Singaporean budget carrier Tiger Airways has ordered 20 A320s. It took options on the aircraft when it ordered 30 other A320s in October. With the latest deal, its fleet will reach 70 aircraft by 2016.
Canadian simulator manufacturer CAE has logged more than C$126 million (U.S.$125.3 million) in orders for eight full-flight simulators and associated training devices for several airlines. Previous to these orders, the company said in November it had sold 21 simulators this year. These new orders include a Boeing 787 full-flight simulator for Continental Airlines, three Airbus full flight simulators for US Airways and an A320 full-flight simulator for Etihad Airways of Abu Dhabi, plus Simfinity training devices for all three customers.
The fair integration of airline employees’ seniority during a merger is the intent of language that was inserted into the U.S. federal omnibus spending bill for fiscal 2008. Sens. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) and Kit Bond (R-Mo.) were responsible for the amendment, saying about 1,250 former TWA employees are at risk of losing recall rights five years after being laid off following the 2001 acquisition of TWA by American. The provision seeks to establish a fair manner for integrating seniority lists in future mergers.
The past year has produced spectacular advances in space exploration. The International Space Station began to take on its final shape; NASA’s Mars rovers continued to crawl across the red planet’s surface long after they were expected to have died; Japan and China sent orbiters to the Moon, and the New Horizons probe picked up a gravity assist from Jupiter on its way to Pluto. All of them—human and robot alike—sent back pictures. Here are some of the best.
Eurofighter has put on ice its efforts to try to sell the Typhoon to Denmark and Norway. The two countries have been informed of the consortium’s decision to suspend participation in the fighter procurement programs there. EADS was leading the campaigns in Norway and Denmark. Changes to the procurement process in terms of timing and structure prompted the decision. Other contenders for the programs are the Lockheed Martin F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, and an improved variant of the Saab Gripen.
Jan. 7-10—46th American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics’ (AIAA) Aerospace Sciences Meeting and Exhibit. Grand Sierra Resort Hotel, Reno, Nev. Also, Jan. 23‑24—AIAA Strategic and Tactical Missile Systems Conference. Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, Calif. And, Mar. 31-Apr. 3—Sixth U.S. Missile Defense Conference and Exhibit. Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center, Washington. Call +1 (703) 264-7500, fax +1 (703) 264-7551 or see www.aiaa.org
Four years into Wide Area Augmentation System operation, the FAA is expanding the GPS positioning aid with additional coverage areas and is publishing WAAS approach procedures at large airports in hopes of persuading airlines to use the system.
The last Jaguar strike aircraft on the British military register was withdrawn from service on Dec. 20. Defense technology specialist Qinetiq used the aircraft for trials. Royal Air Force Jaguars were withdrawn last April.
As he orbited in the International Space Station, astronaut Daniel Tani learned that his 90-year-old mother, Rose Tani, was killed Dec. 19, when her car was struck by a train in the Chicago suburb of Lombard, Ill. It is believed to be the first time an astronaut has lost a close family member while in space. Tani was informed by his wife and a flight surgeon via private video conference. The earliest he will return to Earth, barring an emergency on the station, is in January on the next space shuttle mission.
The Fiscal 2008 omnibus appropriations bill agreed to by Congress and President Bush has something for everyone, politically as well as fiscally. All the non-defense departments and agencies get an appropriation instead of a more restrictive continuing resolution. Bush gets enough war funding to last through spring with no withdrawal strings attached, and Congress gives up its attempt to add about $23 billion to the total Bush proposed for domestic discretionary spending.
NASA has a much clearer idea of what it will take to get its stalled space shuttle and International Space Station programs moving again in January, after a round of sophisticated fact-finding in Florida and in orbit. Troubleshooting at the pad with the space shuttle Atlantis fully fueled narrowed the source of the problem that kept it on the ground through its December launch window to a connector that passes through the walls of the big external fuel tank. That eliminates hard-to-reach sensors inside the tank as the source of the trouble.
The Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile (Jassm) accomplished its third flight test Dec. 20 after Lockheed Martin implemented hardware and software fixes into the stealthy cruise missile after a halt to flight testing this spring. The missile’s reliability dipped to 58%, partially a result of a GPS dropout problem. USAF Lt. Gen. Donald Hoffman, military acquisition deputy for the service, says this test addressed software fixes designed to reduce noise in the GPS signal while the missile is in flight.
The Pentagon is in talks with Switzerland to help upgrade 33 of the air force’s F/A-18C/Ds to maintain the technical relevance of the combat aircraft. The proposed $535-million foreign military sales deal would include 20 Atflir targeting pods, ALR-67(V)3 radar warning receivers, cockpit enhancements and other equipment.
The U.K. and France are to fund with industry a three-year guided weapons innovation and technology program. The effort, led by European missile manufacturer MBDA, is in part intended give impetus to Anglo-French defense collaboration, at least in niche areas. Total funding for the program is €42 million ($60.5 million).
Starsem launched Radarsat-2 for Canada’s MDA on Dec. 14 from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The Soyuz rocket’s Fregat upper stage accurately injected the satellite into its targeted low Earth orbit at 798 km. (496 mi.) altitude, according to Starsem, with two ignitions to place the satellite into orbit 53 min. after launch. Radarsat-2 will be dedicated to environmental monitoring, resource and disaster management and mapping in Canada and around the world.
Malaysian Airline System and Australia’s Qantas Airways will set up an airframe maintenance company at Kuala Lumpur, targeting the regional market and taking on overflow work from Qantas facilities.
Very-light-jet hopeful Aviation Technology Group has stopped development of its Javelin two-seat jet after failing to raise $200 million in financing. The Denver-based company issued a statement on Dec. 18 saying: “. . . it is unlikely that adequate funding can be secured in a timely manner. ATG has therefore decided to halt development of the Javelin at this time. Further action will be decided upon after proper communication with our strategic business partner,” which is Israel Aerospace Industries.
The Japanese Aegis destroyer Kongo, in the country’s first attempt, intercepted a ballistic missile target with a Standard Missile-3 Block 1A on Dec. 17. The target, fired by the U.S. Navy, mimicked a North Korean Rodong missile. Kongo, the first Japanese ship upgraded for ballistic missile defense, “gives Japan a proven midcourse engagement capability against the increasing ballistic missile threat present in the region,” the Japanese defense ministry says.
The British Defense Ministry announced Dec. 18 it had signed a £62-million ($122.8-million) deal with Boeing to modify eight Chinook Mk.3 helicopters, to allow them to enter service. The aircraft will be converted to the Mk.2A standard, with elements of the Mk.3 cockpit avionics fit replaced. The modification work will be done by Qinetiq. The first helicopter will not now be in operational service until 2009, 11 years later than originally anticipated, and in a different role.
The European CoRoT (Convection, Rotation and Planetary Transits) space observation satellite has found its second planet outside the solar system since its November 2006 launch. Designated CoRoT-Exo-2b, the gaseous giant is 1.4 times larger and 3.5 times heavier than Jupiter. It is about 800 light-years distant and circles a sun once every two days. Scientists found the planet by detecting a weakening of the sun when the planet passes in front of it, and creating a solar eclipse-like phenomenon.
Washington is laying out the proposed elements of an F-16 sale to Morocco—a competition Washington and Lockheed Martin snatched away from the French government and Dassault Aviation, which were hoping for their first Rafale export order. The $2.4-billion F-16 deal would involve 24 aircraft in the Block 50/52 configuration, with APG-68(V)9 radars, ALR-56M radar warners, secure Sincgars radios, and joint helmet mounted cueing systems.
Lockheed Martin plans to start tethered hover pit tests of the first F-35B Stovl (short takeoff and vertical landing) version in April, prior to first flight in May, but says full-scale hover flights remain at least a year away.
