Jan. 20-22—MRO Middle East Conference & Exhibitions. Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Mar. 3—Aviation Week Laureate Awards Dinner. Andrew Mellon Auditorium, Washington. Mar. 11-12—Defense Technology & Requirements. Washington. Apr. 21-23—Aviation Week MRO and MRO Military Conferences. Dallas. Oct. 1—Green Europe. Hamburg, Germany. Dec. 8-10—MRO Asia. Hong Kong.
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown announced additional funding to support apprenticeships, during a visit to Rolls-Royce in Derby on Jan. 7. The engine company will take on a further 50 apprentices in addition to the 170 already planned for 2009. Another £140 million ($213 million) is being made available to support apprenticeships, with the goal of adding 35,000 industrial jobs.
DGA has contracted with EADS Defense & Security to supply a high-speed Internet communications system for French naval surface ships, aircraft and submarines. The €240-million award covers development and deployment of the Internet protocol network, modernization and digitalization of V/UHF assets and a five-year support package. The so-called Rifan 2 initiative will see the system installed on 116 vessels and 64 aircraft, including Atlantique 2 maritime patrol aircraft, Hawkeye airborne early warning aircraft and NH90 frigate helicopters.
Meanwhile, Microturbo, another Safran affiliate, ran its new e-APU small auxiliary power unit, aimed at the business aircraft and helicopter market, on the bench for the first time. The core engine, equipped with a two-stage axial turbine and high-pressure cycle and designed to deliver 15-90 kw., reached nominal speed on Dec. 31. Ground and flight tests will continue throughout 2009 to evaluate performance, including 51,000-ft. ceiling and 41,000-ft. start altitude.
A burgeoning caseload of export-control violations provides strong evidence of a heightened U.S. government campaign against illegal leakage of high technology and services. Officials of the enforcement team say more charges are forthcoming.
Long the global satellite leader, Boeing Satellite Systems International has suffered a string of recent disappointments in its bread-and-butter U.S. government satellite market and has seen its commercial business fade. European Editor Michael A. Taverna asks BSS President Stephen O’Neill how the company plans to regain its footing.
The Royal Thai Army will acquire a second Embraer ERJ 135 jet, to transport civilian and military officials, in a deal signed with the Brazilian aircraft manufacturer Jan. 8.
I read the letter from Kevin Partin with the pleasure of a kindred spirit. However, when someone else says what I have been thinking, it reads as if there might be a conspiracy or bias that has prevented engineers from “being named CEOs.”
Directed-energy warfare may be taking another step toward operational status. DE Technologies was awarded a $6.9-million Navy contract to continue development of an offensive, directed-energy warhead for the service’s compact rapid-attack weapon. Part of the project involves investigating technologies used for small-diameter shaped-charge warheads and will conclude with delivery of a shaped-charge design and liners for a full warhead development model.
Even as the first generation of solid-state laser weapons moves closer to the battlefield, ground is being prepared for the next step. With the Joint High-Power Solid-State Laser (JHPSSL) program on track to demonstrate 100 kw. by mid-2009, the U.S. Defense Dept.’s High-Energy Laser Joint Technology Office (HEL JTO) is drawing up plans for a follow-on program.
In a biofuels test here, the first by a U.S. carrier, Continental Airlines used a mixture of lamp oil commonly burned in tropical countries and bioengineered algae from Hawaii. But backers of alternative jet fuels say it is too soon to declare a preference. The jatropha oil-algae mix was processed by one of Houston’s many contract refineries as if it were a standard petroleum product, and this fact is regarded as important as it was used in a full-flight regime test on the No. 2 CFM56-7B engine on Continental’s Boeing 737-800.
There seems to be a more than casual relationship between the current condition of economies around the world and the production, certification and launch into service of the Boeing 787 and the Airbus A380. Both programs have been beset by two-year delays due to the inability to foresee the difficulties of executing such large and complicated projects. I expect that the economies will stabilize at the same time that we will have regular service of these aircraft between the major hubs of the world.
AAI has begun flight testing its Aerosonde Mark 5, in preparation for entry in the upcoming competition for the U.S. Navy Small Tactical Unmanned Air System (STUAS) and U.S. Marine Corps Tier II UAS. The new design incorporates features of both the long-endurance Aerosonde and Shadow tactical unmanned air vehicles. The Dec. 10 first flight was conducted from Yuma Proving Grounds in Arizona. The Mark 5 is a larger derivative of the Aerosonde Mark 3, a 33.5-lb. air vehicle with up to 30-hr. endurance.
When the new, leaner Alitalia begins flying this month, it will be a milestone in the troubled carrier’s tortuous odyssey. However, this will probably not be the end of the story, especially considering the uncertain local and European context. Born-again Alitalia will have to quickly demonstrate that it still has a genuine raison d’etre, despite past difficulties and the airline industry’s urgent need to further consolidate.
For its part, the Center for Strategic and International Studies is advising the next president to implement a comprehensive cybersecurity strategy that also respects privacy and civil liberties. The CSIS Commission on Cybersecurity for the 44th Presidency recently released its final report.
International Space Station crewmembers will begin using Soyuz vehicles exclusively to get to and from their duty post after the STS-128/17A logistics mission on Discovery in August, and NASA’s Russian partners want to make sure their vehicle is working as advertised by then. Expedition 18 Commander Mike Fincke and Flight Engineer Yuri Lonchakov ventured outside the orbiting facility Dec. 22 and installed a probe that will measure a phenomenon that may have caused two returning Soyuz vehicles to fall into a perilous “ballistic” reentry. In a 5-hr., 38-min.
Klaus Riedel has been named executive vice president of multinational joint venture Meads International , Orlando, Fla. He was its executive vice president and then president before returning to LFK in Munich as chairman. Riedel succeeds Axel Widera, who will be retiring.
More and more Washington wise men and policy shops are offering President-elect Barack Obama advice on problems ranging from nuclear strategy to cybersecurity. Among the latest, two former national security advisers: Brent Scowcroft and Zbigniew Brzezinski. The American public is “woefully uninformed” about the world and Obama should “undertake a serious public education from the bully pulpit” that is the White House, says Brzezinski, who advised President Jimmy Carter.
Russia expects to roll out its fifth-generation fighter (the PAK FA, also known as the T-50) by mid-August 2009, says air force chief Col. Gen. Alexander Zelin. Three prototypes already are in different stages of production. Earlier reports have put first flight toward year-end.
A dual launch for Eutelsat marks an important step forward in the operator’s fleet renewal plan and India’s entry into the international telecom satellite market.
A concerted French government initiative to boost defense exports faces several difficult tests in 2009, but early indicators show that Paris has regained some of its muscle in the international marketplace.
Often one of the few people not wearing camouflage fatigues in a forward area, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates tours Gnjilane, Kosovo, on Oct. 7 with U.S. troops who are part of NATO’s Kosovo Force peacekeepers. Gates is Aviation Week & Space Technology’s Person of the Year (see p.
NASA and the Indian Space Research Organization have confirmed that a water-detecting Mini Synthetic Aperture Radar (MiniSAR) on board the Chandrayaan-1 lunar orbiter has been activated and is fully functional, according to Raytheon. The company provided the antenna, transmitter, analog receiver and software for the MiniSAR, which is mainly intended for detecting water ice or other volatiles in the permanently shadowed regions of the lunar poles up to a depth of a few meters.
Joe Little (see photo) has been named vice president-research and development for Flight Display Systems , Alpharetta, Ga. He was a senior design engineer for LOFA Industries.
Few are more passionate and committed to building aviation safety than Nicholas A. Sabatini. After nearly 30 years with the FAA, he turned in his badge Jan. 3 to pursue a second career in—what else?—aviation safety, this time from the private sector. He earned gold stars serving in a variety of positions, from safety inspector in the field to the top safety officer responsible for the certification, regulation and oversight of U.S. airlines, as well as manager of 7,000 employees.
