Value-conscious lawmakers on the House Armed Services Committee (HASC) have authorized the Pentagon to restore an alternate engine program for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) but they also want cuts in the Army's Future Combat System and high-tech missile-defense programs.
The BAA, a U.K.-based airport management company, is submitting a plan to local authorities to let capacity at Stansted grow to 35 million passengers a year from the 25-million cap now in place. Annual traffic is almost at the limit, with more than 22 million in the past 12 months. Stansted is also on tap for a second runway, although officials expect that issue to be handled by the national government, and not through local channels. Ryanair remains the dominant force at the facility, although BAA is hoping to diversify.
Eberhardt Rechtin, who helped create the Deep Space Network, led the Pentagon's Advanced Research Projects Agency, and was president and CEO of The Aerospace Corp. for a decade, died Apr. 14 in Torrance, Calif., from several illnesses. He was 80. Rechtin joined the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in 1949 and played a central role in building the global Deep Space Network (DSN) of antennas to communicate with far-flung space probes, dealing with incredibly weak signals from craft nowadays up to nearly 10 billion miles away.
Pratt & Whitney's F135 engine program has met the more-than-5,000-hr. System Development and Demonstration ground-testing mark and is on schedule for the first flight of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter this fall. The 5,000 SDD hr. are in addition to the more than 3,600 hr. accumulated during the concept demo phase of the F-35 program. Most recently, the F135 team completed the accelerated mission test required for flight clearance. The test is considered among the most challenging that development engines undergo.
Investigators from at least two federal agencies are examining the wreckage of a Predator B to determine what caused the Homeland Security Dept.'s only unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) to go out of control and crash in the Arizona desert last week.
Finmeccanica Chief Executive Pier-Francesco Guarguaglini says the sale of Alcatel Alenia Space and Telespazio, which are partly owned by the Italian company, to Thales is likely to close shortly, suggesting that efforts to condition its approval on expanded ties in defense electronics have not succeeded.
Boeing will team with Kaman Aerospace's helicopter division to support the proposed, USAF HH-47 Combat Search and Rescue helicopter program. The tandem-rotor HH-47 is designed for high-altitude operations with heavy payloads. Kaman will manufacture the aerial refueling probe.
South African Airways (SAA) is facing extensive challenges as low-fare airlines make deep inroads into its domestic markets and consumer complaints regarding service mount.
A. Scott Crossfield's Cessna 210A likely entered a Level 6 thunderstorm and was involved in a low-altitude inflight breakup, according to the National Transportation Safety Board's preliminary report on the Apr. 19 crash that killed the legendary test pilot (see tribute on p. 62).
Armed with a fresh injection of funds, Aerion Corp. plans to conduct a one-time test of its supersonic natural laminar flow wing design this summer using a rocket sled at Sandia National Laboratories in New Mexico.
SIMULATOR MANUFACTURER FRASCA INTERNATIONAL HAS DELIVERED the first of six TruFlite H helicopter simulators to Silver State Helicopters of North Las Vegas, Nev. The units are contained in portable trailers and will be assigned to training facilities in the U.S. Silver State has ordered 22 simulators, which are reconfigurable among the piston-powered Robinson R22 and R44 and the Schweizer 300.
Opposing Boeing-Lockheed Martin and Raytheon teams are improving on existing seeker and bomb designs as they move forward with a long-awaited U.S. Air Force competition to manufacture a small weapon able to classify and destroy moving targets in adverse weather.
I'm glad Michael Gallagher (AW&ST Mar. 20, p. 6) is confident that Airbus A380 (and Boeing C-17) wing strength test results are "good enough." He thinks, and I hope he's right, that shortcomings in wing test results will be fixed easily. He derides (slightly) Donald Douglas for overbuilding the DC-3, and says designs will be doomed economically by overbuilding. Weight and resulting fuel efficiency issues are much more important these days.
Tapping a big niche travel market, China Southern Airlines is opening thrice-weekly services to North Korea. Last year, an estimated 240,000 Chinese visited North Korea, the airline reports. Its flights will be operated by its Henan subsidiary with Boeing 737-300s or -800s out of Beijing. The airline's branch in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region will operate 737s or 757s to resume flights to Moscow four times a week. The 5-hr.
The space shuttle is on track for a July launch, despite remaining technical issues with the shedding of foam insulation from its external fuel tank, NASA Administrator Michael Griffin said last week. Top NASA and contractor managers at a shuttle Program Requirements Control Board set June 12-15 for the STS-121 Terminal Countdown Demonstration Test, for which the crew will be on board Discovery on Pad 39 with the tank unfueled. A Flight Readiness Review is set for June 17, during which a launch will be set between July 1-19.
A new Israeli Earth-imaging spacecraft will be used to help monitor Iran's nuclear facilities. The EROS B1 was launched Apr. 25 on board a Russian Start-1 booster from the Svobodny test center in Siberia. The launcher is a modified version of the Russian Topol ballistic missile. The spacecraft will be operated by Israel's ImageSat, which has close ties to the country's intelligence operations.
Dassault Aviation officials have set themselves the daunting task of introducing a brand new aircraft and maintaining support levels that are sometimes difficult to achieve even with more mature products.
8 Correspondence 10-11 Who's Where 15 Industry Outlook 16 Airline Outlook 17 In Orbit 18-21 News Breaks 23 Washington Outlook 56 Inside Business Aviation 57-59 Classified 60 Contact Us 61 Aerospace Calendar
Market Focus 13 U.S. regional airlines find profits de- spite operating environment News Breaks 18 U.K. seeks long-endurance UAV surveillance capability 18 Most major U.S. aerospace compa- nies post gains in first quarter 20 Aerion plans test of its supersonic natural laminar flow wing design 21 NTSB: Low-altitude inflight breakup likely for Crossfield's Cessna 21 Longtime aeronautical engineering leader Eberhardt Rechtin dies World News & Analysis
Charles Allen has been appointed vice president-business operations for Boeing Missile Defense Systems, Huntsville, Ala. He was vice president/program manager for Boeing Integrated Defense Systems' Space Exploration Systems.
Designs for Embraer's Phenom 100 and 300 are falling into place as the focus shifts to cutting metal and determining the after-sales support setup for the new very light and light jet line. The critical design review (CDR) for the Phenom 100 entry-level six-seater is now being completed, and production should start in the coming weeks, according to engineers. Final assembly is set to begin in about a year.
David A. Fulghum (Washington), Andy Nativi (Genoa)
Lockheed Martin is preparing to leap into the fray for the U.S. Army/Air Force Joint Cargo Aircraft program with the first four-engine offering in what had been a contest between twin-engine designs. Meanwhile, Boeing plans to announce an alliance with Alenia and L-3 Communications to market the C-27J in which Lockheed Martin also has a stake.
An error from a source resulted in an overstatement of how many large commercial jet deliveries will be made worldwide through 2024 (AW&ST Apr. 17, p. 44). They will account for 28% of all deliveries.
Switzerland has ordered 20 Eurocopter EC625 helicopters for utility, training and VIP transport applications to replace aging Alouette 3s. Swiss defense contractor Ruag will assemble 16 of the units, which are to be delivered in 2008-09, and handle maintenance for the fleet.
THE FAA IS REVISING ITS POLICIES REGARDING THE OPERATION of business aircraft that fall under FAR Part 125 operating rules for aircraft having a payload capacity of 6,000 lb. and/or 20 or more passenger seats. Many operators have not been required to obtain certification required by Part 125, but are allowed to operate under letters of deviation authority issued by local FAA Flight Standards District Offices.
