Tests at the Mount Hopkins Observatory in Arizona this summer could validate a new technique for finding extrasolar planets on the same scale as Earth. Developed at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics with input from experts at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the device uses extremely short pulses of laser light, in combination with an atomic clock, to make measurements accurate to one part in a trillion of the light coming from distant stars.
Two of Asia’s big maintenance, repair and overhaul specialists are joining with Spirit AeroSystems to establish a composite and metal bond component repair station in China. Spirit, which builds 737 metal alloy fuselages and composite 787 cockpit and nose sections for Boeing, will work with Hong Kong Aircraft Engineering Co. (Haeco) and its subsidiary, Taeco Aircraft Engineering Co. (Taeco) of Xiamen, China, home of the Boeing Converted Freighter program for 747-400s. When the 787 proved to be a big hit among China’s airlines—they’ve ordered 60 —Haeco Director P.K.
An Embraer ERJ 145XR, operated by Delta Connection carrier ExpressJet Airlines, flares for landing at Los Angeles International Airport’s Runway 24 Right. Major airlines have been shifting more of their domestic flying to regional partners in the past year to cut costs, while keeping feeder traffic coming into the main hubs to connect with increased international flying. The Regional Airline Assn.
The European Commission has approved the sale of airport slots between airlines. The secondary market has been particularly active at some of Europe’s busiest airports (see p. 58), but until now there was ambiguity in the European Union over whether the activity was legal.
SRA International has made a conscious decision to branch out from its role as an information technology and back-office supplier to the Defense Dept. and the FAA by agreeing to acquire ATC equipment maker Era Corp., a supplier of Automatic Dependent Surveillance Broadcast and multilateration systems. SRA President and CEO Stanton D. Sloane says his company’s systems integration and software development skills will complement Era’s ATC products and allow the two to pursue integrated ATC systems contracts.
The Senate Armed Services Committee’s $542.5-billion Fiscal 2009 baseline defense authorization bill includes almost $500 million to buy more F-22s—or to shut the manufacturing line down. But the measure wouldn’t fund any additional C-17 airlifters, even though the Air Force puts a high priority on cargo lift. Paired with the Bush administration’s $70-billion place-holder supplemental request for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the total defense authorization package comes to $612.5 billion.
The bloodletting among European airlines may be about to start as carriers realize they can no longer ward off the economic headwind wrought by high fuel prices, competitive pressures and overcapacity.
Failure to secure funding for upgrades and enhancements means the British Royal Air Force may be left with a “hollowed-out capability” for much of its combat aircraft fleet. The Royal Air Force, the army and the navy are all struggling to secure adequate funds to support procurement programs in the present Defense Ministry planning round, known as PR08.
The U.S. Army has opened an indefinite delivery and quantity contact with Alloy Surfaces Co. Inc. so it can purchase up to $348 million worth of the M211 special material decoy countermeasure that is protecting fixed- and rotary-wing aircraft in Iraq and Afghanistan. The countermeasure consists of metal wafers dispensed from a canister. The wafers oxidize rather than burn and are barely visible while emitting an infrared signature.
Boeing’s first 777 Freighter was towed from the company’s Everett, Wash., factory to the flight line on Apr. 29 in preparation for flight testing this summer. Based on the 777-200LR, the freighter is to be delivered to launch customer Air France in the fourth quarter.
A push by the Mexican government to create an aerospace sector is beginning to pay off, as a growing number of companies set up shop to take advantage of low labor costs and proximity to the U.S. But industry veterans caution that the country’s workforce skills and supplier base have a long way to go for the government to reach its ultimate goal of building complete airplanes.
Chelton Flight Systems, a leader in the development of 3D synthetic vision electronic flight instrument systems (EFIS) for a wide range of business and general aviation aircraft and helicopters, is joining forces with autopilot maker S‑Tec to collaborate on integrated cockpits.
Should the U.K. provide an astronaut candidate to the European Space Agency, then he or she could also be on a NASA lunar mission. NASA Administrator Michael Griffin made the offer during discussions with the U.K.’s Royal Aeronautical Society space group. The U.K. is planning to collaborate with NASA on robotic Moon missions, but the Griffin offer would allow London an astronaut flight without all of the costs.
The French air force has for the first time dropped AASM GPS-guided bombs in combat. A Rafale fighter delivered two of the bombs on Apr. 20 during a mission in Afghanistan. The aircraft was patrolling with a Mirage 2000D when a Canadian ground controller called in an air strike to suppress adversary fire. Cloud cover obstructed the fighters from delivering the laser-guided bombs usually called for, so the Rafale dropped the first AASM, developed by Sagem. Another call for fire 30 min.
Mitsubishi Aircraft Corp., the builder of Japan’s new regional jet, will raise ¥67 billion in capital from parent Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Toyota Motor, Sumitomo and Mitsui & Co. Mitsubishi Heavy’s share in the business will fall to 67.5% from 100%.
Engineers at NASA and Alliant Techsystems (ATK) will use acoustic data from the latest test of a four-segment space shuttle reusable solid rocket motor (RSRM) to design the five-segment first stage of the Ares I crew launch vehicle, after the seven-year-old RSRM apparently met all objectives in the May 1 static firing at ATK’s test site in Utah. Also included in the 32 objectives of the 2-min. test was evaluation of how well aging boosters perform. At seven years, the test motor was the oldest ever fired.
Thales Alenia Space has handed over Jason-2, a new U.S.-European oceanographic satellite that will ensure continuity with Jason-1, which is currently in orbit. The spacecraft is to be orbited by a Delta II rocket from Vandenberg AFB, Calif., on June 15.
Efforts to prevent helicopter accidents in brownout conditions, caused by rotor-blown sand and dust, are receiving high-level attention within the U.S. Defense Dept. as the services evaluate different approaches to the problem.
EADS’s developmental A330-based refueling tanker is being modified in preparation for a second flight test phase in September. The Multi-Role Tanker Transport is the first Airbus A330-based tanker for Australia. Although the MRTT will differ from the U.S. KC-45—including its U.S.-specific defensive systems—much of the work on it and its CASA-designed refueling boom will provide risk reduction to the American program.
China’s secrecy-bound space program, increasingly capable of advanced operations, risks becoming an impediment to international, cooperative lunar and planetary exploration unless it becomes far more open, say top international space policy managers meeting with their Chinese counterparts here.
Bill Sweetman (Linkoping, Sweden), Douglas Barrie (London)
As seen in a flurry of recent activity, several European combat aircraft competitions are progressing, though sometimes on diverging paths. Norway and Denmark—often in apparent lockstep over their respective outlooks—are moving apart for the moment. While Oslo was curt with a late proposal from Boeing, Copenhagen is being more accommodating and is bringing the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet offer into its main procurement process.
Nanotechnology is moving out of the laboratory and into the hands of aerospace engineers looking for solutions to problems. That’s the message from both hopeful nanotech players and primes cautious of overblown claims for the technology.
Lockheed Martin will receive an additional $39.5 million to set up an employee-retention program at NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility, where the company builds the big space shuttle external tanks that carry cryogenic propellants during the ascent to space. The company will provide incentives to personnel to ensure they continue on the job until the final 10 tanks are flown.
The first payload for one of the world’s most ambitious hypersonic test projects, the U.S.-Australian HiFire program, is poised for completion and will join the rocket motors for the initial trial that have already arrived at the Woomera range in South Australia.
Italy’s incoming prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi, seems determined to do everything he can to make sure Alitalia remains that nation’s flag carrier—apparently at any cost, financially and otherwise. With his encouragement and approval, Italian banks recently extended a bridge loan of €300 million ($468 million) to the perennially money-losing carrier. Without the monetary lifeline, Alitalia almost certainly would face liquidation in short order and quite possibly wind up in the hands of another major European airline.
