The time-honored adage, “a rising tide lifts all ships,” no doubt explains part of the reason for the continuing improvement in the aerospace/defense industry’s performance, as reflected in Aviation Week & Space Technology’s 2007 Top-Performing Companies (TPC) study. Between the consumption of war materiel in Iraq and Afghanistan and the brisk pace of business and commercial aircraft sales worldwide, it’s no wonder that original equipment manufacturers and many of their suppliers are seeing healthy growth in revenues and earnings.
A team of scientists led by Giovanna Tinetti, a European Space Agency fellow at the Institute of Astrophysics in Paris, has discovered the first presence of water vapor on an extrasolar planet. The discovery, using data from NASA’s Spitzer space telescope, was made by studying infrared bands as the planet HD 189733b passed in front of its parent star, located in the constellation Vulpecula.
Boeing says it will bid to build the Instrument Unit Avionics (IUA) element for NASA’s Ares I crew launch vehicle, drawing on expertise with the International Space Station and other government programs housed at its Huntsville Design Center in Alabama. The nearby Marshall Space Flight Center is designing the Ares I. Boeing expects to submit its bid on July 30.
France appears to have reconsidered its plans to block a $500-million-$1-billion radar/optical reconnaissance network intended for the Gulf Cooperation Council, changing its view that the technology needed to meet the system’s very high spatial resolution requirement is too sensitive for export. Thales Alenia Space officials say they are bidding a dual-sensor system for which the company’s Italian arm will supply the radar segment and its French unit the optical component.
As it celebrates its first year of observations, the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency’s (JAXA) Akari mission has revealed an all-sky infrared map showing clearly the disk of the Milky Way galaxy as a bright thin stripe running across the image. It is the first census of the IR sky since NASA’s 1983 Infrared Astronomical Satellite (IRAS) mission.
Airbus has put into operation a part of its radio-frequency identification program, and wants to expand trials in another area. After tracking delivery containers related to A380 final assembly in Hamburg, the aircraft maker realized RFIDs would allow it to cut the 750 containers spread over four floors by 8%, and it now has made that process part of its standard practice. Moreover, Airbus plans a new series of trials for so-called flyable RFID systems, to determine what savings they could yield in repairs, cargo tracking and configuration management.
CAE has signed an agreement to acquire Bangalore-based Macmet Technologies Ltd. for C$5 million (U.S. $4.75 million). Macmet is involved in repairs and upgrade of flight simulators, tank and gunnery trainers and naval tactical trainers, and developing software for simulations for air, land, and naval forces. Recent Macmet programs include the supply of a Cheetah helicopter simulator to the Indian Army, a MiG-27 part task trainer for the Indian air force and naval command team trainers for the Indian navy. c
Aeroports de Paris has received €100 million ($137 million) in contracts for several engineering and airport management projects. The five new contracts include engineering studies during the renovation of three terminals at King Abdulaziz International airport in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia; design of the new international airport in Islamabad, Pakistan; several projects in Libya, including work in Tripoli, Benghazi and Sebha; and to provide technical assistance for construction being undertaken at the Enfidha airport in Tunisia.
A Marine Corps MV-22 landed on the 686-ft. deck of Britain’s aircraft carrier HMS Illustrious last week, making it the first recovery of the tiltrotor transport aircraft on a non-U.S. ship. The Illustrious normally operates a mix of GR7 and GR9 Harriers, Sea King airborne surveillance and control helicopters and Merlin antisubmarine-warfare rotorcraft. It also can serve as a base for Chinook heavy-lift helicopters. Royal Navy officials say there are no current plans to operate the MV-22 from British ships, but the landing opens the way to coalition operations.
Cincinnati-based Aviation Research Group/U.S. Inc. (ARG/U.S.) expects to double annual revenues from aviation safety audits to $4 million in 2008 as it expands its capability to perform Part 121 audits for passenger and cargo airlines. The company has acquired a former United Airlines subsidiary, Partners and Resources for Operational Safety (PROS), based in Denver, one of eight companies accredited by the International Air Transport Assn. to conduct IATA Operational Safety Audits.
The Bahrain Development Bank is setting aside $3.2 million to support a pilot training program in conjunction with Gulf Air to help overcome a shortage of qualified candidates. The bank will cover the training expenses and only require repayment of the loan once the candidate takes up a position with Gulf Air, which is assured under the program. The carrier will select the training opportunities and monitor student progress.
Rolls-Royce has embarked on a continuous improvement program (CIP) for the Trent 1000, launch engine for the 787, even as it completes assembly of the first engine due for delivery on the initial aircraft for All Nippon Airways.
Now that its new airplane has made its public debut, Boeing expects to conduct an eight-month flight-test program of the 787‑8 that will include route-proving flights in Japan with launch customer All Nippon Airways.
With the first Jason altimetry satellite working well, a second spacecraft on its way and a third in discussion, oceanography seems poised to transition from the realm of science to routine operations—or so ocean forecasters hope.
European Space Agency astronaut Leopold Eyharts will not be making his first spaceflight when he activates the Columbus laboratory on the International Space Station (AW&ST June 18, p. 178). He spent three weeks on Russia's Mir space station in 1998 as prime cosmonaut for the Pegase scientific space mission mounted by the French space agency (CNES).
The first four F-16s to be upgraded in Turkey under the Peace Onyx III program have arrived in the country. The project will modernize Turkey’s existing F-16s, with newer avionics and weapon systems. Turkish Aerospace Industries is the prime contractor. The fighters will receive APG-68(V)9 radars, color displays, Link-16, the Joint Helmet-Mounted Cueing, and Self-Protection Electronic Warfare systems. Plans call for the upgrade of 37 F-16 Block 30s, 76 Block 50s and four Block 40s, with an option to upgrade 100 more Block 40s.
Private equity investors like to acquire underperforming companies and apply their management expertise to make the operations run more efficiently--and greatly increase market value. Managers at The Carlyle Group must see a lot of potential in Sequa Corp. They agreed last week to pay $175 a share to acquire the publicly traded mini-conglomerate, a 54% premium over the stock's pre-deal closing price and more than double the level at which shares were trading a year ago.
Copa Holdings of Panama is the top-performing carrier of those with annual revenues of less than $1 billion. The airline, and the Latin American region in general, are poised for growth, and Copa's operations are expected to be supported by traffic increases over the next several years.
A panel of aviation leaders is calling for the European Union to name one person to oversee the sprawling Single European Sky initiative, which airline groups say would help address their complaints that SES is moving too slowly and lacks effective leadership.
Orbital Sciences Corp. will pay Alliant Techsystems $62.5 million to develop and produce the largest of three solid-fuel rocket motors that will make up the launch abort system (LAS) for NASA’s planned Orion crew exploration vehicle. The company already has tested this subscale version of the LAS main abort motor four times at its Promontory, Utah, facility—once under the contract with Orbital and three times with its own funds, according to a spokesperson.
Researchers at Los Alamos (N.M.) National Laboratory say they have demonstrated how electromagnetic waves accelerate ordinary electrons in the Van Allen radiation belts that circle the Earth to a state where they become “killer electrons” that endanger satellites, spacecraft and even astronauts. A team of three scientists made the first analysis that determined internal wave-particle acceleration is the only mechanism that could produce localized surges of electrons up to 1,000 times more intense than in normal conditions.
French aerospace and defense industry leaders want their government to give them a role in planning expected program cutbacks and to construct a more dynamic industry geared to expanding exports. Last week, Charles Edelstenne, president of the French defense industries council (Cidef), urged the new administration of President Nicolas Sarkozy to create a high-level forum, similar to one that exists in the U.K., that would allow industry to participate in procurement policy decisions in close collaboration with the defense ministry.
The French government has approved two new aerospace research clusters to complement the main cluster, Aerospace Valley, created last year in southwestern France. One of the new clusters, Pegase, will be devoted to the use of unmanned aerial vehicles, airships, helicopters and other light aircraft for surveillance, telecommunications, transportation and security applications (AW&ST Feb. 19, p. 59). Based in Provence, it will be led by Eurocopter, Thales Alenia Space, Dassault Aviation and defense research agency Onera.
Raytheon’s Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile is being prepped for testing on the Air Force’s F-22 stealthy fighter at Edwards AFB, Calif. The D is the most advanced air-to-air missile now in development, and it will employ a conformal array on the front end of the weapon giving it better range and a widened off-boresight engagement envelope. Its predecessor, the AIM-120C, has now been approved for international sale.
