Using wing design heritage from the MD-11 and sculptured nacelles, Boeing has introduced ``quiet,'' longer range passenger and freighter versions of the extended-range 747-400ER that it put into production last month. The goal is to make the -400 more compatible with European noise restraints while regaining momentum against the Airbus A340-600 in large-aircraft sales.
Russian flag carrier Aeroflot and Sweden's Volvo Aero aircraft managing division have signed a $57-million deal to support, maintain and overhaul Pratt &Whitney JT9D-20J powerplants on the airline's four leased DC-10-40Fs. The Western-manufactured aircraft are to replace 16 Ilyushin Il-76s, which--beginning in April--will not be allowed to operate in Europe owing to European Union noise restrictions (AW&ST Feb. 25, p. 47). Scheduled service is to begin next month on Europe-Moscow-Japan-Southeast Asia routes.
Navigators on the planned New Horizons mission to Pluto, Charon and the Kuiper Belt have trimmed a year off the 3-billion-mi. cruise to the outermost planet by optimizing their launch window. That would bring the probe to Pluto for a flyby in 2015 rather than 2016, as originally estimated. Mission advocates say arriving a year earlier would give New Horizons more light for its photography of the planet's surface, a better shot at studying the atmosphere should Pluto's movement away from the Sun cause it to freeze, and more fuel for exploration in its target region.
ISRO has also just signed the International Charter on Space and Major Disasters which aims to assure the effective use of Indian remote-sensing data during natural disasters. The European Space Agency and CNES, the French space agency, first initiated the charter in mid-2000. ISRO has also just renewed a long-standing space cooperation agreement with ESA.
The Feb. 18 column reported that L-3 Communications Interstate Electronics Corp. would be the first company to begin production of Selective Availability Anti-Spoofing Module (SAASM)-equipped GPS receivers. Rockwell Collins had actually delivered its first SAASM-based GPS receiver for the international Harm missile upgrade program in August 2000 (AW&ST Sept. 4, 2000, p. 88).
The European engine consortium competing to power the A400M transport airplane has determined it needs to propose a new engine core to meet the airlifter's requirements. In addition, the venture is being restructured with a new managing director position. Rolls-Royce, Snecma, MTU and ITP would report to the new manager. The new engine core will use three-shaft technology that Rolls-Royce employs and also draw on other existing technologies.
Airbus has long had trouble in the Japanese market. Its current market share is only 20%, and it has not been able to find a Japanese manufacturing partner for any of its aircraft programs, as Boeing has for the 767 and 777. All that is about to change, Airbus CEO Noel Forgeard said.
Snecma reported a 24% surge in consolidated earnings before interest and taxes for 2001, to 720 million euros ($619 million), on sales of 6.9 billion euros (a 22% increase). Net income, despite provisions of 144 million euros for civil aircraft financing risk, climbed to 358 million euros, from 318 million euros the year before. However, the engine and aerospace systems manufacturer expects revenues to slump about 10% this year, and profitability by one or two points, due to the ongoing airline slump (AW&ST Feb. 4, p. 60).
The team of Pratt&Whitney, Rolls-Royce, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman and BAE Systems have been awarded the Collier Trophy for design, development, testing and demonstration of the Integrated Shaft-Driven Lift Fan Propulsion System for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. Pratt&Whitney is the prime contractor for the JSF propulsion system. In addition, the Defense Dept.'s Joint Strike Fighter Program Office is responsible for oversight of the Lift Fan initiative.
Fairchild Dornier's firm-and-option order book now exceeds $11 billion in value, with more than 500 aircraft on backlog. The 32-seat 328 Jet, purchased by China's Hainan Airlines, has garnered 38% of all orders since Sept. 11 in its market segment, versus a 23% market share since inception. Fairchild Dornier's 728, slated for rollout Mar. 21, has picked up 289 orders for the whole family--125 firm, 164 options. The company is in talks with China about production of 728 parts, as a follow-on to the co-production pact for 328 parts approved last November with Beijing.
Engineers are scurrying to determine how to correct or live with a design flaw in the Ball Aerospace star tracker shades fitted to NASA's Aqua Earth sciences satellite slated for launch from the Vandenberg AFB in California next month.
O'Keefe aggressively defends the Administration's decision not to begin in earnest just yet an effort to send a probe to the Kuiper Belt and Pluto. He wants first to develop nuclear propulsion and other technologies to enhance the scientific return from such a mission. Quizzed by legislators on his reasoning, he says whatever could be undertaken today would lead to only 3-4 weeks in which humanity would have a better view of the planet than can already be had by other means.
The Tesna consortium's 11th-hour pullout from a deal to buy what once was Australia's second largest airline last week set Ansett administrators on an intense search for possible rescuers. Logistics firm Patrick Corp. (formerly Lang) late last week confirmed its previous offer ``is current.'' The bid involved Sir Richard Branson's Australian low-cost carrier, Virgin Blue Airways, as a potential partner and was made last November after Ansett, pummeled by aircraft maintenance problems and fierce domestic fare wars, collapsed.
Embraer has started production of its Super Tucano trainer/light attack aircraft following a purchase agreement for 76 of the turboprop aircraft by the Brazilian air force late last year. Another 23 of the twin-seat aircraft are held on option by the air force, and 10 Super Tucanos are scheduled for delivery to the Dominican Republic. First delivery is expected in December 2003, and the Brazilian air force will receive two monthly. They will be used primarily to patrol the Amazon region.
With TRW Inc. in play and financial markets anticipating competing offers for the company, the aerospace/defense industry last week appeared poised for a bidding war. Leading the charge will be Northrop Grumman Corp., which recently made an unsolicited offer of $47 in Northrop common stock for every one of TRW's. Its interest in TRW dates back at least several years. The transaction would be valued at about $11 billion, including the assumption of about $5 billion in TRW debt.
The British government likely faces a 5-10-billion-pound ($7.1-14.2-billion) price tag should it ever wish to procure a homeland ballistic missile defense capability, according to a senior Defense Ministry official. The rough estimate figure is based upon the U.K. purchasing off-the-shelf a system such as the U.S. ground-based interceptor, and building on radar and command and control facilities at Fylingdales and Menwith Hill in England. Both sites are prime candidates to be involved in a U.S.
Joseph B. Hartranft, who was instrumental in the formation of the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Assn. (AOPA), died Feb. 22 in Annapolis, Md. He was 86. From 1939-77, Hartranft guided AOPA's growth into the world's largest pilot association, which was formed to promote general aviation in the U.S. and defend the interests of private pilots before Congress and the federal government. He also was president from 1952-77 and logged more than 17,000 hr. in the air. As a reserve captain in the U.S.
Europe's proposed Galileo satellite navigation and positioning system took a giant step toward final funding approval with a firm decision by the German cabinet to support the program. Late last week, German Transport Minister Kurt Bodewig said he would okay the earmarking of 155 million euros ($136 million) for development and validation. The funding will be approved at a meeting of the Council of European transport ministers scheduled for the end of the month.
Mark D. Powers has been appointed to the board of directors of Vanguard Airlines. He is senior vice president-sales, marketing and alliances for Interelate of Minneapolis and has been an executive of Northwest and Continental airlines. Elizabeth Cattell has become vice president-marketing.
Building on the traditional ``V'' formation that allows each bird flying aft of the lead bird to reduce drag and conserve energy, NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards, Calif., established the Autonomous Formation Flight (AFF) project. A NASA F/A-18 in the wingtip vortex behind another F/A-18 exhibited a 12% fuel savings at cruise altitude. During the 96-min. flight late last year, the trailing aircraft burned about 600 lb. less fuel than a third F/A-18 outside the formation.
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld strangles the Office of Strategic Influence in the cradle--reluctantly, it seems. A hubbub about the prospects that OSI would promulgate inaccurate information, even to friends, damaged the new office beyond repair. The initial idea, Pentagon advocates said, was to coordinate information warfare, including computer network attack and propaganda. However, some Pentagon insiders say, even those running the organization could not explain what they intended to fix by adding the new layer of bureaucracy.
If the U.S. Air Force is going to buy a ``smart'' tanker aircraft, it's up to Boeing and EADS to make an offer--this week--that the Pentagon can't resist, senior service planners say.
Elbit Systems will be responsible for integrating the Grob 120A light trainer into service with the Israel Air Force (IAF). The all-composite Grob will replace Piper and Zukit aircraft. The 10-year contract from the Ministry of Defense was based on the operational concept Private Finance Initiative. PFI, implemented in several defense forces worldwide, is being adopted for the first time in the IAF.
Pilatus expects to introduce its newest entry into the trainer market during a rollout from the Swiss company's Stans headquarters in late April, and fly for the first time in May or June. The PC-21 follows the company's PC-7 and PC-9 into the trainer marketplace. The PC-9 was the basis for the modified Raytheon Aircraft T-6 Texan 2 trainer entering service with the U.S. Air Force and Navy.
The Star Alliance has concluded a preliminary agreement with Paris airport operator ADP Paris airports authority to turn Terminal 1 at Charles de Gaulle airport into a hub facility. All but two of the Star carriers serving Paris are already at Terminal 1. Once a major overhaul of the installation, begun last year, is finished in 2005, Star will be capable of funneling 7.5 million passengers through CDG, compared with 5.5 million in 2000.
