With the arrival of the first production Global Hawk unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in the Middle East last year, the program transitioned from a mere concept demonstration project to a fully operational weapon system supporting the Iraq war. Though the high-flying aircraft still has a lot to prove, operators are growing increasingly confident in its intelligence-gathering capabilities. But it has yet to demonstrate its ability to carry more advanced sensors, so commanders remain unwilling to fully transfer high-altitude reconnaissance missions from the venerable U-2.
NASA plans to reuse the main portion of the Orion crew exploration vehicle "where it makes sense," following a system requirements review (SRR) of the human-carrying U.S. spacecraft intended to pick up where the retiring space shuttle leaves off. "Based on the current design concept and level of understanding, the crew module portion of the Orion will be largely reused from flight to flight," says Helen Grant, program executive for the Orion crew module.
NASA says it will deliver its Fiscal 2007 operating plan to Capitol Hill "soon," and a couple of big shoes will drop once it does. The plan will detail how the agency intends to absorb a $545-million cut in its budget this year, and a lot of that money will come from sending robotic scouts to the surface of the Moon in advance of a human return there by 2020. Mapping is the top lunar-robotic priority, to be handled by NASA's 2008 Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) and upcoming orbiter missions by India, Japan and perhaps China.
Finnair is bolstering its Airbus long-range aircraft fleet in conjunction with a decision to accelerate the phaseout of its MD-11s by 2010. The carrier says it is adding to its planned buy of Airbus's new twin-widebody, the A350XWB, and has become the first customer to sign firm orders for the type. The carrier now has 11 firm orders and four options. It also has committed to using Rolls-Royce TrentXWB turbofans. Finnair would get the first aircraft in 2014. Finnair also bought seven A330/A340-300s, although the mix hasn't been settled.
UPS has followed FedEx in canceling its A380 freighter, bringing to zero from 27 the backlog for that aircraft type and to two the number of customers to have walked away from the A380 program because of prolonged delays. But, ultimately, UPS's cancellation has more to do with bad customer communications on Airbus's side than delays. UPS was apparently willing to wait until 2012 for the aircraft, a three-year delay.
The debate over a single engine source for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) continues. After losing a bid last year in Congress to kill the alternative to Pratt & Whitney's F135, the Pentagon is back with a Fiscal 2008 budget request that again omits funding. The Defense Dept. believes it can save about $1.8 billion by dropping the General Electric-Rolls-Royce F136 engine. But Bill Storey, president of the Teal Group, predicts Congress will overrule that plan.
Lockheed Martin has rolled out its precision DAGR missile, which is designed for urban combat by limiting collateral damage. The 2.75-in. guided rocket is compatible with the larger Hellfire II missile.
Raytheon Aircraft Co. is relocating its international sales headquarters to Chester, England, from Geneva this month. The move will combine the company's sales function with production and service facilities already at Chester. The company's international business has gone from 16% of overall sales in 2004 to 35% last year, says Brad Hatt, president of commercial sales. Chester, birthplace of RAC's Hawker 800 series business jets, serves as its hub for service and support and is a major heavy maintenance base for NetJets Europe.
William Freeman has been appointed chairman of TerreStar Networks Inc., Reston, Va. He has been a director and was CEO of Leap Wireless International Inc. and a senior executive at Verizon.
The U.S. Air Force is crafting a reconnaissance operational concept that could dramatically alter how the military collects imagery and could--for the first time--draw on the long-dwell attributes of the new Global Hawk unmanned aerial vehicle. For decades, the old way allowed regional four-star commanders purview over their own small fleet of U-2s to collect imagery and signals intelligence on targets in their areas of operation.
When the news came on Mar. 2 about Boeing's plans to terminate C-17 production by mid-2009 and the expectation that the company and its suppliers would have to lay off 7,500 people, I immediately thought about your articles on the "Vanishing Aerospace Engineer" (AW&ST Feb. 5, p. 44). How can we expect our young people to go into aerospace if they hear news like that every time a program is terminated. The mentality of aerospace management is to lay off people immediately, and by the thousands. Who wants to go into a career like that?
Russia's newly integrated aircraft industry is trying to define an initial product strategy and gauge the amount of government assistance it will require in the near-term to rebuild an industry battered by years of neglect, inefficiency and failing products. The group is preparing a "launch package," aimed at restarting series production of existing airliners, renovating manufacturing technologies and devising improved civil aircraft, says Alexey Fedorov, chairman of the Russian United Aircraft Corp. (OAK under its Russian acronym).
Countries in the wider Persian Gulf region will place orders in the next few years worth billions of dollars for air defense and integrated command, control, communications, computers and intelligence (C4I) systems, according to what major U.S. and European defense companies expect. Particularly, the improvement of air and missile defenses is an urgent requirement for Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) member states, as well as countries including Pakistan, say senior executives attending the Idex defense exhibition last month in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
Japan's Solar Physics Satellite captured a partial eclipse when the southern part of the Sun blocked the northern area of the Moon, a sight that could not have been observed from the ground.
The modest extension planned for the shorter of Tokyo Narita's parallel runways will allow operation of flights to the U.S. The 320-meter (1,050-ft.) lengthening of the runway to 2,500 meters, due to be completed in early 2010, has previously been billed as facilitating regional Asian services, but airport officials now say it will also serve more distant destinations. A southern extension to the runway was long planned, but the airport was unable to persuade a farmer to sell the land.
Arthur D. Collins, Jr., chairman/CEO of Medtronic Inc., has been appointed to the Boeing Co. board of directors. Collins is expected to step down as CEO in August but remain chairman.
The U.S. Air Force needs to pare down its requirements for the KC-X tanker. A Boeing KC-17 would fit into the mix nicely for several reasons. USAF pilots know how to fly it and maintain it, and the service needs more C-17s. Buying a commer- cial-off-the-shelf tanker would require more of the above and the bucks aren't there. Also, Chief of Staff Gen. T. Michael Moseley is right to be less than enthusiastic about the choice of the CH-47 for the CSAR-X (AW&ST Feb. 5, p. 21). In Operation Anaconda--during the fighting in Afghani-stan--CH-47s were shot down easily.
After an 18-month study, the U.S. Energy and Defense Depts. say they will continue with a Reliable Replacement Warhead program to improve the safety of the nuclear stockpile with new designs and manufacturing. Defense officials say the new design will produce a more flexible nuclear infrastructure and, eventually, a smaller stockpile of nuclear weapons. On the other side of the nuclear equation, the U.S. Air Force says it will retire the nuclear-armed, hard-target-kill capable Advanced Cruise Missile.
Finmeccanica expects to take full control of Selex Sensors and Airborne Systems by mid-year, putting it in a position to launch the long-planned reorganization and integration of its defense electronics activities and set the scene for more possible consolidation moves. Finmeccanica acquired 75% of Selex in 2005 under a put/call agreement with BAE Systems that allows the Italian aerospace and defense contractor to buy out BAE's remaining 25% share. The price of the transaction, set two years ago, will be around €400 million ($524 million).
Douglas Barrie (London), Joris Janssen Lok (Berlin), Robert Wall (Paris)
Combat operations in Afghanistan and the need to keep Tornado strike fighters in operations for another two decades are driving a flurry of upgrades, the most ambitious of which is a British effort to fly an active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar by mid-year. Also on the agenda in London and Berlin are nearer-term upgrades to the Tornados, including several self-protection enhancement initiatives.
GENERAL AVIATION AVIONICS MANUFACTURER Garmin Ltd. posted record fourth-quarter revenues of $611 million--up from $319 million during the same quarter a year ago. Of that amount, the company's aviation segment earned $61 million--a 3% gain over the previous fourth quarter. For the 2006 fiscal year, Garmin reports the segment increased its revenue 2% to $233 million compared with 2005 earnings. Company officials expect aviation revenues to rise 20% this year, driven by sales of the G1000 fully integrated avionics suite and aftermarket shipments.
Air Force leaders continue to narrowly focus on fixing one judging issue contributing to its disputed decision to buy Boeing Chinooks for search-and-rescue missions. But, the losing contractors are expecting the service to address a number of other points of contention in the $15-billion competition.
The Air Force is continuing to look for options for a "portfolio" approach to the airborne electronic attack mission, Wynne says. The closest to a sure thing, the B-52 Standoff Jammer, was terminated last year because of major cost growth. But Wynne says the Air Force still needs a jammer capable of traveling with advanced fighters. "We need to make sure that we have the right match to assist us to go into various areas," Wynne says. "I see a role for all of the developments that are going on, and it is going to be a question of application.
China's cabinet is considering a proposal to build passenger aircraft that would compete with Airbus and Boeing products, Reuters reports from Shanghai, citing industry sources. If the project proceeds, it will aim to fly a prototype in 2010. China is already building a large regional jet, the GE-engined ARJ-21, about as big as the larger Embraer and Bombardier aircraft, although it has been tailored to Chinese hot-and-high runway conditions.
Airline traffic gained across all sectors worldwide last year, with total passengers up 5.1% to 4.4 billion and total aircraft movements up 1.2% to 73 million, according to Airports Council International. The results included a 6.7% gain to 1.8 billion passengers in international flights and a 3.7% gain for cargo, which reached 84.5 million metric tons (including mail). Of that, 51 million metric tons was shipped internationally, a 6.3% gain.
