An article in the July 5 issue (p. 26) incorrectly said the World Trade Organization found that some of the loans European governments made to Airbus to assist in launching aircraft programs were compliant with WTO rules. In fact, the body ruled that all 21 of the loans challenged by the U.S. were unsecured, made below market interest rates and therefore illegal subsidies.
The U.K.’s effort to upgrade the Astor ground-surveillance aircraft to enhance detection of improvised explosive devices (IED) is one in a series of equipment upgrades European militaries plan to bolster their military presence in Afghanistan. The effort comes as the debate over the course ahead in Afghanistan continues in many European countries, signaled most starkly by the formal end of the Dutch participation in the operation on Aug. 1.
Airbus Military has passed a major structural milestone on the A400M, with the airlifter clearing its ultimate wing-load test. The wing was exposed to 150% of the maximum load the aircraft would be expected to encounter. During the trial using MSN5000 at Airbus Military’s facility in Getafe, near Madrid, the wing deflected upward about 4.6 ft. The test comes in advance of Airbus Military freezing the configuration of the aircraft prior to building the first production representative A400M (MSN006) later this year.
U.S.-European cooperation in exploring Mars moves a step closer with the selection of instruments for the first of three joint missions to the red planet. Set for launch in 2016, the NASA/European Space Agency ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter (see illustration) will mark a thousandfold improvement in the sensitivity of atmospheric measurements at Mars. One of the gases it will seek—methane—could be a signature of biological processes on the planet, and already has generated intriguing readings from less capable sensors.
As a cyclic business, the airline industry has to admit it will operate—probably forever—in a succession of up- and downturns. It’s not an easy life, by the way, calculating the many factors that contribute to maintaining a workable capacity/demand ratio.
Brian Hirshman has been appointed vice president-maintenance engineering for Southwest Airlines . He was a consultant to airline operators and MRO organizations, and had been vice president-maintenance at Alaska Airlines.
Canadian robotics engineers are using a familiar-looking bit of hardware to get ready for one likely scenario in whatever comes next as international space explorationadapts to the changing political and economic environment.
The Pentagon’s emphasis on reining in program expenses continues. U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates’s goal of cutting 2-3% from annual budgets is being driven home on many levels. It meets with some skepticism from industry leaders, given the labyrinthine ways of Defense Department contracting, but Gates is not letting up.
I have been reading with interest about the eventual replacement of the Boeing 737 and most recently about the possibility of reengining that airframe. Most of what I have read concerns problems associated with future engine options and gaining clearance. The height of the 737’s main landing gear is limited by the design of the center wing, which means that any attempt to increase engine clearance would require a major and cost-prohibitive redesign.
Once again, Congress has come up short on the FAA reauthorization bill. Despite a late flurry of activity, the failure to reach agreement on a handful of troublesome issues prevented the passage of legislation desperately needed by many sectors of the aviation industry.
One of the most highly regarded new tools in recent years to increase aviation safety is the Line Operations Safety Audit. With LOSA, developed for the FAA in 1999 by the University of Texas at Austin and Continental Airlines, flight deck crews are monitored during routine operations and their actions are recorded by specially trained observers.
The Office of the Secretary of Defense has begun scrutinizing the Global Hawk program’s costs. It is described as a “pre-Nunn-McCurdy” review—an allusion to the law designed to keep expenditures of programs from spiraling out of control. If the high-flying UAV program does trigger a Nunn-McCurdy alert to Congress, it would not be the first time. The first review, in 2006, resulted from a miscalculation of the work required to shift from the Block 10 configuration to the more robust Block 20. Today’s cost issues, however, are murkier.
In your editorial “Safeguard Transatlantic Relations”(AW&ST July 26, p. 70) we’re told that, as regards maintaining decorum in the international arms market, “. . . industry’s track record is better than government’s,” and “U.S. lawmakers . . . have set an example of how not to behave in international competition.” That notion is either naive or disingenuous: Senators and Representatives whose states and districts benefit from defense spending—nearly all of them—are merely playing bad cop to the defense contractors’ good cop, in a set piece of political melodrama.
Inmarsat is set to acquire three high-throughput Ka-band broadband satellites from Boeing for $1 billion. The order was expected to be announced late last week. The London-based mobile satellite service leader is under heavy pressure to modernize its L-band fleet, whose most advanced spacecraft can transmit barely half a megabit of data per second. Regional L- and S-band hybrid networks such as Lightsquared, now being introduced (see p. 49), will transmit 3-4 times faster.
Boeing will introduce a form of hybrid laminar flow control to help cut drag on the stretched 787-9, marking the first application of this technology on a large commercial transport aircraft. The move is one of several innovations planned to improve performance of the 787-9 which, despite having the same wing span as the 787-8, is being designed to fly farther and carry 16% more passengers. The decision to move to advanced methods of drag reduction comes as Boeing completes firm configuration of the -9, the first of which is due to be delivered in late 2013.
If one chooses the unducted-fan (UDF) engine path, as mentioned in “Smoke and Mirrors” (AW&ST July 26, p. 32), a viable UDF will not be available much before 2025. Can an airframer start now to invest in the design of a radical airframe for UDF power not knowing whether the engine will fulfill its promise? Can industry afford to stick with the present level of engine efficiency for the next 12-15 years?
A new cooperative data tool will help keep geostationary commercial communications satellites from colliding or causing signal interference, a service its initiators hope to extend to government spacecraft and satellites in low Earth orbit as well.
The Pentagon is “absolutely” right to mandate more accountability in defense acquisition, ITT Chairman and CEO Steve Loranger believes. But he also says aerospace and defense profit margins are not out of line in the business world. Loranger, who was invited to a late-July meeting between Defense Secretary Robert Gates and industry chief executives, says he knows of no formal effort targeting A&D profits, but initiatives like pushing fixed-price contracting and greater government oversight of program performance could eat into the sector’s historic profitability.
Darren McGoldrick (see photo) has become Asia-Pacific managing director of ExecuJet . He was deputy general manager and later director of ExecuJet’s Malaysian joint venture company, SkyPark FBO.
Regarding reader David Rada’s letter, “Another Spin on Wheels” (AW&ST July 5, p. 8), the issue of spinning up aircraft wheels prior to touch down has been raised many times over the years. The advent of powered wheels is reviving this interest in prerotation. The SAE A-5 Aerospace Landing Gear Systems Committee, of which I was a member, has published AIR5800 Tire Prerotation at Landing.
The U.S. Navy is providing some details about what the Next Generation Jammer might add to the air defense-busting capabilities of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, but the unique and futuristic capabilities of the jammer raise questions about how many of those yet-to-be-defined abilities will be available to foreign purchasers of the JSF.
Russian airlines will soon receive a break on import duties. As of Aug. 19, all imported aircraft under 50 seats, over 219 seats and in the 111-160-seat category will be exempt from the current 20% import duty. The compromise, applicable from late 2013 to late 2018, will protect the new Antonov An-148 and Sukhoi Superjet 100 regional aircraft and Tupolev Tu-204SM/TU-214 narrowbodies.
Despite an unfavorable ruling by the British telecom regulatory authority, ICO Global Communications will continue to fight attempts to have its medium-Earth-orbit (MEO) constellation frequency filings canceled. But the company admits time and money may be running out.
With looming airport capacity saturation, the Italian government plans to restructure the country’s airport investment strategy, and it will likely set off an explosive political battle in the process.
