Aviation Week & Space Technology

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (Darpa) is researching how computers reading brain waves may one day speed up the ways intelligence analysts detect targets in satellite images and also alert platoon leaders when soldiers are losing situational awareness.

The future of U.S. Air Force aviation includes stationing very big unmanned reconnaissance aircraft on Guam (with the range to watch China, Eastern Russia and the Western Pacific Rim), medium-size UAVs at five bases along the borders of the U.S. and the new twin-engine, Joint Cargo Aircraft (for homeland security and operating in difficult terrain in South America, Africa and Southwest Asia) at seven Air National Guard and Reserves bases. There also are going to be lots of F-35 Joint Strike Fighters in newly consolidated regular Air Force, Reserve and ANG units.

China Eastern Airlines and China Southern Airlines will cooperate in marketing, buying aircraft and ground services, the Shanghai Securities News says. China Southern is willing to propose China Eastern as a member of the SkyTeam alliance. China Eastern is struggling to retain its independence in the face of a bid for control from the parent of Air China (see p. 392). China Southern and China Eastern do not propose to invest in each other.

The European Space Agency is revamping its science, exploration and manned spaceflight activities as part of a plan to align its management setup with changing space program realities, both in Europe and overseas.

French Defense Minister Herve Morin reaffirms that France’s full integration into the NATO command structure will depend on the U.S. and U.K. removing objections to an autonomous European Union military planning cell. “I regret that the planning cell could not be deployed for the EU-sponsored mission to Chad and the Central African Republic,” Morin told an industry and armed services gathering in Paris last week (see p. 390), noting that the cell would complement NATO and draw on NATO command assets.

Western nations are in the midst of a major, long-term re-equipment cycle in their fighter fleets, which should keep the market for the aircraft healthy at least into the next decade. Advancements in weapons, sensors, cockpit design and performance have made the newer aircraft more effective than older models, while their systems are more reliable, require less maintenance and are easier to upgrade throughout their life cycles than the aircraft they are replacing.

Keeping fare and yield momentum rolling looks to be the key to weathering economic recession for U.S. airlines, as surprisingly robust demand remains a rare bright spot in an otherwise gloomy financial outlook.

An aircraft creates a vapor trail around the Moon in this photo by Grant Faint for Getty Images. Aerospace Source Book cover design by the AW&ST Art Dept.

Iridium officials say a recent International Civil Aviation Organization stamp of approval for use of the company’s satellite communications system in flight safety situations could spur more airlines to install Iridium avionics. This type of equipment is used heavily by business jets, but is not widely employed in the airline market.

The opening paragraphs of “Moon Stuck” by Craig Covault (AW&ST Jan. 21, p. 24) create the misperception that the workshop we are organizing at Stanford University has already decided upon a new path for the human and robotic exploration of space. We wish to make it clear that the purpose of the workshop is to examine the Vision for Space Exploration critically in order to prepare for space policy considerations in a new administration and Congress.

The illegal use of middlemen, impending 2009 elections and regional geopolitical issues are all likely to slow India’s weapons acquisition process just as the world’s industry is gaining unprecedented access to what is expected to be a $40-billion market.

Dan White has become president of Com Dev USA , El Segundo, Calif. He was vice president-engineering of Datapath and had been director of satellite payload engineering for Lockheed Martin.

The outlook for the expendable launch vehicle (ELV) market is strong. Governments continue to be the prevailing customers, accounting for 66% of the total global launches in 2006, and this trend will continue in the decades to come.

Cessna Aircraft Co. has chosen three U.S.-based facilities to assemble and deliver its SkyCatcher light sport aircraft: Eagle Aviation near West Columbia, S.C.; longtime Cessna dealer Yingling Aviation in Wichita, Kan.; and Southwest Platinum Aviation in North Las Vegas, Nev. China’s Shenyang Aircraft Corp. will produce the two-seat, single-engine Model 162 as well as test flying, disassembling and shipping airplanes to the three authorized assembly sites. Cessna officials expect first flight of the SkyCatcher in the next few months.

The market for military fixed-wing trainers is becoming increasingly competitive, as a number of manufacturers introduce all-new designs, while others unveil improved variants of existing models.

DAE Capital, the aircraft leasing arm of Dubai Aircraft Enterprise, is making quite a splash. Nine months after American Bob Genise was tapped to start the business, it has accumulated assets worth $1.5 billion by acquiring more than two dozen airplanes from GE Commercial Aviation Services (Gecas) and Emirates. And that’s just the start: DAE has ordered new jets for $29 billion—100 from Airbus, 100 from Boeing (AW&ST Nov. 19, 2007, p. 33).

EADS’s Socata general aviation unit has received orders for 60 TBM 850 turboprop business aircraft this year—a record number for the TBM series, according to company officials. The orders drove sales of the single-engine airplane to more than 150 since it was introduced in December 2005. A majority of sales are from the U.S. market, with 20% from Europe and 10% spread across other markets including Brazil and Australia. Socata delivered 42 TBM 850s in 2006 and was scheduled to deliver 51 in 2007.

American Airlines has completed the first installation of an Aircell Internet broadband system on a Boeing 767-200. The carrier expects to complete installation on 15 767s this year that primarily serve transcontinental routes. American expects service to begin in the second half of 2008. Meanwhile, Southwest Airlines has begun testing a WiFi system in its 737 fleet.

Aviation turbine engine production, which is being driven by the continuing strength of the global aviation market, will exceed 11,000 units in 2009 and remain on that path until 2013, after which a slow decline is expected.

Brazil’s accident investigation bureau has adopted an updated flight data and cockpit voice recorder analysis system. Investigators, using Flightscape’s Insight program, will now be able to analyze information from any recorder or aircraft type. The country’s civil aviation department has developed animations of the midair collision of an Embraer Legacy 600 and a Gol Airways 737-800 over the Amazon jungle in September 2006, and the runway overrun accident involving TAM Airlines Flight 3054 at Sao Paulo.

Everyone has experienced the frustration of a computer failure—booting, rebooting, calling tech support, re-rebooting and cursing the modern blessing of information technology. But imagine your computer crashing while piloting NASA’s Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle on a mission to the Moon.

The Russian air force last week took its first delivery of the serial production standard of the Mil Mi-28N Havoc attack helicopter from manufacturer Rostvertol. Two of the type were handed over, and a further 13 are planned for delivery this year. The aim is to replace all of the air force’s Mi-24 Hinds with Havocs by 2015. Venezuela is reported to have asked recently if it might acquire the Mi-28N.

Reducing environmental impact and struggling with growth scenarios will be the chief agenda items for world airports this year. To cope with these possibly contradictory tasks, Airports Council International (ACI) estimates capital expenditures at world facilities will increase 5-10% over last year, reaching an all-time high of more than $40 billion.

All the Navy’s new F/A-18E and F Super Hornets and the EA-18G Growlers are coming off the assembly line with advanced radars that triple detection range, offer electronic-attack options and transmit huge imagery files. But 135 of the aircraft were built before the new active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar was ready. That problem is being addressed with an initial $33-million contract to Raytheon to provide the Navy with the first 19 APG-79 AESA radars to retrofit into older Super Hornets built with mechanically scanning radars.