Efforts to establish the first carbon dioxide certification standard for aircraft are proving difficult, and the recent failure to agree on a metric for CO2 emissions risks delaying completion of the standard. Any delay will empower environmental groups already putting pressure on governments to regulate aircraft CO2 emissions in the absence of a global standard.
Lufthansa's opportunities for long-term growth have greatly improved with the approval of a third runway at Munich Airport. However, the decision must be cleared in court and delays are likely.
Unmanned aerial system (UAS) use has soared since the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq began, and new systems continue to debut in combat. But national deficits are placing severe pressure on defense spending, forcing users to look for more capability from existing UAS. The U.S. is putting new sensors on available platforms and connecting them to provide capabilities beyond those of individual systems (see p. 58). The services are also pushing hard for access to civil airspace for training once their UAS return from Afghanistan (see p. 56).
The General Atomics Reaper unmanned aerial system (UAS) may eventually go from hunting terrorists to hunting hostile ballistic missiles. The U.S. Air Force's Predator and Reaper UAS have been well-publicized workhorses providing intelligence and firepower on the front lines in Iraq, Afghanistan and the Arabian peninsula.
Less than a year after the first Rustom-1 unmanned aerial system (UAS) prototype crashed in its flight debut, a group of Indian scientists from the Aeronautical Development Establishment (ADE) gathered last fall at a private airfield near Bengaluru to test-fly this little known aircraft.
While the German air force's Heron and Euro Hawk unmanned aerial system (UAS) projects may attract the spotlight, the German army has more quietly been clocking large numbers of operational flight hours with a far smaller category of systems.
The Italian air force is expanding its fleet of medium-altitude unmanned aerial systems (UAS) as well as adding to the platforms' capabilities, including the addition of a new sensor and, potentially, an attack function. Rome plans to increase its UAS force to six each of the General Atomics Predator A+s and Reaper UAS as well as three ground control stations, air force officials tell Aviation Week.
As the U.S. and its allies withdraw forces from Afghanistan over the coming years, hundreds of unmanned aerial systems (UAS) and thousands of crews will return from the combat zone and face the issue of how to train in domestic airspace.
The next generation of unmanned aircraft could be today's systems, but linked in ways only now becoming possible, thereby enabling them to perform missions beyond their individual capabilities. Use of unmanned aerial systems (UAS) has grown during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, but as the conflict draws down, services are seeking ways to make better use of their existing assets, recognizing that prospects for new systems are receding as budgets tighten.
Singapore is hardly a low-cost country, yet the city-state remains one of the most attractive outsourcing locations for western firms. A combination of favorable corporate rules and world-class infrastructure gives Singapore an edge over places that have cheaper labor. That point has been underscored by Rolls-Royce, which is expanding its footprint here.
During the 1990s, the end of the Cold War and a resulting downturn in Pentagon spending triggered an unprecedented wave of consolidation in the aerospace and defense (A&D) industry. By the time the dust settled a decade or so later, the number of A&D primes had shrunk to 12 from 30. Names such as McDonnell Douglas, AlliedSignal, Hughes Aircraft, United Defense and TRW vanished altogether.
United Launch Alliance and Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne (PWR) are developing short- and longer-term solutions to counter the recurring formation of a cloud of burning hydrogen that envelopes the base of the Delta IV Heavy during every liftoff.
The U.S. Army is enthusiastic about the potential for satellites, smartphones and tablet devices to bolster its combat communications network. But while it rushes to embrace the iPad era, newly infused testing by soldiers here shows old-fashioned integration remains one of the biggest challenges. Here and at Fort Bliss, Texas, 3,800 soldiers of the 2nd Brigade of the 1st Infantry Div. along with several hundred civilian contractors and industry representatives were camped out in a six-week field evaluation called the Network Integration Exercise (NIE).
Sept. 12—A&D Finance Europe. London. Sept. 14-15—Airlines/MRO/Aircraft and Engine Lessors: “The Tricky Triangle.” Dublin. Sept. 26—Aircraft Composite Repair Management Forum. Madrid. Sept. 27-29—MRO Europe 2011. Madrid. Sept. 28—MRO Military Europe. Madrid. Oct. 12-13—Fifth Edition of Lean Six Sigma for MRO Forum. San Francisco. Oct. 20-21—MRO IT Conference and Showcase. Chicago. Oct. 24-26—A&D Programs. Phoenix. Nov. 2-3—Engine MRO Forum. Istanbul.
Aug. 26-28—Tannkosh Fly-In 2011. Tannheim Airfield, Germany. See www.tannkosh.com Aug. 26-28—Maine Air Show and Business Aviation Expo. Brunswick Executive Airport. Call +1 (207) 798-6512 or see www.greatstateofmaineairshow.us Aug. 27-28—Roskilde Air Show. Roskilde Airport, Copenhagen. See www.airshow.dk/eng_index.html
This year, President Barack Obama called for a more effective and efficient aviation regulatory system, and on government agencies like the FAA to enhance safety. Everyone in the aviation industry has been working toward ever-improving safety as part of our DNA, so we naturally applaud these goals.
In preparation for descent to Earth, the reentry capsule would separate from other modules of the HTV-R, a planned return version of Japan's H-II Transfer Vehicle (HTV) cargo upload spacecraft. The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) aims to develop the HTV-R to take material to and from the International Space Station late this decade. The following step would be to adapt the spacecraft for manned missions in the 2020s. In parallel, JAXA is drafting plans for a new launcher family, one member of which would be man-rated.
The telling comment in The World item “Clarion Call” (AW&ST July 18/25, p. 14) is Boeing chief Jim Albaugh's warning that “the government needs to keep top-tier design teams going with new projects, even at “some low rate.”
The challenge of civilian supersonic flight has always been more political than technical. Though technically interesting, “Raise the Limit” and “Hyper Space” (AW&ST July 18/25, pp. 57 and 66) ignore the tenor of the times. The U.S. and Western Europe are poised to enter an extended age of public austerity. There will be very little appetite for allocating the billions necessary to build super- and hypersonic passenger machines that will carry only a few dozen passengers.
EADS executives must be very frustrated by the candid exposure by Boeing—and the unsurprised acceptance by the U.S. Air Force—that the U.S. manufacturer underbid the KC-46A tanker contract in order to win the project (AW&ST July 11, p. 26). If Boeing is admitting two months into a 78-month contract that it will exceed the contracted ceiling price and post a loss of $300 million, goodness knows what the actual loss will be by the contract's end.
The Aviation Week article “Reengined 737 Poses Production Dilemmas” elicited much lively give and take: Aircraft Man writes: I feel Boeing is playing catch-up—New Engined 737 should be designed and on offer to the world's airlines now! Management has dithered and lost position in the market . . . If I were a shareholder at Boeing I would be lobbying for some heads to roll. jimh615 says:
An AWIN Leading Edge blog on the design and build of the “almost instant” Sulsa (Southampton University Laser Sintered Aircraft) elicited: Harrier saying: Very interesting, and nice to see new elliptical wings from Southampton in the air again. The spirit of Vickers Supermarine lives on (and Barnes Wallis too!)
Indian correspondent Jay Menon's Aerospace Daily and Defense Report post on India's fighter competition continues to generate discussions: marauder writes: India wins because of the absurdly generous technology transfer and industrial offset terms to which Dassault or Eurofighter will have to conform. ghemego responds:
Dennis Swanson has been appointed VP-international business development for Boeing Defense, Space & Security in India, based in New Delhi. He was BDS director for Industrial Participation Programs in the Middle East and Africa.
Nicolas von Mende (see photo) has been named CEO and head of sales at Atlas Air Service, Ganderkesee, Germany. He was a member of the management board. Thomas Knauer has become accounts manager for maintenance operations. Mike Laux and Uwe Lindemann left the board but will remain as advisers to the sales and maintenance teams.
