On the heels of a successful intercept demonstration from its mobile land-based missile defense system, the U.S. Missile Defense Agency is shifting its focus for a test this week of the sea-based Aegis ballistic missile defense system with its most complex target set to date.
The European Aviation Safety Agency, Bombardier and Canada’s aviation authorities—in an emergency meeting this week—will determine what additional safety measures must be taken to prevent another Q400 landing gear failure. EASA summoned the parties to Cologne for “an immediate crisis meeting” this week following a third Q400 (Dash 8) landing gear mishap on Oct. 27—which, like the previous two, involved SAS Scandinavian Airlines aircraft.
The FAA has imposed new standards governing the effect of high intensity radiated fields (HIRF) on avionics and other electronic equipment used in aircraft. HIRF results from electromagnetic emissions from TV towers, radio antennas and other sources that can adversely affect operation of sensitive electronic equipment. The new standards require that flight-critical systems, as well as systems important to safe flight, not be adversely affected by certain HIRF environments and regain normal function after exposure.
Developments in techniques for detecting cracks and structural defects could yield monitoring systems that enhance safety while reducing inspection time and cost. Two technologies in particular show promise. One is comparative vacuum monitoring (CVM), which uses in-situ sensors. Boeing is adding CVM to its common practices NDT (nondestructive testing) manuals as an option for inspecting commercial airframes. It is reportedly the first aircraft manufacturer to do so, although CVM is under study by Airbus and other builders.
The International Air Transport Assn. is making a concerted effort to bring the most modern navigation techniques to Latin America and the Caribbean, and the effort is demonstrating how these procedures can benefit not just individual airlines and airports but an entire region. In addition, Boeing and Airbus are taking a proactive approach to helping their airline customers exploit Required Navigation Performance (see pp. 56-58), a type of procedure that’s not widely used yet but is gaining traction.
Rolls-Royce is trying to eke out further weight reductions on propulsion elements of the F-35B short takeoff and landing variant of the Joint Strike Fighter. The company is finalizing design of a hollow second-stage lift fan rotor for the F-35B which will cut 40 lb. from early production models of the Stovl variant.
Airbus A320 operators are showing an interest in Required Navigation Performance and Airbus expects its long-range A330 and A350 customers will follow suit. So far, no A380 operators have stepped forward. It is the single-aisle segment of the market where the “demand is growing strongest to date,” says Raphael Sheffield, a senior market analyst for Airbus. RNP uses GPS positioning and in some cases distance measuring equipment (DME) to contain an aircraft in a tight corridor of airspace. Galileo may be used as well when it become operational.
Germany this month plans to commence CH-53 helicopter operations from Masar-e-Sharif in Afghanistan as part of a move to realign its forces supporting NATO operations in the region. Six CH-53s and C-160 Transalls have been based in neighboring Uzbekistan, but operations are shifting to Masar-e-Sharif, where the Luftwaffe already has stationed its reconnaissance Tornados. The shift of fixed-wing and rotorcraft transports is to be completed by mid-2008.
As I read the letter to the editor “Bad F‑35 Message To Allies” (AW&ST Oct. 15, p. 8), I was shocked to find the program unit price for the F-35 had risen to an astronomical $122 million. The Saab JAS-39 Gripen is a highly capable, fourth-generation fighter in the same class as the F-35 and has a preprogram unit cost of only $76.07 million per aircraft.
Bringing complex aerospace programs in on time has never been an easy task, but EADS’s repeated failure to meet its schedule commitments is starting to give the company a bad name.
Boeing has begun modifying the first of three C-40B USAF executive transport aircraft with a laser-based countermeasures system designed to ward off heat-seeking missiles. The Northrop Grumman Large Aircraft Infrared Countermeasures (Laircm) system is slated for installation on most of Air Mobility Command’s transport fleet, including C-17s, C-130s and some executive transports.
Oerlikon Space is preparing to test the ability of a laser communications system to provide a 10-Mbps. deep-space link from the L1 or L2 Lagrange points, 1.5 million km. from Earth, where several future European Space Agency missions will be located. The system, being developed under ESA’s Dolce project, uses pulsed modulation that is impervious to atmospheric turbulence, allowing a ground-based optical telescope to be used as the receiver.
Netherlands-owned Imtech NV will implement its technological infrastructure in a new, high-tech painting plant Airbus is building as part of its new A320 assembly facility at Tianjin, China. The €35-million ($50-million) order for the company’s Hamburg-based German subsidiary, announced Oct. 30, involves an innovative solution to generate a preconditioned air current designed to fit the shape of the aircraft. This allows the special paint used on the Airbus aircraft to dry quickly, Imtech says.
Germany is planning after all to push ahead with its Barracuda unmanned aerial vehicle demonstrator as part of its broader R&D program into unmanned platforms, which also encompasses stealthy unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV) studies. A second Barracuda airframe is likely to be built as part of EADS’s Agile UAV in a Networked Environment program. The full go-ahead from the German defense ministry for this project is now anticipated around the turn of the year.
General Atomics Aeronautical Systems continues its winning streak with a $60-million contract to provide ground control stations for its MQ-1 Predator and MQ-9 Reaper unmanned reconnaissance and strike aircraft.
China’s Long March 5 heavy rocket program, comparable to the U.S. Delta IV, will comprise a family of launchers to be built at a plant at Tianjin whose construction began this week. The rockets will go into service in 2013 at the new Wenchang launch base on Hainan Island. Wenchang itself is to be ready by 2012. The diameter of Long March 5 will be 5 meters (16 ft., 5 in.), up from the 3.35 meters of the current Long March 3.
Paul Tibbets, pilot of the Enola Gay, died Nov. 1 at home in Columbus, Ohio, following two months of declining health. The cause of death was not disclosed. He was 92. After pursuing a medical career, Tibbets enlisted in the Army Air Corps in 1937. In 1942, Tibbets became commander of the 340th Bomb Sqdn, 97th Bombardment Group, flying 25 missions in B-17s. He later flew 400 hr., flight-testing the B-29 Super Fortress’s combat capability.
SES Chairman/CEO Romain Bausch says the Luxembourg-based satellite operator expects to finalize orders by year-end for a first Mexican satellite, QuetzSat-1, and an additional spacecraft for its New Skies unit. QuetzSat-1 will carry a Ku-band payload to be preleased to EchoStar. The Ku-/C-band New Skies unit will replace an aging spacecraft that was due to be replaced at a later date.
Loral Space & Communications and Canada’s Public Sector Pension Investment Board have completed the acquisition of Telesat Canada for C$3.25 billion ($3.45 billion) and assumption of C$160 million in Telesat debt. The deal gives Loral a 64% financial interest in Telesat, which was combined with Loral Skynet to create the No. 4 satcom operator. Prior to the closing, Telesat reported a 15% rise in third-quarter operating revenue to C$13.4 million, and a 33% surge in net earnings to C$26.4 million.
Boeing’s experience with a global supply network for the 787 will prompt it to be far more careful when granting design-and-build authority to suppliers, especially for major airframe structures, says the program’s former general manager. Company officials acknowledge they were surprised to learn a number of their Tier 1 structural suppliers had subcontracted design work that Boeing assumed the Tier 1’s were handling completely in-house. Problems with those designs are part of the reason the new aircraft has suffered a six-month delay.
French private equity company The Gores Group has offered €383 million ($552 million) to buy Sagem Communications from Safran and is engaged in exclusive discussions with Gores to close the proposed transaction in a few months. Safran will retain a minority shareholding as well as employee representation but Gores will hold the majority stake. Safran has been seeking to sell Sagem Communications, which manufactures cell phones and other communication hardware but continues to lose money.
William Marshall, in proposing that a small lunar base experiment with new types of government (AW&ST Oct. 29, p. 69), has identified what I consider the single most important reason for a program of human space exploration.
A Boeing 737 flies about 100 km. from Cuzco, Peru, with the snow-capped Ausangate Mountain towering to 6,372 meters (20,905 ft.) in the background. The International Air Transport Assn. is working with member airlines and local aviation authorities to develop RNP procedures into Cuzco’s Velasco Astete International Airport (elevation 10,859 ft.). The precise positioning with RNP is a safety advance that also can provide lower approach minimums with GPS guidance than are now possible with conventional procedures at many mountain airports. Photo by Miguel Cano Alva.
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It takes a lot more than a few reindeer to handle the Christmas rush these days—just ask UPS and FedEx. The two largest U.S. express carriers are already bracing for their annual airlift of millions of holiday packages, although a cooling domestic economy is likely to mean little growth compared with last year’s peak shipping season.
