The European Space Agency has successfully completed the second firing of the P80 first-stage solid rocket motor, intended to power Europe’s Vega light rocket. The firing, from a test stand in Kourou, French Guiana, delivered 190 metric tons of thrust for the nominal duration of 111 sec. Vega is scheduled to make its maiden flight in late 2008.
Martin Bernegger (see photo) has been named senior vice president/general manager of Jet Aviation Dubai , effective Jan. 1. He will succeed Phil Balmer, who will be reassigned. Bernegger has been senior vice president/general manager of the Europe, Middle East, Africa and Asia charter division.
Northrop Grumman is proposing what it believes to be a unique combination of a flying wing with a powered-lift system as a future short-takeoff-and-landing multi-mission transport.
Launch site engineers are using innovation and limited modifications to the massive Apollo- and shuttle-era infrastructure here for lean, low-cost Ares I/Orion launch capability. And unlike either the Apollo lunar mission or shuttle programs—where substantial spacecraft system-level integration and manufacturing took place in contractor plants across the country—much of that work is now moving to Kennedy for Ares and Orion (AW&ST Sept. 4, 2006, p. 24).
NASA’s reassignment of Caris A. (Skip) Hatfield, the original program manager on the Orion crew exploration vehicle, was a “strategic alignment” of management as Orion heads toward preliminary design review next fall, and was unrelated to a major weight scrub Hatfield oversaw that pulled the vehicle back within bounds (see p. 52). Personal problems between NASA managers didn’t play into it, nor did unhappiness with Hatfield’s technical solutions, insiders say.
Engineers have tested deployment of the giant solar arrays on Europe’s Automated Transfer Vehicle, a major step forward in preparing the freighter for launch to the International Space Station. The four arrays—each measuring 9.15 meters (30 ft.) long and weighing 7 kg. (15.4 lb.)—built by Dutch Space, were unfurled and tested in clean rooms at the European spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, during a two-week campaign in November.
NASA’s Gamma-ray Large Area Space Telescope (Glast) has been diverted to the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) in Washington for thermal-vacuum testing after being bumped by a classified spacecraft also under development by General Dynamics in Gilbert, Ariz. A hardware failure delayed thermal-vac testing for the classified military satellite until it overlapped with Glast’s testing, says Kevin Grady, NASA’s Glast project manager at Goddard Space Flight Center. The classified mission took priority, and Glast switched to NRL as a backup.
The UPS Jetair Express strategic alliance with India’s AFL logistics and courier services company goes into effect Jan. 1. The agreement is expected to strengthen capabilities of both companies in India, with UPS Jetair continuing operations as an international express delivery service and AFL as a domestic service provider.
ORBITER:will be making its 29th flight. The OV-104 orbiter last flew on STS-117 in June. Launch Date: Targeted for Dec. 6 from Kennedy Space Center Pad 39A for a 12-day flight, with the possibility of adding two days if consumables allow.
Santa hasn’t smiled on the military services during recent Christmas seasons, a time when the Pentagon comptroller has repeatedly issued last-minute budget cuts as the war in Iraq came to dominate Pentagon spending. But USAF thinks its fortunes might turn this year. Secretary Michael Wynne says an effort to garner an extra $20 billion per year for his service’s modernization efforts is “beginning to get traction” with the Pentagon and the White House.
Marine Corps Lt. Gen. James Castellaw, deputy commandant for programs and resources, says his service is well positioned to shift its attention to the increasingly tenuous military situation in Afghanistan. NATO leads operations there, and political strife in Pakistan has fueled an already aggressive resurgence of the Taliban. Castellaw says a decrease in violence in Iraq—especially in western Anbar province, where much Marine activity is concentrated—would allow for the service to begin disengaging there.
All USAF F-15Es have returned to flight after a temporary standdown following a crash earlier this month, Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne said Nov. 28. USAF put them back into operation around the globe following a rigorous structural inspection (AW&ST Nov. 12, p. 50). Inspections on the earlier models continue, and they are being returned to flight on a case-by-case basis. A Nov. 27 order from Air Combat Command adds further inspections to the A-D model based on early findings from an accident investigation board. The U.S.
Northrop Grumman is offering what one company executive calls “another option” to the Air Force’s strategy to award a winner-take-all contract next February to start replacing aging KC-135 tankers. Spurred by lobbyists, lawmakers from states that stand to gain jobs from a Northrop Grumman/EADS win in the tanker competition with Boeing are asking why splitting the buy between the two teams isn’t on the table. Publicly, however, Northrop Grumman CEO Ron Sugar says the company views the competition as an all-or-nothing proposition—for now, at least.
Efficiencies and environmental gains from Europe’s future air traffic management system could be negated if runway capacity at major airports is not expanded, warns a study by Sesar (Single European Sky ATM Research). “The ATM Target Concept,” the third of six Sesar planning studies, reveals the radical differences in the way in which individual ATC movements will be managed by 2020.
I enjoyed your breathless coverage of the last space shuttle landing in “Breezing In” (AW&ST Nov. 12, p. 38). A crew of highly trained pilot/astronauts managed to land into a headwind within limits with a, gasp, 4-kt. crosswind. “The winds presented a higher workload . . . and higher speed monitoring.” “The weather was clear.” What a feat of airmanship!
A European Commission study projects that if an open skies treaty is approved, the number of transatlantic passengers between the European Union and Canada will increase to 14 million annually by 2011 from 8 million each year now. The projection was issued as EU-Canada talks began Nov. 27 in Brussels for a single aviation agreement to replace bilateral pacts between Canada and 17 European nations. The study foresees consumer benefits of $110 million a year through lower fares and the creation of 3,700 jobs the first year.
Only a few short years ago, the U.S. Missile Defense Agency (MDA) was having to explain why it was suffering multiple testing failures. In one particularly embarrassing case, the agency couldn’t even get an interceptor out of its silo, much less destroy a ballistic missile target.
Greece has taken delivery of its 15th and last Mirage 2000 in what marks the end of that production line for Dassault Aviation, which built 601 of the combat aircraft, operated by nine air forces. The delivery ceremony of a Mirage 2000-5 Mk. II took place last month at the Tanagra air base, north of Athens. Dassault Aviation Chairman/CEO Charles Edelstenne didn’t miss the opportunity to make a plug for the Rafale fighter, which he hopes Greece will buy, noting the aircraft this year earned its combat stripes in Afghanistan.
Prospects for an alliance between aerospace and defense contractors Thales and Safran have been cut short by opposition from private shareholders, top management and the French government, which fears such a deal could add to the difficulties of stumbling EADS.
Britain has handed Lockheed Martin a $4.8-million contract to buy more Desert Hawk III unmanned aircraft systems. This follows a $6.3-million award in April. The small, lightweight, hand-launched UAV conducts autonomous surveillance missions.
Honda Aero Inc. broke ground Nov. 28 for an HF120 turbofan engine production and testing facility in Burlington, N.C. Partners GE Aviation and Honda Aero say the $27-million plant will have the capacity to produce 200 engines a year after production starts in late 2010.
Grob Aerospace has handed over the final two G120A-F trainers to EADS, which the latter is using to support its training services contract with the French air force. Deliveries of the aircraft, modified slightly for French needs (flying from the right hand seat and some avionics changes), began in March. Grob continues to support the aircraft bought by EADS’s Cognac Aviation Training Services during the training program. The French air force basic training takes place at Cognac air station.
The British government could have generated higher returns from its sale of 37.5% of Qinetiq in 2003 to the Carlyle Group (33.8%) and management and employees (3.7%), the U.K.’s National Audit Office (NAO) has determined, but stopped short of saying, the government and taxpayers were fleeced by private equity. When Qinetiq shares were floated in 2006, Carlyle achieved a rate of return of 112%, which drew much public criticism with charges the government sold the defense asset too cheaply.
Someday China will send astronauts to the Moon, even though it has no timetable for doing so, predicts the head of the country’s space agency. Four weeks after officials formally denied press reports that China planned a manned lunar mission by 2020, the national space administration head, Sun Laiyan, says the Moon program includes only unmanned spacecraft. “But I believe one day China will for sure send its own astronauts to land on the Moon,” he adds. “I hope I can see it happen.”
The top 20 U.K. Defense Ministry procurement programs suffered an aggregate delay in the past year of 38 months, which is five months more slippage than in the prior year, the government’s National Audit Office (NAO) says in its annual review. The performance prompted Edward Leigh, chairman of Parliament’s Committee of Public Accounts, to note that “at a time when our armed forces are being asked to do very difficult jobs in unbelievable trying circumstances, delays in introducing key equipment are the last thing they need.”
