Sierra Nevada Corp. is underscoring its position as a potential human spaceflight provider for a global market, despite its rejection by NASA as one of two commercial operators to fly astronauts to the International Space Station.
If the KF-X survives while production of older European and U.S. aircraft winds up, then next decade it may be the only alternative to the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning as a fighter engineered for compatibility with Western weapons and communications
Russia’s Proton M/Briz M heavy-lift launch vehicle returned to flight Sept. 28, sending a Russian military satellite to geosynchronous orbit from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The vehicle, which has been grounded since a May incident that led to the loss of Russian Satellite Communications Co. (RSCC) AM4R satellite, lifted off at 12:23 a.m. Moscow time, marking the fifth launch of a Proton rocket this year.
Lockheed Martin’s full-scale mock-up of its Unmanned Carrier Launched Surveillance and Strike (Uclass) contender was unveiled in late September when CNBC reporter Jane Wells tweeted a photo from the company’s Skunk Works unit.
Production of Boeing 737s is expected to rise to an unprecedented 52 per month in 2018. The company, which already announced plans to increase the production rate to 47 per month in 2017, hinted last month that the even higher assembly rate was being considered in response to market demand. Once established, the new rate means more than 620 aircraft a year will be built, roughly equivalent to the cumulative production for the first 13 years of the 737. Boeing has a firm order backlog of more than 4,000 737s: over 1,700 for 737 NGs and 2,294 for the 737 MAX family.
NASA selected Boeing and SpaceX to take U.S. astronauts to and from the International Space Station (ISS) as a way to stop paying Russia $76 million a pop for seats (and training) in the Soyuz capsule after early 2018. But even in this era of cooling relations between the countries, it doesn’t mean astronauts will stop flying Soyuz. And cosmonauts probably will fly in the new U.S. vehicles, to restore the “dissimilar redundancy” in ISS crew transport that has been missing since the space shuttle retired.
Miami-based Eastern Air Lines, which is not yet flying, has confirmed its order for 20 Mitsubishi Aircraft 92-seat MRJ90 regional jets. Deliveries are due to begin in 2019, about two years after the MRJ enters service. Mitsubishi now has orders for 191 MRJs, which should increase to 223 when Japan Airlines confirms an order for 32 covered by a letter of intent. In addition, customers hold options and purchase rights on another 184 MRJ90s. Eastern will use the name and livery of the historic but unrelated U.S. airline that closed in 1991.
Blackpool International Airport in the U.K. has announced that commercial flights could end by the middle of October if a buyer is not found for the loss-making facility. The airport owner, infrastructure company Balfour Beatty said Sept. 29 that if no buyer can be found before Oct. 7, airport operations will end on Oct. 15. The airport currently has flights to resort destinations in Spain and Turkey with U.K. low-cost airline Jet2 and flights to Ireland and the Isle of Man by Aer Lingus and Citywing.
As part of ongoing moves to streamline its defense and space business, Boeing is moving the majority of its service and support-related work from Washington State to Oklahoma City and St. Louis. The move will take around three years and affect about 2,000 employees principally working on service and support of the E-3 AWACS, 737 Airborne Early Warning & Control and F-22 combat aircraft. Boeing says up to 900 jobs could be added in Oklahoma and 500 in St. Louis, and that further work will be moved to Jacksonville, Florida, and Patuxent River, Maryland.
The U.K. Royal Air Force has stood down one of its AgustaWestland EH101 Merlin squadrons and handed over the aircraft to the Royal Navy. The former RAF Merlin Mk3s will replace Westland Sea King Mk4s that were the backbone of the Commando Helicopter Force but are due to be retired in March 2016. The RAF’s 78 Sqdn. stood down on Sept. 30 at RAF Benson with the handover, while the RN reactivated 846 Naval Air Sqdn. (NAS).
Australia has contracted with BAE Systems to upgrade the launcher subsystem of the Nulka naval defense system, with the aim of ensuring the hovering-rocket decoy can remain in use despite the obsolescence of some parts. Nulka, an Australian product that BAE calls “the world’s most effective soft-kill anti-ship missile defense,” is in service on more than 140 vessels in the U.S., Canadian and Australian navies. Unlike reflective chaff and transmitters suspended under parachutes, Nulka decoys are designed to to lure anti-ship missiles away from targeted ships.
Concepts for replacing the Russian-built RD-180 rocket engine presented to the U.S. Air Force last week include a solid-fuel concept developed by ATK, drawing on heritage from the company’s space shuttle and national security product lines.
After years of bitter competitions, Embraer has finally established a U.S. foothold for production of defense systems stateside with the rollout of its first A-29 Super Tucano for sale to the U.S. Air Force.
Oleg Ivanovsky, a Soviet space-technology pioneer who helped design Sputnik 1 and bolted Yuri Gagarin into the Vostok capsule he also helped to design before the historic first human spaceflight, has died, according to the Russian space agency, Roscosmos. He was 92. The time and place of his death were not announced.
Johannes Bussmann has been named chairman of the executive board of Lufthansa Technik, effective April 1. He will succeed August Wilhelm Henningsen, who plans to retire. Bussmann has been the board member responsible for human resources, engine and VIP services.
Mary M. “Meg” VanDeWeghe has been named to the board of directors B/E Aerospace, Wellington, Florida. She is president/CEO of Forte Consulting Inc. and a professor of the practice of finance at Georgetown University’s -McDonough School of Business. VanDeWeghe has been a senior vice president-finance at the Lockheed Martin Corp.
John Harpool has been appointed national sales manager for Houston-based U.S. Bank Multi-Service Aviation. He was director of sales and marketing for Air Training International, also in Houston.
Scott Harris has been named head of aerospace programs at Northrop Grumman Australia. He was head of customer business for Qantas Defense Services, which was acquired by Northrop Grumman.
Bryan Zidar has become managing director of corporate communications for Alaska Airlines. He was director of corporate communications for T-Mobile U.S.
Greg Marshall (see photo) has been appointed acting vice president-global programs for the Alexandria, Virginia-based Flight Safety Foundation. He was director of FSF’s Basic Aviation Risk Standard program in the Melbourne, Florida, office. Marshall succeeds Rudy Quevedo, who is now director of safety at the International Air Transport Association.
Phillip J. Cagnassola, a member of the board of directors, has become a minority partner in the Paramount Aviation Resources Group, Fredericksburg, Virginia.
