The commentary “End in Sight?” (AW&ST July 9, p. 36) does a disservice to retired military when it states that when retirees reach age 65 they qualify for Tricare for Life and pay no fees. In fact, at age 65 military retirees are required to sign up for Medicare and pay the part B premium to qualify for Tricare for Life (after having been promised free medical care for life for putting their lives on the line for more than 20 years of active service). Great Falls, Va.
Fast, flexible, super-sensual and ultra exclusive, they were coveted by moguls, monarchs and movie stars. They moved Carly Simon to sing, served as Goldfinger's bling, helped the Rat Pack to swing, and in so doing became icons of their age. They were the first business jets and there had never been anything like them. No vehicle had ever provided such a combination of speed, privacy and comfort.
Rolls-Royce has unveiled a further upgrade for the Trent 1000 engine on the Boeing 787 that builds on technology developed for the Airbus A350 as well as advanced research programs. The Trent 1000 TEN (Thrust Efficiency New Technology) is targeted for introduction in the first half of 2016 and will save a further 3% fuel burn over the Package B standard now entering service. The engine will be available to power all versions of the 787, including the yet-to-be-defined -10X double stretch, for which Rolls recently signed a memorandum of understanding with Boeing.
The recent final report on the crash of Air France Flight 447 (AW&ST July 9, p. 54) brings to light the apparent lack of adequate back-up instrumentation when measurement of some key parameter, airspeed in this case, fails. Although GPS measurements are primarily used for navigation, the data available within these systems should theoretically make it possible to calculate true airspeed, rate of climb/descent, and the 3-D vector direction of travel in space when the data is integrated over brief periods.
The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) Committee on Aviation Environmental Protection (CAEP) has established the metric that will be used to measure emissions for the first global aviation carbon-dioxide standard. Developed by the International Coordinating Council of Aerospace Industries Associations, along with ICAO member states, intergovernmental agencies and non-governmental organizations, the metric will be based on fuel used per unit distance at three different cruise conditions.
I am outraged about a remark in Defense Technology Editor Bill Sweetman's editorial “The Slow Death of Boot-Centric Warfare.” He says: “Cuts in military manpower will result in growing ranks of people denied stars or lifetime retirement benefits for just (!) 20 years of service” (AW&ST Defense Technology Edition July 2, DT3).
With fewer dollars available for new programs, the Pentagon is at a pivot point for its multibillion air- and spaceborne intelligence collection portfolio.
A new, unclassified version of a congressionally mandated Pentagon report on Iran's military capabilities appears to put the theocratic country's missile, terrorism and nuclear efforts in starker terms than before. “Beyond steady growth in its missile and rocket inventories, Iran has boosted the lethality and effectiveness of existing systems by improving accuracy and developing new submunition payloads,” says the April report, which came to light last week.
“Is It Showtime?” (AW&ST July 2, p. 34), references Boeing's long-standing policy of not flying at air show demonstrations. An unnamed company official is quoted as saying, “We have never sold an airplane because a customer said he saw it fly at an air show.” Of course, given the demonstration ban, no customer has even had the opportunity to utter such a comment since 1984.
United Airlines rounded off a strong Farnborough show for Boeing by ordering 100 reengined 737-9 MAXs and 50 737-900ERs in a deal worth $14.7 billion at list prices (see chart). United President/CEO Jeff Smisek says the deal was signed after lengthy negotiations with Airbus and Boeing, as well as engine suppliers CFM and Pratt & Whitney. In 2010 United, which flies A319s and A320s and is not a customer for the 737 Next Generation family, merged with Continental, a major 737 NG operator with no Airbus aircraft.
City and state officials in Alabama are still celebrating Airbus's decision to build an A320 final assembly line in Mobile. By any measure, the planned $600 million industrial facility will be a big stimulus to the local economy. It also will add to the southeastern U.S.'s emergence as a major hub for aerospace manufacturing. What may not be apparent yet, however, is how much the supplier base across North America could share in that bonanza.
Virgin Galactic is developing a low-cost small-satellite launch system which builds on its space tourism venture. The LauncherOne system will deliver payloads up to 500 lb. to low Earth orbit and, with a target of under $10 million per launch, is aimed at dramatically cutting the cost of delivering constellations of small satellites. Based on a 30,000-lb.-class winged booster that will be carried aloft for air launch by the WhiteKnightTwo mothership, the launcher will be powered by a two-stage liquid rocket, now in initial development by Virgin Galactic.
Charlie Marinelli has been appointed senior VP-charter sales at Solairus Aviation, San Francisco. He was the founder and principal of an executive/business coaching company.
A five-year contract for H-60 helicopters signed by Sikorsky and the U.S. Army gives a Pentagon facing budget uncertainty some flexibility to adjust its procurement numbers over coming years. The $8.5 billion baseline contract covers 653 Black Hawk and Seahawk helicopters for delivery by December 2017, and includes 106 aircraft for foreign military sales (FMS) customers in addition to 354 UH/HH-60Ms for the Army and 193 MH-60R/Ss for the Navy.
Jeff Taberner is the new senior account manager for the U.S. market at Latitude Technologies, Victoria, B.C. He was director of sales for the Sky Connect brand at Honeywell Technologies.
Shock, disbelief, dismay, distrust. Stages of grief? No, these adjectives sum up the reaction to the news that Hawker Beechcraft has agreed to sell itself to a Chinese manufacturer for about $1.8 billion (see p. 40). It remains to be seen whether the property will actually change hands, although there is no reason at this point to doubt it will. Nonetheless, the announcement stunned aerospace professionals.
I'm a retired Marine (aviation ordnance) who was assigned to the Marine Aviation Detachment at NAS Patuxent River, Md. When I was transferred back to a Fleet Marine Force Sqdn. at MCAS New River, N.C., there was one computer in the unit, and it belonged to the analyst. I used my own laptop and a printer to update ordnance records and my section's logistics. When I retired, I left them my laptop.
Christian Olivier (see photo) has been named VP-operations at Esterline CMC Electronics, Montreal. He has held executive positions at Nortel Networks, STMicroelectronics and e2v Technologies.
As Earthbound researchers prove slow to realize the orbital capabilities available to them, top managers are beginning to worry that support for human spaceflight could wane
After a long flirtation with the concept of partnering to offer a foreign fast-jet trainer to the U.S. Air Force as a T-38C replacement, Boeing will forgo an off-the-shelf bid in favor of a new-build design, or opt not to compete at all. T-X competitors include the BAE Systems Hawk, Alenia Aermacchi M346 and the Korea Aerospace Industries/Lockheed Martin T-50. The Air Force plans to buy 350 aircraft as well as ground-based training systems, but a competition is unlikely to start before 2013. Saab is said to be considering a Gripen-based offering.
Now that the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) has secured the tactical and strategic airlift that it wanted, its next procurement is of VIP air transportation.
