Israel Aerospace Industries signed contracts worth $4.088 billion in 2006, a rise of 22% over $3.4 billion in 2005 and 35% over $2.7 billion in 2004. It's the first time IAI has exceeded $4 billion in new orders in a single year. Export contracts comprised 88% of total volume, an apparent result of IAI's wish to focus on large, international projects.
As a million-miler on several airlines, I was dismayed by the comment by Boeing and Airbus on the Market Focus page that "neither sees a replacement for the single-aisle A320 or 737 . . . until the middle of the next decade" (AW&ST Dec. 11, 2006, p. 12). I hope Embraer, Bombardier or the Russians see this as an opportunity to capture a substantial share of the biggest segment of commercial aircraft market.
SpaceX could make a second attempt to loft its Falcon 1 vehicle this week, working under a Jan. 21-22 launch window at the U.S. Army's Reagan Test Site on Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands. The company is seeking a few more contingency days, and founder Elon Musk says it could go beyond that "as we work with the upgraded vehicle, pad and procedures." The vehicle cleared its flight readiness review and has been rolled to the pad. A wet-dress rehearsal identified "a number of noncritical issues," but no showstoppers.
FedEx Express has named Singapore Technologies Aerospace's Mobile Aerospace Engineering (MAE) subsidiary to convert 87 Boeing 757-200 passenger aircraft to freighters. Work will be done in the Alabama facility in three blocks beginning this year and stretch out to 2014. No contract award price was released.
Italy is expected to sign the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter Production, Sustainment and Follow-on Development memorandum of understanding before the end of the month, joining the U.K., Australia, Canada, the Netherlands, Turkey and the U.S. in committing to the project's next phase.
Falling fuel prices appear to be leveling the landscape in the U.S. airline industry--at least temporarily--as the cost gap narrows between perennial high-flyer Southwest Airlines and the network carriers. Southwest has long used its much-envied hedging program to avoid the high fuel prices that have helped keep its competitors in the red, but its fuel cost advantage is now shrinking.
Defense Force Bell Helicopter Textron 47G (1) CASA C-212-300 (2) Cessna 182Q (1) Police Bell Helicopter Textron 412 (3) Dornier Do 27A (1) MBB BO 105 (1)
The Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) plans to deploy wide- area multilateration technology to provide parallel runway monitoring as well as surface movement management for Beijing International Airport. The parallel runway monitoring is a novel application of wide-area multilateration technology, according to Rannoch Corp. of Alexandria, Va. Radar is usually used for this type of monitoring.
ALSO IN THIS ISSUE World News & Analysis see p. 10 1. Outlook/Specifications 15 Outlook Overview 19 Military Aircraft Outlooks: Fighter/Attack 20 Bombers 27 Transports 28 Trainers 31 Top 25 U.S. DOD Procurement Programs 34 Top 25 U.S. DOD RDT&E Programs 35 --Military Aircraft Table 36 Information Technology Outlook 52 Commercial Aircraft Outlook 55 Airports Outlook 61
United Airlines will launch daily Washington-Beijing nonstop round-trip service this spring if the U.S. Transportation Dept. makes final its tentative decision to award the carrier the seven weekly U.S.-China frequencies available this year.
Provided with the Assistance of Alexander Velovich (Russian Correspondent, Forecast Interational)
ARSENAL MACHINE BUILDING PLANT OAO (St. Petersburg) is descended from the cannon foundries of Czar Peter the Great (1672-1725). It developed the R-31 (SS-N-17), the first Soviet solid-fuel submarine-launched ballistic missile, and continues to be involved in ship- and submarine-based missile launch systems. In the space field, Arsenal is involved in Rorsat, Eorsat and many satellite components used in both military and civil applications.
The No. 2 airlines in Spain and Italy have struck a marketing relationship. Spanair and Air One will start by offering code-share through flights between Barcelona and Turin on to other destinations.
Andrew Dardine (Forecast International), Theresa Hartley (Forecast International)
Last summer, precision targeting linked to modern military avionics took center stage in the global war on terrorism. Viewers tuned into news accounts featuring F-16 targeting pod imagery of the air-to-ground precision-bombing attack that killed leading terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi in Iraq. Post-strike coverage showed that a target can be destroyed with minimal collateral damage, as well. This single, graphic event capsulated how profoundly modern avionics systems have transformed air warfare during the last decade.
Japan Airlines says passengers traveling to China jumped 31% during the Dec. 28-Jan. 8 New Year vacation period. It saw modest increases in travel to South Korea and Southeast Asia, 3.3% and 5.6%, respectively. But otherwise, international seat capacity was down 3.7% during the period. High winds and heavy snowfalls during the vacation led to cancellation of 27 international and 152 domestic flights.
