FARNBOROUGH — Airbus Military in the next few days expects to commence trials to land the A400M airlifter on unprepared runways, in the first significant step to validate some of the transport’s military performance. The first step is for the A400M, now christened the Grizzly, to land on a runway near Toulouse, France, with chalk pellets. Those are to show how stones would ricochet and impact the A400M’s fuselage, in advance of real landings in austere environments, says Fernando Alonso, head of flight testing for Airbus.
United Technologies Corp. (UTC) reported a strong second quarter, particularly at its Otis and Carrier divisions, both of which were buoyed by the recovering global housing market.
FARNBOROUGH — The European Space Agency (ESA) is preparing a new cost-cutting plan to prepare for possible future budget cutbacks by member nations that have been particularly hard hit by the economic crisis. The plan is one of a set of pre-emptive moves revealed last spring by ESA Director General Jean-Jacques Dordain to head off a possible cash crunch. Among them was a budget freeze for 2010 and 2011 to ensure spending does not surpass 2009 levels.
The House Science and Technology Committee marked up its $19 billion Fiscal 2011 NASA authorization draft July 22, setting the stage for a House-Senate conference to reconcile differences in their two versions of the bill. Building on work kicked off with the Senate Commerce Committee’s draft of a three-year NASA authorization bill, the Senate Appropriations Committee adopted its $19 billion NASA spending measure for Fiscal 2011 on July 21 (Aerospace DAILY, July 22).
PREMIUM CONTENT: Get reports filed by AVIATION WEEK’s Farnborough International Airshow coverage team, with links to company profiles and selected major programs, at AviationWeek.com/awin.
FARNBOROUGH — The new U.K. minister in charge of space, David Willets, says he will study the feasibility of providing Britain with an independent remote sensing capability.
NEW DELHI — India requires greater maritime awareness and a maritime policy for its navy that will allow it to work toward building the right force mix for protecting the country’s interests, according to the National Maritime Foundation (NMF) think tank. While the Indian navy released a vision document in 2006 focusing on a technology-enabled, networked force to safeguard maritime interests, experts say this will need to be backed by a national policy to give it teeth and direction.
DOCKING FAILURE: The Russians are continuing to investigate the cause of the failed automated Progress 38 docking to the International Space Station’s aft docking port on July 2 (Aerospace DAILY, July 6). The freighter made a successful automated docking two days later. The Progress aborted the first attempt, when cosmonauts activated TORU, the backup manual docking mechanism. The activation interrupted the capsule’s communications link to the station, prompting the Progress to abort the docking maneuver.
FARNBOROUGH — The U.S. Navy program manager for the H-60 helicopter, Capt. Dean Peters, says the potential exists to “take out the sonobuoy launcher” from the MH-60R, and launch fewer buoys using a different type of launch system. The goal is to reduce the amount of cabin space taken up by the sonobuoy launcher. “We’re evaluating other options to free up space and reduce cost,” Peters says. The Romeo’s Airborne Low Frequency Sonar (ALFS) worked so well during last year’s deployment that there “was not much need for the [sonobuoy] launcher.
FARNBOROUGH — Rockwell Collins has fused its technical support operation with its international organization to create a unified aftermarket services group, led by Greg Churchill, executive VP of Rockwell Collins International and Service Solutions (I&SS). The meshed operations should better enable Rockwell Collins to capitalize on air transport and defense aftermarket support opportunities in the global market, where most aviation growth will occur.
FARNBOROUGH and NEW DELHI — The planned visit next week to India of British Prime Minister David Cameron likely will coincide with the announcement of a deal for a further 57 BAE Systems Hawk advanced jet trainer aircraft. The state visit will see Cameron meet Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. The U.K.’s recently-elected Conservative-Liberal Democratic coalition government has already identified India as a nation with which it wants to build a strategic relationship.
BETTER ALIGNMENT: A new partnership between Andrews Space and Honeybee Robotics will have an integrated system prototype of control moment gyroscopes (CMGs) and control avionics available this summer for spacecraft weighing less than 100 kg. (220 lb.). The two companies announced July 19 they are teaming to provide three classes of CMGs. “We are also on track to have a working system sized for small- and micro-spacecraft up and running by January 2011,” says Jason Andrews, chief executive of his eponymous company.
The U.S. Senate Appropriations Commerce, Justice, Science subcommittee quickly approved its version of NASA’s Fiscal 2011 spending bill July 21, providing a $19 billion topline – the same level as the Obama administration’s request – in a key step that furthers a nascent compromise between Capitol Hill and the White House.
AMP ON: Congress seems unlikely to cut the USAF C-130 Avionics Modernization Program (AMP) despite the armed service’s lack of enthusiasm for the embattled effort, according to consultancy Forecast International. “The United States has already spent about $1.5 billion on development and there’s also international interest to consider,” notes Forecast’s Adam Feld.
FARNBOROUGH — Boeing has completed the final design review for the Indian navy’s 737-based maritime patrol P-8I, a variant of the U.S. Navy’s P-8A, and is preparing to begin fabrication of the first aircraft in the fourth quarter.
UP IN THE AIR: Various problems encountered in the past may hinder use of unmanned aircraft on the U.S. border with Mexico or Canada, according to a recent report by the Congressional Research Service. “There are concerns regarding the high accident rates of UAVs, which have historically been multiple times higher than that of manned aircraft. Inclement weather conditions can also impinge on a UAV’s surveillance capability,” the nonpartisan service says.
FARNBOROUGH — Sukhoi’s T-50 PAK-FA fighter will be delivered to the customer in 2015, Sukhoi Director General Mikhail Pogosyan said in an interview at the Farnborough International Airshow here on July 20, notwithstanding Western skeptics who compare that timescale to other fighter programs. “It’s a matter of the experience that we have, the level of preparation and the solution that we have chosen,” he said. “We did not wait for a new engine, but modernized an existing engine, and we have a lot of bench testing. Combined, that gives us a chance to succeed.
FARNBOROUGH — Saab is continuing along the road to fully defining — and will soon make an important supplier decision on — its next-generation (NG) fighter’s self-protection suite. The Gripen NG will have a fiber-optic towed decoy as a baseline subsystem to help defeat radar-guided missile threats. A towed decoy is only an option on the current model, but the supplier choice is pending for the subsystem on the NG, says Eddy de la Motte, a Gripen International program official.
FARNBOROUGH — Northrop Grumman’s decision to cast off its shipbuilding business is more about its lack of synergy with other units than its underperformance, CEO Wes Bush says. “We see shipbuilding as a good business,” Bush tells AVIATION WEEK editors. “There are a lot of folks who have said, ‘This means Northrop Grumman gave up on shipbuilding.’ And that is not where we are.” Northrop announced last week that it would look at options to sell or spin-out its shipbuilding unit, which accounted for 17% of the U.S. defense giant’s sales last year.
The European Union, in a planned July 21 filing, will spell out at least seven legal points in its appeal of the June 30 World Trade Organization ruling on the U.S. case on illegal subsidies to Airbus.
FARNBOROUGH — The Brazilian air force has made an initial purchase commitment to the Embraer KC-390 military airlifter, with the goal of fielding the aircraft starting in 2016. The Brazilian government had previously only agreed to fund the development of the KC-390 and build two prototypes. The service plans to replace its entire fleet of C-130s with KC-390s eventually, says Brazilian air force chief of staff Lt. Gen. Juniti Saito, without saying what the total inventory objective is.
