Qatar has agreed to purchase 152 PAC-3 Cost Reduction Initiative (CRI) interceptors and 15 launcher modification kits from Lockheed Martin for $595 million. Twelve U.S. allies have purchased the Patriot air defense system. Of those, the Netherlands, Japan, Taiwan, United Arab Emirates, Germany and Kuwait already have the CRI interceptor. The company is in talks for sales of the CRI to Saudi Arabia, Poland and South Korea. Lockheed recently received U.S.
Prox Dynamics has unveiled a night-capable version of its PD-100 Black Hornet unmanned air vehicle, believed to be the smallest operational military UAV. The 18-gram single-rotor helicopter is fitted with a Flir Systems infrared camera and a day video sensor, and can transmit video streams or high-resolution still images via a digital datalink with a 1-mi. range. More than 3,000 PD-100s have been delivered, the company says. The system has been used in Afghanistan by British Army units since 2013.
The U.S. Navy has declared its new Northrop Grumman E-2D Advanced Hawkeye carrier-based airborne command and control aircraft operational. The first five aircraft—one full squadron—has been fielded and initial operational capability was declared Oct. 10. The first squadron will deploy next year on the USS Theodore Roosevelt. The Navy plans to buy 75 E-2Ds to replace 52 E-2Cs now in service, in a $19.9 billion, 10-squadron program, says Capt. John Lemmon E-2/C-2 program manager for the Navy.
GE Capital Aviation Services is set to take over helicopter-leasing specialist Milestone Aviation Group in an agreement valued at $1.775 billion. The deal, revealed on Oct. 13, is likely to shakeup the still-fledgling helicopter leasing business, which was rebooted by the formation of Milestone in 2010.
Scientists operating the New Horizons probe to explore Pluto and its moons plan to ask for an extended mission to a Kuiper Belt Object (KBO), now that the Hubble Space Telescope has spotted three of the tiny faint bodies at the outer reaches of the Solar System that the nuclear-powered probe may be able to reach after it passes Pluto. The KBOs are 15-34 mi. across, and one of them is “definitely reachable,” according to the program team. All lie at least 1 billion mi.
The owner of London Heathrow Airport is selling Aberdeen, Glasgow and Southampton airports to a consortium of Ferrovial and Macquarie in a deal worth £1.048 billion ($1.68 billion). The long-awaited sale by Heathrow Airport Holdings announced on Oct. 16 is expected to close in 2015. Ferrovial currently owns the controlling share of 25% of Heathrow Holdings through a subsidiary called FGP Topco Ltd.
President Barack Obama has nominated Dava Newman, a professor of aeronautics and astronautics and engineering systems at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, to be deputy administrator at NASA. Best known for innovative spacesuit designs, Newman joined MIT’s faculty in 1993. Pending approval by the Senate, she will follow Lori Garver, who resigned in September 2013 to become general manager of the Air Line Pilots Association.
The device is conceptually safer, cleaner and more powerful than much larger, current nuclear systems that rely on fission, the process of splitting atoms to release energy. Crucially, by being “compact,” Lockheed believes its scalable concept will also be small and practical enough for applications ranging from interplanetary spacecraft and commercial ships to city power stations and, potentially, large aircraft.
While the Air Force and Navy programs will share elements and technologies, the two services have distinct requirements that likely cannot be reconciled into a single program. Still, the two services continue to pursue a joint analysis of alternatives to fully vet the need for separate programs.
Gregory H. Gernhardt has been appointed president of Pratt & Whitney Commercial Engines, East Hartford, Connecticut. He succeeds David M. Brantner, who has left the company. Gernhardt has been head of the company’s PW1100G-JM engine program for the Airbus A320neo.
Of the big three U.S. carriers—American Airlines, Delta Air Lines and United Airlines—American’s route network in Asia-Pacific is by far the weakest, but recent moves by the Dallas-based carrier suggest the fastest-growing air travel region in the world is again in American’s sights.
Russia’s banking system is finding access to capital markets harder because of sanctions imposed as a result of the Ukraine conflict. But the government nonetheless has told two state-owned banks to support the country’s most critical civil aircraft program, the Superjet 100.
Raytheon’s win of USAF’s Three-Dimensional Expeditionary Long-Range Radar competition has larger ramifications for rivals Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman
Bombardier’s CSeries test fleet is rebuilding momentum and will soon be joined by the first aircraft to be configured with a full interior, marking two welcome developments for the hard-pressed Canadian manufacturer and its engine supplier, Pratt & Whitney.
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries is performing system checks on the first MRJ in preparation for a first flight due in the second quarter of 2015. Nearby in the same Nagoya factory building, MHI technicians have progressed far into final assembly of the second aircraft and started working on the third.
