When presented next month, NASA's fiscal 2015 budget request will be the first to be shaped by a new strategy for aeronautics research. The tough choices made by the agency to align its limited aeronautics funding with that strategy will become clear. Research into ultra-efficient subsonic and low-boom supersonic aircraft will make the cut, as will efforts to increase system safety, efficiency and autonomy, but work in areas such as rotorcraft and all-electric light aircraft are hanging in the balance.
As they reach cruise altitude, the crew of the high-wing Boeing airliner throttle back its twin turbofans to idle. Verifying that battery levels are adequate, they then do something that would be unthinkable in today's aircraft: They shut down the gas turbine core of each engine.
The drag-reducing benefit of flying in formation has been known for decades—far longer if you are a bird—but making it practical is the challenge. Geese join up in V formations when they migrate, but all are headed in the same direction; finding opportunities for formation flying within military and commercial air-transport networks crisscrossing the globe is harder.
Bill Sweetman's suggestion of transferring the A-10 Warthog to the U.S. Marine Corps (AW&ST Dec. 9, 2013, p. 15) is interesting, but flawed. He points out that the number of F-35Bs that will actually use the short-takeoff-and-vertical-landing capability operationally will be significantly fewer than those actually purchased. Keep in mind that most—if not all—Marine Corps combat aircraft are carrier-capable in one form or another.
The “Big Three” Persian Gulf carriers—Emirates, Qatar Airways and Etihad Airways—are increasingly heading in different directions and distinguishing their strategies. Etihad has created the first part of its “Etihad Regional” system; Qatar is venturing into Saudi Arabia with a new affiliate airline, while Emirates remains a purely widebody hub-and-spoke carrier.
The National Defense Industrial Association (NDIA), a top lobbying group for the U.S. aerospace and defense sector, says it is spearheading its own review of the industrial base, led by recently retired Pentagon industrial base czar Brett Lambert. Last fall Lambert left office after a roughly four-year stint marked by improving relations between top defense officials and industry executives, compared with the preceding Bush administration.
Marc Allen has been appointed president of the Seattle-based Boeing Capital Corp., effective March 14. He has been president of Boeing China and succeeds Mike Cave, who plans to retire May 1. Boeing Corporate Treasurer Dave Dohnalek will now also be chairman of Boeing Capital. Allen will be followed in China by Ian Thomas, who has been president of Boeing Australia and South Pacific.
A trial to reduce the need to stack arriving aircraft at London's busy Heathrow Airport will have international implications. The trial, the second phase of a series called Topflight, aims to extend the horizon of arrival-planning for the airport's air traffic controllers beyond U.K. airspace out 350 nm into Belgium, France, the Netherlands and Ireland.
USAF Col. (ret.) Michael R. Gallagher (Hillsboro, Ore. )
The C-27J fiasco is a prime example of doctrine over common sense (AW&ST Dec. 2, 2013, p. 23). The U.S. Air Force fought a turf battle with the Army to protect its single manager for fixed-wing airlift mission role resulting in the Army losing a needed capability and taxpayers enduring more waste. Even worse, this was a case of deja vu all over again. During the Vietnam War, the Air Force wrestled the twin-engine light short-takeoff-and-landing C-7 Caribou away from the Army, believing centralized management would be more efficient.
Deserts could become sources of biofuel based on research conducted by Boeing and partners in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The research has shown that saltwater-tolerant plants called halophytes, grown in coastal desert and fed by seawater, can produce biofuel “more efficiently than other well-known feedstocks,” says Boeing. The Sustainable Bioenergy Research Consortium plans to test the findings this year by planting two crops of different halophytes in Abu Dhabi's sandy soil.
In its highest and longest ascent to date, NASA's Morpheus prototype planetary lander flew to an estimated 305 ft. and traversed 358 ft. during a 64-sec. free flight at Kennedy Space Center (KSC) on Jan. 21.
Science, technology and exploration managers at NASA will review 58 proposals for instruments to mount on the Curiosity-class rover it plans to send to Mars in 2020, about twice the number received for instrument competitions in recent years, an “overwhelming response” compared to the trend in recent years, according to Associate Administrator John Grunsfeld.
Boeing and General Dynamics have finally reached an agreement in the long-standing dispute over the cancellation of the U.S. Navy's A-12 Avenger stealth aircraft program. The nearly $400 million agreement would bring the case to an end in exchange for in-kind payments from the companies. Under the agreement, General Dynamics will provide $198 million in credits to the Navy toward the design, construction and delivery portions of the DDG-1000 program, according to spokesman Rob Dolittle. The agreement was contingent upon Congress providing authorization for the deal.
