A new study to enable U.S. air dominance over a peer adversary in the 2040-50 timeframe is a test of Darpa's belief that layered solutions, not single answers, hold the key. The study grew out of discussions between new Darpa director Arati Prabhakar, Defense acquisition undersecretary Frank Kendall and service leaders. “I sensed a concern about growing capabilities around the world, and that we haven't faced a peer adversary for a long time, but have to be ready when that moment comes,” she says.
There was a full demonstration of unmanned, autonomous takeoff, landing and deck movement on the USS George Bush on May 14, courtesy of a sleek, well-fed urban pigeon. The white-jacketed safety crew caused a flurry on the deck as they tried to surround it. Standard operating procedure, I suspect, would have involved termination with extreme prejudice (which, as Tom Lehrer informed us, is not against any religion) but media presence complicated matters, as it usually does.
“Small Disrupters” (AW&ST May 6/13, p. 55) made me smile when I read that Pumpkin uses hardware-store retractable tape measures for their antennas. There was a model of Pioneer 1 in the lobby of Northrop Grumman's E2 building. When the Ramo-Wooldridge (later TRW) scientists/engineers built Pioneer 1—the first satellite built by the private sector—they too used a hardware-store retractable tape measure for the spacecraft antenna. Sometimes practical versus gold-plated solutions are the right answer. Looks like we have come full circle.
China appears to be lifting its six-year ban on new private airlines, provisionally approving the establishment of a carrier in the southwestern province of Yunnan that will have no direct government links.
Republicans, who control the U.S. House of Representatives, and other supporters of Taiwan here have mounted a fresh push to persuade the White House to allow sales of advanced fighters to the island.
Jalil Jatip (see photo) has been named director of quality assurance for Superior Air Parts Inc., Coppell, Texas. He was quality fabrication department manager for Lockheed Martin for the F-16, F-22 and F-35 programs.
Rick Armstrong (see photo) has become president/CEO of the Composites & Aerostructures Group of AGC Aerospace & Defense of Oklahoma City. He was a vice president of FlightSafety International, managing its flight simulator engineering and manufacturing division, and was an executive with Nordam.
Citing the potential for NextGen airspace modernization, unmanned aircraft technology and certification reforms to revolutionize general aviation, flying-car developer Terrafugia has unveiled its concept for a hybrid-electric vertical-takeoff-and-landing (VTOL) four-seater. The new TF-X is planned to become available after 2020 as a follow-on to the Transition two-seat roadable aircraft now under development. First delivery of the Transition was originally slated for 2011 but is now expected between January 2015 and March 2016, says CEO Carl Dietrich.
May 21-23—American Helicopter Society's 69th Annual Forum and Technology Display. See www.vtol.org/forum May 27-29—19th American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA)Aeroacoustics Conference. Berlin. See www.aiaa.org/Aeroacoustics2013/ June 11-14—Sixth Chaotic Modeling and Simulation International Conference. Yeditepe University, Istanbul. See www.cmsim.org June 12-14—Eighth Annual International Forum on Design for Manufacture and Assembly. Crowne Plaza Hotel, Providence-Warwick, R.I. See www.dfma.com/forum/
Are airlines good at inventory demand planning? If you answered yes, why are operators ordering more parts on an aircraft-on-the-ground (AOG) basis? A number of people say the rising AOG orders are not correlated with problematic aircraft or engines that need new parts. In many cases, the need to receive parts via express delivery—in hours instead of several days or weeks—links to the fact that airlines generally hold less inventory, and suppliers can expedite deliveries.
JetBlue has had a rough ride with the Embraer 190 involving maintenance costs and reliability. But the aircraft also symbolizes the airline's ability to innovate and willingness to take risk. The New York-based carrier was the first low-cost airline to introduce large regional jets, one of many initiatives outside of the traditional low-cost model. Now JetBlue is looking at the next step. Others, like Norwegian, have studied the role model and drawn their own conclusionssuch as taking the bold step of entering the long-haul market this month (page 34). JetBlue photo.
President Barack Obama's fiscal 2014 budget proposal contains a brand-new idea that may be the most exciting and interesting one in the history of exploration—certainly since the Apollo project. Although, there is no Cold War or superpower rivalry to fuel it, the asteroid retrieval mission represents an opportunity to sustain American leadership in human space exploration with technological innovation and engineering prowess.
Just two decades ago, on May 2, 1993, Hainan Airlines began operating from its tropical island home, Hainan, in the South China Sea. Within seven years, a holding company, HNA Group, had been set up above it. Affiliated airlines followed, along with businesses in corporate aviation, aircraft maintenance, airports, real estate, hotels, shipping, finance and much else.
Christina Kull Martens (see photo), a manufacturing integration manager and environmental engineer for Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems, has received the Los Angeles County Chair's Green Leadership Award. The annual award recognizes the efforts of individuals who have improved environmental sustainability for the benefit of their community. Martens is responsible for identifying greenhouse gas emission reductions in the sector's manufacturing projects. She also implements training, development and new processes.
Mike Spears (see photo) has joined American Eurocopter as senior director of UH-72A Lakota production and retrofit at its Columbus, Miss., facility. He succeeds Fred Gerard, who is taking a leadership position with another EADS subsidiary, Airbus, in Mobile, Ala. Spears was general manager of the Sikorsky Aircraft Corp. production facility in Troy, Ala.
The Obama administration expects to sign the U.N. Arms Trade Treaty after it is unveiled for national signatures in New York on June 3, according to Thomas Countryman, assistant secretary of state for international security and nonproliferation—and that is a good thing. For all the reasons
The editorial “The High Costs of Washington Inertia” (AW&ST May 6/13, p. 74) failed to mention the largest “derelict-in-chief” of the consequences sequestration brings to national security.
In a recent cover story that deals with cockpits of the future (AW&ST April 22, p. 42), touchscreens are heavily featured. But, bottom line, they do not work in a professional pilot's environment. You need tactile feel, especially when things start going wrong and you only have one time to get it right.
