The U.S. Navy could seek congressional approval to purchase 25 Australian Seabird Seeker surveillance aircraft for Yemen's transitional government, a U.S. official tells Aviation Week & Space Technology. The manned surveillance aircraft would supplement four RQ-11 Raven UAVs that Washington procured last year for Yemen.
Constance von Muehlen has been promoted to managing director of airframe, engine and component maintenance repair and overhaul from director of engine maintenance at Alaska Airlines.
As it continues to cement its place as an “American” gas turbine engine manufacturer, Rolls-Royce is enlarging its advanced manufacturing capacity in Virginia while tapping automation and evolved machine tooling at its industrial base here in Indianapolis.
We are accustomed to seeing airliner wings change shape on approach, deploying flaps and opening slots to increase lift and reduce landing speed. But for most of the flight, changes are restricted to small movements of individual surfaces as the aircraft maneuvers or reacts to turbulence. Now, in pursuit of higher fuel efficiency, NASA and Boeing are developing technology to smoothly change the wing's shape continuously throughout the flight—even characteristics such as twist that are traditionally built into the wing during design and manufacture.
As the Boeing 787 fleet remains grounded due to safety issues with its lithium-ion batteries, the Joint Strike Fighter program office is not saying whether the issue will prompt any review of the F-35's electrical system, which incorporates a lithium-ion battery that is larger and higher-voltage than the 787's and has a once-per-sortie charge/discharge cycle. Made by a U.S. subsidiary of France's Saft, the JSF battery is the only onboard means of starting the fighter's integrated power pack, which starts the engine.
This week, Aviation Week publishes two editions. On the right cover, Iceland's rugged Isafjordur Airport frames a Field Aviation cockpit avionics upgrade that enables Air Iceland's two Bombardier Q200s to reap the benefits of next-generation air traffic tools such as GPS approaches and required navigation performance procedures (see page 40). Thorleifur Einar Petursson photo. The cover of our Defense Technology Edition features a Boeing artist's concept of a KC-46A. The tanker is being developed under a fixed-price contract, one of several mechanisms the U.S.
ESA could bump the April launch of its Proba-V Earth observation mission due to a potential conflict with the agency's fourth Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV), which is headed to the International Space Station (ISS) later that month. ESA Director-General Jean-Jacques Dordain says the agency has a busy year ahead, with plans to launch 12 spacecraft atop eight rockets on a manifest that includes four fully operational Galileo navigation satellites and the European Union's first Sentinel Earth monitoring mission.
The U.S. Navy's choice of which contractor to develop and build its Air and Missile Defense Radar (AMDR) likely will come down to which team offers the best price, according to officials from Northrop Grumman, one of the competitors for the prized program. The Navy has made it clear what capabilities it wants, Northrop officials say. AMDR represents one of the Navy's most important radar development programs, especially for ballistic missile defense.
Chris McCormick will join East Aurora, N.Y.-based Moog Inc. as VP of Moog Space and Defense Group's Space Sector, succeeding Doug Morash, who is retiring. McCormick was CEO of Broad Reach Engineering Co.
The design of the center wingbox of the Comac C919 narrowbody airliner has passed its critical design review, as managers of the Chinese program also authorized the next stage in the composite structural design. Comac's announcement on the critical design review did not mention the material to be employed. The wingbox has been designed as a composite structure mated to aluminum outer wings, program officials have said. But the company has also prepared an alternative scheme for an aluminum center box.
During the past several years, Europe's airline analysts, company executives and trade group representatives have discussed the so-called new economic model that should shape the industry's future. General consensus is that low-cost carriers, in the long term, will not kill their legacy competitors' attempts to survive, and both entities should eventually co-exist, albeit with market shares that will be less robust than either are used to. However, beyond conferences and lofty statements no concrete action toward this new economic norm has occurred.
Eurocopter has made fixing gearbox issues with the North Sea EC225 fleet its top priority, according to CEO Lutz Bertling. Speaking at the company's annual press conference in Paris on Jan. 24, he said: “If safety is Priority 1A then fixing this issue is Priority 1B,” adding that the problems were “more severe than any technical issue we have had in the past. We are conducting test flights to find the set of parameters that caused the issue, but it is not easy.”
Rome was not built in a day. So why should anyone expect Lockheed Martin, the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) project office, the U.S. Air Force and Navy to be able to agree on a date by which the money spent so far might actually translate into a tested product usable for national defense? Is that too much to ask, even though the program has been on contract for 11 years and has consumed $50 billion or so?
Erik Lopez has been named the winner of the Washington-based National Space Club Keynote Scholarship. Lopez is studying aerospace engineering at the University of Illinois. The award is given to a student who intends to pursue a career in the science, technology, engineering or mathematics fields.
Feb. 14-15—Civil Air Navigation Services Organization's Global ATM Operations Conference. Madrid. See www.canso.org/opsconference2013. Feb. 17-21—Gulf Defense Conference and Official Conference of IDEX. Abu Dhabi, UAE. See www.idexuae.ae/page.cfm Feb. 26-March 2—Australian International Airshow and Aerospace and Defense Exposition. Avalon Geelong Airport. See www.airshow.com.au/airshow2013 March 12-14—ATC Global Amsterdam 2013. Amsterdam RAI Exhibition & Congress Center. See www.atcglobalhub.com/events
NASA plans to join ESA's effort to learn more about mysterious dark matter and dark energy in the universe, supplying hardware and scientists to Europe's planned Euclid mission. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory will deliver 16 advanced infrared detectors and four spares for one of the two instruments planned for Euclid, a space telescope designed to operate at the second Sun-Earth Lagrange point (L2), following launch in 2020.
India's first C-17 has entered flight acceptance testing by the U.S. Air Force at Edwards AFB, Calif., as part of a fast-track foreign military sales (FMS) program that will see four other deliveries to India's Hindon Air Force Station near New Delhi this year.
USAF Lt. Gen. Larry D. James, deputy chief of staff for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, and Douglas L. Loverro, executive director, Space and Missile Systems Center, Air Force Space Command, have been named to receive the Stellar Award for Government Service, presented by the New York-based Society of Satellite Professionals International (SSPI). The two leaders are being honored for “their dedication to unifying the requirements and capabilities of he commercial and military space ventures,” SSPI says.
In “Electric Shock” (AW&ST Jan. 14, p. 19) about Japan Airlines' Boeing 787's lithium-ion auxiliary power unit (APU) battery explosion incident at Boston Logan International Airport, there appears this comment: “The fire caused 'severe fire damage' to the aft electrical/electronics bay in which the battery—one of two on the 787—is located, states the NTSB.” However, consider that when fire broke out inflight in the rear electronics bay of a flight-test 787 in 2010, it triggered loss of some aircraft system functions.
Steven Udvar-Hazy, chairman and CEO of Air Lease Corp. and former head of the International Lease Finance Corp., has been named the recipient of the 2012 Howard Hughes Memorial Award, presented by the Los Angeles-based Aero Club of Southern California. The award honors an aerospace leader whose accomplishments over a long career have contributed significantly to the advancement of aviation or space technology.
Michael McCann will become CEO of U.K.-based GKN Aerostructures. He has been senior VP-business development and strategy, a role that will be filled by Charles Paterson. Paterson was general manager at the company's facilities in Filton, England.
