Governments and industry involved in the International Space Station are tempering their plans for human exploration to fit today's tough economic environment, including a look at recycling ISS components for use beyond low Earth orbit after 2020. ISS partner-agency chiefs who met here at the 62nd International Astronautical Congress (IAC) last week will take the first tentative steps toward joint exploration of the Solar System, based both on the ISS model for cooperation and perhaps on some station hardware as well.
Two main drivers in aerospace innovation are improved safety and lower fuel burn. Eurocopter is betting its work on a hybrid helicopter will deliver both. This “hybrid” approach couples turbine power with a secondary motor so it differs significantly from another hybrid prototype, the X3, where Eurocopter married a five-blade rotor with two propellers on short wings to provide high speed in competition with Sikorsky's X-2.
Since its creation two years go, Airbus Military has had one focus—fix the troubled A400M airlifter and KC-30 tanker/transport aircraft. But with light at the end of the tunnel for both, the EADS unit working on fixed-wing military aircraft is starting to look at how it will expand its product portfolio.
Five years of lost growth is bad news for any market. For Europe's business aviation sector, the areas reaching that level are actually the stronger performers, with other pockets still suffering from even weaker activity.
Deliveries of business jets should begin to rise again in 2012, ending a three-year slide that has decimated much of the industry. But any increase will be modest, and deliveries are unlikely to return to peak levels seen in 2008 until after 2017. That's the upshot of Honeywell's 2011 Business Aviation Outlook. Business jet manufacturers are expected to deliver just 600-650 aircraft this year, down from 732 in 2010, as the hangover from a dramatic decline in orders lingers. And next year's delivery total is projected to remain below 700.
When Brazil's flagship aerospace enterprise wins type certificates for its latest models of business jets, it will have fulfilled the goal it set for itself in 2000 with the announcement of its entry into that rarefied OEM club. At that time, the company declared that it would “become a major player in the business aviation market by 2015.” It made it to the majors early.
As Honda Aircraft begins its sixth year, it is advancing cautiously but relentlessly toward the 2012 scheduled certification of its $4.5 million HA-420 HondaJet.
If China needs it, China wants to make it. That rule applies to nuclear power plants, high-speed trains, aero engines, commercial aircraft and just about any other product. Now the rule applies to business jets, too. And as heavy Chinese demand for such aircraft becomes ever more likely, the country's fighter builder, Avic Aviation Techniques (AAT), is aiming at catapulting itself into the industry by building two bizjets with a foreign partner—one to a current design and one newly developed.
Hawker Beechcraft Corp. (HBC) is making another sizable investment in its super-midsize Hawker 4000 flagship with a block point upgrade (BPU) program that improves the functionality of the flight management and guidance systems, avionics displays and autothrottles. Originally slated for introduction in late 2009, the BPU will be incorporated in aircraft delivered later this year and offered to current Hawker 4000 operators at no cost.
Even though the small city-state of Singapore barely has any airspace, it is fast becoming a global player for primary and commercial pilot training. Government-linked Singapore Technologies Aerospace (ST Aero)—primarily a maintenance, repair and overhaul company working for defense and commercial customers—was tasked with spearheading the nation's push into commercial pilot training.
Oct. 16—Imperial War Museum Duxford (England) Autumn Air Show: Remembering the Korean War. See duxford.iwm.org.uk Oct. 17-20—Lockheed Martin Corp.'s 2011 Hercules Operators Conference. Renaissance Waverly Hotel, Atlanta. See www.lockheedmartinpackers.com Oct. 18-23—Seoul International Aerospace & Defense Exhibition. Seoul Airport. See www.seoulairshow.com
In just the latest example of National Guard proponents seeking to influence weapons programs and Pentagon planning, the National Guard Association is calling for the modernization of Northrop Grumman E-8C Joint Stars aircraft. The Air Force has yet to stake out a position in a long-running debate about whether to pour money into reengining the 17 aging J-Stars and upgrading their ground-surveillance radar or find some other solution—such as buying the Northrop Global Hawk UAVs or a Boeing 737-based design—for the intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance mission.
James Snitker (photo) has been appointed VP-corporate proposal operations for McLean, Va.-based Qinetiq North America. He was VP-proposal and production operations at NCI Information Systems.
I was bemused to read about the successful test for the five-segment ATK rocket motor, which is claimed to generate 30% more thrust than the four-segment version used on the space shuttle (AW&ST Sept. 12, p. 16). Adding an extra segment should on its own generate 25% more thrust, and of the remaining 5% actually due to performance improvement, 1% would be due to performance improvement in the extra segment. This leaves ATK responsible for a trivial 4% improvement over a design that dates back to the '70s.
In the race to influence the bipartisan congressional “super committee,” Lockheed Martin's political action committee is No. 1. The Sunlight Foundation says the PAC has been the biggest donor—providing $2,500 to Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.), Rep. Dave Camp (R-Mich.) and Rep. James Clyburn (D-S.C.). The PAC also donated $2,000 to campaign accounts of Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio). FedEx has been a big giver as well, spreading $9,000 among the campaigns for Sens. Max Baucus (D-Mont.) and Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) and Camp.
How does a maker of military aircraft systems, with roots in a command economy, transform itself into a profit-oriented business that can win the trust of the world's airlines? With a little help from its friends. Avic Electromechanical Systems, part of the Avic conglomerate, aims to become part of the global civil aviation supply chain. But it has a serious problem in corporate culture, partly because of its defense heritage.
Members of Congress arguing for more civil-space spending frequently raise the specter of a Chinese flag flying proudly on the Moon while the American flutters listlessly on Earth. But a Chinese official says, even though the Chang'e-1 and -2 lunar orbiter data is being studied carefully, Beijing has no plans to send humans to the Moon. Instead, China will focus on building and flying a 60-ton space station for the next 20 years.
In 2006, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) waged a 34-day war against the Iranian terrorist proxy organization Hezbollah in response to a well-planned incursion by a Hezbollah hit team from southern Lebanon into northern Israel to violently abduct two Israeli soldiers. Although the ensuing campaign featured the most elaborate air operation ever conducted by the Israel air force (IAF), it ended up being the country's most inconclusive combat performance—the first time that a major war ended for Israel without a clear-cut military victory.
Amid preparations for key demonstrations of commercial cargo and crew operations to low Earth orbit, Boeing has revealed studies of scaled-up, mini-space shuttle-like variants of the reusable X-37B orbital test vehicle (OTV) which could be used to return to a runway landing.
Pleased by early deliveries and performance of the aircraft in recent operations, the Indian air force (IAF) is actively considering acquiring more than the 12 Lockheed Martin C-130J Super Hercules tactical special mission aircraft already expected.
In Pierre Sparaco's recent commentary, he says “Deep down . . . Boeing . . . still sees Airbus . . . [as] a 'subsidized' challenger making good use of European taxpayers' deep pockets to buy market share.” I sense that this opinion is shared by most of the Aviation Week editors, as well as by Boeing and the majority of U.S. citizens, not only when it comes to Airbus, but also on the rest of the world. Perhaps we could have some less patriotic, more objective reporting in the future.
John Eichten has joined Georgetown, Del.-based PATS Aircraft Systems as VP-sales and marketing, succeeding Matt Hill, who becomes VP-business development. Patrick Mouley has been selected as managing director for commercial business at Bell Helicopter Textron of Fort Worth. He was VP-marketing and sales at Eurocopter. Honors and Elections
