Richard K. Sylvester has been named vice president-acquisition policy for the Arlington, Va.-based Aerospace Industries Assn. He was deputy director of acquisition resources and analysis in the Office of the Undersecretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics.
Nov. 14-15—Aviation Nation 2009 featuring The Thunderbirds. Nellis AFB, Nev. Call +1 (702) 652-7469 or see http://www.nellis.af.mil/aviationnation2009 Nov. 15-19—Dubai Airshow and International Aerospace Exhibition. Airport Expo Dubai, United Arab Emirates. See http://dubaiairshow.aero
The leader of U.S. Strategic Command says so few satellites are in queue now for launch for critical missions—such as weather observation satcom or ballistic missile warning—that there is a risk of service gaps that could impede the military’s ability to do its job.
Efforts to introduce fuel-burn improvements on the Airbus A380 are advancing even as the European aircraft maker continues to struggle with basic production of the mega-transport.
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)
The top U.S. Air Force civilian overseer says changes to the plan to buy KC-135 refueler replacements are expected to come out later this month. Both competitors are grumbling about the draft KC-X request for proposals (RFP).
Goodrich is to push its short-wave infrared (SWIR) imaging technology for night vision to higher levels of performance under Phase 3 of the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s Photon Counting Array program. Bridging the gap between image-intensified night-vision goggles and thermal imagers, SWIR cameras detect photons reflected from objects and produce detailed, images that allow target ID, even in near-complete darkness. The improved camera will offer higher sensitivity and lower noise to produce crisp images in no-moon conditions.
Modern aviation’s safety record is impressive by any measure, but there is always room for improvement. In Europe, accident investigation is balkanized, and there is too much emphasis on assigning blame. In the U.S., the regulatory response to investigators’ recommendations is downright sclerotic. The result is that efforts to improve safety overall are hampered or slowed.
Mission: STS-129 International Space Station utilization and logistics flight 3 (ULF-3), the 129th launch of the space shuttle program and the 31st to the ISS. Orbiter: Atlantis (OV-104), making its 31st flight. Atlantis last returned from orbit on May 24 after the final Hubble Space Telescope servicing mission. It has one scheduled flight remaining—STS-132 in May 2010.
Even a basic requirement for a U.S. Air Force airborne electronic attack and jamming capability does not appear to be any closer to a solution. But after two programs for a B-52 standoff solution, the effort appears to be taking a new direction. “The Air Force believes we need to have stand-in capability [instead],” says Maj. Gen. David Scott, director of operational capability requirements. “We need to get into a place, persist, fight, kill things and get out.
A British government-commissioned report into crash of an RAF Nimrod MR2 in Afghanistan in 2006 is highly critical of both the military establishment and industry in relation to the accident. Charles Haddon-Cave’s exhaustive report—subtitled “A Failure of Leadership, Culture and Priorities”—examining the underlying causes of the deaths of the 14 personnel onboard Nimrod XV230 over Afghanistan in September 2006, was published at the end of October.
I read Frank Klatt’s letter about the XF-103 with great interest (AW&ST Oct. 26/Nov. 2, p. 8). I remember him from 53 years ago when I was 19 and assigned to flight testing at Edwards AFB, Calif. I worked for Curtiss-Wright, which built the dual-cycle J-67, and remember being out on the flight line during runup tests. It was an exciting way to begin my aerospace career, which lasted 35 more years with General Dynamics on the Atlas and Centaur rockets.
Franco-Italian turboprop maker ATR is trying to resolve production levels for 2010 even as it completes flight trials on the latest version of the aircraft, the ATR 72-600, with new avionics and an enhanced powerplant. But behind the scenes, the aircraft maker also is working on developing a successor product that could seat up to 100 passengers.
With brownout landings and obstacle strikes accounting for almost as many helicopter losses as hostile fire in Iraq and Afghanistan, flight tests of an integrated sensor and symbology system are being hailed as potential breakthroughs in improving safety.
Scientists will be reworking theories about the planet Mercury following the latest flyby of the Mercury Surface, Space Environment, Geochemistry and Ranging spacecraft (Messenger), which generated new data about the planet’s composition and volcanic history even though it shut down about halfway through because of an unexpected power problem. Close-up imagery from the Sept.
I agree with former astronaut Rick Searfoss and Tom Davis on the need to maintain a strong military (AW&ST Oct. 19, pp. 8-9), but have a different view of what they see as a conflict between defense and manned space exploration.
For the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory demonstration project Yellow Jacket, Austrian manufacturer Scheibel’s Camcopter S-100 unmanned helicopter is to carry a special payload to detect improvised explosive devices (IED). Alexandria, Va.-based CenTauri Solutions has received an $11.7-million contract to conduct the demo, and has selected the 200-kg. (440-lb.) Camcopter to carry the payload—a high-definition electro-optical sensor and a system to detect the hard-to-mask unintentional electromagnetic emissions from wireless receivers used to trigger IEDs.
With U.S. defense spending leveling off and the direction of a cash-strapped NASA in limbo, there is much talk these days about expansion into “adjacent markets” as aerospace and defense companies look for new ways to drive growth. That explains why Jim Maser, the president of United Technologies Corp.’s Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne (PWR), spent much of a meeting with AVIATION WEEK editors talking about the company’s ventures into solar power, coal gasification and oil extraction.
Airline analyst Mike Lowry has a sobering outlook for airlines which contrasts with those of some U.S. airline leaders who recently voiced more optimistic points of view (AW&ST Nov. 2, p. 43). Part of his analysis is airline-specific, while much of it looks at passenger traffic as a function of how well the overall economy is doing. Lowry, who managed Aviation Week’s Top-Performing Airlines study, expects oil to reach $90 per barrel early next year, a blow airlines will have to absorb as passenger demand sinks below the capacity cuts they have made.
The United Arab Emirates is embarking on an ambitious program to build a fleet of telecommunications and Earth-observation satellites that it eventually hopes will morph into an operational and industrial capability. The program is one of a number of space initiatives in the Middle East, all driven by growing instability in the region, a perceived Iranian threat and a desire to spur local technology development. Among the new intiatives are:
Flight trials have begun for Diehl BGT Defense’s IRIS-T SL (surface-launched) air defense missile. Germany is buying the weapon, which is based is based on the IRIS-T short-range dogfight missile, as an adjunct to the Medium-Extended Air Defense System. The first flight test of the ground-launched version took place last month at South Africa’s OTB Test Range. The trial validated safe missile launch, the airframe’s flight-mechanical and aerodynamic performance, and the newly developed rocket motor and aerodynamic shroud used on the “SL” version.
Raytheon has conducted the first free-flight test of a powered, extended-range version of its Joint Stand-Off Weapon (JSOW ER) as the U.S. Navy prepares to begin an 18-month analysis of alternatives for anti-ship missiles to replace the Harpoon. The congressionally funded October test involved a JSOW glide weapon modified to demonstrate that a Hamilton Sundstrand TJ150 turbojet engine could be installed within the outer mold line of the basic “truck.” The weapon’s BLU-111 warhead was hollowed out to act as the fuel tank.
Chris Nassenstein has been named executive general manager for engineering for Qantas Airways. He has been general manager for engineering services for Air New Zealand.
