Lufthansa is launching what could be its last in-house attempt to turn a profit on its short-haul business and may face uncomfortable strategic questions if it fails to achieve quick results.
NASA’s DC-8 airborne laboratory is wrapping up the first of a series of Antarctic ice-survey missions aimed at better predicting how changes will affect sea levels around the world.
In a unanimous voice vote, the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee on Nov. 19 approved the nominations of Erroll Southers as head of the Transportation Security Administration and Daniel Gordon as Office of Management and Budget administrator for federal procurement policy. Committee Chairman Joe Lieberman (I-D-Conn.) noted that Southers, who has worked in government and academia, has 30 years’ experience in public safety, homeland security and intelligence.
An article in the Nov. 16 issue (p. 45) incorrectly described the number of launches Sea Launch is tentatively planning after it emerges from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Current planning calls for four Sea Launch missions and two Land Launch flights a year.
Sukhoi is adjusting the schedule for delivery of the Superjet 100 regional jet, with first customer handovers to Aeroflot and Armavia now not expected until well into 2010. Aircraft certification is no longer slated for this year. Culprits include delays in building and certifying the PowerJet SaM146 engine. Armavia officials indicate they expect to get the Superjet 100 in April.
A U.S. flight crew has flown the Qinetiq Zephyr high-altitude long-endurance unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) for the first time, during recent trials at the U.S. Army’s Yuma proving ground in Arizona. The renewed flight test program includes payload option evaluation as well as developing concepts of operation for the solar-powered UAV. The trials are the first elements of an enabling contract led by the U.S. Naval Air Warfare Center’s Aircraft Div.
Douglas Barrie (London), Michael A.Taverna (Dubai)
Uncertainly over the future of the U.K.’s Mantis medium-altitude long-endurance (MALE) demonstrator—despite the recent success of the rapid prototyping program—reflects wider doubts over London’s UAV and unmanned combat air vehicle strategy.
While I cannot blame the Europeans, and Pierre Sparaco in particular, for trying to get a piece of the $45 billion that the U.S. needs to spend on a replacement tanker, the Europeans are the ones endangering the lives of U.S. military personnel with their insistence on “competitiveness” on one of the largest procurements in history (AW&ST Oct. 19, p. 66). The new tanker program will eventually hit $100 billion, and the Europeans will be happy to get half of it.
David A. Fulghum (Washington), Douglas Barrie (London)
China has the resources and technology—some of it obtained quasi-legally and illegally—to build a fifth-generation fighter, say U.S. Air Force and intelligence officials. But Beijing’s aerospace industry may be missing key skills needed for it to match the performance of advanced, Western-built combat aircraft.
EADS’s third-quarter results showed a 77% earning decline year-on-year, with net income a negative €87 million ($130 million) after delivering a €679-million gain in the same period in 2008. For the first nine months, net income remained positive but was down 73% to €291 million. Free cash flow was also negative, but the company’s net cash position still topped €8 billion.
The weight of the space shuttle solid rocket booster (SRB) parachutes totals around 15,000 lb. per flight. Dispensing with these parachutes would allow an additional 7,000 lb. of consumables, such as water or fuel, to be delivered to the International Space Station over the final shuttle missions. Following this proposal also would result in cost savings since the effort expended in SRB ocean recovery longer would be needed.
A U.S. Navy Tomahawk Block IV cruise missile launched during an operational test this month demonstrated the missile’s new anti-jam GPS and use against time-critical targets, acquisition officials say. The Tomahawk was launched from the USS Princeton (CG-59), a Ticonderoga-class Aegis cruiser off Southern California. The missile flew a land-attack mission into San Nicolas Island in support of a combined U.S.-U.K. special operations team there.
The European Aviation Safety Agency has given Airbus approval for extended-range twin-engine operational performance standards (Etops) “beyond 180 min.” For airlines that purchase the necessary upgrade kit, the clearance means that they can conduct single-engine operations up to 240 min., or not more than 1,700 nm. Boeing has long sought extensions to Etops, but Airbus says it is the first to secure the new flight operational permission from either EASA or the FAA.
As aircraft makers weigh production rates for next year, Embraer also faces a much bigger decision: what to do with its Harbin regional jet assembly venture in China.
Two new airframe maintenance, repair and overhaul facilities in the Middle East and the southern Mediterranean will seek to meet strong demand for lower maintenance costs and greater customer proximity, while increasing the Persian Gulf region’s clout in the MRO business.
China has opened what it called an especially important facility in its lunar exploration program. The 7,000-sq.-meter plant in Beijing will be used for the design of exploration systems and all critical subsystems and for in-orbit management of spacecraft and fault analysis.
The U.S. Navy’s EA-18G Growler is now operational, marking a new era in the Pentagon’s ability to conduct electronic attack missions more effectively around the globe. The fast-moving aircraft’s introduction will bring much-needed relief to a heavily overtasked and aging EA-6B fleet, which has single-handedly been conducting the Pentagon’s escort jamming mission since the U.S. Air Force’s decision to retire the EF-111 fleet prematurely in 1998.
Japan’s Hayabusa spacecraft is back on track for a return to Earth after engineers were able to rig a working ion thruster by crossing the neutralizer of one failed engine with the thruster on another. The hybrid setup was tested Nov. 11 and put into operation the next day, according to the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency. It will consume twice the fuel as a nominal engine, but there still is 20 kg. (44 lb.) on board. Only about 5 kg. are needed to reach Earth.
Yemenia wants an outside investigator to help probe the crash of Flight IY626 on approach to the Comoros Islands on June 30, which killed 152 of the 153 people on board. French government reactions to the accident have angered the airline, which is concerned because French air accident investigation office BEA has been involved in the inquiry, particularly in extracting information from flight data and cockpit voice recorders.
Jerry McCawley, a flight safety engineer and test pilot at Lockheed Martin Systems Integration in Owego, N.Y., has received the Tony LeVier Flight Test Safety Award from the Society of Experimental Test Pilots . The award recognizes an individual for flight test safety contributions to a program, organization or the flight test profession. The award is named for the late Lockheed test pilot who was instrumental in proving the P-38 Lightning design and who flew the first flights of the P-80, XF-104 and U-2. McCawley flies with a U.S.
Dec. 2-3—A&D Finance Conference. New York. Dec. 8-10—MRO Asia Conference & Exhibition. Hong Kong. Feb. 17-18—Defense Technology & Requirements. Washington. Feb. 28-Mar. 1—MRO Middle East 2010. Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Mar. 17—Aviation Week Laureates Awards. Washington. You can now register ONLINE for Aviation Week Events. Go to www.aviationweek.com/conferences or call Lydia Janow at +1 (212) 904-3225/+1 (800) 240-7645 ext. 5 (U.S. and Canada Only)
KUKA Systems North America’s new $100-million-plus contract to install an integrated assembly for the Northrop Grumman F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter is “believed to be the first time a major aerospace manufacturer has contracted with a vendor to supply and install a complete assembly line,” according to KUKA officials. Designed by KUKA and Northrop Grumman engineering staffs, the line would be installed during 2010-14 and allow Northrop Grumman to achieve a production rate of one center fuselage per day.
A bipartisan group of senators from states with ICBMs or their support structures are trying to underpin support for the nuclear weapons as the Obama administration and the Pentagon finalize their plans for the nation’s strategic arsenal, including planned and hoped-for reductions. “As members of the Senate ICBM Coalition, we feel now is the time to clearly state why we believe intercontinental ballistic missiles remain crucial to U.S. national security,” say the senators.
I am disappointed with the view of the U.S. Air Force as presented in your article “Bend or Break,” concerning the request for proposals for the KC-X tanker (AW&ST Nov. 9, p. 40).
The conflicts in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iraq are starting to drive Middle Eastern militaries to pay closer attention to counterinsurgency needs, although big-ticket fighter, air defense, and command-and-control modernization activities still dominate the shopping lists of the region’s weapons buyers.
