President Barack Obama and his family are set to attend the last launch of the space shuttle Endeavour, which is scheduled for 3:47 p.m. EDT April 29. Also expected, as she recovers from an assassination attempt, is Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.), whose husband Mark Kelly commands Endeavour's mission to the International Space Station. After Endeavour returns from its 14-day mission, it will be prepared for permanent display at the California Science Center in Los Angeles (see p. 26).
Executives at China Great Wall Industry Corp. find it hard to believe that U.S. Space Exploration Technologies Inc. (SpaceX) is offering lower launch prices than they can. But they concede privately that it's true. China Great Wall, the marketing arm of China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp. (CAST), is opening a one-person office in Washington this summer to push Chinese space products, including solar arrays.
Indonesia will pay $10 million to cover 20% of the cost of concept definition of South Korea's proposed KF-X Generation 4.5 fighter and send 30 researchers to work on the project. Korea Aerospace Industries and missile and electronics systems maker LIG Nex1 are the preferred South Korean candidates for the program, while Indonesian Aerospace will also participate, says the South Korean defense acquisition program administration.
While most Western aircraft makers weigh the costs and benefits of ordering more parts from China, a defense factory in the country's northeast is busily turning out three complete airplanes a week for one U.S. company. And the customer, Cessna, is looking at how it might take another step in the relationship, even while supplier Avic Defense is still ramping up production of the current product, the 162 Skycatcher light sport airplane.
Turkey has opted for the Sikorsky Black Hawk over the AgustaWestland AW149 in the Turkish utility helicopter program. The initial buy, valued at around $3.5 billion, is for 109 rotorcraft (with options for 12 more), although the inventory is expected to grow significantly over time.
And while his wife was becoming the latest victim of controller error, President Barack Obama publicly expressed his support for FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt and reaffirmed the safety of the U.S.'s air traffic system, as another series of embarrassing incidents involving sleeping or distracted controllers continued to damage the agency's reputation.
France should be applauded for orchestrating the military campaign to stop Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi from butchering his own citizens. And U.S. President Barack Obama should be commended for having his nation take a back seat in the conflict. Libya, a former Italian colony, sits in the European Union's back yard.
The trend lines have been familiar for more than two decades: China is the world's largest potential market for everyone making nearly everything. In air travel, national growth rates are so strong that they are typically broken out from the rest of Asia, as if China is a separate continent.
Commercial aircraft suppliers, led by U.S. companies, are pouring into China to stake their claims in the world's most dynamic aviation market. But they must balance the appeal of the fast-growing market with China's appetite for technology transfer as it seeks to create its own aerospace supply chain. Meanwhile, Airbus and Boeing are taking markedly different approaches as they pursue sales and brace for the arrival of a new Chinese competitor.
The Sukhoi Superjet 100 regional jet program is entering a new era now that commercial operators will start testing the robustness of the in-service support network and the Russian manufacturer's ability to ramp up output. After many delays, Sukhoi achieved a major milestone on April 19 with the first Superjet 100 delivery to launch customer Armavia. The Armenian airline quickly put the aircraft into revenue service with a flight carrying 90 passengers from here to Sheremetyevo Moscow International Airport April 21.
Australia wants to show the world it is serious about space and is using years of well-honed hypersonic know-how to prove it by developing technology for a scramjet-based system for access to space.
Flight safety encompasses multiple aspects and requires lots of imagination to achieve further improvements. The latest event on April 11 at New York John F. Kennedy International Airport was much more than a minor taxiway incident. The nighttime collision—in which the left wing of an Air France A380 spun a small Comair Bombardier CRJ700 90 deg.—will certainly be carefully investigated as it could reveal a new form of “loss of vigilance.”
Mitch Snyder has been promoted to executive vice president for military programs from vice president and V-22 program manager for Bell Helicopter of Fort Worth. Snyder succeeds Robert Kenney, who has retired.
Brent Hornbeck has become manager of Dallas Airmotive's regional turbine center in Phoenix. He was customer project manager at Hawker Beechcraft Services, Mesa, Ariz.
The U.S. has been falling behind in the arena of electronic warfare—a key element in defeating enemy air defenses—for perhaps the last 20 years. That may explain why the Obama administration—while it is looking for further military cuts—has chosen electronic warfare (EW) as one of the few areas slated to receive a spending boost, says Frank Kendall, deputy undersecretary of defense for acquisition and technology.
Predator unmanned aerial systems are now required for low-level, detailed observations of Libyan government troops as they dig in close to civilian areas to avoid NATO air attacks. Predators were reintroduced to operations April 21 strictly for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) gathering at low altitudes where the Libyan government's advanced, Russian-made SA-24 man-portable anti-aircraft missiles create a zone of lethality. U.S. Marine Corps Gen.
China's emergence as a dynamic aviation marketplace and its aspiration to become a leader in aerospace have altered the competitive dynamic in this fast-growing economy. For U.S. companies, success will mean more than simply competing against other Western suppliers for a share of the market. As in many parts of the world, Pratt & Whitney has embraced “co-opetition”—cooperation and competition—with key Chinese aviation entities. Often, leveraging collective resources to achieve common interests proves more effective than going it alone.
Sven Lepschy (see photo) has joined Kansas City, Mo.-based Executive AirShare as its program manager, at Dallas Love Field. He comes from CAE SimuFlite, where he oversaw the global training program for Embraer Phenom aircraft.
Airlines in the U.S., Europe and elsewhere are confronting sweeping new U.S. regulations on how they sell tickets, advertise their prices, disclose fee-based optional services, compensate customers and operate flights.
Steve Pearson (see photo) has been promoted to vice president of Asia-Pacific sales and marketing from regional managing director sales and support services for Nordam, Tulsa, Okla.
No part of the Chinese state aircraft industry seems to lack ambition. As Comac works away on a narrowbody airliner, Avicopter on a range of helicopters and ACAE on a commercial turbofan, Avic Aircraft says it is looking at offering a civil jet freighter with a gross weight of maybe 100-150 tons. The company is also studying a smaller aircraft in the class of the Lockheed Martin C-130 Hercules and has separately considered a version of the proposed MA700 turboprop airliner with a new freight fuselage.
While a host of Western manufacturers see their new joint companies with Avic as a way into China, Avic views the endeavors as a way to the world. Like its U.S. and European aerospace partners, Avic believes there is money to be made by making onboard aircraft systems in China. And whereas the foreigners could not do business in the country without cooperating with the state manufacturer, Avic has judged that it just could not go it alone in trying to crack the global aircraft systems market.
Foreign investment in Chinese civil aircraft production has a long tail. Twenty-four years ago, Messerschmitt-Boelkow-Blohm was on the hunt for European and North American partners to help fund joint development of the MPC-75 regional jet, which the German company hoped would take Europe—then in the throes of deregulating—by storm. Catic, the import/export arm of the Chinese aviation ministry, was to hold a minority stake with the idea that airplanes could be produced at low cost in China.
US Airways filed an antitrust lawsuit against global distribution system provider Sabre on April 21, just nine days after American Airlines filed a similar suit against GDS provider Travelport. The filing of a second suit comes less than two months after US Airways signed a new distribution agreement with Sabre, which the carrier describes as having been reached under coercion.
