HNA is the parent of Hainan Airlines and several other carriers in China. It is also the largest private airline group in what many believe will soon be the world’s largest single air transport market. Therefore any HNA acquisitions need to be taken seriously.
Poland may upend tenders for Raytheon’s Patriot, Airbus helo; KRET to upgrade Tupolev Tu-160 bomber avionics; U.S. Navy wraps up Fire Scout assessment, demos targeting comms integrated among multiple aircraft.
The expansion of Tianjin Airlines, Airbus’s commitment to set up an A330 completion center in China, and the country’s bulk orders for the Airbus widebody aircraft are connected. The common element is the Tianjin city government.
The FireSat system will result in revisit times about every 15 min., which begins to approach the warning an experienced firewatcher in a tower can provide firefighters by scanning forest treetops for smoke.
In November, ESA handed NASA the first tangible evidence of its contribution to the Orion development, a structural test article of the European Service Module (ESM) that in the coming months will undergo rigorous environmental trials.
While the Chinese air transportation industry wonders whether the government will merge major carriers, China Eastern’s rivals keep building up at Shanghai.
A typical Boeing 787 user is LAN Airlines of Chile, which experienced early service issues but is now using the twin jet on a wide range of routes and enjoying improved dispatch reliability.
Engineers and scientists are beginning to plan a program of robotic exploration over the next two decades to look for life on the moons of Jupiter and Saturn. Europa, the large icy moon of Jupiter, is first on the list.
Approval of certification plan takes Lockheed Martin a step closer to launching development of a commercial hybrid airship for cargo transport to remote locations.
Task force set up to make recommendations for registration of small unmanned aircraft sets minimum size at 0.55 lb., potentially bringing toy drones under the FAA’s new rule.
Despite the founder’s indictment, Russian ownership and potential Chinese competition, Epic Aircraft’s E1000 single-turboprop advances towards FAR23 certification.
Given the huge number of lithium-ion batteries being shipped by air, some will eventually short-circuit and go into thermal runaway. Industry and regulators are considering some box-level solutions.
The planned ramp-up will see more than 250 C Series in service by 2020, when the program is expected to begin generating positive cash flow, and is “balanced, manageable and achievable,” says Bombardier Commercial Aircraft President Fred Cromer.
Russia sells China Sukhoi fighters and special ops helicopters; Indian army scraps Nishant UAV; manned-unmanned teaming demo in South Korea; U.S. sells three Global Hawks to Japan.
