The A350XWB is a newly designed twin-engine, extra-widebody jetliner intended to compete with Boeing’s 787 and 777. The XWB is powered by new Rolls-Royce Trent XWB engines rated in the 75,000-95,000-lb.-thrust range. The aircraft has a cruise speed of Mach 0.85. Three basic versions are being marketed: the -800, -900 and -1000. Depending on version, the XWB seats 270-350 passengers, and has a range of 8,300-8,500 naut. mi. An ultra-long-range version, the A350-900R, will also be available, as will an A350-900F freighter. The A350XWB is scheduled to enter service in 2013.
In developing the 525-passenger A380, Airbus chose to leap past Boeing’s 747 in capacity class. First flight occurred in 2005. Passenger and freighter versions are being marketed. The A380 is powered by four turbofan engines rated 70,000-76,500 lb. thrust each: either the Rolls-Royce Trent 900 or GE/Pratt & Whitney Engine Alliance GP7200. Five prototypes were produced through 2006. Production of 291 A380s is forecast for the 2007-16 timeframe.
U.S. Army Maj. Gen. (ret.) Marilyn A. Quagliotti, who was vice director of the Defense Information Systems Agency, has become a senior manager in the federal government services practice of Deloitte Consulting .
MA60 The MA60 turboprop is a stretched version of the Xi’an Y7-200A. It can accommodate 56-60 passengers and is powered by two 2,750-shp. Pratt & Whitney Canada PW127J engines. The aircraft made its initial flight in 2000. Deliveries began in August 2000, to Sichuan Airlines. A freighter version, called the MA60-500, is also marketed. Through 2006, 23 MA60s were produced. An additional 165 aircraft are forecast for 2007-16.
A proposed family of aircraft from Bombardier, the CSeries family would include two basic versions. One would carry 110 passengers, the other would seat 130. Each would be available in standard and extended-range models. The aircraft would be powered by a new engine to be developed by Pratt & Whitney Canada, though other powerplant choices may also be offered. The 110-seat CSeries model would compete with the Embraer 190 and 195 and the Airbus A318, while the 130-seat variant would vie with the Boeing 737 and Airbus A319.
The U.S. Air Force and Boeing have opened a 120,000-sq.-ft. F-22 maintenance training facility at Sheppard AFB, Tex., designed for USAF’s 82nd Training Wing.
South Korea’s stealth fighter ambitions are beginning to flush out European industry’s aspirations for manned combat aircraft developments beyond those in production. U.S. manufacturers’ low profile in the tentative KFX competition is raising the prospect that they could lose South Korea as well as Japan as captive fighter markets. Saab and EADS, by contrast, are laboring to address the requirement to support domestic development of a next-generation fighter.
This is a family of twin-engine, 70-122-seat regional jet aircraft. The 70-80-passenger 170 made its first flight in February 2002; deliveries began in March 2004. The 78-88-seat 175 flew for the first time in June 2003. The 170 and the 175 are powered by the 14,200-lb.-thrust GE CF34-8E engine. The 94-114-seat 190 made its initial flight in March 2004, while the 106-122-passenger 195 first flew in December 2004. The 190 and 195 are powered by 20,000-lb.-thrust CF34-10E engines. Through 2006, 217 aircraft were produced.
Shephard W. Hill has been appointed president of Boeing International , succeeding Laurette Koellner, who is retiring. Hill was corporate senior vice president-business development and strategy and will be followed by Michael J. Cave, who has been head of business strategy and marketing for Seattle-based Boeing Commercial Airplanes. Scott Fancher has been named vice president/general manager of St. Louis-based Boeing Missile Defense Systems. He succeeds Patrick Shanahan, who is now vice president/general manager of Boeing’s 787 program.
Don Pearson (see photos) has been appointed director of operations for the Microwave Systems Solutions of Crane Aerospace & Electronics , Lynnwood, Wash. He was group vice president-operations for U.K.-based Invensys. H. Alan Howell has been named vice president-marketing and business development of the Crane Electronics Group. He was head of business development for the Electronics Warfare and Mission Systems Integration units of Raytheon Space and Airborne Systems.
The Defense Dept. is trying to accelerate Northrop Grumman’s effort to outfit the B-2 for the bunker-busting Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP), including it in the administration’s request for the off-budget Fiscal 2008 supplemental appropriation.
Through 2006, Boeing produced 947 of these twin-engine, wide-body commercial transport aircraft. A 767 prototype was rolled out in August 1981, with first flight occurring the following month. Current models include the 767-200ER, -300ER, -400ER and -300F freighter. Typical two-class seating layouts are 224 seats for the -200ER, 269 for the -300ER, and 304 for the -400ER. All three models are sold with a choice of GE CF6-80C2 or Pratt & Whitney PW400 engines.
Hong Kong Express Airways, one of the smaller scheduled airlines operating from the Chinese city, will fly to Kuala Lumpur from next month, linking the Malaysian capital with the mainland cities that account for most of its network.
Wind River Systems of Alameda, Calif., has updated its VxWorks 653 software platform for the avionics community that supports Arinc 653 safety-critical systems. The VxWorks 653 V 2.2 operating system is integrated with the Eclipse-based workbench to enhance hardware and software design and development integration. The goal is to simplify DO-178B certification efforts on Arinc 653 systems.
U.S. airlines are already worried about government efforts to cap flights at John F. Kennedy International Airport, but on the horizon is something that scares them even more—a proposal to make them pay extra fees for flying when demand is highest.
The initial version of the ARJ21 regional jet from the Chinese company AVIC I Commercial Aircraft Co. Ltd. will be the 85-90 seat ARJ21-700. Introduction of a 98-105-seat version is also planned. The ARJ21 will be powered by two GE CF34-10A turbofans rated 18,500 lb. thrust each. First flight is targeted for 2008, with certification planned for 2009. A total of 137 ARJ21s are forecast to be produced through 2016. The ARJ21 faces competition from Bombardier, Embraer, Airbus and Boeing.
Eutelsat has issued new three- year guidance for 2008-10 targeting compound annual growth of better than 5.5%, with a strong acceleration in growth toward the end of this period, and earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) above 77%. Eutelsat confirmed the acquisition of the Ka-band spacecraft next year and indicated it would replace three or four older satellites launched in 1998-2000 within the next three years.
Follow-on satellite imagery of a location proposed by a U.S. think tank as a possible Syrian nuclear construction site ought to reveal whether in fact it was the target for a recent Israeli air strike. The Institute for Science and International Security is suggesting a site near the Euphrates River could be a reactor construction facility. Its report on imagery provided by DigitalGlobe draws similarities between the Syrian site and a North Korean reactor building at Yongbyon.
Tight budgets and ballooning costs are forcing space agencies to join together on major missions, a fact clearly illustrated in the next phase of the European Space Agency’s Cosmic Vision science program.
Controllers will spend the next three weeks checking out the science instruments on Japan’s Selene lunar orbiter, now in final science observation orbit at an average altitude of 100 km. (62 mi.). The orbit lowering was completed Oct. 19 and confirmed by JAXA the next day. With Selene in position, it no longer needs major orbital adjustments, save for counteracting the Moon’s irregular pull, which gradually draws the circular orbit into an ellipse. The team needs to reset the satellite once its orbit becomes a 70 X 130-km. oval.
A Russian state commission will investigate why the Soyuz TMA-10 vehicle returning Expedition 15 and a Malaysian space tourist from the ISS went into a steeper “ballistic” trajectory early Oct. 21, landing some 340 km. short of its target. On board were Expedition 15 Commander Fyodor Yurchikhin, Flight Engineer Oleg Kotov and Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor, a Malaysian physician who won a competition as part of a Russia/Malaysia arms deal. They landed safely and were extracted from Soyuz about 20 min.
The 747 is an intercontinental wide-body commercial transport aircraft. A total of 1,380 747s were produced through 2006. The 747 is powered by four turbofan engines. The current 747-400 production model is available with 62,100-lb.-thrust GE CF6-80C2B5F engines, 63,300-lb.-thrust Pratt & Whitney PW4062s or 59,500-lb.-thrust Rolls-Royce RB211-524H2-Ts. The 747-400 carries 416 passengers in a typical three-class configuration. First flight and certification of the 747 occurred in 1969. The -400 variant was certificated, and deliveries began in January 1989.
The CRJ series is a family of twin-engine, 44-100 seat regional jets. The initial model was the 50-seat CRJ100, which is no longer in production. It first flew in May 1991, and deliveries started in October 1992. The CRJ100 was replaced by the 50-seat CRJ200, which is powered by a pair of 9,220-lb.-thrust GE CF34-3B1 turbofans. Other variants have included the 44-seat CRJ440, which is also powered by CF34-3B1s; the 64-78 seat CRJ700, powered by two 13,790-lb.-thrust CF34-8C5B1 turbofans; and the 86-90 seat CRJ900, powered by two 14,510-lb.-thrust CF34-8C5s.
