Rolls-Royce has begun ground testing of its BR725 turbofan, which is designed to power the twin-engine Gulfstream G650 business jet. The engine ran up to 80% of its 16,100-lb.-thrust rating and met performance criteria, says Rainer Honig, BR725 and future programs project director for Rolls-Royce corporate and regional engines. Rolls plans to build five ground-and eight flight-test BR725s, which is the latest evaluation of the BR700 family. Rolls says this version boasts 4% better specific fuel consumption, a 4 dB.
A slot shortage at London Heathrow is likely to be a major obstacle for years to come as airlines try to exploit liberalized traffic rights between Europe and the U.S. while expanding long-haul operations at the critical hub.
A new Lehman Brothers report that predicts oil prices could fall to $70 a barrel by 2010 must be music to the ears of airline executives. Lehman says record prices that are throttling airlines are a “bubble” that will burst as global demand cools, supplies rise and investors stop driving up crude futures as a hedge against inflation and a falling dollar.
The European Space Agency’s Herschel infrared observatory is another step closer to an autumn launch with the Planck cosmic background observer following completion of the spacecraft, including its advanced cryostat and 3.5-meter (11.5-ft.) silicon-carbide telescope. Technicians mated the observatory’s sunshield and solar arrays to the cryostat and service module on Apr. 11, and attached the ultra-lightweight 320-kg. (706-lb.) telescope—which will be the largest to be flown in space—on Apr. 16.
British airframe structures specialist GKN Aerospace received a $400-million follow-on order from Lockheed Martin for engine nacelles for its C-130J Hercules tactical airlifter. The five-year award runs from January 2009 through December 2013. GKN expects to produce around 10 nacelles a month in this time. The company has, so far, manufactured almost 700 nacelles for the C-130J, a figure that is anticipated to nearly double by 2013. GKN has been involved in the C-130J since the outset, and has been the sole source for the integrated nacelle.
Tests at the Mount Hopkins Observatory in Arizona this summer could validate a new technique for finding extrasolar planets on the same scale as Earth. Developed at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics with input from experts at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the device uses extremely short pulses of laser light, in combination with an atomic clock, to make measurements accurate to one part in a trillion of the light coming from distant stars.
Two of Asia’s big maintenance, repair and overhaul specialists are joining with Spirit AeroSystems to establish a composite and metal bond component repair station in China. Spirit, which builds 737 metal alloy fuselages and composite 787 cockpit and nose sections for Boeing, will work with Hong Kong Aircraft Engineering Co. (Haeco) and its subsidiary, Taeco Aircraft Engineering Co. (Taeco) of Xiamen, China, home of the Boeing Converted Freighter program for 747-400s. When the 787 proved to be a big hit among China’s airlines—they’ve ordered 60 —Haeco Director P.K.
An Embraer ERJ 145XR, operated by Delta Connection carrier ExpressJet Airlines, flares for landing at Los Angeles International Airport’s Runway 24 Right. Major airlines have been shifting more of their domestic flying to regional partners in the past year to cut costs, while keeping feeder traffic coming into the main hubs to connect with increased international flying. The Regional Airline Assn.
The European Commission has approved the sale of airport slots between airlines. The secondary market has been particularly active at some of Europe’s busiest airports (see p. 58), but until now there was ambiguity in the European Union over whether the activity was legal.
SRA International has made a conscious decision to branch out from its role as an information technology and back-office supplier to the Defense Dept. and the FAA by agreeing to acquire ATC equipment maker Era Corp., a supplier of Automatic Dependent Surveillance Broadcast and multilateration systems. SRA President and CEO Stanton D. Sloane says his company’s systems integration and software development skills will complement Era’s ATC products and allow the two to pursue integrated ATC systems contracts.
The Senate Armed Services Committee’s $542.5-billion Fiscal 2009 baseline defense authorization bill includes almost $500 million to buy more F-22s—or to shut the manufacturing line down. But the measure wouldn’t fund any additional C-17 airlifters, even though the Air Force puts a high priority on cargo lift. Paired with the Bush administration’s $70-billion place-holder supplemental request for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the total defense authorization package comes to $612.5 billion.
The bloodletting among European airlines may be about to start as carriers realize they can no longer ward off the economic headwind wrought by high fuel prices, competitive pressures and overcapacity.
Failure to secure funding for upgrades and enhancements means the British Royal Air Force may be left with a “hollowed-out capability” for much of its combat aircraft fleet. The Royal Air Force, the army and the navy are all struggling to secure adequate funds to support procurement programs in the present Defense Ministry planning round, known as PR08.
The U.S. Army has opened an indefinite delivery and quantity contact with Alloy Surfaces Co. Inc. so it can purchase up to $348 million worth of the M211 special material decoy countermeasure that is protecting fixed- and rotary-wing aircraft in Iraq and Afghanistan. The countermeasure consists of metal wafers dispensed from a canister. The wafers oxidize rather than burn and are barely visible while emitting an infrared signature.
Boeing’s first 777 Freighter was towed from the company’s Everett, Wash., factory to the flight line on Apr. 29 in preparation for flight testing this summer. Based on the 777-200LR, the freighter is to be delivered to launch customer Air France in the fourth quarter.
A push by the Mexican government to create an aerospace sector is beginning to pay off, as a growing number of companies set up shop to take advantage of low labor costs and proximity to the U.S. But industry veterans caution that the country’s workforce skills and supplier base have a long way to go for the government to reach its ultimate goal of building complete airplanes.
Chelton Flight Systems, a leader in the development of 3D synthetic vision electronic flight instrument systems (EFIS) for a wide range of business and general aviation aircraft and helicopters, is joining forces with autopilot maker S‑Tec to collaborate on integrated cockpits.
Should the U.K. provide an astronaut candidate to the European Space Agency, then he or she could also be on a NASA lunar mission. NASA Administrator Michael Griffin made the offer during discussions with the U.K.’s Royal Aeronautical Society space group. The U.K. is planning to collaborate with NASA on robotic Moon missions, but the Griffin offer would allow London an astronaut flight without all of the costs.
The French air force has for the first time dropped AASM GPS-guided bombs in combat. A Rafale fighter delivered two of the bombs on Apr. 20 during a mission in Afghanistan. The aircraft was patrolling with a Mirage 2000D when a Canadian ground controller called in an air strike to suppress adversary fire. Cloud cover obstructed the fighters from delivering the laser-guided bombs usually called for, so the Rafale dropped the first AASM, developed by Sagem. Another call for fire 30 min.
Mitsubishi Aircraft Corp., the builder of Japan’s new regional jet, will raise ¥67 billion in capital from parent Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Toyota Motor, Sumitomo and Mitsui & Co. Mitsubishi Heavy’s share in the business will fall to 67.5% from 100%.
Engineers at NASA and Alliant Techsystems (ATK) will use acoustic data from the latest test of a four-segment space shuttle reusable solid rocket motor (RSRM) to design the five-segment first stage of the Ares I crew launch vehicle, after the seven-year-old RSRM apparently met all objectives in the May 1 static firing at ATK’s test site in Utah. Also included in the 32 objectives of the 2-min. test was evaluation of how well aging boosters perform. At seven years, the test motor was the oldest ever fired.
Thales Alenia Space has handed over Jason-2, a new U.S.-European oceanographic satellite that will ensure continuity with Jason-1, which is currently in orbit. The spacecraft is to be orbited by a Delta II rocket from Vandenberg AFB, Calif., on June 15.
Efforts to prevent helicopter accidents in brownout conditions, caused by rotor-blown sand and dust, are receiving high-level attention within the U.S. Defense Dept. as the services evaluate different approaches to the problem.
EADS’s developmental A330-based refueling tanker is being modified in preparation for a second flight test phase in September. The Multi-Role Tanker Transport is the first Airbus A330-based tanker for Australia. Although the MRTT will differ from the U.S. KC-45—including its U.S.-specific defensive systems—much of the work on it and its CASA-designed refueling boom will provide risk reduction to the American program.
