General Electric’s bid to counter Pratt & Whitney’s geared turbofan is stepping up as it prepares for a second phase of tests of eCore 1, the company’s advanced technology core which will provide the basis for both the next-generation NG34 regional engine and, together with Snecma, the successor to the CFM56.
Singapore Technologies Aerospace has renamed six of its strategic business units to emphasize its “aerospace” presence and reinforce that enterprises it recently purchased in Texas and Panama are part of the ST Aero family. As a result, ST Aviation Services becomes ST Aerospace Services; other units are now ST Aerospace Training Academy, ST Aerospace Guangzhou Aero-Technologies and Engineering, ST Aerospace Mobile, ST Aerospace San Antonio and ST Aerospace Panama.
Glynn S. Lunney, who is retired from United Space Alliance, has received the 2009 Space Flight Award from the Springfield, Va.-based American Astronautical Society . Other honors are the Flight Achievement Award to the crew of STS-125; Industrial Leadership Award to James H. Crocker of Lockheed Martin Space Systems; Victor A. Prather Award to Joseph A. Ruseckas, who is retired from the David Clark Co.; Randolph Lovelace, 2nd, Award to former astronaut Buzz Aldrin; John F. Kennedy Astronautics Award to Roger D.
That military transport aircraft continue to have mid-air collisions shows gross negligence. The Oct. 29 mid-air off San Diego between a U.S. Coast Guard C-130 and U.S. Marine Corps AH-1 helicopter was a carbon copy of the 1991 mid-air between two U.S. Navy P-3s. Both could have been avoided had the military installed a basic Traffic-alert Collision Avoidance System (TCAS) that is standard even in new Cessnas.
AgustaWestland is aiming to fly the full prototype of its AW149 (top photo) in 2010, following the slightly delayed first flight of the risk-reduction demonstrator this month. The type could be ready for service by 2014.
Sixteen lawmakers from states pregnant with Boeing work are asking for the Pentagon to “level the playing field” for the Air Force’s KC-X tanker replacement program—level in the sense of changing the rules to favor Boeing. Citing the preliminary ruling from the World Trade Organization (WTO) that finds Airbus accepted illegal launch aid for its commercial product line, the lawmakers, led by Sen.
Australian defense officials have released their Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Strategy, which was developed to address shortcomings in governance, planning and control frameworks of ICT.
EasyJet expects to deliver “substantial profit” in 2010, the low-fare carrier said in announcing full-year results for the prior fiscal year in which it posted a profit of £71.2 million ($119 million), down £12 million from the prior year. Capacity this year will grow around 10%. Cost cutting and lower fuel prices are underpinning the generally positive outlook for the ongoing year.
Governments and regulatory agencies need to work with the air travel industry to eliminate ineffective duplication of aviation security procedures, according to IATA. The high costs associated with meeting global security mandates, estimated to be nearly $6 billion annually, must be tempered by harmonization, efficiency and cost-effective measures, says Guenther Matschnigg, IATA’s senior vice president of safety operations.
Ed Boyington (see photos) has been named vice president/general manager, Bill Beard vice president-plans and operations and Bob Dawson vice president-business development of the Aviation and Logistics business line for DRS Technologies , Herndon, Va. Boyington was president of L-3 Vertex Aerospace, Madison, Miss., while Beard was its vice president-operations. Dawson was director of business development for L-3 Communications Integrated Systems, Waco, Tex.
Dassault Falcon Jet has been forced to cut 200 jobs at its Little Rock, Ark., completions plant. But thanks to long backlogs and the company’s policy of paring back subcontractor workload first, the job cuts—which represent about 10% of Little Rock staff—have been significantly lower than at other bizjet makers, says President/CEO John Rosanvallon. Dassault expects to deliver 70-80 aircraft this year—including at least 30 7Xs—and about that number for the next two years. The company delivered 72 aircraft in 2008.
Prof. Peter Bernard Ladkin University of Bielefeld (Bielefeld, Germany)
Hans J. Weber contradicts Pierre Sparaco, in his column “Leveling the Playing Field,” by pointing out the “indirect support” Airbus receives through the European Commission Framework Programs (AW&ST Oct. 19, p. 8; Sept. 21, p. 49).
General Electric and Avic System Co. will form a Chinese avionics company to improve the U.S. company’s prospect of winning work on the Comac C919 transport. The business will develop and market “fully integrated,” open-architecture avionics and services for commercial aircraft programs, according to GE. The immediate focus is to jointly bid as suppliers for the C919, tentatively scheduled to enter service in 2016 as a new-technology narrow-body seating 156 passengers in standard configuration. The joint venture is based in China but will target the U.S.
The FAA says researchers in the U.S. and Europe are working to develop standards for approaches to communications, navigation and surveillance so aircraft flying over the Atlantic will require only one set of avionics to interact with two air traffic control systems—the FAA’s Next Generation Air Transport System and the Single European Sky ATM Research Program (Sesar). The FAA says it has more than doubled funding requested for research and development in Fiscal 2010 compared to Fiscal 2007.
USN Capts. Robert Hennegan and William G. Sizemore, 2nd, have been selected for promotion to rear admiral (lower half). Hennegan has been appointed deputy commander for global strike and integration of U.S. Strategic Command, Offutt AFB, Neb. He was deputy chief of legislative affairs for the Transition Team Task Force in the Office of the Secretary of Defense at the Pentagon. Sizemore has been named chief of Naval Air Training, Corpus Christi, Tex. He was chief of staff for the Naval Air Force for the U.S. Pacific Fleet at San Diego.
NASA Administrator Charles Bolden plans to travel to Beijing next year for potentially historic talks that could lead to the sort of human-spaceflight cooperation with China that already marks the U.S. relationship with Russia. The way there is far from clear, however, and much work remains before U.S. and Chinese astronauts fly together in space.
For the inspiration behind the next generation of avionics, just look around you; it is to be found in the consumer electronics we use every day. The touchscreen interactivity and broadband connectivity of today’s smart phones and laptops is poised to enter the flight deck.
Martin T. Stanislav has become vice president-finance and business operations of the Bethesda, Md.-based Lockheed Martin Corp. ’s Information Systems and Global Services. He succeeds Jeffrey D. MacLauchlan, who is now the corporation’s vice president-mergers and acquisitions. Mark R. Bostic, who is vice president-accounting, will be acting controller.
Delta Air Lines and its SkyTeam partners are willing to pump $700 million into Japan Airlines, which the transport minister now says might be allowed to go bankrupt and forced into a reorganization. The offer from SkyTeam, which aims to lure the Japanese carrier away from Oneworld, consists of $500 million in non-voting equity capital and $200 million in loans secured against JAL’s assets, says Delta President Edward Bastian.
The China National Aero Technogy Import and Export Corp. says it has been approached by several prospective customers for its L-15 Falcon supersonic trainer, which was shown for the first time outside China at the Dubai Airshow last week. The advanced jet trainer version is to complete flight tests at the end of 2010 and the lead-in fighter trainer in late 2012.
SES will invest in satellite broadband startup O3b, providing further credibility to the Google-backed global high-speed Internet access project. O3b intends to employ satellites to bring broadband backbone and backhaul capacity to Internet providers serving the hundreds of millions of people around the world who are unserved or underserved by terrestrial networks (hence its name, which stands for “the other 3 billion”).
Douglas Barrie (London), Andy Nativi (Edinburgh, Scotland), Robert Wall (Dubai)
The results of a still mainly classified U.K. program are spurring the Defense Ministry and industry to pursue a novel design of active, electronically scanned array (AESA) radar for the Eurofighter Typhoon. The AESA design is already earmarked for the Saab Gripen NG.
Astrium and its new smallsat affiliate, Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd., have secured preliminary agreements to supply an optical remote-sensing satellite system to Vietnam and a communications satellite to Sri Lanka. The two companies recently teamed to supply a remote-sensing satellite system to Kazakhstan. The communications satellite sale would be the first for SSTL’s new GMPT geostationary comsat bus.
Airbus Military is ramping up preparations for first flight of the A400M transport aircraft, including achieving power-on with the four TP400D turboprops simultaneously several days ahead of schedule.
Seven states and the European Commission have signed a Multilateral Statement of Policy regarding the implementation of bilateral air service agreements. The signing marks an “historic achievement that will set the foundation for a financially sustainable global aviation industry,” says Giovanni Bisignani, director general and CEO of the International Air Transport Assn. (IATA). Signing the pact along with the EC were Chile, Malaysia, Panama, Singapore, Switzerland, the United Arab Emirates and the U.S.
