Having spent most of my professional life “inside” engineering, I have some suggestions regarding the engineering gap (AW&ST Nov. 17, 2008, p. 62): •Better use engineers by integrating teams, reducing middle management and applying lean techniques to administration tasks.
Indonesia has started taking delivery of a new tranche of advanced Sukhoi fighters. Sukhoi says two Su-30MK2s were delivered in late December from the KnAAPO production facility at Kosomolsk-on-Amur. Indonesia, in 2007, agreed to buy three dual-seat Su-30MK2s and three single-seat Su-27SKMs. The third Su-30MK2 is due for handover soon, with the Su-27 deliveries scheduled to start later this year and run into 2010, according to Sukhoi.
Reader Curt Woodall has my sympathy for his difficulty in obtaining water to take medication on a recent flight. However, there is an acceptable work-around, at least in the U.S. Woodall can carry a clear, empty water bottle in the clear plastic bag containing his medications and fill this bottle after passing through security. I have done this many times and never been required to dispose of the empty bottle. Airport security organizations should notify passengers passing into security with water in clear bottles that this is a viable alternative, at least in the U.S.
Poland is buying a coastal artillery system built around the Norwegian Naval Strike Missile (NSM). The 800-million-Norwegian-kroner ($112-million) contract should lead to systems delivery in four years, says prime contractor and missile developer Kongsberg Defense & Aerospace. In addition to ground-launched NSMs, the system includes command and weapon control elements derived from the Norwegian Advanced Surface to Air Missile System, which uses ground-launched Amraam missiles.
With the largest economies of the world in recession, and growth forecasts being cut drastically for the emerging commercial engines of China and India, 2009 is shaping up to be one of the worst years imaginable for the aerospace industry and airlines. Carriers are bracing for deep losses, and many U.S. airlines have slashed capacity.
Jan. 20-22—MRO Middle East Conference & Exhibitions. Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Mar. 3—Aviation Week Laureate Awards Dinner. Andrew Mellon Auditorium, Washington. Mar. 11-12—Defense Technology & Requirements. Washington. Apr. 21-23—Aviation Week MRO/MRO Military Conferences. Dallas. Oct. 1—Green Europe. Hamburg, Germany. Dec. 8-10—MRO Asia. Hong Kong.
DAE Capital, the aircraft leasing and financial business arm of Dubai Aerospace Enterprise, has signed a long-term lease with Air New Zealand for two Boeing 777-300 Extended Range aircraft. The aircraft are due for delivery in January and March 2011 and will be equipped with GE90-115BL engines.
Robert J. Stevens, who is chairman/president/CEO of the Lockheed Martin Corp., has been elected chairman for 2009 of the Arlington, Va.-based Aerospace Industries Assn. Board of Governors. He succeeds Clayton M. Jones, chairman/president/CEO of Rockwell Collins. Scott C. Donnelly, executive vice president/chief operating officer of Textron Inc., was elected vice chairman. Marion C. Blakey was reelected AIA’s president/CEO and Ginette C. Colot secretary-treasurer. Other members of the 2009 AIA Board of Governors Executive Committee are: James F.
The president-elect’s NASA transition team has been quizzing the agency and other sources about the potential cost and time savings of moving the next human spaceflight vehicle to an Atlas V or Delta IV evolved expendable launch vehicle (EELV). But preliminary findings by the Aerospace Corp. indicate it would be more expensive to pull NASA’s Orion crew exploration vehicle off its shuttle-derived Ares I vehicle and mount it on an EELV than to complete Ares I development.
USAF has asked for Lockheed Martin to conduct two additional thermal vacuum test cycles of the second AEHF satellite at a cost of about $7 million. AEHF will replace the Milstar satellites now in orbit. The Air Force also issued a contract to Lockheed Martin to review the feasibility of extending the AEHF system, which would be likely in the event of a slip to the progress in the TSAT program that comes after AEHF production.
Anticipating a relentless drive for efficiency in next-generation aircraft, Eaton is introducing a fuel pump with an overall system efficiency five times greater than current standards and with a reduction of up to 100F in operating temperatures.
The coming year promises to be “just as big a year, if not a bigger year than 2008” on the International Space Station, says Kirk Shireman, deputy ISS program manager at NASA. That will be going some, given the addition of two major pressurized laboratories and some lengthy repairs in the year just ended.
In the article ”Transport Travails” (AW&ST Dec. 1, 2008, p. 33) it is suggested that the Royal Air Force could walk away from the troubled Airbus Military A400M. Alternatives mentioned are extending the life of C-130Ks, buying more C-17s or bringing forward the A330. There is no mention of the most obvious alternative—more C-130Js. This aircraft has performed superbly for the RAF in Iraq and Afghanistan and from cost and logistic factors, would surely be the best way forward.
The FAA Maintenance Review Board has approved one of the big selling points for the 787—that it will achieve far longer intervals between scheduled inspections and maintenance visits. This approval is part of the FAA’s certification program for the new airplane, which is expected to achieve first flight in second-quarter 2009 and first deliveries in 2010.
Indian Dhruv light helicopters will be fitted with a Saab-integrated self-protection system. Saab just received a $24-million full-rate production contract after already performing the development and low-rate production work on the electronic warfare system. Deliveries should start this year and run into 2010. The Dhruv will be fitted with radar and laser-warning systems, as well as a missile warning system using detectors operating in ultraviolet light.
Randy Groom (see photo), former president of the Hawker Beechcraft Corp. and senior vice president of Piedmont Hawthorne Aviation, has formed consulting firm Groom Aviation , Wichita, Kan.
Canada’s troubled helicopter programs could be getting back on track with a revised schedule for delivery of CH-148 Cyclones for shipborne operations and efforts to improve the availability of CH‑149 Cormorants for search-and-rescue missions. Sikorsky will begin delivering the 28 Cyclones in November 2010, a delay of two years from the date set when the company won the C$5-billion ($4-billion) Maritime Helicopter Program in 2004. But fully capable CH-148s will not be delivered until 2012.
Space Adventures, the suburban Virginia firm that arranges for well-heeled tourists to fly to the International Space Station (ISS) on Russian Soyuz vehicles, is booking a “VIP Launch Tour” for the slightly less well-off who want to see the launch of software pioneer Charles Simonyi’s second orbital trip. For $16,000-24,000 per person, the company will provide a four-day tour to the Baikonur Cosmodrome—with a five-star layover in Moscow, tour of the cosmonaut training center in Star City and private jet to the cosmodrome in Kazakhstan—for the Soyuz TM-14 launch in March.
Congratulations on being elected president of the U.S.—and for sharing with the American people your vision of opportunity for the future. Today, I write to you about the workforce of the aerospace and defense industry, about the hundreds of thousands of skilled engineers, scientists and others who help support our nation’s security and our global economic competitiveness.
Southwest has drastically reduced its fuel hedges for the next five years—a huge change for a carrier that made a commitment to fuel hedging nearly a decade ago as an “insurance policy” against oil price increases and saw that initiative pay off with billions of dollars in savings during the past few years. Hedging saved the low-cost carrier more than $3.6 billion from 2005-07 and the first nine months of 2008; it had hedged 75% of its future purchases at approximately $73 per barrel of oil for 2009, 50% at $90 for 2010 and 40% at $93 for 2011.
NASA’s Orion program is drawing on the findings of a special investigation team formed by the agency to study the final moments of the space shuttle Columbia crew, in an attempt to improve the chances of future crews surviving emergencies.
Almost every time Aviation Week editors pause to consider which people have had the greatest impact—positive or negative—on aviation and aerospace in the preceding year, there is a spirited internal debate. More often than not, the debate continues externally—among our erudite readers—after the Person of the Year is named and our feature published.
NASA’s two Commercial Orbital Transportation System (COTS) contractors have a new incentive to finish developing their ISS supply spacecraft—separate contracts worth about $3.5 billion together to deliver cargo to the station through 2016. Neither Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) nor Orbital Sciences Corp. (OSC) has flown the vehicles they are developing with almost $500 million of federal seed money under the COTS development effort.
A Chinese aircraft carrier force, extending Beijing’s reach at least as far as the northeastern entrances of Indian Ocean, looks almost inevitable following endorsements from senior officials.
Funding delays have forced postponement of the final findings of a congressional commission examining the nation’s strategic posture. But in a 12-page interim report, the panel says nuclear terrorism poses a “growing threat” to the U.S. The 12-member panel also warns that if Iran and North Korea continue, unchecked, developing nuclear arsenals, it could lead to a “tipping point” in nuclear weapons proliferation.
