Hardware for the upcoming space shuttle mission to service the Hubble Space Telescope will be ready to ship from Goddard Space Flight Center on July 14, in plenty of time for the scheduled Oct. 8 launch date. Despite improvements in the Michoud Assembly Facility’s efforts to fix production problems with the redesigned shuttle external tanks—which delayed the mission’s original planned August launch (AW&ST May 5, p. 27)—managers doubt the mission may be advanced. “I wouldn’t put a whole lot of money on us going a whole lot earlier than Oct.
This year’s rankings of publicly traded aerospace and defense contractors are the result of a composite scoring of four equally weighted performance categories that place significant emphasis on operating excellence. The four categories are:
The fatal crash of an Iluyshin IL-76TD on takeoff from Khartoum-Civil Airport June 30 has forced Sudan’s investigators to mobilize a scant 20 days following a Sudan Airways accident that killed more than 100 people. Preliminary reports indicate the Ababeel Aviation IL-76 was a cargo flight from Khartoum to Juba Airport, also in Sudan. Witnesses said they saw one of the four engines on fire. The aircraft crashed about 1 km. (0.6 mi.) south of the airport, killing all four occupants.
NASA expects to release a request for information later this month for a university-based, student-led satellite development initiative, the American Student Moon Orbiter (ASMO) “to begin passing the space exploration torch to a new generation.” But getting good feedback from universities on how the project should work is essential. The orbiter is conceived as a 180-kg. (400-lb.) spacecraft to be placed in a highly elliptical Frozen Lunar Orbit carrying instruments “by which students will perform lunar exploration activities of their choosing,” the space agency says.
The U.S. government has placed us into a multi-headed quandary with regional, domestic and international implications, thanks to its tanker competition missteps and the subsequent protests.
Could the Top-Performing Companies list of 2033 be led by firms from China, India or Japan? Some aerospace leaders say that notion isn’t far-fetched. They worry that a looming shortage of engineers, poor science and math skills among U.S. students and companies’ emphasis on short-term payoffs is putting the nation in jeopardy of losing its enviable technological edge during the next quarter century.
The CFM56-7B engines were hung July 1 on the U.S. Navy’s initial P-8A Poseidon patrol aircraft on the third assembly line dedicated to the effort at Boeing’s narrow-body headquarters at Renton, Wash. Boeing reports assembly is on schedule for delivery of the first aircraft next year. Recent milestones include the power-on electrical test of all aircraft systems. Engine runs will follow final functional checks. The Navy has ordered 108 of the P-8A, which is a derivative of the 737-800, and expects an initial operating capability in 2013.
BAE Systems has completed its purchase of the defense business of Australia’s Tenix at an estimated price of A$775 million ($744 million). The sale more than doubles BAE’s business in Australia and makes it the country’s largest defense supplier.
USAF Brig. Gen. Frank J. Kisner is one of 11 of his rank who have been nominated for promotion to major general. He has been director of the Center for Force Structure, Requirements, Resources and Strategic Assessments at Headquarters of U.S. Special Operations Command, MacDill AFB, Fla. The others are: Jay H. Lindell, deputy commanding general of the Combined Air Power Transition Force of the Combined Security Transition Command-Afghanistan; Darren W. McDew, director of public affairs in the Office of the Secretary of the Air Force at the Pentagon; Christopher D.
The early success of Russia’s KD avia airline will be tested by its ability to transfer traffic through Kaliningrad as Aeroflot tries to improve its operations. KD avia has been trying to exploit the fact that, for passengers flying between Europe and Russian cities outside Moscow, transferring in the capital city can be inconvenient. In addition, a large number of airports with badly connected domestic and international terminals slows travel.
The FAA has approved the Eclipse 500 very light jet for flight into known icing. Since August 2007 Eclipse Aviation has conducted more than 300 hr. of flight tests, of which more than 60 hr. were logged in natural icing conditions. In other general aviation news, Dassault is developing all-electric flight control systems (FCS) for its future aircraft, but its next business jet, designated SMS, will feature technologies similar to those on the Falcon 7X. Dassault says more development is required to reduce weight and increase power of all-electric FCS designs.
Correction: An article on the Single European Sky initiative misstated the value of annual savings the European Commission believes the measure will yield (AW&ST June 30, p. 28). The figure should have been €2-3 billion ($3.1-4.7 billion).
AeroVironment’s (AV) Puma AE hand-launched unmanned aircraft system has been selected by U.S. Special Operations Command for use by Navy SEALs, under a potential five-year contract valued at up to $200 million. The all-environment version of the electric-powered Puma carries a waterproof day/night imaging sensor package and can land near-vertically on land and water, says AV. The initial order is worth $6 million.
The malaise affecting the air transport business is also making an impact on cargo conversion activity, but Israel Aerospace Industries’ Bedek Aviation believes many of the bottlenecks are merely short-term constraints. The cargo conversion and maintenance unit is “fairly busy right now,” says Dany Kleiman, general manager of Bedek Aviation Group. However, he adds that “the outlook for next year is unclear in light of the current market situation. We have some orders, but we are seeking more.”
As the U.S. Navy prepares to replace its turboprop P-3s with jet-powered P-8s, the service is looking to conserve fuel and airframe life by avoiding the need to repeatedly descend from patrol altitude to deploy sonobuoys or identify ships. Several small-business research projects are developing air-launched UAVs to use on the P-3 and P-8. Major aerospace players are also seeking ways to deploy sensors and weapons from high altitude.
Phil Boyer, who since 1991 has been President of the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Assn., last week announced plans to retire at the end of the year. Boyer’s successor will be Craig L. Fuller, who is executive vice president of APCO Worldwide, a public affairs and strategic communications company.
Israeli defense and aerospace contractor Elbit Systems is continuing its acquisition spree. The company has bought its second small Israeli defense high-tech firm, Haifa-based Electro Optic Research and Development, within a fortnight. The price for the purchase, from Technion Research & Development Foundation and Bynet Electronics, was not disclosed. The business works on seismic and acoustic sensors, but also does some work in image processing, including millimeter-wave image processing. The deal comes just a week after Elbit Systems bought Bar-Kal Systems.
Bombardier has given the strongest indication yet that it intends to use the proposed CSeries to take market share from Airbus and Boeing with the release of an updated specification sheet including a third variant of the larger C130 model. The specification sheet, effectively a sales pitch to airlines, dramatically changes Bombardier’s vision for the family of aircraft. Gone is a proposed long-haul version of the smaller 110-seat C110 and in its place is what Bombardier is designating a “hot and high” variant of the 130-seater, dubbed the C130XT.
Chances are good you haven’t read a lot about AeroVironment Inc. Though the Southern California company has delivered more than 10,000 small unmanned aircraft, it has been publicly traded for less than 18 months and its annual revenues are roughly 150 times smaller than sales at Northrop Grumman Corp., builder of the high-profile Global Hawk unmanned aircraft. When it comes to stock performance in 2008, however, few can match little AeroVironment. In the table at left, the company’s double-digit gains stand out in a sea of red arrows.
BAE Systems is ramping up production at its radiation-hardening foundry modernized with U.S. Defense Dept. funding while designing new and upgraded devices to support U.S. civil and military space efforts and other specialized applications.
Thales is starting to develop the next generation of its Eurocat X (export version) automated ATC system—used for en route, terminal area and airport tower operations—for the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore. The contract is valued at approximately $228 million. CAAS’s Lorads III will replace the current system provided by Thales in 1995. The company has already sold 260 of its Eurocat Xs to 55 nations, including China, Vietnam and Thailand.
Ian Shiu has been appointed director of corporate development, Ivan Chu director of service delivery, Quince Chong director of corporate affairs and Rupert Hogg cargo director, all for Cathay Pacific Airways . Shiu was general manager for revenue management, sales and distribution. Chu was general manager for the Southwest Pacific and succeeds Chong, who was an executive in the Corporate Communication and Inflight Services departments. Hogg was managing director of James Finlay Ltd., which like Cathay Pacific is a subsidiary of John Swire & Sons Ltd.
Prof. T. Nejat Veziroglu’s letter “Hydrogen, Future Airline Fuel?” (AW&ST June 23, p. 12) says how the use of hydrogen by the airline industry will address environmental concerns because there are “no CO2 emissions.” This is a fallacy. Having been in fuel cell R&D for 10 years, I’ve long chafed at this common misperception.
