Andy Nativi (Long Beach, Calif.), Michael A. Taverna (Washington)
Although its second spacecraft is not yet in orbit, Italy is already laying the groundwork for a pair of follow-on milsatcom systems it plans to launch in partnership with France. After a brief delay due to a satellite-hardware glitch discovered during payload preparation in Long Beach, Calif., Sicral 1B is set to lift off around Apr. 19 on a Zenit-3 SL rocket. The launch platform Odyssey left Long Beach—Sea Launch’s home port—in early April, followed a few days later by the faster Commander control ship.
With a goal of cutting costs and cycle time by an order of magnitude, Lockheed Martin has opened a Space Vehicle Integration Laboratory on its Denver campus to improve the execution and reliability of software development for satellites.
More than 7,500 registrants attended the 25th National Space Symposium in Colorado Springs. The final count is expected to be a record, despite the economic downturn. During the event, which took place Mar. 30 through Apr. 2, senior decision makers in the civil and national security space arenas discussed “the next space age,” including challenges in the current financial climate as well as to securing and protecting assets in space.
Finland has OK’d a $280-million foreign military sales contract for the second phase of its air force’s Boeing F/A-18C/D Hornet mid-life update. The award covers software and system upgrades and the acquisition of Raytheon AGM-154C Joint Stand-Off Weapons. Finnish company Patria will install the retrofit kits. The update of its 64 F-18s is to be completed by 2016.
China’s newly established Avic Aircraft intends to become the world’s third force in making large airplanes, setting itself up for rivalry with compatriot commercial aircraft builder Comac. The new company is poised to deeply restructure much of the Chinese aircraft industry, reshaping it in the pattern of Airbus. Old regional entities such as Xi’an and Shaanxi Aircraft are to be swept away, replaced with a framework of units each specializing in its own part of the airframe, such as the wing or nose section.
Bombardier plans to make steeper reductions in business jet production, cutting deliveries by 25% in its fiscal year ending Jan. 31, 2010, and laying off an additional 3,000 employees. In February, the Canadian company announced it would cut Learjet and Challenger production by 10% and lay off 1,360 people, but order cancellations and deferrals have worsened. Production rates will be reduced on all business jets, but cuts will be deeper on the smaller Learjets.
Vitaly Savelyev has been appointed CEO of Aeroflot Russian Airlines . He succeeds Valery Okulov, who has been named Russian deputy minister of transport. Savelyev was deputy minister of economic development and trade.
The best that can be said about FAA airline traffic and revenue forecasts for 2009 and 2010 are that U.S. airlines have already adjusted for overcapacity and higher oil prices and are better prepared to withstand the industry downturn than nearly all of their global competitors. In releasing its Aerospace Forecast for Fiscal Years 2009-25, the FAA says airline profits and traffic in 2009 will for the most part fall sharply from last year, start to level off in 2010 and begin to climb again in 2011.
Abu Dhabi-based Adcom Advanced Target Systems is pushing to become an unmanned aerial vehicle manufacturer of choice for the United Arab Emirates with a slew of developments underway. The company is competing in the UAV market against local defense aerospace manufacturer Mubadala, which set up its Abu Dhabi UAV Investments (AD UAVI) business unit at the beginning of 2007.
A project to provide U.S. rural households with access to broadband service via funding from Washington’s economic stimulus package could bolster growth in that satellite sector as well as accelerate the purchase of a new family of more cost-efficient spacecraft—if satellites are given a fair shot.
The Pentagon is considering funding an interim satellite system to avoid a potential gap in overhead non-imaging infrared collection, which is needed for ballistic missile warning. Today’s constellation, the Defense Support Program, is healthy, but there is concern about it long-term. The final DSP failed on orbit shortly after launch, and military officials say there are aging issues with the fleet. The first follow-on, however, the Space-Based Infrared System (Sbirs) geosynchronous satellite, is scheduled to launch no earlier than the summer of 2010.
After years of torment, Raytheon’s Visible Infrared Imager/Radiometer Suite (Viirs) is finally preparing for its entry into the thermal vacuum chamber for testing next month. Viirs will fly on the National Polar-Orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (Npoess), a next-generation weather satellite program managed by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, NASA and USAF. Viirs has long been the pacing item for launch of the Npoess Preparatory Project (NPP), a pathfinder satellite due for launch next year.
The evolution of global airline alliances into even tighter joint ventures is prompting fierce debate about whether transatlantic cooperation is going too far. While the U.S. Congress considers legislation that could unravel joint ventures, airlines argue these links provide crucial benefits denied to them by cross-border merger restrictions.
With backing from Canada, CAE says it will invest C$714 million ($565.2 million) in Project Falcon for a five-year research and development program to expand the company’s simulation and modeling technologies. The government is investing up to $250 million through its Strategic Aerospace and Defense Initiative. Among the technologies that Project Falcon will focus on are development of an “augmented visionics system” technology to allow takeoffs and landings in restricted visibility.
The U.S. Air Force is planning to increase the number of satellites it monitors for potential collisions in space after a surprise satellite crash earlier this year. At the time of the event in February, U.S. Strategic Command was watching about 140 high-priority spacecraft for potential collisions. That has increased to about 330. The Pentagon expects to boost the number to include all maneuverable satellites—about 800—by Oct. 1, says an Air Force official.
The new “safety of life” GPS civil signal for emergency and rescue calls is expected to become operational on the USAF/Lockheed Martin GPS Block IIR-20(M) satellite that was launched Mar. 24. The satellite, which incorporates an ITT-provided navigation payload, is the first developed to provide an on-orbit demonstration of a third civil signal located on the L5 frequency (1176.45MHz).
Aircraft and training system manufacturers have until later this month to answer a USAF request for information (RFI) on an advanced trainer to replace the Northrop T-38C. The Advanced Pilot Training (APT) “family of systems” RFI calls for an initial operational capability in 2017 to train crews to operate the single-seat Lockheed Martin F-22 and F-35, as well as legacy fleets and the Next Generation Bomber. The RFI references an increased need for information management training in future pilot training programs.
Morocco’s flag carrier Royal Air Maroc has ordered two 48-seat ATR 42-600s and four 70-seat ATR 72-600s, with options for two more ATR 72-600s. The aircraft will be operated by regional subsidiary Royal Air Maroc Express, which is scheduled to start operations this summer with four leased ATR 72-200s. Deliveries of the new -600s, powered by Pratt & Whitney PW127M engines, are to start in spring 2011.
Marion C. Blakey, President/CEO Aerospace Industries Assn. (Arlington, Va.)
Adrian Schofield’s article on the en route automation modernization (ERAM) system was an excellent update on an important NextGen program (AW&ST Mar. 16, p. 44). However, I disagree with his description of ERAM as an on-schedule and on-budget program that is “something of a rarity for a major FAA modernization project.”
ESA officials say the Herschel-Planck twin telescope mission, expected to be launched at month’s end, may now be pushed back to mid-May (see p. 38). No reason was given for the latest delay; the mission was already deferred from an Apr. 16 launch.
After more than four years of testing and false starts, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has begun taking responsibility for matching domestic flight passenger names on two aviation watch lists prior to departure. TSA’s computerized passenger screening program, Secure Flight, is starting slowly. Last week TSA assumed the watch-list matching responsibility from four volunteer airlines. It plans to add additional carriers in coming months.
Thales has won the contract to provide NATO with a new air traffic management system at Kandahar air base, Afghanistan. The deal includes acquisition of a Eurocat control center, a co-located STAR 2000-RSM970 Mode S radar and an ITT precision approach radar.
The purchase of a telecommunications satellite launch on a Chinese Long March by Eutelsat is refueling the debate over reforming U.S. technology export rules, and raises the specter of a future launcher glut.
Investigators are examining wind shear—a violent, sudden shift in wind velocity or direction—as a factor in the Mar. 23 crash of a FedEx MD-11F at Tokyo Narita, the airport’s first fatal accident since opening in 1978. Pilots consider wind shear, which can occur horizontally or vertically or both, a major flight hazard. Conditions can render an aircraft uncontrollable as it is difficult, if not impossible, for a flight crew to adjust for the rapid updrafts, downdrafts, and fluctuations in yaw, pitch and airspeed.
