While Washington and Moscow are on the brink of agreeing on a successor to the 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (Start), Russia continues to exercise elements of its nuclear triad. The treaty is expected to call for further reductions in the numbers of both warheads and delivery platforms. But, given the comparatively small size of Russia’s strategic bomber fleet, whether a reduction is feasible remains to be seen.
Douglas Barrie (London), Robert Wall (Woodford, England)
London will spend at least $2 billion on two big-ticket intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) projects, to enter service in 2014 and 2015, but the pending defense review could undercut efforts in this important area.
Japan Airlines will abandon freighter operations from October, relying instead on airliner bellies for its cargo business. The end of freight-only flights will cut about a quarter of Japan Airlines’ cargo capacity, but the airline says it will keep serving almost all of the destinations where it handles cargo.
For Israel’s chief of military intelligence, “cyberspace has become the fifth dimension of warfare, following land, sea, air and space.” The nation has long had its hand in this secretive mission area, but Maj. Gen. Amos Yadlin’s comments are the first public acknowledgment of just how serious the Israeli military views the domain.
In an attempt to meet its April target for an A320 reengining decision, Pratt & Whitney says Airbus is actively brokering a solution to break the impasse over development of a potential International Aero Engines (IAE) version of the geared turbofan involving Rolls-Royce.
Douglas Barrie (London and Washington), Michael A. Taverna (Paris), Robert Wall (London and Washington)
A potential U.S. Marine Corps requirement for a low-cost, laser-guided, air-to-surface weapon and the development of 30-50-lb.-class air-to-surface glide munitions for unmanned aerial vehicles are central to MBDA’s near-term ambitions in the U.S.
A new cadre of 1,000 U.S. Air Force special operations warriors will be trained for combat on an invisible battlefield. The individuals will be selected for their creativity and intellectual flexibility. The group must then devise rigid standards, predictable procedures and rules of conduct for their battleground. There will be staggering obstacles: War is constant, weapons quickly become obsolete, fratricide is a major threat, and long-term victory is illusory.
The payback for commercial and military aviation aftermarket organizations that vigorously pursue process improvements can be huge, especially if those changes are executed in ways to ensure they’re sustainable. With military sustainment expenditures flattening or decreasing, doing more with less, while maintaining quality and safety, is paramount.
Moscow and Washington are close to a final follow-on to the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (Start). The Russians are acting as if it is a done deal; the Americans are being more circumspect. “We are, I think, very close to having an agreement on a Start treaty,” White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said March 24, “but [we] won’t have one until President Obama and his counterpart, Mr. Medvedev, have a chance to speak again.” Gibbs said they should talk by this week.
Delta Air Lines and US Airways are making a last-ditch effort to save a slot swap that would give Delta a dominant presence at New York’s LaGuardia Airport and US Airways the same at Reagan Washington National Airport. In the process, the carriers are simultaneously challenging the FAA and offering to partially accommodate it; pitting four U.S. and Canadian low-cost carriers against the biggest U.S. low-cost carrier, Southwest Airlines; and again raising the larger question of who actually owns takeoff and landing slots at U.S. slot-controlled airports.
We are at a pivotal period in defining NASA’s future. In the current debate about redirecting U.S. civil space activities, it is important to keep this in mind: Both human space exploration and space science are fundamental to that future. The partnership between human spaceflight and space science programs flourishes when their mutual interests are not just simply aligned, but when they find ways together to build on their respective strengths.
At times during a war, technology innovation and blue-sky thinking must take a backseat to getting the job done. In the case of the U.S. Air Force’s Project Liberty Team, officials in the Office of the Secretary of Defense and the Air Force and at a contractor team led by L-3 Communications did just that.
“We’re gonna be in the Hudson . . . . Brace for impact.” Moments after uttering those words, US Airways Flight 1549 Capt. Chesley B. “Sully” Sullenberger executed a dead-stick landing of an Airbus A320—on water, and without causing a single fatality among the 155 people on board.
In back-to-back hearings, Senate Commerce and Homeland Security committees grilled intelligence specialist Maj. Gen. (ret.) Robert Harding about his qualifications to lead the Transportation Security Administration (TSA)—a key post that has been vacant for more than a year. After decades of experience in military intelligence, including director of operations at the Defense Intelligence Agency, Harding retired from the Army and, in 2003, founded security consultancy Harding Security Associates, which he sold in 2009.
The European Space Agency, European Commission, European Union Council and European Defense Agency are hoping by next year to have a governance setup and data policy in place that could permit detailed definition work to begin on a Space Situational Awareness (SSA) system capable of interfacing with and complementing similar capabilities in the U.S. and elsewhere. ESA executives say the agency’s determination of civil requirements is complete and the EDA’s survey of military needs will be finished by March 31.
Denmark has delayed its decision on a new fighter, expected this year, after preliminary results of an analysis of life remaining on its F-16s indicated the aircraft can be flown for two to four years longer than originally scheduled. Postponing the decision by two years is a blow for Boeing with its F/A-18E/F Super Hornet, and Saab with the Gripen NG, as those manufacturers had hoped delays and cost increases would prompt Denmark to leave the F-35 program.
While March 17 is the day the Irish everywhere cheer the memory of their beloved patron St. Patrick, this year Aviation Week’s 53rd Annual Laureate Awards provided some accomplished sons and daughters of Canada, France, Japan, Russia, Germany, the U.S. and elsewhere reasons to celebrate on that day as well.
The International Space Station, essentially complete after 25 years of political upheavals, redesigns, technical problems and the loss of the space shuttle Columbia, is the 2010 Space Laureate.
A legislative revamp of U.S. commercial aviation policy has taken a major step forward with the Senate’s approval of an FAA reauthorization bill. However, serious horse-trading with House lawmakers will be needed to iron out controversial clauses that alarm industry leaders and threaten to stall the bill yet again.
The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) plans to launch India’s first cryogenic rocket engine in April, marking the end of a long effort to develop an indigenous upper stage for its Geostationary Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV). The launch vehicle—GSLV-D3—is in the final stages of assembly at the launch center on Sriharikota Island in the Bay of Bengal. In place of the Russian engine that has powered the GLSV upper stage in the past will be India’s Cryogenic Engine. The all-indigenous vehicle will carry the GSAT-4 advanced communications satellite to orbit.
BOC Aviation, a Singapore-based aircraft leasing agent in a counter-cyclical strategy, says its net after-tax profit for 2009 hit a record $137 million, up 28% over 2008 results, the company’s previous record. BOC’s total assets were $5.8 billion, up 61%. The company was a net seller of aircraft in 2007 as it anticipated the coming downturn and then began buying from December 2008 onward. BOC took 48 deliveries last year, including direct purchases or leasebacks from airline clients. The company had a portfolio of 142 aircraft at the end of 2009, up 54% over 2008.
The British government says it will allocate £4 billion to support combat operations in Afghanistan over the coming fiscal year. The figure was revealed as part of the government’s spending plans, which also include a £700-million efficiency saving from the Defense Ministry in 2012-13.
Stealthy adversaries are hiding in the streams of data flowing across the networks of aerospace and defense companies and their customers, stealing valuable data and planting malware weapons. Defenders are responding by scouring network traffic for anomalous behavior that betrays an enemy’s presence. Starting on p. 46 and on AviationWeek.com, we take a closer look at the global battle between cyberwarfare and cybersecurity being waged every second of every day. Cover Design by the AW&ST Art Dept. Image from Getty Images Stockbyte.
Dubai Airports is forecasting strong growth in the first quarter for Dubai International Airport, based on double-digit percentage growth in passenger and cargo traffic in February. The airport handled 3,640,323 passengers in February—a 22.6% increase over the same month in 2009, with the strongest growth occurring in traffic from Western Europe, India and the Middle East. The airport handled 3.8 million passengers in January, for a total of 7,501,845 for the first two months of the year—a 19.7% increase.
