When big aerospace companies get into serious trouble, the resolution of their problems doesn’t come as a single event, for which a ceremony can be observed and a celebration triggered. Generally, the company digs itself into a hole shovel by shovel and emerges gradually. Thus it was some years ago with Boeing, when manufacturing problems threatened the company’s highest-volume business. And thus it is now, as Airbus enters a home stretch whose finish line is the start of A380 deliveries.
South Korea may have to rely on an old-technology sensor for its FA-50 light fighter because the U.S. refuses to allow the country to fit an advanced Selex radar to the aircraft, likely crippling its export prospects. The South Korean air force will also probably have to rethink the FA-50’s role in its future force structure if lack of an adequate radar robs the aircraft of the ability to fight North Korean MiG-29s with a high chance of success.
Aug. 20-23—National Defense Dept. Procurement Conference. Adelaide (Australia) Convention Center, North Terrace. Call +61 (26) 266-7049 or see www.defenceandindustry.gov.au
Elmendorf AFB has had its first few F-22s for a couple of months, but now operation of the stealth fighters is official at the Alaska facility. The 90th Fighter Sqdn. received additional aircraft this week. Others are in F-22 units at Langley AFB, Va. Also, some pilots are shifting from Langley’s 1st Fighter Wing to Elmendorf to add experience to the new Pacific-oriented unit. A squadron in Hawaii later will become the first Air National Guard-run F-22 unit.
An aircraft’s skin may one day be literally skin. Development of a research material that is skin-like and self-healing is being eyed by the U.S. Air Force. The service is funding researchers at the University of Illinois who are creating structural, microvascular materials that are self-healing on a repetitive basis and offer a conduit both for extracting heat and cooling the parent material. They’re also working on building 3D microvascular networks that can carry an unlimited supply of the healing agent.
After a torrid pace of order intake in June, Airbus took in only seven orders in July, one an A319 ACJ business jet to BAA Jet Management in Hong Kong, two A330-200F freighters to Avion Aircraft Trading and five A330-200s to Egyptair. Airbus delivered 38 aircraft.
Lufthansa will likely decide next month how to replace its onboard broadband selection after Boeing ended the Connexion offering on which the German carrier was banking. It will take about a year to install the equipment in the fleet.
Northrop Grumman has delivered the payload for the first Space-Based Infrared System (Sbirs) early missile warning sensor package to prime contractor Lockheed Martin for integration onto the satellite bus and final testing. The GEO-1 payload contains both scanning and staring sensors used to detect the IR signatures of ballistic missiles. The Sbirs system will eventually replace the Defense Support Program constellation now in orbit. GEO-1 is set to launch in Fiscal 2009. The Pentagon is planning to buy up to four GEO satellites.
Laser designator pod integration carriage trials are beginning for the British Royal Air Force Eurofighter Typhoons at the same time as the RAF takes delivery of the first of its Block 5 standard aircraft. The first two Eurofighter Typhoon Block 5 aircraft were delivered to XI Squadron at RAF Coningsby last week. This version of the aircraft introduces an initial air-to-surface capability.
Administrator Michael Griffin sees “zero evidence” so far of preflight alcohol abuse by NASA astronauts (see p. 28), and like many of his colleagues he’s having a hard time believing there is any. “By and large I see our astronauts, even the military fighter-pilot guys who have—let’s say the environment they come from is not Sunday school—even the guys who maybe live a little faster than others, in my experience have always understood that you can’t party, you can’t drink, you can’t live large in a way which is going to impact the mission,” Griffin says.
The letter “Watch Your Backs With BA609” (AW&ST June 25, p. 6) reminds me of people saying “God has intended for us to use the railroad,” as the airplane was coming of age.
Northrop Grumman has completed an operational test flight of an E-8C Joint Stars ground surveillance radar aircraft modernized with the Attack Support Upgrade program. That adds a new Link-16 digital data conduit and provides command-and-control functionality for the plane’s operators. So now the aircraft has a full battle management element in addition to an air control/theater missile defense capability that was added last year. The new link connects E-8s with E-3 AWACS and B-2 bombers.
A series of crosswind validation tests for the F135 short-takeoff/vertical-landing (Stovl) engine was recently completed at the P&W test facility in West Palm Beach, Fla. A Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6 turboprop engine was used to simulate crosswinds of up to 35 kt. across the inlet of the lift fan as the F135 propulsion system simulated flying in Stovl mode at up to full power settings.
The Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore has given operational approval to an arrival management system at Changi Airport. Barco provided the software for the customized arrival system, which allows air traffic controllers to optimize traffic flow in the Singapore Flight Information Region. NCS Communications Engineering provided the hardware. The installation uses a new feature that allows the decision support tool to automatically advise controllers when inbound aircraft should enter holding to avert congestion in the terminal area.
The Pentagon has delayed a decision on selecting a KC-X refueling tanker design until December at the soonest. USAF was to choose between Northrop Grumman/EADS North America’s Airbus A330-based design and a Boeing 767 model in October. The contract will be worth about $40 billion for procurement of 179 aircraft.
Lockheed Martin is focusing on a series of flight tests to validate fixes to its $5.8-billion Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile (Jassm) after a 58% missile-reliability score in the spring. To oversee the program, the company’s chief financial officer, Christopher Kubasik, is meeting monthly with Air Force acquisition official Sue Payton. The Pentagon approved a $68-million test plan to validate fixes to parts-reliability issues and a GPS dropout problem in the stealthy cruise missile, which resulted in three consecutive errant missile flights during the spring.
The FAA has begun operational use of an advanced airport surface surveillance system at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport two years ahead of schedule, answering calls by lawmakers to speed up deployment to help cut runway incursions there. The system—Airport Surface Detection Equipment, Model X (ASDE-X)—is expected to be commissioned at O’Hare at the end of this month. But ASDE-X has been certified, and controllers are using it during the 30-day operational suitability demonstration (OSD) period that precedes commissioning.
Air France and KLM have completed their first joint aircraft buy, placing a firm order for 20 Embraer 170/190 regional jets for their two regional airlines. KLM Cityhopper will take 10 190s, while Regional will take six 170s and four 190s. The two carriers hold orders for 18 more aircraft, nine each. Cityhopper is using the aircraft to replace 15 Fokker 100s, but will also receive five of Regional’s Fokker 70s to fill capacity demands. For Regional, it is a follow-on order of Embraer 190 regional jets.
Pratt & Whitney is considering a spiral-upgrade plan for its geared turbofan (GTF) that might be enough to convince Airbus and Boeing to accelerate their respective A320 and 737 successor projects by several years.
Technology and innovation are the heart of EAA AirVenture—and this year Oshkosh lived up to its reputation as “the greatest aviation celebration in the world,” a place where industry’s best and brightest launch ideas and products. Sprightly light sport aircraft (LSA), sleek single-engine personal jets, affordable glass cockpits and diesel engines crowded center stage here at Wittman Regional Airport.
U.S. regional carrier SkyWest posted a slight rise in second-quarter net income to $40.6 million compared with $39.3 million a year ago. Fellow independent regional Pinnacle Airlines Corp. saw its net income for the second quarter fall to $7.7 million year-over-year partially due to a $13.6-million operating loss from the sale of its remaining Northwest claims. Management pointed out the values of Northwest’s Chapter 11 claims declined in April and May.
The U.S. Forest Service will use the Mercury Computer Systems VistaNav-SSR Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) to fly surveillance missions over wildfires (including at night when it isn’t considered safe to use manned aircraft) and to conduct forest mapping projects this year.
