In a recent Up Front column (AW&ST Dec. 30, 2013/Jan. 6, 2014, p. 15) Richard Aboulafia, by using the examples of the production lines for the F-15, F-16 and F-18, presents a superficially compelling argument for the preservation of national defense assets. But he neglects to mention that the original variants of all these aircraft first flew in the early 1970s. Preserving these production lines is the technological equivalent of preserving battleship-building shipyards after the end of World War II.
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The Obama administration has announced final revisions to five U.S. Munitions List (USML) categories as part of its export-control reform initiative. The effort aims to streamline restrictions and boost licensing for less contentious exports by moving toward a more “positive” approach to regulatory controls—instead of defaulting to “no”—and cutting “catch-all” restrictions.
In 2013 scientists announced that, for the first time, a man-made object had left the Solar System. Voyager I actually entered interstellar space in August 2012, but its operators had to wait until a solar storm generated enough data at the spacecraft to confirm the historic moment. Voyager I has been traveling away from the Sun since 1977, and is more than 11.7 billion mi. from Earth now. In 1996 it pointed its camera back on the Solar System it was leaving and collected this narrow-angle image of Earth at a distance of more than 4 billion mi. (below left).
A pushback collision between an Etihad Airways Airbus A330-200 and Boeing 777-300 at Abu Dhabi in May 2012 reveals the complexities involved in solving the ramp damage problem, and in its final report on the incident, the United Arab Emirates' General Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) focuses largely on non-technical solutions.
Bombardier's second CSeries airliner joined the flight-test program on Jan. 3. The flight from Mirabel, near Montreal, lasted 2.15 hr., the aircraft reaching 13,000-ft. altitude and 180-kt. airspeed. In addition to validating data collected by flight-test vehicle FTV1, which has been flying since September, the crew of FTV2 will be responsible for testing aircraft systems and avionics. FTV1 is being used to expand the flight envelope.
USAF Lt. Gen. (ret.) Michael A. Hamel has been appointed president of the Newtown, Pa.-based commercial ventures unit of the Lockheed Martin Space Systems Co. He succeeds Linda Reiners, who has become vice president-corporate ventures. Hamel was senior vice president-corporate strategy and relations for the Orbital Sciences Corp.
U.S. congressional investigators agree NASA's James Webb Space Telescope, one of the agency's most complex and costly science projects, is proceeding well along its restructured plan. But the Hubble successor has little fiscal room for error or surprise difficulties leading up to its expected October 2018 launch (AW&ST Dec. 16, 2013, p. 24).
Marillyn A. Hewson (see photo) has become chairman of the Lockheed Martin Corp., Bethesda, Md. She continues as president/CEO. As chairman, Hewson succeeds Robert J. Stevens, who plans to retire.
Singapore's Tigerair will sell its struggling Philippine affiliate to competitor Cebu Pacific, which will replace Tigerair's direct presence in the Philippine market. Tigerair's retreat follows the expansion into the Philippine market by the largest of the franchising low-cost groups, AirAsia, which bought Zest Air last year and rebranded it as AirAsia Zest. Cebu Pacific will buy 40% of the equity of SEair—which also uses the brand Tigerair Philippines—from Tigerair of Singapore, and the remaining 60% from local shareholders. The total price is $15 million.
Emirates President Tim Clark, Aviation Week & Space Technology's Person of the Year, was selected for his outsized influence on the airline industry and aircraft manufacturing. Clark has played a major role in building Emirates from a tiny startup to the world's fourth-largest airline, in the process buying a lot of airplanes. On a single day in 2013, Emirates shored up the Airbus A380 program and helped launch the Boeing 777X. The airline has also leveraged its clout to influence the designs of next-generation airliners such as the 777X.
Airbus has started the high-altitude flight-test campaign for the A350. The manufacturer has sent MSN003, the second of an eventual five flight-test aircraft to Bolivia where it will perform tests at airports in Cochabamba and La Paz. The two airports were chosen because of their different altitudes: At an elevation of 13,300 ft., La Paz has one of the world's highest airports. Cochabamba is at 8,300 ft. Airbus says MSN003 will perform takeoffs, landings and go-arounds at the two airports in various configurations, including simulated engine failures.
Michael Ryschkewitsch has been selected to lead the Space Sector at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, Laurel, Md. He has been chief engineer at NASA and had been deputy director for NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center and director of its Applied Engineering and Technology Directorate.
BAE Systems has begun flight trials of three-dimensional printed metallic components on the Panavia Tornado combat aircraft, as the company explores the potential benefits of the method. A one-off component—a bracket made from printed stainless steel and designed to carry a fixed thermal-imaging camera—has been fitted to a U.K. Royal Air Force Tornado GR4 the company uses for flight testing. The bracket was produced in a fraction of the time and cost that similar items would have previously taken.
Considering the potential impact of the SpaceX Grasshopper test aircraft, Aviation Week should be devoting more coverage to the company's efforts and its plans to land and reuse the first stage of its Falcon 9 rocket. If successful, SpaceX will have accomplished what science-fiction writers have portrayed: Landing a rocket on its tail.
