Kawasaki Heavy Industries is considering a joint venture with a foreign aerospace company to build and support a minimum-change civil version of its XC-2 airlifter, the YCX.
Russian Helicopters has unveiled plans to add a new member to its best-selling Mil Mi-8/Mi-17 medium helicopter family. The Mi-171M is due for its first flight in 2011 and to enter service in 2013. Russian Helicopters, a holding that unites the country’s rotorcraft industry, says it has seen a surge in Mi-17/171 customer interest, in large part because of the system’s performance in Afghanistan.
Former NASA astronaut Jim Reilly has been named dean of the School of Science and Technology at the online American Public University System , Charles Town, W. Va.
India’s fervor for self-sufficiency in the defense sector has been matched so far only by its inability to deliver fully on this aspiration. The path is marked with failed—or ineffective—programs, while others stretch decades beyond their original development and delivery schedules.
Surging passenger and freight demand is propelling a dramatic improvement in the financial outlook for the global airline industry. Asian and U.S. carriers are leading the turnaround, and even Europe’s economic and volcano woes should not be enough to derail a return to profitability this year.
A clear trend toward regulatory reform is promoting Indian business aviation, leaving the industry increasingly focused on other obstacles to its growth, notably infrastructure.
Bombardier plans to purchase ExelTech Aerospace’s Saint-Laurent, Quebec, facility and use it for Global 5000 and Global Express XRS business jet completions. Bombardier has been working on plans to expand its Global Completion Center in Montreal for a while, so when ExelTech Aerospace declared bankruptcy, Bombardier jumped at the chance to buy the 115,000-sq.-ft.-facility, which is across the street from its own location.
Boeing has rolled out the first 747-8F in the colors of launch airline Cargolux and, despite recent test delays, says delivery remains on track for the fourth quarter.
The acrimony generated by FAA’s response to a slot swap between Delta Air Lines and US Airways could be dissipating after the regulator acquiesced to the airlines’ request for another 30 days (until July 2) to respond to the ruling. This differs greatly from the airlines’ initial reaction to FAA’s decision, which demands divestiture of slots at New York LaGuardia Airport and Washington Reagan National Airport. The deal would give Delta a dominant presence in New York and US Airways a hub in Washington.
President Barack Obama’s latest nominee to lead the Transportation Security Administration hears from senators about how unhappy they are with the TSA. Deputy FBI Director John S. Pistole is the third candidate for a key job that has been vacant for more than a year.
Whether the wording of the New Start treaty contains restrictions on U.S. missile defenses is fast emerging as the critical issue for the Senate as it considers ratifying the treaty. Given the stakes involved, it is worth pausing to see whether the infatuation with missile defense—on both sides of the aisle—is really justified. The thinking is that these “defenses” will somehow protect us from the enemy’s nuclear missiles. They will not. The New Start treaty, which would lead to reductions in nuclear stockpiles, should not be held hostage to this tempest in a teapot.
Bettina H. Chavanne (Washington), Andy Nativi (Genoa)
The myriad industrial relationships broken and reforged for the newly relaunched U.S. presidential helicopter competition seem to represent a larger trend in defense manufacturing. It’s not the world that’s shrinking, it’s the world economy. Boeing announced June 8 it is buying full intellectual property, data and production rights from AgustaWestland for its AW101 aircraft. “This is not a partnership,” says Phil Dunford, vice president and general manager of Boeing Rotorcraft. “This will be a Boeing-built airplane.”
Engineers are checking out Japan’s second Servis satellite following a successful launch on June 2. The spacecraft was launched from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in northern Russia by a Rockot booster. It was the first mission since last year for Rockot, which is marketed by the Astrium-Khrunichev joint venture Eurockot. Like Servis-1, launched in 2003, Servis-2 will serve to demonstrate the use of commercial-off-the-shelf technologies (COTS) in space conditions. The 736-kg. (1,622-lb.) 1.3-kw.
Although the Obama administration’s space policy is not yet in place, NASA is already exploring ways to implement the president’s new partnership approach. Deputy Administrator Lori Garver was in Berlin last week on the first leg of a six-day trip that will also take her to Paris and Vienna. Garver said the trip is intended to explain new programs planned and solicit potential international cooperation, even though formal commitments will have to await approval of the agency’s new budget.
A technician of Indian company Dynamatic Technologies works on fabrication of the left vertical stabilizer of a Sukhoi Su-30MKI fighter aircraft under subcontract from Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. Such defense work has helped Dynamatic build its credentials in winning commercial business from Western customers. Dynamatic is part of the wave of privately owned Indian aerostructures and component makers that is moving into the international market. A special report on the aerospace industry in India begins on page 50. Dynamatic Technologies photo.
Reader Tom Megna doesn’t “get” spaceplanes (AW&ST May 24, p. 10). Spaceplanes are airplanes. They have rocket engines, reaction controls and thermal protection but are airplanes in engineering essentials. Also, they are fully reusable and are piloted.
Dissatisfied with the lack of business aircraft operations into Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA), the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) plans to meet with stakeholders next month to discuss possibilities for changing the security procedures into the close-in airport.
Malaysia’s Crecom Burj Bhd investment fund has signed a preliminary agreement to buy 50 Russian MS-21 narrowbodies. The deal between the fund and MS-21 developer Irkut Corp. would have a value of $5 billion if it is converted to a firm order. Deliveries of the Pratt & Whitney geared turbofan-powered 150-210-seat airliners to the fund would begin in 2016, for leases to airlines.
Jeff Cuzzi, a planetary scientist at NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif., has been named winner of the 2010 Gerard P. Kuiper Prize for lifetime contributions to planetary sciences by the American Astronomical Society’s Division of Planetary Sciences . Cuzzi is being honored for his pioneering contributions to understanding of the formation and evolution of planetary rings and small planets.
A Scandinavian-based start-up airline with plans to begin long-haul, low-cost service has delayed its scheduled launch this summer to develop a longer-term plan with more rapid expansion and additional aircraft, according to Kai Holmberg, CEO of Feel Air. He says plans are on track to begin service this winter to New York and Bangkok from Oslo and Stockholm, adding Miami the next summer. Holmberg says Feel Air has government approval and the $40 million in financing required to launch the airline, but needs another $30 million to fund its five-year plan.
The U.S. Missile Defense Agency (MDA) conducted a flight test of a two-stage Ground-Based Interceptor (GBI), from Vandenberg AFB, Calif., on June 6. The two-stage GBI is undergoing developmental testing as part of the Defense Department’s investment in a new missile defense option for homeland defense. A target missile was not launched for this test. Following flyout maneuvers, the two-stage booster delivered an exoatmospheric kill vehicle to a designated point in space.
India looks like it is failing in one of the key objectives of its defense industrial policy—its desire to bring advanced Western technology into domestic-foreign joint ventures on its own territory.
By one count, there are 13 different lobbying firms plus each contractor’s in-house lobbyists engaging lawmakers on the Joint Strike Fighter engine battle between Pratt & Whitney and a General Electric-Rolls Royce team. The independent Center for Public Integrity says there are 75 lobbyists working on defense issues at the firms engaged in the engine debate, of whom at least 56 are former congressional staffers or executive branch officials. Of those, at least 33 are registered to work on the engine issue specifically, according to CPI.
Basil Barimo has become vice president-global engineering and quality of the Nordam Repair Group , Tulsa, Okla. He was vice president-operations and safety for the Air Transport Association of America.
Mexican low-cost carrier VivaAerobus is scheduled to begin charging customers for carry-on bags, according to CEO Juan Carlos Zuazua, speaking recently at the Low-Cost Carriers Conference Americas in Miami. The charge—based on weight with the first 7 kg. (15 lb.) allowed onboard for free—will be implemented initially in Monterrey and Guadalajara, where bags will be weighed and money collected before passengers go through security.
