As it has suggested it might, Boeing said last week that it will cut airplane production beginning in June 2010, but it is applying the restrictions only to its 777 line as softness in wide-body demand is most pronounced. “These are extremely difficult economic times for our customers,” said Boeing Commercial Airplanes President and CEO Scott Carson. The company has a backlog of 3,500 airplanes.
The European Defense Agency has kicked off a four-year, €21-million ($27-million) advanced radar program. The Studies for Integrated Multifunction Compact Lightweight Airborne Radars and Systems (Simclairs) effort is meant to pave the way technologically for multifunction radars in 2015-20. The goal is to develop technology for lightweight systems for use on unmanned aircraft. Ideally, the systems could conduct synthetic aperture radar/moving target indicator functions, as well as see through foliage and enable electronic support measures.
Italy’s importance as a player in premier military aircraft development continues to grow. The latest sign: Politicians are backing the final assembly of the F-35 in-country. At the same time, they are giving renewed impetus to buying a joint intelligence platform. Although the parliamentary committees involved have no funding authority, and the votes are nonbinding, the decisions carry political weight.
David A. Fulghum (Seattle and NAS Patuxent River, Md.)
Boeing, which won the U.S. Navy contract for the P-8A patrol aircraft, is designing yet another variant for signals, communications and other intelligence gathering. The P-8A is being tailored for the still-unscheduled EP-X competition to replace the service’s rapidly aging EP-3Es.
Concerned about the growing number of incidents of aircrews being distracted by lasers, the British Civil Aviation Authority is increasing efforts to tackle the problem. Reported incidents surged in 2008 to 206 from 29 in 2007. One element of the campaign is a device being provided to police that can identify the location of a beam.
Retirement of UH-1/AH-1 platforms is neither economical nor cost-saving (AW&ST Mar. 30, p. 8). The shape may be very similar to the birds first seen in the Vietnam War. But, like the B-52 and A-10, updating of the airframe, electronics’ armament and other systems make these warhorses serious players on the modern battlefield, where their survivability is proven and not an estimate. Their digital cockpits are as modern as they come and impressive to this analog old dog.
An International Launch Services Proton M rocket has orbited W2A, a Eutelsat telecom satellite intended to provide badly needed additional C- and Ku-band capacity to Europe, Africa and the Middle East. The spacecraft also carries an S-band mobile satellite service payload—Europe’s first—to be operated jointly with SES Astra. It was ILS’s first launch of the year.
Airbus is signaling it may be able to ride out the current airline crisis while keeping production rates at relatively high levels, but others aren’t as optimistic. Although the slowdown is making itself felt in the lack of new orders, Airbus is sticking to its target of delivering around 480 aircraft this year and John Leahy, the company’s chief operating officer for customers, projects a similar output level for 2010. That would essentially mean no further production cuts.
Financial experts say the credit crunch is forcing more telecom satellite startups to resort to project financing—funding backed mainly by expected cash flow—supported by export credit agency guarantees. The export guarantees are being driven by growing aggressiveness from France’s Coface—as illustrated by a Globalstar deal signed last month (AW&ST Mar. 30, p. 24)—that experts say is causing the U.S. Export-Import Bank to begin to stir. One example is ABS-2, a C-/Ku-band spacecraft that Asia Broadcasting Satellite (ABS) of Hong Kong wants to orbit to 75 deg. E. Long.
Continuing its effort to streamline aircraft manufacturing infrastructure, Russia is focusing Aviastar on production of medium-sized commercial narrowbodies and heavy military airlifters. On both fronts, the manufacturing facility hopes to show real progress next year with the rollout of upgrades to established products.
In the future, travelers at U.S. airports are likely to find themselves more frequently screened by millimeter-wave technology (full-body imaging), according to the Transportation Security Administration. A pilot program to test the technology began in February 2007 at Tulsa (Okla.) International Airport, with the goal of determining whether it could replace metal detectors. Millimeter-wave portals were deployed in place of magnetometers as the primary type of screening at Tulsa, and they have spread to six other airports for primary screening.
The Russian air force is—for the first time—detailing the air-to-air weapons capability of the MiG-31BM variant of the Foxhound, and showing the actual configuration of the R-33S long-range missile. A MiG-31BM was on display at Kubinka air base for the visit of President Dmitry Medvedev at the end of March, as was an array of weaponry for the aircraft. Medvedev was shown the latest additions to the air force inventory and upgraded aircraft types; he also was given a flight in a Sukhoi Su-34 Fullback.
With increased demand for services in the Middle East, Emirates plans to increase weekly service on May 1 to three regional gateways from its main hub at Dubai. Its weekly flights will increase to Dammam, Saudi Arabia, to seven from five; to Beirut, to 17 from 14; and to Tehran, to 21 from 19. For January, the International Air Transport Assn. reported a 3.1% increase in passenger demand in the Middle East region despite the global economic downturn, notes Ahmed Khoory, Emirates’ senior vice president of commercial operations in the Gulf, Middle East and Iran.
Bettina H. Chavanne (Washington), Michael Fabey (Washington)
The newest competition in Washington is for biggest loser. Both industry and the military will suffer substantially if the Apr. 6 budget recommendations of U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates are implemented. Gates wants to ax the Pentagon’s two most high-profile rotorcraft projects—the Combat Search-and-Rescue (CSAR-X) and VH-71 presidential helicopters—essentially wiping clean the drawing board for new starts in military helicopters for the foreseeable future.
For veteran aircrews, the change from the long-serving turboprop P-3C Orion patrol aircraft to the new P-8A Poseidon turbofan is designed to be intuitive and seamless. But for those who won their wings on the P-3A of the 1960s, the change in mission profile, user-friendly equipment and advanced communications is stunning.
FB Heliservices, a joint venture between Cobham and Bristow Helicopters, has taken delivery of the first of two AgustaWestland AW139 medium helicopters it has on order for search-and-rescue training. The helicopters will be operated from Royal Air Force Valley and provide training for export customers of the AgustaWestland AW139.
Thales Alenia Space says a company facility in Aquila, in Italy’s Abruzzi region, was damaged by last week’s earthquake and has been closed until further notice. The plant, which employs 290 people, produces space electronics equipment.
Dermot Mannion last week resigned as chief executive of Aer Lingus after four tumultuous years in which the carrier left the Oneworld alliance and Mannion twice had to fend off takeover attempts by Ryanair. Last year saw heavy losses for Aer Lingus. Similar results are expected this year.
Testing of the General Electric/Rolls-Royce F136 alternate engine for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, halted after debris appeared in the oil system, is to resume following modifications to a bearing. The changes, though described as minor, come at a critical time for the F136 program as GE and Rolls wait to find out if the U.S. Defense Dept. will once again try to cancel the alternate engine. The companies remain optimistic since, despite the interruption, testing will stay close to milestone targets because engine runs began ahead of schedule.
The NTSB has determined that inappropriate actions by American Airlines pilots and maintenance personnel probably caused the Sept. 28, 2007, inflight fire and emergency landing of an MD-80 at Lambert-St. Louis International Airport. At an Apr. 7 hearing, the safety board said maintenance workers used unapproved and inappropriate manual engine-start procedures. This, in turn, led to the uncommanded opening of the left engine air turbine starter valve and subsequent engine fire that erupted during the aircraft’s climbout from Lambert.
The president of the European Business Aviation Assn. (EBAA), Brian Humphries, is also temporarily resuming his former duties as CEO, replacing Eric Mandemaker. The change is not linked to the downturn in business aviation, an industry official says, noting that it had more to do with the direction of the organization. However, the downturn has caused EBAA to postpone seeking a new CEO. Humphries is expected to hold both positions for at least a year as EBAA looks to develop internal talent.
University of Arizona-Tucson astronomer Erick Young, a specialist in designing science instruments, has been named science mission operations director for NASA’s Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (Sofia). A converted Boeing 747SP, Sofia is scheduled to undergo “open-door” flight tests of the cavity that houses its 2.5-meter infrared telescope in July and August, leading to its first imaging flight in December. Science missions are set to begin early next year.
“Pay me now or pay me later” is how Army Brig. Gen. John Davis, deputy commander of Joint Task Force Global Network Operations, assesses current U.S. cybersecurity. Defense Dept. networks are attacked thousands of times a day, according to senior combat commanders in the field, and defending its Global Information Grid from cyber attacks has cost the military more than $100 million in just the past six months. “It would be nice to spend that money proactively,” Davis says, “rather than cleaning up after the fact.” Air Force Gen. Kevin Chilton, chief of U.S.
The time has come again to express serious concerns about the world’s flight safety community: It is besieged by mounting unfairness and injustice. The latest development, the worst since unwarranted accident criminalization first appeared, comes from Italy. Four years after a Tuninter ATR 72-200 twin turboprop ditched into the sea off Sicily, a court in Palermo has sentenced seven pilots, airline executives and technicians in absentia to terms up to 10 years.
Continental Airlines and the Star Alliance carriers are one step closer to forging a partnership that would control the largest share of transatlantic traffic, thanks to an initial go-ahead from U.S. regulators. This move is part of a major shake-up of the Atlantic market that sees U.S. and European carriers maneuvering into three giant competing entities.
