The EA-18G Growler is turning into a formidable nonkinetic warfare aircraft that can inflict damage on a foe without destroying buildings and causing deaths. Instead, it could fool foes or leave them in the dark with no communications.
The FAA has issued an airworthiness directive requiring an upgrade of new software on the Honeywell flight management systems (FMS) served by Honeywell NA-2000 navigation computers and IC-800 integrated avionics computers. The AD, which becomes effective May 14 and supersedes a previous directive, is aimed at preventing a shift in the FMS computed position. This could result in uncommanded and undetectable deviations from the intended flight path, which in turn could compromise terrain/traffic avoidance, according to the FAA.
The “Three Parties” behind Japan’s Greenhouse gases Observing Satellite (Gosat)—JAXA, the National Institute for Environmental Studies and Ministry of Environment—have issued their second research announcement for scientists using data from Gosat’s Thermal and Near IR Sensor. Gosat is the principal orbiting observatory focused on CO2 and methane monitoring to seek sources of emissions.
A Sun shield being developed to shade the upper-stage fuel tanks on the Atlas V rocket and prevent fuel boil-off should be ready for testing by April 2011, according to United Launch Alliance (ULA). The test deployment will take place after the primary payload separates, during a flight that does not require the shield. Normally, it will inflate and deploy after the payload fairing is jettisoned. ULA, ILC Dover and NASA are collaborating on the inflatable shield, which ULA says could be adapted to other rockets or used for orbiting fuel depots.
As anticipated, President Barack Obama has nominated think-tank analyst Robert O. Work to be undersecretary of the Navy and Arizona lawyer Charles A. Blanchard to be Air Force general counsel. Work, a vice president at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Studies, has written extensively on naval strategy. His last post in a 27-year U.S. Marine Corps career was as military assistant and senior aide to then-Navy Secretary Richard Danzig in the Clinton administration. Blanchard also served in the Clinton administration as general counsel to the Army.
The shareholders of Mitsubishi Aircraft have invested a further ¥30 billion ($29.7 million) in the company’s MRJ regional jet project, following the original business plan. Mitsubishi Heavy Industries remains the majority owner. Mitsubishi Aircraft says it now has capital of ¥50 billion plus a “capital reserve” of ¥50 billion.
Prospects for the SPn utility business jet’s revival should crystallize soon, its program backers hope as they seek to secure the financing to complete its development and finally bring the product to market. The goal is to find financial backing to revive the program before mid-year, says former Grob Aerospace CEO, Niall Olver, who is leading the effort to revive the SPn. After Grob declared bankruptcy last August, the rights to the aircraft were split from Grob’s aircraft trainer business, which now belongs to H-3 Aerospace.
Russia is poised to start development of a manned spacecraft to replace the aging Soyuz, along with a new-generation medium-lift launcher to carry it aloft and a new space center in Siberia from which both will be launched. Together, the projects constitute Moscow’s most ambitious space endeavor since Russia joined the International Space Station.
Iranian national Baktash Fattahi, who is also a U.S. legal resident, was arrested and charged by the U.S. government with trying to sell military parts to Iran. The Apr. 3 arrest took place at Fattahi’s apartment in Lancaster, Calif., but charges will be brought in Miami. Fattahi and his alleged co-conspirators are accused of exporting 13 different parts for F-14 and F-5 fighters, as well as AH-1 Cobra, UH-1 Huey and CH-53 helicopters. The parts were funneled to Iran via Dubai, the Justice Dept.
Arguments for capping F-22 production, claiming the Raptor was only meant to counter Soviet aircraft, are flawed. The F-22’s primary objective is to establish air dominance over an area of conflict. This, in addition to air superiority, will require the capability to counter advanced surface-to-air missiles and other ground-to-air threats of a potential adversary.
Russia’s best air defense systems are proliferating despite international requests and Moscow’s assurances that the most powerful and effective of them would not be exported. In fact, this policy backfired when a Russian-built air defense missile was used by Georgia to shoot down a supersonic, Black Sea Fleet Tu-22M bomber/reconnaissance aircraft during the 2008 conflict.
When U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates made public his Fiscal 2010 budget recommendations (see p. 22), he dropped a bombshell that will test the resolve, integrity and leadership of the Obama administration, Congress and U.S. aerospace/defense industry.
NASA’s Dryden Aircraft Operations Facility at Palmdale, Calif., is expected to house its full complement of airborne science research aircraft by mid-year, after its dedication on Apr. 9. Consisting of a 425,000-sq.-ft. hangar and office/laboratory complex situated on 16.2 acres, the site was formerly used for the Rockwell B-1B bomber production line as well as Lockheed Martin’s abortive X-33 Venture Star project. Located on U.S.
Following years of industrial and intergovernmental discussions, Alenia Aeronautica has finally acquired a stake in the Sukhoi Civil Aircraft Co., builders of the Superjet 100. Under the $183-million deal, the Finmeccanica unit is taking a 25% stake in SCAC, plus one share. Finmeccanica was the first “outsider” allowed to buy a major shareholding in a Russian aerospace company. The deal follows the creation of the Superjet International joint venture, in which Alenia holds a 51% stake to Sukhoi’s 49%.
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.
