William E. Harrison, 3rd, chief of the fuel branch at the Air Force Research Laboratory’s propulsion directorate at Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, has spearheaded the Office of the Secretary of Defense’s Assured Fuels Initiative to develop domestic fuel sources for U.S. air and ground forces. In 2007, the Air Force certificated a synthetic fuel—produced from coal and natural gas through the Fischer-Tropsch process—that is being used in a 50-50 blend with a petroleum-based fuel in B-52 aircraft.
Britain is one of several nations heading toward the NATO summit in Bucharest with ambitious agendas for reform at the strategic and organizational levels. London wants to see the Apr. 2-4 summit in the Romanian capital used to begin to revisit the fundamental tenets of NATO’s role in the post-Cold War environment, the so-called Strategic Concept, agreed at the Washington Summit in 1999. It is also pushing an agenda for the internal reorganization of some NATO structures to reduce bureaucracy and improve and expedite decision-making.
The air traffic delay situation at New York John F. Kennedy International Airport is the result of misguided business planning by one domestic airline: JetBlue Airways.
Southwest will be making Denver a more important player in its route network on May 10, when it adds many flights to the city as part of a larger route reorganization. At Denver, the airline will go to 79 daily flights from 56, including new services to St. Louis, Los Angeles and San Jose, Calif. Meanwhile, embattled Frontier Airlines, based in Denver, has revised upward its expected losses for 2007 because of weak demand and winter storms.
A few minutes after reading the letter “Lights Out, Brains in Neutral” (AW&ST Oct. 1, 2007, p. 10), I went online and discovered the following National Transportation Safety Board e-mail:
China plans the launch of 14 unmanned space missions in 2008, in addition to its third manned Shenzhou flight. The 15 total launches are to orbit 17 spacecraft. The new unmanned spacecraft will reap dividends from years of Chinese remote-sensing and military satellite development. The 2008 manifest also marks a revitalization of China’s commercial launch program. Three large communications spacecraft are planned for launch: ChinaSat 9, APStar 6B and a Venezuelan spacecraft.
UPS will soon begin using advanced automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast (ADS-B) procedures at Louisville, Ky., now that the FAA has approved its application for the first satellite-guided merging and spacing operations the U.S.
Scientists will get their first close look at the planet Mercury in almost 33 years on Jan. 14 as NASA’s Mercury Surface, Space Environment, Geochemistry and Ranging (Messenger) probe flies within 124 mi. of previously uncharted terrain.
Sea Launch will try again Jan. 15 to orbit the Thuraya-3 telecom spacecraft, after strong currents at the equatorial launch site in the Pacific forced the two-vessel launch fleet to return to port in Long Beach, Calif., in November 2007. The Odyssey launch platform and the Sea Launch Commander mother ship are en route to the launch site at 154 deg. W. Long. The Boeing-built satellite’s liftoff is set for a 44-min. window that opens 6:46 a.m. EST.
Lisa Porter, NASA associate administrator for aeronautical research, is leaving her post to lead the newly established Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Agency (Iarpa). Fashioned after the model of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (Darpa), which has been in the forefront of many of the major military innovations in the U.S. in the past 50 years, Iarpa’s goal is to pursue groundbreaking advances to improve intelligence collection and analysis.
The U.K. is beginning to explore the extent of a further series of upgrades to its Tornado GR4 strike aircraft to try to sustain the bombers until at least 2025. Under the banner of the recently awarded Tornado Capability Upgrade Strategy (Pilot) Program (CUSP) contract BAE Systems will look at an array of options for the aircraft to maintain its combat utility until its planned out-of-service date.
A winning design for the U.S. Navy’s Broad Area Maritime Surveillance unmanned aerial system will be selected in March, a slight slip from plans to choose a contractor next month. Navy officials say they want time for extra “due diligence” in picking a winner among the candidates.
The Netherlands is going ahead with a program to upgrade 24 of its 29 Boeing AH-64D Apache attack helicopters with enhanced aircraft self-protection equipment by 2014. Procurement and installation of the upgraded equipment is to begin in 2010, according to the defense ministry in The Hague. Of three options considered, the one thought to be favored by the military is to expand the interim self-protection system developed by Danish company Terma in partnership with the Netherlands Apache community and the National Aerospace Lab in 2003-04 for duty in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Surprisingly, while newer commercial aircraft models are quieter, newer military aircraft models are often much louder. As a result, many folks who bought homes outside of the noise zones of military airfields now find themselves effectively within those zones, and the noise is substantially greater than previously. U.S. Navy consultants say the F/A-18E/F, F-22 and F-35 exhibit “non-linear noise propagation,” which means the actual noise is much greater than the predicted noise. The difference can be as much as 20 dB.
Astronauts conducting the final planned servicing mission to the Hubble Space Telescope expect to leave behind a spacecraft that is 90 times more capable than the one launched in 1990. But the improvements left by spacewalkers working out of the shuttle Atlantis are likely to be obsolete by the time another mission to the telescope could be mounted, even if one were planned.
Alexey Komarov (Moscow), Michael A. Taverna (Paris)
Russia is talking to India about collaborating on a new manned spaceship that is seen as the fulcrum of a rejuvenated Russian space program. The talks—revealed late last month by Anatoly Perminov, head of the Russian space agency, Roscosmos—are underway as Russia is poised to name a prime contractor for the Crew Space Transportation System (CSTS), which is intended to replace the aging Soyuz. The winner should be announced in the first quarter.
Aeroflot has put its Tu-134 fleet out to pasture. The carrier has ceased operations with the long-serving aircraft type, but will sell 14 of them to continue service to subsidiaries Aeroflot-Don, Aeroflot-North and Aeroflot-Plus. Aeroflot has operated Tu-134s for more than 40 years. It became the most numerous aircraft type in the airline’s history. The first of the models, still designated the Tu-12B, was put in service in 1963. The Tu-134 designation followed two years later. But stronger noise regulations largely forced the Tu-134 onto only domestic routes.
The Italian air force is stuck in limbo, unsure when it can restore its AMX fighter/bombers to operational status. A judge from Sardinia has grounded the AMX fleet, effectively shutting down the 51st fighter/bomber wing at Istrana in Treviso in Northern Italy and the 32nd at Amendola in Foggia in Southern Italy, as well as testing being conducted at Pratica di Mare (Rome) by the experimental wing. Military officials are livid about what they see as an out-of-control judiciary.
Lockheed Martin captured $556 million in contracts to provide the U.S. Army with Patriot Advanced Capability-3 air defense missions. The company is to produce 148 missiles, 17 launcher modification kits, spares and equipment and deliver them by 2010.
MBDA has opened a new research, development and headquarters facility in Plessis-Robinson, near Paris, that will replace three former Paris-area plants. Construction of the 70,000-sq.-meter five-building complex, which will house 3,000 employees, is part of an ongoing rationalization plan involving facilities in France, Italy and the U.K.
I read your article, “Grounded” (AW&ST Dec. 17, 2007, p. 24), which described the process that led to the recent grounding of the space shuttle fleet, with mounting dismay and finally a sense of outrage.
Eurocontrol has issued a safety notice to aircraft operators and air navigation service providers after an incident involving an error in the use of Controller Pilot Data Link Communications (CPDLC). It allows controllers to send ATC clearances to pilots via data link rather than relying exclusively on voice radio communications. But recently a pilot logged onto the CPDLC system in flight using the incorrect aircraft identification, and that turned out to be the identification of an aircraft already using the flight data processing system that had not logged on yet.
David McMillan has become director general of Brussels-based Eurocontrol . He was director general of civil aviation for the U.K. and has been first vice president of the European Civil Aviation Conference and spokesman for Europe on aviation and environment at the International Civil Aviation Organization.
Researchers are about to begin in-depth studies of a heat shield sample taken from the edge of the Stardust sample-return capsule as part of continuing work to determine if the same ablative material should be used to protect the Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle. The material, made from phenolic impregnated carbon ablator (PICA), is the leading choice for the Orion spacecraft, and its evaluation forms a critical early task for CEV planners along with development and test of a launch-abort system.
In a deal worth about $300 million, Rolls-Royce Trent 700s will be outfitted on Thai Airways’ eight new Airbus A330-300s, deliveries of which are to start in 2009. The powerplants are covered under a 10-year TotalCare long-term services agreement.
