If Embraer really wants to outsell the C-130 Hercules with its new KC-390 cargo aircraft, as discussed in “Cargo Shift” (AW&ST Dec. 30, 2013/Jan. 6, 2014, p. 62), it should have chosen two of the turboprop engines that power Airbus's new A400M instead of opting for turbofans. Those turboprops with their inherent 30% better fuel efficiency would have more than enough thrust with 11,000 shp each, and supply more than double the power of any other Western turboprop.
Astronauts aboard the International Space Station are unloading the “Orb-1” Cygnus resupply capsule following its Jan. 12 rendezvous and berthing. Launched on an Orbital Sciences Corp. Antares rocket from Wallops Island, Va., on Jan. 9. The resupply craft is the first in an eight-flight, $1.9 billion Commercial Resupply Services deal with NASA. The unpiloted commercial freighter carries 2,780 lb. of day-to-day provisions, science and experiment hardware, computer equipment and spacewalk tools.
Bill Swanson (left), Raytheon's CEO and chairman, is scheduled to hand over the chief executive's office to current Chief Operating Officer Tom Kennedy on March 31. Swanson will remain chairman at least while the Waltham, Mass.-based defense prime contractor transitions to Kennedy's leadership.
Philippe Merlo has become director of air traffic management at Brussels-based Eurocontrol. He was deputy director of air navigation services for the French Directorate General for Civil Aviation.
Bombardier has pushed its service-entry target for the CSeries airliner back by at least 12 months, saying it will take longer than planned to complete certification flight testing. The announcement, which was expected, targets a service-entry date for the initial 110-seat CS100 variant for the second half of 2015, with the 135-seat CS300 following about six months later. Malmo Aviation in Sweden will be the first airline to take delivery of the CSeries, Bombardier says. The airline has five CS100s and five CS300s on firm order.
Steve Forte, chief operating officer of Virgin America, delivered the annual Charles W. Durham Distinguished Guest Lecture on the future of flying in America at the University of Nebraska-Omaha Aviation Institute. He also received the William F. Shea Distinguished Contribution to Aviation Award, which is named for the institute's first director.
European Space Agency controllers in Darmstadt, Germany, placed the $1.3 billion Gaia spacecraft into its operational orbit with a brief thruster burn at the Sun-Earth L2 Lagrangian point on Jan. 14, setting up the mission to produce a 3-D star map of the galaxy with unprecedented precision. The final maneuver followed an almost 2-hr. firing a week earlier to set up the orbit around the imaginary point 1.5 million km (937 million mi.)from Earth on the side opposite the Sun. Launched from Kourou, French Guiana, on Dec.
Congress in its omnibus appropriations bill is looking to provide the U.S. Coast Guard with $10.2 billion for fiscal 2014, $464 million above the Obama administration's request for the year ending Sept. 30. The move ensures “the Guard has the ships, planes and helicopters it needs to save lives, interdict drugs and protect the environment,” according to aides for Senate Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.).
The Rand study showing the rapid escalation of costs in joint procurement programs falls firmly into the “Will they ever learn?” category (AW&ST Dec. 30, 2013/Jan. 6, 2014, p. 18). In 1963, Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara defended the notorious TFX (F-111) program by asserting that “commonality” would save $1 billion over a decade. Instead, he laid an egg with the F-111B—wasting $400 billion, not counting the costs thereby imposed on the U.S. Air Force version.
A LAN Airlines 787 flies over the West Coast of the U.S. on its delivery flight from Boeing to the carrier's Santiago, Chile, base. LAN Airlines photo. The Latam Group, which combines LAN and TAM, and Avianca, which merged with the Taca Group, embody South America's trend toward consolidation and are the subject of a special report. Elsewhere in this issue are reports on Darpa's plan to transform national security space programs (page 24) and South Korea's bid to develop an indigenous fighter (page 29).
The history of space exploration generally has been a march toward greater ambition, risk, complexity and cost. The first launch vehicles were guided missiles carrying the simplest of satellites, and the objective—orbit—was simple and straightforward. Earlier this month, circumstance presented a unique opportunity to observe how the international space-exploration endeavor has evolved over more than 50 years.
A new controversy has surfaced over the transatlantic skies, and it is not about Europe wanting to change ownership and control rules of U.S. airlines or British Airways-parent International Airlines Group plotting a takeover bid for American Airlines. The hullabaloo is about the plans of Oslo-based low-cost carrier Norwegian Air Shuttle to operate transatlantic services via a separate company to be known as Norwegian Air International (NAI) using an Irish air operator's certificate (AOC) and several Boeing 787s leased and registered in Ireland.
A story on page 25 of the Jan. 13 issue, “Leadership Shuffle,” misstated the death toll from the de Havilland DHC-3T crash in 2010 that killed former Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska). Five people died.
India's Tejas Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) may finally have been cleared for entry into squadron service, but the coming year brings a critical round of testing for the Mk. 1 fighter. It must meet a final deadline of December 2014 to be fully operational. The tests are crucial to how the Indian air force (IAF) will deploy the jet, built chiefly to replace large numbers of MiG-21 interceptors still in service with frontline squadrons.
Gene Milchak has been appointed to head strategic planning for Qwaltec Inc., Tempe, Ariz. He was vice president of Satellite Ground Systems and Operations for General Dynamics C4 Systems.
NASA expects almost $800 million over post-sequestration 2013 funding levels under the 2014 omnibus, allowing the agency to maintain its ongoing space and aeronautics activities without an apparent need for major changes. One question remains: whether $696 million for the Commercial Crew Program is enough for flights to the International Space Station (ISS) beginning in 2017 as planned. NASA managers have said they need the full 2014 request, $821 million, to stay on schedule.
With fewer Rafale combat jets on order and no firm export contracts in hand, France is facing difficult choices. The French defense ministry announced contracts on Jan. 10 for €1 billion ($1.4 billion) in planned upgrades to the Dassault Aviation combat jet. Yet budget pressures have forced drastic reductions in the total number of Rafale aircraft and next-generation weapon systems the ministry plans to buy over the next six years, prompting new spending for renovation of Mirage 2000D fighters and further extending the service life of aging Mirage 2000-5s.
The In Orbit column of Jan. 13 (p. 16) incorrectly described the service module for the first flight test of NASA's Orion multipurpose crew vehicle as “European-built.” It will be manufactured by Orion prime contractor Lockheed Martin.
Bill Sweetman's “Right the First Time” (AW&ST Dec. 23, 2013, p. 14) on what is needed for an effective Unmanned Carrier Launched Airborne Surveillance and Strike system and how the U.S. Marine Corps' close air support (CAS) mission could more logically be addressed by a mix of F-35Bs and A-10s was, as usual, well thought out and on target (as well as being witty). Bravo to him and to Aviation Week for airing this viewpoint. I hope the decision makers are reading him as well.
