In an indication that the Pentagon's interest in ever more effective UAVs is unwavering, SAIC received a $32-million contract to demonstrate long-endurance, airborne intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) payloads for combat operations. Moreover, terms of the agreement also require maturation from laboratory prototype to an acquisition-ready system. However, the ISR system is to be applicable to a range of suitable aircraft. The effort requires installation of the equipment and flight testing both in the U.S. and overseas.
A recent surge in orders could lift AgustaWestland to a new level of financial health, with a €3-billion turnover mark in sight by decade's end, say executives. The Italian helicopter maker, like its Eurocopter rival, is experiencing strength in both its military and commercial business. The 2006 full results will not be disclosed until parent Finmeccanica announces its own performance, but it's clear that AgustaWestland beat its positive 2005 results: Production values last year topped €2.6 billion ($3.4 billion), compared with €2.5 billion in 2005.
France has issued a contract to Atos Origin for a demonstrator to test the operational viability of a Link 22 data relay. Link 22, a successor to the Link 16 currently employed, is being developed under the NATO Improved Link Eleven (Nile) program in order to beef up the interoperability of joint broadband communications. Atos will supply a full demonstration data link chain, including tactical processor, communications system, modem, router, radio, antenna and associated software, within 19 months for operational trials.
Japan Airlines says it will buy 10 Embraer 170s for its J-AIR subsidiary. The order, with options for five more of the regional jets, anticipates greater availability of slots from 2009 after expansion of Tokyo's Haneda airport.
The SunSailor unmanned solar-powered aircraft is being developed by Israel Aerospace Industries and Technion, the country's premier technical institution. Derivative UAVs will have longer flight endurance because they can absorb and store energy during the day and use it to propel the aircraft at night. IAI revealed a number of solar-powered UAV designs at the 47th Israeli aeronautics conference for flight and space sciences last week in Tel Aviv and Haifa. IAI officials also say they have joined a European consortium that is researching unmanned passenger aircraft.
Airbus is scheduled to open its engineering center in Mobile, Ala., on Feb. 26. The facility is part of the Airbus/EADS presence being built there with an eye on winning the U.S. Air Force KC-X tanker program. The 150 engineers at the site will be involved in A350XWB design work.
Classified imagery of a BAE Systems Hawk trainer reveals the extent of modifications made to the test aircraft for visual stealth and infrared countermeasures work. The aircraft was used for a series of trials to examine just how much the visual and infrared signature of an airframe could be reduced to increase platform survivability. At least part of the program was known by the name Chameleon. BAE refuses to discuss the work or to release imagery of the modified aircraft.
Russia plans to consolidate its 102 air traffic control centers into 13 and aims to convert its fragmented airspace into much larger zones over the next two decades. Two of the merged ATC centers are already operating, and five more will be established by 2010, according to Peter N. Shipil. He is chief of the International Relations Dept. at the Russian State Air Traffic Management Corp. and spoke at the ATC conference here. (Shipil's boss, Director General Oleg Alekseev, was unable to attend.)
Francois Baril has become president of the Turbine Technologies Group of the Esco Corp., Portland, Ore. He succeeds Perry Harvey, who has retired. Baril was the group's vice president.
Boeing's first production CH-47F Chinook heavy-lift helicopter has moved into operational testing at Ft. Campbell, Ky. The new 175-mph., 400-mi.-mission-radius design, with digital cockpit and advanced avionics, will undergo an OT phase of more than 60 hr. that is to end in April.
Airbus and EADS management are revising the details of the Power8 cost-cutting plan to overcome internal differences and formally inaugurate the program. But success may depend more on how EADS plans to unload burdensome facilities than on how it resolves boardroom disputes. Selling facilities to generate cash and streamline operations is a key element of Airbus's plan to remake itself. It is "genuinely too hard to judge," however, if the aircraft maker will present terms that could attract outside capital, says an aerospace venture capitalist.
Brian H. Rowe, a towering figure who led General Electric Aviation during the development of engines that established the company's division in everything from business jets to today's most successful narrow- and wide-body transports, died Feb. 22 at the University of Pennsylvania Medical Center in Philadelphia, following surgery. He was 75.
Having introduced the first high-end synthetic vision system for fixed-wing aircraft, Honeywell last week took the wraps off the technology it is developing for helicopters.
Though the Navy toiled for years to set up a competition for its Broad Area Maritime Surveillance unmanned aerial vehicle program, its long-awaited issuance of the request for proposals was without fanfare. The service quietly put the document on the Internet Feb. 15.
The F-22 continues to encounter bumps in its first air expeditionary force deployment to Okinawa. The 12 aircraft from Langley AFB, Va., spent an unscheduled week at Hickam AFB, Hawaii, after the leading four had to abort the trip's last leg. As the Raptors reached the International Date Line, the navigation computers locked up so the aircraft returned to Hickam until a software patch was readied. "Apparently we had built an aircraft for the Western Hemisphere only," says a senior U.S. Air Force official.
The Air Force changed the language of a key performance requirement as it developed the request for proposals for its CSAR-X combat search-and-rescue helicopter without explicitly alerting contractors to the revision or its impact. Early drafts of acquisition documents set time requirements for disassembly and reassembly to be "mission ready," but this later became "flight ready." Defense acquisition experts agree the wording change is substantial and could have had a major impact on the competition. They disagree whether the Air Force should have called attention to it.
Honeywell Aerospace is preparing for the first full-up runs next month of its Small Heavy Fuel Engine (SHFE), an ultra-compact technology demonstrator that will form the basis for its next generation of helicopter engines. They promise the densest power-to-weight ratios yet for turboshaft engines in the 700-1,500-shp. range, says Ron Rich, director of advanced technology at Honeywell Aerospace. The SHFE engine, just 6 in. in diameter and 2 ft. long, will develop 700 shp.
David Dacquino (see photos) has been named vice president/general manager of the Raytheon Technical Services Co.'s Integrated Support Solutions, Burlington, Mass. He was vice president/general manager of the System and Product Support Solutions division. John Balaguer has been appointed vice president/ general manager of the Customized Engineering and Depot Support division in Indianapolis. He was vice president/general manager of the Engineering and Production Support division.
Inventory Locator Service is offering Government Research Tool, an online system that searches 90 million government data files for information on aerospace parts. The Memphis-based company has upgraded the tool for current customers for a $190-a-month added charge. Users can search for a part with more than a dozen identifiers including part number, stock number or company name. Information from a dozen government databases offers extensive detail that includes procurement history.
The Tornado GR4 forms the offensive cornerstone of the 901 Expeditionary Air Wing at Al Udeid. While the Harrier force in Afghanistan has routinely dropped ordnance in the past six months, the last combat weapons drop in Iraq from a GR4 was in May 2006. Average sortie time for the aircraft--which operate in pairs--is between 6-8 hr., says Wing Commander Terry Jones, lead officer for the Tornado detachment. The aircraft are on task for "3-4 hr." and can be called on to operate anywhere in Iraq.
The International Air Transport Assn. is shedding more light on the seven airlines that didn't meet a requirement to undergo a safety audit by the end of 2006. That failure could get the airlines expelled, unless they take last-minute action. Although the names of the airlines are being closely held, IATA has released a regional breakout. One of the carriers is in the North Atlantic/North America region, another two are in the former-Soviet states, two are in Latin America, and two are in the Asia-Pacific region.
Amid another solid set of annual financial results, BAE Systems plc ought to be basking in the reflected glory of a further defense budget bonanza in the U.S. and the exemplary timing of the disposal of its minority stake in Airbus. The company's preliminary 2006 sales, which included the first full-year contribution from acquired U.S. land systems manufacturer United Defense Industries, rose 9% to £13.77 billion ($26.92 billion). Operating income increased 39% to £1.05 billion.
The aerospace engineering profession was destroyed as a result of deliberate policy choices with consequences that were widely predicted. I probably could be convinced to care about this problem after I am compensated for the seven years and $100,000-plus that I wasted earning undergraduate and graduate degrees in the subject.
