Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) conducted a full launch dress rehearsal and static firing of its third Falcon 1 rocket June 25 at its launch site at Kwajalein Atoll in the Pacific Ocean. The test marked the first pad firing of SpaceX’s new Merlin 1C reusable engine—an upgraded version of the Merlin 1A used for previous Falcon 1 launches. The regeneratively cooled Merlin 1C operated at full power, with only the hold-down system keeping the rocket from lifting off, the company says.
India has agreed to sell seven Hindustan Aeronautics Dhruv Advanced Light Helicopters to the Ecuadoran air force for $50.7 million. The Indian defense ministry expects delivery of the indigenously developed twin-turbine helicopters to Ecuador in knock-down kit form to begin within six months and be completed over 15 months to two years.
Italian carrier Meridiana has launched a new industrial plan aimed at decreasing operating expenses by 30% to offset soaring fuel costs. The outlook, however, is bleak because the airline is projected to lose money in 2008 after three years of profits. Meridiana is struggling to convert its Eurofly unit into a regular carrier and labor unions have rejected a proposed 20% reduction in labor costs for pilots and 10% for ground personnel.
Japan Airlines (JAL) plans to flight test a second-generation, sustainable biofuel in cooperation with Boeing and Pratt & Whitney. Blended with conventional jet fuel, the biofuel will be tested in a JT9D engine on a JAL 747-300 during a 1-hr., non-revenue flight scheduled for late in the first quarter of 2009. The flight will be the first biofuel demonstration by an Asian airline and the first using a Pratt & Whitney engine.
Bombardier has booked firm orders for 25 Learjet 60XR business jets plus 85 options from an undisclosed European customer, with deliveries to begin next year. The firm orders are valued at $340 million and the complete 110-aircraft deal at $1.5 billion. Gulfstream has signed an agreement worth $1.9 billion to continue delivering four G450s and four G550s a year to U.S. fractional-ownership provider NetJets. The deal covers 40 aircraft for delivery from 2012-16.
The next man to fly on Marine One will herald pain for defense procurement, with high-profile programs such as the Army’s Future Combat Systems (FCS) and some missile defense system elements marked as possible targets. But rather than wholesale upheaval, changes to the Pentagon’s budget, force structure and military capabilities are likely to come in measured amounts as the U.S. faces wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as continuing counter-terrorism efforts around the world and at home.
The science team for the French-U.S. Jason-2 oceanography mapping mission wasted no time in bringing its five primary and three piggyback instruments into play. And even though the spacecraft’s formal checkout will take two months, the science team expects to begin receiving data within weeks that will continue an international tradition dating back three decades of reading the ocean’s waves to help understand climatic change.
A Sikorsky VH-3D Sea King helicopter, operating at the White House in Washington and bearing the U.S. presidential livery, is designated Marine 1 when the commander-in-chief is on board. The next President, whether it’s Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) or Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.), will face immediate challenges in the aerospace, aviation and defense arenas—most with long-term economic and national security consequences. In a Presidential Special Report beginning on p.
The FAA and European Commission aim to expand a “green” transatlantic flight demonstration program taking wing this year so that by 2010 it will show how airline operations can be improved from gate-to-gate.
Sukhoi resumed flight trials of its Superjet 100 regional jet on June 22. After the first flight, the aircraft was grounded for structural work, including fuselage pressure tests to 125% of design loads. The ground trials cleared the way for more extensive flight tests. Aerodynamic performance remains the key objective of this test aircraft, with recent flights include landing gear retractions up to 9,000 ft. and successive turns at a 30-deg. angle-of-bank.
The U.S. Missile Defense Agency (MDA) and prime Lockheed Martin declared a successful shootdown of a separating target with the Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense (Thaad) system over a Hawaiian test range June 25. The target, launched from a C-17 airlifter and intercepted in mid endo-atmosphere, presented a new target class compared with previous unitary targets intercepted by Thaad.
Peter Leonhardt has become director of technical marketing for Meggitt subsidiary Endevco Corp. , Irvine, Calif. He had been a senior project engineer.
The Air Force awarded Lockheed Martin a $107-million contract for the next lot of 111 Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missiles, marking the first firm award since the program was recertified. Last year, it suffered a major GPS dropout problem, preventing missiles from reaching their targets.
Fred Strader (see photos) has become chief operating officer of Textron Systems , Wilmington, Mass. He was president of subsidiary AAI. Ellen Lord has been promoted to senior vice president/general manager of AAI from vice president-integration management at Textron Systems.
News about the F-35B’s first flight (AW&ST June 16, p. 24) raises a huge question: Although the F-35B Stovl variant is an outstanding piece of engineering and a technological tour de force, who really needs it? Where does it fit?
Los Angeles International Airport’s Flight Path Learning Center and Museum has been named after aviation author and historian William A. Schoneberger. The library serves researchers of the history and development of airlines, aircraft manufacturers, engines, airports and aerospace companies. Schoneberger is a former head of public affairs for Northrop Aviation and the General Electric Aircraft Engine Group. He has been cited for having written numerous aviation books and articles, as a cofounder of Flight Path and longtime member of its board of directors.
Aircraft operators using Thielert engines are unhappy with the lack of responsiveness the company has shown as it tries to find a financial white knight to rescue it from its ongoing insolvency process. “Based on what we’ve seen so far, the only way Thielert engine owners will get relief is to band together and exert pressure as a group,” argues Todd House, president of YourJet, who directs the newly formed Thielert Engine Owners Group. In particular, the users are furious over Thielert’s decision to void their warranties, but then offer them to buyers of new engines.
Eldar Hauge has been named managing director of Northrop Grumman’s Park Air Systems operations in Norway. He was vice president-national security and public safety for Ericsson.
An industry team of Saab Avitronics and Chemring has secured the first two customers for their Camps-100 civil aircraft missile protection system, with initial deliveries due this year. The first user will be an Embraer EMB-120 twin turboprop from Naturelink, a South African-based operator that flies for the United Nations and other nongovernmental organizations.
Repairs to the damaged flame trench on Launch Complex 39A at the Kennedy Space Center shouldn’t delay the planned Oct. 8 launch of the space shuttle Atlantis on the final Hubble Space Telescope servicing mission. However, it remains an open question as to what impact the condition of the twin Apollo-era KSC launch pads will have on the Ares launchers under development to replace the shuttle.
Hindustan Aeronautics has flown the second of eight limited series-production Tejas Light Combat Aircraft and the first to be powered by the General Electric F404-IN20 engine. Compared with the F404-N2J3 powering previous LCAs, the -IN20 has full-authority digital engine control, and increased thrust and life. The air force has ordered an initial 20 LCAs, and may order 20 more. The Tejas is planned to enter service in 2010.
NASA selected a team led by Oceaneering International Inc. (OII) to build its next-generation spacesuits because it felt the team’s systems-engineering and management plans are more likely to get the job done than those proposed by veteran suitmakers Hamilton Sundstrand and ILC Dover. According to a copy of the source-selection statement for the contract obtained by Aviation Week & Space Technology, cost was not a discriminator in the choice of OII over the ILC Dover/Hamilton Sundstrand joint venture, Exploration Systems & Technology (EST).
Malaysia’s Maritime Enforcement Agency has placed a firm order for two Bombardier 415MP multipurpose amphibians modified for maritime surveillance. The waterbomber will be equipped with two side-looking airborne radars, forward-looking infrared sensor, maritime surveillance radar and other specialized avionics and communications equipment.
Rolls-Royce is reporting progress with two programs that could position it to produce the next generation of U.S. high-performance military engine. The company’s LibertyWorks unit has completed preliminary design reviews for two U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) demonstrator projects—Adaptive Versatile Engine Technology (Advent) and Highly Efficient Embedded Turbine Engine (Heete)—that lay the foundations for advanced engines to power transport, surveillance and strike aircraft entering service after 2020.
