The flight test program required for certification of the Airbus A330 Multi-Role Tanker Transport’s Cobham 905 hose-and-drogue refueling system has been completed by Airbus Military. The conclusion of the tests clears the way for Spain’s national institute for aerospace technology (INTA) to certify the aircraft—for daylight refueling operations—during the summer, according to Airbus.
While I agree with the truism that weapons system acquisitions can certainly undergo much needed improvements, I do take issue with Michael Gallagher’s contention that it is wasteful to field “. . . generations of systems that have never been used in anger or their anticipated roles” (AW&ST March 29/April 5, p. 8). I would much rather possess weapons with overwhelming capabilities and force for “deterrence” than engage in conflicts arising from external perceptions of our internal weaknesses.
As Airbus moves the A350 from the drawing board into production, the aircraft maker is confronting a stark reality: It has little to no schedule margin left and much hard work to do. The A350-900, the lead version in the aircraft family, is running 3-6 months behind schedule, enough to force Airbus to push back start of final assembly and first flight. However, for now it is sticking to the plan to deliver the first A350 in mid-2013.
Manila-based Cebu Pacific, its eye on expansion across Asia, last week placed a firm order for seven Airbus A320s, which increased its A320-family backlog to 22. This marks the second time the Philippine carrier increased its initial 10-aircraft order; in June 2009, Cebu added five more to its buy. According to Airbus, the aircraft will be delivered between the last quarter of this year and 2014 and operated on the low-cost carrier’s domestic and regional route networks comprising 33 cities in the Philippines and 14 across Asia.
Embraer last week initiated the first metal cut for the Legacy 450/500 programs at its headquarters in Sao Jose dos Campos, Brazil. The manufactured part, milled from a plate of aluminum alloy by a five-axis, high-speed machine, belongs to the Legacy 500 prototype and is part of the forward fuselage, on which the radome, radar and glide slope antenna are attached.
A few months ago I was listening to a television commentator go on and on about the need to cancel the F-22. The strongest argument she gave was that it far exceeded the capabilities of any threat out there, so to produce it was an unnecessarily high-cost overkill. And now I read in a letter that we should cancel the F-35 because, among other things, “there’s no current or emerging threat.” I thought the idea was to be better than anything out there. Combat is a terrible time to be playing catch-up.
U.S. Navy officials are kicking off an analysis of alternatives for a future anti-surface warfare weapon. USAF plans to contribute to the study, and Air Combat Command officials are hoping there is a place for the Lockheed Martin Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile (Jassm). There have been plans to add a data link to Jassm for inflight updates to attack ship targets but the Navy has been cool on the missile, which has spiked in cost.
Intelsat has started operation of a new C-/Ku-band spacecraft to provide video, cellular backhaul and Internet trunking services over Africa. The satellite, formerly called Protostar-1 but now renamed Intelsat 25, was acquired last year from troubled Asian satcom startup Protostar, which is now in bankruptcy protection, and repositioned at 328.5 deg. E.
Boeing plans to complete a second X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle for the U.S. Air Force, but its launch, scheduled for 2011, will not occur until the first of the reusable spaceplane demonstrators returns from a mission that could last as long as 270 days. “We may be ready to launch the second one before that, but we won’t until the first bird is back on the ground in case we need to make changes to the vehicle [based on the first flight],” says Gary Payton, Air Force deputy undersecretary for space programs.
The U.S. Air Force is planning to field a composite case for its 500-lb. Mk. 82 bomb with the goal of reducing its blast fragmentation effects and shifting to an overpressure kill mechanism. The casing will be modeled after that used for the 250-lb. Small-Diameter Bomb Focused Lethality Munition variant, says Col. Mike Fantini, division chief for combat force application requirements. The weapon could take a year to field, and USAF officials want it delivered as quickly as possible. Navy officials in 2007 fielded the 500-lb.
Big Safari—the U.S. Air Force’s rapid acquisition office for specialized, limited production ISR packages—was the moving force behind the MC-12W aircraft now being flown by the 4th Expedition Reconnaissance Sqdn. stationed at Bagram AB, Afghanistan (see p. 48). The primary contractors are airframer Hawker Beechcraft and L-3 Communications, which integrated the payload that includes full-motion video and signals intelligence sensors.
AAI Corp. has begun deliveries of the new extended wing kit for its Shadow Tactical Unmanned Aircraft Systems (TUAS). The enhancement takes the UAV’s wingspan to 20 from 14 ft. This modification increases the size of the aircraft’s fuel cell, and takes its endurance to nearly 9 hr. from 6 hr. The redesigned wing also includes hard points for external stores, an important modification for in-theater mission flexibility.
Series production models of Europe’s Automated Transfer Vehicle will carry more cargo to the International Space Station—taking less time to do it, and with higher safety margins—than the prototype vessel. Jules Verne, the pre-production model, was launched in March 2008 and stayed attached to the ISS for six months. ATV-2, the first series unit, will be shipped to the launch site in Kourou, French Guiana, in May and be ready for launch by the end of November, for a scheduled docking with the station on Dec. 17 (AW&ST Apr. 19, p. 34).
U.S. Air Force officials are eyeing the formation of a Cyber Safari office designed to manage the procurement of cyberwarfare technologies. The office would be modeled after the Big Safari office at Aeronautical Systems Center, which is well-known for procuring the Predator/Reaper family of UAVs. The office would be designed to quickly field technologies to keep up with the rapid pace of growing threats in the cyber domain, says Brig. Gen. James Haywood, requirements director for Air Force Space Command (see p. 53).
Two key military tests of technology for future space and hypersonic vehicles were launched on April 22 from sites on the U.S. East and West coasts following weather-related delays at both sites.
The Lebanese air force has taken delivery of the first four of 10 used IAR 330 Puma helicopters it has on order. The remaining six are to follow in the next two months. The United Arab Emirates has donated the rotorcraft to strengthen Lebanon’s helicopter fleet.
The European Union’s Risk-sharing Finance Facility (RFF), a debt-based investment fund created in 2007 by the European Commission and the European Investment Bank (EIB) to back high-risk innovative technology undertakings, will provide a €225-million loan to help finance construction and launch of the Alphasat high-power telecom satellite mission. The European Space Agency (ESA) mission is intended to demonstrate an onboard processed digital payload for Inmarsat, dubbed I-XL, using a new 12-18-kw. satcom bus developed by ESA and French space agency CNES.
Bombardier’s expansion of its regional support offices (RSO) continues with its recent inauguration of an RSO in Mumbai, India. This first facility to serve the Canada-based manufacturer’s business and commercial aircraft operators in the region is a tiny shop near Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport. It is the company’s fifth RSO to be established outside North America in the last five years. There are plans to open similar facilities for business aircraft in Dubai and Shanghai by year-end.
The Philippine government is refusing to bail out Philippine Airlines as the company scrambles to avoid corporate failure via the offloading of non-core operations by the end of May. Financial losses reduced equity to only $1.1 million in February, the airline says.
Conductive Technology’s FlightStats flight tracking service says its review of 2009 airline performance data shows Japan Airlines, Southwest Airlines, Hawaiian Airlines, KLM Cityhopper and JAL Express had the industry’s best on-time performance in 2009 in the following categories, respectively: global carrier, major North American carrier, regional North American carrier, European carrier and Asian carrier.
Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) says its Hayabusa asteroid mission will touch down on June 13 in the Woomera test range in South Australia. Four course-correction maneuvers are set to align the 510-kg. spacecraft for reentry into Earth’s atmosphere and a subsequent parachute landing at Woomera. The first maneuver is scheduled to come on May 5, 39 days before reentry. Launched on May 9, 2003, Hayabusa (or Muses-C) reached the asteroid Itokawa in September 2005 and performed three touchdown maneuvers the following November.
A $200-million test failure but the Ground-Based Interceptor performed nominally! I guess that is to be expected. Nominal performance probably means failure to destroy the target. Why are we funding this program? A potential enemy would not be deterred by this kind of nominal action. We are better off buying more bombs and airplanes to act as deterrents and delivering what the administration labels our “devastating conventional military response.” That really scares Iran and North Korea, almost as much as sanctions and United Nations actions.
Some Republicans on the Senate Appropriations Committee are saying NASA may have violated the law, specifically Fiscal 2010 appropriation language, by moving to stop work early on elements of the Constellation program. Bob Bennett of Utah, which is home to Alliant Techsystems’ aerospace division, says ATK received a notice from NASA stating that no more funding for the company’s work on the Orion Launch Abort System (LAS) would be forthcoming after April 30.
Qatar is the latest customer for MBDA’s Exocet MM40 Block 3 anti-ship missile. The Qatari navy is buying the missile for its four Vita-class patrol vessels. The Block 3 version—an upgraded Block 2—is already on order for the French navy. The first firing of a Block 3 from a Horizon-class frigate was carried out in March. The Block 3 is fitted with a turbojet engine, considerably increasing the weapon’s engagement range. A number of other MBDA export customers have ordered the Block 3 standard.
Garuda Indonesia, which has launched an aggressive fleet expansion plan, on April 19 received delivery of its 75th aircraft, a Boeing 737-800 with blended winglets. This year, the state-owned carrier plans to add 23 737-800s from Boeing and leasing companies, and by year-end expects to be operating 42 737-800s. The airline aims to increase its fleet to 116 aircraft by 2014, according to CEO Emirsyah Satar.
