Japan is preparing a 10-year Cabinet-level space plan that will build on the long-duration station on the International Space Station that is just beginning for veteran Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata. The key to Japan’s plans for the human portion of its space program centers on the H-II Transfer Vehicle (HTV), an autonomous cargo carrier scheduled to make its first flight to the ISS in September on an H-IIB rocket.
The military is picking over the wreckage of an Iranian unmanned aircraft it shot down in Iraq last month. “We’re in the process of exploiting the debris that we’ve recovered,” a Pentagon representative says. “I don’t know if it was a drone that was capable of sending signals back, or whether it was merely recording and then going to return [to base with] its video or data” to be examined by the Iranians. Coalition aircraft shot down the Iranian-made Ababil 3 UAV about 60 mi. northeast of Baghdad. The Feb.
Boeing is looking at modifying one of NASA’s cranked-arrow-wing F-16XLs into a low-sonic-boom research aircraft. The proposal has emerged as a relatively low-cost way to test public acceptance of shaped sonic booms. While previous flight tests have shown that shockwave signature can be controlled by aircraft shaping, they did not succeed in reducing the sonic boom, since modifications were limited to the nose of the aircraft to reshape the front shock.
The global economic crisis is making cantankerous bedfellows of airlines and air traffic control providers. Arguments over ATC charges are growing more heated, but the two industries realize they must work together to urge reform of ATC funding restrictions that are frustrating service users and providers equally.
Qinetiq is now building a revised configuration of its Zephyr high-altitude long-endurance UAV. It will likely fly for the first time early in 2010. Zephyr 7, as the latest variant is known, has several design modifications intended to improve the UAV’s aerodynamic performance and potentially further increased endurance. Changes are thought to include a greater wingspan and modified wingtip design, as well as a reconfigured tail.
Plunging business jet sales and a slowdown in French combat aircraft deliveries are creating a double whammy for Dassault Aviation. The company announced an 8% drop in revenues for 2008, to €3.75 billion ($4.9 billion), and an equivalent decline in orders to €5.8 billion. Although Chairman/CEO Charles Edelstenne says that is a bit better than expected—a 10% sales decrease had been projected, mostly due to unfavorable exchange rates—he predicts a few hard years ahead.
Arianespace has postponed launch of the European Space Agency’s Herschel-Planck science mission because of the need to carry out additional checks on the ground segment following recent software updates. The delay—Arianespace’s second of the year—is expected to be “a couple of weeks.” A new date for the flight, which had been set for Apr. 16, is to be announced at the end of March. Meanwhile, International Launch Services slipped by two days its first mission of the year to Mar. 30 for unspecified reasons. The mission will carry aloft Eutelsat’s W2A. On Mar.
David A. Fulghum (Washington), Bill Sweetman (St.Louis)
Plans for a new U.S. Air Force tanker and the latest version of a bomber to supplement the stealthy B-2 force are still being financially well supported in negotiations over the 2010 defense budget. But senior civilian acquisition officials believe that few other big-ticket earmarks will be tolerated.
Armenian flag carrier Armavia increased its Airbus A320-family fleet to five aircraft with the delivery last week of a new A319 at Airbus’s Hamburg facility. The carrier now operates three A319s and two A320s. The aircraft, powered by CFM International CFM56 engines, can seat 134 passengers in two-class layout. Armavia plans to operate it to destinations including Moscow, Paris, Amsterdam and Dubai. Armavia, founded in 1996, has been run by private entity Mika Trading Company since 2005.
Ralph Richardi has been named to the board of directors of Toronto-based GuestLogix Inc. He is a former senior vice president-customer services at American Airlines.
United Launch Alliance’s Atlas V program has added four science and communications programs, all managed by NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, to its manifest from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral AFS in the coming decade, including two with multiple payloads. First off in the $600-million contract is the piggyback mission of two Radiation Belt Storm Probes in fourth-quarter 2011. The mission is part of NASA’s Living with a Star program, which studies the Sun.
Gary L. Fishman has been appointed to the board of directors of Gulfstream International Group Inc. , Fort Lauderdale, Fla. He is retired vice president-sales operations of the Ingenix Div. of the UnitedHealth Group and a former senior executive at Northwest Airlines. Fishman succeeds Douglas Hailey, who has resigned.
London last week signed for three Lockheed Martin F-35B short takeoff and vertical landing aircraft to allow it to participate fully in the operational test and evaluation phase of the program. John Hutton, the British Defense Secretary, announced the decision during a visit to Washington. “By purchasing three aircraft for testing, we will secure access to the development of the program. Working alongside their U.S. colleagues, our pilots will gain an unrivaled understanding of this awesome aircraft and its capabilities.” The three U.K.
John Rahilly has been appointed director of business development for the Americas for International Water-Guard Industries Inc. , Burnaby, British Columbia. He was principal of consulting firm Rahilly Aviation Associates.
Xi’an Aircraft has begun building a factory at Tianjin, China, that will complete wings for A320 family assembled at another plant in the city. Xi’an is already building wing boxes for the A320 family. The new plant will fit the wing boxes with equipment so they do not need to be sent to Britain and back before delivery to the Chinese final assembly line.
Boeing’s F-15 SE “Silent Eagle,” featuring 15-deg. canted vertical fins and internal weapons carriage in conformal fuel tanks, is intended to provide some stealth capability for the international market. It’s set to begin flight tests by year-end, though with the standard, vertical F-15E stabilizers. The model is designed on test aircraft E1—a U.S. Air Force asset leased to Boeing. USAF markings on the wheel well were digitally removed in this Boeing photo.
The four Eurofighter nations will likely halve their next order for the Typhoon combat aircraft. Expected to be included in the U.K. numbers will be Royal Air Force aircraft diverted to meet a Saudi Arabian order as part of its commitment—a precedent that other partners will also be able to follow.
Astronaut crews and ground controllers are setting up the International Space Station for full-power operations following a last-minute solar-array delivery by the space shuttle Discovery. Looking ahead, the combined crews of Discovery and the ISS will test the replacement for a failed urine-recycling unit and bring home water samples needed to clear the station for a six-person crew due to arrive in May.
Chris Garcia has been named senior vice president-business development for the Anark Corp. , Boulder, Colo. He was vice president-research and development at the Dassault Systems SolidWorks Corp.
Christophe Chollet has become director of sales for Field Aviation , Mississauga, Ontario. He was sales and marketing director for Hutchinson Aerospace.
Aviation Week’s Ares on Defense blog (AviationWeek.com/ares) won the 2009 Jesse H. Neal National Business Journalism Award for best blog from American Business Media. The Neal Awards are the trade press equivalent of the Pulitzer Prizes. Key staff contributors to Ares, which offers original reporting, photos, video and links to web sites, include Douglas Barrie, Amy Butler, Bettina A. Chavanne, David A. Fulghum, Paul McLeary, Sean Meade, Guy Norris, Bill Sweetman, Robert Wall and Graham Warwick. In addition, readers often add comments.
David Oblinger (see photo) has become general manager of Flight Display Systems , Alpharetta, Ga. He was director of operations and resources for the Silgan Plastics Corp.
More bad news for the business jet industry: A new UBS forecast sees deliveries plunging 45% during the next two years, bottoming out at 550-600 in 2010. That would exceed the 29% drop the industry saw in its last downturn, in 2002-03. UBS analyst David E. Strauss estimates that takeoffs and landings of business jets declined 28% in January from a year earlier, while the number of used aircraft for sale is up 69% from a year ago. “We believe the current market is characterized by too much supply, plummeting pricing and tight financing,” he says.
