Efforts to reach Mars with humans in the 2030s received a strong endorsement last week from participants in October’s Second Mars Affordability and Sustainability Community Workshop.
The first group of Kazakh pilots and technicians has already arrived at the aircraft’s assembly facility in Irkutsk, Russia, for one-month type conversion ground training.
The manufacturer had been studying the causes of an incident involving an NH90 in Termez, Uzbekistan, last June when it found that some technical improvements to the overhead panel were needed.
To help counter the erosion of military superiority, the Defense Department plans to make increased use of modeling, simulation and prototyping, as well as modularity to enable technology insertion in existing systems.
Engineers are currently assembling the aircraft in Italy, where shakedown flights will be conducted before it is dismantled and sent to Philadelphia in preparation for testing of the aircraft’s deicing system in Minnesota toward year’s end.
To list an event, send information in calendar format to Donna Thomas at [email protected]. (Bold type indicates new calendar listing.) Feb. 9-11 — Airworthiness, Condition Based Maintenance (CBM) and Health and Usage Monitoring Systems (HUMS) Specialists’ Meeting, Huntsville, Alabama. For more information go to www.vtol.org/events/airworthiness-cbm-and-hums-specialists-meeting Feb. 10-12 — U.S. Naval Institute, 2015 WEST Conference. For more information go to www.usni.org/events/2015-west-conference
Bombardier and Lockheed Martin are bracing for delivery disruptions to their respective Q400 and C-130J assembly lines after a massive fire destroyed around 80% of General Electric’s Dowty production site in the U.K. that makes propellers for both models. The fire, which broke out at the Staverton facility around midnight on Feb. 5, gutted the main manufacturing plant at the heart of the Dowty Propellers site that employs around 250 workers. All 29 of the employees who were in the building at the time escaped without injury.
AEDC, TN, reopened 4T wind tunnel (operates at Mach .05-Mach 2.5) following $33m upgrade for >1000 psf store separation testing. MARSHALL AEROSPACE & DEFENSE appointed David Jurkowski as Vice President Government and Industry Relations, based in Vancouver, BC. BOEING has USAF contract to supply CONECT digital communication system kits for installation on 10 more B-52s.
/site-files/aviationweek.com/files/uploads/2015/02/asd_02_06_2015_dmin.pdf North America Northrop Grumman, Boeing and Lockheed Martin each have formed teams to plan for the yet-to-be-defined air superiority fighter competitions that would replace the U.S. Navy’s F/A-18E/F and U.S. Air Force’s (USAF) F-22. However, developments and significant funding are not expected for several years.
AIRBUS made first flight of first (022) of four A400Ms for ROYAL MALAYSIAN AIR FORCE. STRATEGIC DEFENSE INTELLIGENCE forecasts global military rotorcraft market will grow 2.6% annually to $27.3b by 2025. SIKORSKY AIRCRAFT began bladed ground testing on first of two prototype S-97 Raiders. EMBRAER made first flight of KC-390 tanker/transport; it has order commitments for 32 (28 from BRAZILIAN AIR FORCE).
With electronic warfare becoming increasingly important for U.S. Navy platforms and conceptual operations, the service is looking to control the domain just as it would in the undersea, surface and air realms. Indeed, the service wants, in the words of Adm. Jonathan Greenert, chief of naval operations, “to figure out how we can beat things electronically first.” To that end, the Navy wants to develop expertise in what it calls Electromagnetic Maneuver Warfare (EMW).
The Crowsnest system devised by Lockheed Martin consists of four IAI Elta ELM-2052 AESA radars, with two fitted into a composite pod, mounted on each side of the helicopter on the Merlin’s two weapon pylons.
Northrop Grumman Corp. has selected French defense electronics group Thales to supply flight management system (FMS) software to an avionics mission equipment package that will upgrade the U.S. Army’s UH-60L Black Hawk helicopters.
Russia’s involvement in Ukraine is adding urgency to Eastern European nations’ plans to re-equip their helicopter fleets with Western aircraft because of growing concerns about the supply of parts to keep their Soviet-era equipment flying.
With the FAA having missed another internal deadline to promulgate proposed rules for small unmanned aircraft systems (SUAS), legislation has been introduced in Congress to force the agency to relax restrictions on research into civil UAS.
The U.S. Navy remains confident in the further development of its Aegis combat system and air and missile defense radar, despite testing concerns raised by the Pentagon Director, Operational Test and Evaluation.
Fort Worth got underway from Singapore on Feb. 2 after completing its first six-day scheduled preventive maintenance period during an initial 16-month rotational deployment to the Indo-Asia-Pacific region
