missions over the coming two years as China continues to take measured, careful steps in its manned space program. For the moment, the biggest goal of the program is a 60-metric-ton space station to be placed in orbit by 2020, although Chinese space scientists also hope to launch lunar missions.
SkyTeam, accepting Taiwan’s China Airlines as its 15th member, is focused on improving integration of ground services, rather than a rapid expansion of the alliance. The group still affirms, however, that new members from Brazil and India would be most valuable to the alliance. “I will be extremely selective” in negotiating with potential new members, says SkyTeam Managing Director Michael Wisbrun. “I would prefer to consolidate on the network side,” while putting more effort into raising service levels.
BEIJING — Australia is moving to buy a sixth Boeing C-17 Globemaster, barely six months after deciding to order a fifth, which has just arrived. The country’s request for information on cost and availability for another C-17 follows the discovery that its first four aircraft, ordered in 2006, have been more useful than expected. The Royal Australian Air Force could exploit scale economies in operating a larger fleet of the type, says Defense Minister Stephen Smith.
