Aviation Communication and Surveillance Systems (ACSS) is introducing software upgrades to address what Eurocontrol safety specialists say are serious issues in traffic-alert and collision avoidance (TCAS) system logic. The software, which has not yet been mandated, will enable operators with the company’s TCAS 2000 and TCAS II systems to upgrade to Change 7.1 capability.
Daewoo began design studies of the KTX-1 turboprop trainer in 1988, and the first prototype flew in 1991. The first two prototypes were powered by the 550-shp. Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A-25A turboprop. However, subsequent aircraft are fitted with 950-shp. PT6A-62 turboprops. Approximately 122 units were produced through 2008. Fifty-five aircraft are expected to be built through 2018. The aircraft is known as the KT-1 Woong-Bee (Great Flight). In 1999, the aerospace businesses of Daewoo, Hyundai and Samsung were consolidated into Korea Aerospace Industries.
The Obama administration’s earth-shattering defense budget requests for Fiscal 2010 and beyond have begun to rearrange the international military landscape in a way unmatched by any other singular effort since the start of the Cold War. In one fell swoop, high-profile U.S. programs such as Lockheed Martin’s F-22 Raptor and VH-71 presidential helicopter replacement, Boeing’s HH-47 new combat search-and-rescue helo for the Air Force, the planned Next-Generation Bomber and dozens of other existing or expected aircraft programs were truncated or canceled outright.
This twin-engine, subsonic advanced trainer and light attack aircraft is powered by the AI-222-25 turbofan or Soyuz RD-2500 turbofan engine, although prototypes have been equipped with Klimov RD-35s The first flight of a Yak-130 prototype took place in 1996. Approximately 10 Yak-130s were built through 2008. About 156 aircraft are forecast to be produced in 2009-18.
Gulfstream Aerospace and Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) rolled out the new super-midsize Gulfstream G250 Oct. 6 at Ben Gurion International Airport outside Tel Aviv. Like its G650 big brother did a week earlier in Savannah, Ga., the G250 came up to the hangar to a cheering audience, under its own power—two Honeywell HTF7250G turbofan engines.
U.S. Army aviation leadership has been strategically redistributing the $14.6 billion in Comanche funding among its various modernization programs since the helicopter was canceled in 2004. But the well is due to dry up soon, and the service is formulating a strategy to protect its resources.
Boeing, with Northrop Grumman as a major subcontractor, produces the F/A-18. The F/A-18A/B/C/D models are powered by two GE F404-GE-400/402 turbofans (approximately 16,000-17,600 lb. thrust each), while the new F/A-18E/F has two GE F414-GE-400 turbofans (about 22,000 lb. thrust each). The first flight of an F/A-18 prototype occurred in 1978. The current model is the E/F, which features a larger fuselage, more powerful engines and additional hardpoints compared to the earlier models. An EA-18G variant is to replace the EA-6B Prowler in U.S. service.
The AMX is a counter-air and close air support aircraft powered by a single 11,030-lb.-thrust Rolls-Royce Spey Mk 807 non-afterburning turbofan. Alenia and Aermacchi (then independent companies) initially pursued separate designs for Italy’s required attack/support aircraft, but began to collaborate in 1978. Embraer joined the team in 1980. The resulting single-seat aircraft made its maiden flight in 1984, with two-seat trainer variant AMX-T following in 1990. Approximately 205 AMXs have been built.
Northrop Grumman will begin acceptance tests on the first Euro Hawk variant of the RQ-4 Global Hawk unmanned air vehicle following its rollout at Palmdale, Calif., on Oct 8.
NASA has named 152 proposals for Phase 2 contract awards in its Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR)program. SBIR addresses specific technology gaps in six general areas: advanced aerospace adhesives to minimize aging and increase durability; computational tools for hypersonic spacecraft; new approaches to fire suppression systems on spacecraft; very small-scale testing devices to monitoring crew health; advanced transmitters; and instruments for small lunar rovers or landers that are investigating minerals in regolith, rock, ice and dust samples.
Ask any Joe on the ground in a combat zone what he or she needs, and you will inevitably hear a list of everything from clean socks to more troops to round-the-clock aerial surveillance. The most obvious and most publicized need in Afghanistan is for armored trucks that can both protect troops from the increasingly powerful and numerous roadside bombs and be agile enough to navigate the country’s pre-modern roadways and traversable wadis.
The C-130 is a four-engine, turboprop-powered military transport. A number of variants have been produced, including the AC-130 gunship and the KC-130 tanker. First flight of the C-130 occurred in 1954. The current production model is the C-130J, which made its initial flight in 1996. The C-130J incorporates four 4,591-shp. Rolls-Royce AE 2100D3 engines, new avionics and other improvements. Approximately 2,324 C-130s were produced through 2008, and an additional 270 C-130Js are forecast to be built during 2009-18. Competition includes the Airbus A400M.
Light single-turbine helicopter primarily used in the military arena for flight training. Power is supplied by a Turbomeca Arrius 2F turboshaft engine rated at 504 shp. Through 2008, about 604 EC120s were produced. Another 62 are expected to be built for the military market in 2009-18.
Its founder gone and confronting severe losses, NetJets has made across-the-board cuts to its U.S. operations, eliminating 400 positions from what had been its nearly 8,000-person workforce worldwide.
The V-22 tiltrotor aircraft is a high-wing monoplane design. Its engines are located in wingtip-mounted nacelles that rotate from full vertical for heliborne operation to full horizontal for forward, wingborne flight. The engines are a pair of Rolls-Royce AE 1107C turboshafts rated at 6,150 shp. each. V-22s are in production for the U.S. Marine Corps and Air Force. Some 104 were built through 2008; approximately 311 are expected to be produced in 2009-18.
Regarding your extensive coverage of pilot fatigue, both FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt and Capt. John Prater, president of the Air Line Pilots Assn., failed to mention commuting pilots as a critical component of this issue.
The first C-5 Galaxy is on the production line for the Reliability Enhancement and Re-Engining Program (RERP) at Lockheed Martin’s Marietta, Ga., facility. The largest aircraft in the U.S. inventory, the tall T-tail of the outsized cargo carrier is shown from a scaffolding bridging the aircraft’s center wing box area. The fin behind the rail-shaped antenna is for VHF connectivity.
The AW139, a twin-engine, 15-passenger civil/commercial helicopter, is powered by two Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6C-67C turboshaft engines rated at 1,679 shp. each at takeoff. The AW139 was named the AB139 when it was a joint venture between AgustaWestland and Bell. Bell has since withdrawn from the program. The AW149 is a slightly larger military variant powered by two 2,000-shp.-class engines. Armament capabilities of the AW149 are as follows: 70-mm. and 81-mm. rocket launchers; 7.62-, 12.7- and 20-mm.
Boeing delivered 113 aircraft in the third quarter, keeping itself on track to meet a goal of 480-485 for the year. The third-quarter rates were off slightly from the 125 delivered in the second quarter, but a Boeing official says the difference is a standard quarterly fluctuation. The biggest drop was in the 737 line, Boeing’s most active, which recorded 90 deliveries compared to 99 in the second quarter. Third-quarter deliveries included 19 777s, in contrast to 23 in the second quarter and 21 in the first.
APT Satellite Co. of Hong Kong has ordered an 11.4-kw. 56-transponder Ku-/C-band spacecraft—Apstar VII—from Thales Alenia Space, for launch in the first quarter of 2012. It will replace Apstar 2R at 76.5 deg. E. Long. Like four previous Chinese satellites built by Thales Alenia, including Apstar VI, Apstar VII will be based on the manufacturer’s non-U.S. Spacebus 4000 C2 platform. And as with these satellites, there is a good chance it will be launched by a Chinese Long March.
Bill Mostowy has been named director of the operations control center for SkyWest Airlines . He succeeds Michael Mumford, who has retired. Mostowy was senior shift supervisor for flight control.
The MB-339 was developed as a follow-on to Aermacchi’s MB-326. The first prototype flew in 1976. Propulsion is provided by a Rolls-Royce Viper Mk 632-43 engine (4,000 lb. thrust) or a Viper Mk 680 (4,400 lb. thrust). More than 220 aircraft for flight training and light air combat have been produced. The MB‑339CD variant is a lead-in trainer for Tornado and Eurofighter Typhoon pilots in the Italian air force.
Airports Council International reports that global traffic increased 0.1% in August compared with the same month last year, primarily because of stronger domestic traffic that was up 2.5% with the Asia-Pacific, Latin American and Caribbean regions showing the largest improvement.
Apache The current production model of this twin-engine, tandem-seat attack helicopter is the AH-64D, available both as a new-build aircraft and as a remanufactured helicopter (from existing AH-64As). The AH-64D is generally fitted with GE T700-GE-701C engines, though some rebuilt AH‑64Ds in the U.S. Army inventory retain the earlier -701 engines. The British WAH-64D is powered by a pair of Rolls-Royce Turbomeca RTM322 turboshafts rated at 2,100 shp. each. The AH-64 was developed to meet a U.S. Army requirement for an Advanced Attack Helicopter (AAH).
Currently in the definition stage, the Mako is envisioned as a family of single- and two-seat, supersonic advanced trainer and light combat aircraft. There has been little movement by EADS regarding future development. The planned engine is a 16,860-lb. thrust GE F414MT turbofan. The Mako program began in 1989 (as the AT-2000 program) as a collaboration between Dornier (since merged into EADS) and Aermacchi, which left the program in 1994. Several companies have signed memoranda of understanding regarding potential participation in the Mako effort.
