In his article on the Chinese Chang’e lunar probe, “Deep Freeze” (AW&ST Jan. 7, p. 59), Bradley Perrett says the probe “has begun taking pictures of the Moon’s dark side.” It is disappointing that Perrett was not corrected in his allusion to a great Pink Floyd song. Either the Moon has a side that always faces away from the Earth, or it has a side that always faces away from the Sun.
AgustaWestland last week conducted air-to-air refueling trials of the AW101 Merlin medium-lift helicopter using an Italian air force Lockheed Martin C-130 Hercules as the tanker aircraft.
France intends to support deployment of a space situational awareness system and a second-generation optical/radar reconnaissance satellite system when it takes over the rotating presidency of the European Union in July. And it might even agree to turn over its Kourou, French Guiana, spaceport to the EU, says President Nicolas Sarkozy.
Aerospace and defense companies thrive by engineering aircraft that can cruise through turbulence and by building battlefield-hardened weapons systems. But now their biggest challenge may be how well they can weather the currency-market wind shears that have pushed the U.S. dollar into a nosedive—and position themselves for its next eventual ascent.
Boeing says it is sticking to plans to fly 787 ZA001 first and denies reports that it is considering shifting focus to the second aircraft, ZA002, because of its more advanced completion status. Asked about this question in January, Pat Shanahan, 787 vice president and general manager said, “I doubt it, that’s not our plan.” Boeing says Shanahan’s response “is still accurate.” Renewed speculation over a possible leapfrog in the flight test sequence was fueled by the levels of completion of the new sections for ZA002 that have now arrived at Everett.
Japan, host of the G-8 Summit to be held in Tokyo July 7-9, should take on a leadership role in the climate change debate, so says Giovanni Bisignani, International Air Transport Assn. director general. “I encourage the Japanese government to push the G-8 leaders to aim high and build the political will to achieve a zero-emission industry.” Japan’s plans to implement performance-based navigation systems at top airports are expected to help reduce fuel burn by 2% and save 162,000 metric tons of CO2 annually, notes Bisignani.
Jennifer A. Manner, who is vice president-regulatory affairs for Mobile Satellite Ventures, has been elected 2008 chair of the Washington-based Satellite Industry Assn. Donna Bethea-Murphy has been elected vice chair and David Cavossa treasurer. Bethea-Murphy is vice president-regulatory engineering at Iridium Satellite, while Cavossa is vice president-government affairs for Arrowhead Global Solutions.
Saudi Arabia has ordered a Samoc surface-to-air missile operations center from EADS to provide battle management command, control, communications and coordination for its ground-based air defense forces equipped with Patriots, Hawks and Shahines (Crotales). The Samoc system is to be built and tested by EADS Defense & Communications Systems in Ulm, Germany, and is scheduled for delivery to the Saudis by the end of April 2009, EADS says.
Various high-profile programs have suffered painful and embarrassing delays in development and delivery schedules in recent years. Just a few months ago, we learned the first 787 will be delivered 9-12 months later than what Boeing had forecast. Even more significant was the A380, which entered service two years later than Airbus had planned. More recently, EADS—Airbus’s parent company—has been warning that the delivery of its A400M military transport will be delayed by at least a year.
Italian air force Gen. Vincenzo Camporini has been named chief of defense staff. He was his service’s chief of staff and has been succeeded by Lt. Gen. Daniele Tei, who was head of the operational command. Lt. Gen. Antonino Altorio, who was head of the logistics command, now leads the NATO Eurofighter and Tornado Management Agency. Italian navy chief Adm. Giampaolo Di Paola has been appointed chairman of the NATO Military Committee, effective in June. He will succeed Canadian Gen. Ray Henault.
Japan’s Orix Group and the Manara Consortium of Bahrain will each buy 10% of AirAsiaX, the long-haul affiliate of Malaysia-based budget airline group AirAsia Bhd. The airline says it will use the 250-million-ringgit ($77.5-million) proceeds to pay for aircraft it has already ordered.
USAF Brig. Gen. Michael R. Moeller has been appointed commander of the 379th Air Expeditionary Wing of Air Combat Command (ACC) at Al Udeid AB, Qatar. He has been director of strategy, policy and plans for the Miami-based U.S. Southern Command. Brig. Gen. Harry D. Polumbo, Jr., has been named commander of ACC’s 380th Air Expeditionary Wing, Al Dhafra AB, United Arab Emirates. He has been commander of ACC’s 9th Reconnaissance Wing, Beale AFB, Calif. Polumbo has been succeeded by Brig. Gen. Robert P.
Elia Dragone has been appointed general manager of the Cessna Aircraft Co. ’s New York Citation Service Center and Mark Withrow general manager of the Bend, Ore., facility. Dragone was Northeast U.S. manager for Jet Support Services Inc., while Withrow was general manager of Cessna’s production facility in Mexico.
Michel Menard has been named vice president/general manager of Standard Aero subsidiary Landmark Aviation ’s Springfield, Ill., operation. He was divisional director of engineering, quality and operations for Standard Aero’s Enterprise Services in San Antonio.
The German aerospace research center (DLR) and Lufthansa Technik will jointly develop and support the Airbus A320-based Advanced Technology Research Aircraft (ATRA). Lufthansa Technik’s maintenance expertise is being tapped to help DLR modify the aircraft for various sensors. The ATRA will have a relatively low utilization rate—about 200 flight hours per year—according to DLR. Trials are set to start in the fall, with noise abatement listed as a special focus. New displays for improved man-machine interface will also be explored.
Greg Williams has been named president/general manager of Bell Helicopter Textron’s Edwards and Associates Inc. in Fort Worth. He succeeds Phil Dieterich, who has retired. Williams has been executive director for Integrated Support Solutions for Bell Customer Support and Services.
The next six weeks should be a very interesting time for the Japanese aerospace industry. Commercial airliners haven’t rolled off an assembly line here since 1974, when production was halted on the YS-11 turboprop. But Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. says it’s on the brink of launching a new regional jet designed to capitalize on demand for greener and more fuel-efficient aircraft, following a path blazed by Japan’s automobile manufacturers more than three decades ago.
Assembly operations at the International Space Station will intensify in the next few months as the partnership builds toward a six-person crew, amid questions about how they will be supplied over the long haul. While the combined crews of the space shuttle Atlantis and ISS Expedition 16 were busy plugging Europe’s long-awaited Columbus laboratory module into the station last week—and adding a new European control center to the ISS communications net—NASA and its partners announced the astronauts and cosmonauts who will make up the first six-person crew.
India’s Chandrayaan 1 mission to the Moon has been postponed from its planned launch dates of Apr. 9 or 23. Project director Mylaswamy Annadurai tells local media there are still problems relating to the integration of the scientific payloads with the main lunar orbiter. The Indian Space Research Organization says the probe will be launched before June, however.
Eutelsat says it anticipates no impact from a gyro failure that threatens to curtail the life of the Express AM22 satellite, located at 53 deg. E. Long. The Paris-based operator has a long-term lease on 12 transponders on AM22, which was built by NPO PM for the Russian Satellite Communications Co. RSCC says it plans to upload a software patch to correct the problem, but so far the spacecraft, launched in late 2003, is performing nominally.
EADS has inked a memorandum of understanding with Kazakhstan’s main titanium supplier, UKTMP, and aircraft component provider Aubert & Duval, to help assure the long-term supply of the raw material. The percentage of titanium has been increasing on aircraft, along with the growth in composites, so EADS and Boeing have been on a spree of signing long-term relationships with numerous partners. EADS says the latest deal could be worth $1 billion.
I found the “Inside Avionics” article, and one in the previous issue, reporting a trend toward integration of diverse electronics systems, alarming (AW&ST Jan. 21, p. 43; Jan. 14, p. 43).
