India aims to begin the project definition of a “stealthy” unmanned combat air vehicle by the end of 2010, with the proposed design capable of carrying at least two air-to-surface weapons in one or more internal bays. Concept and design work on the overall program, known as the Autonomous Unmanned Research Aircraft (AURA), is being carried out by the Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA). The notional air vehicle is being given the working name the Indian Unmanned Strike Aircraft (IUSA).
South Korea plans to make a second attempt at lofting a satellite on June 9, almost 10 months after the first launch failed. The rocket is again a KSLV-1, and it should be the last launch of that model, which has been a technology demonstrator. A larger rocket, the KSLV-2, is planned. The KSLV-1 uses a Russian first stage and a South Korean upper stage. The KSLV-2 should have much greater South Korean technology content and be able to place 1.5 tons in low orbit.
After years of neglect, U.S. rotorcraft technology is to get a boost from a Pentagon research program that aims to fly a shape-changing rotor offering substantially more payload and range with significantly less noise and vibration. Three teams have been awarded contracts for the initial phase of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s Mission Adaptive Rotor (MAR). Program managers plan to fly an adaptive rotor by 2018 to ready the technology for the next U.S. military rotorcraft program.
Obituary: The U.K. Royal Air Force’s second most senior officer, Air Chief Marshal Chris Moran, died suddenly on May 26. He was 54. Moran, the Air Command commander-in-chief, collapsed while taking part in a triathlon at RAF Brize Norton. The cause of death has yet to be made public.
Embraer expects a first flight as early as December of the EMB‑145 airborne early warning system aircraft it is building for the Indian air force, utilizing an active array antenna from India’s Defense Research and Development Organization that mimics the Saab-2000 Erieye. The DRDO’s contribution comes from the Active Array Antenna Unit of its Center for Airborne Systems and is to be integrated into the aircraft after certification. Deliveries are expected in 2011, says Embraer’s executive vice president for defense systems, Orlando Jose Ferreira Neto.
A Long March 3C rocket launched the fourth satellite in China’s Compass positioning system on June 2. When complete, the system should have 35 satellites, of which 10 are due to be launched in 2009-10. A Long March 3C was also used in January to launch the third Compass, one of five to be placed in geostationary orbit. Low-orbit Compass satellites have been launched by Long March 3As. The first was sent up in 2007, though two experimental spacecraft were put into orbit in 2000.
The first of Sikorsky’s Polish-built S-70i Black Hawks is now undergoing flight trials. The helo, constructed at the company’s PZL Mielec facility in Poland, is flying trials at Sikorsky’s main test facility in West Palm Beach, Fla. Production flight tests in Poland are due this year. A second prototype is being produced now, and Sikorsky plans to build 20 S-70i helos in Poland a year, starting in 2012. They are intended for non-U.S. customers.
A Yak-130 Mitten jet trainer, tail No. 93, crashed on May 22 during takeoff from the Lipetsk Air Force Training Center. Both pilots ejected; one was injured. The aircraft involved was piloted by air force Col. Alexander Kotov and Senior Lt. Evgeny Gostev. The Yak-130 fleet was temporary grounded as a result of the accident. The trainer was the last of the initial batch of three serial aircraft handed over to the Russian air force in 2009.
Airport operator Berliner Flughafen hopes the new Berlin Brandenburg International Airport (BBI) will turn into a major hub serving short- and long-haul destinations.
At Aviation Week’s recent “NextGen Ahead 2010” conference in Washington, Clay Jones, the chairman, president and CEO of avionics supplier Rockwell Collins, warned that a fiscally constrained U.S. government will not have the will to fully fund modernization of the air traffic control system. He also unveiled a proposal to keep the NextGen project from withering. Shortly before his speech, Jones outlined his plan to Aviation Week editors in a wide-ranging discussion that also touched on the defense market.
The modernization of the U.S. air traffic management system, known as NextGen, is undeniably moving ahead. Blueprints and plans are turning into technology deployments, and so far, the government is meeting its commitment to fund the new ATM infrastructure despite competing domestic priorities.
A Copa Airlines Boeing 737-700 takes off from Miami International Airport en route to Panama City. Copa operates only narrow-body aircraft—737s and Embraer 190s—which is one of the main aspects of a business model that has seen the carrier become one of the top financial performers in the global airline industry. See profile, pp. 46-50. Photo by Joseph Pries.
Safran, a major risk-sharing partner on the Sukhoi Superjet 100 regional airliner, is looking to reinforce its ties with Russia’s helicopter sector. Jean-Christophe Corde, senior vice president for Europe, Central Asia and Africa, says the company wants to set up a Russian-based joint venture to produce Turbomeca helicopter parts and subassemblies, patterned after an existing CFM56/CF6 aero engine venture, and to install flight controls and other avionics gear from its Sagem subsidiary on new Russian helicopter models.
A compromise deal will enable Thales Alenia Space (TAS) to supply two Yamal 400 satellites for Russia’s Gazprom Space Systems, but under conditions different from those initially envisioned.
Boeing is joining with Canadian industry to form the Canadian Composites Manufacturing Research and Development consortium to strengthen that country’s position in manufacturing advanced composite materials for aerospace and other industries. The consortium was formed in cooperation with the Composites Innovation Center in Winnipeg, home to Boeing Canada Operations, which is headquarters for composite parts-making for the 787 and other programs.
An article on European military space programs stated resolution figures for imaging satellites Helios II, Cosmo-SkyMed and SARLupe (May 3, p. 70). The figures were not supplied by the European Union Satellite Center.
Sky Airline, Chile’s second largest-carrier, plans to operate the two Airbus A320-200s it received last month on its expanding Latin American routes and on charter flights. According to the 2010 Airbus Global Market Forecast, Chile’s traffic growth rate is twice that of other Latin American carriers, increasing 47% compared with 2000 levels.
European Union emissions allowance (EUA) prices eased back slightly in late May after edging to a one-year high earlier in the month. EUAs for delivery in December 2010 closed at €16.19 ($19.75) per metric ton of carbon dioxide equivalent on May 6, the highest price since May 11, 2009, according to Platts’ assessments. Prices eased back during the remainder of the month to close at €15.13 on June 1.
About 300 representatives from industry, regulatory bodies and wildlife groups plan to discuss advances in bird-strike mitigation at the June 21-24 Joint Meeting of the Bird Strike Committee USA/Canada at Salt Lake City. US Airways Flight 1549 First Officer Jeffery Skiles will be the keynote speaker at the conference, which is held in collaboration with the American Association of Airport Executives. For details, go to http://events.aaae.org/sites/100610/agenda.cfm
Garuda Indonesia has marked a milestone in its business turnaround with the resumption of flights to Europe after being taken off a European Union blacklist of unsafe carriers last year. The launch of the Jakarta-Dubai-Amsterdam service by the Indonesian airline will be followed by flights to other European destinations including Frankfurt, London and Paris next year, says Chief Executive Emirsyah Satar, who took control of the Indonesian carrier in April 2005 when it was deep in the doldrums. Air freight is a big area of opportunity, Satar says.
The Pentagon reaffirms a Reagan-era policy that the products of “fundamental” science research should normally be unrestricted. However, according to the Federation of American Scientists, the policy also says if national security requires imposing controls on such research, then formal classification is the only permissible means of doing so—versus more nebulous control efforts like the “for official use only” designation seen often under the George W. Bush administration.
Copa Airlines’ reliance on the Boeing 737 has been a major feature of its business model, and the carrier sees no reason to introduce larger aircraft as it expands its international network.
Michael A. Taverna (Paris), Andy Nativi (Genoa), Frank Morring, Jr. (Washington)
A hefty financial guarantee from France will enable Iridium to proceed with a new low-Earth-orbit satellite system that is billed as the biggest commercial space deal ever, including a hosted-payload program potentially worth hundreds of millions of dollars to the satellite operator.
Russian Technologies’ decision to build its leasing business through a large order of Boeing 737s raises new questions about the evolution of the Russian air transport sector. The state-owned industrial holding company, also known as Rostechnologii, has committed to buying 50 narrow-body transports with options for 15 more. The company says it will reveal the specific model split following discussions with Aeroflot.
Germany’s Infoterra GmbH. will begin selling the first element of its TerraSAR-X Elevation digital surface model (DSM) product line, based on its exclusive commercial rights to high-resolution satellite radar data from the TerraSAR-X spacecraft. This image of a diverse tropical forest in Sabah, Malaysia, shows how the automated elevation process produces “bare Earth” imagery even through heavy vegetation by applying radargrammetry techniques to TerraSAR-X data. The DSM features 10-meter (33- ft.) grid space and an absolute height accuracy of up to 5 meters.
