Eurocopter has increased its stake in Japan’s Euroheli to 90% by acquiring the bulk of Itochu Corp.’s holdings; the latter retains 10%. Euroheli staff and activities were folded into Eurocopter Japan at the start of the month. Eurocopter says it has a 57% market share in the civil and parapublic sectors in Japan with 360 in-service rotorcraft. The military operates three EC225 VIPs with EC135 training helicopters to be added. Eurocopter also is trying to convince Japan to buy the NH90.
Turkey’s ESAS holding company and TUIfly have become big investors in Air Berlin as it struggles to regain financial footing by reducing debt and focusing on cost control and profitability after suffering a €75-million ($100 million) loss last year. Air Berlin says it and TUIfly will form a strategic partnership for European and domestic flights, starting Oct. 1.
Michael Mecham (East Hartford, Conn.), Robert Wall (Geneva)
Demonstration flights are revealing that biofuels have a higher energy content than conventional Jet-A kerosene and offer the promise that future jet engines could be more fuel efficient and less polluting than the “next generation” engines currently under development. With that promise, commercial and military aviation could become the industrial world’s leader in shifting to non-petroleum-based fuels to reduce dependence on foreign suppliers and address persistent environmental issues, particularly the role carbon dioxide (CO2) plays in global warming.
Outgoing Pentagon acquisitions chief John Young has fired a parting shot at the Government Accountability Office (GAO), taking serious issue with the agency’s assessment of cost overruns in the Defense Dept. GAO’s report says the Pentagon has racked up $296 billion in cost growth on 96 programs. Young says the number is “misleading, out-of-date and largely irrelevant.” In a Mar.
Boeing has turned to Times Aerospace Korea (TAK) to lead design and development of a wing kit to extend the range of the 2,000-lb. version of the Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM ER). The Korean air force is one of 22 international customers for JDAM, which is a low-cost guidance kit that turns unguided, free-fall bombs into accurately guided “smart” weapons. The Boeing-funded effort will increase the bomb’s range to about 50 naut. mi.—a 35-naut.-mi. jump. TAK is to co-develop, test and field the wing kit, which is expected to take 40 months.
First-quarter 2009 delivery rates show Boeing Commercial Airplanes (BCA) has rebounded from the effects of last year’s machinists strike, but the company has not found a way to sell airplanes in a worldwide recession. First-quarter deliveries reached 121, six more than in 2008 and 15 more than 2007, which mostly reflects a continued buildup in the 737 production line. That factory delivered 91 aircraft in the first quarter compared to 87 in 2008 and 83 in 2007.
A method of quickly simulating and testing components and software for “plug and play” tactical satellites that can be put together in a matter of days has been developed by Albuquerque, N.M.-based PnP Innovations. Based on the Air Force Research Laboratory’s Space Plug and Play Avionics (SPA) standards, the company’s structural panels contain embedded power and data routers as well as mounting positions for PnP sensors and processors.
The U.S. Air Force says it plans to issue a final request for proposals for the Transformational Satellite (TSAT) program in late April. This could, however, change with the issuance of the Pentagon’s budget to the White House Office of Management and Budget, which is expected to take place soon. TSAT was among a list of potential program kills drafted as the Pentagon seeks to cut spending.
Jane Calderwood has been named vice president-government and political affairs for Washington-based Airports Council International-North America . She was vice president of Brown and Co., also in Washington.
Korean Air budget subsidiary Jin Air is branching out internationally with plans to fly to Bangkok and Macao starting in October. The airline proposes to expand to 16 international routes by 2011, serving Southeast Asia, China and Japan. Jin Air has three aircraft and has announced plans to lease two Boeing 737-800s this year.
E-GEOS, a geospatial information service venture founded by Telespazio and Italian space agency ASI to market imagery data and products from Italy’s Cosmo-SkyMed submetric radar constellation and other sources, has signed a contract with 4C Satellite Images & Technologies, an arm of U.S.-based 4C Controls. The €180-million ($234-million) deal will give Luxembourg-based 4C Satellite exclusive rights to CosmoSkyMed in North Africa, the Middle East and Southeast Asia.
The International Air Transport Assn. says all its members have passed a required safety audit, but the group’s membership list is missing 21 airlines that did not meet audit deadlines and had to leave.
German researchers say aerodynamic condensation trails formed by airflow over an aircraft’s wing at high altitude need to be factored into climate models being developed to determine the effect of air traffic on global warming.
Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne is studying a small, liquid-propellant vehicle for nanosatellite launches, says President Jim Maser. ARDE of Carlstadt, N.J., a pressure-vessel and propellant-tank specialist that Rocketdyne acquired last November, will help in the research and development effort. Maser says the project is part of a growth-through-innovation drive, but adds that it is too preliminary to describe in detail.
A revised defense acquisition reform bill approved by the Senate Armed Services Committee has dropped a total ban on contractors advising the Pentagon on weapon systems that they are also building or developing. The legislation, introduced by Sens. Carl Levin (D-Mich.) and John McCain (R-Ariz.), aims to tackle the dual problems of cost overruns and delays by requiring more systems engineering and testing at the beginning stages of a weapon system’s acquisition. President Barack Obama endorsed the bill (AW&ST Mar. 9, p. 21).
Boeing has demonstrated deployment of a containerized solid-state laser weapon system to reduce risk for the U.S. Army’s truck-mounted High Energy Laser Technology Demonstrator, planned for counter-rocket, artillery and mortar test firings in 2013-15. The company-funded Redeployable High-Energy Laser Systems (RHELS) packages a solid-state laser, thermal management, beam control and operator station in a 40-ft. cargo container. Boeing has demo’d the ability to transport the laser by semi-trailer and have it ready to fire within 8 hr.
Investors finally had a reason to smile in March, as the Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 index rebounded from 12-year lows, rising 8-9% during the month. But many defense contractors weren’t invited to the party. BAE Systems plc, General Dynamics Corp. and Raytheon Co. saw continued declines in their stock prices, while L-3 Communications Holdings shares were flat. The only exceptions were Lockheed Martin Corp., which mirrored the Dow’s rebound; and Northrop Grumman Corp., which saw a 17% gain fueled in part by bullish expectations for shipbuilding.
Certification trials of the Embraer 190 regional jet began last week for the steep approaches required for London City Airport. The aim is to have the clearance in place by year-end. Five Embraer 190s, as well as six Embraer 170s, are on order for BA CityFlyer, a British Airways subsidiary. The Embraer 170 has been certified for steep-approach operations, with first delivery of the aircraft to CityFlyer due in the second half of 2009.
NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter and the piggyback Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite will launch on an Atlas V no earlier than June 2, to accommodate the delayed Atlas V launch of the U.S. Air Force Wideband Global Satcom (WGS 2) spacecraft. That launch, which was delayed by a liquid oxygen leak in its Centaur upper stage, was scheduled for 8:31 p.m. EDT on Apr. 3. The NASA lunar mission had been set for launch in a May 20-24 window, but managers ordered the delay to allow more time to process NASA’s launcher after the Air Force flight, the agency says.
The British Defense Ministry’s abortive Red Dragon project to develop a military aircraft maintenance hangar at its St. Athan site is being criticized by the National Audit Office. The overall development was undercut by a shift in the ministry’s approach to fast-jet support, which meant the hangar was no longer needed for the purpose it was built for in 2004. The Defense Ministry worked on the program with the Welsh authorities; however, potentially conflicting ambitions arose, according to the report. The site is now set to be a Defense Training Academy.
Airbus Germany has admitted that in an effort to discover whether employees were taking kickbacks from suppliers, it breached the workers’ privacy. The violation of employee rights took place in 2007 when Airbus cross-referenced employee bank details with those of suppliers. The actions were unearthed in a subsequent review by management launched in December and reported to the company’s works council last month. A similar scandal last week brought down the head of the German rail company, Deutsche Bahn.
Alenia Aeronautica has finished the first series of test flights of its Sky-Y UAV using Italian air space. Five flights of the medium-altitude long-endurance UAV demonstrator were carried out near Puglia, following approval by the civil aviation agency. The Sky-Y UAV has previously been test-flown in Sweden. The recent trials, held in March, continued to monitor the performance of the Selex Galileo EOST-45 electro-optical sensor, and the imagery transmission via a satellite link. The Sky-Y was first flown in mid-2007.
There are stirrings within the moribund market for A&D mergers and acquisitions. Alliant Techsystems is expanding its armament systems business by acquiring Eagle Industries, a supplier of operational nylon gear for military and law enforcement agencies. The price was not disclosed, but Alliant says Eagle will add $80 million to its fiscal 2010 revenues. And Triumph Group announced the purchase of Mexmil Co., a California-based manufacturer of thermal-acoustic insulation systems for commercial aircraft with operations in Mexico and China.
