The F-22 continues to encounter bumps in its first air expeditionary force deployment to Okinawa. The 12 aircraft from Langley AFB, Va., spent an unscheduled week at Hickam AFB, Hawaii, after the leading four had to abort the trip's last leg. As the Raptors reached the International Date Line, the navigation computers locked up so the aircraft returned to Hickam until a software patch was readied. "Apparently we had built an aircraft for the Western Hemisphere only," says a senior U.S. Air Force official.
The Air Force changed the language of a key performance requirement as it developed the request for proposals for its CSAR-X combat search-and-rescue helicopter without explicitly alerting contractors to the revision or its impact. Early drafts of acquisition documents set time requirements for disassembly and reassembly to be "mission ready," but this later became "flight ready." Defense acquisition experts agree the wording change is substantial and could have had a major impact on the competition. They disagree whether the Air Force should have called attention to it.
Honeywell Aerospace is preparing for the first full-up runs next month of its Small Heavy Fuel Engine (SHFE), an ultra-compact technology demonstrator that will form the basis for its next generation of helicopter engines. They promise the densest power-to-weight ratios yet for turboshaft engines in the 700-1,500-shp. range, says Ron Rich, director of advanced technology at Honeywell Aerospace. The SHFE engine, just 6 in. in diameter and 2 ft. long, will develop 700 shp.
David Dacquino (see photos) has been named vice president/general manager of the Raytheon Technical Services Co.'s Integrated Support Solutions, Burlington, Mass. He was vice president/general manager of the System and Product Support Solutions division. John Balaguer has been appointed vice president/ general manager of the Customized Engineering and Depot Support division in Indianapolis. He was vice president/general manager of the Engineering and Production Support division.
Inventory Locator Service is offering Government Research Tool, an online system that searches 90 million government data files for information on aerospace parts. The Memphis-based company has upgraded the tool for current customers for a $190-a-month added charge. Users can search for a part with more than a dozen identifiers including part number, stock number or company name. Information from a dozen government databases offers extensive detail that includes procurement history.
The Tornado GR4 forms the offensive cornerstone of the 901 Expeditionary Air Wing at Al Udeid. While the Harrier force in Afghanistan has routinely dropped ordnance in the past six months, the last combat weapons drop in Iraq from a GR4 was in May 2006. Average sortie time for the aircraft--which operate in pairs--is between 6-8 hr., says Wing Commander Terry Jones, lead officer for the Tornado detachment. The aircraft are on task for "3-4 hr." and can be called on to operate anywhere in Iraq.
The International Air Transport Assn. is shedding more light on the seven airlines that didn't meet a requirement to undergo a safety audit by the end of 2006. That failure could get the airlines expelled, unless they take last-minute action. Although the names of the airlines are being closely held, IATA has released a regional breakout. One of the carriers is in the North Atlantic/North America region, another two are in the former-Soviet states, two are in Latin America, and two are in the Asia-Pacific region.
Amid another solid set of annual financial results, BAE Systems plc ought to be basking in the reflected glory of a further defense budget bonanza in the U.S. and the exemplary timing of the disposal of its minority stake in Airbus. The company's preliminary 2006 sales, which included the first full-year contribution from acquired U.S. land systems manufacturer United Defense Industries, rose 9% to £13.77 billion ($26.92 billion). Operating income increased 39% to £1.05 billion.
The aerospace engineering profession was destroyed as a result of deliberate policy choices with consequences that were widely predicted. I probably could be convinced to care about this problem after I am compensated for the seven years and $100,000-plus that I wasted earning undergraduate and graduate degrees in the subject.
In November 2001, American Airlines Flight 587 crashed after the inflight vertical stabilizer separated shortly after takeoff from New York John F. Kennedy International Airport. The three-year National Transportation Safety Board investigation ruled pilot error was the cause and the wake vortex encounter was not a factor. This conclusion was incorrect.
Adm. Jonathon Band, chief of the British Naval Staff, is suggesting that the U.K. faces the need to raise its defense spending to 2.5% from 2.2% of gross domestic product if it wants to sustain its present defense capability in the medium to long term. Military expenditures are coming under scrutiny as part of the Labor government's Comprehensive Spending Review. There is concern within the senior military and industry that the present level of funding will not sustain the ministry's planned equipment acquisition program in the medium term.
Bell Helicopter Textron completed an extensive, nine-year airframe fatigue test program for the V-22 on Feb. 23 at its facilities in Hurst, Tex. The tests verified that the tiltrotor's structural integrity has a fatigue life equivalent to 20,000 hr. in the air, or two service lifetimes. About 70% of the tests focused on loads in the airplane mode, and 30% on helicopter mode.
Douglas Barrie (Basra, Iraq; and Kandahar, Lashkar Gah and Camp Bastion, Afghanistan)
The Royal Air Force is fielding around a tenth of its available front-line, fixed-wing fleet in operations in Afghanistan and Iraq. Hardly, at first glance, a taxing number.
The Air Force has quietly revealed over the past couple of years that the active electronically scanned array (AESA) radars in its F-22 Raptor, F-35 Joint Strike Fighter and E-8 Joint Stars aircraft (if the latter is upgraded with the now-canceled E-10's MP-RTIP radar) can do more than find small, even stealthy missiles. With some modification, these aircraft can use the radars to attack enemy air-to-air, surface-to-air and cruise missiles with false target information or bursts of high-power microwaves that may be able to damage electrical components.
Your articles on the vanishing aerospace engineer ignore a few important facts (AW&ST Feb. 5, p. 44). When comparing the engineering personnel situation in the U.S. with that in Europe, you are contradicting your position with one you held in the past. AW&ST has chided Europe for not being flexible enough with regard to personnel policy, in other words for not adhering to a rapid hire-and-fire policy. Now with a shortage of engineering personnel looming in the U.S., you envy the situation in Europe.
Paula P. Hochstetler, who is president of the Airport Consultants Council, has been elected president of the Aero Club of Washington for 2007. She succeeds Deborah McElroy, who is senior vice president-government affairs for Airports Council International-North America.
Singapore's Tiger Airways' plan to fly budget services in Australia, announced this month, is stirring up the market there. Domestic budget carrier Virgin Blue, which is expanding and drifting toward full-service standards, now says it may set up a pure low-cost airline. That's just a maybe, but Virgin Blue is moving to establish an international carrier under yet another brand to fly to the U.S. Since Qantas also has two brands, the country of just 21 million people will have six mainline carriers, if everyone's plans go ahead.
The British will withdraw 1,600 troops from southern Iraq in the coming two to three months, with a further 500 to follow in the third quarter. The remaining British forces will be concentrated at the Basra air station.
The United Arab Emirates is continuing to revamp its air force inventory, with a decision in principle to acquire Airbus A330-based tankers and the selection of the winners of its trainer competitions anticipated by year-end. Bidders for both basic and advanced jet trainer requirements were whittled down to six during the International Defense Exhibition, held here Feb. 18-22. The air force is aiming to acquire 24-30 basic trainers, and up to 40 advanced jet trainers. The contracts could be worth approximately $1.5 billion.
USAF Reserve Brig. Gen. Frank J. Casserino is among seven officers who have been nominated for promotion to major general. He is mobilization assistant to the Air Force undersecretary. The others are: Stephen P. Gross, mobilization assistant to the commander of the Aeronautical Systems Center, Air Force Materiel Command, Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio; Clay T. McCutchan, mobility assistant to the commander, 18th Air Force, Air Mobility Command, Scott AFB, Ill.; Frank J.
Thales has opened a new customer service support center at Jebel Ali Free Zone in Dubai for its Air Systems division to service Thales products in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, as well as Egypt, Iran, Pakistan and Yemen. The center will provide maintenance services including technical assistance, spare parts and repairs management to both civil and military customers in the region.
The first ground demonstration of the engine for the Joint Standoff Weapon-Extended Range was completed at Raytheon's Tucson, Ariz., facility. The test was used to evaluate a flush inlet design and monitor overall performance of the 150-lb.-thrust engine. A free flight is planned for 2008 with production to begin in 2011.
MARKET FOCUS Investor caution keeps BAE's price below U.S. counterparts' 11 NEWS BREAKS Faulty solar arrays on early Boeing 702 satellites continue to haunt company 18 BAE to test potential sensors for its Herti long-endurance tactical UAV 19 IAI and Technion developing SunSailor unmanned solar-powered aircraft 20 Sea Launch hopes to resume service, be- gin Land Launch variant, both in '07 21 Obituary for ex-General Electric Aviation head Brian Rowe 21
Alenia Aeronautica has begun making the first production horizontal stabilizer for the Boeing 787, at its plant in Foggia, Italy. The stabilizer mimics the aircraft's composite wing. It consists of two monolithic co-cured composite boxes that are 66 ft. long that weigh nearly 1,200 lb. It's being cured in a single piece in an autoclave polymerization cycle that starts from 27 wet uncured complex components.
