The outcome of Britain’s “root-and-branch” review of future UAV requirements has far-reaching implications for the armed forces and industry. Study work is geared toward identifying unmanned aerial vehicle types and the roles the Defense Ministry wishes to address. The effort is also partly driven by the desire to improve cross-service coherence with regard to UAV applications and utilization, and to begin to draw together medium- to long-term plans disrupted by numerous urgent operational requirements (UORs) for UAVs.
Bayern-Chemie has completed the spinoff of Protac, an affiliate specialized in complex metal structures, thermal insulation, laser welding and civil pyrotechnics, to Roxel, a rocket motor and solid propellant venture owned by MBDA and SNPE. The sale will permit Bayern-Chemie, acquired by MBDA last year, to focus on its core rocket motor business, and reinforce Roxel’s product range.
About 450 U.S. Air Force T-38C pilot training aircraft are having their wings inspected—in particular the ailerons— and then are expected to be cleared for flight on an individual basis. However, at the same time, Air Education and Training Command officials say that doesn’t necessarily mean the ailerons are a primary factor in two crashes causing four deaths in eight days.
A single Delta II Heavy rocket will send the twin spacecraft of NASA’s planned Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory (Grail) mission to the Moon in the third quarter of 2011, under a new contract award to United Launch Alliance. The $375-million Discovery-class mission will put the two probes in tandem orbits around the Moon, where they will use extremely precise laser ranging to measure the change in distance between them as the lunar-gravity field below them changes. Scientists can use that data to calculate the Moon’s subsurface structure all the way to the core.
USAF Maj. Gen. Ronald R. Ladnier has been appointed commander of the 17th Air Force, U.S. Air Forces in Europe/air component commander for U.S. Africa Command, Sembach AB, Germany. He was commander of Air Mobility Command’s (AMC) Tanker Airlift Control Center, Scott AFB, Ill. He will be succeeded by Brig. Gen. Mark S. Solo, who has been selected for promotion to major general and was deputy director of air, space and information operations at AMC Headquarters. Solo, in turn, will be succeeded by Brig. Gen. Richard T.
The U.S. Air Force has approved continued production of its troubled next-generation cruise missile made by Lockheed Martin and has restarted development on its long-range version.
The first P-8A Poseidon is beginning to look like an airplane, with the joining of the wing assembly and fuselage on Boeing’s new final assembly line at the Renton, Wash., facility. Note the raked wingtips, which were substituted for the originally planned winglets, to save cost, prevent icing, increase performance and simplify the installation of key electronic systems. The U.S. Navy patrol aircraft—designed to replace the long-serving Lockheed Martin P-3C—is the joint product of Boeing’s Integrated Defense Systems and Commercial Airplanes divisions.
Brent Wouters (see photo) has been named president/chief operating officer of the Cirrus Design Corp. , Duluth, Minn. He was executive vice president/chief financial officer.
With oil priced at about $120 a barrel and ever-growing pressure to reduce aircraft emissions, the search for leaps in engine efficiency is renewing interest in novel approaches, such as wave rotor combustion.
Airlines have seen an average 6% decrease in lead premium insurance rates during the first four months of this year, while other segments of the air transport industry are witnessing a similar pattern. Insurance watchdog Aon says average rate reductions would have been 6% except for one case that saw premiums double because of problems at the company. Premiums have been steadily decreasing for more than a year, and Aon says there is a danger that air transport will become less attractive for insurers to do business, and capacity may contract as a result.
De Vries also writes that he plans to use both Pratt & Whitney’s F135 and GE/Rolls-Royce’s F136 engines on the two F-35A aircraft that the Dutch plan to order in 2009 and 2010, and participate in F-35 initial operational test and evaluation from 2011.
Cari Herman (see photo) has been appointed a software engineering manager for Shadin Avionics , St. Louis Park, Minn. She was a product development manager for Medtronic.
GE Commercial Aviation Services has delivered one of two Boeing 737-900ERs to Spain’s Futura International Airways of Palma de Mallorca, marking the jet’s debut in Europe. The airplane, which earned certification from the European Aviation Safety Agency on Apr. 22, can accommodate 220 passengers on routes of up to 3,200 naut. mi. Boeing has received orders for 229 -900ERs since the model was introduced in July 2005.
Alvin Eaton, a former Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) associate director and now a senior fellow working on special assignments, has received the U.S. Missile Defense Agency ’s Technology Pioneer Award. He was cited for his “overwhelming breadth and depth of technical contributions to ballistic missile defense” and his “leadership that contributed directly to the success of the Standard Missile, and the Patriot and Thaad (Terminal High Altitude Area Defense) missile interceptors” used in missile defense today.
BAE Systems failed to pay enough attention to ethical issues related to its business, according to the Woolf Committee report. The report, commissioned by BAE Systems in response to bribery allegations related to the Al Yamamah program with Saudi Arabia and other defense business, was released on May 6 and makes 23 recommendations intended to provide the company with a robust approach to ethical business practices.
EasyJet’s loss for the first half of its current fiscal year has widened to £43.3 million ($85 million) from £12.7 million due to high fuel prices and one-time charges to pay for the acquisition of GB Airways. EasyJet expects its fuel bill to surpass initial estimates by £45 million in the second half of the year, forcing the low-fare airline to revise its profit guidance. The airline also says it plans to convert some of its outstanding firm orders for the Airbus A319 to those for larger A320s.
Burt Rutan has been named to receive the National Space Society ’s biennial Robert A. Heinlein Memorial Award for lifetime achievement in aerospace. The award honors lifetime contributions to the creation of a free, spacefaring civilization. The award is named after author Robert A. Heinlein, in memory of his contributions to the pro-space movement.
Haim Romano (see photo), president of El Al Israel Airlines, has been named as one of the Top Ten Israeli Business Leaders for 2008 by Dun & Bradstreet Israel . Selection was based on criteria such as management skills and long-term excellence, leadership and charisma, strategic overview and vision; and influence on the Israeli economy, his/her company and his/her field. Also judged was the promotion of social and cultural activities in Israel.
Test engineers at NASA Stennis Space Center will spend the next two years preparing for a second round of hot-first testing of NASA’s J2X human-rated upper stage rocket engine for missions to low Earth orbit and the Moon. The last of nine tests of heritage J2 powerpack hardware ran for 400.45 sec. on May 8, finishing a series designed to establish starting-point data for the design of the uprated J2X turbomachinery. The program, which is considered the pacing item for the Ares I crew launch vehicle, reportedly remains on track for a first flight in 2013.
Radar specialists, meeting in Washington last week, say U.S. export bans are destroying the ability of U.S. electronics companies to compete in the world market. “Foreign air forces are demanding AESA radars on their new aircraft and all the features that go with it like electronic attack,” a senior industry official was heard saying. “The people are screwing up by not allowing [radar exports]. We’re losing our leverage.” The area of controversy involves small transmitter/receiver modules used to build active, electronically scanned array radars.
Japan is seeking direct flights between Tokyo’s downtown Haneda airport and Beijing’s convenient but little-known second airport, Nanyuan. Haneda has already secured links with the handy secondary airports of Shanghai and Seoul (Hongqiao and Gimpo). Flights between Haneda and Beijing Capital International Airport are also planned.
Senate Appropriations Chairman Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.) postponed the markup of the war supplemental spending bill for a week because procedural and political disputes have delayed action on a similar bill in the House. Byrd “very reluctantly” agreed to Democratic leadership requests to delay the decisions until this week. Both bodies’ versions exceed the $173 billion the Bush administration is seeking to fund the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The White House has asked for $103 billion for the remainder of Fiscal 2008 (which ends Oct.
The first unmanned aerial vehicle produced for Britain’s Watchkeeper program is undergoing flight-testing after making its first flight on Apr. 16. Prime contractor Thales U.K. announced the flight on May 6, saying the Elbit Systems-built UAV—a modified autonomous Hermes 450—took off from Megido airfield in northern Israel. Watchkeeper aims to provide the U.K. armed forces with expanded intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition and reconnaissance (Istar) capabilities by 2010 (see related story, p. 31).
Xiamen Airport in China is building a dedicated budget-airline terminal while seeking more business from low-cost carriers. The airport is converting facilities at its cargo facility, with completion due this year.
