Taikoo Aircraft Engineering Co. Ltd. (Taeco) is moving early to adapt to the coming world of composite aircraft less reliant on big, periodic overhauls. The Chinese airframe specialist company is widening its product range to aircraft systems to attract operators of new aircraft whose maintenance regime will be less well-suited to its Xiamen location, a prosperous, historic port 500 km. northeast of Hong Kong. The Boeing 777 has been an early example of the change, but the big industry shift will come with the 787 and Airbus A350.
United, American, Delta and US Airways have garnered U.S. government contracts valued at a total of $1.73 billion--the lion's share of more than $2 billion allocated to 14 airlines--for flights by federal travelers in Fiscal 2008. The average discount is 69%. United topped the list with contracts for 1,343 routes valued at $661 million; followed by American at 1,176 routes for $389.6 million; Delta at 931 routes for $370.5 million, and US Airways at 750 routes for $314.6 million.
Northrop Grumman and L-3 Communications hope to cash in on the Poseidon program by offering an integrated communications capability for the adjunct, unmanned RQ-4N Broad Area Maritime Surveillance aircraft. The Modular Open Systems Architecture is to ensure interoperable connectivity among patrol and reconnaissance aircraft and ships of the Navy and other Defense Dept. organizations. The system is being installed on a Gulfstream G-II flying testbed.
The Boeing Business Jet departed Iceland for an afternoon of weather-gazing 100 naut. mi. south of the island. A front had just moved through, and there were plenty of low-hanging clouds over the ocean to test the Rockwell Collins MultiScan radar against maritime conditions that might produce false alarms.
Sukhoi officials say they will achieve the first flight of their regional Superjet 100 before year-end, but indications are that the program's schedule, which has already suffered repeated delays, could slip once more.
Italian plans for hyperspectral sensor and stereo radar sensors and moves in Germany to deploy a laser data-link capability promise to boost Europe’s ability to track weather and climate change, as the U.S. hesitates. These ideas were advanced considerably by the recent launch of a pair of X-band radar observation satellites: Germany’s TerraSAR-X and Italy’s CosmoSkyMed 1. TerraSAR-X was orbited on June 15 and CosmoSkyMed 1—the first of four planned units—a week earlier.
The Congressional Research Service also is weighing in on the F-22, with a report about whether the U.S. should sell the Raptor to Japan. The Pen- tagon's position is one of official neutrality, but senior USAF officials are pushing for the sale. For Japan, it's a question of national pride and always operating the best fighter available.
Intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) are the main casualties of a new round of restructuring measures for the Netherlands armed forces, announced July 2. A program to acquire two medium-altitude, long-endurance unmanned aerial vehicle (MALE UAV) ISR systems with eight air vehicles is being canceled.
Boeing Commercial Airplanes delivered 114 aircraft in the second quarter and 220 since Jan. 1. At the half-year point last year, Boeing had shipped 195 airplanes. The first-quarter totals included 86 737s and 21 777s. For the first half, the company delivered 169 737s, compared to 142, an indication of production ramp-ups due to high sales volumes. Last year's first-half totals for 777s were 34; this year, they are 38. Boeing Integrated Defense Systems delivered another four AH-64 Apache helicopters for a total of eight for the first half.
Researchers probing possible changes in the Earth's atmosphere as a result of global warming have a new source of data. NASA's Aeronomy of Ice in the Mesosphere (AIM) spacecraft has returned its first images of noctilucent clouds, wispy accumulations of what are believed to be ice crystals that form in summer at altitudes of about 50 mi. over the polar regions. As seen in this image from the 440-lb. spacecraft, the clouds (white and light blue) range across the pole.
Faced with commercial practices that don't jibe with congressional preferences, the Pentagon proposes a blanket exemption of specialty metals from U.S.-content requirements for commercial items it buys off-the-shelf, such as computers, semiconductors and some engines. Industry buys components on the basis of cost, quality, availability and the state of the art, the Defense Dept.
French engineering company Geci has launched a program to raise €20 million ($27 million) to build a low-cost, rugged utility airplane designed for the airfreight, commuter and multimission markets. The issue, which is limited to Geci stockholders and closes on July 18, will comprise 4.7 million shares priced at €4.2--a 29% discount from the average share price in May. A complementary share offer would generate an additional €6 million, but remains to be approved by the shareholders.
ABX Air's board of directors is reviewing an informal offer by AStar Air Cargo to acquire that carrier. Both ABX and AStar provide lift for DHL and operate primary hubs at Wilmington, Ohio. The initial offer of $7.75 per share of common stock may be inadequate as ABX's shares climbed to a July 2 close of $8.09. A meeting between AStar's Chairman, President and CEO John Dasburg and ABX Air's Chief Executive Joe Hete, scheduled in late June, was canceled at ABX Air's request to allow the board to consult with advisers.
A foreign-ownership provision added by House Democrats to the Transportation Committee's FAA reauthorization bill would complicate the next round of U.S.-European Union open-skies negotiations, planned for next spring, and might threaten a provision of the first-stage deal that takes effect in March 2008. Bill language would withdraw U.S. certification from an airline if U.S. citizens were not in control of marketing, branding, fleet composition, route selection, pricing and labor relations, among other things.
Members of the U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee want to add $30 million to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) account in Fiscal 2008 for the restoration of climate sensors that the Pentagon cut from the planned civil-military National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (Npoess) last year to keep it within congressional cost-overrun limits.
Regarding the Pentagon program review of the Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile (AW&ST June 11, p. 26), the failure of Lockheed Martin and the U.S. Air Force to field a reliable stealthy cruise missile is difficult to fathom. Reliable cruise missile and fuze technologies have been around for decades, and GPS technology is routine in many different fields. Lockheed Martin's failure to integrate these technologies into a successful weapons system is incomprehensible, particularly when two similar systems are in service in Europe and at a lower cost.
Michael A. Taverna (Paris and Noordwijk, Netherlands)
An orbiter for the European Space Agency's ExoMars rover mission and an ESA role in Russia's Advanced Crew Transportation System are among the options member states' space ministers may consider as they craft a road map for the agency's next three years.
Boeing's P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft completed its critical design review with no U.S. Navy request for action by the company. Production of the first test aircraft is to begin later this year. Testing will be conducted at NAS Patuxent River, Md. The program is to produce 108 aircraft beginning in 2013.
The pilots of the Cessna Citation II 550 (N550BP) medical flight that crashed June 4 after departure from Milwaukee General Mitchell airport had reported an emergency and an intention to return to the field, according to the NTSB. One crewmember reported runaway trim, and preliminary cockpit voice recorder data indicate the flight crew had difficulty with directional control of the aircraft shortly after takeoff. Radar data show the aircraft in a climbing right turn after departure. It then leveled off at 3,900 ft. and began another climb.
The Mars rover Opportunity--poised on the rim of 2,500-ft.-wide Victoria Crater--will begin its dangerous descent in mid-to-late July after passage of a massive Martian dust storm, which is also affecting Spirit on the opposite side of the red planet. Going into the 230-ft.-deep Victoria will be a high-risk operation "but the science is compelling and the exploration is compelling, so we're excited about this," says John Callas, Mars Exploration Rover project manager at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, Calif.
Five people were injured when the nose gear of an Air China Boeing 767-200 retracted during boarding on July 1. One passenger and one crewmember of the Dubai-bound flight sustained slight injuries. Most of the 148 passengers were already on board.
North Dakota's Air National Guard has flown its first unmanned aircraft mission from Fargo. The aircraft itself was located out of the U.S., but an official of the 119th Wing wouldn't give any details of the location, objectives or length of the mission. UAV missions are being flown in Afghanistan, Iraq, the Horn of Africa and western Pacific. However, the cockpit containing the sensor operator, pilot and intelligence analyst is in Fargo.
Michel Toutant has become president/chief operating officer of Rolls-Royce Canada Ltd. of Montreal. He succeeds Pierre Racine, who plans to retire. Toutant was vice president-strategic operations for Rolls-Royce Energy Systems Inc., Mount Vernon, Ohio.
Timothy J. Hannigan (see photo) has been appointed vice president-business development for the Northrop Grumman Corp.'s Herndon, Va.-based Technical Services Sector. He was vice president-operations and government services for DynCorp International.
