SpaceX has been selected for two new Falcon 9 missions, which would raise the number of launches for the company’s larger vehicle under contract to 21. CEO Elon Musk declines to identify the clients, but indicates “they are not U.S. government users” and predicts he will have “more commercial contracts by year’s end.” Musk says the inaugural Falcon 9 flight is planned for this summer, but admits two issues—the fairing and separation systems—could cause it to be delayed. SpaceX recently brought fairing production in-house to prevent schedule and cost slippage.
A Mar. 23 FAA emergency airworthiness directive requires operators of certain Sikorsky S-92A helicopters to replace—before further flight—titanium mounting studs on the main gearbox bowl assembly with steel studs. The move is prompted by Canadian investigators’ discovery of two broken mounting studs on the S-92 that crashed Mar. 12 off Newfoundland, killing all 17 people on board. The emergency AD follows Sikorsky’s Mar. 20 Alert Service Bulletin 92-63-014A, which outlines the replacement procedure.
The Pentagon, in its 2009 report on China’s military power (see p. 34), says it really doesn’t know what that country has in mind for its neighbors and the future. Despite a new, less aggressive government in Taiwan, China continues to build up its arsenal along the nearby coast, specialists note.
Pratt & Whitney has begun two weeks of hover pit tests on the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter at Lockheed Martin’s Fort Worth development center. The tests, which began Mar. 19, have been delayed by high winds and rain but will consume about two weeks of actual constrained flights up to the full 40,000-lb. operational thrust level, says Pratt & Whitney Vice President Bill Gostic, director of F135 engine programs.
Mexico’s low-cost carrier Interjet is planning a 2-hr. biofuel demonstration flight in early 2010 using a CFM International CFM56-powered Airbus A320. The biofuel to be used is derived from salicornia, a type of algae that grows in salt marshes, beaches and among mangroves. It is produced in the northern Mexican state of Sonora and was selected because its feedstock does not compete with potable water. EADS, along with Snecma parent company Safran (part of the CFM consortium), is supporting the $10-million project. The CFM56s will not require modification for the trial.
By the nature of its budget and mission—developing turn-on-a-dime assets for warfighters—the Pentagon’s Operationally Responsive Space (ORS) initiative might appear to favor government laboratories and small-satellite manufacturers.
Despite the loss of both Model 162 SkyCatcher flying models in about six months, Cessna Aircraft Co. President and CEO Jack J. Pelton says the company remains committed to the light sport aircraft program. The first test aircraft was destroyed in September during aggressive spin testing. The pilot, unable to recover the aircraft from a spin, bailed out unscathed. The second test SkyCatcher was destroyed Mar. 19, when it was engaged in an aggressive power-on and cross-controlled spin test regime. It entered a spin that was not recoverable, according to Pelton.
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) says the Pentagon faces critical gaps in its acquisition workforce, potentially affecting its national security mission. GAO assessed the department’s ability to determine if it has enough acquisition workers, as well as best practices and initiatives to improve workforce oversight. In its analysis of data from 66 major weapon systems program offices and interviews with officials from four program offices, GAO discovered the department does not track information on contractor personnel. The Defense Dept.
The computer system in use since 1984 for checking in and boarding passengers at world airports has mutated into a complicated mess. In a rare collaboration, airlines, airports and system providers have come together to replace it.
Qantas Airways is planning to cut 90 management positions—over and above the 1,500 job reductions announced last year. Chief Executive Alan Joyce said the changes will reduce overhead as well as “the number of layers between those leading the business and those working with our customers, our aircraft and business partners.” Qantas has put a freeze on salaries and is reassigning job roles for the remaining managers. The Australian carrier is one of the increasingly rare airlines that are still profitable.
The Swiss government has postponed until next year a decision on its future fighter procurement, particularly to replace F-5s. The government is conducting a broad-based strategic review, which is not expected to go before parliament until December. Only afterward will a decision be made on the fighter procurement, if the F-5 replacement is validated by the review.
Siegfried Janson, senior scientist at The Aerospace Corp., holds the AeroCube-3 flight qualification unit. The picosatellite will be launched as a secondary payload on the TacSat-3 launch, along with two other “1U-size” cubesats (see p. 44). The third-generation AeroCube-3 is significantly more complex than its predecessors and will demonstrate a two-axis Sun sensor and an Earth sensor. A 2-ft.-dia. semi-spherical balloon will serve as a de-orbit device as well as a tracking aid. Photo by Eric Hamburg/The Aerospace Corp.
As the U.S. shifts its missile defense strategy from guarding against ballistic missiles to preparing for unforeseen threats, the Pentagon is challenging industry to be more creative and develop technologies that can link existing systems through an adaptable command-and-control network. Industry, meanwhile, says it already has missile defense systems, some nearly a decade old, that can fulfill the new mission—with a little more time and money.
An Italian court last week meted out prison sentences for seven employees of Tuninter, a subsidiary of Tunisair, in connection with the August 2005 crash of an ATR 72 off Sicily, in which 16 of 39 people on board died. The aircraft was en route from Bari, Italy, to Djerba, Tunisia, when fuel starvation led the crew to ditch the aircraft into the sea. The technical investigation determined that maintenance personnel had replaced fuel gauges and indicators on the ATR 72 accident aircraft with those from an ATR 42.
The NTSB, devoid of flight recorder data or survivor accounts, faces challenges in determining the probable cause of the Mar. 22 crash of a Pilatus PC-12/45 into a cemetery at Butte, Mont., that killed all 14 people on board. While it would be rare for the NTSB not to determine the probable cause of an accident, “nothing is leading us to specific working theories,” acting Chairman Mark Rosenker said last week at an accident briefing.
Amy Butler (Washington), Graham Warwick (Washington)
Innovative national security applications for small satellites will likely grow from small technology companies, rather than from the traditional manufacturers of military space systems—Boeing, Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman.
Michael A. Taverna (Paris), Douglas Barrie (London)
A proactive approach to technology development, combined with restrictive U.S. technology export and data-sharing policies, is giving European contractors a big edge in the international imaging satellite business. Since Alenia (now Thales Alenia Space) was awarded a contract for the bus and radar antenna structure on Radarsat-2 at the beginning of the decade, European manufacturers have dominated international remote-sensing satellite sales, winning key awards in South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, Algeria and Nigeria.
In April, Wyoming-based Regional Jet Express plans to launch intra-Caribbean operations with 32-seat Fairchild Dornier 328JETS powered by Pratt & Whitney Canada PW306B turbofan engines. Daily services, with fares ranging from $100-700, are to include flights to Barbados, Dominica, Guyana, Jamaica, Panama, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, and St. Croix and St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands.
Jonathan Penn’s letter (AW&ST Mar. 2, p. 8) is dangerously inaccurate. In regard to the F-22’s loss-exchange ratio of 30:1, it is apparent that he makes no distinction between statistical and real-world combat. In the former, the U.S. Air Force picks a third-world air force, chooses the time and place of combat, and the pilots go home for missile replenishment after shooting up their adversary.
Eyeing emerging requirements for high-speed missiles, Alliant Techsystems (ATK) is pushing to flight-test its new ramjet engine in a derivative of the U.S. Air Force’s Boeing X-51A hypersonic demonstrator.
The lack of hard information about the Pentagon’s Fiscal 2010 budget is causing all sorts of anxiety—and confusion. Tom Laux, deputy assistant Navy secretary for air programs, provided an update on major Navy/Marine Corps aviation programs at Aviation Week’s recent Defense Technology and Requirements conference. Despite much speculation among the many senior industry and military officials in attendance, Laux refrained from commenting on how Defense Dept.
The Iraqi air force will buy 24 Eurocopter EC635s under an agreement signed during a visit by Iraqi officials to Paris Mar. 23. Additionally, the Iraqi military is assessing how to provide maritime surveillance and maritime helicopter lift support. One option would have the air force take on the roles and act in support of the navy. Meanwhile, the air force by year-end should receive the first of 22 Mi-17 helicopters being bought through U.S. foreign military sales channels to augment Mi-17s purchased previously.
Indonesia has declined a Qatari offer of 10 secondhand Dassault Mirage 2000s because it could not afford to maintain the fighters. Qatar has offered its Mirage 2000s to India.
As a shareholder in a number of Fortune 500 companies I know that if they post $1 billion in revenue, then hire a management team that doubles that figure without losing profit margin, that means my income from those shares increases. I don’t have a problem with those CEOs making $10 million a year—they’ve earned it through their ability to expand business and profits.
Since it was created by then-President George W. Bush in 2007, Africa Command has been met with suspicion in Africa and concern in Washington, where lawmakers have questioned the need for, and role of, the Defense Dept.’s newest regional command. Headquartered in Stuttgart, Germany, since it couldn’t find a welcoming government in Africa, Africom has been working overtime to win the hearts and minds of skeptics. But congressional auditors say more needs to be done.
