Teets believes the Air Force will win a boost from the roughly 180 F/A-22 aircraft now in the budget in the Quadrennial Defense Review of Pentagon resources and missions. The service says it needs at least 381 of the Lockheed Martin-made stealthy fighters to fully equip its 10 aerospace expeditionary forces. Prior to a crippling December cut, spending plans included money for 277 jets. Each F/A-22 is about $256.8 million, including the program's decades-long development cost; flyaway cost is closer to $117 million.
The civil engine market will be worth $550 billion over the next 20 years, according to the latest market survey by Rolls-Royce. Airliner deliveries will account for 63,000 engines, with corporate jets accounting for the remaining 33,000. China is identified as the fastest growing market for the coming two decades, with airline traffic growing at an average of 9% a year.
You can now register ONLINE for Aviation Week Events. Go to www.AviationNow.com/conferences or call Lydia Janow at +1 (212) 904-3225/+1 (800) 240-7645 ext. 5 (U.S. and Canada Only) Apr. 19-20--MRO Military Conference. Also, Apr. 20-21--MRO USA Conference & Exhibition. Gaylord Texan Resort & Convention Center, Dallas. May 10-11--Net-Centric Operations Conference 2005. Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center, Washington. May 24-25--Homeland Security Summit & Exposition, Washington.
India's requirement for around 1,000 anti-tank missiles may have been met with the recent final test firing of the 42-kg. (92-lb.) Nag eight months ahead of schedule. The Nag has a 4-km. (2.5-mi.) range, but is part of the Integrated Guided Missile Development Program that includes the 150-300-km.-range Prithvi missiles, already in use by the armed forces.
The 17th and final production Northrop Grumman E-8C Joint-STARS aircraft is being delivered to the U.S. Air Force at the same time the first production aircraft, which was delivered in 1996, completes an upgrade to the Block 20 Computer Replacement Program design using commercial-off-the-shelf computing capability. The new aircraft, designated P-17, "is the most advanced aircraft we have delivered so far," said Dave Nagy, the company's Joint-STARS program vice president.
Per-Arne Sandstrom and Lena Torell have been nominated for the board of directors of Saab. Sandstrom was deputy CEO of Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson, while Torell is president of the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences.
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Germany was granted an extension beyond the end-of-March "deadline" to sign on to the Medium Extended Air Defense System after its parliament deferred a decision on the program until next month. The U.S. and Italy already signed on last year, and originally imposed the deadline. However, to preserve the program, that time frame has been extended. The multinational Meads industrial team, which is working under bridge funding until Germany decides the program's fate, is continuing its efforts under the existing contractual arrangement.
THE GLOBAL MARKET FOR AUTOMATIC Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast is forecast to grow from $20 million a year to $80-100 million by 2010, according to Frost & Sullivan. But Michael Merluzeau, director for airborne systems markets, says the real growth in operational use of the technology will occur in the 2010-15 timeframe. The first areas to utilize ADS-B will be those with poor radar coverage--notably, Australia, which is deploying ADS-B nationwide and will go operational early next year.
The Launch Services Alliance of Arianespace, Boeing/Sea Launch and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries says the Sea Launch Zenith 3SL booster will serve as backup for launch of the first of two Paradigm Skynet 5 military communication satellites, to lift off in the second half of 2006. This is the fourth backup accord by the alliance.
Picking up a handful of missiles at knockdown prices may be a tempting bargain, but exactly what Iran and China gain from buying secondhand strategic cruise missiles from Ukraine remains to be seen. While the leakage of this technology is a cause for concern in capitals such as Washington and London, the illegal purchase of a few aging Raduga Kh-55 cruise missile airframes will not immediately provide a strategic capability to Beijing or Tehran.
The Boeing-Airbus struggle of titans pits the world's largest civil aircraft manufacturers on the field of battle. Obscured by the giants, however, is the fact that each is a recognizable product of its society. Boeing and Airbus are distillates of two different government-business economic environments. Airplanes are a metaphor for cultures.
The Pentagon will need $8 billion a year to replace military equipment used in Iraq and Afghanistan if U.S. forces remain in those nations at current levels, according to a new Congressional Budget Office report. About $4.7 billion of that will be required to replace Army vehicles and other equipment worn out or lost in war operations. Air Force replacement costs come in at about $1.6 billion.
The Bombardier Challenger CL-600 that overran the departure end of Teterboro (N.J.) Airport Runway 6 on Feb. 2 would not rotate for takeoff at the defined rotation speed, according to NTSB preliminary data released last week. The aircraft crashed into a warehouse; all 11 on board survived. The aircraft's center of gravity (CG) was found to be well forward of the allowable limit, but investigators said the aircraft could have had such a CG, based on cabin configuration, full or nearly full fuel tanks, passenger load and minimum baggage.
John Gallo has become vice president-business development and Steffen Koehler vice president-marketing for Phasebridge Inc., Pasadena, Calif. Gallo was director of defense programs at Bookham Inc., while Koehler was vice president-marketing for transceivers at Bookham Technology.
Low-cost Brazilian airline Gol has exercised four more options to purchase Boeing 737-800s, bringing its firm order for 737s to 20. Deliveries are scheduled between 2006-10.
Boeing's 787 Dreamliner grabs attention for its composite structure, but its systems are just as radical. The aircraft is a large step toward the all-electric airplane--one in which all systems are run by electricity. Bleed air from the engines has essentially been eliminated and while hydraulic actuators are still used, the majority of their power comes from electricity.
NASA space station managers believe loss of another control moment gyro on the International Space Station should not cause problems on the extravehicular activity (EVA) scheduled this week, even though the crew will be working at the aft end of the Russian service module. In February, crew activity at that location saturated the three gyros functioning and raised crew-safety questions about the use of thrusters to regain attitude control during an EVA (AW&ST Feb. 7, p. 19).
The first EADS/Astrium Inmarsat 4, the largest commercial communications satellite ever launched, has completed four maneuvers to reach geosynchronous orbit where it has deployed its 30 X 40-ft. elliptical reflector and solar arrays spanning 148 ft. Inmarsat 4 is being parked temporarily at a test location near the west coast of Africa before being drifted by late May toward its operational mobile communications station at 64 deg. E. Long. over the Indian Ocean.
Writer James P. Roche (AW&ST Mar. 14, p. 6) is justified in his disgust over the lack of efficiency, effectiveness and answerability of the Homeland Security Dept. and Transportation Security Administration but not in his opposition to broader taxpayer support. Increased funding would ameliorate at least some, though not all, of his criticisms. In any event, the deaths of the passengers on board the hijacked airplanes of Sept. 11, 2001, were incidental to the real target of thousands of other victims on the ground.
STEVE FOSSETT RELIED ON A CHELTON Flight Systems electronic flight instrument system (EFIS) with a "highway-in-the-sky" presentation, coupled to a three-axis autopilot, to reduce workload during his solo circumnavigation in GlobalFlyer. The highway-in-the-sky guidance is displayed to the pilot on the EFIS as a series of boxes showing the aircraft's progress along a prescribed course. Underneath the boxes is a 3D model of the terrain below the aircraft.
Jan D. Achenbach, a professor in the mechanical engineering and civil and environmental engineering departments of Northwestern University, has received the U.S. government's National Medal of Technology, for accomplishments in engineering research and education, and pioneering ultrasonic methods to detect cracks and corrosion in aircraft.
Cessna Aircraft Co. has begun engine runs and slow-speed taxi tests of the prototype Citation Mustang business jet. The first flight is scheduled for this summer. Cessna has orders for more than 230 Mustangs.
Messier-Dowty's selection to provide the main and nose landing gear for the 787 is its first prime contract with Boeing for a commercial aircraft and is an example of how Boeing is using Life-Cycle Product Teams to work with its suppliers. Until now, Messier-Dowty's commercial landing gear have most often appeared on Airbus aircraft, although its integrated landing gear system customers include Bombardier for the Global Express and Challenger 300 and Sukhoi for the Russian Regional Jet. It also counts Boeing's F/A-18E/F among its military contracts.
Andrea Spiegel has become vice president-sales and marketing for JetBlue Airways. She was head of travel and luxury goods marketing firm AKS Communications. Spiegel succeeds Amy Curtis-McIntyre, who has resigned.
