Boeing’s spacecraft order book is a little bigger with the new year. As 2007 drew to a close, NASA ordered two Tracking and Relay Data Satellites in a TDRS series first fielded in 2000. TDRS-K is to be ready for launch in 2012 and TDRS-L in 2013. With all options exercised, the contract will be worth $1.2 billion. It includes upgrades to NASA’s TDRS system ground terminals. The company also received an order from the U.S. Air Force for a sixth Wideband Global Satcom (WGS) spacecraft to fulfill a cooperative agreement the service signed Nov.
Influence is difficult to measure. Yet there can be no doubt that the individuals profiled in the next seven pages had a major impact on aviation, space and defense in 2007. The question is who had the biggest impact in shaping events—in a positive or negative way. That is what Aviation Week & Space Technology editors considered in selecting the magazine’s third annual Person of the Year.
Although Monday morning quarterbacking has a grand tradition in sports and aviation, the comments of Karl Kettler are counterproductive and misinformed. He would put himself in the captain’s seat at the time of a catastrophic event and say, “I would have done better.”
Qian Xuesen, the man who laid the foundation for China’s major achievements in space in 2007 and who is considered the father of the country’s space program, is Aviation Week & Space Technology’s Person of the Year (see p. 56). Scott Marshall of the AW&ST Art Dept. created the cover illustration, drawing from photos of Qian.
China is developing a nuclear-powered lunar lander/rover that will also raise nuclear-related launch safety issues when the mission is flown sometime between 2015-17.
Regarding the article “Not by Speed Alone” (AW&ST Oct. 8, 2007, p. 54), it is hard to believe Apr. 1 has already arrived. If range and payload are the key criteria, as described herein, these are not first-order caliber targets, and the subsonic platforms exist. They only have to be upgraded for penetration aids and survivability. If that is not good enough, building a new airframe with materials and electronic warfare suites that will allow mission success for these targets is not a technology-driven event.
Airbus has delivered its 5,000th commercial transport, a Qantas Airways A330-200. Although there are obviously more important milestones for an aircraft manufacturer than celebrating an “nth” aircraft delivery, the brief ceremony held at Toulouse Airport was highly symbolic. This is especially true for those who recall the late 1960s and 1970s, when the European industry was struggling to devise a realistic strategy to regain a significant share in the airliner market.
Gerald Grinstein was the right man at the right time for Delta Air Lines, taking over as CEO when the carrier was foundering and leading it through a painful—but ultimately successful—recovery.
Mary Glackin has been named deputy undersecretary of Commerce for oceans and atmosphere as part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration . She was acting director of the National Weather Service.
Airplanes saturate New York’s airways and airports. Southern California is heading for a capacity crunch. Chicago’s modernization of O’Hare will not be enough for the growing Great Lakes region.
A team from the University of North Dakota’s UND Aerospace is developing a resource manual to guide airport and airline employees coping with traumatic events. The team comprises three UND Aerospace professors and representatives of the university’s psychology and medical units. The National Academies selected the UND team over three competitors and awarded a $299,416 contract to it under the Transportation Research Board’s Airport Cooperative Research Program.
Boeing and Russian VSMPO-Avisma alloys manufacturer clinched a deal for deliveries in 2011-15 of rolled titanium worth $1.25 billion, which reportedly covers almost 35% of Boeing’s demand for titanium. Earlier last year Boeing and VSMPO established an equally owned joint venture to manufacture titanium components for the Boeing 787 in Russia, in a facility that is to be fully operational by 2011.
Raytheon has completed initial testing of command and control capability for the Navy’s missile-firing, Northrop Grumman MQ-8B Fire Scout unmanned helicopter. A single tactical control system can control two dissimilar air vehicles simultaneously. The company is developing the next-generation C2 system for unmanned aircraft, which will control stealthy and non-stealthy UAVs in the same airspace.
Boeing won an $8.7-million U.S. Air Force contract to provide parts for full-rate production of Joint Helmet Mounted Cueing Systems for F-16s in Turkey and Greece and F/A-18s in Australia. Honeywell was awarded a $21-million contract add-on for full-rate production of 354 advanced multi-purpose displays for new and retrofitted U.S. and Australian F/A-18E/Fs and EA-18Gs. Boeing also won a $16.6-million contract add-on for procurement of nine Harpoon lightweight canister rounds for Turkey.
John R. Landon (see photo) has been appointed vice president-missiles within the Northrop Grumman Corp. ’s government relations organization in Washington. He was deputy assistant Defense secretary for command, control, communications, intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance and information technology acquisition.
The U.S. Navy is exploring alternative ship platforms to host a sea trial of the MQ-8B because of continued delays in the Littoral Combat Ship (LCS), which was to house the unmanned rotorcraft. The Navy hopes to reach initial operational capability with the Fire Scout in early 2009. The first two LCS are expected this year, but work by Lockheed Martin and General Dynamics on additional ships was canceled last year, leaving the Fire Scout vehicle without an official landing platform.
The two aviation conglomerates that China created out of its state industry in 1999, Avic I and Avic II, may re-merge their commercial aircraft businesses. An Avic 1 vice president says the two companies probably will “undertake consolidation and cooperation.” The talks are supposed to be exploratory; other officials say an agreement may be announced in March. The aim is to help the industry prepare for the production of a large commercial aircraft, which may turn out to be a small widebody, according to earlier reports.
NASA will skip a launch window for Mars for the first time in a decade in 2011 because of a delay in the selection process for the next Mars Scout mission forced by an undisclosed conflict of interest on the board that evaluates Scout mission proposals. The conflict was discovered in November, when NASA reviewed concept study proposals from the two Scout mission finalists. The evaluation board of members chosen from NASA, industry and the science community was disbanded and an entirely new board formed.
Boeing closed out 2007 with a rush of orders as it headed for what is likely to be a record year. The largest order, for 100 aircraft, was a formal confirmation from Dubai Aerospace Enterprises of a handshake deal announced at the Dubai air show last November. At list prices, the order is worth $10.9 billion and comprises 70 737s, 15 787s, 10 777-300ERs and five 747-8s. The 747-8 order was a milestone for the new airplane, which will debut next year, because it pushes total commitments to 103. All but 20 of them were for freighters.
Russian Space Agency head Anatoly Perminov says he harbors some doubts about Europe’s willingness to cooperate on Russia’s Crew Space Transportation System (CSTS), and its ability to finance a role in the system. “Most likely it would be necessary to develop a special agreement in this matter,” Perminov told reporters late last month, following an early December meeting between RSA and European Space Agency specialists.
Israeli-built Heron 1 long-endurance, medium-altitude unmanned aircraft are being used in Turkey’s military operations against militant Kurds along the border with Iraq, according to reports from the Middle East and Europe. Such aircraft would provide real-time electro-optical and communications surveillance of armed Kurdish groups and their command and control operations during raids into Turkey. The U.S.
Marc Garneau is one of three aviation pioneers who have been named as 2008 inductees to Canada ’s Aviation Hall of Fame , which is part of the Reynolds-Alberta Museum, Wetaskiwin, Alberta. Garneau was an astronaut and president of the Canadian Space Agency. The other inductees will be the late Frederick Kearns, former president/chief executive of Canadair Ltd.; and the late Hubert Pasmore, founder of Fairchild Aircraft Ltd. (Canada).
Northrop Grumman researchers have produced and demonstrated a transistor that has a maximum frequency of operation of more than 1,000 GHz. The device is an indium phosphide-based High Electronic Mobility Transistor, which is projected to provide a generational leap in military and commercial applications. NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory validated the transistor’s ultra-fast speed, and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency supported development that centered initially on a submillimeter-wave imaging focal-plan technology program.
China Lake (Calif.) Naval Air Weapons Station has opened its new 2,200-ft. airstrip strictly for unmanned aircraft operations. The base will be home for many of the shore-based tests and experiments including validation of takeoff and landing of stealthy, unmanned aircraft from a carrier that now depends on radar to know where aircraft are during bad weather and at night. The test work also will focus on operating manned and unmanned aircraft in the same airspace. Two Raytheon Cobra UAVs flew the first missions from China Lake on Dec. 13.
Pratt & Whitney aims to slash handling times for engines with an overhaul shop it and China Eastern Airlines have begun building in Shanghai. The plant, which will handle only CFM56 engines, will be Pratt & Whitney’s first major overhaul facility in China. “This was a very, very logical move for us to make” in developing an Asian strategy, says James Keenan, general manager of Pratt & Whitney’s engine maintenance business.
