Boeing has added a chrome-free primer to complement the chrome-free exterior decorative paint it has used for more than a decade. The primer was recently applied to a GOL Airlines 737-800 bound for revenue service. Many companies are trying to reduce or eliminate the use of chrome—technically known as hexavalent chrome—which is considered a carcinogen.
Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) has concluded an agreement to launch an undetermined satellite for Space Systems/Loral on its new Falcon 9 booster, which it has now static tested at the company’s new launch site at Cape Canaveral AFS. The Loral deal, similar to one inked earlier with Israel’s Spacecom, provides for a launch opportunity as early as 2012 and brings the total number of missions on the Falcon 9 to 24.
With demand for global air travel facing a long climb back from its worst decline in history, it is reasonable to ask how Airbus and Boeing can continue to churn out so many jets. Defying skeptics who have long predicted that cuts in output were inevitable, the two airframers are signaling that they instead plan to raise production rates even higher in 2011, moves that would help them replenish cash spent on troublesome aircraft development programs (p. 43).
Selex Communications will upgrade 16 CH-47F Chinook helicopters for the Italian army, providing communication, navigation and self-protection equipment for the transport rotorcraft. Under a €19-million ($25.8-million) program, Selex will deliver multi-band V/UHF radio with frequency-hopping capabilities to be more resistant against jamming, as well as high-frequency radio with automatic link establishment, and national and NATO encryption capability.
Two letter writers argue against the Obama administration’s attempt to cancel the Constellation Program and the Ares vehicles developments—“U.S. Risks Loss of Space Power” and “Benefits of the Constellation Program” (AW&ST Feb. 22, p. 8). Ake Fagrell says, “The U.S. will be giving up its leadership in space.” Tom Moser says, “. . . NASA budget proposal puts the U.S. leadership in space at risk.” Cancellation of the Constellation Program was the proper thing to do.
An Antonov An-26B cargo aircraft, operated for DHL, made a successful engine-out emergency landing Mar. 18 on frozen Lake Ulemiste, south of Tallinn, Estonia. According to preliminary reports, the aircraft was en route from Helsinki Vantaa Airport to Tallinn. When the pilots executed a go-around on approach to landing at Tallinn, one of the An-26’s two engines failed—leading the crew to attempt an emergency landing on the frozen lake.
Following what has become a five-year deployment supporting operations in Afghanistan, the U.K. Royal Navy is renewing its focus on high-tempo day and night carrier operations with the Harrier GR9A. The Naval Strike Wing embarked on HMS Ark Royal this month as part of the ship’s work-up.
Boeing has completed preliminary design of a prototype free electron laser (FEL) weapon system for the U.S. Navy. An FEL passes a stream of high-energy electrons through a series of powerful magnetic fields to generate a high-power laser beam. Boeing is working on an initial $6.9-million task order under a potential $169-million contract awarded by the Office of Naval Research last April. A decision on whether to build a laboratory demonstrator is expected this summer, the company says.
Apr. 12-15—National Space Symposium. Colorado Springs. Apr. 20-22—MRO Americas/MRO Military Conference & Exhibition. Phoenix. Apr. 28-30—Phoenix Sky Harbor International Aviation Symposium. May 10-13—Special Operations Forces Exhibition and Conference. Amman, Jordan May 19-21—NextGen Conference & Exhibition. Washington. June 8-13—ILA-Berlin Air Show. July 19-25—Farnborough 2010. Sept. 27-Oct. 1—International Astronautical Congress. Prague. Sept. 28-30—MRO Europe. London.
A single, classified mission for the National Reconnaissance Office is the only pending business here for the Delta IV Heavy launcher, but United Launch Alliance undertook a three-year, $58-million modification of the storied Space Launch Complex-6 to make it possible.
Crews on the International Space Station (ISS) may one day include members from agencies beyond the five current partners, says NASA Administrator Charles Bolden after meeting his counterparts in Tokyo. That does not mean expanding the partnership, but it could mean inviting other spacefaring nations—China and India come to mind—to use the facility. “Opening up the partnership is very difficult because now you’re talking about treaties and agreements,” Bolden says.
Delta Air Lines plans to start a new Delta Shuttle service June 10 between New York LaGuardia and Chicago O’Hare International Airports, mounting a challenge to O’Hare hub denizens American Airlines and United Airlines for the route’s high-revenue business travelers. The new route, with 11 daily round trips departing between 7 a.m. and 8 p.m., will replace existing service between LaGuardia and Chicago Midway Airport that is offered nine times a day over the same time period.
U.S. Special Operations Command (Socom) is planning to base its future AC-130J gunship on the modular “Precision Strike Package” that it is quietly and quickly fielding on the MC-130W. This is a major departure from today’s AC-130H/U configuration, which wields the characteristic side-mounted 105-mm. howitzer and a 40-mm. gun. The decision also reflects a shift in the command’s approach to purchasing new weapons, indicating a bent toward a rapidly achievable, low-cost program using a joint task force for purchasing.
International Launch Services received three new orders and assignments last week. It contracted to orbit Telesat’s Nimiq 6, in assembly at Space Systems/Loral, in mid-2012 and was assigned a pair of Intelsat spacecraft—Intelsat 21 and 23—under a multilaunch agreement. Intelsat 23, under construction at Orbital Sciences Corp., is to be orbited in late 2011, and Intelsat 21, being built by Boeing, in late 2012.
Indonesia’s Lion Air has purchased three CAE 7000 Series full-flight simulators in a deal valued at C$38 million ($37.7 million). The Montreal-based manufacturer expects to deliver the two Boeing 737-900ER simulators to the airline’s training center at Jakarta’s Soekarno-Hatta International Airport next year. An ATR 72-500 simulator will be delivered at a later date. The simulators incorporate Tropos-6000 visual systems, including liquid crystal-on-silicon projectors and 200 X 40-deg. field-of-view displays.
When Sikorsky Aircraft Corp. changed its outsourcing strategy on the CH-53K heavy-lift helicopter, it decided to design and manufacture five of the most complicated rotor parts and gearbox housings in-house. But an aircraft of that size needs space—a lot of space. So Sikorsky carved out a high-tech area in the factory to welcome the newest member of the fleet.
After seeing a surprisingly steady upturn in traffic since December, which led many airline analysts to believe cargo traffic—and passenger traffic along with it—would increase at a rapid pace this year, the airfreight market is now expected to need more time to fully recover. The industry is now looking to 2011 for real progress in yields (see p. 48). Boeing and Airbus, however, are enjoying backlogs of orders for the 777 and A330-200 freighters, following a spate of retirements.
The latest weapons sales data from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute show a 22% increase in the transfer of conventional weapons in 2005-09, compared to the previous five years. Combat aircraft sales were 27% of the overall figure. The institute identified the U.S. as the largest exporter, with 30% of the market. Russia, Germany, France and the U.K. were the other Top 5 countries. China, India, South Korea, the United Arab Emirates and Greece were the five biggest recipients.
SimCom Training Centers, under an agreement with Eclipse Aerospace Inc., expects to provide initial and recurrent training for Eclipse 500 jet owners and operators starting in the third quarter. Training will be on two Eclipse 500 Level D simulators that are to be transported from Eclipse’s Albuquerque, N.M., facility to SimCom’s training center at Orlando, Fla. Eclipse Aerospace now supports 260 Eclipse 500s.
The Flight Safety Foundation says there is an “urgent need” to form a multidisciplinary task force to address criminalization of aviation accidents. The group would include legal experts from the aviation industry, law enforcement, judiciary authorities and the public. Its aim: “To support blameless reporting and sharing of aviation safety information and the proper administration of justice.” FSF is calling upon the International Civil Aviation Organization—which has scheduled a high-level safety conference Mar. 29-Apr.
Northrop Grumman has licensed Australian composites technology company Quickstep to make parts for the Lockheed Martin F-35, taking a step toward issuing a contract for the supplier to build the components. Quickstep, which has developed a non-autoclave process for curing composites, will receive technical information for making the parts. It values the planned manufacturing contract for 21 F-35 parts at up to A$700 million ($644 million).
Mar. 29-Apr. 1—White Eagle Aerospace’s Short Course: “Aerospace Vehicle Performance.” Wingate by Wyndham Hotel, Oro Valley, Ariz. See www.whiteeagleaerospace.com Mar. 29-Apr. 1—2010 Aviation Maintenance Conference and Airlines Electronic Engineering Committee Joint Meeting. Hyatt Regency, Phoenix. Call +1 (410) 266-2008, +1 (410) 266-4119 or see www.aviation-ia.com/aeec
Could cost concerns with Europe’s Galileo satellite navigation system give International Launch Services an entree into Europe’s government launch market?
The primary advantage of the Ares I is that it is the safest low-Earth-orbit launcher ever designed. It is not difficult to recognize that a launcher requiring only one turbopump (Ares I) is safer than one using 10 (Falcon 9). Most people riding in a vehicle containing many tons of highly explosive rocket fuel would prefer fewer moving parts. No matter how safe Elon Musk tries to make his rocket, he cannot escape unsafe factors inherent in the design, such as an extravagance of high-speed moving parts over the Ares I.
Florida will develop two more pads at Cape Canaveral AFS for commercial users, after winning permission from the U.S. Air Force to clear another hurdle to commercial development on previously military sites as political winds shift toward greater use of private vehicles to launch public payloads—including astronauts. The USAF 45th Space Wing granted Space Florida, the state’s aerospace development organization, real property licenses to develop Space Launch Complexes 46 and 36 for commercial users.
