The French defense ministry has placed an order for two Eurocopter EC225s as a gapfiller to bridge delays in the NH90 delivery schedule. The two rotorcraft, to be used for maritime security, are set to arrive next March and June as replacements for Aerospatiale SA 321 Super Frelons. The EC225s are to be based at the Lanveoc naval air station; the NH90s are now slated to take over the role in late 2011. The EC225 is the civil variant of the EC725, which the French military (both air force and navy) has already deployed to Afghanistan.
Four employees of the Los Angeles-based Northrop Grumman Corp. were honored at the Hispanic Engineer National Achievement Awards Conference or their technical achievements and leadership. Rosa Sandoval and Ana-Luisa Ramirez both received the Luminary Award, Teresa Segura the Most Promising Award and Emilio Sovero the Outstanding Technical Achievement Award.
General Electric and NASA are close to finishing initial tests of a one-fifth-scale open rotor that indicates acoustic performance at low speeds (see p. 54). The tests simulate approach and takeoff conditions during which the rotor will be heard by people on the ground, and are considered a potential “show-stopper” for the engine concept. The rig, at the NASA Glenn Research Center, was last used 20 years ago when GE developed the GE36 unducted fan engine, and has been extensively modified for the new tests.
The chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee says he would like to push for ratification of treaties with the U.K. and Australia to loosen export controls, but he needs the Obama administration to wrap up some lingering questions on the ground-breaking deals first. “This has really kind of dragged on and is something we need to resolve, one way or another,” Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) tells State and Justice department officials in a hearing on the treaties, which were signed in 2007.
Bombardier has received U.S. certification for an optional enhanced vision system (EVS) on its Challenger 605 business jet. Images from a CMC Electronics CMA-2600i infrared sensor are presented on the pilot’s head-up display (HUD) and copilot’s multi-function display. Rockwell Collins integrated the EVS and supplies the HGS-6605 digital HUD with a liquid-crystal display.
USAF Maj. Gen. (ret.) Patrick Halloran (Colorado Springs, Colo.)
Regarding the Republic XF-103 program (AW&ST Nov. 9, p. 10; Oct. 26/Nov. 2, p. 8). As a lieutenant, I was one of several pilots from the 506th Fighter Wing at Dow AFB, Maine, who would pick up new F-84Fs at the Republic factory and deliver them. Our unit was the first to receive the F model.
Faced with potential range and payload shortfalls on the 787 due to weight growth, Boeing has quietly begun making significant configuration changes to the 787-9 while upping the maximum takeoff weight of all the family variants to compensate. The company confirms that it has reversed an earlier decision to configure the stretched 787-9 variant with a longer wing, and will instead fit a common wing to both the 787-8 and -9.
Gulfstream Aerospace reports its flagship G650 “has successfully completed its first series of flight tests” and is on schedule for certification in 2011. The 7,000-nm.-range business jet’s first flight, on Nov. 25, was cut short when a landing gear door caused excessive vibration. The manufacturer remedied that problem with a temporary fix to permit the flight testing to continue Dec. 4. On the latter, 105-min. flight, the crew evaluated the aircraft’s hydraulic, power-generation, environmental and other systems and controls.
The Global Hawk Block 40 unmanned aircraft achieved its first flight last month, a 2-hr. jaunt from manufacturer Northrop Grumman’s Palmdale, Calif., facility to Edwards AFB, Calif., where testing will take place. The Block 40 will carry the Multi-Platform Radar Technology Insertion Program sensor designed to identify and track moving targets. It also will be the host for NATO’s ground surveillance system. Meanwhile, testing of the Block 20/30 Global Hawk continues at Edwards.
NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) engineers plan to continue diagnosis of what appears to be a seized wheel on the already stranded Mars rover Spirit. The new problems with the right rear wheel emerged during operations to try to free Spirit from soft soil where it has been trapped since late April. NASA is still unsure whether Spirit remains trapped because it is wedged on an obstacle or because the right rear wheel has stopped working.
James Ream has been named senior vice president of maintenance and engineering of American Airlines . He has been president/CEO of ExpressJet was president/chief operating officer Continental Express Airlines. Ream succeeds Carmine Romano, who is retiring. Following Ream at ExpressJet will be T. Patrick Kelly, who is a member of the board of directors and will be interim CEO.
A year after completing the purchase of the Czech Republic’s Walter Engines, GE Aviation is pursuing an upgrade to 800-shp. of Walter’s widely used M601 turboprop, beginning a drive to penetrate Eastern Europe’s markets.
Upgraded A-50U Mainstay airborne early warning and control aircraft should start entering air force inventory next year, says Maj. Gen. Oleg Barmin, its head of armament programs. The Beriev design bureau and project partner Vega say the first upgraded A-50U has been completed. The effort is aimed at introducing more modern electronics to the system first fielded in 1984. As part of the overhaul, power consumption and weight also are coming down.
Airlines will increase maintenance, reoair and overhaul outsourcing for two main reasons, predicts Christopher Gibbs, Cathay Pacific’s engineering director. He told AVIATION WEEK’s MRO Asia Conference that airlines generally don’t have economies of scale and are focusing on their core business of moving passengers and cargo. “Major MROs are large businesses” and can have market capitalization that is bigger than most airlines, says Gibbs. For instance, Hong Kong Aircraft Engineering has a market capitalization of $2.2 billion, which could put it in the top 15 airlines.
EADS North American Defense received a $247-million contract from the U.S. Army for its Light Utility Helicopter program. The company is to produce 45 UH-72As, 30 medevac mission equipment packages, 30 medevac and 30 hoist B-kits, four VIP mission equipment packages, 11 engine inlet barrier filters, and environmental control and airborne radio comm units.
As promised when first announced in 2005, Embraer’s Phenom 300 light jet received its type and production certificates from Brazil’s ANAC civil aviation authority Dec. 3, one year after the smaller Phenom 100 did the same. FAA certificate award is expected shortly. The $8.14-million Phenom 300 has an IFR range of 1,971 nm. with six occupants and a top cruise speed of 453 kt.
Italy is offering 1,200 more personnel to NATO’s Afghanistan operation, making it the largest contributor of additional troops to the International Security Assistance Force outside of the U.S.’s new 30,000-strong increase. NATO members have already committed almost 7,000 more troops, and last week Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said the final figure could be larger. NATO will not say how the non-U.S. contribution is split, leaving those announcements to participating governments.
The European Commission’s latest “blacklist” of airlines banned from operating in European airspace shows improvements in Albania, Angola, Egypt, the Russian Federation, Ukraine, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. But oversight issues in Djibouti, Congo and the island nation of Sao Tome and Principe have led to a ban on carriers flying from those countries. Yemenia is of particular note in this latest blacklist, since the previous list was issued just days after the crash of IY626, an Airbus A310 approaching Comoros. Ramp checks this year by France, Germany, Italy and the U.K.
Anand Kathula has been appointed vice president-engineering of the Park Aircraft Technologies Corp. , Newton, Kan. He was technical director of structural testing and materials at Epic Aircraft, Bend, Ore.
The Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) joined the operational world of large unmanned reconnaissance aircraft with delivery Dec. 10 in Israel of its first Heron, a product of Israel Aerospace Industries. The aircraft is leased by the Canadian company MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates Ltd. and will be operated by the RAAF in Afghanistan for at least a year beginning in early 2010. The RAAF has an option on the Heron system for two additional years.
Graham Warwick (Washington), Amy Butler (New York)
Officials at the Pentagon appear poised to take a more conservative approach to the $300-billion Joint Strike Fighter program after design changes, parts shortages and out-of-sequence work severely delayed completion of development aircraft. Officials at Lockheed Martin maintain the problems are finally under control and they expect a six-month slip in completing development deliveries.
The Air Force’s outspoken intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) chief, Lt. Gen. Dave Deptula, has more predictions about what the military’s future may look like. He suggests that traditional staff designations—A2, G3, J8, etc., which indicate branches of the military and silos such as operations, command-and-control and intelligence—will give way to a more flexible “matrixing” of specialties and a rebuilding of the ISR career fields.
Spanish low-fare airline Vueling is in the middle of a strategic review to determine its evolution. The review is far-reaching, exploring “any mode of growth” in the next years in an effort to regain momentum and become established as one of the big players in the low-fare airline sector.
Schwartz did not rain only on Boeing’s parade. He sent a few dark clouds Lockheed Martin’s way. The Air Force chief squashed the idea of an export version of the F-22 Raptor for Japan, which some had hoped would extend the life of the production line in Marietta, Ga. Three miracles would be needed to realize the export version: relief on the law against exporting the twin-engine stealthy fighter, some way to bridge a likely production gap and someone to pay for the high cost of developing the export variant, which he says would be a tall order.
India’s navy has released a request for information to Boeing for the F/A-18 Block II and Dassault for the Rafale for carrier operations. The action comes as the Defense Research Development Organization says trials for the naval version of the Light Combat Aircraft are likely to be delayed until 2013.
