The solid-fuel launch abort system (LAS) that would pull NASA’s Orion crew exploration vehicle to safety in a launch failure will get its first full-scale test this week at Promontory, Utah. Scheduled for Nov. 20 at an ATK Launch Systems facility, the test will be the first of its type since the Apollo era. If all goes well, there will be a LAS test with an Orion mockup next spring at White Sands Missile Range, N.M.
Ball Aerospace will get an early crack at integrating a key sensor into the National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (Npoess) Preparatory Project (NPP). Northrop Grumman, which is building the main Npoess constellation, delivered the Clouds and the Earth’s Radiant Energy System (CERES) sensor (here emerging from thermal vacuum testing) a week ahead of schedule. Based on 25 years of scanning radiometer technology at the Redondo Beach, Calif.-based company, CERES instruments already are flying on NASA’s Earth Observing System (EOS) spacecraft.
Pilots flying Su-30MKIs for the Indian air force are extremely professional, but they’re still learning how best to fight with their new aircraft. A senior U.S. Air Force F-15 pilot says their over-reliance on post-stall, thrust-vectoring turns—entailing a loss of speed and altitude—makes less-experienced pilots vulnerable to close-range, vertical attacks with guns.
A soul-testing job confronts President-elect Barack Obama and his heavyweight defense advisers that include Sam Nunn, former Senate Armed Services Committee chairman, and Richard Danzig, former Navy secretary. Obama’s campaign rhetoric indicated a desire to wind down the war in Iraq and to act more aggressively against terrorists in Afghanistan and elsewhere. Obama also will have to decide the fate of numerous programs, including the F-22 stealth fighter and human spaceflight.
The Phoenix Mars lander is leaving a legacy of discovery that will support arguments by some scientists that water-ice-rich portions of the planet’s northern latitudes could have provided a habitat for the development of life in the recent geologic past.
Employees of Eclipse Aviation didn’t receive their biweekly paychecks on Nov. 12, according to several sources inside the Albuquerque, N.M., company. In addition, employees were told the following day that they could continue to work at the company, but it made no commitments as to when, or if, they might be paid.
Sometime in November, a Bombardier Global Express XRS is expected to best a decades-old polar circumnavigation speed record set by a Boeing 747SP. Piloted by Aziz Ojjeh, a co-owner of TAG Aviation, the long-range Bombardier business jet should depart Farnborough Airport, outside London, and overfly both the North and South Poles before terminating at Farnborough 50+ hr. later. Plans call for five en-route stops.
The European Commission will allow the takeover of Alitalia by a consortium of Italian investors (CAI), but also is demanding oversight of the process to ensure Rome doesn’t funnel more subsidies to the airline. Brussels and Rome have been fighting for years over state aid provided to Alitalia, and EC regulators have now mandated a trustee to monitor the ownership transition.
The floodgates are about to open on billions of dollars of global military spending on new combat aircraft. With several hundred fighter purchases up for grabs, the stakes are high for all the entrants.
France has dispatched its SDTI tactical unmanned aerial vehicle to Afghanistan, part of a buildup intended to enhance force protection in the Afghan theater following an August attack in which 10 French peacekeepers died (AW&ST Nov. 10, p. 35). The UAV detachment, derived from the Sagem Sperwer, consists of a single system and 10 air vehicles. It arrived on Oct. 8 and the next day engaged in an operational mission in support of Afghan forces alongside a Predator UAV and French helicopters.
The Romanian government is making another attempt to sell the majority of 700-employee military aircraft manufacturer Avione Craiova. Aero Vodochody of the Czech Republic won the first round of bidding in July, but privatization authority AVAS broke off negotiations in September. An 80.98% stake in the state-owned company will be sold, with final and binding bids due Nov. 24.
India’s Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft has reached its final orbit around the Moon, gliding over the surface at an altitude of 100 km. (62 mi.) after firing its 99-lb.-thrust Liquid Apogee Motor (LAM) for a total of 16 min. in three orbit-reduction maneuvers. The first Indian spacecraft to leave low-Earth orbit was launched Oct. 22 and captured by lunar gravity on Nov. 8 after a series of apogee-raising maneuvers.
The article “New Benefits, New Risks” (AW&ST Oct. 13, p. 49) recounted numerous accidents and incidents attributed to faulty airspeed inputs. The solution has been the use of an installed feature on commercial aircraft since the jet age—angle-of-attack (AOA) sensors. The problem has been with supplying pilots with practical readouts, traditionally being limited to stick-shaker onset or high-lift device operation. Forget the electromechanical gauge and light bar; they were comforts in my Navy days.
The operations chiefs of archrivals Kingfisher Airlines and Jet Airways met in Mumbai last week to explore ways to save on catering, ground handling, fuel management, network rationalization and crew sharing. In October, the two carriers opted to work together “to help stabilize India’s aviation sector.” The beleaguered Kingfisher is desperately seeking a CEO. Its alliance with Jet is considered crucial for survival, as Kingfisher owes a substantial amount of money to the airports authority, fuelers and caterers.
Pratt & Whitney is starting a series of key structures technology tests before finalizing design of the first production standard geared turbofan, while Airbus prepares to conduct noise tests with the PW1000G demonstrator.
Northrop Grumman has introduced the first ruggedized high-power solid-state laser designed for operation on the battlefield. The 15-kw. Firestrike laser is being offered for use in ground-, sea- and air-based weapons. Potential applications include self-protection and precision strike. A beam-combining architecture allows laser units to be combined optically to produce weapons with higher power levels. A 60-kw. system with four Firestrike line-replaceable units would weigh 2,500 lb., says Northrop Grumman.
The Russian government has now exempted Western-built aircraft with capacities of more than 300 seats from import taxes. The same document confirms the existing 20% import tax for other types of airliners. Russian operators hope the government will grant a six-month moratorium on import tax payments.
Robert Wall (Brussels), Michael A. Taverna (Paris)
Plans for European militaries to cooperate more closely on programs appear to be gaining traction and could get a big push forward in the coming months in the areas of airlift, helicopters and space. The latest initiatives aim to put military requirements in the center of the European projects, which historically have been driven by industrial demands. Along the way, participants are looking to cure some of the ills that have plagued European defense procurements.
European scientists will be disappointed by the next three-year space plan, although other demands of the space community are likely to be met—albeit at lower funding levels than anticipated. European Space Agency Director General Jean-Jacques Dordain said last week that an annual increase of only 3.5%, or €420-440 million ($525-550 million), in spending for science would be sought when space ministers meet on Nov. 25-26 for their multiyear summit in The Hague. This relatively modest hike confirms earlier fears (AW&ST Oct. 20, p. 15).
Former Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge says the aerospace and defense (A&D) industry must implement internal reforms and seek a partnership of sorts with the incoming Washington leadership to make the best of a very uncertain atmosphere. Ridge, who spoke last week at Aviation Week’s A&D Program conference in San Diego, says companies must rein in their well-documented programmatic failures if the government continues investing in national security and applies its own fixes. “You’re never going to have a better time,” Ridge tells industry executives.
Lockheed Martin has shipped NOAA-N Prime, the 18-ft.-high spacecraft that took a tumble in September 2003 during a routine factory transfer (AW&ST Sept. 15, 2003). The weather satellite has arrived at Vandenberg AFB, Calif., for a Feb. 4, 2009, launch on a Delta II. During the repair process, Lockheed Martin found most of the spacecraft’s components were undamaged. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration operates two of the Advanced Tiros-N-class satellites in polar orbits.
Shipments of business jets in the first nine months of the year increased 30.1% to 990, compared to the same period of 2007, according to the General Aviation Manufacturers Assn. Turbofan aircraft numbers were the most positive, followed by turboprop deliveries which increased 13.7% to 341. Piston shipments, however, declined 11.4% to 1,646. GAMA members delivered a total of 2,977 aircraft valued at $18.2 billion. In the first three quarters of 2007, they shipped 2,918 aircraft valued at $15.1 billion.
If the remarkably smooth first year of service at Airbus A380 launch customer Singapore Airlines is any indication, the growing band of A380 operators can look forward to relatively easy introductions of the aircraft into their fleets. The enormous airliner is presenting special challenges, as expected, but getting the airframe and Rolls-Royce Trent 900 engines into revenue service has thrown up no major surprises, the airline and its maintenance offshoot reported on passing their first anniversary of A380 service Oct. 25.
Airports operator BAA is a step closer to raising per passenger charges to £6.26 ($9.33) from £6.05 at London Stansted Airport for the next five years, now that the U.K.’s Competition Commission recommended an increase. Both sides agreed to exclude costs for a proposed $3.6-billion renovation covering a new runway, terminal and associated facilities, given the current uncertainty surrounding the project. The rate hike would go into effect in April 2009. The recommendation now goes to the Civil Aviation Authority, which is expected to make a decision next March.
Oman celebrates its national day Nov. 18. The event will be closely watched by those in the Eurofighter camp for any hint that the country is moving forward on the purchase of the Typhoon combat aircraft. Discussions between the U.K. and Oman first came to light in July.
