Lockheed Martin seems to have convinced Congress that the Pentagon is actually getting a good deal from the F-22’s multi-year contract. Following award of a $5-billion contract last week for 60 more Raptors, which will bring the production total to 183 through 2011, company officials say that they calculate a $225-million savings from the multi-year deal, versus three single-year contracts, while a Rand study put the amount at $411 million. By Lockheed Martin’s reckoning, that saves $6.8 million per aircraft, for a unit flyaway cost of $136.5 million.
Guido Dietz (see photo) has been named managing director of the European Transonic Windtunnel , Cologne, Germany. He was head of aeroelastic testing at the German Aerospace Center.
The Transportation Security Administration says it will soon be testing both backscatter and millimeter-wave X-ray machines to screen passengers at airport checkpoints in Phoenix, Los Angeles and New York’s JFK. The TSA awarded contracts totaling $2.3 million for three vendors to lease up to five of their systems to TSA for testing up to six months. American Science & Engineering and Rapiscan Systems will supply backscatter technology.
Though the Navy’s unmanned combat air vehicle demonstrator is worth a small amount in the context of Pentagon spending, Northrop Grumman’s win last week will provide the company with a foothold in the competitive unmanned air system landscape. And it officially puts Boeing’s X-45 family of vehicles out in the cold. At least for now.
Allan Day (see photo) has been appointed general manager/director of Crane Aerospace and Electronics ’ Electronics Manufacturing Solutions business, Albuquerque, N.M. He was director of global strategies and program management for Wyndham Worldwide.
The prospective F-22 sale to Japan heats up as officials in Tokyo insist that they want the best fighter available out there. But they have to persuade the U.S. Congress and their own industrial leaders that the F-22, which is unlikely to be coproduced in a foreign country, is necessary for a strong missile defense, and that its acquisition outweighs any negatives. U.S. industry officials say that they are worried, however, about whether the Japanese government of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is stable and able to pursue the purchase.
Final preparations are now underway for the first Airbus A380 customer, Singapore Airlines, to take delivery of the mega-transport, with the largest buyer, Emirates Airlines, also stepping up its planning for aircraft handover next year.
The Weapons and Tactics Conference for U.S. Air Force weapons officers has produced new ideas about integrating the RC-135 Rivet Joint signals intelligence aircraft’s surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities to improve the flow of information to airborne combat assets from ground teams. One idea is folding signals intelligence data from Rivet Joint into the strike capability of F-16 fighters and B-1B bombers—both key ground-attack platforms—from teams on the ground.
The first A330 built for the Northrop Grumman/EADS North America’s KC-30 proposal has completed initial airframe assembly at Airbus’s facility in Toulouse. The aircraft, No. 871 on the production line, is in ground test and will be transferred to Spain for installation of the boom and military systems beginning in November. The aircraft is an A330-220 but lacks freighter qualities. The team plans to base its production tanker versions on the A330-200F configuration, and development models will be modified later to the freighter standard.
The British Civil Aviation Authority has updated a 13-year-old study on long-haul service in the U.K., and reports that growth in that sector has brought long-haul passenger numbers from British airports to 47 million. Moreover, CAA notes that the dominance of flights to the U.S. has been waning. What hasn’t changed much is the type of carriers that are serving those routes, CAA points out. The full report is at: www.caa.co.uk/cap771.
EasyJet is offering its passengers the opportunity to offset carbon emissions with United Nations-certified projects. The average age of the airline’s fleet of aircraft is just 2.3 years, but the low-cost carrier decided to create a carbon offsetting scheme that will initially buy carbon credits from Perlabi Hydroelectric Project in Ecuador, which is U.N. approved. The EasyJet program will expand to other projects later. The average contribution for a round trip will be about £3 ($6), including a 5% administrative fee the airline will charge.
Airways New Zealand estimates it is saving the airline industry NZ $20 million ($15.3 million) per year with improved air traffic procedures such as flexible routing and other initiatives. These efforts also cut the emission of greenhouse gases in the 37 million sq. kilometers of airspace the air navigation service provider controls.
Boeing announced 65 orders last week, making gains in all its product lines except the 767. The biggest winner was the 737 family, with 20 announced orders from Canada's WestJet for 737-700s and seven firm orders from AeroSvit-Ukrainian Airlines (see artist concept) that had previously been carried on the unidentified customer list. WestJet ordered three other 737s early last month. AeroSvit also holds purchase rights on another seven aircraft.
NASA Glenn Research Center has begun renovation of Building 109 at its Cleveland campus for use as an alternate jet fuels test facility, and is acquiring three Fischer-Tropsch reactors supplied by the University of Kentucky for testing purposes. Glenn is spending $439,000 for equipment to be installed in the facility. The reactors (see photo) cost $149,000. The university’s Center for Applied Energy Research has specialized in the Fischer-Tropsch process for 15 years.
Industry sources say that the Bush administration is taking serious consideration of the possibility of former Federal Aviation Administration Deputy Administrator Barbara Barrett to succeed Marion Blakey as the agency’s administrator when Blakey steps down Sept. 13 after a five-year term. Barrett was deputy administrator during the Reagan administration, and before that, Reagan appointed her to the Civil Aeronautics Board. She has served on the boards of several large companies and public organizations and has chaired the U.S. Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy.
Passengers at three major New York-area airports will have access to fast-pass lanes. AirTran Airways and Clear, service provider of registered traveler fast lanes, have partnered to introduce the speedy security lanes at New York LaGuardia Airport. Applicants may enroll at airport and hotel locations. LGA’s enrollment center, where fingerprints and iris images are captured, is set to open this month, and the program is set to be fully operational in September. Details are available at www.flyclear.com/airports www.flyclear.com/airports.
NASA’s nuclear-powered Cassini probe could dip to within 30 km. of Enceladus next March to get up close and personal with the mysterious geysers that erupt from trenches on the tiny moon of Saturn and spew hundreds of kilometers into space.
Japan is seeking not only stealth but also thrust-vectoring, highly integrated avionics, skin sensors, fly-by-light controls and new engines as it pushes ahead with building a fighter technology demonstrator. Supersonic cruise is also targeted by Japan’s defense research institute, although it isn’t listed as an objective of the demonstrator program.
Cutbacks in service are helping Ryanair boost its full-year profit guidance, a strategy that mainline rival Iberia has already implemented with much success as profits in the takeover-targeted carrier continue to rise.
Given the recent coverage of light sport aircraft (AW&ST July 23, p. 48) I would like to hear that there is a Normal or Utility Category version of the Cessna SkyCatcher on the drawing boards, with something like a 1,600-lb. maximum gross weight. That would yield a “useful” useful load given the weight of today’s students, instructors and fuel needed to go somewhere with a reasonable reserve.
The British government will buy a sixth Boeing C-17. The airplane is scheduled for delivery in late 2008 or early 2009. It will be based, with the other five C-17s, at Brize Norton AB. The U.K. is using its strategic airlift fleet heavily to support troops in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Alitalia’s board has put off a decision on a new industrial plan until the end of the month to allow newly named CEO/Chairman Maurizio Prato to review the airline’s situation. Prato takes over from Bernardion Libonati who stepped down after efforts to sell Alitalia collapsed. Prato’s charter is to avert a financial demise of Alitalia, while trying to revive prospects for a sale. The airline is maintaining €612 million in cash, with debt having come down slightly to €1 billion.
Qantas’s Jetstar no-frills airline is looking at adding 6-10 Airbus A321s to its fleet, even though budget carriers almost always avoid such large single-aisle aircraft because of their long turnaround times (AW&ST June 11, p. 22). Chief Executive Alan Joyce says A321s with up to 220 seats would bridge the gap between its current domestic aircraft, the A320, and the wide-body twins of its long-haul operations, currently A330s.
The Pentagon is considering options to rebuild up to $600 million into the Joint Strike Fighter program management reserve for development. A government official calls the problem a “debacle.” A program source, however, says the discussions taking place in the Pentagon are not an emergency. “No one’s hair is on fire.” One option to recoup the cash is to eliminate building up to two test aircraft and disburse testing across the remaining assets; the program includes 21 aircraft for ground and flight test.
