NASA supervised a May 5 Delta II liftoff from Vandenberg AFB, Calif., carrying a prototype sensor technology payload for the U.S. Missile Defense Agency into a low-Earth polar orbit. The $400-million Space Tracking and Surveillance System Advanced Technology Risk Reduction (SSTS-ATRR) mission was originally known as the Block 2010 Space Risk Reduction. The goal is to demonstrate sensor technology to track ballistic missiles.
Piper Aircraft’s acquisition early this month by the Imprimis Fund is good news for the PiperJet project since the Singapore-based investment group said it fully supports the aircraft’s development. First announced at the National Business Aviation Assn. (NBAA) convention in 2006, the $2.2-million aircraft has won 204 orders, including one sale inked just before the Imprimis takeover of the shares held by the American Fund. A prototype first flew last summer and is now undergoing high-altitude testing.
Boeing is embarking upon a new rapid prototyping initiative for its defense business beginning with flight trials of its Phantom Ray—a version of the defunct X-45 effort. The company is using its own internal research and development funding for flight tests of the unmanned air system demonstrator, slated for late 2010 at White Sands Missile Range, N. M., says Darryl Davis, vice president of the company’s Phantom Works division. “Boeing is in the unmanned combat air system business . . . and in a big way,” Davis says.
The British Royal Air Force is maintaining its preference for the RC-135 Rivet Joint as a successor to the Nimrod R1, despite growing political and industrial pressure pushing the use of Nimrod MRA4 airframes for the role. BAE Systems is believed to be looking at a proposal using the three MRA4 development aircraft as the basis of an R1 replacement. A decision is expected later in the year.
The Russian government has approved integration of 11 further aerospace radar and avionics research and manufacturing companies under the umbrella of the Vega concern, with the goal of creating a single entity responsible for development and manufacturing equipment for land, aerial and space surveillance, reconnaissance, command and control systems. The businesses should be integrated into Vega by the end of September 2010.
Boeing’s renewed focus on prototyping at its Phantom Works is aimed squarely at preparing the company for future unmanned aerial system (UAS) competitions.
Swedish Space Corp. has bought its partner in the PrioraNet satellite tracking service, and will operate as a worldwide commercial service based in Kiruna, Sweden. The move came after SSC received approval from the U.S. to buy Universal Space Network, which will continue to operate as a U.S. corporation. In addition to Earth stations in the Swedish arctic, Alaska and Hawaii, PrioraNet also owns the Centro de Estudios Espaciales in Santiago, Chile, and has collaborative agreements with stations in Europe, India, Australia, New Zealand, Africa and Antarctica.
To help airlines reduce capacity and adjust quickly to drop in demand, the European Parliament is easing rules on slots for the current summer season. The parliamentary vote lifts the so-called 80/20 rule on slots, which requires carriers to use their slots at least 80% of the time or risk losing them. Several airline officials say more is needed. The slot waiver should be extended to cover the winter months, soon, so airlines can properly plan for that period, several airline lobbyists said.
A bold bid by Lufthansa to bring the airline world into the air charter business should survive the current downturn in the business jet sector, executives say.
French industry, including renowned small-size manufacturers, may soon end production of leisure and sporty aircraft following the bankruptcy of Apex, a key player. This group, which sprang from consolidation initiatives, manufactured aircraft such as the successful DR400 four-seater and high-performance aerobatic single-seaters. In addition, Socata—heir to a long tradition established by Morane-Saulnier in 1911—is now focusing on business aviation after terminating light training and travel aircraft.
NASA is running out of plutonium-238, the nuclear-weapon byproduct it uses to generate electricity for spacecraft that venture beyond the range of solar energy, and the National Research Council thinks the U.S. government should restart production to enable deep-space exploration to continue. The Obama administration’s Fiscal 2010 budget request for the Energy Dept. includes $30 million to start reactivating reactors in Idaho and Tennessee to make the fuel for spacecraft radioisotope thermoelectric generators (RTGs).
Australia will enter the growing ranks of nations with a domestic surveillance satellite capacity if Canberra follows through with recommendations in a new defense white paper.
The German aviation authority (LBA) has given Blue Wings the green light to resume service. The carrier’s operating license was rescinded at the end of March owing to lack of financing. Since then, investors increased capital reserves to €80 million ($105 million). This prompted the LBA to grant the airline the right to continue flying. Restart, planned for last week, will be gradual, with Beirut as the first destination; Moscow, St. Petersburg, and Kraganda, Kazakhstan, will follow.
Northrop Grumman will design and build a flight-model broadband radiometer intended to measure the Earth radiation budget from orbit under a 10-year NASA contract worth as much as $44.5 million. The company’s Aerospace Systems Sector in Redondo Beach, Calif., will assemble, test and calibrate the Clouds and the Earth’s Radiant Energy System (Ceres) flight model 6 for the National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (Npoess) C1 mission.
The Royal Singapore Air Force has begun flying its new Boeing F-15SGs, with delivery of the first batch of four aircraft to its U.S. training detachment at Mountain Home AFB in Idaho. Previously, Singaporean pilots were training on U.S. Air Force F-15Es at Seymour Johnson AFB, N.C. Singapore has 24 F-15SGs on order.
Boeing, Rolls-Royce, RUAG Aerospace and Deharde Maschinenbau have signed a collaborative research agreement to study open rotor propulsion technology for future commercial airliners. The group plans to test a sub-scale concept aircraft, incorporating a specially developed measuring system, with open rotor engines early in 2010 at the RUAG Low-Speed Wind Tunnel in Emmen, Switzerland. Rolls-Royce is helping with propulsion design, while Boeing is designing the integrated wind tunnel model airframe.
The Obama administration is seeking $7.8 billion for the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) in Fiscal 2010, up 11 % ($802.8 million) from the amount enacted in Fiscal 2009. The extra funding will go to pay for an increase of 91 positions in airport passenger and baggage screening, 109 bomb appraisal officers and $565.4 million to accelerate the electronic baggage screening program.
Kingfisher has converted its original order for Airbus A350 twin-widebody to the newer configuration, the XWB, now on offer. The deal is included in Airbus’s April order intake. Overall, Airbus at the end of the month stood at 30 gross orders and 11 net orders—the difference reflecting cancellations. The only other new orders last month were for three A330-200s, including one from International Lease Finance Corp. The order book for the A318 and A319 remain in negative territory. Airbus delivered 162 aircraft in the first four months.
EADS and Lockheed Martin announced a partnership to build a helicopter for requirements the U.S. Army hasn’t set. The EC645 Armed Scout, effectively an up-armored EC145, will be pitched as an Armed Reconnaissance Helicopter (ARH) when (and if) the Army re-competes the program. Corporate leadership remained mum about most of the details, including when and whether the company will build a prototype. The focus for the moment, according to EADS chief operating officer David Oliver, is creating the right team to meet Army requirements, whatever those may be.
ST Aerospace’s revenues of SING $458 million were down 2% in the first quarter compared to the same period last year, primarily because there were not any MD11 freighter conversion deliveries.
As Washington debates the merits of a split buy, EADS developers are proceeding with work on the Australian KC-30 tanker in a bid to address U.S. Air Force concerns about the A330-based aircraft. In July, the KC-30 is slated to refuel another aircraft using an EADS-designed boom system, which was long seen as a risk for its U.S. tanker proposal. And there’s another challenge. If EADS wins the contract, it plans to assemble both the tanker and A330-F freighters at a new facility in Mobile, Ala.
A snag in a U.S. Navy-led weapon data-link development may become a factor in determining the outcome this fall of a hotly contested U.S. Air Force competition between Raytheon and a Boeing/Lockheed Martin team to develop a new 250-lb. bomb.
The first-quarter results are in—and they bear bad tidings for U.S. general aviation manufacturers, which saw a 41.1% decrease in airplane deliveries and 18.2% decline in billings compared with first-quarter 2008. GA manufacturers delivered 462 aircraft in the first quarter—350 units within North America, 89 in Europe, 8 in South America and 15 in the rest of the world. The turboprop aircraft segment showed the only growth, with deliveries of 92 units, up 3.4% from the 89 delivered last year.
The way ahead for the A400M military airlifter may not be clear until year-end, even if customer states commit this summer to continuing with the program. However, a critical milestone is fast approaching for the TP400D turboprop’s full-authority digital engine control software: Its initial flight-test is scheduled for this month. The Fadec software has become the pacing item for the airlifter’s first flight, owing to problems with attaining the needed civil certification with the European Aviation Safety Agency.
Pentagon contractors who think the Fiscal 2010 budget process is painful had better brace for an even tougher Fiscal 2011. That’s likely to be the first year that overall U.S. defense spending levels off, according to military and industry insiders. Initial phases of the 2011 budget are now underway as the services’ major commands formulate initial funding proposals. Those will eventually be collated in the Pentagon late this year in advance of a request to Congress next February.
