NASA and the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory are looking for university and industry partners to establish three national hypersonic science centers. The jointly funded program will support university-level basic science or engineering research to improve the understanding of flight at hypersonic speed, defined as Mach 5 or faster. NASA and AFRL plan to set aside up to $30 million over five years to fund the centers, meaning a maximum grant of about $2 million a year.
British industry is concerned that the U.K. government risks repeating policy errors at an upcoming space summit, missteps that previously stymied London’s involvement in some European space programs. The U.K. is, belatedly, expected to increase funding for the next phase of the European Space Agency’s Global Monitoring for Environment and Security program, now known as Copernicus. While vocally supportive of GMES/Copernicus, the U.K.’s initial allocation was seen as too low by industry.
On Nov. 19, 1969, Apollo 12 astronaut Pete Conrad took a moonwalk to inspect the robotic Surveyor 3 probe. Now, 50 years after its founding, NASA is struggling to regain the luster it attained with the Moon missions. The Bush administration wants to establish an outpost on the Moon, but NASA lacks funding even for new robotic landers to survey potential sites. And it isn’t clear the next administration will support a return to the Moon at all.
Among the aerospace institutions celebrating milestone anniversaries this year—we have observed the birthdays of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and the Federal Aviation Administration in recent issues—the National Aeronautics and Space Administration is in the most precarious position, made more so by events of the past few weeks.
The first “A” in NASA has been through a rough patch in recent years, but there is renewed optimism among the agency’s aeronautics researchers. Since slumping to an all-time low earlier this decade, NASA’s aeronautics program has been restructured and revitalized.
Middle East low-fare carriers believe they’ll avoid the economic turmoil shaking up the European and U.S. airline markets, but they are confronted by their own barriers to growth. “Thank God we are in the Middle East,” quips Marwan Boodai, chief executive officer of Kuwait-based Jazeera Airways, noting that the regional economies are strong and that financing is ample, in contrast to other regions. “We are capitalizing on huge growth.”
It’s an axiom of the airline industry that the reliability of financial forecasts decreases as oil price volatility increases. So with oil prices fluctuating wildly recently, it’s never been less clear how the U.S. airline industry will fare over the next several months. Healthy profits in 2009? Losses? Multiple bankruptcies? It’s anyone’s guess at the moment, and all of these outcomes have been forecast at different times over the past four months.
Officials at Serbian airline JAT Airways insist the carrier is not headed for bankruptcy, but they acknowledge that changes will have to be made in the next two months, including a 5-15% reduction in wages, cutting of catering services and taking aircraft out of service. In addition, the airline is trying to trim other operational expenses and is discussing partnerships and code-share agreements with 10 airlines. JAT, however, still plans to grow and next summer will seek to increase capacity of its charter business by 15%.
French armaments agency DGA has selected Thales to upgrade the Elint system on France’s two C-160G Gabriel signals intelligence aircraft. The upgrade, to be introduced into service in 2011, is intended to allow the aircraft to meet evolving naval and air radar threats. The Gabriel also carries a Thales-provided Comint payload.
The pilot profession has lost an enormous amount of compensation as well as dignity since 9/11. The airline leaders have used the supply/demand argument—and the experience level—to cut wages to the lowest denominator. We have pilots with less than six months’ cockpit experience flying America’s unsuspecting passengers under the disguise of major airlines’ banners. When is this issue going to be addressed?
M7 Aerospace is teaming with San Antonio Aircraft Support (SAAS) to offer a major modification service dedicated to providing custom interiors and avionics work for business jets, regional airline aircraft and turbine helicopters. Plans call for SAAS to design and fabricate interiors; M7 Aerospace is to perform the installations. In addition, M7 will offer avionics systems upgrades replacing analog systems with glass panel equipment. The team will be headquartered in M7’s 426,000-sq.-ft.
The Pentagon is conducting an expedited recertification process for the Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF) satellite system, after it reported a cost overrun to Congress earlier this year. The overrun was largely due to the addition of a fourth satellite to the purchase after a break in production. Recertification for AEHF should be finished in mid-October, says Gary Payton, deputy Air Force undersecretary for space. Launch of AEHF 1 is now set for no later than November 2009.
NASA is pushing ahead with early procurement actions on the heavy-lift rocket it needs to go to the Moon and a lander for crew and cargo once it gets there, but a decision to keep flying the space shuttle beyond 2010 could stall those plans.
The British Defense Ministry is considering funding an electro-optical reconnaissance satellite capability, with an initial operation as early as 2010. The prospect is part of Planning Round 09, which would see the ministry fund the deployment of a constellation of four electro-optical satellites to provide full-color imagery at a resolution of 1.2 meters (4 ft.). Submetric resolution would be provided with the last two of the four-satellite constellation.
Errant testing of parts used for government launch vehicles is slowing a handful of future space launches. Officials learned this summer that a vendor used by the United Launch Alliance (ULA), which markets and delivers Boeing’s Delta IV launch vehicles and Lockheed Martin’s Atlas V design, conducted vibration testing for parts with improperly calibrated equipment. ULA did not identify the vendor. The Air Force is conducting a “pedigree study” to retest parts that “we thought had been tested to adequate levels but may not be,” Payton says.
Qatar Airways Cargo has added Zaragoza in Spain to its network. The route will be served once weekly using an Airbus A300-600 freighter. The return flight to Doha will stop at Dubai, giving the carrier three connections with that city. Plans call for adding three Boeing 777 freighters to the existing fleet of three A300-600s next year.
Lockheed Martin has awarded Italy’s Alenia Aeronautica a contract worth more than $15 million to prepare tooling for series production of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. According to the current plans, Alenia could end up producing more than 1,200 wings from 2009-33.
Research to enable high-power weapons based on fiber lasers will be conducted by Northrop Grumman and OFS Laboratories under U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (Darpa) contracts. The Revolution in Fiber Lasers Program aims to scale the amplifier technology from today’s 200-watt power level to more than 1 kw. initially and 3 kw. ultimately, with a high-beam quality so they can be coherently combined to enable multi-kilowatt weapons. Fiber lasers are more efficient than other types of solid-state laser, reducing the electrical power required.
Four British companies, including a U.K. affiliate of Lockheed Martin, are among 11 short-listed to negotiate six supply contracts for the main phase of the Galileo navigation satellite system.
Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport has opened its new 850,000-sq.-ft. North Terminal featuring 26 gates that will serve as many as 14 million passengers annually. Built on the site of the Davey Terminal, which was demolished in 2005, the new facility replaces the aging Smith and Berry terminals and is designed in a linear configuration that creates a faster, more efficient path for taxiing airplanes, according to airport officials.
Oct. 7-11Defendory International 2008: 15th Specialized Exhibition of Conventional Systems for National Defense. Hellenikon Exhibition Center (former Athens Airport). See www.defendoryinternational.gr Oct. 9-10Technology Training Corp.’s Defense Export Conference. Hilton Arlington (Va.) & Towers. Call +1 (310) 563-1223, fax +1 (310) 563-1220 or see www.ttcus.com Oct. 13-16—Fatigue Concepts’ Short Course: “Fatigue, Fracture Mechanics and Damage Tolerance.” Calgary (Alberta) Airport. See www.fatcon.com/calg
The Air Force is disciplining 15 officers—six generals and nine colonels—for their part in the mismanagement of nuclear weapons components. Acting Air Force Secretary Michael Donley says the actions are “administrative in nature, but carry significant consequences.” Although stemming primarily from the mistaken shipment of nuclear warhead fuses to Taiwan, Donley says the action is in response to other issues over the past few years as well.
German weapons developers are trying to leverage a successful flight-test campaign with their latest precision-guided munition to drum up export interest at a time when their domestic market outlook is bleak. Diehl and the German defense ministry’s armaments agency, the BWB, this month completed flight trials of the Hope standoff penetrator glide bomb. The weapon precisely hit its target, says an industry official, although exact details on the standoff range and impact accuracy are being closely guarded.
Luiz Carlos Siqueira Aguiar has been appointed executive vice president-finance/chief financial officer and Emilio Kazunoli Matsuo executive vice president-technology of Brazil-based Embraer . Aguiar has been executive vice president-defense and government marlets, and succeeds Antonio Luiz Pizarro Manso, who is retiring. Aguiar will be followed by Orlando Jose Ferreira Neto, who has been managing director for Embraer Asia Pacific. Matsuo was senior vice president-technology and succeeds Satoshi Yokota, who also is retiring.
