Australia’s regional aviation industry has a stark message for the country’s new leadership: Infrastructure spending is desperately needed, and some proposed policies will cause fresh financial headaches for carriers.
Sukhoi says it will deliver the first Su-35 multirole fighters to the Russian air force by year-end. Last year, the Russian military ordered 48 fighters with the deliveries to be completed by 2015. Sukhoi says the first production Su-35S is already in final assembly, with preparations underway for flight testing.
Former astronaut Sally Ride, a member of the Norman Augustine panel that declared NASA’s old Constellation program of back-to-the-Moon vehicles “unsustainable,” finds the agency’s new compromise authorization act is “a good bill” that addresses many of the issues the panel raised (see p. 31). The new law requires NASA to incorporate workers, contracts and technology from the $9-billion Constellation effort “wherever practicable.” For Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.), who pushed the compromise, the $11.5 billion authorized for a new heavy-lift launch vehicle should be sufficient.
NASA has awarded Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne a $60.3-million contract to extend support for the space shuttle main engine (SSME) through March 31, 2011. The contract will cover the last two remaining shuttle flights on the manifest: STS-133, to launch Nov. 1; and STS-134, scheduled for Feb. 27. The contract does not cover SSME support for STS-135, the currently unfunded shuttle mission Congress authorized to launch in June 2011.
Pratt & Whitney’s F135 engine will power the initial purchase of Israeli air force F-35 Joint Strike Fighter aircraft, the company said Oct. 14, noting that “the F135 is the only engine currently powering the F-35 aircraft and is in production today.” Pratt is trying to fight off a team of General Electric and Rolls-Royce that is pitching the F136 for U.S. Joint Strike Fighters, even though White House and Pentagon leadership do not want it. Lawmakers, many of whom support continuing the F136, are expected to confront the issue when they reconvene after the Nov.
Don’t trust Michael O’Leary, Ryanair’s fiery CEO, when he claims the days of two-digit traffic growth belong to the past. He is, again, envisioning a 300-aircraft order that would nearly double the low-cost carrier’s fleet. However, the problem with O’Leary remains what it has been for the past 15 years: You never know when to take him seriously; it’s hard to differentiate between his true intentions and provocation. Frequently, O’Leary is looking for free publicity, proposing extravagant initiatives to further cut costs or generate additional revenues.
Officials grounded the fleet of Royal Australian Air Force Hawk 127s after one of the trainers based at RAAF Base Pearce “experienced a technical fault while taxiing before takeoff” on Oct. 11, causing the aircraft to shut down. The BAE Systems Hawks, which are also based at RAAF Williamtown, were grounded pending further investigation.
A German team led by OHB System is seeking sponsors for a satellite constellation that would monitor worldwide carbon dioxide and methane concentrations, giving political decision-makers a tool with which to determine actions aimed at controlling greenhouse gas emissions.
Gulfstream Aerospace’s service center in Savannah, Ga., bears few signs that it is in the heart of an industry in deep distress. The facility, the largest of Gulfstream’s 12 service centers, is rapidly approaching capacity, with 50-60 corporate jets being worked on each day. An aircraft that was damaged in Afghanistan and another that was crushed in a snow-induced roof collapse at Washington’s Dulles International Airport are sprinkled among dozens of others from around the globe undergoing routine maintenance.
Odd-couple Reps. Barney Frank (D), the unapologetic liberal from Massachusetts, and Ron Paul (R), the darling of libertarians from Texas, say there are now 57 legislators, including four senators, who support their call for Obama’s bipartisan deficit-reduction commission to recommend slicing defense spending. “The U.S. cannot sustain a military budget that costs nearly as much as the rest of the world’s defense budgets combined,” Paul says.
Plans by Russia to start building Israel Aerospace Industries unmanned aircraft have advanced with an industrial agreement between IAI and Oboronprom. The deal, signed on Oct. 12, has been in the works for most of the year, but was at risk over Russian arms sales to Israel’s adversaries. The core element of the deal is the Searcher Mk. III.
Panasonic Avionics says carriers in Europe and the Far East plan to introduce its eXTV onboard broadcasting service, enabling satellite TV to expand outside its North American stronghold. Turkish Airlines is expected to begin offering eXTV in the first quarter of 2011. Cathay Pacific Airways plans to include inflight TV as part of its Panasonic broadband offering, which is expected to be finalized by year-end.
A new global agreement provides an important show of unity on aviation emissions goals, but beneath the surface it has done nothing to resolve a simmering feud over the European Union’s aggressive environmental agenda.
Max Kingsley-Jones (Moscow), Alexey Komarov (Moscow)
Russia’s great hope for the revival of its civil aircraft industry, the MS-21, faces an important trial next month as designers prepare to move to the next stage of the development program. The 150-210-seat, three-model MS-21 family is being developed by Irkut under the umbrella of United Aircraft Corp. (UAC). Development is expected to cost 190 billion rubles ($6.3 billion) through 2016 when it is due to enter service; 40% is being funded by the Russian federal budget, with the remainder coming from loans and UAC’s investment.
The Moroccan air force’s initial Block 52 F-16C (see photo) made its first two flights last week at Lockheed Martin’s Fort Worth facility. It is one of 24 C- and D-model aircraft that will be delivered in 2010-11 as part of a $2.4-billion Foreign Military Sales contract. The fighters come with the Pratt & Whitney F100-PW-229 engine and Sniper advanced targeting pod and video downlink to battlefield troops.
Supersonic business jet developer Aerion will use results from recently completed Mach 2 aerodynamic flight tests to pave the way for key evaluations of a natural laminar flow wing section. The tests are important for the long-term potential of the project, the viability of which hinges on the low drag of the natural laminar flow design. The low-swept-wing shape maximizes the amount of smoother-flowing boundary layer air over its surface, reducing total airframe drag by 20% versus similarly sized delta-wing configurations.
Oct. 25-27—Association of United States Army’s Annual Meeting 2010. Washington Convention Center. See www.ausa.org Oct. 25-27—American Astronautical Society’s Third Annual Wernher von Braun Memorial Symposium: “21st Century Approaches to the Use and Development of Space.” University of Alabama, Huntsville. See www.astronautical.org Oct. 25-28—FAA Fire Safety Branch’s Sixth Triennial International Aircraft Fire and Cabin Safety Research Conference. Tropicana Hotel Casino, Atlantic City. See www.fire.tc.faa.gov
Every industry has its cycles, and ours is definitely in the midst of an exciting time when almost anything is possible. And while consolidation and environmental causes, for now, are dominating headlines around the world, an interesting concept brewing in Africa shows that innovation is not limited to the northern hemisphere.
The new director of national intelligence is pulling a page from Gates’s reform playbook and eliminating an advisory board, according to Steven Aftergood of the Federation of American Scientists. In his Secrecy News, Aftergood reports that the Intelligence Science Board has been disbanded by James Clapper, Jr. in a streamlining effort. “My understanding is that the director will be disbanding all 20 of his advisory boards,” one source tells Aftergood.
Michael J. Paul has been named executive director of Stamford, Conn.-based Passur Aerospace Inc. ’s Technology Advisory Board. He was president of Predictive Business Systems and had been chief information officer and vice president-materials planning at Sikorsky Aircraft .
Daher-Socata’s ambitions to grow its business aircraft line could represent the last hope for the near-defunct SPn utility jet to make it to market. Socata has long wanted to add to its single-piston-engine TBM product offering but was hobbled by a lack of interest from its parent, EADS. The sale to privately held Daher in early 2009 and the recent return to the business of Stephane Mayer, who devised the growth plans before a three-year stint at ATR, have set the stage to realize the company’s goal.
