The British Defense Ministry’s short-term equipment study is proving a holding operation, probably heralding a full-blown overhaul in the next 24 months. The ministry announced Dec. 11 that it would—again—delay the introduction into service of its two 65,000-ton aircraft carriers. The first of class may not now enter service until 2016, rather than 2012 as first envisaged.
French BEA accident investigators have concluded improper procedures during a pre-delivery ground test at Airbus led to the Nov. 15, 2007, accident that destroyed an Airbus A340-600. According to BEA, the aircraft was damaged beyond repair because power to all four engines was applied without wheel chocks, overcoming the brake capacity.
U.S. Navy and Marine Corps accident investigators continue looking into why both engines failed on a Marine F/A-18D, causing it to crash into a residential area near MCAS Miramar, Calif., on Dec. 8. A Miramar official says no new information on what caused the engine failure has surfaced yet, but analysis is ongoing. The Boeing fighter was returning from aircraft carrier qualification landings on the USS Abraham Lincoln when the accident occurred.
U.S. Army Gen. (ret.) William G.T. Tuttle, Jr., has been appointed to the advisory board of Odin Technologies , Ashburn, Va. He is a trustee and former president/CEO of the Logistics Management Institute.
U.S. Army Brig. Gen. (ret.) Nolen Bivens has become vice president of General Dynamics C4 Systems Washington operations. He was chief of staff of Miami-based U.S. Southern Command. Honors and Elections
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/MRO Military Conferences. Dallas Oct. 1—Green Europe. Hamburg, Germany Dec. 8-10—MRO Asia. Hong Kong
Phoenix Mars lander data show evidence that portions of Mars could have been habitable for microorganisms early in its history, or in some cases are potentially still habitable. The findings will be presented this week at the American Geophysical Union (AGU) meeting in San Francisco.
Sanswire-TAO has flown the latest version of its Stratellite segmented airship, designed to overcome the disadvantages of lighter-than-air unmanned vehicles for persistent surveillance. Traditional airships are hard to handle in high winds, but the Stratellite’s segmented envelope flexes with gusts, making it easier to control during ascent and descent, states the company, which is a joint venture of Stuttgart-based TAO-Technologies and U.S.-headquartered Sanswire.
Claude Chidiac has been named vice president-business development for business aviation for Standard Aero , Tempe, Ariz. He was managing director of Grob Aerospace.
Near-infrared spectroscopy of a Jupiter-size planet orbiting a star 63 light-years from Earth has found carbon dioxide in its atmosphere, demonstrating a technique that may be used with the James Webb Space Telescope and other large observatories operating at near-IR wavelengths to spot the signatures of life on other extrasolar planets. While the planet HD 189733b is too hot for life, detection of CO2 there “is significant for the long-term effort characterizing planets,” says Mark Swain of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), flush with the ongoing success of its Chandrayaan-1 lunar mission, is looking at international cooperation as a way to fast-forward some of its ambitious space plans.
Marked for cancellation just a few months ago, the U.S. Navy’s unmanned combat air system (UCAS) is moving forward, with the unveiling of the X-47B demonstrator and plans to prove the tailless flying wing can not only land on a carrier, but also refuel autonomously. The first X-47B will be unveiled at Northrop Grumman’s Palmdale, Calif., plant this week, then enter extensive ground testing leading up to a first flight in November 2009 and a carrier suitability demonstration at sea two years later.
Daniel D. Villanueva and John Denison have been named to the board of directors of Southwest Airlines . Villanueva is a partner in RC Fontis, a California-based private equity firm. Denison was chairman of Global Aero Logistics Inc. and had been executive vice president-corporate services for Southwest.
Irritated and surprised by the claims Oslo used late last month to support its selection of the Lockheed Martin F-35, Saab is striking back. Norway chose the F-35 over the Gripen NG. Saab contests Oslo’s claim that the Gripen NG did not meet the Norwegian requirements, and that the Gripen would have a higher life-cycle cost than the F-35.
Robert Berry, chairman emeritus of Space Systems/Loral, Palo Alto, Calif., is scheduled to be inducted into the Silicon Valley Engineering Hall of Fame in February. The hall recognizes engineers for professional achievement and contributions to the Silicon Valley community. Space Systems/Loral designs and manufactures high-power satellites for direct-to-home television, satellite radio, broadband Internet and a variety of mobile communications applications.
A team led by General Atomics has been awarded a $20-million U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency contract to demonstrate that a drop-in replacement for JP-8 jet fuel can be produced affordably from algae. Darpa’s biofuels program has demonstrated the ability to produce a surrogate JP-8 from plant oil sources.
Sestak and Murtha aren’t the only lawmakers opining on what the Obama administration needs to do about defense procurement. Rep. Ellen Tauscher (D-Calif.) argues against basing an ICBM interceptor system in Eastern Europe until it’s been fully tested. “I don’t believe we should have a two-stage variant of a three-stage system—that has not been tested sufficiently to reach credible deterrence—put into Europe right now,” Tauscher tells a gathering at the Center for National Policy.
Brazilian air force investigators and the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) strongly disagree on the cause of the Sept. 29, 2006, inflight collision between an Embraer Legacy 600 business jet and a Boeing 737 operated by Brazilian airline GOL. A draft final report by air force investigators released Dec. 10 places the blame for the accident, which killed all 154 people on board the 737, on the American pilots of the ExcelAire Legacy—Joseph Lepore and Jan Paladino—and Brazilian air traffic controllers.
Dick Slansky, who tracks product life-cycle management trends for the ARC Advisory Group in Boston, says Siemens PLM Software’s Teamcenter suite already holds a commanding 32% market share among industrial users, including the aerospace and defense sector. So he wasn’t surprised when Siemens snared the last of the big aero engine makers—Snecma—to add to contracts it holds from Rolls-Royce, Pratt & Whitney, GE Aviation, MTU, Volvo and others. Users also include NPO Saturn and Pratt’s Rocketdyne unit for rocket engines.
Boeing admits first flight of the 787 has slipped into the second quarter of 2009, and deliveries into 2010, as a result of this fall’s machinists’ strike and the latest issue with fastener problems which affected both fully assembled and partially built airframes.
Sometimes old news is new news. The U.S. Navy is only now acknowledging its purchase of four General Atomics MQ-9 Reaper unmanned aerial system built by General Atomics. The Navy purchased the MQ-9s between November 2005 and March 2007. They are being used for a “sensor testing and integration project,” service officials say. Few details were provided, though the reason behind the secrecy is unclear.
A “hook” system designed by Volga-Dnepr Airlines’ engineers to secure heavy, single pieces of air cargo for transport has been used to deliver a 98-ton hydroturbine motor wheel from Saint Petersburg to Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, this month. The 6.25 X 3.5-meter motor wheel was secured for the flight using the hook technology inside the aircraft’s freight compartment.
