Bombardier is planning to increase output of its regional jets to levels not seen in five years, in response to a sharp rebound in orders as it begins production on its new 100-seat CRJ1000. The company’s assembly line outside Montreal has just ramped up production to one jet every four days from one every five. Plans call for output to reach one aircraft every three days by September, matching the previous regional jet (RJ) production peak in 2003, when Bombardier was still filling orders placed before the industry’s post-2001 downturn.
USAF Lt. Col. James Kromberg flew the production prototype F-35A Lightning II on Jan. 30, becoming the first military pilot to fly the Joint Strike Fighter. Kromberg flew the airplane on its 26th flight from Lockheed Martin’s facilities in Fort Worth. He flew the F-35 to 12,000 ft. and checked handling qualities at up to a 15-deg. angle of attack.
Boeing’s KC-767 conducted its first night refueling mission Jan. 26, including 11 contacts with an F-15E as well as transfer of fuel midair. A platform headed for Japan’s self-defense force carried out the mission.
British Defense Ministry officials and European industry executives are expressing reservations over the latest A400M schedule, with some worrying it could mean further slippage of in-service dates. Already the Royal Air Force has again had to revise its withdrawal plan for the C-130K, that the A400M will replace.
The Pentagon is adding funding in its Fiscal 2009 budget for a project to boost electro-optical (EO) surveillance in Iraq, but debate continues about which solution will ultimately be the best for the requirement. An undisclosed sum was recently added to the forthcoming budget, which will be sent to Congress Feb. 4, via the Intelligence Program Decision Memorandum (IPDM), according to Defense Dept. officials. The IPDM, a classified document, is assembled annually and outlines funding changes for intelligence programs under the Pentagon’s purview.
By most financial measures, 2007 was a very good year for Boeing. Net income was up 84% from the previous year on an 8% gain in sales. Cash flow grew 28%, to a record $9.6 billion, and debt was pared by 14%. Two years of record commercial aircraft orders have pumped up backlog by 60% to a record $327 billion—the equivalent of five years of revenue. And those orders are dispersed globally, lessening the company’s reliance on the shaky U.S. airline industry.
There’s an old adage that when the wagons are circled, remember to shoot outward. As self-evident as the folksy advice might seem, it has been soundly ignored by some people within the U.K. space science and particle physics community in their increasingly testy spat with Britain’s recently formed Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC).
A noncash write-down by Deutsche Post World Net Jan. 23 of Express America’s fixed assets of about €600 million ($882 million) raises questions about the profitability of the delivery giant’s U.S. operation. The German post office says it expects the U.S. division to make “consistent progress in underlying profit,” and it is estimating 2009 earnings before interest and taxes of between €900 million and €1.1 billion. Wilmington, Ohio-based ABX Air Inc. provides two-thirds of the U.S.
A new Boeing-Lockheed Martin team is hoping to unseat B-2 manufacturer Northrop Grumman as the incumbent bomber provider to the U.S. Air Force. Last week, the companies made public their collaboration to compete for the U.S. Air Force’s next-generation bomber work, but what exactly they will be building is yet to be decided.
Bruce Bunevich has become Great Lakes marketing manager for Universal Avionics , Tucson, Ariz. He was sales manager for Chelton Flight Systems and has been director of international sales for Avidyne.
The U.S. Air Force couldn’t keep a lid on this forever. Though not released officially by USAF, the first photos of an F-22 and Russian Tu-95 Bear bomber during an intercept have surfaced. They began to show up last week on the Internet, and Aviation Week & Space Technology received them from a source. USAF officials acknowledge another Raptor pilot snapped photos during the intercept. Shown is an F-22 off the coast of Alaska, flying close to the Bear.
The European Commission in mid-year is expected to name a system architect to help it implement the Sesar future air traffic management system for Europe. Bids are due next month.
Feb. 13-14American Helicopter Society International, The Redstone Chapter and the Product Support Committee Technical Specialists’ Meeting: “Condition Based Maintenance.” Von Braun Civic Center. Huntsville, Ala. See www.vtol.org Feb. 20-21—Shephard’s Defense IT ’08 Conference, London. Also, Mar. 17-19—Shephard’s Search and Rescue Conference and Exhibition 2008. Bournemouth (England) International Center. Call +44 (162) 860-6979, fax +44 (162) 866-9789 or see www.shephard.co.uk/events
Boeing captured a $116-million U.S. Air Force contract to provide more than 4,000 Joint Direct Attack Munition tail kits for delivery in 2009-10. An option provides for deliveries through 2015 that could bring the total to $590 million.
B/E Aerospace has been named the passenger and crew oxygen system supplier for the Airbus A350XWB. The initial contract is worth $125 million. B/E also supplies the oxygen system for the rival Boeing 787.
British defense officials say they’re finally close to awarding contracts on two core projects—the Future Strategic Tanker Aircraft and the next-generation aircraft carrier. But the broader procurement outlook—including the Eurofighter Typhoon—is much more challenging. The Defense Ministry is in the final throes of Planning Round 2008, with significant cuts or delays to some major projects now inevitable. The carrier program and the replacement tanker, however, appear nearly secure.
The U.S. Air Force doesn’t plan to include funding for the wide-area surveillance version of its Multi-Platform Radar Technology Insertion Program (MP-RTIP) sensor in its Fiscal 2009 budget request, says Martha Evans, director of the Air Force’s information dominance acquisition office. A small-scale (1.3 X 4.7-ft.) MP-RTIP is now flying on Northrop Grumman’s Proteus aircraft and will eventually be used by the Global Hawk UAV to monitor moving ground targets. But this electronically scanned array radar can’t track and target cruise missiles.
Japan’s latest geostationary Engineering Test Satellite (ETS-VIII) is having problems with two of its four ion engine thrusters. The southern thruster on System A failed Jan. 15. After that fault was traced to a power source and the control team switched the satellite to System B on Jan. 23, controllers discovered the southern thruster on System B was unstable for continuous firing. The Japan Aerospace Explorations Agency is looking into the problems, but says there’s enough fuel on board to substitute chemical thrusters for the duration of its mission. Launched Dec.
Airbus ended a strong January order intake with commitments from MatlinPatterson for six A330-200 freighters and nine A320s for Niki Luftfahrt. The MatlinPatterson deal adds Brazilian Varig Logistica and Indianapolis-based Global Aero Logistics as new Airbus customers, while the Niki order is a follow-on purchase, raising the Austrian carrier’s A320 fleet to 20 aircraft.
The European Regions Airline Assn. is taking a proactive stance on continuous-descent approaches. ERA board members have agreed to use these procedures at as many airports as possible because of their environmental and flight safety benefits. CDAs avoid the “dive and drive” type of approaches, which put aircraft at low altitude where they are vectored around to line up to land while engines are set at high power settings.
The Japanese Defense Ministry wants to buy more airborne warning and control system aircraft and will fit its Kawasaki P-1 maritime patrollers, now under development, with radars that can detect cruise missiles. The moves are responses to rising Chinese cruise missile capabilities, says the Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper.
Kevin Schemm (see photo) has been named Boeing Commercial Airplanes vice president-sales for North America. He succeeds Ray Conner, who has become vice president-sales for all of Seattle-based Boeing Commercial Airplanes. Schemm was vice president-contracts. Honors and Elections
The European Joint Aviation Authorities have qualified the first Level D simulator built by FlightSafety International for the Gulfstream G150 and have approved FSI’s maintenance training program for the twin-engine business jet. The simulator is located at FSI’s training facility in Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport and features electric motion and control loading systems and an advanced Vital visual system.
Robert Wall (Paris), Joris Janssen Lok (The Hague)
Norway and Sweden, wrestling with diverse security and budgetary challenges, are on the verge of making potentially far-reaching decisions that will shape the long-term capabilities of their militaries.
