A space-based infrared (IR) survey system is being proposed to NASA by Ball Aerospace as a low-risk, quick-start option to significantly speed up the rate at which potentially lethal asteroids can be discovered.
Even if the Libyan air force and air defenses failed to mount a robust challenge to the NATO-led air campaign over the country, coalition participants are finding lessons to draw from the experience.
Feb. 1-2—MRO Middle East 2012. Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Feb. 14-16 —Aerospace & Defense Technology and Affordability Requirements. Washington. March 7—54th Annual Laureate Awards. Washington. March 13-14—Innovation Supply Chain Showcase. Orlando, Fla. April 3-5—MRO Americas 2012. Dallas. April 3-5—MRO Military Conference & Exhibition. Dallas. April 23-25—NextGen Ahead: Air Transportation Modernization. Washington. May 8-9—Civil Aviation Manufacturing. Charlotte, N.C.
The new global currency of the 21st century is innovation. In order for this currency to properly appreciate, developed countries will have to cast away some common misconceptions about what it means to do good research and technology (R&T).
Even with the F-22 on the ramp, if the F-35 program is delayed or killed, the U.S. and its allies will need more aircraft with a reduced radar signature or the ability to carry standoff weapons at a range to penetrate sophisticated air defenses. The other requirements for these improved legacy aircraft are the ability to carry conventional and directed-energy weapons, advanced electronic warfare (EW) capabilities and a price tag that is a fraction of a specialized stealth design.
Engineers on NASA's multi-purpose crew vehicle (MPCV) want to fly an ascent-abort test before sending their capsule around the Moon on the first flight of the heavy-lift Space Launch System (SLS) in 2017, according to Michael Coats, director of Johnson Space Center in Houston, where the Orion-based deep-space crew vehicle is managed.
Robert Wall wrote from the Dubai Air Show that Airbus expects to easily top its 2007 order record. COO-Customers John Leahy projects 1,650-1,700 gross orders this year. Aircraft Man adds:
Antoine Marez has been named director of strategic purchasing of Revima APU, Caudebec-en-Caux, France. He headed Pratt & Whitney Canada's Aftermarket Management Div. and was general manager of Chromalloy France. Honors and Elections
Air Berlin's ambitions were huge. The former German charter carrier wanted to take on the big guys. Now it appears the airline is up for sale. Several industry executives tell Aviation Week that Air Berlin has approached other airlines about becoming a strategic investor in it, Germany's second-largest airline. Etihad Airways, Hainan Airlines and Emirates are understood to be among the carriers that have been contacted. The response has apparently been lukewarm so far, and it is uncertain if a deal will be struck. Air Berlin declines to comment.
NASA is signaling more restrictive use of Space Act Agreements (SAA), development-oriented contracting vehicles the agency has employed since 2006 to hasten development of commercial cargo and crew transportation services to support post-shuttle activities aboard the International Space Station.
XCOR Aerospace and Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) will give an adventurous—and lucky—scientist a suborbital research spaceflight on XCOR's Lynx Mark I spaceplane, once the Lynx is up and running. Worth $95,000, the prize will be awarded with a random drawing of registered participants in the 2012 Next Generation Suborbital Researchers Conference in Palo Alto, Calif., next February.
The Chinese call it “daxing tumu”—being keen on large-scale construction. It seems that wherever one looks in this country someone is building a mighty new bridge, office tower, airport, freeway or aircraft hangar, more physical capital for the roaring economy.
In the Nov. 7, issue, the article “Teaming Done Here” (p. 78) incorrectly identified the manufacturers of the Airbus A380 nacelle and the acoustic inlet for the Rolls-Royce XWB engine for the Airbus A350. Aircelle supplies the nacelle, and Airbus provides the inlet.
Fred Strader, the president and CEO of defense contractor Textron Systems, held out hope to the end that a congressional Super Committee would strike a bipartisan deal on how to cut $1.2 trillion from the U.S. budget deficit during the next 10 years. Under a law passed earlier this year, failure to agree to a plan by last week would trigger automatic cuts equal to that amount, with $600 billion coming from defense funding. “It's illogical that they would allow it to get to that point,” Strader says.
It may be premature to say the future of U.S. strike aviation will be the first casualty of the U.S. budget crisis, but there can be little doubt that it is in jeopardy—compliments of the congressional Super Committee's abject failure to agree on a plan for reducing the federal deficit by $1.2 trillion. Whether there are adequate alternatives to the F-35 is debatable if the program is delayed, reduced or killed.
Eliot (Lee) G. Sander has been appointed president/CEO of New York-based HAKS Group. He was CEO of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority of New York.
Michael W. McCormick, executive director and chief operating officer of the Global Business Travel Association, Alexandria, Va., has been named to the Aviation Security Advisory Committee of the U.S. Transportation Security Administration.
Prospects are dimming that defense appropriations for fiscal 2012 will wrap up by a Dec. 16 deadline. The Pentagon—along with most of the federal government—is being funded through a continuing resolution at fiscal 2011 levels until then. “It's likely that the continuing resolution will be extended further, perhaps into January,” says Todd Harrison, a senior fellow with the nonpartisan Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments.
Now the leading cause of airliner hull losses and fatalities, loss of control is driving improvements in training to help pilots recognize and recover from aircraft upsets in flight.
Concepts for communicating the risks and managing the threat of asteroid impacts will be considered by the United Nations following an expert working group meeting in Colorado. The Near-Earth Object (NEO) media/risk meeting came within days of a 300-meter (984-ft.)-plus-dia. asteroid passing between the Earth and the Moon on Nov 8, and as NASA closed on additional congressional funding of more than $20 million for an ongoing survey mission aimed at finding objects posing a potential collision threat.
The third prototype of Sukhoi's T-50 fifth-generation fighter made its first flight Nov. 22 in Komsomolsk-on-Amur, in Russia's Far East. According to Sukhoi, the flight lasted a little more than 1 hr. and was in full accordance with the flight plan. An aircraft stability test was conducted, and the powerplant systems' performance was evaluated. After several factory trials, this prototype should join the other two T-50s for the flight-test program. The first two aircraft have conducted 100 flights since the start of the program in January 2010.
New members of the board of directors of the New York-based World Teleport Association are: Adrian Ballintine, CEO of Newsat of Australia; Tomaz Lovsin, managing director of STN of Slovenia; and Bill Tillson, president and chief operating officer for U.S.-based Encompass Digital Media.
General Electric's long-term plan to develop the H80 turboprop into a challenger to the Pratt & Whitney Canada's PT6 has taken another step forward with the first flight of an H80-powered Aircraft Industries L410-UVP-E20 commuter aircraft. The 40-min. flight took place in Kunovice, Czech Republic, on Nov 16. Certification for the H80-powered L410 is expected in the third quarter of 2012, paving the way for a new production-standard offering as well as an upgrade for operators of M601-powered L410s.
