NASA’s planned Ares V heavy-lift vehicle still doesn’t have the lift it needs to send astronauts back to the Moon, and must be beefed up from its present configuration to get the job done. Ares engineers are studying several options for adding more than 10 metric tons to the throw-weight of the big rocket—already conceived as the largest launch vehicle ever built.
Douglas Barrie (London Heathrow Airport), Robert Wall (London Heathrow Airport)
Counter-arguments range from not in my backyard to not in anybody’s yard, while some proponents paint images of an economic backwater if the expansion is rejected.
China Eastern Airlines, fighting off a hostile bid for control from the parent of Air China, has rejected the offer as not legally binding. But no one expects that rejection to deter China National Aviation Corp. from pursuing its campaign to consolidate two of the country’s Big Three airlines. Looking for other ways to strengthen its ailing business, China Eastern says it will expand code-sharing with rival Shanghai Airlines, itself regarded as a likely takeover target.
I could not help but smile while reading Craig Covault’s article “Moon Stuck” (AW&ST Jan. 21, p. 24). In the claims of the have-nots, I was reminded of language from our business development and marketing folks: grandiose words, thin on rationale; just take our word for it. But NASA Administrator Michael Griffin speaks the language of engineering: logical, practical, shaped by experience.
Airbus has signed up BOC Aviation to buy five Airbus A330-200F freighters. The leasing company, formerly called Singapore Aircraft Leasing Enterprise, says it’s the first time it has committed to taking a freight aircraft directly from a manufacturer. “This order reflects our confidence in strong future demand for wide-body production freighter aircraft,” BOC Aviation CEO Robert Martin says. It brings the A330-200F order book to 77 aircraft, after MatlinPatterson signed for six in January.
Michael Pollack has been named vice president-sales and marketing for Psi Systems Inc. , Germantown, Md. He was vice president-government sales at Advantech Satellite Networks.
Air navigation service provider Belgocontrol reports air traffic in January increased by 9% in Belgian airspace compared with the same month in 2007. Skyguide reported 2007 was a record year for air traffic over Switzerland with 1.23 million flights handled, up 6.1% from 1.16 million flights in 2006. Arrival and departure traffic was up by 9.1% at the Geneva airport.
Air Force chief Gen. T. Michael Moseley won’t say whether Iran is the first big customer for the Russian-made advanced SA-20 air defense missiles. But he does detail what bad news it would be if true. Moseley highlights the 100-mi.-range of the SA-10 and the 200+-mi.-range of the SA-20 surface-to-air missiles. “The SA-20 is a big deal,” he says. “Put it next to the Washington Monument, and you can [target] airplanes all the way from Philadelphia to Richmond” That’s a big problem for pilots of non-stealthy aircraft.
Saab is devising a new ejection seat handle for some Gripen fighters after the existing design was implicated in the Apr. 19, 2007, crash of a Swedish air force fighter near the Vidsel test range. The pilot was coming in to land when the canopy blew off; the ejection commenced before the pilot even reached the handle. The Swedish Accident Investigation Board determined that the pilot’s leg pressed the ejection handle upward, causing the seat to activate.
NASA is likely to get slammed by another congressional continuing resolution this year, which would keep its budget flat, rather than a formal appropriation, which could boost it. Paul Carliner, a former appropriations aide to Sens. Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.) and Robert Byrd (D-W. Va.), says time is so tight this election year that the most Congress is likely to send to the White House for signing are a supplemental funding bill for Iraq and Afghanistan operations, funding bills for the Defense and Veterans Affairs Depts. and perhaps a bill for Homeland Security.
Boeing says barrel tests of the 787’s composite fuselage have been completed to meet FAA certification standards. The tests were on a Section 46 center fuselage section and included “limit load” measurements of gravity forces likely to be experienced in a complete life cycle. Next came “ultimate load” tests set at 150% of limit loads to meet FAA criteria. Testing of the composite wing is set for April and May; evaluation of the horizontal stabilizer is set for later this month. Certification also will require a test of a full-scale static aircraft.
In a surprise move Wayne Hale, space shuttle program manager since 2005, who helped lead the program out of the 2003 Columbia accident and has held key positions in the shuttle program since its inception, has been shifted out of that position to become NASA deputy associate administrator for strategic partnerships. The office has been formed to build alliances across public and private space programs and NASA’s international partners to help achieve the agency’s new goals. John Shannon, who had been Hale’s deputy, is succeeding him as shuttle program manager.
Space shuttle engineers continue to analyze recovery-system malfunctions on both of the solid-fuel boosters that launched the orbiter Atlantis on the STS-122/1E mission last month. None of the problems involved flight safety or propulsion aspects of the ATK solid rocket motors, and both were towed back to the Kennedy Space Center without difficulty. No delay of the upcoming STS-123/1J/A is expected because of the booster issues, either.
Saudi Arabia and Britain will need to agree on a final assembly deal on the Eurofighter Typhoon in the next couple of months if rollout of the first locally assembled aircraft in 2011 is to happen. The Royal Saudi Air Force will receive the first of its 72 Typhoons on order in 2009. The initial 24 aircraft will be built by BAE Systems at Warton, England, while the remaining 48 are expected to be assembled in Saudi Arabia.
Rockwell Collins is pursuing some lucrative defense contracts in the Far East. And even though 70% of the company’s military sales remain U.S.-based, the dollar value of foreign orders is growing nicely to keep pace with expanded Pentagon spending. “This region is particularly attractive,” says Greg S. Churchill, executive vice president and Chief Operating Officer of the government systems unit, speaking at the Singapore Airshow.
Honeywell says it will be the first avionics supplier to have a certified ADS-B “in” capability for use on new production commercial aircraft now that Airbus plans to use the technology to improve operations in oceanic and terminal airspace and on the airport surface.
The first Multirole Tanker Transport (MRTT), designed for the Royal Australian Air Force by EADS, conducts a test flight over Spain in January. The design used for this Airbus A330-based refueler is similar to the one selected last week by the U.S. Air Force as a replacement for its oldest KC-135s (see p. 22). During this sortie, the MRTT extended its wing-mounted hose-and-drogue refueling pods to a Spanish F/A-18 on approach. EADS photo.
Bold moves by Thales Alenia Space to remain competitive in the face of the swooning dollar could put the Thales-Finmeccanica venture on a collision course with U.S. export control rules, if rival Space Systems/Loral has its way.
Your Jan. 21 edition contained an ad for the Airbus Military A400M, followed by on its ongoing problems (pp. 26 and 33). Lockheed Martin must be smiling that Marshall Aerospace is having to use a C-130 as the testbed for the troubled TP400 engine, while Lockheed Martin is selling 17 C-130Js to Canada.
Finmeccanica is starting to more closely integrate its defense electronics activities, but a single operating unit will not emerge for some time because of residual problems with some of the businesses.
Northrop Grumman and Space Systems/Loral have agreed on a broad cooperation plan that will increase SS/L’s military and government business and improve the competitiveness of its commercial satellites (see p. 34). The plan also will help reduce the cost and lead times of Northrop’s government programs. The agreement will permit SS/L to expand its production capacity by using Northrop’s satellite integration facilities, and to use reflectors built by Northrop’s Astro Aerospace unit on its satellites.
Apr. 15-16—AVIATION WEEK Interiors, Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Apr. 15-17—MRO Conference and Exhibition, Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Sept. 23-25—MRO Europe, Madrid. Oct. 14-16—MRO Asia, Singapore. PARTNERSHIPS Mar. 31-Apr. 6—FIDAE, Santiago, Chile. Apr. 1-3—JEC Composites, Paris. Apr. 7-10—U.S. Space Foundation, Colorado Springs. May 27-June 1—ILA Berlin air show. June 16-18—Aircraft Interiors-Middle East, Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
India has test-fired the nuclear-capable K-15 “Sagarika” submarine-launched ballistic missile from a pontoon in the Bay of Bengal. A Defense Research and Development Organization official says test-firing had been conducted several times before. The solid-propellant-powered, seven-ton, 8.5-meter-long (26.25-ft.) missile can carry about 500 kg.
Douglas Barrie (Johannesburg and AFB Overberg, South Africa)
Ten years after a contentious selection process, the South African Air Force will formally receive the first of its 26 Saab Gripens next month. These aircraft will form the core of the service’s defensive and offensive capability for the coming decades.
