South Korea is laying the ground-work for a more independent combat aircraft capability by launching a program for a domestically developed air-combat model and associated simulators.
As commander-in-chief, you face new strategic and operational priorities, urgent requirements and the need to balance capabilities for irregular and conventional wars. Your decisions on force structure, funding and program priorities will determine our ability to defeat enemies, support allies and save American lives. Timing is critical, as are affordability and credibility. Separate from strategic choices on Iraq and Afghanistan, you face three immediate sets of decisions:
Boeing expects a ruling this year on the long-running legal battle over the cancellation of the U.S. Navy’s A-12 stealthy attack aircraft. The aircraft maker is party to a legal battle against a 2007 ruling by the U.S. Court of Claims that sided with the government over the 1991 cancellation of the program. The Pentagon, under then-Defense Secretary Dick Cheney, canceled the A-12 for cause after finding the program was behind schedule and over cost.
Thales Alenia Space’s Italian unit expects to sign a contract by the end of the first quarter to supply pressurized cargo modules and other elements to Orbital Sciences Corp. for NASA’s Commercial Orbital Transportation Services program. OSC was selected along with SpaceX in December to deliver cargo to the International Space Station after the U.S. agency’s contract to use Russian Progress vehicles expires in 2011.
A last-of-its-kind liftoff delivered the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s NOAA-N Prime polar-orbiting weather satellite to space Feb. 6 from Vandenberg AFB, Calif. Launch of the 3,130-lb. Lockheed Martin spacecraft on a United Launch Alliance Delta II 7320-10C from Vandenberg’s Space Launch Complex-2W came at 2:22 a.m. PDT.
European airlines are facing unexpectedly high regulatory hurdles in their efforts to consolidate, as the European Commission (EC) seeks to push through major concessions to keep competition intact.
Wichita State University’s National Institute for Aviation Research (NIAR) will provide Bombardier Aerospace with materials and structural testing as well as certification work for the Learjet 85 business jet under development. John Tomblin, NIAR executive director, says the institute will be responsible for testing and evaluating composite materials leading to FAA certification of full-scale components using the Composites and Advanced Materials Laboratory that specializes in developing low-cost manufacturing processes using thermal, mechanical and analyses tools.
A slowdown in the narrow-body jet segment and signs of a collapse in the high-margin business aircraft market are reverberating across the aerospace industry. But senior executives at Rolls-Royce plc are confident the London-based company can continue to grow revenues in 2009 and maintain profits at last year’s level. They believe a projected 18% increase in defense revenues, to more than £2 billion ($2.84 billion), will help offset weaker earnings from civil aircraft engines.
Civilian and military controllers are checking out four spacecraft after the first Ariane 5 mission of the year, on Feb. 12. Liftoff of the Ariane 5 ECA from the European launch site near Kourou, French Guiana, came when the launch window opened at 7:09 p.m. local time. The big rocket was clearly visible well into its ascent in the dark sky. On board were the SES New Skies NSS-9, Eutelsat’s Hot Bird 10 and the twin French Spirale optical early warning microsatellites. All four satellites deployed nominally over the ensuing 33 min. The New Skies NSS-9 weighed 2,230 kg.
With two Superjet 100 regional jet prototypes in flight trials and two more undergoing final assembly, Sukhoi says it has joined the fuselage of the first customer aircraft in preparation for delivery to Aeroflot this year. The two remaining flight test aircraft are now being fitted with systems. They should join the test program this year. Flight trials now have reached more than 300 hr. on more than 90 flights.
The French government and Sagem have carried out the first test firing of a 125-kg. (275-lb.) version of the AASM bomb, from a Mirage 2000N aircraft at the defense ministry’s Biscarosse test range. The drop, from high altitude against a target “several tens of kilometers away,” involved only INS-guidance and met accuracy projections, according to Sagem. The weapon marries the AASM guidance kit (combining inertial navigation and GPS and a range augmentation system) with a Mk. 81 bomb body. The air force has already operationally deployed the 250-kg. version.
In-the-red airline Merpati and its parent, the Indonesian government, are asking Xian Aircraft of China to cut the price and quantity of 15 MA-60 turboprop airliners that the carrier ordered in 2006. They are also seeking more favorable guarantees from the supplier, including a commitment to buy back the aircraft. Deliveries of Merpati’s MA-60s were suspended after the first two units arrived, because the airline failed to make payments.
ICON Aircraft, a start-up manufacturer of light sport aircraft based in Los Angeles, has completed initial flight-testing of its prototype amphibious ICON A5 airplane. The two-seat aircraft, which has an estimated base price of $139,000, flew 27 flights and is scheduled to enter a second phase of testing aimed at refining aerodynamic and handling qualities that will continue until the end of this year, says Kirk Hawkins, company CEO. The A5’s airframe incorporates folding wings, an emergency parachute system and “automotive-style cockpit,” according to Hawkins.
Australian regulators have added four airlines to the list of carriers accused of cargo price-fixing. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) says Air France, KLM, Martinair and Cargolux illegally imposed freight fuel charges between 2003 and 2006. Fines have been agreed at a combined A$6 million ($3.96 million) for Air France and KLM, and A$5 million each for Martinair and Cargolux. However, the final penalties will be determined by the court. A hearing is scheduled for Feb. 16.
NASA managers are sharpening their pencils to come up with a plan for spending the $1 billion in new Fiscal 2009 money the agency will get under the compromise economic stimulus package Obama is expected to sign this week. While lower than the $1.3 billion in the Senate-passed version, officials believe they can generate roughly 7,000 “new or preserved” jobs with the aeronautics, Earth science and cross-agency spending contained in the bill.
Lockheed Martin delivered the second of three test C-5Ms, complete with a new propulsion system, to Dover AFB, Del., on Feb. 9. The C-5M Super Galaxy is expected to have higher reliability than the C-5As and Bs now in service, some of which are only available for missions 50% of the time. The U.S. Air Force plans on modifying all of the aircraft by 2016.
K-Max manufacturer Kaman Aerospace’s efforts to rebuild its helicopter business are among the issues spotlighted in a special report on the challenges and opportunities facing the rotorcraft industry on the eve of its annual showcase, the Heli-Expo show in Anaheim, Calif., Feb. 22-24 (see p. 44). Randy Simonneau photo.
Although the European Union has yet to attribute the first license for a hybrid mobile satellite service offering, the first operator to market such a service is already gearing up to test it out.
Neelam Mathews (Bangalore), Douglas Barrie (Bangalore), Andy Nativi (Genoa)
Final assembly of the AgustaWestland AW119 is to shift to India, as the European manufacturer aims to tap further into a rich seam of helicopter requirements in that country. The move, however, also raises a question over the long-term future of its U.S. AW119 line. The European manufacturer last week signed a memorandum of understanding with Tata Sons to establish a joint venture company for final assembly. Production of the type would get underway in 2011, with the site reaching a 30-helicopter-per-year target by 2013.
Drastic shifts in the axis of rotation on Mars over time could have created polar ice sheets that flowed in some areas, shaping the terrain below in ways that can be seen from orbit today. Scientists examining erosion in mid-latitude craters on both sides of the planet’s equator see differences that suggest local warming from sunlight was a factor in the direction that ice-rich material, or perhaps liquid water, flowed.
I had every confidence that the VAX-11/780 would do its job without any problems as related in the testing system for the Hubble Space Telescope replacement Science Instrument Command and Data Handling unit (AW&ST Feb. 2, p. 40). My experience with this computer goes back to the mid-1980s on the Columbia University research vessel R/V Robert D. Conrad. We were off New York in a gale and rolling 45 deg. when the VAX-11/780, which was mounted in an electronic rack (and not secured properly) jumped out of the rack about 5.5 ft. up. It hit a table and then the deck.
The U.S. Energy Dept.’s National Nuclear Security Administration has contracted with IBM to build a new supercomputer to ensure the safety and reliability of the country’s aging nuclear arsenal. The computer will resolve time-urgent and complex scientific problems to preserve the weapons’ serviceability.
The ATR 72-500 twin-engine turboprop aircraft, after successfully completing steep-approach trials and noise tests, has been approved to operate at London City. Irish carrier Aer Arann on Feb. 10 became the first operator of the ATR 72-500 at the airport, which, due to obstacles, requires a 5.5-deg. approach angle. The downtown airport also has strict noise limitations. The ATR 42-300 and -500 are already approved for service at London City.
