Vietnam says it has applied for three new orbital positions to permit the Vietnam Post and Telecommunications Group to expand its budding telecom satellite network. VPTG’s first spacecraft, Vinasat-1, was launched in April 2008 to 132 deg. E. Long. The 12 Ku-band and eight C-band transponders on Vinasat-1, built by Lockheed Martin, are expected to be fully occupied by 2010. The company then will study acquisition of a second unit. The new orbital positions are 107, 126 and 131.8 deg. E.
French space agency CNES says it appears likely that ambitions for Europe’s planned ExoMars lander mission will have to be scaled back if the mission is to go ahead, even with Europe’s new plans to explore Mars jointly with NASA. ExoMars originally was envisioned as a technology mission. But under pressure from the science community, it was rescoped with a much-expanded instrument package, doubling the cost to at least €1.2 billion ($1.6 billion).
European defense companies are eyeing a possible breakthrough in hypersonic engine technology by researchers at the University of Rome, who say lithium hydride is a potential fuel for scramjets.
Sikorsky Aircraft is giving Northrop Grumman’s Navex air navigation system an entry into the international market on export-bound UH-60L Black Hawk utility helicopters. The Italy-based subsidiary, Northrop Grumman Italia, will supply the systems and installation kits for an initial 15 helos, with a follow-on contract for an additional 17. Two systems will be supplied for each helicopter.
EADS has selected MSC Software’s SimEnterprise suite to support its 2007 Phenix initiative that is harmonizing and standardizing product life cycle management across its business units, including Airbus, Eurocopter and Astrium. MSC is to provide the software infrastructure for EADS’s simulation and computer-aided engineering (CAE) processes. Future projects are likely to rely on MSC’s MD Nastran, a simulation analysis tool; SimXpert, which provides a unified template for users with multiple software systems; and SimManager, a simulation integration tool.
Boeing recently demonstrated that a laser system mounted on an Avenger combat vehicle can shoot down small UAVs. During tests in December 2008 at White Sands Missile Range, N.M., the system achieved its principal test objectives by using its advanced targeting system to acquire and track three small UAVS flying against a background tapestry of mountains and deserts. One was shot down from an operationally relevant range.
An article in this issue of Aviation Week & Space Technology and a government action last week raise the prospect of a win-win-win situation in coming years as the U.S. commercial aviation system strives to increase its capacity and operating efficiency, even as it reduces its costs and carbon footprint.
Raytheon is hoping for funding from the U.S. Navy to continue testing a new warhead for its Joint Standoff Weapon (JSOW), a 70-naut.-mi.-range glide weapon. The new shaped-charge warhead would cost less than the existing Bomb Royal Ordnance Augmented Charge (Broach) made by BAE/Thales and Qinetiq, says Phyllis McEnroe, Raytheon’s JSOW program manager. Raytheon is also planning the next flight test of JSOW-ER, an extended-range variant incorporating the Miniature Air Launched Decoy engine, for May.
The British Labor government last week narrowly survived a House of Commons vote following a debate on the plan to build a third runway at London Heathrow Airport. The motion—tabled by the Conservative Party, which opposes the development—was defeated 297 to 278. The debate underscores the strength of feeling with regard to the development of Heathrow and the broader issues of commercial aviation and the environment.
Mar. 3—Aviation Week Laureate Awards Dinner. Andrew Mellon Auditorium, Washington. Mar. 11-12—Defense Technology & Requirements. Washington. Apr. 21-23—Aviation Week MRO and MRO Military Conferences. Dallas. Oct. 1—Green Europe. Hamburg, Germany. Dec. 8-10—MRO Asia. Hong Kong. Feb. 24-25—Lean Six Sigma for Military. Washington/San Diego. Mar. 17-18—Aircraft Data. San Diego/Phoenix.
E-mails obtained by Aviation Week’s Aerospace Daily and Defense Report show the Defense Dept. pushed for sole-source buys of a mixed fleet for the Air Force combat, search and rescue (CSAR-X) helicopter replacement program as late as fall 2005 and well into 2006. Pentagon leadership at the time wanted the Air Force to forgo an open competition for its $15-billion CSAR-X program and instead buy Bell-Boeing CV-22s, Boeing MH-47s, Sikorsky MH-60s, or a mixed fleet of these types.
When Aviation Week & Space Technology kicked off a series of open letters by industry thought leaders to incoming President Barack Obama on Dec. 1, our goal was to focus the administration’s attention on the fact that defense modernization, education, federal aeronautics research and air traffic management—among certain other areas—are vital not just to the future of aviation, aerospace and defense, but to the nation overall.
Feb. 11-15Indian Ministry of Defense and Confederation of Indian Industry’s Aero India 2009. Yelahanka AB, Bangalore. See www.aeroindia.in Feb. 19-20Aerial Firefighting Conference & Exhibition 2009 Incorporating Fixed & Rotary Wing Aircraft and Unmanned Air Vehicles. Crowne Plaza Hotel, Anaheim, Calif. See www.tangentlink.com/event.php?ekey=AFF%20California
Virgin Blue Airlines Group’s long-haul international airline, V Australia, took delivery of its first Boeing 777-300ER at Everett, Wash., on Jan. 29, and has flown it to Victorville, Calif., for interior completion. The airline hopes to start transpacific services from Sydney to Los Angeles on Feb. 27, four days later than expected under the revised schedule agreed with Boeing after the settlement of last year’s machinists strike. The airline’s original launch date of Dec. 15, 2008, was delayed because the strike slowed delivery of V Australia’s three launch aircraft.
NASA is likely to use economic stimulus package funds to accelerate the Orion/Ares I shuttle follow-on vehicles and Earth-observation missions already in the pipeline. But beyond that, the agency will probably have to wait for top-line Fiscal 2010 budget figures from the Obama White House late this month for clues on how to proceed. This week, the Senate is set to take up its version of the stimulus package that passed the House Jan. 28 with a little more than $600 million for NASA.
The two months that Boeing machinists spent on the picket lines late last year helped push 2008 revenues and earnings well below those of the previous year and exacerbated the company’s struggles with organizational sluggishness and a critical shortage of engineers.
Haifa-based Elbit Systems has supplied more information regarding the Israeli defense ministry contract it received last December for additional Skylark l LE mini-UAVs. The $40-million award is to include training and logistics support, and units, destined for ground forces, are to be delivered across several years. Skylarks were a part of the recent volatile initiative to block mortar attacks from the Gaza Strip. The UAVs gathered intelligence that was disseminated among operating forces within the Israel Defense Forces.
The Metropolitan Airports Commission (MAC) in Minnesota on Jan. 26 voted in favor of an agreement with Delta Air Lines under which the airline promises to maintain at least 400 daily departures from its Minneapolis-St. Paul hub through 2020 and keep at least 10,000 jobs in the area through August 2016. That compares with about 450 daily departures and 11,500 jobs now. The new accord is part of renegotiated repayment terms for approximately $245 million still outstanding on $280 million in bonds that the MAC issued for Northwest in 1992.
Joseph C. Anselmo makes a good business case for both Baja California and Eaton Aerospace in his article “Moving Out” for Eaton to move manufacturing out of the U.S. (AW&ST Jan. 19, p. 52). And if Eaton does not do so, it may be underbid and lose contracts. Then you have a microcosm of this situation happening en masse in America.
Raytheon has received a $154-million foreign military sales contract to upgrade Taiwan’s Patriot Air and Missile Defense Systems. The contract, which includes upgrade kits for radar and command-and-control components, radar refurbishment and related engineering and tech services, was issued by the U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Command. This follows on the heels of last month’s potential $3.3-billion order to provide the Patriot system to the United Arab Emirates; that order includes whole life support and training.
The application of the Boeing AGM-84L Harpoon Block II missile was misidentified in the article entitled “Maritime Advance” (AW&ST Jan. 12, p. 28). The Harpoon is an anti-surface ship missile.
Currency volatility, sharp declines in passenger and cargo volumes, and bad fuel-hedging bets are combining to depress the upcoming earnings season for European airlines. The adverse economic conditions have already driven Air France-KLM and British Airways to warn of operating losses. “I cannot see the bottom of this crisis yet,” says British Airways CEO Willie Walsh. “There is some distance to go, and I would expect this very difficult environment to last for at least another 24 months.”
Europe’s blended wing/body work is largely concentrated in the New Aircraft Concepts Research (Nacre) project, which has examined several configurations. German aerospace research agency DLR says BWBs promise a 20% higher lift-to-drag ratio, 15% lower weight, and 10 dB. less noise. But cabin pressurization, stability and control, and airport compatibility are among the challenges to commercial acceptance, says a DLR researcher.
Bolstering the Eurofighter Typhoon’s multirole capability is now a priority as the four partner nations begin to close on a Tranche 3 deal, and as the Tranche 2 standard enters service.
Two-plus weeks after the Hudson River splashdown of US Airways Flight 1549, Capt. Chesley (Sully) Sullenberger remains the man of the hour. It’s human nature to engage in hero worship; it’s Washington nature to hop on a celebrity bandwagon for a little publicity of one’s own. Last week, Chairman Jerry Costello (D-Ill.) said the House aviation subcommittee will hold a hearing on Feb. 24 to examine “the circumstances of Flight 1549 . . .
