Another congressional report is questioning NASA’s ability to develop its follow-on Ares/Orion human spaceflight systems on time and on budget, given the agency’s recent history and fiscal woes. Under its Constellation program, NASA is planning initial operating capability (IOC) for the Ares I rocket and Orion spacecraft in March 2015, and has a 65% confidence level of making that target. But the five-year gap in human spaceflight capability between the space shuttle’s planned 2010 retirement and the Ares/Orion IOC could grow, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) warns.
Looking ahead to onboard sensors and directed-energy weapons that will consume far more power and generate ever more heat, the U.S. Air Force has launched a program to develop hybrid electric systems technology for “energy-optimized” aircraft. Goals of the Air Force Research Laboratory’s Integrated Vehicle Energy Technology (Invent) program include extending range and endurance 10-15%, increasing power and thermal capacity by 10-30%, overcoming cooling challenges in low-observable platforms, and reducing life-cycle costs.
State trading company Catic has ordered 20 Y-12F utility aircraft from Avicopter, the new Avic unit that now owns Harbin Aircraft. The Y-12F, a modern 19-seat design unrelated to earlier Y-12s, has not yet flown. The manufacturer plans to seek FAA certification, and Catic is aiming at selling the aircraft in Western markets.
The criminalization of aviation accidents continues. Cyprus plans to prosecute five people associated with the August 2005 crash of a Helios Airways Boeing 737-300 in Greece, according to Attorney General Petros Clerides, who announced the move Nov. 4. The five were not identified. According to the Greek accident investigation report, the flight crew and passengers were disabled by hypoxia, brought about by pressurization problems linked to disabled switches in the environment control system.
Nav Canada is deploying a Multistatic Dependent Surveillance (MDS) multilateration system from Sensis Corp. for surface surveillance at Montreal Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport. Multilateration complements radar to provide a more complete picture of aircraft moving on the airport surface. In addition, Sensis VeeLo NextGen vehicle locators will be used for tracking airport vehicles in the maneuvering area. Nav Canada President John Crichton says MDS will help airlines reduce delays and airline fuel costs while cutting greenhouse gas emissions.
While reading your articles touting the airline deregulation, I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. The people that I know in my demographic group, senior citizens, do just about everything they can to avoid air travel. The unpleasant airport experience, the distinct possibility of being stranded as the result of missed connections and the near torture that accompanies coach seating—particularly in the 737—combine to make air travel a decidedly poor experience for older folks. Seniors represent the fastest-growing segment of the population.
Steven E. Harfst has been appointed president/CEO of USA3000 Airlines . He succeeds Angus Kinnear, who recently retired as chief operating officer. Harfst was COO of IndiGo and had been COO of North American Airlines.
The Phoenix Mars lander is near death as sunlight at its arctic landing site is no longer enough to provide solar-array power to charge its batteries daily. Loss of the lander in November or earlier has always been expected following a mission that began with touchdown May 25. Phoenix has lasted about 1.5 months longer that its original specification. Some weather data has been received from the spacecraft since Nov. 1, but little if any additional science data will be returned by Phoenix as Martian winter conditions begin to worsen at the landing site.
The U.S. Air Force wants to halt procurement of new MQ-1B Predator unmanned aerial vehicles while switching to an all MQ-9 Reaper fleet beginning in Fiscal 2010, according to Pentagon officials. The proposal is already being met with opposition in the Pentagon, however, as the Fiscal 2010 budget request is being ironed out, and questions about the transition remain.
John E. (Ned) Walker has become senior vice president/chief communications officer for Delta Air Lines . He was senior vice president-corporate communications for Continental Airlines. Walker has been succeeded there by Senior Vice President Nene Foxhall.
The letter on the use of efficient alternative energy sources for taxiing is well-intentioned, but not real-world in its proposal to use alternative mag-lev or similar technology to prevent long times of extended ground running to protect the environment (AW&ST Oct. 13, p. 10).
Boeing is developing a revised delivery schedule for the troubled 787 program which may push service entry as far back as early 2010, or almost two years later than originally scheduled. The company has been forced to slide first flight into 2009 because of the recently settled 57-day machinists’ strike. Adding to its misery, Boeing also concedes that delays due to newly discovered problems with improperly installed fasteners are being factored into the schedule revision, the fifth since the rollout of the aircraft in July 2007.
Iraq intends to carve out a leading role for its helicopter force, adding more firepower and giving it an important special operations capacity. One step toward this goal is a plan to buy 24 armed reconnaissance rotorcraft. If completed, it would be the single biggest purchase made so far by the nation’s defense ministry to build up a helicopter arm within the Iraqi air force (IQAF). The program is still in its early phase, but Col. Ahmed, commander of IQAF’s Sqdn. 15, says the Bell 407 is what the government wants to field.
The Iraqi air force (IQAF) could still be struggling to gain recognition within the country’s power structure if not for events that transpired earlier this year, when Iraqi forces moved into Basra. The Basra battle, although not the first Iraqi army operation supported by IQAF, could turn out to be a galvanizing moment for the fledgling service. The operation, which kicked off in March, was one of the biggest launched by the Iraqi military.
Nov. 17-19—American Astronautical Society National Conference: “Space Science and Exploration in the Next Decade.” Pasadena (Calif.) Hilton. Call +1 (703) 866-0020, fax +1 (703) 866-3526 or see www.astronautical.org
More flight testing is to come later this year and early next year as a Boeing/Lockheed Martin team refines its design for the U.S. Air Force’s Small Diameter Bomb II competition, says Dan Jaspering, director of direct attack weapons at Boeing. To date, the team has executed two subsystem flight tests, including checks on the airframe. The team also has tested the seeker, which is being provided by Lockheed Martin. The Air Force is expected to downselect between this design and Raytheon’s proposal next October.
The photo accompanying your enlightened article on the buffet and flow separation issues for the Italian air force’s KC-767 refueling pod is worth “a thousand words” (AW&ST Oct. 020, p. 27).
Better not wait too long to send that resume or program proposal to President-elect Barack Obama because the Obama camp isn’t wasting any time shifting from campaign mode to organizing the next administration. The transition team combines Clinton administration types, such as former Chief of Staff John Podesta and ex-Transportation Secretary Federico Pena, with longtime Obama advisers from Chicago and Harvard Law School. Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano is also on the team. Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-Ill.), the No.
Donald E. McHugh, Jr. (see photos) has become vice president/controller and John A. Macel, Jr., vice president-international operations of the Northrop Grumman Corp. ’s Technical Services Sector, Herndon, Va., and David Reith director of business operations/chief financial officer of National Security Technologies, of which Northrop Grumman is managing partner. McHugh has been CFO of the Civilian Agencies Group in the company’s Information Technology Sector and succeeds Reith. Macel was vice president-international business development for the ITT Corp.’s Systems Div.
The U.S. aerospace and defense industry is facing an unusual paradox: National security threats haven’t been greater since the height of the Cold War, yet the next President is expected to make drastic changes to the Pentagon’s budget in light of fiscal pressures inside and out of the Defense Dept. Being the world’s largest defense market, the implications could reverberate worldwide.
A Los Angeles Superior Court jury has ruled that Boeing and its Boeing Satellite Systems International (BSSI) unit will be liable for $236 million in punitive damages in relation to a suit for fraud and breach of contract brought by ICO Global Communications.
Meanwhile, Thales, a major A400M supplier, says it is making a €60-million ($78-million) provision in the second half of this year because of expected additional costs related to the A400M program, and suggests it may have to plan for future write-offs in connection with the aircraft’s flight management system (FMS), which Thales supplies. Although the FMS was delivered and accepted last spring, its close interaction with all other essential onboard systems means the company will have to keep development teams active much longer than originally envisaged.
The young Afghanistan National Army Air Corps is expected to grow nearly fivefold in the next five years, according to Maj. Gen. Jay Lindell, the U.S. Air Force deputy commander in charge of the Combined Air Power Transition Force in Kabul. Already, the air corps has about 26 aircraft under its command. However, growing the number and types of aircraft, as well as the manpower and leadership to manage them, is expected to be a challenge for Afghan and international security leaders, according to U.S. officials there.
