Unmanned aircraft also are having a rough month. USAF crashed another missile-firing MQ-1 Predator that was flying out of Ali (formerly Talil) AB, Iraq, on May 2. Mechanical failure is suspected. In Florida, USAF and police are looking for a Raven UAV that ignored commands and flew off into the Ocala National Forest on May 6.
Various forms of unsteady or pulse detonation combustion in the future could feature turbine-based combined cycle (TBCC) engine concepts that form part of NASA’s ongoing studies into highly reliable, reusable launch systems.
USAF Lt. Col. (ret.) Price T. Bingham (Melbourne, Fla.)
U.S. Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. T. Michael Moseley’s bright idea of surveying aircraft, including the new KC-45A tanker, as possible platforms for the MP-RTIP radar is only the latest example of Air Force leadership looking for excuses not to support the Joint Stars program (AW&ST Apr. 28, p. 30).
The U.S. Navy’s push for a common data link to network its existing weapons is making friends of rivals. Raytheon and a Boeing/Lockheed Martin team are vying for the U.S. Air Force’s 250-lb. Small-Diameter Bomb II program, designed to kill moving targets. And, part of SDB II’s design will depend upon the weapon’s data link capability. Though Raytheon had decided to use the Rockwell Collins Strike Common Weapon Data Link system in its SDB II offering, the company is actually working closely with Boeing to manage its development.
Hundreds of stakeholders who use the European air traffic system agreed on the objectives of the Sesar master plan outlined at a meeting in Rome. However, there will be many challenges to meet if the new approach is to succeed. Roy McNulty, the chairman of the British Civil Aviation Authority, says the Single European Sky ATM Research (Sesar) program is now in a good news, bad news situation. The master plan provides a clear road map with which to move forward, but “now we have to make it all happen.”
The German military is shopping for nine new single-engine helicopters for its Army Air Corps School at Bueckeburg. The rotorcraft would be used for initial student training before pilots move on to using the EC135. Performance requirements include 3.5 hr. of endurance and speed exceeding 80 kt.
The Transportation Security Administration will have to submit to Congress an assessment of best practices for issuing biometric credentials to airport workers, under a bill introduced by the chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee. Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) called the measure “legislating smart security,” because it will require a comprehensive plan before airports begin using biometric identification for its workers. But, the bill does not require airports to implement the systems.
Samuel Abbate (see photos) has been named vice president-wireless technologies/program manager for the New York wireless program of the Northrop Grumman Corp. , Doug McVicar vice president for the company’s support of the Virginia Information Technology Infrastructure Partnership and Edward Sturms vice president-infrastructure solutions.
Robin Hayes has been appointed executive vice president/chief commercial officer of JetBlue Airways . He was executive vice president-Americas for British Airways.
As Boeing keeps pressing in the political battle over the Air Force’s choice of an EADS/Northrop Grumman to provide its next aerial refueler, it takes solace in congressional support for its C-17 airlifters. The House Armed Services Committee this week is expected to authorize almost $4 billion for 15 more, but officially unrequested, C-17s. The additional aircraft would fill immediate transport and combat-support needs, lawmakers believe. But they may not believe Boeing was wronged in the tanker decision.
General Electric is joining with NASA to revive studies of its long-abandoned GE36 unducted fan, or “open rotor” and is simultaneously launching a next-generation CF34 technology effort as part of a pressing drive to develop families of fuel-saving engines.
In April, Southwest Airlines was caught in a maintenance mess when the FAA proposed a $10.2-million fine for flying airplanes that did not comply with an airworthiness directive. While the agency’s enforcement policies continue to generate concern in Congress, last month’s traffic numbers indicate the issue is settled among passengers. Southwest reports it flew 6.3 billion revenue passenger miles in April—a 5.7% increase compared with a year earlier. Load factor was 72.6%—up slightly from 72.3% in April 2007.
Carl Weimer, technical manager for Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., has received the NASA Distinguished Public Service Medal, for his work on the Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observation (Calipso) mission, which is dedicated to studying the impact that clouds and aerosols have on the Earth’s climate. He is credited with leading development of the satellite payload, and continues to support the mission as additional scientific rewards are realized.
Era Corp., a small, innovative air navigation technology company that helps airports and ATC organizations modernize air traffic surveillance, caught the interest of SRA International, which is branching out from its mission of supplying information technology to the U.S. government.
Another bill the White House has threatened to veto has stalled in the Senate. Failure to bring the FAA reauthorization bill up for a vote means Congress will have to pass another extension for the agency. FAA fee-collecting authority, which expired at the start of Fiscal 2008, on Oct. 1, 2007, has been extended four times; the latest extension ends June 30. Republicans balked at Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s plan to pass the long-delayed bill loaded with non-aviation matters. Sen.
General Electric is in the midst of the largest commercial engine production build-up in its history as it meets spiraling demand across the board that by 2010 will be close to hitting the 3,000-engines-per-year mark, more than double that of 2005. These figures do not even fully include the continuing sales success of the CFM56, produced by the GE/Snecma CFM International partnership. Nearly 1,360 CFM56 engines are expected to be produced in 2008, all the cores of which are made by GE at the rate of up to one every 4 hr.
The Air Traffic Service Authority of Bulgaria is operating a new unified air traffic control system provided by Selex Sistemi Integrati, a Finmeccanica company. The system covers all of Bulgaria, unifying two formerly independent regions, and includes Sofia, Varna and part of the Black Sea. The system will improve coordination between civil and military air traffic controllers, according to Selex.
Boeing recorded six 777 orders for the week ending May 6: two for Asiana Airlines and four for El Al Israel Airlines. The company’s 737 ledger also grew with six orders from Oman Air, and 20 that are unidentified on Boeing’s web site.
Telephonics Corp. Recently demonstrated its NetCom-V networked intercommunications system to the U.S. Army and Marine Corps at an Army Expedited Modernization Initiative Procedure at Ft. Eustis, Va. Telephonics makes networked, digital intercom systems for U.S. military rotary- and fixed-wing aircraft, and this equipment was on a UH-1 helo in the exercise. But the company also showed how a system developed for land vehicles could work in a Humvee or an Army watercraft used to transport trucks and other vehicles.
Alan H. Epstein has spent a lot of time thinking about innovative propulsion systems for aircraft. At the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, he was director of the Gas Turbine Laboratory in addition to serving as R.C. MacLaurin Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics. He currently is leading Pratt & Whitney’s efforts to identify and evaluate new methods and technologies to improve fuel efficiency and reduce noise and combustion emissions for all of its new engines. In a recent interview with Aviation Week & Space Technology Editor-in-Chief Anthony L.
Boeing reports a 50% improvement in the cooldown period for weight-saving carbon brakes as an option for its 737NG family as it moves toward certification of the Messier-Bugatti equipment in June and a service entry with Delta Air Lines in the third quarter.
NASA-funded researchers have pulled together real-time data on solar activity delivered by Earth-orbiting satellites and are using the Google Earth interface to produce an intuitive global electron-density map that can provide air traffic and spacecraft controllers with forecasts of ionospheric conditions that could affect radio-frequency communications.
Sukhoi has received approval to continue final ground preparations for the first flight of the Superjet 100 regional jet after May 15. Taxi tests and first flight will take place at the final assembly site in Komsomolsk.
The tri-agency committee that oversees the civil/military U.S. National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (Npoess) has agreed to restore the Total Solar Irradiance Sensor (TSIS) to the first Npoess spacecraft. TSIS and several other climate-related sensors were dropped from Npoess in 2006 as a cost-cutting measure after the program breached federal spending caps. TSIS will measure the total amount of solar energy coming into the Earth’s atmosphere, which plays a key role in climate change.
Sierra Nevada Corp. (SNC) will build 18 new satellites for Orbcomm Inc., under a new contract worth at least $117 million that also includes an option to buy as many as 30 more satellites to upgrade Orbcomm’s constellation. SNC has lined up a team that includes Boeing Intelligence & Security Systems, ITT Space Systems and SNC subsidiary MicroSat Systems.
