It would be hard to find an aerospace and defense (A&D) thought leader more respected than Norm Augustine. During the past half century, he has worked as a research engineer, a senior Pentagon official, a CEO who was instrumental in the industry’s great consolidation during the 1990s, a faculty member at Princeton University and chairman of a national Academies’ study on U.S. competitiveness. He holds 23 honorary degrees, and his shrewd business judgments and common sense have been studied by managers in many industries.
With the price of Singapore kerosene down to an average of $55.08 per barrel from February to April, All Nippon Airways says it has applied to Japan’s government for permission to cancel fuel surcharges on international routes. They varied from $2 on flights to Korea to $34 on trips to Europe, North America and the Middle East.
Wichita, Kan. Mayor Carl Brewer has renewed his invitation to President Barack Obama to visit his mother’s home town. Brewer wants the president, who has lambasted the use of business jets by corporate executives, to see the toll the downturn in the business and general aviation industries has taken on the Kansas city. “We have lost over 9,000 jobs in Wichita because of the economic downturn, and the string of negative press about general aviation and [resulting] fallout could cost this city 25,000 jobs,” Brewer says.
The business aviation community has taken some lumps lately. Economically, the sector is dealing with a severe downturn. The entire world is grappling with a recession. However, unlike most industries, business aviation has found itself with a perception problem on top of its economic woes.
Senate Judiciary Committee staffers want to know why ESTA, the U.S. electronic system for travel authorization that was rolled out last year to great fanfare by the Homeland Security Dept. (DHS), isn’t working better. The system allows citizens of countries in the U.S. Visa Waiver Program to be pre-screened for travel to the U.S. through a secure web site when they buy their tickets. Airlines also were supposed to be able to undertake pre-screening at check-in, but few carriers have the required bandwidth at their counters to access the system.
EADS Defense & Security says two radar technology initiatives aimed at developing an active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar for use on Eurofighter, Rafale and other advanced combat programs have been successfully concluded. The Airborne Multirole Solid-state Active-array Radar (Amsar), funded by Germany, France and the U.K. and run by EADS, Selex Galileo and Thales, was aimed at de-risking basic AESA technologies.
Views from two prominent charter operators—one large and one midsize—suggest the industry is digging in for tough times, although sustained demand from a few segments may blunt some of the sting.
First vertical landing by the F-35B Joint Strike Fighter is now expected in September. Aircraft BF-1 is to begin short takeoff and vertical landing mode transitions in the flight “in the next few weeks,” says Lockheed Martin, then ferry to NAS Patuxent River, Md., to continuing “building down” to lower airspeed until it is in hover. The company says the delay in the first vertical landing will not have a “meaningful impact” on the program.
Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne is starting preliminary design of a fuel-cooled hypersonic ramjet/scramjet combustor for potential reusable applications, following better-than-predicted results from Mach 4 tests of a baseline engine. The tests, which were slated to be completed on May 8, have been conducted under the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s Facet (Falcon Combined-Cycle Engine Technology) program, and could pave the way for reusable, air-breathing Mach 6 vehicles that could take off and land from a conventional runway.
Aviation Partners is starting a retrofit program for blended winglets on Dassault’s Falcon 900 and 50 business aircraft, following FAA certification of the company’s winglets on the Falcon 2000. First installations on the 2000 are expected to start in the U.S. before the end of the month, says API, which adds it is in “the very early stages” of developing the retrofit for Falcon 900B/C, EX and EX EaSy versions. European EASA certification of the Falcon 2000 winglets is expected to be announced at the EBACE show this week in Geneva.
Space Exploration (SpaceX) hopes to reschedule a second launch attempt of the delayed Falcon 1 Flight 5 as early as next month, pending availability of the Reagan missile test range in mid-Pacific and clearance of a suitable launch window. Falcon 1 product manager Brian Bjelde says that following the Apr.
Jacobs Technology will take over from Lockheed Martin as support and facilities operations contractor at NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans, marking a major change as the space agency moves toward the post-shuttle era. Lockheed Martin had held the support contract along with the prime contract to build the space shuttle external tanks in the government-owned facility, but with the shuttle program coming to an end NASA won’t be buying more of the big aluminum-lithium tanks.
The complex process of obtaining a security clearance to access flight training in the U.S. often serves only as a “stay-home” incentive for foreign pilots—resulting in the loss of opportunities for both candidate and trainer. But the good news is that flight schools continue to seek ways to simplify this procedure.
May 18-21—Society for the Advancement of Material and Process Engineering’s ’09 Baltimore Convention Center. Call +1 (626) 331-0616, fax +1 (626) 332-8929 or see www.sampe.org May 20—Washington Branch of the Royal Aeronautical Society Presentation: USMC Gen. (ret.) Jack Dailey, director of the National Air and Space Museum. British Embassy, Washington. Call +1 (703) 693-1564 or e-mail: [email protected]
EADS’s Defense & Security Div. and India’s Larsen & Toubro have created a defense electronics joint venture that will include design, development and production of electronic warfare equipment, radar, military avionics and other activities. EADS has gradually been expanding its presence in India as part of efforts to sell the Eurofighter Typhoon in that country.
XCOR Aerospace is refining the aerodynamic design of its Lynx suborbital launch vehicle and preparing for another round of wind tunnel tests following completion of initial subsonic testing at the U.S. Air Force’s Air Vehicle Directorate’s vertical wind tunnel at Wright Patterson AFB, Ohio. The 1/16th-scale Lynx model, daubed in a viscous orange oil for flow visualization, was suspended for the first tests in the 12 X 15-ft. section for extreme angle-of-attack, dynamic motion, and spin characteristics as well as overall configuration checks.
Airbus is giving itself until early next year to set A380 production targets for 2010, after airline deferrals have already forced the aircraft maker to curtail output for this year and acknowledge that a slowdown next year is coming.
NASA supervised a May 5 Delta II liftoff from Vandenberg AFB, Calif., carrying a prototype sensor technology payload for the U.S. Missile Defense Agency into a low-Earth polar orbit. The $400-million Space Tracking and Surveillance System Advanced Technology Risk Reduction (SSTS-ATRR) mission was originally known as the Block 2010 Space Risk Reduction. The goal is to demonstrate sensor technology to track ballistic missiles.
Piper Aircraft’s acquisition early this month by the Imprimis Fund is good news for the PiperJet project since the Singapore-based investment group said it fully supports the aircraft’s development. First announced at the National Business Aviation Assn. (NBAA) convention in 2006, the $2.2-million aircraft has won 204 orders, including one sale inked just before the Imprimis takeover of the shares held by the American Fund. A prototype first flew last summer and is now undergoing high-altitude testing.
Boeing is embarking upon a new rapid prototyping initiative for its defense business beginning with flight trials of its Phantom Ray—a version of the defunct X-45 effort. The company is using its own internal research and development funding for flight tests of the unmanned air system demonstrator, slated for late 2010 at White Sands Missile Range, N. M., says Darryl Davis, vice president of the company’s Phantom Works division. “Boeing is in the unmanned combat air system business . . . and in a big way,” Davis says.
The British Royal Air Force is maintaining its preference for the RC-135 Rivet Joint as a successor to the Nimrod R1, despite growing political and industrial pressure pushing the use of Nimrod MRA4 airframes for the role. BAE Systems is believed to be looking at a proposal using the three MRA4 development aircraft as the basis of an R1 replacement. A decision is expected later in the year.
The Russian government has approved integration of 11 further aerospace radar and avionics research and manufacturing companies under the umbrella of the Vega concern, with the goal of creating a single entity responsible for development and manufacturing equipment for land, aerial and space surveillance, reconnaissance, command and control systems. The businesses should be integrated into Vega by the end of September 2010.
Boeing’s renewed focus on prototyping at its Phantom Works is aimed squarely at preparing the company for future unmanned aerial system (UAS) competitions.
Swedish Space Corp. has bought its partner in the PrioraNet satellite tracking service, and will operate as a worldwide commercial service based in Kiruna, Sweden. The move came after SSC received approval from the U.S. to buy Universal Space Network, which will continue to operate as a U.S. corporation. In addition to Earth stations in the Swedish arctic, Alaska and Hawaii, PrioraNet also owns the Centro de Estudios Espaciales in Santiago, Chile, and has collaborative agreements with stations in Europe, India, Australia, New Zealand, Africa and Antarctica.
To help airlines reduce capacity and adjust quickly to drop in demand, the European Parliament is easing rules on slots for the current summer season. The parliamentary vote lifts the so-called 80/20 rule on slots, which requires carriers to use their slots at least 80% of the time or risk losing them. Several airline officials say more is needed. The slot waiver should be extended to cover the winter months, soon, so airlines can properly plan for that period, several airline lobbyists said.
