Specialists working to combine components of two previous human launch vehicles into the next-generation Ares I rocket are using advanced computer models to analyze complex performance parameters earlier in the design cycle than was possible in the past.
Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. T. Michael Moseley is turning to the French air force for advice on how to establish an Africa Command. A senior USAF official says the service likely will be a dominant player there because its large landmass and lack of infrastructure require airlifters, tankers and possibly fighters. Moseley invited a French general officer to brief a panel of USAF four-stars on the French military presence in Africa since colonial times.
Douglas Barrie (Fort Worth), Amy Butler (Washington)
Exchange rates are emerging as a financial issue for the U.S. Joint Strike Fighter. The weak dollar/strong pound discrepancy is posing a considerable challenge, compounded by a strong euro. The U.K. is the U.S.’s only Level One collaborative partner in the Lockheed Martin F-35 program. “Currency exchange is a huge problem for us,” says Tom Burbage, Lockheed Martin vice president and general manager of the F-35 program: “It’s one of the biggest risks we carry.”
Alessandro Franzoni, formerly chief technical officer of Alenia Aeronautica, has been appointed CEO of Venice, Italy-based Superjet International , the joint venture of Alenia and Sukhoi.
Rapidly developing Singaporean budget carrier Tiger Airways says it has been profitable for the past two quarters and has the second-lowest operating costs in the world, after larger Malaysian rival AirAsia (see p. 46).
France has made a commitment for its army to acquire 68 NH90TTH helicopters configured for tactical transport. The aircraft will be bought in three lots—the first 12 are being ordered immediately, followed by another 22 next year and 34 in 2011, when the NH90s are scheduled to begin replacing the Eurocopter Puma. The sale brings to 507 the number of orders for the NH90 series. The French military is also buying 27 of the maritime version.
Airline passengers may unknowingly be creating inflight fire hazards, and the NTSB plans to promote a public-awareness campaign about the risks of lithium batteries carried onto airliners. The program would be centered on informing passengers of the latest regulations as well as which apparently innocuous items—such as extra batteries for mobile phones crammed into carry-ons and check-in bags—are hazardous materials and how to handle them.
Saint-Gobain Flight Structures has won a long-term contract from Spirit AeroSystems to supply Norton radomes for the Boeing 787. Spirit is building the 787’s composite cockpit and forward fuselage at its facility in Wichita, Kan., and installs the radomes before the entire assembly is shipped to Boeing’s final assembly line in Everett, Wash. The Norton radome uses Saint-Gobain’s trademark Quartzel fibers and, with a diameter of 7 ft., is the largest quartz radome the company has designed and manufactured for commercial aviation.
The solution to the overbooking problem seems simple. I travel 50 or more days a year. I stay in Hilton group hotels and am a diamond-level member of the Hilton Honors program. Still, if I make a reservation and fail to cancel it within Hilton’s cancellation period, I have to pay for the room.
The Royal Malaysian Air Force is exploring whether to buy another 4-8 AleniaAermacchi MB-339CD jet trainers on top of the eight it has already ordered. The first four will be delivered in 2009. RMAF also is in talks with Galileo Avionica to acquire flight simulators to support the MB-339 procurement.
Delta Air Lines, the only U.S. carrier that flies to Africa, expanded this service with the inauguration on Dec. 3 of daily nonstop flights between the carrier’s Atlanta hub and Lagos, Nigeria, one of Africa’s largest business centers. In June 2008, Delta plans a second nonstop to Lagos, this one from New York’s JFK International Airport.
Shanghai Airlines will formally join the Star Alliance on Dec. 12. The medium-sized Chinese airline, with a highly strategic base in the country’s largest city, already cooperates with Star members All Nippon Airways and Asiana.
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.
