It has been called the most significant advance in jet engines since the turbofan: development of variable-cycle “third stream” engines with 25% lower specific fuel consumption than today's fighter powerplants. General Electric and Rolls-Royce will ground-test demonstrator engines in 2013, and GE and Pratt & Whitney are under contract to mature the technology and test new adaptive-fan engine designs in 2016. In addition to the high-pressure core and low-pressure bypass streams of a conventional turbofan, these variable-bypass engines have a third, outer flowpath.
Italy's defense budget is on the upswing again after deep cuts in 2012. However, the defense minister, the retired Adm. Giampaolo Di Paola, has received a preliminary green light for a major restructuring and deep cuts to all three of the armed forces. The plan is subject to future political decisions, but appears to be unavoidable.
The initial move away from punishing good technicians for maintenance errors began about two decades ago as savvy leaders began to understand the downside of disciplining to “fix” errors—and the upside of instead conducting a thorough evaluation of the “why” behind those errors. Since then, leading maintenance organizations have created non-punitive cultures in which committees dig into the causes behind errors with the aim of identifying whether changes in policy, process or documentation should be made to prevent future occurrences of the same errors.
General Electric has confirmed it will purchase Italian aero engine specialist Avio SpA from Cinven, a European private equity firm, and government-owned defense group Finmeccanica for €3.3 billion ($4.36 billion).
Commercial-scale, competitively priced production of drop-in biofuel replacements for petroleum-based jet fuel remains elusive, but technology work continues unabated. Two synthetic-fuel pathways are already approved for use in aircraft, in blends up to 50%: Fischer-Tropsch synthetic paraffinic kerosene (SPK) from coal, gas or biomass; and hydroprocessed esters and fatty acids (HEFA) from animal fats and vegetables oils. At least two more could be added in 2013: alcohol-to-jet (ATJ) and synthetic kerosene with aromatics (SKA).
A three-dimensional holographic radar that overcomes wind-farm interference with air traffic control radars could be commercially operational by late 2013. When an aircraft flies over a wind farm, its track can be lost amid the Doppler returns from the rotating blades of wind turbines. The problem is growing, as wind farms proliferate worldwide. Aveillant's holographic infill radar with its flat phased-array antennas provides the missing position and altitude data for aircraft.
Advances in rocket engine technology do not come along often, so it was noteworthy in October 2012 when Orbital Technologies flew a sounding rocket powered by its “vortex” engine, which injects fuel and liquid oxygen so the burning mixture does not touch the walls of the combustion chamber, allowing it to be thinner, lighter and cheaper. Oxidizer is injected at an angle that sets up a pair of coaxial vortices. Combustion occurs in the innermost swirl, the outer vortex protecting the chamber walls from the heat of combustion.
European government bickering scuttled a mega-merger of EADS and BAE Systems, and the Pentagon continues to hold firm against further consolidation among its top contractors. But consolidation amid second- and third-tier contractors is likely to accelerate as defense spending heads down in the U.S. and Europe.
The pace of advance in China's military modernization has reached the point where the question is more one of what surprises will be sprung on the world in 2013, rather than whether there will be any. The first-ever flight operations from a Chinese aircraft carrier took place in November, with what was by national standards a blaze of publicity. In September, outgoing Communist Party General Secretary Hu Jintao personally officiated at the carrier's commissioning.
Commercial production is rising, defense spending is falling, and economic conditions remain precarious, so what lies ahead for aerospace and defense in 2013 and beyond? That is the theme of Aerospace 2013, with its expanded analysis of global security concerns, defense programs, commercial developments and new technologies. In this issue, we look also at business aircraft, rotorcraft, spacecraft and demand for maintenance, repair and overhaul. Additional digital content can be found at AviationWeek.com/Aerospace2013. Cover design by AW&ST Art Department.
Russia's air transport industry continues to grow at a fast pace for the third year in a row. This advance is accompanied by the liberalization of the international flights segment as well as the industry's consolidation, backed by the government.
The kind of precision maintenance, repair and overhaul practiced by Vector Aerospace Helicopter Services at its Richmond, British Columbia, facility demands precise, plentiful interior illumination. It doesn't hurt to cut the light bill either.
NASA Space Launch System (SLS) advocate Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas) is leaving Capitol Hill, but the program should get a boost by meeting an early test. An engineering board has cleared the first element of the heavy-lift rocket for preliminary manufacturing, keeping the program on track for a first flight with the Orion multipurpose crew vehicle in 2017.
NASA wants $800 million in fiscal 2013 for its program to outsource the transport of crews to and from space, and says if it does not get the funding first commercial flights to the International Space Station will slip to 2018. With station funding set to expire in 2020, that could be a problem.
Although some questions about Britain's plans for its future national defense were answered in 2012, the year was defined by ongoing uncertainties, and 2013 looks likely to continue the trend.
Myanmar officials say pilot error and poor weather may have contributed to the Dec. 25 crash of an Air Bagan Fokker 100. The information ministry says the pilots tried to land the aircraft at Heho Airport in heavy fog and mistook a road for the runway, hitting a power line, landing on the road and then sliding into a rice paddy. One passenger and a motorist on the road died. Eleven passengers were injured, according to the ministry. The aircraft, a Fokker 100 built in 1991, was on a flight from Mandalay International Airport to Heho.
From the CSeries to the NextGen air traffic modernization and new Chinese weapons, 2013 is shaping up to be a busy year with a lot of milestones in aerospace and defense.
Jan. 7-10—AIAA's 51st Aerospace Sciences Meeting including the New Horizons Forum and Aerospace Exposition. Gaylord Texan Hotel and Convention, Grapevine, Texas. See www.aiaa.org/asm2013 Jan. 9-10—Fourth Annual China Aerospace Manufacturing Summit. Post Hotel, Harbin City. See www.galleonevents.com/2013CAMS Jan. 9-11—Army Aviation Symposium and Exposition. Gaylord National Hotel and Convention Center. National Harbor, Md. See www.ausaaviation.org
As the U.S. military pulls out of Afghanistan and “resets” for the Pacific theater, will there be an accompanying shift in the Defense Department's intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance forces? The year should see the beginning of a shift away from lower-tech systems geared to detect improvised explosive devices and toward future high-tech sensors.
