A single-engine, seven-seat, light utility helicopter, the 407 is powered by a Rolls-Royce Model 250-C47B turboshaft engine rated at 813 shp. Bell entered a Honeywell HTS900-powered 407 variant in the U.S. Army’s Armed Reconnaissance Helicopter (ARH) competition, and that model (since dubbed the ARH-70A) was selected as the winner in July 2005. The program involves the procurement of 512 helicopters. Through 2008, 900 Bell 407s (military and civil) were built.
Aerospace and defense consultants at Forecast International expect the global turbine engine market to remain essentially stagnant through 2012, then rebound starting in 2013. In total, the world turbofan engine market is projected to generate $292 billion in revenue now through 2018 via production of 66,273 engines, according to the group’s analysis issued on Oct. 5. The business aircraft powerplant segment has been hit with a double whammy brought by the worldwide credit freeze and negative U.S. publicity about corporate jets.
A three-engine, medium-lift, multirole helicopter, the AW101 (formerly known as the EH101) has been produced in naval, military utility and civil versions. Team US101, a partnership comprising AgustaWestland, Lockheed Martin and Bell Helicopter Textron, developed a U.S. version of the AW101 for the U.S. Navy’s VH-71 presidential helicopter program. This version, designated US101, is powered by GE CT7-8E engines, rated at more than 2,500 shp. In June 2009, the Navy terminated the system development and demonstration (SDD) contract for the VH-71.
This family of single-main-rotor, single- and twin-engine utility helicopters has come in a variety of models, and built by Bell Helicopter Textron and several licensees. Models in production or forecast for delivery in the coming 10 years include the UH-1Y improved four-blade variant, with the first 10 units for the U.S. Marine Corps to be upgraded UH-1Ns and the bulk of the USMC acquisition (encompassing 113 units) to be new-production aircraft.
This twin-turboshaft-engine, single-main-rotor, multirole helicopter is powered by Turbomeca TM333-2B2 turboshaft engines rated at 1,000 shp. each. The first flight for a Dhruv equipped with twin Turbomeca Ardiden 1H engines took place in August 2007. The engine that is certified and built in India under the name of “Shakti” was certified in December 2007 by the European Aviation Safety Agency. Five 1H1 prototypes have been delivered since December 2008. Further developments led to creation of the 1,385-lb.-shp. Ardiden 1H1.
Medium-lift troop transport and antisubmarine warfare helicopter powered by either two GE T700-GE-T6E1 turboshafts rated at 2,040 shp. each, or two Rolls-Royce Turbomeca RTM322-01/9 engines rated at 2,100 shp. each. Basic models include the Tactical Transport Helicopter (TTH), which functions as a tactical troop assault transport and ground support aircraft capable of hauling 14-20 fully equipped troops, more than 2,500 kg.
EADS Astrium will build a pair of surveillance satellites for Kazakhstan and establish a venture to enable the nation to build its own satellites under a broad cooperation agreement with France. The satellite deal is the latest of a string of wins by European manufacturers in the remote-sensing field, including an Astrium sale to Chile in late 2008 and a Telespazio/Thales Alenia Space order from Turkey early this year. Further sales to Australia, Vietnam and the United Arab Emirates are up for grabs.
Commercial applications of the Variable Specific Impulse Magnetoplasma Rocket (Vasimr) engine under development by Ad Astra Rocket Co. may be possible as early as 2014, following the first full-power prototype test of the advanced space-propulsion system. Engineers at the company’s Houston facility reported a peak power output of 201 kw. for the VX-200 testbed in a thermal vacuum chamber, 1 kw. higher than the target. The Sept. 30 test marked the first time the two-stage plasma engine’s second stage achieved its full planned power rating.
The CN-235 passenger transport variants seat between 30 and 40 passengers or up to 53 paratroopers. The new, stretched C-295 carries up to 78 troops. The CN-235 is powered by two GE CT7 turboprop engines (the exact version depends on aircraft model), and the C-295 is powered by two 2,750-shp. Pratt & Whitney Canada PW127G turboprops. The first CN-235 prototype flew in 1983, followed by initial deliveries in 1986. First flight of the C-295 occurred in 1997, with deliveries beginning in 2001. Approximately 234 CN-235s and 49 CN-295s were produced through 2008.
A survey by the National Air Transportation Assn. (NATA) reveals that many of its members are challenged by interpretations of federal aviation regulations (FARs) that vary from one FAA inspector within one regional, aircraft certification and flight standards district offices to another. NATA estimates these differences of opinion and “re-interpretations” in complying with the regulations cost general aviation businesses hundreds of millions of dollars annually. “Inconsistent compliance interpretations of the FARs . . .
The Lockheed P-3 Orion is an antisubmarine-warfare/maritime patrol aircraft. Lockheed won a U.S. Navy ASW competition in 1958 and began deliveries of the P-3A in 1962. The improved P-3C first flew in 1968. Lockheed manufactured 647 P-3s, while Kawasaki built 101 under license. Although P-3C production stopped in 1997, the aircraft remains the subject of numerous upgrade programs. The P-3C is powered by four 4,910-shp. Rolls-Royce T56-A-14 turboprop engines.
A single-main-rotor, multipurpose naval helicopter, the SH-2F is powered by two GE T58-GE-8F turboshaft engines rated at 1,350 shp. each. The SH-2G is powered by two GE T700-GE-401 turboshafts rated at 1,723 shp. each. Through 2003,142 helicopters were built.
A transport aircraft intended to compete with the Boeing C-17. The An-70 has a high-wing design with four 14,000-shp. ZMKB Progress D-27 propfan engines with six-blade counter-rotating propellers. An An-70 prototype flew in 1994, and a second prototype flew in 1997. The An-70 effort took a hit after Russia pulled out of a deal to buy 164 aircraft, leaving Ukraine as the sole client. Only six aircraft are forecast to be completed through 2018.
Aviation Communication and Surveillance Systems (ACSS) is introducing software upgrades to address what Eurocontrol safety specialists say are serious issues in traffic-alert and collision avoidance (TCAS) system logic. The software, which has not yet been mandated, will enable operators with the company’s TCAS 2000 and TCAS II systems to upgrade to Change 7.1 capability.
Daewoo began design studies of the KTX-1 turboprop trainer in 1988, and the first prototype flew in 1991. The first two prototypes were powered by the 550-shp. Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A-25A turboprop. However, subsequent aircraft are fitted with 950-shp. PT6A-62 turboprops. Approximately 122 units were produced through 2008. Fifty-five aircraft are expected to be built through 2018. The aircraft is known as the KT-1 Woong-Bee (Great Flight). In 1999, the aerospace businesses of Daewoo, Hyundai and Samsung were consolidated into Korea Aerospace Industries.
The Obama administration’s earth-shattering defense budget requests for Fiscal 2010 and beyond have begun to rearrange the international military landscape in a way unmatched by any other singular effort since the start of the Cold War. In one fell swoop, high-profile U.S. programs such as Lockheed Martin’s F-22 Raptor and VH-71 presidential helicopter replacement, Boeing’s HH-47 new combat search-and-rescue helo for the Air Force, the planned Next-Generation Bomber and dozens of other existing or expected aircraft programs were truncated or canceled outright.
This twin-engine, subsonic advanced trainer and light attack aircraft is powered by the AI-222-25 turbofan or Soyuz RD-2500 turbofan engine, although prototypes have been equipped with Klimov RD-35s The first flight of a Yak-130 prototype took place in 1996. Approximately 10 Yak-130s were built through 2008. About 156 aircraft are forecast to be produced in 2009-18.
Gulfstream Aerospace and Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) rolled out the new super-midsize Gulfstream G250 Oct. 6 at Ben Gurion International Airport outside Tel Aviv. Like its G650 big brother did a week earlier in Savannah, Ga., the G250 came up to the hangar to a cheering audience, under its own power—two Honeywell HTF7250G turbofan engines.
U.S. Army aviation leadership has been strategically redistributing the $14.6 billion in Comanche funding among its various modernization programs since the helicopter was canceled in 2004. But the well is due to dry up soon, and the service is formulating a strategy to protect its resources.
Boeing, with Northrop Grumman as a major subcontractor, produces the F/A-18. The F/A-18A/B/C/D models are powered by two GE F404-GE-400/402 turbofans (approximately 16,000-17,600 lb. thrust each), while the new F/A-18E/F has two GE F414-GE-400 turbofans (about 22,000 lb. thrust each). The first flight of an F/A-18 prototype occurred in 1978. The current model is the E/F, which features a larger fuselage, more powerful engines and additional hardpoints compared to the earlier models. An EA-18G variant is to replace the EA-6B Prowler in U.S. service.
The AMX is a counter-air and close air support aircraft powered by a single 11,030-lb.-thrust Rolls-Royce Spey Mk 807 non-afterburning turbofan. Alenia and Aermacchi (then independent companies) initially pursued separate designs for Italy’s required attack/support aircraft, but began to collaborate in 1978. Embraer joined the team in 1980. The resulting single-seat aircraft made its maiden flight in 1984, with two-seat trainer variant AMX-T following in 1990. Approximately 205 AMXs have been built.
Northrop Grumman will begin acceptance tests on the first Euro Hawk variant of the RQ-4 Global Hawk unmanned air vehicle following its rollout at Palmdale, Calif., on Oct 8.
NASA has named 152 proposals for Phase 2 contract awards in its Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR)program. SBIR addresses specific technology gaps in six general areas: advanced aerospace adhesives to minimize aging and increase durability; computational tools for hypersonic spacecraft; new approaches to fire suppression systems on spacecraft; very small-scale testing devices to monitoring crew health; advanced transmitters; and instruments for small lunar rovers or landers that are investigating minerals in regolith, rock, ice and dust samples.
Ask any Joe on the ground in a combat zone what he or she needs, and you will inevitably hear a list of everything from clean socks to more troops to round-the-clock aerial surveillance. The most obvious and most publicized need in Afghanistan is for armored trucks that can both protect troops from the increasingly powerful and numerous roadside bombs and be agile enough to navigate the country’s pre-modern roadways and traversable wadis.
The C-130 is a four-engine, turboprop-powered military transport. A number of variants have been produced, including the AC-130 gunship and the KC-130 tanker. First flight of the C-130 occurred in 1954. The current production model is the C-130J, which made its initial flight in 1996. The C-130J incorporates four 4,591-shp. Rolls-Royce AE 2100D3 engines, new avionics and other improvements. Approximately 2,324 C-130s were produced through 2008, and an additional 270 C-130Js are forecast to be built during 2009-18. Competition includes the Airbus A400M.
