USAF Maj. Gen. Kevin J. Kennedy has been appointed director of requirements and integration at Headquarters U.S. Joint Forces Command, Norfolk, Va. He has been director of the Air Component Coordination Element of Air Combat Command (ACC) in Kabul, Afghanistan. Kennedy will be succeeded by Maj. Gen. Robertus C.N. Remkes, who has been director of plans and policy at Headquarters U.S. European Command, Stuttgart-Vaihingen, Germany. Remkes, in turn, will be followed by Brig. Gen. Paul G.
This summer’s flight tests of the fifth member of Boeing’s 777 family, a freighter with a 5,000-naut.-mi. range and 100-metric-ton payload capacity, should produce repeats of what is by now the well-established characteristics of the big twin-engine airplane.
Industry Canada has awarded a total of 11 new orbital slots to expand Canadian telecom and media coverage. In addition to six slots recently given to Ciel (AW&ST July 14, p. 42), Telesat has received five positions—a Ka-band slot at 118.7 deg. W. Long. and 17 GHz. slots at 72.5, 82, 86.5 and 118.7 deg. W. Long. The two operators haven’t announced plans for developing the new positions. Telesat says it hopes to begin ordering satellites to fill its slots by late this year or early in 2009.
Douglas Barrie (Farnborough), Amy Butler (Farnborough)
Britain is finally moving ahead with the first phase of a fundamental restructuring of its guided-weapons sector, but U.S. companies remain sidelined despite two years of fruitless talks. The U.K.’s Team Complex Weapons (Team CW) effort received the formal go-ahead from Ann Taylor, the minister for defense equipment and support, at the Farnborough air show, 24 months after the initiative was unveiled by her predecessor Paul Drayson. He was the architect of the ministry’s Defense Industrial Strategy and wanted to launch Team CW around the beginning of 2007.
French armaments agency DGA has completed the third and final qualification firing of the AASM precision weapon in infrared seeker mode. The firing, from a Mirage 2000, took place at very low altitude 16 km. from the target, which was 80 meters (262 ft.) off the coordinates transmitted before drop. The weapon struck the target with metric-level precision, despite the small number of landmarks needed to correct the trajectory, DGA says.
Boeing reports it has passed the 8,000-order mark for the 737 family, the industry’s longest-serving single-aisle family and best-selling jet. Higher fuel costs are boosting moves to newer versions with better engines. Recent order announcements include Air China (30), American Airlines (8) and Airk Air (7), all previously listed on the unidentified order list. The 787 could surpass 900 orders depending on how many Airk Air orders, but negotiations remain underway. Boeing now lists 23 787 orders on its unidentified-customer list.
Rob Strain, head of the Space Dept. at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, will take over Aug. 4 as director of NASA’s nearby Goddard Space Flight Center. Strain succeeds Ed Weiler, who was named associate administrator for science in May following the abrupt resignation of planetary scientist Alan Stern.
A flying-wing unmanned air vehicle stable enough to catch a high-voltage power line on the fly, recharge its batteries and continue its mission is being developed by Dayton, Ohio-based Defense Research Associates (DRA) under a contract from the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory. The DevilRay UAV uses inverse capped-helix winglets to reduce drag and increase lift while also stabilizing the flying wing in pitch and yaw without the need for airfoil reflex or a tail, says DRA. The hand-launched, 6-lb. UAV, which has a 48-in.
GE Aviation has expanded its connections with Singapore Technologies Aerospace through an agreement that includes maintenance, repair and overhaul and on-wing support of GE engines, engine material services, parts and accessory repairs. The agreement calls for GE to support STAero’s development in all these fields at its facilities in the Americas, the Asia-Pacific region and Europe. In a related contract, CFM International—a GE-Snecma partnership—has signed a 10-year agreement with STAero for MRO operations on the CFM56-3/5B and 7/B engines.
Aviation Week writers won seven of the 17 2008 Aerospace Journalist of the Year Awards, which were presented in London on the eve of the 60th Farnborough International Air Show. The awards presentation is considered the most important of the year for aerospace and defense writers. Last year, AVIATION WEEK writers also won seven awards.
Two airworthiness directives issued recently by the FAA affect large numbers of general aviation aircraft. AD 2008-14-07 requires operators of nearly 18,000 Lycoming engines to inspect and replace, if necessary, externally mounted fuel injector lines, a task with overall costs estimated to exceed $11 million. Meanwhile, AD 2008-13-17 requires the replacement of all circuit breaker toggle switches in nearly 11,000 Beech Bonanzas and Barons, at a total cost of up to $30 million.
The Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor display at this year’s Farnborough air show was a show-stopper, with the aircraft flown through an extraordinary series of maneuvers. Another stopper, however, is the bitter debate over F-22 production numbers and line closure. This is part of the broader debate over future combat aircraft requirements in the U.S. and Europe. Show coverage begins on p. 24. Mark Wagner photo.
House Homeland Security Committee Democrats and Republicans found themselves in agreement with the airline industry last week in questioning a Homeland Security Dept. plan to force carriers to collect biometric data from non-U.S. citizens as they leave the country. A 2007 law requires gathering of the data. The department estimates the proposal would cost airlines $3 billion over 10 years. But the International Air Transport Assn. (IATA) says that’s “significantly underestimating” the cost, which IATA believes could reach $12.3 billion over a decade.
Wilbur Ross & Co., a U.S.-based private equity fund, will invest $80 million in ailing Indian low-cost carrier SpiceJet. In return, Wilbur Ross will receive a preferential allotment of shares worth $65 million initially. An additional $15 million will be transferred after another investment firm, Dubai-based Ishtitmar, converts debt it has extended to the airline into equity. SpiceJet began flying in February 2005 but has suffered losses and is not projected to break even before 2009 or 2010.
Israel Aerospace Industries is looking to add a third Gulfstream G550-based special mission aircraft to its available models. Having developed and fielded signals intelligence and airborne early warning system versions, IAI is working on a ground moving target indicator variant, the MARS2, or Multimission Airborne Reconnaissance Sensor System. Development work is still underway, with a fielding not expected for a few more years.
At the Farnborough air show last week, no less than $25 billion worth of orders were signed. Pratt & Whitney flew its geared turbofan (GTF) demonstrator engine. CFM unveiled a new powerplant. Bombardier officially launched its C110 and C130 series aircraft that will be powered by the GTF. Lockheed Martin’s F-22 Raptor awed thousands with a demonstration of its capabilities. And large and small companies rolled out new unmanned aerial vehicle designs.
Data from two of the orbiters circling Mars add more evidence that the red planet once was wet, with lakes and rivers that might have supported life. This perspective image, based on data collected by the European Space Agency’s Mars Express, shows a 4,000-meter-high (13,100-ft.) cliff where waterfalls may once have flowed into the Kasei Valles canyons north of Valles Marineris. The flat valley floor is believed to mark a later flow of basaltic lava, according to ESA.
After a management shakeup at Boeing’s beleaguered aerial refueling tanker team, the new program manager says he’s sticking with the company’s 767-200LRF offering for the next round of the Air Force replacement tanker competition. Dave Bowman, the former C-17 program manager, says the Pentagon’s operational concept hasn’t changed and will still drive operators to the smaller Boeing aircraft.
Airships are an old idea that refuses to be grounded. The latest to refloat the concept is Boeing, which has teamed with a Canadian company to develop a commercial heavy-lift aircraft that is part airship, part helicopter. Calgary, Alberta-based SkyHook International has hired Boeing’s helicopter division in Philadelphia to design, build and certificate the JHL-40, a 302-ft.-long neutrally-buoyant airship with four Chinook rotor systems that will vertically lift a 40-ton payload and carry it 200 mi. without refueling.
GAMA reported its members shipped 399 piston engine aircraft during the first quarter of this year, which was down 28% from the same quarter in 2007, continuing a decline that saw that segment fall by 2.9% last year over 2006.
What can travelers do to pull the airline industry out of its dive before it’s too late to avoid government regulation? Without the free market and its “horizon” of reality, the industry will be left to crash in the well-meaning but disoriented gloom of political consensus.
Brake control software and mid-fuselage section completion work on the second Boeing 787 are now the major pacing items for first flight on the new twinjet, but neither threatens to delay certification or first deliveries in 2009, says Pat Shanahan, 787 vice president and general manager. Brake system control developer GE Aircraft Systems has “had to . . . rewrite portions of the software, and it is the re-verification that’s put it on the critical path,” he adds.
Estonian Air has chosen Aviareps as its agent in Russia. The company will handle all sales, marketing and ticketing activities on behalf of the airline. Estonian operates three flights weekly from Moscow to Tallinn using a Boeing 737-500. Both the airline and Aviareps consider Russia to be an important, growing aviation market, says Oliver Kuechler, COO of Aviareps. Founded in 1994, Aviareps has offices in more than 30 countries and handles airline and tourism accounts for more than 70 carriers and 75 clients.
At the 2005 Paris air show, Bombardier launched a highly-publicized campaign to win a launch customer for its proposed CSeries passenger jet. It couldn’t reel one in, and within months the project was written off as dead by most industry pundits.
