Airport capacity is a challenge for Indian aviation that may never go away. With 1.1 billion people and an economy firmly on the road to development, it is clear that in coming decades India will need one of the world’s mightiest systems of aviation ground facilities. The problem is finding land.
The U.S. Army has selected Northrop Gumman to build an unmanned surveillance airship to be deployed to Afghanistan, say sources familiar with the program. The Long Endurance Multi-intelligence Vehicle (LEMV) is a hybrid airship capable of staying aloft for at least 21 days above 20,000 ft., providing 16 kw. of power to a 2,500-lb. payload of electro-optical/infrared, radar and signals-intelligence sensors. Northrop Grumman has teamed with U.K.
Frank Morring, Jr. (Bengaluru), Neelam Mathews (Bengaluru)
India’s recent failure to orbit a satellite with an indigenous cryogenic upper-stage engine—after a decade of trying—will slow the country’s ambitious space program, but it is not likely to stop it. Plans to send astronauts to orbit on an Indian launch vehicle depend on making the engine work, and India’s space program has a long history of overcoming setbacks on its own. As it does, it is becoming a respected member of the international spacefaring club in its own right.
The aerospace industry is changing in complex ways. Supplier networks are becoming more global; new entrants are starting to challenge the most established players; and manufacturers of civil aircraft and weapons systems are seeing emerging markets as their greatest business opportunities.
Satellite operators are counting on the upcoming World Cup soccer tournament to help jump-start what many view as their next holy grail—three-dimensional television broadcasting, or 3DTV. Sports have long been the vehicle of choice for building interest in new broadcasting technology—the 2002 and 2006 World Cups were instrumental in igniting interest in high-definition TV—and media companies have been maneuvering for the past year to get sports broadcasters to try out 3DTV.
With the stage-managed resignation of Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama, Japan’s Democratic Party (DPJ) has maneuvered itself into—and, perhaps out of—a defense funding and planning quandary. Hatoyama is the latest in a series of prime ministers to step down after less than a year in office. “Someone had to lose face,” says a veteran U.S. analyst of Japan’s defense programs. “The prime minister had to go against the popular [desire to get the Marines out of Okinawa]. He went with the U.S., [which reversed a DPJ campaign promise] and now he has to resign.”
Look for a heated response from international airlines to Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood’s bid to overhaul passenger rights, which for the first time targets foreign carriers as well as domestic. The most likely opportunity is during the International Air Transport Association’s annual meeting this week in Berlin. IATA’s feisty Director General Giovanni Bisignani can be expected to address LaHood’s attempt to expand the new tarmac delay rule beyond domestic operations.
United Airlines and Nav Canada were scheduled to collaborate on two transatlantic demonstration flights on June 5, employing new navigation procedures to reduce fuel burn and emissions. The flights—between Chicago and Frankfurt—will benefit from flexible routing procedures, and will be able to gradually ascend without controller clearance. This will enable them to fly at more-efficient altitudes as their fuel burns off.
The Russian air force is unveiling ambitious modernization plans for its transport fleet over the coming decade, including the introduction of the Antonov An-70 into its inventory. Delivery of the new equipment, however, remains an issue. Lt. Gen. Viktor Kachalkin, head of the air force’s military transport aviation command, says the new airlifters are slated to begin arriving in 2012. The intent is to complete the fleet renewal by 2020.
Regarding “Sculpting Nose-Gear Design” (AW&ST May 10, p. 12), I’m glad to see that WheelTug is trying to get the powered-wheels-on-aircraft design certified. I am amazed at the seeming lack of interest by original equipment manufacturers (OEM) on this issue. Articles about OEMs striving to gain a fraction of a percent increase in fuel economy abound, yet this seemingly obvious approach appears to be overlooked.
President Barack Obama in his April address on Space Exploration in the 21st century, said regarding the Moon, “But I just have to say pretty bluntly here: We’ve been there before. Buzz [Aldrin] has been there. There’s a lot more of space to explore, and a lot more to learn when we do.” Russell Schweichart, Lunar Module pilot on Apollo 9, repeated the “been there, done that” refrain in his recent public letter to Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.).
NASA should take a lesson from Intel: The “tick-tock model,” which requires that on the Tick (first year of a cycle), a new process technology is implemented with an established microarchitecture. On the Tock (second year of cycle), a new microarchitecture is implemented using the now-established process technology. With a well-defined road map, this model simultaneously allows stability and innovation.
Space shuttle workers laid off as the NASA program grinds to a close will get some immediate federal help in finding new jobs under an Obama administration initiative announced last week. Labor Secretary Hilda Solis says her department will provide a $15-million National Emergency Grant—half of it immediately—for displaced shuttle workers in Brevard County, Fla., home of the Kennedy Space Center. The funds will help about 3,200 workers employed under shuttle contracts held by Boeing, United Launch Alliance and other companies.
The official 41-page transcript from the cockpit voice recorder in the Polish air force Tu-154M that crashed April 10 killing the country’s president and 95 others on approach to Smolensk, Russia, indicate that the pilot notified the air force chief, Gen. Andrzej Blasik, who was in the cockpit during the final part of the flight, that he would attempt to land but would likely have to divert to Minsk or Vitebsk because of adverse weather conditions.
Amid restructuring and soaring cost projections, the Joint Strike Fighter is ticking off milestones that were expected months ago, but the gathering test pace must be maintained if the program is to stay on its new track and avoid further delays and cost growth. In two key milestones, the first Lockheed Martin F-35 mission-system test aircraft, BF-4, has returned to flight after modification, and the 737-based Cooperative Avionics Test Bed (CATBird) has begun flying with the latest Block 1 software for the mission system.
Lockheed Martin Corp. is moving to “reshape” its portfolio of businesses as it braces for leaner U.S. defense spending, stronger conflict-of-interest regulations and a move by the federal government to take back thousands of jobs that had been outsourced to contractors. The 136,000-employee defense giant says it will divest most of its Enterprise Integration Group (EIG) and Pacific Architects and Engineers, two businesses that account for about 3% of annual sales. Jefferies & Co. analyst Howard A. Rubel estimates the two units will net about $900 million.
Delays on major aerospace and defense programs are putting enormous financial strain on Germany’s top-tier suppliers at a time when they are having to ramp up to prepare for new big-ticket projects, most notably the Airbus A350 twin-widebody.
Flight testing of micro air vehicles (MAV) in a controlled urban environment is underway in the U.S. Air Force Laboratory’s new indoor flight facility at Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio. The Air Force is interested in unmanned aircraft with wing spans of less than 2 ft. that can descend below rooftop level and operate in cluttered urban canyons. This requires flight testing in urban terrain, in a controlled environment, says Dr. Gregory Parker, MAV team lead.
Douglas Barrie (Madrid and Seville, Spain), Andy Nativi (Madrid and Seville, Spain)
While industry and partner-nation efforts to nail down a revised contract for the Airbus Military A400M trundle on, flight trials of the prototypes are gathering pace. Airbus Military Chief Executive Domingo Urena-Raso suggests the “target” is now to conclude the final contract “before the end of the summer.”
German politics are being shaken by mounting casualties in operations in Afghanistan, while military planners are trying to balance current equipment demands with development of long-term capabilities.
The Lockheed Martin F-35 is hardly out of the woods with the Pentagon’s recent recertification of the program, as lawmakers prepare to square off over whether restrictions should be imposed for Fiscal 2011.
The U.S. Air Force has once again slipped the award date for the 250-lb. Small Diameter Bomb II, this time to August. Service officials offer little detail on why. They say it was necessary to gain approval for entry into development from Pentagon acquisition chief Ashton Carter. Raytheon and a Boeing/Lockheed Martin team are vying to develop the small, precision-guided weapon, which must be able to attack targets that are on the move through weather.
In 1997, more than 80 years of aerospace production seemed certain to end here, where airplanes have been built since 1913, but the fate of PFW Aerospace shows there is a future for smaller companies outside of large corporations such as EADS or its primary subsidiary, Airbus.
Orbital Sciences Corp. has been tapped to build Azerbaijan’s first satellite, demonstrating again the niche value of its small Star-2 geostationary satellite bus. Dubbed Azerspace/Africasat-1A, the spacecraft will carry 36 active transponders in the Ka- and C-bands to provide telecommunications to Azerbaijan, Central Asia, Europe and Africa. Dulles, Va.-based Orbital will provide the spacecraft and ground systems for a satellite control center in Baku, the Azeri capital. The spacecraft will be positioned at 46 deg. E. Long.
