The two Russian crewmembers of International Space Station Expedition 17 have installed a docking target and made other preparations for the arrival of a new pressurized module next summer, in the second spacewalk of their mission. Expedition Commander Sergei Volkov and Flight Engineer Oleg Kononenko spent 5 hr., 54 min. outside the station on an extravehicular activity (EVA) primarily intended to start setting up the station to receive the first of two Russian Mini Research Modules in August 2009.
Alteon Training plans to install a Boeing 787 training suite at its facility in Miami that is scheduled to open for business in March 2010. The suite will include full-flight and flat-panel simulators as well as desktop systems for pilot and maintenance training. The wholly owned Boeing subsidiary will install the suite at its Seattle facility before transporting it to Miami.
The new Tomahawk Block IV ship-launched cruise missile scored its first kill during a strike this spring in Africa, but little has been said about it publicly. The weapon, with about 1,000-naut.-mi. range, features a data link that allows operators to update targeting coordinates in flight. So far, more than 1,000 Block IVs have been delivered to the U.S. Navy.
Amy Butler (Farnborough), Robert Wall (Farnborough)
With Bell’s Armed Reconnaissance Helicopter again under scrutiny for program price, the company is trying to determine both the cost and length of the testing program. The company is switching to a larger engine, and Bell is hoping earlier FAA certifications will hold and allow it to trim testing and cost. It is pulling other items from the Kiowa helicopter program, in this case to avoid costly flight tests otherwise needed to certify them on the ARH, says Bob Kenney, executive vice president of military programs for Bell.
Chinese airlines, increasingly important players in global demand for commercial aircraft, should return to their customary powerful rates of expansion in the coming year, despite the strange collapse in traffic growth they have suffered in the past few months. A remarkable combination of events has waylaid industry growth, bringing it down from its usual thundering rate of around 15% a year. Passenger numbers in the first five months of the year were only 7.3% higher than a year earlier.
A French court is expected to determine a timeframe soon for the long-delayed trial related to the crash of an Air France Concorde near Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport in July 2000. Prosecutors will detail convictions of involuntary manslaughter in an unprecedented context: The Franco-British supersonic transport is no longer operated by Air France and British Airways, its sole customers, and is displayed in aviation museums. In the wake of the European aerospace industry’s consolidation, the Concorde legacy is in the hands of Airbus.
As a 50-year veteran of the aerospace industry, I become nauseated when I read articles such as the ones in your June 30 Presidential Special Report, urging our next President to seek more funding for engineering students. More students do not become aerospace engineers because industry leaders do not value their contributions; they are treated as disposable assets.
NASA and the European Space Agency have identified several areas of “significant mutual interest” to pursue as the U.S. agency and its international partners cobble together plans for developing lunar-exploration hardware. Potential areas of cooperation include Ariane V-based lunar cargo-landing systems, lunar orbital and surface infrastructure, and systems for communications and navigation on the Moon. The two agencies also have agreed on the importance of having two different crew vehicles able to reach the Moon.
On July 10, EADS CEO Louis Gallois, Diehl Aerosystems President Rainer Ott and Francois Gayet, secretary general of the Aerospace and Defense Industries Assn. of Europe (ASD) met with European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet to express concern over the impact of the faltering dollar on industry competitiveness. To date, Trichet has remained deaf to entreaties from politicians and business executives that the bank take steps to devalue the euro.
Pakistan’s nuclear weapons production facility at Khushab is being monitored intensively by multinational reconnaissance satellites to assess whether new construction there means Pakistan is increasing its long-term ability to make nuclear weapons. That is a serious issue because of concerns that if the current Pakistani government were to collapse, the country’s nuclear weapons technology could fall into the hands of militant groups.
Non-hub U.S. airports in 2008 are averaging airline service losses of 10-20% compared with last year, and many are bracing for deeper cuts in service this winter. San Luis Obispo airport in California will lose 38.5% of its seats and an American Airlines maintenance base there will be closed. Airports at Evansville, Ind.; Tulsa, Okla.; and Monterey, Calif., are forecasting a 20% downturn in seats, and at Asheville, N.C., Delta Air Lines will cut service by 10% from levels in 2007.
The Austrian military is considering adding a new jet trainer to its inventory to reduce some Eurofighter Typhoon flying hours and expand its air policing role. The advanced jet trainer requirement is the latest installment of the Eurofighter upgrade plan. The Austrian air force has been using Saab 105OEs for the training and air policing mission (equipped with 30-mm. gun pods), but the aircraft are aging and parts obsolescence is a problem.
The U.S. Transportation Security Administration (TSA) says it will be screening more than 50% of all cargo shipped on passenger aircraft by a February 2009 deadline. TSA is directing its inspector, canine and technology resources to the 18 highest volume cargo airports, and by February, “expects that all cargo will be screened on aircraft carrying 80 percent” of U.S. air passengers, Assistant TSA Administrator John Sammon tells a House subcommittee. TSA is required to screen 50% of all cargo shipped across or out of the U.S.
The U.S. Justice Dept. has closed an investigation of Orbital Sciences Corp. related to its work on U.S. government launch vehicle programs without filing any charges against the company or its staff, Orbital says. As part of the investigation, federal and Defense Dept. investigators searched company facilities in Arizona in 2005. The investigation grew out of a whistleblower case in which an individual filed a civil suit against the company alleging violations of federal contracting law.
My experience with Southwest Airlines is just the opposite of Frank Austin’s, which is why I swore off traveling on that carrier several years ago (AW&ST June 30, p. 11). On the routes I fly, Southwest has worse on-time performance, more cancellations and more lost luggage than the competition.
Michael A. Taverna (Paris), Frank Morring, Jr. (Washington)
The five partner-agencies that jointly operate the International Space Station say they are eager to use the facility as a stepping-stone for lunar and Martian exploration, but they first must find a way to sustain operations beyond the present partnership agreement.
China’s Air Traffic Management Bureau says traffic in the nation is forecast to surge by up to 50% during the Olympic Games beginning next month in Beijing. The bureau has been working for the past five years to upgrade air traffic control operations to accommodate more flights, including the implementation of reduced vertical separation minimums at high altitudes. Thales Australia has installed three new ATC Centers in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou.
Saab is to sell its space business to Swiss company RUAG Holding. Bern-based RUAG will purchase 100% of Saab Space, including its subsidiary Austrian Aerospace, for 335 million Swedish kronor ($56.3 million). Saab makes satellite onboard computers, antennas and microwave electronics, as well as adapters and separation systems for launchers. The wholly-owned Austrian Space subsidiary supplies digital processing, thermal hardware, mechanical and ground support equipment. The deal requires approval from competition authorities.
Last year’s mergers and acquisitions in aerospace and defense reached $30.8 billion, highest since 2000, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers. The average deal was for $280 million, nearly three times higher than in 2006. Transatlantic M&A activity set a record, but intra-European deals were hurt by a weak dollar. Of the top 10 deals of 2007, nine involved companies in the U.S. In six of them, the U.S. company was the buyer. But European companies invested $6.6 billion in the U.S., four times more than in 2006.
The high price of fuel—retail prices for Jet A and avgas exceed $8 and $7 per gallon, respectively, throughout much of the U.S.—is impacting business aviation and those who serve its operators. James Coyne, president of the National Air Transportation Assn., which represents fixed-base operators (FBOs) and business aviation charter providers, says the amount of fuel being pumped has declined across the country. He estimates the reductions in volume this year could be as much as 25% for avgas and 10% for kerosene.
Dish Network Corp. is receiving needed new capacity in orbit after a Sea Launch Co. Zenit-3SL orbited its EchoStar XI direct-to-home broadcast satellite early July 16 from its ocean-going launch platform on the equator in the Pacific. The Gnangara ground station in Western Australia received signals from the spacecraft shortly after it separated from its Block DM-SL upper stage, which had placed the satellite in the proper geostationary transfer orbit for eventual positioning at 110 deg. W. Long.
The Hawaii Air National Guard, slated to be the first F-22 unit commanded by the ANG, is scheduled to receive its first two Raptors in 2010, but clouds are gathering on the budgetary horizon.
Roger Fujii (see photo) has become vice president/general manager of the Network Communications Div. of the Northrop Grumman Corp. ’s Mission Systems Sector, Reston, Va. He was division vice president-communications and systems technology.
Information about the AN/TPS-79 radar program (AW&ST June 30, p. 62) shows that the old story of the U.S. Marine Corps getting what it needs very late (if ever) is still prevalent. Not only was the single USMC copy of this next-generation tactical radar snapped up by the Navy for test range surveillance, but 17 more units have gone to Romania. Perhaps the USMC might get better support and possibly some actual units of this radar by purchasing them from another country.
