The U.K. Royal Air Force is preparing for what will likely be its longest Sentinel R1 deployment for operations in Afghanistan to support the country’s August national elections. The third deployment for the Raytheon-developed airborne stand-off radar system may last five months. The Sentinel R1 continues to be deployed in advance of the Defense Ministry declaring initial operational capability. Full operational capability is expected in 2011.
Bettina H. Chavanne (NAS Patuxent River, Md., and Washington)
The future newest, heaviest helicopter in the U.S. Navy arsenal is laboring under its own weight. The CH-53K squeaked through its preliminary design review recently, but it is facing disruptive cost and schedule delays.
Graham Warwick (Le Bourget), Robert Wall (Le Bourget)
Sensing an irreversible shift toward unmanned aircraft, aerospace companies are reshaping their businesses. The most dramatic move is the creation of an unmanned airborne system division within Boeing Military Aircraft, but manufacturers across the industry are focusing resources on autonomous systems.
The bulk of Eurofighter Typhoon Tranche 3A aircraft likely will initially be fitted with the Captor M mechanically scanned radar, as the four partner nations try to agree on a common road map for integrating radar technology. A Eurofighter executive suggests any plans for an active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar are “unlikely to meet the Tranche 3A time scales.” Retrofitting AESA technology to T3A aircraft, he suggests, will be the probable approach. Tranche 2 aircraft also may receive an AESA upgrade.
Software for the TP400D turboprop engine on the A400M is about to be delivered, a key milestone as Airbus Military tries to fly the European airlifter by year-end. Software Load 1.2 for the TP400’s full-authority digital engine control is to undergo European Aviation Safety Agency certification in the fall, says Egon Behle, CEO of MTU, which is responsible for the system.
While Russia’s military elite have already seen the prototype—or perhaps prototypes—of the air force’s next–generation heavy fighter, the aircraft will likely only make its public debut after first flight, if tradition is followed.
While denying they are on a buying spree, Boeing officials admit to picking up six “cyber-related” companies in the last year. Those acquisitions include Raven Wing, specializing in classified hardware and software, Kestrel Enterprises, for intelligence analysis software, and Digital Receiver Technology. Digital’s assets are somewhat akin to those used by the RC-135 Rivet Joint signals intelligence aircraft to pluck key traffic out of a crowded radio spectrum.
Robert Wall (Le Bourget), Michael A. Taverna (Le Bourget)
There is a consensus emerging in France that Europe needs to build its own unmanned aircraft wherewithal to catch up with the U.S. and Israel. But companies remain divided over the path to achieving that goal. Europe is about 15-20 years behind its rivals in UAV efforts in part due to much lower spending levels; the U.S. spends about five times more than Europe on unmanned aircraft, argue EADS officials. Europe needs to work cooperatively to bridge that gap, says Bernhard Gerwert, chief executive for EADS’s Military Air Systems unit.
Alenia North America CEO Giuseppe Giordo says that despite a cut in the Pentagon’s planned purchase of C-27Js, he is hopeful the number will increase. The original plan was to buy 78 of the twin-engine tactical airlifters. “Thirty-eight does not justify a final assembly line,” at Cecil Field, Fla., he says. The company was planning to break ground on that facility last month. More important, Giordo says, is production rate. Together with international orders, Alenia hopes to achieve 12 per year.
Regarding your article “Ultimate Clean” (AW&ST Apr. 20, p. 39), I am a radio-frequency engineer who has been fried by his own product more times than he cares to admit.
As June comes to a close, Boeing is set to complete its final two pre-flight exercises on ZA001, setting up a first flight of the 787 that is likely to be about June 28. Meanwhile, Boeing has rolled out the second flight test article, ZA002, in All Nippon Airways (ANA) livery to the flight line and moved the first production aircraft and the seventh to be built, ZA100, into final assembly in Everett, Wash.
NASA hopes it can use untested commercial vehicles to fill a 60-metric-ton cargo shortfall in resupplying the International Space Station until 2016, when it plans to drop the $100-billion orbiting lab in the Pacific Ocean for lack of funding. The White House wants to know if that makes sense, and the panel set up to advise it on the future of the U.S. human spaceflight program already has received a clear signal on the subject.
July 16—Demonstrating the Value of Corporate Aircraft Management Forum. New York. Aug. 5-6—Required Navigation Performance Management Forum. Dallas. Aug. 12-13—Program Risk Management Forum. Washington. Sept. 22—Green Europe. Hamburg. Sept. 22-24—MRO Europe Conference & Exhibition. Hamburg. 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.
NuSil Technology of Carpinteria, Calif., has introduced R-3930, spray-on fluorosilicone, one-part silicone elastomer “with robust physical properties” that is designed to cure under ambient conditions. The privately held company states that R-3930 is not derived from previous silicon products that it has introduced over the past 30 years for aerospace applications, including fuel-resistant coatings.
Since it became clear that it was gaining unprecedented orders for the 787, Boeing has acknowledged that it might need a second final assembly line. But it has put off saying much more. Now CEO James McNerney says the company is “actively looking” at such a prospect. Officially, just where it will be located and when it will be opened is unclear. “Eventually, I believe we will do a second line,” McNerney said last week during the Paris air show. “The question is when.”
France has kicked off phase B detailed definition of the optical segment of Europe’s Musis next-generation satellite surveillance system. The 18-month project was initiated under a €66-million ($91-million) contract, of which €17.6 million was provided from an aerospace and defense stimulus fund created in December. Another €10 million is to be supplied by Spain, Belgium and Greece, which will also participate in development of the optical segment. The optical spacecraft, intended to replace Helios II, are to be launched in early 2015.
General Electric is putting greater emphasis on product life-cycle and one-stop-shop approaches to engine service agreements as it faces more competition from third-party rivals. The company’s strategy includes reaching across traditional organizational silos, adjusting its worldwide manufacturing capacity and emphasizing licensed service agreements.
ESA will inaugurate a new facility at Harwell, England, on July 22 that will be dedicated to science, including planetary exploration and climate change. Creation of the installation, which parallels ESA technical facilities in the Netherlands, Italy, Germany, Sweden and Spain, was decided last November partly to help build support for space within the U.K.
The F-22 isn’t the only point of disagreement between House Armed Services and President Barack Obama’s Defense Dept. team. In revising the Fiscal 2010 defense authorization bill, the panel directed the Pentagon to continue the alternate engine program for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter and buy more carrier-based aircraft to close a fighter jet shortfall.
The incongruous sight of a Southwest Airlines Boeing 737 sitting by a gas station forecourt after overrunning the runway at Bob Hope Airport in Burbank, Calif., in 2000, or the more recent images of a burning Airbus A320 in Sao Paulo, Brazil, are vivid reminders of the constant danger posed by runway excursions.
In an effort to set a single safety standard for majors and regionals, the FAA is asking carriers to adopt voluntary reporting programs “without delay” and is seeking to revise flight- and duty-time rules. The moves are among the near- and long-term strategies that emerged from the FAA/Transportation Dept.’s June 15 “call to action” safety summit here. The meeting was called after the investigation of the Feb. 12 Colgan Air/Continental Connection Flight 3407 crash near Buffalo, N.Y., uncovered numerous safety concerns.
Both teams vying for a massive U.S. Air Force contract to build refueling tankers appear to be taking on a more collegial tenor as they await release of the Pentagon’s requirements next month, but this newfound spirit could be the calm before the storm in a third attempt for the service to select a new design.
Pratt & Whitney’s next-generation “GEN2” geared turbofan development for future single-aisle aircraft looks increasingly certain to drive a wedge between the International Aero Engines (IAE) partners and Rolls-Royce.
Leslie Riegle has become director of regulatory affairs for the Alexandria, Va.-based American Assn. of Airport Executives . She was a legislative and public policy adviser on aviation affairs at the Washington law firm of Arnold & Porter.
Lynn Brubaker and Heinrich Loechteken have become senior advisers to New York-based Seabury Aviation and Aerospace . Brubaker was vice president/general manager for commercial aerospace at Honeywell International, while Loechteken was chief investment officer of AerCap.
