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.”
Thwarted by unusually strong ocean currents at the launch position in the equatorial Pacific Ocean, Sea Launch managers have decided to postpone the Thuraya-3 campaign and send the command ship and Odyssey launch platform back to the company’s Long Beach, Calif., home port. Also factoring in the decision were the fuel consumption needed to stay in position, and deteriorating weather.
The much anticipated consolidation in Europe’s air transport industry has gotten off to a sluggish start, but industry officials predict 2008 will bring to fruition several pending deals. Achieving a resolution for the two primary takeover targets—Iberia and Alitalia—has proved more difficult than first expected. And while Italian officials indicate a buyer for Alitalia could still be named this year, potential purchasers don’t see anything firm happening until January or later.
David A. Fulghum (Tel Aviv), Robert Wall (Tel Aviv)
Israel’s uneven operational results during the 2006 fighting in Lebanon are being blamed on confusion about political goals and a military too focused on nuclear proliferation and guerrilla warfare. The air war—against longer range missiles, interdiction of supplies coming from Syria and, late in the war, retaliation against short-range missiles—is being portrayed as a success, say Israeli military, defense ministry and government officials in a series of interviews with Aviation Week & Space Technology.
If NASA’s Fiscal 2008 budget becomes a casualty of the showdown between the Bush administration and Congress over discretionary spending, the consequences could be dire as the agency struggles to retire the space shuttle on time and pave the way for an ambitious program of lunar exploration under already severe fiscal constraints.
Heather Doty (see photo), who is a structural engineer for the James Webb Space Telescope under the Ball Aerospace and Technologies Corp., Boulder, Colo., has received the Distinguished New Engineer award from the Society of Women Engineers .
James Cherry has been elected chairman of Airports Council International for 2008. He is president/CEO of Aeroports de Montreal. Cherry succceeds Ghanem Al Hajiri of Sharjah Airport, United Arab Emirates. Randall H. Walker, director of aviation for the Clark County (Nev.) Aviation Dept., has been elected chairman of Airports Council International-North America . Other executive committee officers are: first vice chairman, John D. Clark, 3rd, executive director of the Jacksonville (Fla.) Aviation Authority; second vice chairman, G.
Cessna Aircraft Co. is extending its production line from Wichita, Kan., to China, and expanding its single-engine line with the acquisition of Columbia Aircraft.
Agencies at all levels of U.S. federal and state government are eager with good reason to exploit unmanned aerial vehicles flying in civilian airspace, but both the FAA and National Transportation Safety Board have strong—and equally reasonable—misgivings about the risks UAVs pose to other aircraft.
In regard to your articles on the active, electronically scanned array-equipped F/A-18F Block II/III Super Hornet and EA-18G Growler, the more we continue to learn about the potency of the combination of the two operating together, the more it makes sense for the U.S. Marine Corps to buy 200 to replace their legacy Hornets and Prowlers. The F-35B is a great replacement for the AV-8B, but to fly the F-35B off Navy carriers will be inefficient and cost-prohibitive.
Lockheed Martin has shifted some of its engineers—ones who had turned software problems around with the F-22—over to the Space-Based Infrared System (Sbirs) early warning satellite program, Tanner says. Problems with the flight control software designed for the Sbirs spacecraft have prompted the U.S. Air Force to declare it unfit for flight because of fears that its safe-hold mechanism will not engage in an anomaly.
The articles “Long Ranger” and “Freezing Point” (AW&ST Nov. 12, p. 64), about Boeing’s strategies regarding fuel capacity and range on the 777 and 747-8I, appear to have been fortuitously juxtaposed. Both articles outline the same problem, and one describes a solution for the 777 but not the 747-8I. If Boeing can meet Air India’s need for extra range in the 777-200LR with auxiliary fuel tanks in the aft cargo hold, why can’t the same design be engineered into the 747-8I “to eke more range out of the longer body length” for carriers wanting it?
The Pentagon has long assumed Iran would upgrade its Shahab-3 ballistic missiles to fly 1,200 mi., but Teheran’s announcement it has built the “Ashura” ballistic missile with that range capability goes beyond what defense officials were expecting. The missiles are “different,” says USAF Lt. Gen. Henry (Trey) Obering, director of the Missile Defense Agency. “That’s what surprises us.” The announcement adds impetus to the need to develop a European missile defense site, he argues.
Aeromexico Connect has taken delivery of the first of four Embraer 190 regional jets under lease from GE Commercial Aviation Services. Aeromexico Connect, which services low-density routes for its parent airline, operates the aircraft in a two-class, 99-seat arrangement. The 190s are to be used for network expansion.
