P&W President David Hess says China’s Comac is expressing interest in using a version of the geared turbofan (GTF) on its C919—an aircraft launched with the Leap-X engine in development by arch-rival CFM International. Although the C919 will be powered initially by the Leap-X, Hess says a C919 derivative could use the PW1100G GTF now in initial design for the Airbus A320NEO (New Engine Option). Versions of that engine are also under study to power the Comac ARJ21 and possibly “a clean-sheet aircraft,” he adds.
The shuttle Endeavour’s far-reaching final mission will introduce “Big Science” to the International Space Station, with delivery of the $2 billion Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS). Endeavour’s six-man crew also will unveil an optical relative-navigation sensor to boost NASA’s ambitions of reviving human deep-space exploration.
More than 15 years ago, a number of us in the aerospace industry began to focus on whether there would be sufficient numbers of people to meet our future skills needs. Aviation Week was a pioneer in raising the issue.
Robert Barton (see photos) has been promoted to vice president and general manager of operations for GE Infrastructure Solutions and Scott Glass to vice president and general manager of operations of Aerospace Client Services, both at Philadelphia-based CDI Engineering Solutions . Michael Fatig has been named vice president of business development.
The Transportation Department is manipulating statistics to cover up the rise in cancellations attributable to its new tarmac delay rule, aviation consultants Darryl Jenkins and Joshua Marks contend in a new study at tarmaclimits.com—their third in nine months. Under the rule that took effect last April 29, U.S. airlines face fines as high as $27,000 per passenger if they do not give passengers on domestic flights the option to get off an aircraft stuck on the ground for more than 3 hr. at large and medium-sized airports.
U.S. lawmakers have more ammunition to target major defense acquisition programs (MDAPs) performing poorly, playing to Washington’s growing spending-reduction furor. Most at risk are manufacturers of satellites and rotary- and fixed-wing aircraft, particularly for the Air Force.
History has proven there is no substitute for maintaining a worldwide power-projection capability, on station and available whenever called upon. For the U.S., the Navy has steadfastly fulfilled that role with air, land and sea forces second to none. When the call does come, more often than not it is naval aviation that is the pointed end of the spear.
With the dearth of new programs, upgrades to keep aircraft relevant through their extended service lives are increasingly driving operating costs. As software is now the key to capability, it should be easier to keep pace with technology and ahead of threats, but the costs and timescales for avionics upgrades are escalating.
NATO may one day field a wide-area, high-altitude ground surveillance system, but it will not be for the mission or of the scale once envisioned. The status of the Alliance Ground Surveillance (AGS) program will be discussed this week as NATO officials try to put the effort on a firm path toward the award of a production contract.
Although it looks little different externally from the original E-2A Hawkeye first deployed in 1965, the E-2D Advanced Hawkeye will find roles far beyond airborne early warning (AEW) when it becomes operational late in 2014. The heart of the Hawkeye remains its radar, but its central place in U.S. Navy networking plans will give the E-2D an expanding role in battle management.
A replica of the Curtiss A-1 Triad, the U.S. Navy’s first aircraft, alighted briefly from San Diego Bay on Feb. 11 to mark the start of a year’s worth of events marking the centennial of U.S. naval aviation. Rebuilt specifically for the commemorative event, the Triad replicates the aircraft flown by Theodore G. Ellyson, the first naval officer designated as an aviator. Trained at the Glenn Curtiss Aviation Camp at North Island, San Diego, Ellyson became Naval Aviator No. 1 in April 1911.
Pratt & Whitney expects a 2-3% improvement in fuel burn for the PW4062 engines that will power the U.S. Air Force’s KC-46A tanker, says Pratt Military Engines President Warren Boley. The first engine delivery to Boeing is set for 2013. The performance improvement package (PIP) was requested by USAF but will not be different from PIPs offered to Pratt’s customer for the 94-in. PW4062 on Boeing 767s, says Pratt Senior Vice President Paul Adams.
Scientists on the Messenger project are poring over the first 1,500 images ever collected from orbit around Mercury, in preparation for the start of global mapping this week. In its first shot of the Solar System’s innermost planet (right), the probe produced this image of the planet’s south polar region. The area marked off by white lines had never been imaged from a spacecraft before.
Israel and Russia will work more closely in space activities under a framework agreement their civil space agencies signed in Tel Aviv March 27 with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu looking on. The agreement expands cooperation in the areas of space research, observation, navigation, medicine and biology in space, research in advanced materials, and space launch, according to Netanyahu’s office. The agreement was signed by Anatoly Perminov, head of the Russian Federal Space Agency Roscosmos, and Zvi Kaplan, director general of the Israeli Space Agency.
Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz tells Senate appropriators the service will be “greater and smaller” in the future. It is just the latest sign that military leaders believe it is inevitable that the armed services will shrink once the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan wind down and federal budget austerity reigns.
Difficult economic times have a way of focusing the mind. That is certainly the case with EADS and Finmeccanica, each having taken steps to make good on commitments to help reposition their respective businesses. In a bid to grow its services activities, EADS acquired Vector Aerospace, the Canadian maintenance, repair and overhaul company with considerable business in the U.K. and U.S. Vector will serve as “an independent, multiplatform MRO services provider” within Eurocopter, EADS says.
Separately, A320NEO launch customer IndiGo has selected the PW1100G for its planned fleet of 150 aircraft. The order, which includes another 30 options, comes on top of P&W’s recent selection by lessor International Lease Finance Corp. for 60 firm orders and 40 options for PW1100G-powered A320NEOs. Hess says the Indian carrier’s order represents one of P&W’s largest commercial orders in 30 years.
Michael C. Hinderberger has been named vice president of engineering of Piper Aircraft , Vero Beach, Fla. He was an airframe integration and certification consultant for Rolls-Royce Deutschland on assignment from the Belcan Corp. Hinderberger has also held executive and engineering positions at Hawker Beechcraft and Gulfstream Aerospace and was flight test team leader for the Bombardier Global Express.
The U.K. has run a test program, called Trial Daedalus, to assess how to train non-pilots to operate unmanned aircraft. Out of an initial list of 90, four non-pilots were put through the program. The U.K. effort adapts a similar U.S. Air Force program.
I agree with former Undersecretary of Defense for Acquisition Paul Kaminski who says in “Adapt Or Fail” (AW&ST March 7/14, p. 50) that the F-35 program needs to be realigned as a “block”-solution approach. Run now with what works; improve it in later steps. In the civilian and military programs (including F-117) I’ve been associated with over the years, customers (mostly military) keep asking for more things.
Across the northern half of the main Japanese island of Honshu, aerospace managers are bringing factories back online, working around problems left by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami and sending parts out the door. The hardest hit of the big manufacturers, IHI Corp., has resumed some production at its two aero-engine factories in Soma and hopes to get its whole operation in the city back online by May. Fuji Heavy Industries and Kawasaki Heavy Industries say most of their suppliers are also working again.
For the U.S. Navy, vertical-takeoff-and-landing has long been the answer to getting aircraft onto as many ships as possible. Cost and complexity has always been the enemy of VTOL, but unmanned technology has rekindled interest.
James G. Ehrig has joined the aviation practice of Eckert Seamans Cherin and Mellot of Washington. He was an attorney adviser at the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Office of Hearings and held a similar position at the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The operating profit of the world’s top 100 aerospace and defense companies climbed 19% in 2010 to $58 billion as the industry recovered from the global recession, according to a new study by PwC. Revenues rose 2%, reaching a record $646 billion. The study also found a steep reduction in large-program charges and impairments that had dragged down performance in prior years.
Power cuts are a bigger problem for Fuji Heavy Industries than earthquake and tsunami damage to suppliers, the company says. All of Fuji’s product lines are influenced by the difficulties, says the company, whose products include Japanese military aircraft and major assemblies for foreign aircraft builders, including Boeing. While it is unclear when full electricity service will be restored in Japan, Fuji appears optimistic, since power companies are progressively bringing coal-fired generating units back on line.
