The European Commission has issued an initial blacklist intended to keep unsafe airlines from third-party countries outside the European Union. The list bans 92 passenger and cargo carriers outright, and sets operational restrictions for three others. The EC also adopted rules for removing airlines from the list.
U.K. startup Bance Air is planning to launch daily scheduled point-to-point service from London Heathrow Airport to three Indian destinations not yet served by other carriers from LHR, starting late this year. Privately owned Bance Air obtained its operating license four months ago, has leased two Boeing 777s and is awaiting delivery of its third, according to Managing Director Dave Bance. He added the carrier plans to add a fourth aircraft, pending route approvals by India, which are expected in April. The new, liberal India-U.K.
Two years into the B-2 development program, Northrop managers decided that an altered U.S. Air Force requirement to operate at high speeds and low altitudes would force a redesign of the bomber's wing to handle high gust-induced loading. The original dual-"V" trailing-edge planform was tailored for high-altitude flight, and would not handle the high gust loads of low-level turbulence (see graphic, p. 57).
There are reasons why defense spending is so hard to predict. Air Force officials are documenting how a slightly flawed technical order and a small piece of cloth caused $6.7 million in damage to the engine of a brand-new F-22. The 27th Fighter Sqdn. from Langley AFB, Va., was on the F-22's first operational deployment, evaluating use of the JDAM weapon at Hill AFB, Utah. After the engines of one of the aircraft were started for a night mission, a crew chief realized that a nose landing gear pin was still in place.
Kazakhstan-government-owned Air Astana took delivery of its first leased Airbus A320 under a fleet modernization program. Four additional leased A320s, all with IAE V2500 engines, are to join the fleet this year. They will be operated on routes including Moscow, Dubai, Beijing, New Delhi and Istanbul. The carrier plans to have a 30-aircraft fleet by 2014. In addition to the newly arrived A320, the Air Astana fleet consists of three Boeing 757-200, three 737-700/800 and five Fokker-50 aircraft.
The air force will be able to field its first regiment of Sukhoi Su-34 strike aircraft in 2010, state reports quoting Defense Minister Sergey Ivanov. According to Ivanov, the air force will have received 24 of the strike-variant of the Su-27 Flanker-derivative by then. The number suggests the regiment will have two squadrons.
Norway is providing Lockheed Martin with an eight-week stay of execution before it decides whether to abandon participation in the Joint Strike Fighter program. Originally due to deliver its verdict Apr. 1, State Secretary for Defense Espen Barth Eide told Aviation Week & Space Technology that the decision is being put back to June 1 to allow time for Lockheed Martin to flesh out any proposals, and for Norway to evaluate them (AW&ST Feb. 27, p. 26).
The team of Lockheed Martin/EADS CASA rolled out the first production HCN-235A medium-range surveillance maritime patrol aircraft from its facility in Seville, Spain. It is the first new aircraft developed for the U.S. Coast Guard's integrated Deepwater system program. The Deepwater plan calls for production and system integration of 36 aircraft through 2017. The first will be delivered to the guard's aviation training center in Mobile, Ala., in spring 2007.
As I read your "Spaceplane Shelved" article, I remember the time I brought a copy of your magazine to my combat search and rescue squadron's ready room. My commander referenced the magazine as "Aviation Leak" and was not impressed that it was in the room. As an American, I am not pleased to read about U.S. secret programs that are secret for a reason. The fact that a fellow military pilot would be involved in supplying this information does not impress me and in fact disgusts me.
Japan's Hayabusa spacecraft that landed twice on the asteroid Itokawa found it to be a "rubble pile" of 4.5-billon-year-old planetary debris that loosely coalesced only about 10 million years ago, rather than a much older intact body like previous asteroids visited. This means researchers discovered--180 million mi. from Earth--a new baby of the solar system. It's just one of many findings from the $100-million mission that will affect theories on the formation of planets and small bodies around the Sun and other stars.
The U.S. Air Force plans to launch a 5-ton, football-field-size demonstrator radar into low Earth orbit in 2010. The active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar is expected to serve as the forerunner to a new family of intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance platforms in space. The program is run by the Air Force Research Laboratory's space vehicles directorate at Kirtland AFB, N.M. The plan is eventually to have 300-yd.-long AESA arrays flying at an altitude of 5,700 mi. that can provide tracking of surface targets around the clock in all weather.
Infrared detector specialist Sofradir is seeking a U.S. beachhead to take advantage of North American business opportunities, as well as calling for more French government support to ensure coherence between new weapons and the components on which they depend.
Australia's planners anticipate buying a fleet of at least 70 F-35 Joint Strike Fighters. However, instead of buying a final 30--that would bring the total to 100--the RAAF has the option of choosing an unmanned combat air vehicle, say top service officials.
Air Wales is to cease scheduled passenger operations Apr. 23. The low-fare carrier was established in 1999 and serves 17 domestic destinations and one on the continent. Air Wales will continue charter and cargo flights.
French space agency CNES will develop the 6-8-metric ton AlphaBus very large satellite platform, providing 12-18 kw. of power, for the European Space Agency under a final agreement signed last week. CNES will manage overall development of the new bus, which will be built by EADS Astrium and Alcatel Alenia Space. The two manufacturers plan to market the spacecraft bus jointly beginning in 2007. ESA and CNES will share financing of the first flight model, ordered last year for delivery around 2009 (AW&ST June 27, 2005, p. 33).
President Bush wants to retire the F-117 stealth fighters, sending most to the boneyard over the next year, rather than by 2011. The fighters, which cost about $45 million each, were a revolution in technology when they were unveiled in 1988 following a classified development program. Their radar-evading technology and ability to drop precision-guided bombs at night were a major asset in the 1991 Persian Gulf war. Bush's plan would retire 10 F-117s in 2007 and the remainder in 2008.
Raytheon Technical Services Co. has been awarded a U.S. Air Force contract to repair air traffic control radar system components worldwide. The $15.5-million contract with the Oklahoma City Air Logistics Center at Tinker AFB, covers the base year and four option years. RTSC will provide repair services, technical assistance and data in support of components applicable to the AN/TPN-19 and the AN/GPN-22 landing control centers for one year. Work will be performed in Chula Vista, Calif., and at USAF installations around the world.
Concluding a deal for procurement of the Future Lynx for the British Army and Royal Navy is being slowed, a result of discussions being caught up in negotiations for a wide-ranging partnering pact between the Defense Ministry and AgustaWestland. An accord on both the Future Lynx acquisition and the partnering agreement is now expected within the next two months.
Fascinating as it may sound, the BlackStar article does not meet the test of credibility (AW&ST Mar. 6, p. 48). Based upon some quick analysis by my colleague Chuck Deiterich, a vehicle launching due east (to take advantage of the Earth's rotation) at Mach 3.3 would still require a delta velocity of about 21,700 ft./sec. to reach orbit. This doesn't account for drag losses, which even at that altitude probably would be 200 ft./sec.
Air Hokkaido (ADK), a subsidiary of ANA's Air Nippon Network, will be disbanded this July. The company used its two de Havilland DHC-6-300 Twin Otters to fly a single route between Okushiri Island and Hakodate at the southern tip of Hokkaido. Launched in 1994, ADK will make its final flight on July 31. Meanwhile, ANA plans to enter a cargo code-share agreement with Asiana on freighter flights between Japan and South Korea, starting next month. A total of 18 weekly flights will carry the codes of both airlines.
Rover controllers at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory are in a race with the Sun as they maneuver Spirit toward a spot where it can catch rays for its power system during the coming Martian winter. The problem is complicated because one of Spirit's wheels stalled earlier this month after displaying intermittent problems since mid-2004, five months after landing. Controllers reversed the rover's direction of travel so it could drag the wheel, one of six that operate independently, and engineers continued to troubleshoot the problem.
"Battlestar Galacticas" is what Dan Goldin, the former NASA administrator, called them--the large, heavy triumphs of 20th century space science. These spacecraft, such as Hubble Space Telescope, Chandra X-ray Observatory and Cassini, continue today to yield enormous scientific return. But they also caused endless management heartburn and budget tensions during their decades of development. Goldin believed the era of these giants was closing, and the spectacular demise of the Superconducting Supercollider seemed to support this view.
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