Senior Editor Amy Butler's article “Can USAF Buy a $550 Million Bomber?” about pursuit of a stealthy aircraft with a capped price, elicited a lively exchange that included: Sukhoi noting: NO! Typical game-playing will go on and in the end, if the program survives budget cuts, we'll end up with maybe 10 bombers at $10 billion apiece . . . and possibly obsolete by the time they are deployed—10-15 years late.
Ron de Bos has been appointed head of sales in North America for Air France Industries/KLM Engineering & Maintenance. He was director of integrated services.
In Ares, our defense-related blog, International Editor Robert Wall reports on RAF commencing MRTT operations. Airpower notes: Initial multi-role tanking trials with the Tornado GR4s uncovered unexpected problems. The first “training” mission was a crew familiarization sortie only.
NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center is expanding opportunities for payloads that cut across multiple technologies to fly on suborbital reusable launch vehicles or high-altitude balloons. The agency's goal is to help technologies mature, but it is not funding their development, only their chance to fly. NASA also notes that its current manifest for parabolic flights is full through “at least late 2013.” Specifics on opportunities may be found at http://nspires.nasaprs.com
The murky world of U.S. electronic warfare and its more esoteric airborne electronic attack (AEA) subset is being overtaken by a new generation of international threats. Cyberweapons and other sophisticated countermeasures can now attack aircraft, ships and ground vehicles through their antennas and sensors.
It's no secret that Hawker Beechraft has been having a tough time since the business aviation market took its swan dive in 2008. That was just a year after the Wichita maker of King Airs (photo upper right), Hawkers and T-6 military trainers was acquired by Goldman Sachs and Onex Corp. for a hefty $3.2 billion, two-thirds of which was borrowed. The company has streamlined operations and reduced costs, but suffered operating losses of $1 billion, and servicing the debt has added mightily to its burden. Something had to give.
That the face of Europe's network carriers is changing has been clear for some time, but even those in the drivers' seats are wondering just how deep those changes will go.
Three years ago, Rolls-Royce & Partners Finance was leasing an engine for a large narrowbody jet for $120,000 a month. Today, a similar powerplant commands a rate of just $50,000. Underpinning the 58% price cut is a simple equation: supply and demand.
In a highly anticipated ruling, a German federal court has blocked night flights from Frankfurt airport. The move could have wider consequences, with anti-noise campaigners in other locations expected to use the ruling to press their cases. The Hesse state government had authorized 17 night flights from Frankfurt, but that will have to be revisited.
Boeing delivered 99 737s and 20 777s in the first quarter, beating market expectations and marking a record-setting pace that contributed to 137 commercial aircraft deliveries so far in 2012. The tally, which also included five 787s, six 747-8s and seven 767s, compares to 104 deliveries for the same period in 2011 and 108 in 2010, and reflects the first significant indications of Boeing's rising production and delivery rates across the 737, 747-8, 777 and 787 lines.
Russian aero engines maker Salut has completed the climatic bench tests of new Al-31FM2 turbojet engine, which is a further development of the Al-31FM that powers the Sukhoi Su-27 fighter family. These tests have confirmed the static thrust increase of 4,080 lb. to 32,000 lb., compared with the basic engine. It also produces 2,200 lb. more thrust than the Al-31FM1, an earlier upgrade. An improved low-pressure turbine and full-authority digital engine control system are behind the FM2 improvement. Also, the engine has an assigned life of more than 3,000 hr.
Expensive automobiles and the most advanced military aircraft share a common vulnerability to cyberattack. The overlapping weaknesses have fixed the attention of scientists and electronic warfare (EW) specialists who are trying to plan for future wars.
Within the next three weeks, the Air Force will release a modified request for proposals (RFP) for the botched Light Attack Support contract. The service selected Sierra Nevada/Embraer to build 20 Super Tucanos for use in Afghanistan over a Hawker Beechcraft AT-6-based design. But the $355 million contract was abruptly terminated earlier this year after Hawker Beechcraft filed suit in federal claims court. “We lacked confidence in the documentation available,” Air Force Secretary Michael Donley says. “That was the basis for withdrawing the contract award.”
Taiwan is hoping improved relations with China, an upgrade to Taipei's international airport and a new aerospace park will help it establish itself as an Asia-Pacific hub. Better relations with China have led to the opening of flights across the Taiwan Strait, a boon for Taiwanese carriers that are now being welcomed into global airline alliances. Late last month, EVA Air signed an agreement that paves the way for it to formally join the Star Alliance in 2013.
NASA pilots will take the space shuttle Discovery for a spin over the nation's capital—and Capitol—before delivering it to the Smithsonian Institution's Udvar-Hazy Center later this month (see photo). The retired orbiter, known as the workhorse of the shuttle fleet, is due to leave Kennedy Space Center April 17 atop a Shuttle Carrier Aircraft (SCA) en route to the National Air & Space Museum annex at Dulles International Airport. Two NASA T-38 trainers scouted photo angles over Washington last week, descending to about 1,500 ft.
Despite deep divisions in the U.S. Congress, lawmakers are not missing an opportunity to express their support for the defense of Israel. The question is just how much they will provide in the end. The Pentagon recently said it would ask for more cash to purchase Rafael's Iron Dome short-range rocket and mortar defense system for Israel. And while some lawmakers are so enthusiastic about Iron Dome that they have already introduced a bill toward that end, there is no consensus about the amount of the allocation.
Virginie Guyot and Birgitte Stalder-Olsen have joined the Paris-based Airbus Corporate Foundation as external board members. Guyot is the former leader of the Patrouille de France and a fighter pilot. Stalder-Olsen is head of logistics of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. Samantha Sharif (see photo) has become interim director general of the Amsterdam-based Civil Air Navigation Services Organization, succeeding Graham Lake, who stepped down last month.
USAF Maj. Gens. James F. Jackson and Andrew E. Busch have been nominated for promotion to lieutenant general. Jackson has been appointed chief of Air Force Reserve/commander, Air Force Reserve (AFR) Command at USAF headquarters at the Pentagon. He was deputy to the AFR chief. Busch has been named vice commander of Air Force Materiel Command, Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio. He has been commander of the command's Ogden Air Logistics Center, Hill AFB, Utah. Brig. Gen. Stephen A. Clark has been named deputy commander of Joint Special Operations Command, U.S.
MD Helicopters injected swirl of speculation around the U.S. Army's Armed Aerial Scout (AAS) requirement when it unveiled the MD 540F light combat helicopter at last week's Army Aviation Association of American convention in Nashville, Tenn. MDHI says it will offer the 540F—its first new helicopter in 15 years—for the AAS requirement despite having already agreed to supply the airframe for Boeing's contender, the AH-6i, which is also a derivative of the original Hughes 500/OH-6 model.
