Russia hopes that upgrades to the Mi-26, now undergoing flight trials, will help boost the helicopter’s chances in an Indian air force competition. The Mi-26T2 is up against Boeing’s CH-47F Chinook; the order is expected to be for 15 rotorcraft. The -26T2 incorporates improvements based on the operational experience of the previous Mi-26 variants, say officials from Rostvertol, the manufacturer.
The 10th telecommunications spacecraft for Australia’s SingTel Optus will use a 1300-series platform from Space Systems/Loral (SS/L) and carry 24 Ku-band transponders that can be switched between fixed and broadcast satellite service frequencies for users in Australia and New Zealand. Called Optus 10, the satellite is slated to be orbited in 2013, although a launch provider has not been chosen.
Controllers at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory are ready to receive the first images ever taken from orbit around the planet Mercury this week, starting with a shot of this region around the South Pole outlined in yellow. NASA’s Messenger probe became the first manmade object to enter orbit around the planet late on March 17, after a 15-min. burn with its main thruster slowed it by 1,929 mph. That sent Messenger into an elliptical orbit that will take it as close as 124 mi. to the surface.
The article “No-Fly Zone” (AW&ST March 7/4, p. 28) either missed or was unaware of two critical aspects of the way we are supposed to do business in this country: Use joint military doctrine already established for this mission, and utilize the military experts trained to handle surface-to-air-missile (SAM) suppression. The capability you call for is here and ready to go—the U.S. Navy’s 15-aircraft electronic-attack squadrons based at NAS Whidbey Island, Wash., and deployed worldwide.
David Nield (see photo) has been appointed director of final phase operations at Savannah, Ga.-based Gulfstream Aerospace Corp. Nield spent 13 years with Raytheon Aircraft Co., now Hawker Beechcraft Corp.
Refinement in predictive analysis has allowed Boeing to create new software tools to give pilots real-time data to tailor their routes and descents as a way to save fuel.
The decision by SES to launch a medium-size geostationary communications satellite on a Space Exploration Technologies Inc. (SpaceX) Falcon 9 rocket marks another effort by satellite operators to add to their bottom lines by taking a tight-fisted approach to the prices they pay for launch services. Luxembourg-based SES has also entered a “framework understanding” with Sea Launch as the latter emerges from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection that could see the ocean-going Sea Launch Odyssey again lofting SES spacecraft from the equatorial Pacific Ocean someday.
Peter Bowler has been appointed a senior adviser and chairman of Stamford, Conn.-based Passur Aerospace ’s Customer Advisory Panel. He retired from American Eagle Airlines last summer after a 26-year career with its parent AMR Corp.
EADS’s Cassidian defense business is buying out Saab’s 42.4% share in Grintek Ewation to dominate the communications electronic warfare business (12.6% remains with Kunene Finance Co.). Competition authorities still have to OK the deal that should generate a pre-tax capital gain of 120 million Swedish kronor ($18.7 million) for Saab. EADS says there are plans to increase the local shareholding in the South African business.
David Billon-Lanfrey has been promoted to vice president of research and development, technology and products at Paris-based Sofradir , succeeding Philippe Tribolet, who died in November 2010. Billon-Lanfrey headed the R&D optronics characterization team at the company and was project manager for R&D and product development.
NASA is preparing to launch another spacecraft to Jupiter that will try to uncover some of the mysteries the planet kept hidden the last time a human-built robot ventured into its cold, radioactive and relatively dark neighborhood.
European airlines and air traffic control agencies are bracing for what could be a grim summer of flight delays, just one more headache for an industry still recovering from an unprecedented series of ATC crises in 2010.
A French magistrate has filed a manslaughter indictment against Airbus over the crash of Air France AF447. The move comes before the French air accident investigation bureau has completed its review of the case and on the eve of a new search phase for the flight data and cockpit voice recorder of the A330-200. Air France, late last week, was due to meet with French judicial authorities. The aircraft disappeared June 1, 2009, on an overnight flight from Rio de Janeiro to Paris.
The Russian government this year will kick in financing for a new high-speed helicopter program to be developed by national rotorcraft maker Russian Helicopters. An official from the ministry of industry and trade says the budget will reach 400 million rubles ($14 million) for the conceptual design phase. The government hopes the new model will help the Russian manufacturer gain 15% of the global rotorcraft market by 2020.
Pamela Keidel-Adams has joined Landrum & Brown , Overland Park, Kan., as managing director. She was director of aviation planning, economics and freight at Wilbur Smith Associates. Drew James has been prpomoted to president of SRCTec, Syracuse, N.Y., from vice president-operations.
Soma is a Japanese coastal city less than 100 km (60 mi.) south of Sendai, about 200 km from the epicenter of the massive earthquake that devastated much of the northern part of the country on March 11.
NASA is preparing to launch another mission to Jupiter, this one powered by solar energy instead of the nuclear generators previously used that far from the Sun. Like a giant windmill, Juno will cartwheel beneath the planet’s intense radiation belts with a suite of sounding instruments designed to probe deep into the opaque atmosphere for clues to the origin of the Solar System’s largest planet, and perhaps the Solar System itself. Lockheed Martin concept.
Hours after the then-only U.S. Customs and Border Protection Predator B unmanned aerial system (UAS) crashed on April 25, 2006, the chief of CBP’s Air and Marine Div. found himself cornered in a congressional hallway with two Aviation Week reporters.
NASA’s Juno mission will probe Jupiter’s atmosphere in search of clues to how the largest planet in the Solar System, and the Solar System itself, were formed from a primordial cloud of gas.
Geert Boven (see photos) has been appointed senior vice president-Americas for Abu Dhabi-based Etihad Airways . He was the carrier’s executive vice president-sales and services, and previously was managing director of Amadeus Gulf. Kevin Knight was named Etihad’s chief strategy and planning officer. He joins the carrier from United Airlines, where he was senior vice president-planning.
Jan Beseler and Jean-Christophe Dalla Toffola have been named executive vice presidents of Nexcelle of Cincinnati. Beseler was manager of nacelle integration engineering for GE Aviation engines, and Dalla Toffola was Aircelle’s internal supply chain vice president.
Since 1970, more than 40 climbers have perished trying to scale 26,000-ft. Mount Annapurna, an enormous Himalayan massif in central Nepal and the 10th highest mountain in the world. Last spring, three Spaniards narrowly escaped joining those grim statistics, thanks to the heroics of a mountain guide with nerves of steel and a pilot who was determined to push high-altitude flight to its limit.
Seeking to reassure the single-aisle airplane community about their long-term support of the V2500 engine series for Airbus’s A320 family, the four International Aero Engines AG partners have added another 16 years to their collaborative manufacturing agreement, carrying it through Dec. 31, 2044. Meanwhile, the partners—Pratt & Whitney, Rolls-Royce, MTU Aero Engines and Japanese Aero Engines—have begun testing a SelectTwo engine upgrade aimed at a 0.58% improvement in fuel burn over V2500-A5 SelectOnes.
Graham Warwick (Orlando, Fla.), Andy Nativi (Orlando, Fla.)
Europe is stepping up its challenge to the U.S. rotorcraft industry, with Eurocopter nearing the launch of its X4 medium twin and AgustaWestland opening the order book for its AW169 intermediate twin and closing in on taking control of the BA609 civil tiltrotor program from Bell Helicopter.
