In the world of aerospace and defense, the term “aftermarket” often is an afterthought. Replacing seat belts, repairing an old turbine blade or running painstaking systems checks just don't hold the “wow” factor of composite airframes, next-generation engines or the latest unmanned aircraft. Yet MRO—maintenance, repair and overhaul—is a big business. The consultancy ICF SH&E values the civil market at $50 billion a year globally and sees that growing to nearly $65 billion by 2020. Spending to sustain military aircraft probably adds another $85 billion a year.
Philip Hammond has taken over as Britain's defense secretary after Liam Fox was forced to resign over controversy surrounding high-level access he provided to a personal friend. Hammond was transport secretary, a role that has now gone to Justine Greening.
U.S. Missile Defense Agency officials are blaming the failure of a Ground-Based Interceptor (GBI) to destroy its target during a Dec. 15, 2010 test on a guidance system problem that could only occur in “outer space-related dynamic environments,” and they have cleared the system of quality control problems. A fix is slated for testing during a non-intercept flight late next spring. The last successful GBI intercept test was in December 2008.
Controllers are maneuvering the high-throughput ViaSat-1 Ka-band satellite toward its operational location at 115.1 deg. W. Long., following its launch to geostationary transfer orbit Oct. 19 (see photo) on an International Launch Services Proton rocket with a Breeze M upper stage. The Space Systems/Loral spacecraft weighed more than 6.7 metric tons (14,800 lb.) at liftoff from Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan. The satellite separated 9 hr., 12 min. later.
A new forecasting model is allowing the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to improve its predictions of solar events—geomagnetic and solar radiation storms that send streams of charged particles from the Sun's upper atmosphere—that may interfere with signals from global positioning satellites and interrupt satellite communications, the agency reports. The new model, WSA-Enlil, combines two advanced forecasting models to simulate physical conditions and phenomena extending from the base of the Sun's corona out into interplanetary space.
Airbus has now booked more than 1,000 firm orders for the A320NEO since program launch in December. The 1,000-mark was hit when TAM's order for 22 NEOs and 10 regular A320s, first announced in February, became firm. Airbus has announced commitments for 200 more NEOs, although they have yet to hit the order book. TAM has not announced an engine selection.
UBS Investment Research has updated its outlook for Boeing's 787 program and predicts the company “will have to learn much faster on 787 than it did on 777 to hits target for break-even 787 cash flow by 2014.” Although Boeing CEO Jim McNerney expects the 787 to break even on a recurring basis before 2020, UBS indicates the point at which the program will move into clear profit may not occur until around 2021, or after 1,000 deliveries.
ICBC Leasing has become the largest customer for the Comac C919, signing for 45 of the aircraft. The deal brings the firm order book to 85 aircraft for the Chinese narrowbody that is due to be fielded in 2016. ICBC, an arm of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, is the third leasing customer for the C919.
Air New Zealand plans to boost the size of its regional fleet with an order for seven ATR 72-600s. The first two of the 68-seaters are scheduled to be delivered in October and December of next year, with another two in 2013 and one each in the following three years. The carrier will also secure options for another five aircraft. With this order—which has yet to be signed—ANZ will become the largest ATR operator in the Pacific region. The airline already has 11 ATR 72-500s as well as 23 Bombardier Q300s and 18 Beechcraft 1900Ds.
Actor and private pilot Harrison Ford joined the Senate General Aviation Caucus's quest to tread slowly when eliminating the use of leaded gasoline. Ford, who attended a caucus meeting last week in Washington, is among those who own planes that rely on leaded gasoline for takeoff. “The lead gasoline fuel issue is a huge issue,” says Sen. Mike Johanns (R-Neb.).
Heico has agreed to acquire Switchcraft, a 460-employee Chicago-based manufacturer of harsh-environment connectivity components for aviation, defense and other applications. Terms were not disclosed, but Credit Suisse estimates the purchase price exceeds $100 million.
A 737-800 for Norwegian Air Shuttle will be the first aircraft to emerge from Boeing's Renton, Wash., factory at the company's new production rate of 35 per month.
As expected, Eclipse Aerospace made news at the recent NBAA Convention by announcing it planned to restart production of an upgraded Eclipse jet, now designated Eclipse 550 to signify its improvements over the 500. What made that announcement particularly notable was the 900-lb. gorilla standing beside Eclipse Chairman/CEO Mason Holland. That's not an unseemly characterization of Jeff Pino, but rather an allusion to the size of the company he heads: Sikorsky Aircraft.
If history has taught the airline industry anything, it is that the greater the transformation a carrier attempts, the more pain it will have to endure to achieve it. Qantas Airways can certainly vouch for that. The carrier is engaged in a knock-down, drag-out fight with its largest unions over plans to restructure major aspects of its operation. Bitter labor feuds like these could become more common as other airlines around the globe consider the same kind of changes that Qantas is undertaking.
Tests of Boeing's CST-100 commercial crew vehicle in a supersonic wind tunnel at NASA Ames Research Center are focused on gathering data that will be needed to keep a four-person crew alive in a launch failure and getting them back to Earth safely. The high-definition 12-in.-dia. aluminum tunnel-test model includes pressure sensors and simulated thrusters to determine the aerodynamics of a launch abort.
Air Force Secretary Michael Donley is opening the door to the thorny subject of closing military bases in order to save money. Asking for another Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) round is politically akin to reaching for the third rail. The process is a political game of chess, with lawmakers fighting to keep jobs in their districts. “We have had some excess capacity the last few years after BRAC 2005,” Donley says. “The Air Force is going to get smaller and retire aircraft and capabilities.
U.S. Strategic Command's chief faces the conflicting demands of smaller budgets and a growing number of missions in space, cyberspace and preventing the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. “All three of the [nuclear] triad legs have to be sustained and that's going to be one of the budget challenges,” says Air Force Gen. C. Robert Kehler. “Sustaining the B-52 as a standoff platform is something we have to do. So that means communications and electronics upgrades.
Managers at Boeing's space exploration unit in Houston say they can deliver humans to the International Space Station at less cost than government systems because they aren't hobbled by NASA's decision-by-consensus approach. “We can still make the decision in the design and move ahead, instead of having to come to a consensus and go around and around for a while,” says John Elbon, the exploration chief at Boeing Defense, Space and Security and former program manager on the company's CST-100 commercial crew capsule (see p. 26).
When it comes to operating airliners with a biofuel blend, it is becoming difficult to find a name-brand airline that has not conducted a demonstration flight. The problem is, it may all be for naught. Air France recently completed a trial, as have Lufthansa, KLM, Iberia and a raft of others. All tout the carbon dioxide savings these flights—or in some cases longer-running trials—are achieving.
Within sight of the Virginia coast, the USS Wasp amphibious assault ship has been circling since the beginning of the month in a 20 X 20-mi. box quietly—until now—making history as the host of the very first sea trials of the Lockheed Martin F-35B, which is designed for short-takeoff-and-vertical-landing (Stovl) operations for the U.S. Marine Corps.
When you have a mountain to climb, it makes sense to get an early start. With that in mind, South Korea is moving rapidly into the demonstrator phase for a stealthy combat drone that it does not expect to field until late in the next decade.
In theory, it may be a golden opportunity to develop a new helicopter, with an increasingly sophisticated Asian partner and a fat requirement for more than 200 aircraft to get the program going. In practice, there is probably not enough money to do more than update an existing aircraft.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) are changing their battlefield look as weaponry—some of it advanced—emerges in the Middle East, in part from looted Libyan arms migrating across Egypt and into the Gaza Strip through the Bedouin smuggling pipeline.
The fate of Lockheed Martin's Medium Extended Air Defense System (Meads) is far from clear in Washington, but the chances it will persist through its development phase are increasing in Europe. While advocates and others are battling on Capitol Hill, European partners Germany and Italy are pledging support not only to complete system development but also to proceed into the production phase in 2014.
South Korea will launch its first satellite with a synthetic aperture radar by year-end, with another observation spacecraft using an electro-optical sensor due to follow about six months later. Together they will bring the number of launches of locally built satellites to five, helping develop the country's nascent space technology. It has two domestically built satellites in orbit now.
