Based on recent Airbus patents, and produced for Aviation Week & Space Technology by artist Henry Lam at 3-D visualization specialist Kaktus Digital, our cover shows one potential configuration for an advanced airliner that could emerge from European research into low-drag wings, fuel-saving engines and lightweight structures. This future single-aisle concept has fuselage-shaping and forward-swept wing to promote natural laminar flow and open-rotor engines to reduce fuel burn. The tail is designed to shield noise from the counter-rotating propellers.
Controllers at the Comision Nacional de Actividades Espaciales (Conae) ground station in Cordova province, Argentina, and at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, Calif., are well into a 65-day commissioning period for the Aquarius/SAC-D ocean-salinity orbiter after its launch June 10 on a Delta II from Vandenberg AFB, Calif. Tests of the spacecraft are underway, and it will be moved to its operational polar orbit at an altitude of 657 km (408 mi.).
Boeing says it “sees the finish line” for certification of the 747-8 Freighter following the start of function and reliability tests, the last milestone toward approval, on June 1. “It's the last piece of the pie” says 747 vice president and general manager Elizabeth Lund of the F&R tests, adding that as of early June some 92% of the required conditions had been flown, with 87% of certification test items also complete. “Certification submittals are nearly complete,” she said. “We started with more than 1,000; we are down to double digits.”
CFM International will announce a raft of orders for the Leap engine on the A320NEO (new engine option) at the Paris air show following a late redesign with a larger fan, which makes the engine more competitive with Pratt & Whitney's PW1100G geared turbofan.
What Airbus has accomplished since it was formed is one of the remarkable industrial achievements of the last four decades. From its beginning in 1970 to splitting the global market with Boeing for large commercial aircraft, the European airframe manufacturer has become a powerful symbol of what people can do when they are motivated, share a vision and are willing to commit the necessary resources to reach their goal.
India is about to take another big step forward in its nuclear weapons delivery capacity with plans to flight-test the Agni-V ballistic missile this year. The Agni-V would represent a big step forward in India's strategic weapons arsenal given its range in excess of 5,000 km (3,100 mi.). Once testing begins, developers hope to declare the Agni-V operational in two years. The missile's predecessor, the 3,500-km-range Agni-III, is currently under induction into strategic missile groups governed by India's nuclear command.
Rohan Alce has been named Oman Air's manager for the U.K. and Ireland, replacing Abdullah Zantout, who moves to Beirut for a new role. Alce was a senior manager at Qatar Airways, Gulf Air and Etihad.
I understand that you are reporting on information supplied by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB), but your coverage of the Airbus A380 Qantas Roll-Royce Trent engine problem in “Detecting the Flaw” (AW&ST May 3, p. 18) risks generating the same type of faulty information that surrounded the de Havilland Comet-type misinformation. The picture accompanying the article appears to show two fatigue cracks, developing into shear lips, neither of which initiates anywhere near the misaligned bore.
Aerojet is proposing development of a novel combined-cycle propulsion system for reusable hypersonic vehicles which packages current technology to achieve a seamless transition from a standing start to Mach 7 plus.
Technicians at Russia's NPO Lavochkin are sending the Phobos-Grunt sample-return probe into thermal vacuum testing, setting the mission up for launch in the planetary window late this year. If all goes as planned, the spacecraft will return samples of the Martian moon Phobos in August 2014.
Mongolia is moving ahead with plans to purchase its own Earth-observation satellite, says Defense Minister Luvsanvandan Bold. Aside from security, the satellite will be used to “monitor the environmental situation” in Mongolia, he says, where there is a need to track mining activities, stop desertification and protect biodiversity. Bold says his ministry has spoken to manufacturers from Japan, Europe and Russia, which could be a front-runner because of its close ties with Mongolia.
National Aviation Hall of Fame member Maj. Gen. (ret.) Johnny Alison—who demonstrated the P-40 fighter for Chiang Kai Shek and later became a seven-victory ace with the 14th Air Force in China—died June 6 at home in Washington. He was 96.
Nearly two years ago, Defense Secretary Robert Gates unveiled a new incremental strategy to protect much of Europe and the Eastern U.S. from an Iranian ballistic missile attack. The so-called Phased Adaptive Approach (PAA) was designed with increments, each deploying new technologies in 2011, 2015 and 2018, and—eventually—the final phase would provide coverage from intercontinental ballistic missile threats from Iran in 2020.
Boeing says it is bidding for the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory Reusable Booster System technology effort. The program will initially run 3-4 years to assess technology readiness for the concept and then could lead to a technology demonstration. Darryl Davis, head of Boeing Phantom Works, says the effort is a top Air Force science and technology priority. The Boeing concept looks similar to an X-37B, but would be smaller. Wind tunnel tests have been completed.
Attacks on the corporate networks of Lockheed Martin and possibly other defense contractors, enabled by the earlier theft of secure-identification data, have underlined the threat facing industry even as it tries to carve out a niche providing advanced cybersecurity products and services to government customers.
Japan's Mitsubishi Electric Corp. (Melco) will spend 3 billion yen ($37.4 million) to double its annual satellite-production rate, reflecting Japanese government policy and a growing satellite market. The company will enlarge its facility in Kamakura, near Tokyo, to 7,700 sq. meters (82,850 sq. ft.), which will support production of eight large satellites a year instead of four. Work on the factory is expected to be complete by March 2013.
The giants of the aircraft leasing business have traditionally shunned aircraft with fewer than 100 seats, but the market will shift in the coming months as the giants change direction. BOC Aviation, CIT Aerospace, GE Capital Aviation Services (Gecas) and International Lease Finance Corp. (ILFC) are looking to break with convention and place orders for smaller aircraft.
The Swedish government and opposition have formalized a compromise to keep JAS-39 Gripens operational as part of the NATO-led operation against Libya. As part of the deal between the Social Democrats, who wanted to end the deployment, the government has authorized five Gripens to continue to operate from Sigonella, Sicily. The prior commitment included eight aircraft.
A Raytheon SM-3 Block IA missile views an inert warhead target in space using its infrared (IR) seeker just before its longest-range intercept to date, on April 15. The box is a function of a “coning” technique used by the seeker to constantly rotate the scene on its focal-plane array. In the event of a “dead” pixel, which cannot pick up the IR data, coning allows the seeker to keep a constant look at the target. Raytheon photo.
Brian Meyer has joined PAS Technologies as general manager of its Miramar, Fla., facility. He was vice president of engineering at AAR Landing Gear Systems.
The U.S. Missile Defense Agency (MDA) is eyeing late 2012 for the next try at intercepting a ballistic missile target with the troubled and multibillion-dollar Boeing-led Ground-Based Missile Defense (GMD) system.
Boeing's bet to self-fund development of the Phantom Ray unmanned combat air vehicle demonstrator may be about to pay dividends, with the company in discussions with several customers about government-financed demonstration activities. It embarked on the Phantom Ray to remain in the unmanned combat air vehicle (UCAV) game after losing the U.S. Navy demonstration program to rival Northrop Grumman's X-47. The goal is to be in a strong position to compete for the Navy's Unmanned Carrier-Launched Airborne Surveillance and Strike Systems program.
A ceremonial opening of Boeing's 787 final assembly building in North Charleston, S.C., on June 10 heralded the expectation that manufacturing will begin there on July 12. The 642,720-sq.-ft. facility will begin operations building the standard-sized 787-8 using a U-shaped assembly process that is likely to be more efficient than Boeing's main line in Everett, Wash. The North Charleston factory is wider than Everett's and allows easier access for suppliers. The first airplane is expected to roll out late this year.
Airbus and Rolls-Royce, addressing customers' concerns about performance of the Trent XWB engine, are working on a potential thrust-margin increase of roughly 5,000 lb. that is needed for the A350-1000. The measures involve a substantial design change that could force the planned service-entry target for the larger model to slide one year to at least 2016. The plans come as key customers such as Air Lease Corp. (ALC) and Emirates have publicly voiced doubts that the engine as now defined may not be powerful enough.
