Sikorsky snagged a $235.6-million contract in a second-year option from the Defense Supply Center to provide spare parts for its helicopters being used by the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines. Boeing won a $76-million contract from the Army to produce new CH-47F heavy-lift helicopters. Rockwell Collins picked up a $25-million Air Force contract modification to supply 329 ARC-210(V) electronic protection radio systems for its A-10 fleet.
I read with great interest your editorial “The Greening of Aerospace: Do It Now Or Else” (AW&ST June 25, p. 66). I am a retired aerospace engineer and an environmentalist and while I have always considered AW&ST to be an excellent source of information on the aerospace/defense industry, I never dreamed you would show any ecological/environmental consciousness. I was wrong, and I apologize.
An American Airlines ground traffic control tower under construction at Miami International Airport caught fire on July 11; one worker was injured. Live video of smoke pouring from the tower was shown on national television even before TV reporters could clarify for viewers that it was not the ATC tower.
American Airlines' strategy of keeping a tight lid on spending and fleet growth is paying off with a strong profit rebound, but maintaining this momentum will depend on how the carrier handles a new set of cost challenges.
That could U.S. short-haul, no-frills, point-to-point carrier Southwest Airlines possibly have in common with Singapore Airlines, a global airline known for pampering its passengers? As it turns out, more than meets the eye.
Cessna Aircraft Co. will officially announce its entry into the Light-Sport Aircraft market at EAA’s AirVenture 2007 show that begins next week. The company will display a full-scale mockup of the new, two-seat airplane and release program details.
FedEx last week took delivery of the last A300-600F to come off the Airbus line. The A300 was Airbus’s first product, entering service in 1974 with Air France. The July 12 ceremony marked the first time Airbus is closing a production line. Since program inception in 1969, Airbus sold 821 A300/A310s, of which 630 remain in service.
Regarding your editorial “Capitol Hill ‘Reform’ Won’t Help Deepwater” (AW&ST July 2, p. 66), people like to believe industry can perform so much better than government. This belief stands although government workers win 80-90% of the job competitions with industry. So when industry is put in charge of projects, people are shocked when things don’t work out as planned. People forget that companies are in the business of making money and percentage return on investment, not in giving government the biggest bang for the buck.
Jet Airways, preparing for a $400-million rights issue to fund its expansion plan, may be looking to offer a 25% stake to private equity players in JetLite, the new name for the carrier Air Sahara it acquired in April. India's privately owned Jet Airways has approached global investment companies and equity funds such as Dubai-based Istithmar, U.S private equity firms Texas Pacific Group and Blackstone, as well as Singapore investment company Temasek Holdings. JetLite will be positioned as a low-fare airline, offering all-economy-class seating.
Europe should be able to meet mid-term targets to quiet aviation, but longer-term goals may be in jeopardy unless more is done to curtail airframe-related noise. By 2020, the European Union wants to cut aviation noise 10 dB. from 2000 levels, and it has established a mid-term goal of a 5-dB. improvement by 2010. The just-completed €112-million ($153-million) Silencer research program—funded equally by government and industry and involving 51 partners—highlights both the progress made and what remains to be accomplished.
The advanced radar, capable of locating small targets such as stealthy cruise missiles for F/A-18E/F Block II Super Hornets and EA-18G Growler electronic attack aircraft, has been ordered into full-rate production. USAF approved buying 437 of the Raytheon-built APG-79 active electronically scanned radars. Australia also is buying 24 AESA-equipped F/A-18Fs. In addition to providing cruise missile defense capabilities, the radar can simultaneously conduct air-to-air and air-to-ground surveillance.
The Air Transport Assn. (ATA) and the National Business Aviation Assn. (NBAA), two of the most effective lobbying groups in Washington, expanded their FAA-reauthorization quarrel last week into the air-traffic-delays arena. On the eve of the Fourth of July travel period and its anticipated delays, the ATA asked the FAA to impose ground holds at Teterboro and other smaller New York area airports proportionally to ground holds at Newark, LaGuardia and Kennedy airports.
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.
