The U.S. Air Force’s battered acquisition corps—after a failed tanker lease attempt and two failed competitions—is out of the penalty box with Defense Secretary Robert Gates’s decision last week to allow the service to oversee procurement of its own KC-135 replacement aircraft.
Astronomers have determined that a small extra-solar planet found last year by the French-led Corot planet-finding mission and confirmed in February (AW&ST Feb. 9, p. 18) is rocky like Earth. Corot 7-b has a diameter 1.8 times that of Earth and a density about five times greater—the most Earth-like planet discovered outside our solar system. However, its surface temperatures range from 2,000C to -200C.
StandardAero broke ground Sept. 17 on a 27,000-sq-ft. expansion at its aero engine center at Winnipeg, Manitoba, that moves the Tempe, Ariz.-based company into CFM56-7B maintenance, repair and overhaul work for commercial jet engines. The facility is expected to be ready by next spring for start of operations in June or July.
The need for quick relief from delays at key airports and an early return on investments already made by users are shaping thinking on which capabilities need to be implemented first in the U.S. NextGen airspace modernization program. The FAA is promising to act on the recommendations in a report submitted Sept. 9 by the RTCA task force on near-term implementation of NextGen. “The stakeholders have spoken, and given us a clear set of objectives,” FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt told a conference held here last week to unveil the report.
The Pentagon is once again exploring wider participation in infrared countermeasures as the U.S. military steps up efforts to protect helicopters against heat-seeking missiles.
NASA Administrator Charles Bolden has signed cooperation agreements with three of the U.S. space agency’s international partners, aimed at advancing joint work in human spaceflight and other fields. On Sept. 11, Bolden and Jean-Jacques Dordain, director general of the European Space Agency (ESA), signed a memorandum of understanding at NASA headquarters that will allow the two agencies to work together on new space transportation systems, drawing on data generated in the development and operations of Europe’s Ariane 5 launch vehicle.
With a month’s flying under its belt on the Airborne Multi-intelligence Laboratory (AML), a modified Gulfstream III business jet, Lockheed Martin says it is already talking to customers interested in offshoots from the program. Although the countries have not been named, discussions are under way with two customers for Gulfstream G550-based versions, and for a roll-on/roll-off system that could be used on EADS CASA C‑295-type transport aircraft, says Charles Gulledge, manager for strategic programs with Lockheed Martin’s C4ISR Systems division.
NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) is in its operational orbit, providing detailed maps of the lunar surface after descending to an altitude of only 50 km. (31 mi.) Sept. 15. Among the early targets of its Mini-RF radar instrument is a hydrogen-rich region (arrow) of Cabeus A (yellow circle), a 40-km.-wide double crater at 80 deg. S. Lat. where the piggyback Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (Lcross) is set to slam the LRO’s Centaur Atlas V upper stage into the crater floor at about 7:30 a.m. EDT Oct. 9.
Bolivian President Evo Morales has enlisted the help of the International Telecommunications Union to find an orbital position for a planned telecommunications satellite his country would like to start developing by the end of next year. The ITU cautions that finding a suitable slot will take time because the orbital arc of interest to Bolivia is already quite crowded. However, the organization says it has identified a number of options. These include a fixed-satellite service slot at 34.8 deg. W. Long. in the 4/6- and 10-11/13-GHz.
Ghana’s potential foreign military sales purchase of C-27Js has moved another step further, with the Pentagon sending the required notification to Congress for the $680-million deal that would cover four aircraft, 10 AE2100 engines and ALE-47 self-protection equipment. Ghana also would receive equipment to use the aircraft for VIP transport, an option first taken by Lithuania and Afghanistan for its C-27s.
Lockheed Martin’s Skunk Works has unveiled a stealthy hybrid-propulsion concept to meet the U.S. Air Force’s pending MQ-X requirement for a follow-on to the MQ-1 Predator and MQ-9 Reaper unmanned aircraft.
Intelsat General, which specializes in government services, has selected EADS Astrium Services’ Paradigm unit as its preferred U.S. distributor for X-band and UHF services. The deal follows a $48-million agreement with DRS Technologies in 2008 to supply X-band capacity to the U.S. military using Paradigm’s Skynet satellites, and a contract later last year to provide Skynet UHF capacity to the Navy.
Honeywell is researching ways to merge the sensor input from an infrared camera with the 3D synthetic vision display on its SmartView system to lower landing minimum visual requirements and possibly even eliminate the need for a head-up display. Evaluations using a development simulator at the company’s Deer Valley airport facility near Phoenix have shown how the pilot can manipulate the IR sensor input transparency level to choose the best mix of 3D terrain and IR imagery.
Oct. 6-7—Human Capital and Talent Acquisition/Labor Management Forum. Chicago. Oct. 13-14—Crew Fatigue Management Forum. Miami. Oct. 21-22—Supply Chain Management Forum. San Diego. Nov. 2-4—A&D Programs Conference. Phoenix. Nov. 4-5—Lean Six Sigma for MRO. Miami. Dec. 2-3—A&D Finance Conference. New York. Dec. 8-10—MRO Asia Conference & Exhibition. Hong Kong. You can now register ONLINE for Aviation Week Events.
Boeing’s push for a more environmentally sound manufacturing platform logged an important milestone last month. Its “green,” or at least less hazardous, fuselage paint reached commercial airplanes for the first time with the delivery to KLM Royal Dutch Airlines of a 777-300ER sporting chrome-free coatings.
The unrelenting slowdown in the commercial aircraft business is forcing French suppliers to readjust their financial outlook, leading several to warn that income this year will be even below their moderated expectations. Aerostructures supplier Latecoere, for instance, last week was forced to revise its earnings guidance to reflect delays in Boeing’s 787 program and Embraer’s regional jet production rate cuts. Revenue, therefore, is expected to be down 25% compared to last year’s level, the company says.
U.S. Air Force Gen. Robert Kehler, who oversees the service’s Space Command, says he does not yet know the cost or schedule impact of lingering problems with the first Space-Based Infrared System (Sbirs) satellite bound for geosynchronous orbit. GEO-1 is now undergoing open-door thermal vacuum testing, and Kehler says he hopes that closed-door testing will begin in the next couple of weeks.
I find it ironic that after a highly successful career in the aerospace and defense industry, Norman Augustine writes in “A Race to the Bottom” about the minority status of U.S. citizens among engineering Ph.D.s (AW&ST Aug. 24/31, p. 57).
Air France is asking for help from SkyTeam alliance partner Delta Air Lines to audit the carrier’s safety practices. The French airline has come under fire from some of its pilots for letting safety standards slip in recent years. The accusations have been made in the wake of the crash of Flight 447 on June 1 on a flight from Rio de Janeiro to Paris. The cause of the accident remains under review. Details on when and how the audit will be conducted remain to be finalized.
BVT Surface Fleet, presently a joint venture between BAE Systems and VT Group, and the British Defense Ministry have agreed on a £309-million ($507-million) seven-year support contract for the Royal Navy’s six Type 45 Daring-class anti-air warfare destroyers.
I was amazed at the letter from Stephen Incledon (AW&ST July 20, p. 8). Every new airplane design is aimed at achieving something new. Otherwise, why build it again? Even when a company decides to build a new airplane, it depends on vendors to provide designs in their specialties. That did not dissuade Airbus from building the A380 or Boeing the 747 or 727. Incledon’s view of the path forward would seem to require that everything being contemplated be previously accomplished. Both Airbus and Boeing contemplate that there will be issues as with the A380 and 787.
Diehl Aerospace and Diehl Aircabin, two joint ventures between Diehl Aerosystems and Thales, have opened a facility in Toulouse for customers in Europe, Africa and the Middle East. Diehl Aircabin was formed last year at Airbus’s former Laupheim, Germany, plant.
CACI International received a $24.5-million task order to provide airborne, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (AISR) ground station support to U.S. Army product managers for the Aerial Common Sensor. The agreement, for one base year and two option years, increases the scope of the company’s AISR business; CACI’s work for strategic services sourcing, overall, exceeds $2 billion.
BAE Systems is “resizing” some sites in the U.K., with at least one, the Woodford facility in Cheshire, due to close in late 2012 when the Nimrod MRA4 production contract is completed. At Samlesbury, 205 positions are in jeopardy when Airbus/Spirit AeroSystems-associated work wraps up. Warton could see the loss of 170 jobs as Nimrod, Tornado and Hawk program-related work winds down, and Farnborough stands to see 111 spots eliminated related to a dearth of Harrier upgrades.
A C-5M Super Galaxy, like the one shown, operating with a joint U.S. Air Force and Lockheed Martin flight crew, set 41 world aeronautical records in one fell swoop. The Sept. 13 flight from Dover AFB, Del., broke eight world records and set standards in 33 categories where no previous record attempts are noted. Included among the records achieved in the Class C-1.S, jet category are: altitude in horizontal flight, altitude with payload, time-to-climb, time-to-climb with payload and greatest payload to 2,000 meters (6,562 ft.).
