Although both presidential candidates are busy painting themselves green and touting their environmental credentials, the airline and aerospace industries are leery about how that will play out for their sectors.
If the aerospace and defense (A&D) industry thinks it doesn’t know enough about Sen. Barack Obama yet, Sen. John McCain may be someone it knows all too well.
Boeing has begun assembly of the fourth 787 destined for the flight-test fleet. It will be the last airplane equipped with Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 engines. The aircraft’s wings, aft fuselage, empennage and nose assemblies are in Everett, Wash. The mid-fuselage is undergoing systems installation in South Carolina by partner Global Aeronautica (GA). GA will only complete about 50% of the systems work—the remainder will be done by Boeing in Everett. The fifth and sixth flight-test 787s will be powered by General Electric GEnx-1B engines.
Strong economic growth, increasing military spending and aging aircraft are driving the market for new aircraft and radar upgrades to those already being used in the Asia-Pacific region for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, according to a study by Frost & Sullivan. The highest priority is for airborne early warning aircraft followed by maritime patrol platforms. Frost & Sullivan forecasts the market will grow to $432 million in 2014 from $381 million in 2007.
Boeing recently passed its electrical “Power-On” milestone for the pre-production 787 airliner, tentatively scheduled for first flight, late in October. The testing process, which required eight days to complete, eliminated significant technical risk and validated the airplane’s design tools, says Pat Shanahan, program manager. The tests probed deep into the 787’s new distributed electric architecture to check its operation. Boeing has released a video of the “Power-On” event at http//poweron.tpninteractive.com
Safran is reportedly planning to group electronics activities from various affiliates, including Hispano-Suiza and Messier Bugatti, into a new division as part of a plan to develop all-electric aircraft technologies. The move would beef up the electronics capability of Sagem, whose acquisition was motivated in part by the growing importance of electronics in aircraft mechanical systems.
French armaments agency DGA has completed a second successful test firing of the AASM precision weapon in infrared seeker mode. The test, from a Mirage 2000 fighter, used the AASM’s inertial navigation system for the initial 25-km. cruise, with the GPS shut down, before switching to the IR for terminal guidance.
Israel Aerospace Industries will form a joint venture with Brazilian conglomerate Synergy Group to offer aerospace and defense products and provide commercial aviation services in the Latin American market. Products will include UAVs, missile systems, radars, electronic warfare and intelligence systems. Synergy has interests in aviation, oil and gas production, power generation and construction. In addition, it owns the Colombian airline Avianca.
The Phoenix Mars lander, in its first series of soil chemistry tests, has discovered that Martian soil is remarkably Earth-like and could support a wide array of plants and organisms. The discovery “is a huge step forward” in the study of Mars, says Michael Hecht, the Thermal and Evolved Gas Analyzer (TEGA) lead investigator from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
The Swedish air force is aiming to progressively upgrade its fleet of Saab JAS 39C/D Gripen fighters to the next-generation E/F standard by 2025, senior officers in the service say. The plan is a signal that Sweden’s military will back the country’s aerospace industry in its efforts to win export customers for the E/F model. Saab is targeting Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) partner nations Canada, Denmark, the Netherlands and Norway, along with India, Brazil, Finland and Switzerland as potential buyers.
Boeing and several system suppliers have been awarded contracts by the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory to mature technology for an airborne electronic attack pod to be carried by the B-52H. Under the initial three-year contracts, Boeing will study integration of the underwing jammer pods on the bomber, while other suppliers mature the receiver, exciter and phased-array jammer technology. A two-year follow-on effort, not yet funded but expected to cost $300-350 million, would flight-test two pods on a B-52 in fiscal 2012.
Douglas Barrie (London), Andy Nativi (Genoa), Robert Wall (Paris)
Britain and Italy plan to send Tornado strike aircraft to Afghanistan to support combat operations. The Royal Air Force will use the GR4 at Kandahar to provide a period of respite and recuperation for Harrier units, which have been in theater since September 2004. Italy is considering sending a Tornado detachment in response to a NATO request for additional air capability for its International Security Assistance Force (ISAF).
Safran has bought Netherlands-based Sdu-Identification, a manufacturer of passports and secure ID documents, and will fold the company into the Sagem Securite business unit. Safran officials say the ID document market is projected to grow more than 15% annually during the next five years, driven by international regulatory measures such as the U.S. Visa Waiver Program and similar European Union directives for biometric passports.
L-3 Communications Integrated Systems Group is planning to install its WIPPS (widebody integrated platform protection system) on two unidentified VIP Boeing 747-400s, having just completed a similar self-protection suite on a Boeing 737-800 BBJ2 aircraft owned by the same head-of-state customer. WIPPS includes Thales and EADS missile warning subsystems. It also combines BAE Systems’ ALE-47 threat-adaptive countermeasure dispensing system with infrared decoys produced by Armtec Defense and Alloy Surfaces.
Neither Sen. John McCain nor Sen. Barack Obama is saying much about commercial aviation during their battle for the White House, but it will certainly become a major topic of conversation after the election. Ready or not, the next President will quickly be confronted with policy decisions that could have a dramatic effect on the aviation industry.
Mark Booth, chairman/CEO of NetJets Europe, received the EBACE2008 European Business Aviation Award for his “key role in the recent rapid growth of European business aviation.”
Jet fuel prices are inflicting pain on all airlines, but low-cost carriers are facing a particular dilemma: They rely on significantly lower fares to stimulate enough new demand to create a bigger and viable market on many routes, particularly new ones.
As the Tejas Light Combat Aircraft passes the quarter-century mark, India is seeking international investment in its design and development, a process that’s already arousing interest from companies abroad that are looking for leverage in other Indian programs. The Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA) was started in 1984 to oversee and try to shorten the LCA’s development cycle. ADA’s focus has been on the flight-test program, flight-test envelope and engine development.
Southwest Airlines says it is bucking the industry trend and adding six routes Nov. 2 while eliminating service on only two, under a new “optimization model” it is using to adjust its markets and schedule. Under the model, Southwest is eliminating 31 flights, mostly by reducing frequencies rather than abandoning entire markets, but simultaenously adding 40 flights in “key growth cities” such as Denver and Fort Lauderdale/Hollywood, Fla.
The Sudan Civil Aviation Authority on June 25 reversed its no-fly order and will allow national carrier Sudan Airways to continue operations for at least one month. According to local press, the authority suspended the carrier’s operating certificate June 23 over administration issues and not the June 10 accident in which a Sudan Airways Airbus A310-300 crashed on landing at Khartoum in poor weather, killing an estimated 100 of the 217 people on board.
C. David Cush TITLE: President and CEO of Virgin America AGE: 48 BIRTHPLACE: Shreveport, La. EDUCATION: Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in broadcast/film, BS in psychology and MBA from Southern Methodist University.
