Now that Germany has made good on its promise to cut its defense modernization program as part of a sweeping reorganization, the question remains: Will the government follow through with the promise to put the freed-up money toward future needs?
Prolonged delays in development of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter are coming home to roost for Lockheed Martin, as the Defense Department moves to force the manufacturer to bear the cost of any changes to production aircraft that could result from the thousands of hours of flight testing that still lie ahead. Even as development has fallen behind schedule, Lockheed has continued to produce aircraft and the resulting overlap, or concurrency, has driven up the cost of the initial batches of F-35s, forcing the cutback on procurement to cover the overruns.
Indonesia is moving toward signing a contract to upgrade Lockheed Martin F-16s to the Block 52 standard after the country's populist president weighed in on the debate about the country's defense procurement processes.
Finmeccanica's impending report of third-quarter financial results would be nothing special if not for that fact that the last time the Italian aerospace and defense giant communicated with the financial community, it went so badly the company lost more than 25% of its market value.
Plans to execute the stretched Boeing 787-9 to its revised schedule and weight targets are increasingly bullish, despite the company's revelation in its latest financial filing that first delivery may slide into early 2014. The higher-capacity 787-9 will seat at least 40 more passengers than the baseline model, and in the longer term it is widely expected to sell better, much as the 767-300 outsold its -200 sibling. Current orders for the 787-9, which will be stretched by 20 ft., stand at 266, just under one-third of the overall firm backlog.
As it has so often before, Boeing is betting big on an ambitious production rate for the 787 even though it does not expect to see the first “clean” aircraft roll through its factories until next year.
Boeing has finalized the all-important fan diameter for the 737 MAX derivative program, answering a growing number of questions from would-be operators and bolstering the twinjet's credibility in continuing campaigns against Airbus's successful A320NEO.
A solution to the bitter conflict between Qantas and its unions appears to be finally within reach, thanks to an act of high-stakes brinksmanship by the carrier.
While the Arab Spring political uprisings stirred speculation that Middle Eastern militaries might alter spending to combat insurgencies, in fact the uprisings appear to have sharpened the countries' concerns about the regional balance of power instead.
With the more than 400 wide-body aircraft on firm order by the three largest Middle Eastern carriers, one question is being asked frequently: Is there a market for all of these aircraft? In spite of what European competitors tend to say, the answer is mostly “yes.”
No question the Arab Spring political turmoil, which has run into the summer and fall, depressed air travel in the Middle East, but what is far from clear are the long-term ramifications of the unrest. Some markets have already recovered. Oman Air saw a marked downturn early in the year, but as the country has stabilized, so have passenger numbers. Royal Jordanian Airlines also has seen a gradual return to norm and has restored flights to Tripoli and Benghazi in Libya.
The Middle East has been one of the main importers of Western aerospace technologies, but slowly and quietly one of the biggest efforts to reverse that balance of trade is gaining traction.
The Middle East aircraft maintenance market has commanded much growth and development in the past decade, driven largely by the success of Dubai International Airport and other hubs. Market-watchers expect the expansion of air traffic volume and fleet sizes in the region to continue, and MRO along with them. By 2015, the United Arab Emirates will have more commercial aircraft than Japan, now the world's third-largest economy, says Bill Lay, PwC's Dubai-based partner.
The ability to fund customers' components to reduce their balance sheet expenses is an advantage few companies can offer at the level that Mubadala Aerospace does. As an example, Abu Dhabi Aircraft Technologies, Sanad Aero Solutions and SR Technics—all three of which Mubadala owns—forged a major service deal with Virgin Australia in August. The agreement includes component maintenance, financing and training to support the airline's Airbus A330s—initially covering two aircraft, but set to expand to five in 2013.
A radically different approach to subsystem design and integration is needed if the Lockheed Martin F-35 and future “sixth-generation” fighters now on the drawing board are to be equipped with high-power sensors and directed-energy weapons now in development.
Despite being nearly three years behind schedule, the A400M military airlifter test program is progressing through its final year amid a surprisingly calm atmosphere. Test personnel recognize there is still ample time for hiccups to occur, but the head of flight-test operations at Airbus Military, Fernando Alonso, says, “we are in pretty good shape,” even if “we are still prone to find things” as the trials unfold. The program has logged 2,500 flight-test hours, with 3,700 hr. expected for the entire campaign.
The U.S. Office of Naval Research (ONR) is making sea-based aviation a funding priority and, with unmanned combat and rotorcraft looking to enter the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps fleet alongside planned Joint Strike Fighters, researchers are touting the potential for dramatic effects on the basic nature of naval aircraft design.
The proposed $18.4 billion takeover of Goodrich by United Technologies Corp. involves companies whose business units are working together in ways that both serve the civil aviation establishment and challenge it.
Safety begins at home, and for the offshore energy support sector that means convincing smaller oil and gas producers, and the small helicopter operators they use, that improving safety is good for business. As the International Helicopter Safety Symposium takes place in Fort Worth this week, improving safety among the many operators serving the Gulf of Mexico remains a work in progress. But the bigger, financially stronger companies are reaching out to smaller operators in a bid to improve overall safety.
Nov. 16-17—Lean Six Sigma for MRO Europe. Amsterdam. Nov. 30-Dec. 1—Aerospace & Defense Finance Conference. New York. Feb. 1-2—MRO Middle East 2012. Dubai, United Arab Emirates. March 7—54th Annual Laureate Awards. Washington. March 13-14—Innovation Supply Chain Showcase. Orlando, Fla. April 3-5—MRO Americas 2012. Dallas. April 3-5—MRO Military Conference & Exhibition. Dallas. PARTNERSHIPS Nov. 13-17—Dubai Air Show.
Nov. 14-17—SAE International's Defense Maintenance Symposium and Exhibition. Fort Worth Convention Center. Call +1 (724) 776-4841 or see www.sae.org Nov. 15-16—American Astronautical Society National Conference: “Celebrating Achievements, Celebrating the Future.” Gilruth Center at NASA Johnson Space Center, Houston. See www.astronautical.org Nov. 23-24—BCI Aerospace's European Defense Meetings. Palais de Congres, Bordeaux, France. See en.edm-bordeaux.com/391-homepage.html
To hear executives at most large systems integrators describe the relationships of their companies to their suppliers, prime contractors have all but mastered the art of building teams of far-flung, interdependent companies and getting them to work together seamlessly. Executives wax enthusiastic about open and frequent communications top to bottom, the visibility they provide into business and market forecasts, and the mutual trust and unselfish approach to collaboration that holds such virtual partnerships together.
Nov. 2-3—Engine MRO Forum. Istanbul. Nov. 8-10—MRO Asia. Beijing. Nov. 16-17—Lean Six Sigma for MRO Europe. Amsterdam. Nov. 30-Dec. 1—Aerospace & Defense Finance Conference. New York. Feb. 1-2—MRO Middle East 2012. Dubai, United Arab Emirates. March 7—54th Annual Laureate Awards. Washington. March 13-14—Innovation Supply Chain Showcase. Orlando, Fla. April 3-5—MRO Americas 2012. Dallas. April 3-5—MRO Military Conference & Exhibition. Dallas.
American aerospace and defense has many heroes, but most of them are not famous. While astronauts and fighter pilots grab the headlines, some of our greatest achievements have come in laboratories, conference rooms and computer centers. Take Bob MacCormack—a 20-year-old mathematician who answered President Kennedy's call and spent the 1960s at NASA's Ames Research Center. Bob studied the lunar surface, but supercomputer time was so scarce he could not finish processing the data before the Moon launch needed it.
Few topics ignite our passion more than technology—its potential as a game-changer, its ability to capture the imagination, its champions, the ingenuity that goes into innovative products, and of course, the shape of things to come.
