An overview of Business Aviation recently completed by the Teal Group predicts that sales of new business aircraft will slow during 2004-06 before resuming growth in 2007. Richard Aboulafia, director of aviation for the Teal Group, is projecting the sale of 6,908 business jets during the next 10 years, with competitors Bombardier and Gulfstream Aerospace Corp. battling it out for market dominance in terms of dollar value. According to Aboulafia, Bombardier would capture 25.5% of the market against Gulfstream's 25.4%. Cessna Aircraft Co.
Lufthansa and Rolls-Royce last week concluded a contract valued at $750 million to install Trent 900 powerplants on 15 Airbus A380s the airline has on firm order. The engine, which is being developed specifically for the aircraft that will accommodate more than 550 people, will be available at 68,000- and 76,500-lb. thrusts for both passenger and freighter versions. The first Trent 900 is scheduled to run in March next year, and engine certification at a 81,500-lb. rating is expected in summer 2004.
Texas-based Air Tractor Inc. has delivered the first of eight modified AT-802s to the U.S. State Dept. for narcotics crop eradication. The other seven are scheduled to be delivered in the next few months.
Systems planned for use in the General Electric/Rolls-Royce F136 powerplant have strong ties to technologies developed under the Defense Dept.'s Integrated High Performance Turbine Engine Technology, or IHPTET initiative.
Helen Williams of the Epps Air Service has been elected president of Women in Corporate Aviation. Other officers elected recently are: international vice president, Gail Julian of the Multi Service Corp.; vice president, Marge DeLong of CAE SimuFlite; secretary, Nel Sanders of Conklin and deDecker; and treasurer, Sheila Opitz of FBO Resources.
This year's ILA 2002 air show in Berlin was the biggest ever, with 1,067 exhibitors--up from 941 two years ago--and 85,000 expected trade visitors. Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder became the first German government head to attend the official opening. The 340 aircraft on display included the A318 ``baby Airbus,'' on public show for the first time; Eurocopter's EC 145, a bigger advanced version of the BK 117 C1; and a diesel-powered four-seater, the Twin Star from Diamond Aircraft Industries of Austria.
The U.S. Navy has chosen General Dynamics' Decision Systems division to supply target detection devices for the Standard Missile program under a three-year, $138-million contract.
An ongoing Cape Canaveral Spaceport master planning effort being managed jointly by the NASA Kennedy Space Center, the USAF 45th Space Wing and the Florida Spaceport authority continues to show healthy launch rates for the Cape into the foreseeable future. A 10-year projection shows an annual worldwide need around 2010 for the launch of 125 payloads. Cape operators would be likely to win about 35 of the payloads, equating to about 30 launches a year. ``A launch rate of 21-30 is quite significant,'' Renee Ponik of the planning team told the Cape's 39th Space Congress.
Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) wants to tap Pentagon coffers to help NASA pay its bills by contributing funds to NASA's $4.8-billion dual-use Space Launch Initiative (SLI). The Defense Dept. is ``relatively flush with funds compared to NASA,'' Nelson said. ``Is it not a reasonable point of serious consideration that a participation in SLI be not just with NASA dollars but with [Defense] dollars as well, with NASA managing it?'' NASA and the Pentagon have agreed to work together on SLI once the military clarifies its requirements for reusable launch vehicles (AW&ST Apr.
A Boeing Delta II launched NASA's Aqua Earth-imaging satellite May 4 into a 680-km. (422-mi.) temporary Sun synchronous orbit (see photo). It will be raised to its working altitude of 705 km. later this month as instrument checkout and calibration continues. Built by TRW Space and Electronics, Aqua is designed to study water, ice and atmospheric moisture as part of a broader NASA effort to build a global climate model (AW&ST Apr. 1, p. 50). It is expected to be operational in July.
The risk of further in-service-date delays for Europe's so far ill-starred A400M military airlifter looms. Spain and Portugal have still to sign off on the eight-nation program, and development of a new engine is now a key factor on the critical design path. Concern over the development time line is such in some quarters that the British Defense Ministry has begun to talk openly about alternative plans to purchase Boeing C-17s should A400M delays continue. The acquisition of 11 C-17s is believed to be the optimum number within the ministry. The U.K.
North Star Over My Shoulder A Flying Life By Bob Buck Simon & Schuster 446 pp. Hardcover, $26.00 This is the fifth aviation-related book by Buck. His earlier tomes were well-written and informative, as is this. It is a book with ``heart,'' in which he recounts learning to fly as a teenager, and the many solo flights he took to disparate locations in the U.S., Cuba and Mexico in his Pitcairn Mailwing and Lambert Monocoupe. Airline pilots who entered the field in the 1930s had similar experiences, but Buck's early flying stories have a quality of adventure beyond most.
KLM Royal Dutch Airlines' management remains ``prudent'' about the economy's recovery but nevertheless expects to restore profitability during the 2002-03 fiscal year. KLM in 2001-02 incurred a 156-million-euro ($143-million) loss, compared with a modest $69-million profit during the previous year. In contrast with most international carriers, KLM in the post-Sept. 11 period has maintained robust passenger yields despite a lower demand: An 8% cut in seating capacity helped to retain a healthy 78.7% load factor.
The Space Activities Commission, Japan's senior space policy body, is to codify the fact that the H-IIA medium-lift launcher has priority for all government-funded payloads. Since the 1970s, the Japanese government has used foreign launchers only three times, but its preference for Japanese rockets has been an informal policy. Space Systems Loral's decision to drop a launch reservation contract it held with Rocket System Corp., the H-IIA's business unit, left it with only one signed contract, to launch the Transport Ministry's MT-SAT multifunctional satellite.
Richard F. Raybon has been appointed vice president-finance for the Iselin, N.J.-based Northrop Grumman Corp. Component Technologies Sector. He succeeds Bill Morgan, who is retiring. Raybon held the same post at the Navigation Systems Div. of Northrop Grumman's Electronic Systems Sector, Woodland Hills, Calif.
Press-shy Gen. Ralph E. Eberhart, already head of U.S. Space Command and North American Aerospace Defense Command, also has been designated as the first chief of U.S. Northern Command, subject to approval by Congress. With responsibility for preserving national security for Americans where they live and work, he would bear responsibility for ordering the shooting down of a U.S. airliner if it were in the hands of terrorists. ``We will . . . prepare for the inevitability of uncertainty and surprise,'' Eberhart said.
Using current technology in new ways and sharing information already available are keys to defeating terrorism, according to industry and government executives. Hugo Poza, Raytheon Co.'s senior vice president for homeland security, said, ``A lot of the technology is there, but we now have to personalize it with purpose. It is not just finding more technology.
The Defense Dept. notified Congress last week that it intends to approve sale of a fifth Aegis anti-aircraft naval system to Japan. Lockheed Martin is prime contractor for the $578-million system that is centered on the SPY-1 radar for detecting and firing on up to 100 targets at a time. Japan is the only ally to have received Aegis, although the Defense Dept. has approved sale of three systems to South Korea worth an estimated $1.2 billion.
The Pentagon's decision not to build a system dedicated to terminal sea-based missile defense is sparking efforts to upgrade other projects to fill the gap. The main participants will be the Navy's air-defense Aegis weapon system with the Standard Missile 2 Block 4 (SM2-Blk IV) and the much longer range mid-course ballistic missile defense system that employs the Standard Missile 3. Initially, the Pentagon will try to determine if the SM2-Blk IV, designed to intercept aircraft and cruise missiles, can also defend against short-range ballistic missiles (100-300 km.).
Mike Cosentino has become director of Joint Strike Fighter international programs for the Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co. of Fort Worth. He was deputy program manager for the C-130J.
A government decision on whether the Netherlands will participate in the U.S.-led F-35 Joint Strike Fighter system development and demonstration (SDD) phase has been deferred until June 12, at the earliest. However, an SDD decision hinges on the outcome of a Dutch general election scheduled for May 15, and could be delayed further by fallout from the murder of Pim Fortuyn, a right-wing politician. Counted as a supporter of Dutch participation in JSF development, Fortuyn was gunned down on May 6 shortly after conducting a radio interview.
