The German air force expects to overcome its main Eurofighter shortfall by year-end, allowing it to start rebuilding its operational squadrons. But pilots still want industry to fix several perceived deficiencies and are increasingly eager to add a multirole capability to the aircraft’s current air-to-air mission.
Fears of a giant defense hardware spending cut in France are diminishing after a cabinet decision on July 2 limiting the defense ministry’s contribution to a planned budget-trimming exercise. Press reports indicated the government asked the ministry to cut hardware spending by only €3.5 billion over the next three years, instead of the up to €5 billion that had been feared. The ministry must still decide which programs will be affected, though managers are considered likely to use payment deferrals, rather than delivery delays or cutbacks, to meet spending objectives.
The delivery last week of six Boeing F/A-18F aircraft has expanded the Royal Australian Air Force’s young Super Hornet fleet to 11. The first five arrived in late March. Australia is purchasing 24 of the Block II aircraft, with the last one due next year. Initial operational capability is slated for later this year. These aircraft constitute a gapfiller force to add volume to the RAAF fleet while it awaits the Lockheed Martin F-35.
A pair of big new plant investments underscore Safran’s commitment to reinforce and grow its aircraft electronics and turboshaft businesses. Safran’s new €60-million ($76-million) facility in Massy, near Paris, is intended to help regroup the company’s onboard electronics activities. Those businesses, previously spread across eight different sites operated by Safran’s Sagem, Hispano-Suiza and Messier-Bugatti affiliates, involve onboard computers, inertial navigation systems and other avionics equipment for civil and military aircraft.
The rollout of the naval variant of India’s homegrown Light Combat Aircraft (LCA), the NP-1, in Bengaluru (Bangalore) brought with it a reminder by Defense Minister A.K. Antony to the government’s Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA), which designed it, and Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. (HAL), which is building it, to keep up their industrial momentum.
Indonesian regional carrier Merpati Nusantara Airlines has received financial backing from the government to lease 13 Xi’an MA-60 aircraft from that subsidiary of China’s Avic Aircraft. Muhammad Said Didu, secretary of the state-owned enterprises ministry, says the aircraft will be progressively delivered this year and adds that Merpati’s technical team is planning a visit to the Xi’an plant to check on their condition.
As Germany considers a big reduction in force structure, it is mulling a multibillion-euro cut in procurements. All major equipment programs are vulnerable, according to a list the German defense ministry has drafted as background for budget deliberations. On the list are reducing Airbus Military A400M airlifter buys, parking Transall C160s, cutting the Eurocopter Tiger attack helicopter and NH Industries NH90 troop transport helicopter fleets, and curtailing Eurofighter Typhoon purchases.
USAF Brig. Gen. Michael A. Keltz has been named assistant director of operations, plans, programs and requirements at Headquarters Pacific Air Forces, Hickam AFB, Hawaii. He was vice commander of the 7th Air Force, Pacific Air Forces/chief of staff of Air Component Command at Osan AB, South Korea. Brig. Gen. Robert P. Otto has been appointed director of intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities/deputy chief of staff for ISR at Air Force Headquarters at the Pentagon.
Carol Marinello (see photo) has been appointed vice president-cabin solutions for Crane Aerospace & Electronics , Lynnwood, Wash. She was vice president-business operations and site leader for Alliant Techsystems’ Integrated Systems Div., Woodland Hills, Calif.
NASA’s inspector general says the agency has dealt adequately with most of the astronaut mental-health issues raised by Lisa Nowak’s February 2007 stalking arrest at the Orlando, Fla., airport. However, recommendations that the agency establish an alcohol-testing program, and that it adopt a mechanism to ensure astronauts report all illnesses and private treatments, have not been met, says the IG.
When it comes to electronic combat, receivers and antennas are not a problem (AW&ST June 28, pp. 52 and 56) as witnessed by the latest PDA in one’s pocket or purse. Power to emit long-duration jamming signals is the 800-lb. gorilla. Heat generated by the power source and, perhaps, massed computers will be secondary. The fractal geometry to design a conformal antenna is the same for a PDA—a jammer or a receiver is the same. Requiring it to be the size of a fuel tank, unless its for cubic storage of power units, or overly large antennas, is dumb.
After years of strategizing, and two failed attempts to select a KC-135 replacement, the Air Force is reviewing bids for the newest iteration of the KC-X refueler competition. The proposals were due by July 9. EADS North America’s proposal to replace 179 Boeing KC-135 tankers with an Airbus A330-200 derivative is based largely on the configuration in development for Australia and runs to 8,819 pages.
Switzerland’s Solar Impulse team now expects tobuild a second solar-powered aircraft after a 26-hr., through-the-night flight by the first prototype, HB-SIA. The flight proved the aircraft can stay aloft using solar energy to recharge its batteries. The 207-ft.-spanHB-SIA, with Solar Impulse CEO and co-founder Andre Borscherg at the controls, took off from Payerne air base at 6:51 a.m. on July 7, with 12,000 solar cells recharging 400 kg. (880 lb.) of batteries powering the four electric motors as it climbed to almost 28,100 ft. The 3,500-lb.
Nearly a year after launch, two Northrop Grumman Space Tracking and Surveillance System (STSS) satellites are beginning to execute their mission of tracking ballistic missiles in flight. Launched in September, the STSS satellites had problems transmitting data, but the use of the spacecraft in a June 6 tracking mission during a Missile Defense Agency (MDA) test is a step forward. The test was a flight of the first two-stage Boeing Ground-Based Interceptor, which was designed for defunct plans to base the system in Europe.
Gregory D. Strand has been promoted to vice president from director of aerospace structures engineering for the Park Electrochemical Corp. , Melville, N.Y.
David A. Drabkin has been appointed director of acquisition policy for the Los Angeles-based Northrop Grumman Corp. He was acting chief acquisition officer/deputy chief acquisition officer/senior procurement executive for the U.S. General Services Administration. Anthony Spehar has become vice president/program manager for the Northrop Grumman’s Intercontinental Ballistic Missile Prime Integration Contract in Clearfield, Utah.
William D. Nielsen has been promoted to product marketing director for bulk products from marketing director for industrial components and Thomas Hazen to global market manager for plastics tooling from manager of sales and marketing for North American tooling for Brush Wellman , Mayfield Heights, Ohio. Robert D. Bertin has become market manager for global aerospace while remaining Western U.S. manager.
Russia’s nascent business aviation sector is showing clear signs of recovery after a two-year downturn. The Russian business aviation market is still notoriously opaque, and solid data on its operations are hard to come by. Most aircraft owners, both corporate and private, prefer to register and base their jets elsewhere, using a foreign operator certificate to avoid the high import duties and taxes and difficult aircraft financing arrangements prevalent here.
With an eye on limited high-grade material availability and waste management, aviation manufacturers aim to make environmental sustainability integral early on in design processes. And they have U.S. government support in developing new technologies geared toward green.
Correction: An article in the June 28 issue (p. 50) on India’s regional aircraft effort misstated the speed for the regional jet and turboprop versions. The turboprop is intended to cruise at 550 kph. and the turbofan variant at 750-800 kph.
France-based Zodiac Aerospace is continuing its efforts to become a stronger systems supplier to the likes of Airbus and Boeing, having agreed to buy Premium Aircraft Interiors’ Germany-based Sell affiliate in a deal expected to be finalized by year-end. The price of the transaction has not been disclosed. Closure of the deal still requires approval from antitrust authorities. The Sell operation builds aircraft galleys and inserts and had a turnover of €179 million ($225.5 million) last year.
