The first of a new wave of hybrid high-speed mobile service satellites is preparing for launch, although significant regulatory and funding hurdles remain. ICO G1 is scheduled to lift off from Cape Canaveral on Apr. 14 atop an Atlas V booster. Backers say the hybrid geostationary system will be the first to offer nationwide two-way high-speed cell phone and wireless broadband service, and the second of its kind in the industry—after the Japanese-Korean MBSAT network.
The third VH-71 helicopter built for the presidential helicopter program, Test Vehicle 3 (TV-3), has arrived in the U.S. and will be the first VH-71 to undergo final assembly at Lockheed Martin Systems Integration in Owego, N.Y. Once outfitted with specialized mission systems, TV-3 will join TV-2 and TV-5, which are already in flight testing.
Indianapolis-based ATA, which abruptly filed for bankruptcy protection and shut down on Apr. 3, says it’s still trying to understand why FedEx dropped the carrier from its military airlift contract team in January, lucrative contract charter work whose loss proved in the end too much for ATA to overcome.
Mitsubishi and Pratt & Whitney plan to deliver the first MRJ airliner and its GTF engines in 2013 after a project launch that marks a renewed Japanese attempt at commercial aircraft making and the arrival of a revolutionary powerplant. A new Nagoya-headquartered subsidiary of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI), tentatively called Mitsubishi Aircraft Corp., will build the aircraft, whose structure will boast extensive use of composites. The company is slated to have eventual capital of ¥100 billion ($1 billion) and, at first, 200 employees.
David G. Faulkner has been appointed chief technology officer and Paul Metz vice president/chief test pilot of Rocketplane Global of Oklahoma City. Metz was vice president-flight test for the Lockheed Martin F-35 program.
Trading in secondary market Certified Emission Reductions has picked up in the last two weeks in the wake of the launch of CER futures trading on the European Climate Exchange (ECX), according to market sources. The increased transparency offered by the new contracts has also led to a gradual shift in the CER price curve, the sources add, with the 2008-12 price curve for the project-based credits beginning to move into line with the European Union Allowance curve.
France plans to deploy another 1,000 troops to bolster a 2,400-man force it already has in Afghanistan. The new contingent reportedly will include special operations forces to replace those withdrawn at the end of 2006.
Barely a week after its debut, the U.S.-European Union open skies agreement is already facing serious questions about its future. Negotiators are preparing to reopen talks over major unresolved differences, and if they cannot find common ground, there is a real risk that it could be rescinded.
Consolidation is bandied about as a ready solution to the U.S. airline industry’s dilemma of costs rising out of control. Executives are promoting mergers publicly and talking together privately. Wall Street endorses consolidation, foreseeing shareholder gains. For certain, mergers can increase revenues, gain efficiencies and can reduce costs. But the track record for airline marriages is more blotched than beneficial.
Malaysian Airline System has ordered 35 Boeing 737-800s and taken options on 20 more, in a long-awaited deal to overhaul its narrow-body fleet, which is based on 737-400s. Deliveries are expected to begin in September 2010.
State Dept. officials say senators and their staff are asking several good questions about the Bush administration’s proposed liberalized export licensing deals with Australia and the U.K.—maybe too good for the department’s liking. The officials, who have taken to regularly calling reporters to the State Dept.’s Foggy Bottom headquarters to promote the proposed treaties, still decline to handicap chances of Senate ratification this year.
The first Class 2 electronic flight bag (EFB) with airport moving map and “own-ship” position—a key tool for averting runway incursions—is a type of system Jeppesen expects to be retrofitted on many airliners, now that the FAA has given the software the green light.
While U.S. lawmakers rock the FAA’s foundations, the agency is assuring travelers that the U.S. skies, airlines and aircraft it oversees are the safest in the world. “Look at the data,” asserts FAA acting Administrator Robert Sturgell. “We are in the safest period in aviation history.” U.S. major airlines have not been involved in a fatal accident since November 2001. The U.S. fatal accident rate in 2006 was 0.018 per 100,000 departures, the safest in the world.
Germany has launched the fourth of five SARLupe X-band satellites intended to provide European forces with an all-weather submetric imaging capability. The spacecraft was launched from the Plesetsk spaceport in Russia by a Cosmos 3M rocket. The fifth and final unit is to be orbited this summer.
Storme Street has become Rosslyn, Va.-based director of government relations for BAE Systems Inc. She was an independent consultant to the technology and defense industries and had been vice president-government relations for the Electronic Industries Alliance.
Randy Fank has become manager of FBO operations for the Illinois-based J.A. Air Center . He was director of the DuPage Flight Center at DuPage Airport, West Chicago, Ill.
The British Defense Ministry is finally going ahead with a considerably delayed—but sorely needed—overhaul of its air transport tasking computer infrastructure. The Royal Air Force’s Air Movements Operation requirement is due to enter full service in September 2009, replacing the Air Movements Information System. The system, dubbed “Swift2Move,” is being developed for the ministry by a Thales-led team.
Though French Airbus labor representatives may not be enthralled with the idea that the aircraft maker’s sites in Meaulte and Saint-Nazaire Ville are being sold off, the labor council at prospective buyer Latecoere is. The labor groups gave their support to the deal—known as Zephyr—late last month; terms are not yet completed.
What will the Russians do with their F-117, now that the U.S. Air Force has retired all its first-generation stealth fighters? The last two USAF F-117s are shown (see p. 51) after their final refueling as they move into recallable retirement at the off-limits Tonopah Air Base, located on the northern reaches of the Nevada National Test Ranges and just over the mountains from Groom Lake (Nev.) AB, more famously known as Area 51.
General Electric has received FAA FAR 33 certification for the baseline GEnx-1B for the 787, although the engine maker expects to recertify the powerplant next year before the aircraft enters service (AW&ST Mar. 10, p. 35). GE says it can count on seeking an amendment to the baseline type certificate because of the 787’s program delays. It will use the extra time to take advantage of improvements now being tested on the GEnx-2B that will power the 747-8.
Qantas is increasing services to Western Australian mining towns enjoying the global minerals boom led by the surging Chinese economy. Among the flights will be five weekly services from Perth to Port Hedland, an important center for the iron ore industry.
Boeing says its global supply chain business model for building the 787 remains sound, but employees aren’t so sure after the company had to step in to rescue a troubled partnership that pre-assembles major fuselage sections.
Lockheed Martin captured a $596-million foreign military sales contract to provide India with six C-130Js plus spares and support and country-unique capabilities.
The U.K. Defense Ministry has appointed Prof. Mark Welland as its chief scientific adviser. Welland succeeds Prof. Roy Anderson, who is returning to Imperial College.
