LONDON — Eurofighter consortium partner Alenia Aermacchi has started flight tests to support the integration of the Storm Shadow cruise missile on the Typhoon combat aircraft. The company began flight testing the 1,230-kg (2,710-lb.) missile on Nov. 27 from the company’s flight test center at Decimomannu air base in Sardinia, in conjunction with partner companies BAE Systems and Cassidian.
About $13.5 billion will be spent through 2022 on the research, development, and production of land- and sea-based electro-optical (EO) systems, Forecast International predicts. Of the major EO systems covered in Forecast’s report, 296,036 units will be produced over the next 10 years. During the first half of the forecast period, from 2013 through 2017, 156,561 units will be produced, with 139,475 units expected to be produced between 2018-2022.
The first Littoral Combat Ship (LCS-1), the USS Freedom, recently arrived in Guam as it starts to wrap up its Western Pacific deployment with a transit across the Pacific Ocean that U.S. Navy officials hope will be free of power losses and other recent operational problems on the ship. Freedom arrived in Guam, the farthest western U.S. territory, as part of its return transit across the Pacific Ocean, on Nov. 29. The ship will receive fuel and supplies for the next underway period
Turbomeca and China’s Avic Engine have completed the first test bench runs of the new Ardiden 3C turboshaft that is destined for use on the Chinese version of the Eurocopter EC175. The tests, completed at Turbomeca’s Bordes facility in France, confirmed what the company called “good aeromechanical behavior and performance,” and allow the manufacturer to proceed to the test and certification phase of the engine’s development program.
New strategic accords between the U.S. and South Korea, focusing on plans to destroy North Korean nuclear missiles on the ground before they can be fired, may have influenced South Korea's decision to abandon the F-15 for the F-35.
The historic move to transfer key export-controlled aerospace categories for aircraft and gas turbine engines from the U.S. Munitions List to the Commerce Control List in reality has “created many new problems and challenges for exporters and their counsel,” say partners in the law firm Barnes and Thornburg. Since the reforms took effect Oct.
Airline and travel association representatives are mounting a furious offensive to fight potential passenger tax increases from being part of any budget deal on Capitol Hill. The second so-called super committee of lawmakers established to end the October government shutdown and debt-ceiling fight reportedly has been considering doubling the Transportation Security Administration passenger security tax, paid every time flyers step aboard, from $2.50 to $5.
A4A and ALPA can point to small progress elsewhere recently, with the introduction of a bill in the House of Representatives that would block Customs and Border Protection's planned preclearance facility at Abu Dhabi International Airport in the United Arab Emirates. The bill, pushed by Reps. Pat Meehan (R-Penn.) and Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.), would direct homeland security officials to assess the impact future preclearance facilities have on U.S. passengers, the economy and security and customs staffing at U.S.
True to her word, Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer (Calif.) has reintroduced a bill that would require uniform fatigue standards for pilots. Reps. Michael Grimm (R-N.Y.) and Timothy Bishop (D-N.Y.) have already introduced companion legislation, the Safe Skies Act, on the House side (AW&ST Jan. 21, p. 21). “Her unwavering commitment will end the cargo carve-out and bring Part 117 back in line with Congress's original intent, one level of safety for U.S. aviation,” touts Independent Pilots Association (IPA) President Robert Travis, whose group represents some UPS pilots.
