Grob Aerospace has handed over the final two G120A-F trainers to EADS, which the latter is using to support its training services contract with the French air force. Deliveries of the aircraft, modified slightly for French needs (flying from the right hand seat and some avionics changes), began in March. Grob continues to support the aircraft bought by EADS’s Cognac Aviation Training Services during the training program. The French air force basic training takes place at Cognac air station.
The British government could have generated higher returns from its sale of 37.5% of Qinetiq in 2003 to the Carlyle Group (33.8%) and management and employees (3.7%), the U.K.’s National Audit Office (NAO) has determined, but stopped short of saying, the government and taxpayers were fleeced by private equity. When Qinetiq shares were floated in 2006, Carlyle achieved a rate of return of 112%, which drew much public criticism with charges the government sold the defense asset too cheaply.
Someday China will send astronauts to the Moon, even though it has no timetable for doing so, predicts the head of the country’s space agency. Four weeks after officials formally denied press reports that China planned a manned lunar mission by 2020, the national space administration head, Sun Laiyan, says the Moon program includes only unmanned spacecraft. “But I believe one day China will for sure send its own astronauts to land on the Moon,” he adds. “I hope I can see it happen.”
The top 20 U.K. Defense Ministry procurement programs suffered an aggregate delay in the past year of 38 months, which is five months more slippage than in the prior year, the government’s National Audit Office (NAO) says in its annual review. The performance prompted Edward Leigh, chairman of Parliament’s Committee of Public Accounts, to note that “at a time when our armed forces are being asked to do very difficult jobs in unbelievable trying circumstances, delays in introducing key equipment are the last thing they need.”
Thwarted by unusually strong ocean currents at the launch position in the equatorial Pacific Ocean, Sea Launch managers have decided to postpone the Thuraya-3 campaign and send the command ship and Odyssey launch platform back to the company’s Long Beach, Calif., home port. Also factoring in the decision were the fuel consumption needed to stay in position, and deteriorating weather.
The much anticipated consolidation in Europe’s air transport industry has gotten off to a sluggish start, but industry officials predict 2008 will bring to fruition several pending deals. Achieving a resolution for the two primary takeover targets—Iberia and Alitalia—has proved more difficult than first expected. And while Italian officials indicate a buyer for Alitalia could still be named this year, potential purchasers don’t see anything firm happening until January or later.
David A. Fulghum (Tel Aviv), Robert Wall (Tel Aviv)
Israel’s uneven operational results during the 2006 fighting in Lebanon are being blamed on confusion about political goals and a military too focused on nuclear proliferation and guerrilla warfare. The air war—against longer range missiles, interdiction of supplies coming from Syria and, late in the war, retaliation against short-range missiles—is being portrayed as a success, say Israeli military, defense ministry and government officials in a series of interviews with Aviation Week & Space Technology.
If NASA’s Fiscal 2008 budget becomes a casualty of the showdown between the Bush administration and Congress over discretionary spending, the consequences could be dire as the agency struggles to retire the space shuttle on time and pave the way for an ambitious program of lunar exploration under already severe fiscal constraints.
Heather Doty (see photo), who is a structural engineer for the James Webb Space Telescope under the Ball Aerospace and Technologies Corp., Boulder, Colo., has received the Distinguished New Engineer award from the Society of Women Engineers .
James Cherry has been elected chairman of Airports Council International for 2008. He is president/CEO of Aeroports de Montreal. Cherry succceeds Ghanem Al Hajiri of Sharjah Airport, United Arab Emirates. Randall H. Walker, director of aviation for the Clark County (Nev.) Aviation Dept., has been elected chairman of Airports Council International-North America . Other executive committee officers are: first vice chairman, John D. Clark, 3rd, executive director of the Jacksonville (Fla.) Aviation Authority; second vice chairman, G.
Cessna Aircraft Co. is extending its production line from Wichita, Kan., to China, and expanding its single-engine line with the acquisition of Columbia Aircraft.
Agencies at all levels of U.S. federal and state government are eager with good reason to exploit unmanned aerial vehicles flying in civilian airspace, but both the FAA and National Transportation Safety Board have strong—and equally reasonable—misgivings about the risks UAVs pose to other aircraft.
In regard to your articles on the active, electronically scanned array-equipped F/A-18F Block II/III Super Hornet and EA-18G Growler, the more we continue to learn about the potency of the combination of the two operating together, the more it makes sense for the U.S. Marine Corps to buy 200 to replace their legacy Hornets and Prowlers. The F-35B is a great replacement for the AV-8B, but to fly the F-35B off Navy carriers will be inefficient and cost-prohibitive.
Lockheed Martin has shifted some of its engineers—ones who had turned software problems around with the F-22—over to the Space-Based Infrared System (Sbirs) early warning satellite program, Tanner says. Problems with the flight control software designed for the Sbirs spacecraft have prompted the U.S. Air Force to declare it unfit for flight because of fears that its safe-hold mechanism will not engage in an anomaly.
The articles “Long Ranger” and “Freezing Point” (AW&ST Nov. 12, p. 64), about Boeing’s strategies regarding fuel capacity and range on the 777 and 747-8I, appear to have been fortuitously juxtaposed. Both articles outline the same problem, and one describes a solution for the 777 but not the 747-8I. If Boeing can meet Air India’s need for extra range in the 777-200LR with auxiliary fuel tanks in the aft cargo hold, why can’t the same design be engineered into the 747-8I “to eke more range out of the longer body length” for carriers wanting it?
The Pentagon has long assumed Iran would upgrade its Shahab-3 ballistic missiles to fly 1,200 mi., but Teheran’s announcement it has built the “Ashura” ballistic missile with that range capability goes beyond what defense officials were expecting. The missiles are “different,” says USAF Lt. Gen. Henry (Trey) Obering, director of the Missile Defense Agency. “That’s what surprises us.” The announcement adds impetus to the need to develop a European missile defense site, he argues.
Aeromexico Connect has taken delivery of the first of four Embraer 190 regional jets under lease from GE Commercial Aviation Services. Aeromexico Connect, which services low-density routes for its parent airline, operates the aircraft in a two-class, 99-seat arrangement. The 190s are to be used for network expansion.
The worst of the titanium pricing crisis is likely over, says Mark Donegan, chairman and CEO of Precision Castparts. Though he says the industry probably has seen the highest cost for the metal, “I’m not expecting any major drop” soon. One of the challenges is supplying fasteners for Boeing’s 787 production program. The new business model for the effort calls for more supply decisions to be made by Boeing’s partner companies, and planning by those partners is “not as robust as Boeing’s model was” on past production efforts.
The International Air Transport Assn. Operational Safety Audit (IOSA) certificate for Turkish Airlines has been renewed, and the FAA has determined the airline’s maintenance unit, THY Technics Corp., is compliant with the agency’s rules and standards. IATA mandates that all its members be IOSA-registered by 2008, and the certification is also a requirement for joining the Star Alliance, in which Turkish Airlines is to become a full member in 2008.
Air New Zealand’s Chief Financial Officer Rob McDonald praised the New Zealand government for new regulations on how charges are imposed at Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch international airports. He says the decision will result in tighter regulation and oversight of airport charges by the Commerce Commission and should reduce what ANZ says are overcharges that put pressure on air fares. ANZ promises to pass any cost reductions through to passengers in the form of lower fares.
During a recent test at the High-Speed Test Track at Holloman AFB, N.M., researchers from Boeing Phantom Works and the Air Force Research Laboratory used a rocket sled and active flow control to release an Mk.82 Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) standard test vehicle at a speed of about Mach 2 from a weapons bay with a size approximating that of the U.S. Air Force B-1 bomber. The technology involved in active flow control enabled this first-ever munitions test at high supersonic speeds.
The Airbus A318 is now fully cleared for steep approaches, which gives the aircraft and, importantly, the Elite business jet offshoot, access to some crucial airfields such as London City. The aircraft maker’s A318 powered by Pratt & Whitney PW6000s already had been cleared for such approaches. Now the European Aviation Safety Agency has also approved the same for the CFM56-powered A318.
An extended L-band communications spacecraft—based on a new large telecom bus developed by EADS Astrium and Thales Alenia Space—will help Inmarsat expand capacity of its global mobile satellite network, and pave the way for a next-generation system.
USAF has begun ground testing of a 50-50 mix of Fischer-Tropsch and JP-8 jet fuels on its General Electric F101 engine. A series of tests will follow, and officials hope the F101 will be the first high-performance, afterburning engine to be approved for use with the Fischer-Tropsch/JP-8 mix. Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne says he hopes to soon conduct a supersonic flight with the F101 on a B-1 bomber, using the synthetic mix.
Last month, with the loss of an F-15C over Missouri, USAF used the occasion to again push for more F-22s, an aircraft it cannot afford. There is no doubt it is the best air superiority fighter in the world, but underperformance by the contractor has made the F-22 unaffordable. At a conservative estimate of a $155-million-plus flyaway cost, USAF needs to start thinking about how it is going to fight the U.S.’s battles with fewer than 200 front-line aircraft.
