Australia is delaying by two years the purchase of the bulk of its first tranche of F-35 Joint Strike Fighters, but is also leaning against buying a gap-filler capability. Australia has committed to buying two F-35s (with delivery planned in 2014 and 2015), but has been debating when to buy the next dozen. That move “will occur but . . . two years after the previously anticipated timetable, says Defense Minister Stephen Smith. The move is aimed at mirroring the U.S. strategy to avoid buying too many aircraft early.
The mounting tempo of new commercial airliner development programs has heaped unprecedented pressure on engine makers to bolster test capabilities and, in particular, to modernize their flying testbeds.
Malaysia's defense needs have long caught the eye of Western arms suppliers. And with general elections due soon, one of the biggest barriers to actual purchases will finally disappear. Plans to buy 18 fighters as well as three airborne early warning (AEW) aircraft are just some of the big-ticket item decisions now on hold as the country sorts out its political future. Although the exact date for elections has yet to be set, there is a mandate that it takes place before the end of March.
Earlier this year, in advance of Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping's visit to Los Angeles, U.S. Commerce Secretary John Bryson convened a luncheon meeting of 20 or so Southern California business leaders. He touted U.S. exports to China, which last year exceeded $100 billion for the first time. I pointed out to him that spending by Chinese visitors, which is counted as a U.S. export, was $5 billion in 2010. In other words, tourist dollars alone account for 5% of U.S. exports to China.
The European Aviation Safety Agency has issued a proposed airworthiness directive for A380s because of cracking on the die-forged front spar on some of the aircraft in service. EASA says the cracks, which occur between Ribs 4 and 8, were found during full-scale fatigue tests. “The condition, if not detected and corrected, could reduce the structural integrity of the wing front spar,” EASA says. The problem is limited to nine A380s in commercial service.
The U.S. Air Force is narrowing its focus on new combinations of factors as it explores hypoxia events that claimed the life of one F-22 pilot and plagued the fleet for more than a year.
An Indian government panel is highlighting the lack of army attack helicopters, contending that the country's security is at risk. According to the April 30 report from the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Defense, the army's aviation unit has a requirement for 18 Cheetahs, one Chetak, 76 Advance Light Helicopters and 60 ALHs with weapon systems.
“Growth Spurt” (AW&ST April 9, p. 24) lists some staggering numbers related to U.S. military budgets. Within the last 12 months, the F-35 program became $124.2 billion more expensive, and is now expected to cost $1.51 trillion over its 55-year fleet life. Becoming evermore complex, heavy and expensive, the last unit is forecast to leave the assembly line in 2037. At that point, it will probably be sent directly to a museum! This schedule will only hold if this program, against all odds, dodges delays.
Automotive-style robots are moving onto the aircraft assembly line to save time and cost. Bombardier plans to use six single-arm robots to join the cockpit and fuselage sections of its CSeries airliner, saving more than 40 hr. Each 12-ton robot will be able to drill a hole and insert a fastener in 32 sec. for aluminum-lithium structures and 53 sec. for composites.
After months of wrangling, congressional leaders are reaching some kind of consensus on a bill to extend by three years the Export-Import Bank's authority to operate, with a cap of $140 billion. The House is expected to vote on the bill this week. It had been held up over concerns that foreign airlines were using Ex-Im financing to buy Boeing widebody jets that gave them an advantage against U.S. air carriers, most notably Delta Air Lines, which along with the trade group Airlines for America is suing to block Ex-Im loan guarantees to Air India.
Friction welding fuses metals without melting them and is used in aerospace to join engine disks (rotational welding) or fabricate aircraft and spacecraft structures (friction-stir welding). Now hybrid components produced by linear friction welding of dissimilar metals promise to overcome a key disadvantage of composites: carbon fiber cannot be attached directly to aluminum because of galvanic corrosion, forcing use of higher-cost titanium. But friction welding can allow titanium to be incorporated into the join between aluminum and composite structures.
Pratt & Whitney's uniquely configured Boeing 747SP recently made its debut as the industry's newest engine flying testbed with Pratt & Whitney Canada's PW308C, and is now flying the PW1200G for the Mitsubishi Regional Jet. Pratt has adapted the aircraft, its second 747SP, to flight-test a wide range of airliner, business jet and turboprop engines. In addition, Pratt is flight-testing its second geared turbofan model (see p. 39). Spencer Sloan/Pratt & Whitney photo.
Frank Bodenhage has been appointed president and CEO of MTU Maintenance in Zhuhai, China, succeeding Holger Sindermann, who will become managing director and senior VP of MTU Maintenance in Hannover, Germany. Bodenhage has held management positions at MTU Hannover.
Hawker Beechcraft filed for Chapter 11 protection in U.S. Bankruptcy Court as part of a restructuring plan that the privately owned aircraft builder says will eliminate $2.5 billion in debt. Lenders also agreed to provide $400 million in additional financing to enable struggling Hawker to continue operations and pay employees, suppliers and vendors.
Now that Congress has ordered the FAA to get moving on integrating unmanned aircraft into civil airspace, Northrop Grumman chief Wes Bush is talking up all the wondrous things UAVs can do. But he is also warning industry not to underestimate the need to address public concerns. Speaking to the Aero Club recently, he portrayed as a huge step the mandate that the FAA establish six UAV test ranges by this August and integrate such aircraft into the National Airspace System by September 2015.
Hussein Dabbas has been named VP for the Middle East and North Africa by the Geneva-based International Air Transport Association. He succeeds Majdi Sabri, who plans to retire in June. Dabbas has been CEO of Royal Jordanian Airlines.
U.S. military sales to India may have grown to $8 billion since 2005, but even as the relationship has become closer, U.S. officials are still trying to promote the idea that foreign military sales (FMS) are better than direct commercial sales (DCS). The U.S. has long battled the notion that it is giving preferential pricing through FMS to other countries—a cost imbalance can be attributed to differences in training and assistance. After returning from a recent trip to India, the State Department's Andrew Shapiro points out that FMS brings with it the backing of the U.S.
Clay Williams has become executive director of Gulfport-Biloxi (Miss.) International Airport. He will succeed Bruce Frallic, who is scheduled to retire in August. Williams is a government relations representative for Capitol Resources.
John Brasfield (see photo) has been promoted to manager from assistant manager of FlightSafety International's Cessna Aircraft Maintenance Learning Center in Wichita.
Isogrids are among the lightest and strongest of structures, the lattice pattern of integral stiffening ribs providing extremely high strength-to-weight ratios. Lightweight isogrid panels machined from aluminum plate to produce thin-walled, self-stiffened and damage-tolerant structures are used in launch vehicles and aircraft doors. Advanced grid structures made from composites have been used for components such as payload shrouds, but require time-consuming and costly manual layup. Isogrid Composites Canada Inc.
Composites may be replacing metals in aircraft structures, but the use of titanium is increasing both to reduce weight and because of the incompatibility of aluminum and carbon fiber. Boeing's 787 is 50% composite by structural weight, whereas its earlier 777 is only 12%, but a 787 contains almost 90 tons of titanium compared with 55 tons in a larger 777. And titanium can be around 10 times as expensive as aluminum, so pressure is on to reduce costs.
With ground to make up in the marketing battle with Airbus and the A320NEO, Boeing is going to new lengths to eke out improved aerodynamic efficiency on the competing 737 MAX.
