USN Rear Adm. (lower half) Steven R. Eastburg has been named vice commander of Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Md. He has been its assistant commander for research and engineering and commander of the Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Div. Rear Adm. (lower half) Janice M. Hamby has been appointed director for command and control systems at Headquarters North American Aerospace Defense Command/director of architectures and integration of U.S. Northern Command, Peterson AFB, Colo.
U.K.-based Cobham plc. has been steadily building a business in the U.S. defense electronics market since the mid-1990s. So it had to be frustrating for Cobham executives that their latest move was overshadowed when Italy’s Finmeccanica SpA. purchased DRS Technologies Inc., a fast-growing U.S. defense electronics company, for $5.2 billion (see p. 38).
An EADS Socata TBM 850 prepares for takeoff at Tampa, Fla., on a company photo mission. The single-engine turboprop business aircraft is gaining favor with corporations and individuals as an alternative to very light jets against which it competes in speed and price but with a larger cabin (see p. 58). Socata recently completed a major upgrade to the airplane, and production is sold out into 2009. Erik Hildebrandt photo.
As of Early May, 12 Dassault Aviation Falcon X business jets have entered service worldwide since the airplane was certified by the FAA and the European Aviation Safety Agency in April 2007. Of these, fleet leader serial No. 04 has accumulated more than 1,000 hr. in service since it was delivered in July 2007 to a customer in Switzerland. The twin-engine, large-cabin jet has carried more than 1,000 passengers and made 415 stops in 110 countries on five continents, including nonstop Europe-U.S. West Coast routes.
China will promote regional aviation with subsidies for small and medium airports and for airlines running short flights, helping to balance its airline sector away from big trunk routes and eastern hubs while giving some lift to sales of domestically built aircraft.
Flight testing has begun at Pratt & Whitney’s Plattsburgh, N.Y., facility on its PW4000 Advantage70 developmental engine for the Airbus A330-200/300. Ground testing has shown the engine will provide 2% more thrust, fuel burn reductions of 1% and increased durability to lower maintenance costs. Flyington Freighters, which launched the A330-200 Freighter, will be first to receive the engine, in late 2009.
Now that the Missile Defense Agency can claim functional, if crude, interception capability against long-range missiles, it might want to pursue shorter range defenses—like against Capitol Hill. Congress is buzzing with talk of changing MDA’s priorities to address more immediate concerns, such as protecting forces in theater now, versus potential intercontinental strikes in the next decade. Legislation is wending its way through Congress. To counter that argument, the MDA chief, Air Force Lt. Gen.
Crewmembers on the International Space Station should have 2.5 more tons of supplies to unload this week, following another Russian launch of an unpiloted Progress cargo carrier toward the orbiting facility on May 14. Progress M-64/29P was scheduled to dock with the FGB nadir port on the ISS at 5:37 p.m. EDT May 16. Its cargo includes oxygen, water and food for the three-man Expedition 17 crew.
While engineers at Bigelow Aerospace work toward the planned 2010 launch of the company’s Sundancer commercial human orbital habitat, Bigelow’s Genesis I testbed has racked up more than 10,000 orbits. Launched on July 12, 2006, Genesis I is a one-third-scale prototype of a commercial habitat designated BA 330. During its mission, the testbed’s electrical equipment has operated continuously, Bigelow says, and its cameras have collected about 14,000 images of the Earth.
NASA’s Constellation program can stay on schedule even if its funding is held to Fiscal 2006 levels for another six months. Program manager Jeff Hanley says of the prospect of continuing at current spending levels until the next president weighs in: “As long as we’re smart, [it] is probably manageable.” There’s not a lot of hope to boost funding soon. Emergency “supplemental” spending bills in both houses of Congress are considered veto bait for President Bush.
Last week, The Washington Post and ABC News issued another of their monthly public opinion polls. The questions were standard and the results predictable for the most part, but one of them stood out. When people were asked whether things in the U.S. were “generally going in the right direction” or had “gotten pretty seriously off on the wrong track,” they broke 16% and 82%, respectively.
EADs posted first-quarter earnings that surpassed analysts’ expectations in spite of A380 delays, a falling dollar and the company’s failure to push through planned production site sales. Earnings before interest and taxes reached €769 million ($1.192 billion), on a 10% growth in revenue to €9.9 billion. But the company’s guidance also signals that the best part of the year in terms of aircraft orders is behind it; full-year estimates are for 700 orders, with more than half already in-hand.
China Eastern Airlines has validated the Boeing and Jeppesen Required Navigation Performance flight management system on a 737-700 flight into Lijiang Airport in the Himalayan foothills. The flight was one in a series that Boeing/Jeppesen is operating to remote airports.
Airbus has formed a partnership with JetBlue Airways, Honeywell and International Aero Engines to work on second-generation biofuel for use in commercial aircraft. The effort follows Airbus’s initial activity in gas-to-liquid fuels, which were always seen as first-generation substances. Second-generation biofuels are supposed to deliver lower carbon dioxide emissions and affect food supplies negatively.
With geared turbofans and open rotor concepts potentially poised to take center stage in the battle for improved efficiency, European engine makers are studying complementary core concepts that could significantly cut emissions for the next generation.
Bank of China’s aircraft lessor, BOC Aviation, reports an $81.4-million net profit for 2007, up 68% over the previous year’s $48.5 million and reflecting high demand for aircraft. The company says it reduced its debt-to-equity ratio last year and still has $1 billion ready to draw from a credit line from its parent.
General Electric’s development of the -2B derivative of its GEnx engine for the 747-8 program includes a lighter front and back end to reduce fuel burn even as the engine retains 80% line replaceable units and 90% line tooling commonality with the larger -1B on the 787. The -2B has a 105-in. fan diameter and generates 67,500 lb. thrust for the new four-engine 747, while the original -1B uses a 111-in. fan and produces 75,000 lb. for the two-engine 787.
The mounting turbulence surrounding EADS deserves great attention. Despite a robust backlog and strong growth potential, the cross-border group is being hit by an element it can’t control—the “weak” U.S. dollar. In addition, company managers—perhaps seeing themselves as Gulliver beset by the Lilliputians—must handle an insider stock-trading probe and monitor the U.S. Government Accountability Office’s investigation of the A330-based KC-45A contract award to Northrop Grumman/EADS North America.
Joris Janssen Lok (Leeuwarden Air Base, Netherlands)
Close to 1,000 U.S. and European-operated Lockheed Martin F-16 fighter aircraft will receive a set of improved avionics and weapons capabilities beginning in July 2009—provided initial problems with the aircraft’s modular mission computer are overcome. The computer issues came to light during an early operational assessment of the M5 package of F-16 software and hardware updates. This was developed by Lockheed Martin as the fifth iteration of a rolling program of avionics improvements that began in the late 1990s.
The dogfight over the U.S. Air Force’s decision to buy new tanker aircraft from a Northrop Grumman/EADS team instead of Boeing might eventually produce a useful result. By the time the contrails clear, the need for forward-thinking in defense procurement will be staring us in the face.
Trevor van Rooyen has become Johannesburg, South Africa-based sales manager for sub-Saharan Africa for BBA Aviation Engine Repair and Overhaul of Dallas. He was director of technical services for Execujet Maintenance Pty. Ltd.
A U.S. supercomputer like those used at research facilities such as Los Alamos National Laboratory will be used by the Chinese to operate a new generation of Fengyun weather satellites to be launched as early as this month. There are military implications, however, for China’s use of this powerful Silicon Graphics Inc. computing capability. The advanced weather satellite system will be employed heavily by the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) as well as civilian weather outlets. The Chinese have developed their own software codes to run in the SGI system.
