When intelligence-gathering matures from finding and following an individual or vehicle to monitoring entire groups to understand their intent, the narrow, “soda straw” field-of-view of conventional video sensors becomes a severe limitation.
Across composite and metallic aircraft structures, technology is being developed and deployed to minimize component lead times, reduce manufacturing costs and increase production rates. Automated processes that can take component geometry data directly from three-dimensional design databases are high on the most-desired list for aerospace manufacturers.
John Lehman has been named director of business development for JetFlite International, Long Beach, Calif. He was president of Network Sports Marketing. Damon Danneker has been promoted to director of operations from director of training and chief pilot.
Jude Bricker has been promoted to senior VP-planning from VP-finance at Las Vegas-based Allegiant Travel Co. Trent Porter was named VP-financial planning and analysis and Chris Allen director of investor relations. Porter was senior manager of financial planning at US Airways, and Allen was an equity research associate at UBS.
Robert “Hoot” Gibson has received the William F. Shea Award, presented by the University of Nebraska-Omaha Aviation Institute for contributions to aviation. Gibson was a NASA astronaut in the first space shuttle program and piloted the first shuttle docking with the MIR space station.
Terry Hibler (see photo), director of airline marketing for New York-based FlightSafety International, has been elected to the Regional Airline Association Associate Member Council in the area of flight training.
Esteban Tripodi (see photo) has been appointed executive VP-Americas of Dublin-based Lease Corp. International. He was a senior VP at Aircastle Advisor. Nigel Leishman was promoted to executive VP-Asia Pacific from VP.
May 23-24—MRO Regional: Eastern Europe, Baltics and Russia. Vilnius, Lithuania. Sept. 19-21—MRO IT Conference & Showcase. Miami. Oct. 9—MRO IT Europe. Amsterdam. Oct. 9—Aircraft Composite Repair Management. Amsterdam. Oct. 9-11—MRO Europe. Amsterdam. Nov. 6-7—A&D Programs. Phoenix. Nov. 14-15—MRO Asia. Singapore. PARTNERSHIPS June 26-28—JEC Show Asia. Singapore. July 9-15—Farnborough air show.
Cutting and drilling of cured composite components during manufacture or repair are a growing challenge as structures become bigger, more complex and costly.
Australia is delaying by two years the purchase of the bulk of its first tranche of F-35 Joint Strike Fighters, but is also leaning against buying a gap-filler capability. Australia has committed to buying two F-35s (with delivery planned in 2014 and 2015), but has been debating when to buy the next dozen. That move “will occur but . . . two years after the previously anticipated timetable, says Defense Minister Stephen Smith. The move is aimed at mirroring the U.S. strategy to avoid buying too many aircraft early.
The mounting tempo of new commercial airliner development programs has heaped unprecedented pressure on engine makers to bolster test capabilities and, in particular, to modernize their flying testbeds.
Malaysia's defense needs have long caught the eye of Western arms suppliers. And with general elections due soon, one of the biggest barriers to actual purchases will finally disappear. Plans to buy 18 fighters as well as three airborne early warning (AEW) aircraft are just some of the big-ticket item decisions now on hold as the country sorts out its political future. Although the exact date for elections has yet to be set, there is a mandate that it takes place before the end of March.
Earlier this year, in advance of Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping's visit to Los Angeles, U.S. Commerce Secretary John Bryson convened a luncheon meeting of 20 or so Southern California business leaders. He touted U.S. exports to China, which last year exceeded $100 billion for the first time. I pointed out to him that spending by Chinese visitors, which is counted as a U.S. export, was $5 billion in 2010. In other words, tourist dollars alone account for 5% of U.S. exports to China.
The European Aviation Safety Agency has issued a proposed airworthiness directive for A380s because of cracking on the die-forged front spar on some of the aircraft in service. EASA says the cracks, which occur between Ribs 4 and 8, were found during full-scale fatigue tests. “The condition, if not detected and corrected, could reduce the structural integrity of the wing front spar,” EASA says. The problem is limited to nine A380s in commercial service.
The U.S. Air Force is narrowing its focus on new combinations of factors as it explores hypoxia events that claimed the life of one F-22 pilot and plagued the fleet for more than a year.
An Indian government panel is highlighting the lack of army attack helicopters, contending that the country's security is at risk. According to the April 30 report from the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Defense, the army's aviation unit has a requirement for 18 Cheetahs, one Chetak, 76 Advance Light Helicopters and 60 ALHs with weapon systems.
“Growth Spurt” (AW&ST April 9, p. 24) lists some staggering numbers related to U.S. military budgets. Within the last 12 months, the F-35 program became $124.2 billion more expensive, and is now expected to cost $1.51 trillion over its 55-year fleet life. Becoming evermore complex, heavy and expensive, the last unit is forecast to leave the assembly line in 2037. At that point, it will probably be sent directly to a museum! This schedule will only hold if this program, against all odds, dodges delays.
Automotive-style robots are moving onto the aircraft assembly line to save time and cost. Bombardier plans to use six single-arm robots to join the cockpit and fuselage sections of its CSeries airliner, saving more than 40 hr. Each 12-ton robot will be able to drill a hole and insert a fastener in 32 sec. for aluminum-lithium structures and 53 sec. for composites.
After months of wrangling, congressional leaders are reaching some kind of consensus on a bill to extend by three years the Export-Import Bank's authority to operate, with a cap of $140 billion. The House is expected to vote on the bill this week. It had been held up over concerns that foreign airlines were using Ex-Im financing to buy Boeing widebody jets that gave them an advantage against U.S. air carriers, most notably Delta Air Lines, which along with the trade group Airlines for America is suing to block Ex-Im loan guarantees to Air India.
Friction welding fuses metals without melting them and is used in aerospace to join engine disks (rotational welding) or fabricate aircraft and spacecraft structures (friction-stir welding). Now hybrid components produced by linear friction welding of dissimilar metals promise to overcome a key disadvantage of composites: carbon fiber cannot be attached directly to aluminum because of galvanic corrosion, forcing use of higher-cost titanium. But friction welding can allow titanium to be incorporated into the join between aluminum and composite structures.
