A United Launch Alliance Delta II roars aloft from Vandenberg AFB, Calif., on Oct. 8 with DigitalGlobe’s WorldView-2 commercial remote-sensing spacecraft on board, after a 13-min. delay while a battery problem in the rocket’s second stage was resolved. Liftoff came at 2:51 p.m. EDT.
Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) will tap Vistagy’s FiberSim software for composite parts and structures development for the Dragon orbiter for the Falcon 9 launch system. NASA has named Dragon in conjunction with the Falcon 9 as a commercial launcher for the International Space Station. FiberSim is being used to develop production fiber placement diagrams and laser projection files. It is assisting Falcon’s design team with fiber placement for the spacecraft’s thermal protection system, and other components.
USAF Brig. Gen. Michael R. Moeller, who has been selected for promotion to major general, has been named director of strategy, plans and policy at U.S. Central Command Headquarters, MacDill AFB, Fla. He was commander of the 379th Air Expeditionary Wing of Air Combat Command (ACC), Al Udeid AB, Qatar. Brig. Gen. James O. Poss has been nominated for promotion to major general and appointment as director of intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities for the deputy chief of staff for ISR at the Pentagon.
Two variants of the military version of the EC135 multipurpose light twin-turbine helicopter are marketed: the EC635P2, powered by Pratt & Whitney Canada PW206B2 engines rated at 667 shp. each for takeoff; and the EC635T2, powered by Turbomeca Arrius 2B2s rated at 606 shp. each for takeoff. Through 2008, 14 units were produced; another 53 are expected to be built in 2009-18.
The AS532 Cougar and the new EC725 are twin-engine, medium-lift military transport and special-purpose helicopters. They are the military versions of Eurocopter’s AS332 Super Puma and EC225, respectively. Current engines include the AS532 Mk 1—two Turbomeca Makila 1A1 turboshaft engines rated at 1,819 shp. each for takeoff; AS532 Mk 2—two Turbomeca Makila 1A2 turboshafts rated at 1,845 shp. each for takeoff; and EC725—two Turbomeca Makila 2A turboshafts rated at 2,100 shp. each for takeoff. Armament can include 20-mm. cannon, twin 7.62-mm. machine guns or two rocket pods.
A single-seat ground attack aircraft, the A-10 is powered by a pair of General Electric TF34-GE-100 turbofan engines rated at 9,065 lb. thrust each. First flight of a prototype occurred in 1972. By 1984, 713 A-10As had been built for the U.S. Air Force. A portion of the service’s A-10A fleet was subsequently converted to the OA-10 configuration for use in forward air control. More than 300 USAF A/OA-10s are undergoing the Precision Engagement modification, for which Lockheed Martin is the prime contractor.
K. David Holmes, 3rd, has been promoted to vice president-global sales from commercial director for the Americas for Washington-based Universal Air Travel Plan Inc.
Lockheed Martin Aircraft Argentina SA (LMAASA) manufactures the AT-63, a new version of the IA 63 trainer. First flight of the IA 63 occurred in 1984, followed by initial production deliveries in 1988. The IA 63 Pampa is powered by a single 3,500-lb.-thrust Honeywell TFE731-2-2N turbofan engine. Twenty-two IA 63s were produced, including three flying prototypes. The last IA 63 was built in 1999. The new AT-63 has a 3,500-lb.-thrust Honeywell TFE731-2C turbofan engine, five weapons stations and an avionics suite from Elbit.
Robert A. K. Mitchell, who is vice president of the Northrop Grumman Corp. Aerospace Systems Sector, has received the Assn. for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International ’s (AUVSI) Al Aube Outstanding Contributor Award in recognition of his leadership and dedication to promoting and executing unmanned-aircraft technologies.
Boeing’s Space Exploration Div. and Russia’s RSC-Energia will collaborate on a common docking system for future human-spaceflight missions, drawing on technology originally developed for the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project by Russian engineer Vladimir Syromyatnikov. They signed a memorandum of understanding in Moscow Oct. 2, setting details of collaboration.
Scientists will have to wait until 2011 to know more about some features spotted in the first two Mercury flybys by NASA’s Messenger probe, after the spacecraft went into a safe mode just before closest approach on the third and final flyby of the mission on Sept. 29. Controllers at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) recovered the spacecraft after the anomaly, and confirmed that the close pass sent Messenger on the proper trajectory to become the first spacecraft to enter orbit around the Sun’s closest planet in March 2011.
USN Rear Adm. (lower half) Mark D. Guadagnini has been appointed commander of Carrier Strike Group Nine, Everett, Wash. He was chief of Naval Air Training, Corpus Christi, Tex. Rear Adm. (lower half) Joseph A. Horn has been named program director for Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense within the U.S. Missile Defense Agency, Dahlgren, Va. He was deputy director of the MDA. Honors and Elections
Five- to seven-seat, twin-turboshaft-engine, single-main-rotor utility helicopter used for military and commercial roles. BO105CB/CBS models were powered by two Rolls-Royce 250-C20B turboshaft engines rated 313 kW. (420 shp.) each for takeoff. The BO105LS featured a pair of Rolls-Royce 250-C28C turboshafts rated at 500 shp. each for takeoff. Approximately 1,400 BO105s, including some 680 military BO105s, were built through 2005. Eurocopter’s newer and more advanced EC135/635 light twin has replaced the BO105 in Eurocopter’s product line.
Members of the L39 family include two-seat trainers and single-seat light attack aircraft. All are single-engine. The current version is the L159. It is equipped with a 6,300-lb.-thrust ITEC (a partnership of Honeywell and AIDC) F124-GA-100 turbofan engine. The maiden flight of the L39 occurred in 1968, with the L159 following in 1997. Although still available for order, no aircraft have been produced since 2003. About 3,000 aircraft in the series have been built.
Boeing has begun flight-testing its AH-6i light attack/reconnaissance helicopter, and will display the aircraft at the Dubai Air Show in November. The aircraft is an existing prototype modified with a digital cockpit and mission system based on that in the AH-64D Apache Block III now under development. All the avionics have been moved to the reshaped nose, leaving the cabin free for payload and weapons. The new cockpit has two 10.4-in. flat-panel multifunction displays, plus other controls and displays from the Block III cockpit.
USAF Maj. Gen. William N. McCasland has been appointed director of special programs in the Office of the Undersecretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics in the Pentagon. He was director of space acquisition. McCasland has been succeeded by Brig. Gen. Susan K. Mashiko, who has been selected for promotion to major general. She was vice commander of the Space and Missile Systems Center of Air Force Space Command, Los Angeles AFB. Mashiko, in turn, has been followed by Brig. Gen. Samuel A.R.
U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates is going to Japan soon to meet with its defense ministry officials. “I have no travel to announce at this point, but stay tuned,” says Gates’s spokesman Geoff Morrell. But he rejected suggestions that Japan had been asked to pay $10 million for information about the F-35. “In many of our conversations with our Japanese counterparts, [F-35 and stealth] have been a subject of discussion. We’ve obviously been encouraging them to partake in this program. We think it is a better option for them, as for all our allies, than the F-22.
“If you build it we will come” often seems to describe the Lufthansa fleet model. The carrier is seldom shy about purchasing an aircraft, regardless of what the rest of the market is doing. This approach has made Lufthansa the only carrier to purchase both the Airbus A380 and the Boeing 747-8I. In fact, it is the first and only airline customer for the passenger version of the new Boeing product. Lufthansa was also early to sign for the Bombardier CSeries—to be assigned to Swiss when it gets the aircraft, nominally in 2014.
This tandem-seat, twin-engine armed scout helicopter is powered by a pair of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries TS1-10 turboshaft engines rated at approximately 885 shp. each. An AH-2 attack helicopter derivative was once proposed that would have featured uprated engines and unspecified armament capabilities. Twenty-six aircraft were produced through 2008, and another 19 are expected to be built in 2009-18.
Thales Alenia Space is preparing to ship Eutelsat’s W7, a 70-transponder Ku-band satellite to be launched by an International Launch Services Proton M in mid-November. Intended to replace Seasat 1, W7 will double Eutelsat capacity at 36 deg. E. Long., a neighborhood the operator is developing to serve fast-growing TV and data markets in Russia, Central Asia, the Middle East and southern Africa.
The Su-27 series comprises a series of twin-engine, single- and two-seat fighter/interceptor aircraft. Besides the Su-27 itself, other versions include the Su-30M multirole combat aircraft, the Su-32 fighter/bomber, the Su-33 carrier-based naval aircraft and the Su-35 fighter. An Su-27 prototype made its initial flight in 1977. The Su-27 is powered by two Saturn/Lyulka AL-31F turbofan engines rated at 27,557 lb. thrust each with afterburning. Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. (HAL) is building the Su-30MKI under license in India.
The Fuji T-7, also known as the T-3 Kai or the KM-2F, is a two-seat basic/primary trainer derived from Fuji’s earlier T-5. The T-7 is powered by a 450-shp. Rolls-Royce 250-B17F turboprop engine. First flight of a prototype, converted from a T-3, occurred in 1998. In 2000, the T-7 was selected over the Pilatus PC-7 as the new primary trainer for the Japan Air Self-Defense Force. T-7 deliveries began in 2002, with 38 produced through 2008. Production of at least 13 additional T-7s is forecast through 2009.
Increasingly conscious of the “Green Lobby,” British commercial aerospace operators and industry groups last week unveiled an interim Departures Code of Practice intended to cut emissions at airports. The interim code considers only “taxi-in operations with less than all engines operating as a method of reducing fuel-burn, carbon dioxide and oxides of nitrogen emissions as well as noise levels on the ground.” Initial discussions about a code began in late 2007, and included representatives from airlines, airport operator BAA and air traffic service provider NATS.
The U.S. Air Force took delivery of its first virtual avionics procedure trainer from Rockwell Collins. The device will be used to train Iraqi Coalition Forces flying King Air aircraft on intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance missions. A team of USAF and Navy combat air advisers believes the system will help transition the Iraqi pilots, who are accustomed to older MiG jet technology, to the state-of-the-art systems.
Final preparations are underway for the Oct. 18 launch of F-18, the third of five latest-generation Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) spacecraft from Vandenberg AFB, Calif. Shown at Lockheed Martin Space Systems (LMSS), F-18 is part of the DMSP 5D-3-series and will be lifted into orbit by a United Launch Alliance Atlas V.
