After the fiasco about the contract award for a new U.S. Air Force tanker, why doesn’t USAF buy the now-operational Japanese KC-767 “off the shelf” from Boeing. I’m sure it doesn’t meet all USAF requirements 100%, but as a Russian general once said: “Better is the enemy of good enough.”
The Air France Flight 447 accident probably will go down in commercial aviation history as the result of a worst-case scenario. Although investigators are still far from being able to say what caused the Airbus A330-200 to plunge into the ocean, it looks like a rare event in the record books.
Giordo is also considering whether Alenia could be a platform supplier for the forthcoming U.S. Army Aerial Common Sensor signals-intelligence collector program. Army officials say they are considering a smaller airframe than is the Navy for its EP-X Sigint aircraft. If the Army’s requirements point to a turboprop platform, Giordo says he will consider whether the C-27J or EADS/Finmeccanica ATR is a valid solution.
The 48th Paris air show unfolded last week at Le Bourget under uncertain economic conditions. Although order levels were drastically down from recent air show levels, industry leaders largely voiced their satisfaction with the level of activity and delegations. A total of 48 nations were represented and 1,982 exhibitors had signed up, slightly down from 1,996 in 2007. Professional attendee levels were roughly the same as those of two years ago. More coverage begins on p. 24.
London is near agreement on a key transatlantic element to the revamping of its guided-weapons sector, more than three years after its initial effort stalled at the last moment. This coincides with Europe’s flagship missile manufacturer looking to bolster its presence in the U.S. market. The Defense Ministry and Raytheon are closing in on a deal that would—belatedly—allow the U.S. missile manufacturer’s U.K. business to become a core member of Britain’s Team Complex Weapons, which features the U.K. element of European missile house MBDA at its core.
The General Electric Rolls-Royce Fighter Engine Team is considering a fixed-price contract proposal to the U.S. government to help stave off further funding threats to the F136 alternate Joint Strike Fighter engine, and steer it through to production.
Sukhoi secured two big commitments for its Superjet 100 during the Paris air show, with Uzbekistan-based Avialeasing signing a $715-million deal for 24 of the regional jets and Hungarian airline Malev inking a letter of interest for 30 more, with a potential value of $1 billion.
Sukhoi Superjet 100 lands at Le Bourget for the 48th Paris air show while an Airbus A380 sits on the tarmac. The show unfolded last week with an economic dark cloud hanging over the aerospace industry (see p. 24). The downturn has forced aircraft makers to curtail production, but it didn’t stop some manufacturers—including Sukhoi—from securing new orders at the show. Photo by Mark Wagner/aviation-images.com
Boeing is studying development of an advanced 777 derivative with a composite wing as well as all-new and 787-10 stretch concepts to counter the emerging threat of the Airbus A350-1000, but it insists the study has not assumed priority over the delayed 737 replacement exploration.
Shanghai Airlines will continue as a separate business with its own brand after China Eastern buys the company, at least initially. Now well into the process of executing the state-directed takeover, China Eastern confirms that neither it nor Shanghai Airlines—both of them money-losers and both based at Shanghai—will cut staff in the restructuring. A due-diligence check on Shanghai Airlines is underway, and China Eastern Chairman Liu Shaoyong is leading a group of executives negotiating with the target.
Embraer has tapped Cyclone Manufacturing to supply structural components on Embraer 190/195 commercial aircraft and Legacy 450-500 business jets. The $12-million (over three years) contract covers various large die-forged structural components for the commercial aircraft; deliveries are set to begin in late July with a delivery rate of eight aircraft per month. Deliveries for the Legacy 450-500 are set to begin in second-quarter 2010. The Ontario-based manufacturer will build both upper and lower wing skins, including the major spars.
Test engineers will accelerate the first “eCore” for CFM International’s next-generation Leading Edge Aviation Propulsion (LEAP56) engine development effort this week, following its initial run at General Electric’s site in Evendale, Ohio, June 12.
Your editorial “VH-71: Spending To Save” (AW&ST June 8, p. 58) correctly identifies for the first time in my experience the cause of ballooning program costs: requirements creep. Requirements creep is at the heart of Western civilization, which includes continuous and unrelenting advancement in technology. Rather than receive criticism, requirements creep should be heralded as the savior and not the devil. We want advancements! We want improvements in performance! We want faster, better, cheaper! Requirements creep gives us all of these.
Safran’s Snecma Div. is planning to test a new high-pressure core design for the Rafale M88 engine that could meet demand for export customers in hot countries, notably the United Arab Emirates, for a higher-power version of the engine. The test, planned for September, will focus on a package of M88 improvements, known as the Pack CGP-9T, intended to reduce M88 ownership costs. The test article will include a new high-pressure core designed to raise thrust to 9 from 7.5 metric tons.
The U.S. Air Force’s $9.7-billion Global Hawk unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) program is in the midst of a tug of war over Pentagon priorities. As the procurement czar reviews a new, delayed testing schedule and criticizes management of the program, commanders in the field are clamoring for early fielding of some untested capabilities.
Single-aisle jets accounted for 73% of the orders taken by Boeing last year and 61% by Airbus. So it is hardly surprising that aerospace suppliers of all sizes are anxious about whether the two aircraft builders will really be able to maintain their optimistic narrow-body production plans. For their part, Boeing and Airbus worry that sub-tier suppliers will begin to pull back in anticipation of reductions that may never materialize, setting the stage for component shortages and delayed deliveries in years to come.
Pacifist organization Switzerland Without an Army has secured sufficient signatures to force a nationwide vote on its proposal for a 10-year moratorium on the purchase of new fighters. The country is evaluating the Dassault Rafale, Eurofighter Typhoon and Saab Gripen as partial replacements for its F-5E Tiger fleet. The vote is expected in 2011.
Pyongyang could be aiming at Hawaii or Guam or Okinawa—or not. A Tokyo Defense Ministry study says North Korea’s next Taepodong 2 test—or perhaps that of a slightly enlarged upgrade—may be launched as early as next month. U.S. intelligence officials say predictions are strictly conjecture. “It could be pointing anywhere, although we’re pretty sure the North Koreans won’t point them toward China or Russia,” says a military analyst.
Presidential science adviser John Holdren says Obama wants to receive “all of the reasonable options” for future human spaceflight activities from the expert panel that started reviewing them last week (see p. 40). “This is a president who gets it,” Holdren tells the panel headed by retired Lockheed Martin CEO Norman Augustine, restating the president’s “commitment to continued U.S. leadership in space, to go back to the Moon and destinations beyond low Earth orbit.” That gives panelists an enormous amount of clout in setting space policy, says Sen.
The Pentagon is terminating its contract with Lockheed Martin to develop a Self Awareness Space Situational Awareness payload for satellites that would provide threat-warning data, says Rick Ambrose, who leads the company’s surveillance and navigation business. Lockheed Martin in October was awarded a competitive contract as was Assurance Technologies, which will continue developing its design.
The European Space Agency has awarded a €20-million follow-on contract to Snecma, Astrium and Avio for a high-thrust, first-stage technology demonstrator to be tested under its Future Launcher Preparatory Program. The award covers testing of subsystems to prove the reliability and cost-effectiveness of the demonstrator design, which employs cryogenic propulsion. The €33-million project is expected to define a reference design by mid-2010 and test-fire a mid-scale demonstrator in 2014.
Aviation Capital Group (ACG) is creating an aircraft leasing company in Egypt with Civil Aviation Finance (CIAF) Holding. Civil Aviation Finance and Operating Leases will primarily focus on narrowbodies, but may eventually consider widebodies, says Medhat Hassanein, CIAF chairman and CEO. The joint venture should begin operating this year and grow to 50 aircraft within five years, he says.
As a forcibly “separated” Boeing 777 captain with more than 31 years at my carrier, I was aggravated by the inaccurate attack on those that stood up to the Age 60 Rule in Bill Hansen’s letter (AW&ST June 8, p. 8).
French armaments agency DGA has issued Thales a contract to bring 60 air force Fennec helicopters up to ICAO standards so they can fly in civil airspace. The €34-million ($47-million) five-year award covers the upgrade of communications, navigation and identification hardware. It will begin with a one-year development phase that will be validated with a series of inflight qualification tests.
