There is growing concern among U.S. Air Force leaders in Europe that they will be hobbled in working with allies if they don’t get their hands on the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter first. “A fifth-generation fighter is essential for Europe,” says Maj. Gen. James P. Hunt, director of air and space operations for U.S. Air Forces in Europe. “We think it is important that Usafe have at least an F-35 capability to maintain participation in NATO when it comes to tactics and concepts.”
Boeing is well placed to pick up another small C-17 order after South Korea’s Defense Acquisition Program Committee approved a plan to buy “large transport aircraft” for about 700 billion won ($616 million). The large transport aircraft will be used to send Korean peacekeepers or disaster relief materials overseas.
Northrop Grumman has begun flying a company-owned MQ-8B Fire Scout to accelerate development of additional payloads and missions for the vertical takeoff and landing unmanned air vehicle.
The U.K. is considering contingency options in attempting to cover the risk of an increasing capability gap in tactical lift as Airbus Military partner nations wait to find out the actual extent of delays to the A400M tactical military airlifter. Airbus and the European partner nations are trying to determine “what is a realistic delivery time for the aircraft,” according to Air Marshal Barry Thornton, chief of materiel (Air) within the U.K.’s Defense Equipment and Support organization.
Workers are installing equipment and systems at Europe’s new Soyuz launch pad in Kourou, French Guiana, and hope to have the facility ready by mid-2009.
Concerns about a five-year gap in U.S. manned launches, workforce retention and worsening relations with Russia are forcing NASA to study a continuation of shuttle missions to 2015, instead of killing the program in 2010.
Kevin Wright has become group vice president-marketing for Meggitt Fluid Controls , North Hollywood, Calif. He was group vice president-customer satisfaction at Crane Aerospace, Burbank, Calif.
Chad D. Thorne (see photos) has been promoted to vice president-business development and marketing from director of business development for Innovative Solutions & Support , Exton, Pa. Farhad Daghigh has been promoted to vice president-military business development from director of military marketing.
Japan’s ATD-X stealth demonstrator project will step up a gear next year, according to the Defense Ministry’s budget request, which also seeks accelerated upgrades of F-15J fighters. A laser close-in defense weapon is also proposed for development, although its specific application is unclear. Both the F-15J upgrades and the ATD-X funding are a response to Japan’s failure to secure the Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor as its next fighter.
Sept. 15-17—CargoFacts 2008. Loews Miami Beach Hotel. Call +1 (206) 587-6537 or see www.cargofacts.com/symposium Sept. 15–17—Air Force Assn.’s 24th Annual Air & Space Conference and Technology Exposition. Marriott Wardman Park Hotel. Washington. Call +1 (202) 328-2000, fax +1 (202) 234-5853 or see www.afa.org/events/Conference/2008/ Sept. 15-17—Speednews’ Ninth Annual Aviation Industry Suppliers Conference. Hotel Palladia, Toulouse, France. Call +1 (310) 595-9403 or see www.speednews.com
Hawker Beechcraft workers returned to work last week after voting to approve a new three-year contract. The 5,200 employees—more than half the business jet manufacturer’s workforce—walked off the job Aug. 4.
Arianespace will launch a Korean Telecom Corp. communications satellite—Koreasat 6—from the Guiana Space Center in the second quarter of 2010. The 2,750-kg., 3.4-kw. spacecraft was ordered from Thales Alenia Space in May, and will use a Star-2 platform from Orbital Sciences Corp. It will be launched on either an Ariane 5 or a Soyuz. To be equipped with 30 Ku-band transponders, Koreasat 6 will provide telecommunications and broadcasting services throughout South Korea from its orbital position at 116 deg. E. Long.
Capacity at U.S. legacy, regional and low-cost carriers will drop 3.2% in 2008 and 6.1% in 2009 as they continue to contract in the wake of high fuel prices, according to a Morgan Stanley report. The forecast for 2009 will represent the second-largest annual systemwide capacity cut the industry has experienced since 1978, says analyst William Greene. “Moreover, the only other period during which the industry has experienced two consecutive years of capacity cuts was in 2001 and 2002, post 9/11,” he observes.
Andrea L. Amram (see photos), Glenn A. Davis, David S. Eccles, S. Scott Gustafson, Sumner S. Matsunaga and William F. Tosney have been appointed general managers at The Aerospace Corp. Amram has been promoted to head the Developmental Planning and Architectures Div. in the Systems Planning and Engineering Group in El Segundo, Calif., from principal director of the Architecture and Design Subdivision of the Engineering and Technology Group. Davis has been promoted to head the Imagery Programs Div.
Patricia Grace Smith, former associate FAA administrator for commercial space transportation, has been appointed to the board of directors of SpaceDev , Poway, Calif.
Italy’s defense and aerospace sector is aiming to secure substantial business in Libya following a strategic agreement between Rome and Tripoli, which includes a $5-billion, 20-year reparations package for Italy’s 1934-43 occupation of Libya. Italian Prime Minster Silvio Berlusconi and Libyan leader Muammar Qadhafi signed the global cooperation agreement that Italian industry hopes will increase its business in the North African country.
Bombardier’s CRJ1000 prototype, powered by GE CF34-8C5 engines, flew for the first time Sept. 3 from Montreal’s Mirabel airport. The 100-seat aircraft will continue tests at the company’s facility at Wichita, Kan. It is scheduled to enter service in late 2009.
With a large number of its forces assigned to support military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, and others likely to be assisting the emerging U.S. Africa Command, do the U.S. Air Forces in Europe still have a mission of their own?
NASA’s Phoenix Mars lander collected this image of the Sun emerging over a slight rise to the north at 51 min. after midnight local solar time Aug. 25, following a summer night that lasted only 75 min. From its position north of the Martian Arctic Circle, the Sun wouldn’t set at all if it weren’t for the higher ground to the north, but the short night is getting longer. Four Martian “sols” before this shot, the Sun was out of sight for only about a half hour.
Boeing is to continue work on a new high-speed compound helicopter concept under Darpa’s DiscRotor program. Teamed with Virginia Tech, Boeing has completed an initial assessment of the performance and flying qualities of the DiscRotor, in which a rotating circular wing houses blades that are extended for vertical flight and retracted and stowed for forward flight at speeds up to 300-400 kt. Under the next phase, Boeing will conduct wind tunnel testing to establish the feasibility of the concept and develop options for a DiscRotor flight demonstrator.
A major reshuffling of its mission is ahead for the U.S. Air Forces in Europe (Usafe) with the pending creation of U.S. Africa Command. In recent years, Africa has been one of the main areas of operation for Usafe, with an aim to reach out and establish ties with local militaries. When the Pentagon’s interest in Europe started to wane, Usafe officials at the time looked to Africa to find a mission that would keep the command relevant.
The U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (Darpa) has awarded five contracts for the initial conceptual design phase of its Rapid Eye program to demonstrate a high-altitude, long-endurance unmanned air vehicle deployed from the U.S. by rocket, to fill a surveillance gap anywhere in the world within two orbits. Phase 1 contracts have been awarded to Boeing, Coleman Aerospace, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman and Orbital Sciences.
French engineering company GECI has formally launched development of the Skylander, a light twin-turborop intended for freight, utility and humanitarian applications. The aircraft will be developed and assembled in Reims at a plant owned by Reims Aviation, which was acquired by GECI in July. Major subassemblies will be built in Portugal. First flight is expected in mid-2010.
For the first time, U.S. Northern Command and Canada Command have called on a new Civil Assistance Plan to coordinate Canadian military support in response to a natural disaster in the U.S. Two Canadian CC-130 aircraft and a CC-177 Globemaster were deployed last week to the Gulf Coast to support search-and-rescue efforts ahead of Hurricane Gustav. The bilateral deal, signed Feb. 14, facilitates military-to-military cooperation during a civil emergency in either country.
