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.
Elbit Systems says South Korea is planning to buy Skylark unmanned aircraft. The program is starting with the purchase of a single system for tests, with follow-on procurement expected.
The American Society of Aviation Artists would also like to thank its sustaining sponsors: AVIATION WEEK, the Boeing Co., Pratt & Whitney and the Lockheed Martin Corp. Honorable Mentions
The Transportation Safety Board of Canada has issued a final report on the crash of an Air France A340, which ran off the runway at Toronto’s Lester B. Pearson International Airport in 2005, and it is calling for tighter rules for approach and landing during convective weather.
Montage shows some of the more than 300 images that the three judges in the annual Aviation Week & Space Technology photo contest reviewed. Cover design by Scott Marshall of the AW&ST Art Dept.
BAE Systems is to sell part of its U.S. electronic warfare business to Cobham, as the latter seeks to extend its U.S. footprint. BAE Systems will receive $240 million for its Landsdale, Pa.-based “Surveillance and Attack” business. The unit has 400 employees.
NASA will continue to work with Ad Astra Rocket Co. as the Webster, Tex.-based firm develops an advanced plasma engine for future in-space propulsion. Michael Coats, director of Johnson Space Center, and veteran astronaut Franklin Chang Diaz, the Ad Astra chairman and CEO, signed a Space Act Agreement Dec. 10 setting out a “framework for collaboration” as the company matures its “Vasimr” engine technology.
The Russian government has suspended through next year a 20% import tax it imposes on Western-built aircraft with a capacity of more than 300 seats. It marks the second time the government has given airlines relief from taxes designed to protect domestic manufacturers from foreign competition. Even with the financial obstacle in place, Russian operators imported more than 90 passenger jets this year to replace high-fuel-burn Soviet-era aircraft.
Chicago-based navAero Inc. has received the seventh supplemental type certificate for its Class 2 Electronic Flight Bag (EFB)—this time for installation on Airbus A300 and A310 aircraft. A global operator of these aircraft types will begin using the system in the first quarter of 2008. The Navaero t-BagC22 EFB also has been selected by Continental Airlines for its fleet of 58 Boeing 757-200/300s and 26 767-200/400s. Continental decided to retrofit its 757s and 767s partly owing to the FAA’s safety push to reduce runway incursions.
Solving the F-15’s problems is turning into a lengthy process that is triggering concerns about a slip in pilots’ proficiency because they cannot fly. Plans are afoot to launch a crash effort once the flight ban is lifted. Inspections of the fleet of A-D models continue following the breakup of an F-15 (the nose broke off behind the cockpit) in a 3g maneuver. Cracks in the upper longerons of eight F-15s have been found.
George Nader has been named Montreal-based director of sales and marketing of Execaire . He was an executive with with Air Canada Technical Services and Pratt & Whitney Canada. Kenneth F. Dandy has been appointed Vancouver-based manager, Harald Maron Toronto-based manager of aircraft management and charter sales, and John O’Brien Winnipeg-based manager of maintenance and avionics repairs.
Air India’s planned accession to Star Alliance membership marks an import milestone for the airline and the alliance’s respective growth strategies. Long courted by Star, which bemoaned the absence of a member in the Indian growth market, Air India is likely to be on board in early 2009. The carrier has been working for three years with Lufthansa, which is sponsoring Air India’s membership, and no insurmountable barriers are foreseen. Air China and Shanghai Airlines joined last week giving Star good coverage in another hot growth area.
