If there is one area in which China has had persistent difficulty catching up with Western aerospace technology, it is aviation gas turbines. Chinese aero-engines are known for poor efficiency and low reliability, and it would well suit China's neighbors and the U.S. if they kept that reputation. So the prospect of MTU Aero Engines and Avio working on a major Chinese commercial turbofan program prompts a critical question: will technology transfer be strictly contained?
Lockheed Martin has delivered C-130Js to four new customers in a week. The first of a planned 37 HC-130J combat rescue tankers were handed over to U.S. Air Force Air Combat Command on Sept. 24 and Air Education and Training Command on Sept. 29. The first of a planned 69 MC-130J Combat Shadow II transports was delivered to USAF Special Operations Command on Sept. 29. Four C-130Js were delivered to the Qatar Emiri Air Force on Sept. 28 at Lockheed's Marietta, Ga., plant.
India's activities in the commercial aircraft sector pale compared to the breadth of its military projects. But there are signs that the fledgling activities to underpin a stronger commercial sector are gaining traction, including increasing reliance on the private sector.
If India continues at today's pace, the modernization plans for its combat aircraft force will have reached unprecedented proportions by the end of the current financial year.
Sometime in the next year or two, a Virgin Galactic SpaceShipTwo will drop from its unique carrier aircraft, fall to a safe distance and fire up its hybrid rocket engine to take eight humans on a brief excursion beyond the atmosphere. Two of them will be pilots, and the rest will be paying customers.
Trainee Chris Snee gets ready to mount the gondola on the Nastar Training Center's Phoenix centrifuge for a simulated flight to space in the Virgin Galactic SpaceShipTwo. While the big money for commercial crew is focused on the International Space Station—and several years in the future—suborbital reusable spaceflight is almost ready to go. More than 240 would-be space travelers—scientists and tourists—have taken the three-day familiarization course at the suburban Philadelphia center.
Orbital Sciences Corp. has launched the TacSat-4 spacecraft on a Minotaur IV rocket from the Kodiak Launch Complex in Alaska, placing the U.S. Navy satellite in its highly elliptical polar orbit. The satellite separated 28 min. after the Sept. 27 launch into its targeted 115 X 7,415-mi. orbit. From there, it will be able to provide 2 hr. of coverage three times a day over a warfighting theater 2,000 nm in diameter, according to the Office of Naval Research.
Virgin Galactic is close to finalizing the initial flight crews for its space tourism and science operations. Three pilots will make up the first cadre of crew who will fly the SpaceShipTwo suborbital vehicle and WhiteKnightTwo mothership.
Ginger Wierzbanowski (see photo) has been named Falls Church, Va.-based VP-government relations special projects for the Northrop Grumman Corp. She was legislative assistant to the vice chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff.
In sharp contrast to the indifference that long prevailed, French politicians have made their voices heard on aerospace matters in recent weeks. Right-wing French parliament member Bernard Carayon and his allies tried hard to convince Air France not to buy Boeing 787s and to plan instead on an Airbus-only fleet.
Stephen Paddy (see photo) has joined ExecuJet Africa, headquartered in Zurich, as regional sales and marketing director. He remains chairman of the Simang Group, which will take a 30% stake in the business aviation company.
Actor and film producer John Travolta has been named business aircraft brand ambassador for Learjet, Challenger and Global jets by Bombardier Aerospace, Dorval, Quebec. Travolta is a pilot qualified to fly 11 aircraft types.
European Union emission allowance (EUA) prices fell back in September amid macroeconomic jitters after rallying through the second half of August. A nervous mood has persisted in the carbon market as EU leaders struggle to find a meaningful solution to the Greek debt problem, which has cast a dark shadow over European stock and commodity markets this year. EUAs for December 2011 delivery fell from a recent high of €13.49 ($18.42) per metric ton on Aug. 30 to €10.76 on Sept. 27, only just above the 29-month low of €10.70 seen on Aug. 5.
To repeat the same action over and over and expect different results is one definition of madness. So it would seem with the U.S. Army's latest Joint Multi-Role (JMR) program study, “Spinning Up” (AW&ST Sept. 12, p. 30). Similar experimental aircraft trials as far back as the mid-1950s have produced pretty much the same results. The tiltrotor design in the article is yet another example.
A Chilean court's demand that LAN Airlines and Grupo TAM sacrifice one of their alliance memberships to proceed with their merger is a fitting milestone for what appears to be the end of an era for the global airline groups.
George Whitesides is a long-time advocate of commercial human spaceflight. He helped shift NASA's post-shuttle policy to reliance on commercial spaceflight as NASA's chief of staff at the beginning of the Obama administration, and he is now working to make his dreams a reality as CEO of Virgin Galactic.
Skyteam has accepted Taiwan's China Airlines as its 15th member and announced a switch in focus to improved integration of ground services rather than continued rapid expansion. SkyTeam is not talking to Virgin Atlantic Airways about joining, but some members may be seeking to cooperate individually. SkyTeam now has three members in China and Taiwan.
Lufthansa placed orders for 12 additional aircraft to continue its fleet renewal: two Airbus A380s, one A330-300, four A320s and five Embraer E-195s. The two A380s will be delivered in 2014 and complement an existing order for 15 of the type, eight of which have been delivered.
As Lockheed Martin enters the crucial final months to closing out F-35 testing goals by year-end—worth millions of dollars—it is once again predicting improved per-unit-cost performance on production. Though year-over-year improvement has been made in reducing the price, this progress may not be enough. The program continues to take hits for high cost and late deliveries, as customer countries struggle with their growing national debts.
Pierre Sparaco's “Muddled Vision” (AW&ST Sept. 19, p. 21) about Boeing's failure to match Airbus's A320NEO proposal was on target. Boeing must accept the fact that Airbus is—and has been for some time—a “peer competitor” in the truest definition of the term.
Since the final shuttle flight, the U.S. has pondered the course to space. From proposed civil ventures to new civil entities, all miss a key factor. The point of diminishing returns in transport-to-space propulsion—with single- or multi-stage-to-space designs tied to engines that provide insufficient thrust and efficiency gains—has been reached.
In Feedback, reader Harry White writes: “Airbus should be ordered to install control columns and yokes in all its airliner aircraft” (AW&ST Sept. 19, p. 10). As an A330 captain and instructor, I feel qualified to point out some critical errors in this assessment of how Airbus fly-by-wire systems operate.
Mark Wilford (see photo) has been appointed chairman of the Global Aerospace Div. of Willis Group Holdings of London, succeeding Andre Clerc, who is scheduled to retire at year-end. Wilford comes from Rolls-Royce, where he was responsible for the development and operation of insurance, enterprise risk management and security. Philip Smaje was named CEO and Garrett Hanrahan president of the division. Smaje has been with the group since 1988 and is based in London, while Hanrahan joined the company in 2008 and is based in Dallas.
