Germany will likely have to confront thorny political issues as it grapples with the introduction of new endurance unmanned aircraft. The widely expected decision by the German government to meet a medium-altitude, long-endurance requirement with the purchase of the General Atomics Predator-B is only adding to the list of contentious topics on the horizon for military and political leaders. The go-ahead given in January to the EuroHawk unmanned aircraft also has sparked questions.
Richard Bardellini (see photo) has been promoted to vice president-manufacturing from operations manager for the Astro Div. of New Hampshire Ball Bearings Inc. in Peterborough. He succeeds Richard Fleczok, who will become an adviser before retiring.
The Army's new MH-47G special ops helos have been supporting troops in Afghanistan since March. The Army's 160th Special Operational Aviation Regiment deployed the new Boeing-made tandem rotor aircraft. The regiment's spokeswoman declined to state how many have been sent forward for service. In the first 75 days of operations there, the aircraft executed more than 460 flight hours. Its readiness rate exceeds 97%. The G-model is based on the Chinook airframe, with a new cockpit and selected airframe sections.
Philip A. Marquez (see photo) has been appointed vice president/assistant general counsel/sector counsel for the Northrop Grumman Corp.'s Los Angeles-based Space Technology Sector. He was head of legal services for the company's Unmanned Systems and High-Altitude Long-Endurance Systems, Rancho Bernardo, Calif.
The aviation community continues to denounce the criminalization of aircraft accidents, spurred by Brazil's handling of the Sept. 29, 2006, midair collision of an Embraer Legacy 600 and a Gol Boeing 737-800 over the Amazon jungle. The decision of Brazil's federal police on May 9 to recommend prosecution of the Legacy 600 pilots "for placing a vessel or aircraft in jeopardy" is meeting with strong protests.
Britain's Eurofighter partners are seeking assurances the U.K. will not use a pending Saudi sale to cut its own purchase. London would face a big financial penalty if it were to unilaterally curtail plans to buy a final batch of Typhoons.
Italy's second-largest airline, Air One, is accelerating its effort to become the country's leading carrier, with a significant fleet expansion. But the success of its ambitions will depend on whether it can prevail in a bid to buy its on-the-auction-block rival, Alitalia.
A European Commission proposal to fund the entire Galileo satellite navigation system with taxpayer money finally will put the controversial project on solid footing, if it is accepted by transport ministers and parliament.
European Space Agency (ESA) managers are working toward a mid-November launch for the first Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) to the International Space Station. The "Jules Verne" ATV mission is contingent on resumption of ISS assembly with the STS-117 space shuttle mission in June, and completion of tests on the 20-ton robotic cargo vehicle in time for it to be shipped to the European launch facility in French Guiana in July.
Andy Nativi and Douglas Barrie (Genoa, Philadelphia and London)
AgustaWestland is facing a politically sensitive choice of where to locate a Boeing Chinook final assembly line, driven by the need for additional special forces and heavy-lift helicopters in Italy and the U.K.
The Star Alliance has formed a Technology Advisory Council and invited Nokia and Visa to be partners in an effort to explore new mobile phone technology for check-in and passenger information.
NASA's Orion next-generation human spacecraft project will lose about 1,000 lb. of the mass it carries to orbit with a newly adopted redesign of the service module that flies just aft of the pressurized crew capsule. Orion also may save some more weight toward its 25-ton target from an ongoing redesign of the boost protective cover that shelters the capsule during its fast, hot ride through the lower atmosphere, says Caris A. (Skip) Hatfield, NASA's project manager on the Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV).
The Pentagon is looking into possible duplicative unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) programs in the U.S. Army and Air Force. Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, tells Senate appropriators that he has ordered the Pentagon's Joint Requirements Oversight Committee to look into the Army's Warrior UAV and its similarities to the Air Force Predator.
Eurocontrol's Maastricht Upper Area Control Center now has Mode S radars located on the ground in Belgium, France and the Netherlands to interrogate aircraft and downlink the identification of each one using the elementary surveillance feature of the Mode S transponder on each aircraft.
In the discussion regarding the F-22 and the international date line, remember it likely wasn't the failure to use Coordinated Universal Time that caused the problem, for that is standard operating procedure. Rather it would have been the cal- culation of latitude and/or longitude by the navigation system's software. If the trigonometric function used to compute the loca- tion has a value that approaches or becomes zero and this value is used in the denominator of the calculation of the function, the result is a forbidden "divide-by-zero" situation.
Boeing has delivered a second C-17 to the Royal Australian Air Force. It will join No. 36 Squadron at RAAF Base Amberly. The remaining two C-17s are scheduled for delivery in 2008.
Thales hopes to parlay a simplified plug-and-play architecture for flight management systems into a stronger position in this market. The Paris-based aerospace and defense contractor broke into the FMS segment--long dominated by Honeywell--when it delivered second-generation Rev. 2 FMS units for Airbus A320, A330 and A340 transports, in partnership with Smiths Aerospace. The Thales/Smiths FMS2 features upgraded flight planning capability and display functionality plus a standard worldwide database.
Dassault Aviation expects to double output as business jet orders continue to flow in at a record pace. Falcon Jet Chairman/CEO John Rosanvallon says surging demand for large-cabin bizjets is pushing the company to raise annual output to 120 units in 18-24 months, up from 75 or so this year and 60 in 2006, even though the aging Falcon 50 will be phased out by year-end. Demand is being driven by the new ultra-long-range Falcon 7X, to begin delivery late May, and Falcon 2000/900 twin-/trijet lines.
Boeing has revealed that 11 787-8 orders listed as unidentified on its web site belong to the TUI Group, an integrated European tourism company. Also included were the sale of 50 737s with blended winglets.
Patrick Coulter has been promoted to manager from assistant manager of the Toronto Learning Center of FlightSafety International. He has been succeeded by Tasneem Hashmi, who was the center's director of training.
Development of a German adjunct interceptor for the Medium Extended Air Defense System (Meads) has been given the green light. The defense ministry has signed a contract with Diehl BGT Defense to adapt the IRIS-T short-range air-to-air missile for surface launch (SL). The contract is valued at €123 million ($167 million). IRIS-T is to serve as a lower-cost interceptor to destroy lower-end targets, leaving more expensive Patriot PAC-3 missiles to handle ballistic missiles under the U.S.-German-Italian Meads project.
Makers of commercial aircraft are expected to fundamentally rethink what they are willing to pay for subsystems after watching very light jet manufacturers strike deals with their supply base, which is delivering relatively low-cost but high-performance avionics and engines. What's in store is a potentially radical shift in thinking by the likes of Dassault, Embraer, Airbus and Boeing. The aircraft makers may try to try to get similarly attractive deals VLJ makers apparently have been able to strike, industry executives suggest.
Unprofitable China Eastern Airlines risks losing its independence, and perhaps disappearing altogether, as a takeover by Air China emerges as an alternative to the foreign partnership that the struggling carrier has been trying to achieve. For the moment, China Eastern is still pushing ahead with the partnership talks, even trying to make itself more attractive to a strategic investor by seeking leniency from the 25% limit on any foreign shareholder's stake.
As carriers operate under the revised extended operations (Etops) rule approved by the FAA in February, Boeing is celebrating its one-millionth 777 Etops flight since the twin-engine aircraft's service entry on June 7, 1995. The company used reported and projected flight data to estimate that the flight took place May 11. The new rule applies a basic 180-min. flight limit to the nearest acceptable alternative airport north of the Equator, or 240 min.
AirTran, Alaska Airlines, ATA, Frontier, Midwest, Southwest and US Airways have prevailed before a Transportation Dept. administrative law judge in a dispute over terminal, maintenance and operations fees at Los Angeles International Airport.
