AAI intends to have an autonomous cargo rotorcraft ready to test in a year after signing an exclusive agreement licensing Carter Aviation Technologies’ slowed rotor/compound (SR/C) vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL)-capable design for unmanned applications.
Tokyo Narita airport is set to lose its status as Japan’s official international gateway as the government plans further liberalization of access to Haneda, its more conveniently located downtown rival. Haneda, traditionally restricted to domestic services, will host daytime flights to Europe and North America. Half of the 60,000 new annual slots at Haneda next year will be allocated to those flights.
Boeing engineers are in the early stage of setting up the third Wideband Global Satcom (WGS-3) communications satellite after its launch Dec. 5 on a United Launch Alliance Delta IV. Delayed from Dec. 2 by weather at Cape Canaveral AFS, Fla., the 8:47 p.m. EST launch was the first for a WGS spacecraft on the Delta IV. The first two WGS spacecraft flew on ULA Atlas Vs. The WGS-3 launch also was a first for the Delta IV Medium-plus (5,4) configuration.
The same approach adopted by some U.S. states to help keep their roadsides free of bottles and cans might help hold down the level of junk orbiting Earth. One of the ideas broached at a conference on orbital debris sponsored by NASA and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is requiring satellite operators to pay a deposit before launching a new spacecraft. “If a satellite owner-operator or third party then removes the satellite from orbit, it gets the deposit back,” says Brian Weeden, technical adviser to the Secure World Foundation.
Aircrew numbers in the Russian air force are to be cut by 40% as part of a program that will see the service adopt a revised operational-command structure by year-end. Col. Gen. Alexander Zelin, the air force chief, unveiled the far-reaching plan last summer with the aim of transforming his service into an agile force capable of dealing with more diverse types of threats. Zelin says the new structure will consist of operational commands, air force bases and aerospace defense brigades (to counter aircraft and missile threats).
SSTL has delivered 18 GPS receivers to Sierra Nevada Corp. for integration in Orbcomm’s 18-spacecraft second-generation mobile satellite system. The receivers, which provide time, position and velocity data, will be used for onboard orbit determination. Orbcomm 2 is to be orbited starting late next year.
Robert G. Bell, who is Brussels-based senior vice president of the Science Applications International Corp., McLean, Va., has been elected chairman for 2010‑11 of the NATO Industrial Advisory Group . He succeeds Raffaele Esposito of Finmeccanica’s Selex Communications.
Lynn Brubaker has been elected chair of the board of directors of the Alexandria, Va.-based Flight Safety Foundation . She is a former executive of Honeywell International and the McDonnell Douglas Corp., who started her career at Comair and Northwest Airlines.
Boeing is completing the development stage of a simulator visual display system that provides unvarying resolution wherever the pilot looks, avoiding the problems other back-projected displays have when the target image crosses the join between screens. The Constant Resolution Visual System (CRVS) is made up of curved screens, each with a single high-definition projector rather than the multiple projectors used in the company’s previous displays.
Boeing has identified Panama’s Copa Airlines as the subject of two previously unidentified 737 orders and has formally listed Korean Air as the purchaser of five 747-8 Intercontinental passenger aircraft. The additions give Boeing 98 net orders for the year.
With the 787 finally poised for first flight, Rolls-Royce and General Electric are working to introduce newly developed engine improvements earlier into the program than scheduled.
Lufthansa Technik’s Airframe Related Components in Hamburg has installed a new 5-meter (16.4-ft.) -dia. autoclave that will enable it to cure fairings from the largest jet engines and large flap systems as well as radomes that have been repaired for further use by its airline customers. The facility has also been expanded and its production processes streamlined to provide faster service.
Airbus and Boeing face many unknowns as they ponder the multibillion-dollar question of using open-rotor rather than conventional engines for their next-generation airliners, but at least one critical part of the puzzle—noise—now appears to be falling into place.
United Aircraft Corp. continues to grapple with creating a single structure that will allow it to manage the 100-plus enterprises that come under its aegis. From its establishment in 2006, UAC has been striving to devise an organization plan to simplify management and attract investors. The latest reshuffle came last month, following the melding of MiG Corp. and Kazan aircraft manufacturing plant (KAPO) into UAC’s shareholding setup.
By year-end, Eurofighter partners hope to have integration and cost proposals on two key weapons for the Typhoon, while ongoing work on radar and engine upgrades will conclude about three months later. Service Release Package (SRP) 14 includes the MBDA Meteor rocket-ramjet-powered air-to-air missile and the Raytheon Paveway IV dual-mode precision-guided bomb. The intent is to have Meteor available in 2014-15 for Eurofighter partners Germany, Italy, Spain and the U.K.
Air Algerie is scheduled to take delivery of four ATR 72-500s next year to help build its regional network. The order comes in the wake of a commitment announced recently for more Boeing 737s. Air Algerie has been seeking to improve its regional connections, and the latest acquisition increases its ATR turboprop fleet to 12. The new airplanes will be configured with 66 seats.
The Australian Competition & Consumer Commission gave final approval Dec. 10 to a joint venture between Delta Air Lines and the Virgin Blue Group for U.S.-Australia services, but the carriers still need U.S. Transportation Dept. OK before they can proceed. The commission concluded the joint venture “is likely to result in public benefits” by enabling U.S.-Australia market newcomers Delta and V Australia to “compete more vigorously and effectively” against established carriers Qantas Airways and United Airlines.
The Turkish government is in talks with the Pentagon over the potential purchase of 14 CH-47F Chinook heavy-lift helicopters. The deal could reach a value of $1.2 billion.
Eaton Corp. had used acquisitions to build up its aerospace and defense business, but it now intends to stay on the mergers-and-acquistions (M&A) sidelines as it conserves cash to ride out the global economic downturn. “Right now we’ve got a recovery with zero cost of capital, and that’s not a real recovery,” CEO Sandy Cutler told the Aviation Week/Credit Suisse A&D Finance Conference this month. “We will be back in the market,” he adds, “but not real soon.”
A helium leak due to a faulty valve on the Ariane 5GS vehicle has forced a delay in the launch of France’s Helios IIB imaging intelligence satellite. The launcher, which was on the pad at the European spaceport at Kourou, French Guiana, when the leak was detected, will be returned to the final assembly building this week for valve changeout. No new launch date has been set.
Simon Luxmoore (see photo) has become chief executive of the London-based Royal Aeronautical Society . He succeeds Keith Mans, who has retired. Luxmoore was group vice president of Messier-Dowty’s Boeing and Military Business Unit and managing director of Messier-Dowty Ltd.
The Japanese government is considering guaranteeing as much as ¥700 billion ($7.7 billion) in investment in Japan Airlines, including loans, to prevent it from running out of cash. The government will guarantee 80% of loans extended to the embattled airline. The move effectively ensures that the carrier can raise the funds it needs beyond the ¥100 billion already available from the Development Bank of Japan.
As one who was deeply involved in the X-43, I congratulate you on a great editorial that tells it like it is (AW&ST Nov. 30, p. 66). Unfortunately, hypersonics is just one of many areas in aeronautics where the U.S. is giving up its hard won leadership to our international competitors through neglect.
Airship Ventures concluded its first year of commercial operation of the Zeppelin NT “Eureka” in November, having carried more than 5,000 paying passengers in 800+ flights. While it will continue to be based at Moffett Field near the southern end of San Francisco Bay, the 12-passenger, semi-rigid airship will expand its activity in Southern California during 2010 because of the more favorable weather there.
