Frank Robinson says the record production run his eponymous helicopter company has enjoyed in recent years has come to an end. “This won’t be a record year,” he says. “This is a recession year. [The high production rates] stopped last December.” Nevertheless, he says certification work on the R-66—Robinson Helicopter Co.’s first turbine-powered model—continues, albeit at a slower pace than anticipated because of new FAA requirements for increased testing and analysis.
Grahame Jones has been appointed operations director, Rod Dean director of flying, Richard Mann sponsorship and business development manager and Mark Emmerson catering contracts manager, all for Farnborough (England) International Ltd. Jones was group operations director for the Haymarket Media Group, while Dean was on the staff of the U.K. Civil Aviation Authority. Mann was an executive with Reed Exhibitions, while Emmerson was with the Compass Group.
Air Force Gen. Kevin Chilton, who heads Strategic Command, was understandably perturbed to learn he’s flying blind in his new role overseeing Pentagon computer network operations. Chilton ordered a standard review of the assets under his command, including the number of computers on classified and open networks operated by the Pentagon. The response took 45 days, he told an audience at the Air Force Assn.’s annual conference last month.
A test of the Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense system later this month is expected to pit two interceptors flown in a salvo against a single target, according to the U.S. Missile Defense Agency. The test will take place at the range off Hawaii and will be a second attempt at a trial slated for last year. In September, officials aborted a salvo shot due to a glitch with the target missile.
Airbus and Qantas are trying to assess why fuel contamination issues caused two of the airline’s Airbus A380s to miss flights. The issue triggered alerts with fuel sensors. An Airbus official says the sensors were not faulty. The A380s were returned to service quickly.
Snecma officials confirm that the United Arab Emirates has asked France to study reengining the Rafale fighter, as part of a proposed acquisition of the advanced combat aircraft. The upgrade, which would offer a 20% improvement over the basic M88 engine, would enhance the Rafale’s hot-and-high capability and extend its payload and range. The French defense ministry previously studied a higher-power derivative, known as the M88-3, but decided it was not warranted.
The National Academies’ National Research Council (NRC) is giving NASA poor marks for its implementation of the most recent NRC decadal survey on solar and space physics, which endorsed a number of missions desired by the scientific community that have since been delayed or scaled back. “Mission cost growth, reordering of survey mission priorities, and unrealized budget assumptions have delayed or deferred nearly all of the NASA spacecraft missions recommended in the survey,” the NRC says. Mission cost growth was a major factor in the agency’s difficulties.
All Nippon Airways is expanding its airfreight holdings by taking a 34% stake in Overseas Courier Service, making the Tokyo-based carrier the largest shareholder in the international parcel delivery company.
What is the optimum and most affordable mix of manned and unmanned platforms to meet a broad spectrum of threats over the long term? That is one of the fundamental questions at the heart of a strategic study now nearing conclusion by the British Royal Air Force, a study that has resonance across the first tier of air forces around the world.
Turbomeca has concluded an agreement with the Kamov unit of Russian Helicopters and the Helicopter Service Co. to develop, build and support a version of the Ka-226T helicopter equipped with the Arrius 2G1 turboshaft. The reengined twin-rotor model will be targeted at surveillance, transport, emergency medical service, utility and other light helicopter applications, for which no Russian-built helicopter is currently available. The deal is part of a strategy aimed at reinforcing Turbomeca’s position in emerging aerospace nations.
Northrop Grumman is planning to cut up to 750 jobs as part of an announced consolidation of its Space Technology and Integrated Systems units. But the consolidated operation, renamed Aerospace Systems, has 850 openings for engineering and technical positions.
The Transportation Security Administration is extending until June 1 compliance with a controversial security directive involving badging and background checks for people with access to aircraft operating areas at commercial airports. The deadline had been Mar. 1 for large airports and Apr. 30 for small airports. The Aircraft Owners and Pilots Assn. complains that the directive will require a security threat assessment on tens of thousands of general aviation pilots.
Lockheed Martin is planning to increase its annual output of C-130Js beginning this year, says Jim Grant, a senior company executive. In recent years, 12 Hercules rolled off the Marietta, Ga., line annually. This year, it will increase to 16, and to 27 in 2010. The ultimate goal is an annual production of more than 30 aircraft, Grant says. The boost comes after strong support from the U.S. Air Force and from foreign orders, including a recently announced contract from the United Arab Emirates. The 86-aircraft order backlog would carry the line to 2012.
Mar. 15-18—Airports Council International-North America’s Operations & Technical Affairs Conference. Westin San Diego Hotel. See www.aci-na.org/conferences Mar. 20-22Society of Experimental Test Pilots’ 39th San Diego Symposium. Lodge at Torrey Pines, La Jolla, Calif. Call +1 (661) 942-9574, fax +1 (661) 940-0398 or see www.setp.org Mar. 23-26The Aerospace Corp.’s 13th Ground System Architectures Workshop: “Focusing on the User.” Marriott South Bay Hotel, Torrance, Calif. Call +1 (310) 336-6805 or see www.aero.org/conferences/gsaw/index.html
Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd. (SSTL) has contracted with EADS Astrium’s German unit to supply a Multi-Spectral Imager (MSI) for the European Space Agency’s (ESA) EarthCARE mission. The contract is worth €30 million ($37.8 million) to SSTL, acquired by Astrium earlier this year. Operating from an orbit of 400 km., the MSI will image the Earth at a 500-meter (1,640-ft.) ground sample distance (GSD) over a swath width of 150 km. (93 mi.).
The Marine One controversy is giving a boost to National Air Transportation Assn. (NATA) efforts to get the nation’s most important business flyer to stop using private aviation “as a political punching bag” and linking corporate aviation to corporate greed (AW&ST Mar. 2, p. 20). In a letter to Obama, NATA President James Coyne says statements and actions by the administration and Congress “since you were elected have been . . .
The next generation of small turboshafts and possibly diesel pistons will take a lead role in aircraft engine-makers’ efforts to broaden their helicopter market base when the industry reemerges from the current downturn.
Sukhoi and Alenia Aeronautica are making progress with plans to build up a maintenance base for the SuperJet 100 regional jet, though much still remains to be done. Setting up a solid customer support, customization and maintenance network is one of the key unresolved issues upon which the success of the regional jet program will depend. Responsibility for this was entrusted to SuperJet International (SJI), a joint venture between Alenia and Sukhoi Holding, with headquarters in Venice, Italy.
I would like to respond to reader George Rowley’s query about sound absorbent coatings (AW&ST Feb. 23, p. 8). Applied absorptive materials in the usual sense have finite bandwidths. In thin, lightweight applications they typically absorb energy either in a very narrow (resonant) bandwidth, in a rather high-frequency portion of the audible spectrum, or transmit much of the incident sound energy to the underlying structure.
The British Defense Ministry and BAE Systems have agreed a £450-million ($634-million) contract covering support of RAF’s Eurofighter Typhoon aircraft for the next five years. The Typhoon Availability Services (TAS) contract reflects the RAF’s shift toward a partnering approach to aircraft maintenance, using a front-and-depth model supported by industry. The initial TAS contract is expected to be followed by a further 10-year deal.
London is considering leasing up to five Lockheed Martin C-130J Hercules airlifters to help plug the capability gap left by continuing problems with the European Airbus Military A400M. The U.K. is interested in taking the additional C-130Js beginning in 2012, which likely means it will need to conclude an agreement this year if the in-service date target is to be met. All but a handful of the Royal Air Force’s aging C-130Ks are due to be retired by 2012.
Airlines are parking aircraft at an unprecedented rate, and the percentage of the global jet fleet that is grounded looks set to exceed the late-2001 peak of the last downturn. A total of almost 2,300 jet airliners are now parked, with the 1,167 aircraft grounded last year making 2008 the worst year for cutbacks since 2001, according to U.K.-based aviation consultancy Ascend.
Engineers at Boeing’s Wichita, Kan., defense facility are set to vote Mar. 5 on whether to authorize a strike rather than accept a company proposal on a contract that ended last December.
