Aviation Week & Space Technology

The business jet market was particularly hard hit by the lagging global economy, and several programs were deferred or outright canceled. The rebound in business jet production is expected to begin in 2012, and engine manufacturers are staying busy developing variants for these new aircraft.

Near-simultaneous images of the Andromeda Galaxy by a pair of European Space Agency spacecraft illustrate the value of astronomy at wavelengths that are obscured by Earth’s atmosphere. In this combined image of the familiar spiral, crafted from observations last month by the Herschel and XMM-Newton space telescopes, young stars being formed in dust rings sprawling in concentric circles across the galaxy appear in orange, while dying stars show up in a blue cluster centered on the galactic core.

The prospect for a new delivery record and the growing backlog that Airbus forecasts for 2011 might suggest the dark days are behind the European aircraft maker, but plenty of headwind persists that could cause serious disruptions to the business. Management attention is shifting from the crisis of recent years—when airlines deferred and canceled orders—to the pitfalls of increasing output while facing supplier bottlenecks, rising raw material costs and questions about the duration of this up cycle.

Two major trends will emerge over the next several years to meet the growing demand for electronic warfare systems. First, key systems will be installed on a wider variety of aircraft in response to the need for increasingly sophisticated airborne self-protection. Second, next-generation technology will be developed and deployed to meet the rising demand for advanced electronic-attack systems able to hit enemy radar and communications systems before aircraft are even detected.

Southwest Airlines foresees ending up with 50-100 Boeing 737-800 aircraft and will take delivery of 20 in 2012. Southwest, which is converting many of its 737-700 orders to the larger aircraft, still is evaluating how many more to convert for 2013 and beyond. Southwest could use more than 50 of the -800s in the domestic route system now, says Chairman, President and CEO Gary Kelly. It plans to configure the -800s for about 175 seats, nearly 40 more than on its -700s.

As Mexican low-fare carrier Interjet looks to expand its fleet, it is putting its faith in an aircraft most other Western operators have shied away from so far: the Sukhoi Superjet 100 regional jet. The airline will operate the 15 SSJ100s it has ordered starting in the second half of 2012 alongside its fleet of Airbus A320s. It also holds options for five more Superjet 100s.

Demand for satellite services remains strong, despite the global economic upheaval, especially in developing markets such as Eastern Europe, North Africa and the Middle East. In the near future, broadband Internet and direct television broadcasting will be primary areas of growth in the satellite market. Militaries around the world, seeking to improve connectivity between units and individual soldiers, are also an important source of growth in the communications satellite market.

The concept of personal air transportation using small aircraft flying between small airports as an alternative to congested and inconvenient hub-and-spoke airline travel has taken a beating in the last couple of years, with the credit crunch forcing several air-taxi operators out of business. But the idea refuses to die.

The worldwide market for unmanned aerial systems (UAS) has seen unprecedented growth in the last nine years. Sales over the next 10 years will earn UAS companies $20.2 billion, with another $20.6 billion to be spent on R&D during the decade. Yet the wild spending spree of the last few years is coming to an end. The U.S., which spends more on UAS than all other nations combined, is cutting back on expenditures. Meanwhile, most other countries are having trouble finding the money to support their domestic programs.

The military rotorcraft market has seen consistent growth in recent years, in terms of annual production, and most indications point to continued progress for a few more years. But questions surround the long-term future of the market, with implications for the industry as a whole and the U.S. domestic manufacturing base in particular.

High-energy laser weapons are inching closer to reality, moving out of the laboratory and into field testing, but the steps from demonstration to development, procurement and deployment depend on convincing military commanders they are effective and Pentagon officials they are affordable.

A United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy lifted a bus-sized classified satellite for the National Reconnaissance Office into orbit from Space Launch Complex-6 (SLC-6) at Vandenberg AFB, Calif., on Jan. 20—the largest rocket ever launched from the West Coast.

Delta Air Lines is asking aircraft manufacturers for proposals to supply as many as 200 large, medium and small narrowbody aircraft—potentially pressuring Boeing to come up with a more robust response to the Airbus A320 New Engine Option (NEO) and Bombardier CSeries. Delta CEO Richard Anderson says he expects it will take his airline “the better part of the year” to choose a manufacturer or manufacturers for its possibly massive order, which also could include as many as 200 options.

Space assets play a vital role in current and perceived future battlefield needs, with communications satellites an important part of networking forces. But program problems and budget restrictions are combining to change thinking on how capabilities should be developed and deployed.

While NASA agonizes over how to replace the space shuttle and continue human spaceflight within the budget available, its program to stimulate the private sector to develop commercial space transport services is proceeding faster than expected. With the successful first flight of its Dragon capsule in December, Space Exploration Technologies Corp.

The European Space Agency is poised to begin work on a data relay satellite network that will permit near-real-time download of remote-sensing data. The network—which is smaller than its U.S. counterpart—will be the first in the world to use high-throughput laser optical terminals, which permit transmission at broadband throughput rates, on an operational basis, and it will be the first to draw on market financing.

The normal up-and-down cycle of the aerospace industry has been interrupted by a global recession that has pushed recovery to the right. During the downturn, the turbine engine market has been sustained in large part by military orders, accelerated by the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. The U.S. military is recapitalizing its helicopter fleet with several large procurement programs that will continue through the 2011-20 forecast period.

A year ago, the airfreight market was in the doldrums. The decline was so severe that on a global basis the industry was talking about “a decade of lost growth.” Fast-forward 12 months, and cargo traffic is at record levels. It hardly seems possible, but that is how rapidly the airfreight industry recovered after the “great recession” ended.

Coming off a surprisingly profitable 2010, the world’s airlines enter 2011 with a strong tailwind. The industry is expected to make money again this year, provided the recovery isn’t stalled by sluggish GDP growth, high fuel prices or governments seeking additional tax revenue. All three are legitimate concerns moving forward, as are the impact of various legislative and governmental policy initiatives. Also to be considered are the factors under more direct control of the carriers, such as capacity discipline, merger proposals and alliance maneuvering.

As an important safety device on airplanes, airbags have received a boost from a recently released study by the National Transportation Safety Board. The NTSB says there are 18,000 airbag-equipped seats on 7,000 aircraft in the U.S. That’s quite a bit of growth, especially since the FAA did not approve them until 2003. Already, there are more than 30 manufacturers offering airbags as standard or optional equipment.

European Commission managers say they’re happy with the progress made with the Galileo satellite navigation system and will commit to ensuring that the constellation is completed, even though the cost will rise more than 50%.

Manned and unmanned come together in the concept of “optionally piloted” aircraft, to be demonstrated in mid-2011 by Sikorsky using a UH-60M helicopter. The modified Black Hawk will fly a fully autonomous cargo mission, from taking off through picking up a load and flying a route, to returning for the next pickup.

When Chinese President Hu Jintao announced a $19-billion order for 185 Boeing 737s and 15 Boeing 777s at his summit with President Barack Obama, it was good news—but not new news. The good news is that Hu’s comments authorized the airlines involved to buy the airplanes. The old news is that all of the orders had been placed between 2007-09 and previously appeared on Boeing’s list of firm orders, either in the “unidentified customer” category or as orders from Air China, China Southern Airlines and Xiamen Airlines.

Concerns are mounting in the U.K. that antisubmarine warfare capabilities are eroding because of competing operational demands and equipment decisions. The fear, voiced by government and industry officials, goes beyond the decision last year to cancel the Nimrod MRA4 maritime patrol aircraft project. Adequate training in some high-end skills to hunt submarines is no longer being done, warns an industry official. “We have skills-fade,” says a military official.

Enhanced vision systems (EVS) allowing pilots to spot the runway earlier in reduced visibility, and synthetic vision systems (SVS) providing better awareness of terrain and obstacles, are coming together. In 2011, under contract from NASA, Honeywell Aerospace and Gulfstream Aerospace Corp.