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+++ Deep Impact success +++ Alcatel and Finmeccanica finalize space ventures +++ Saab takes charge on NH90 systems +++ Lufthansa/Swiss gets anti-trust approval +++ Eurofighter heat test campaign starts +++ News in brief +++
Deep Impact success
Sonde trifft Kometen exakt
The hyper-speed demise of NASA's Deep Impact probe generated an immense flash of light, which provided an excellent light source for the two cameras on the Deep Impact mothership. Deep Impact scientists theorize the 820 pound impactor vaporized deep below the comet's surface when the two collided at 1:52 am July 4, at a speed of 6.3 miles per second. "You can not help but get a big flash when objects meet at 23,000 miles per hour," said Deep Impact co-investigator Dr. Pete Schultz of Brown University, Providence, R.I. "The heat produced by impact was at least several thousand degrees Kelvin and at that extreme temperature just about any material begins to glow. Essentially, we generated our own incandescent photo flash for less than a second."
The flash created by the impact was just one of the visual surprises that confronted the Deep Impact team. Preliminary assessment of the images and data downlinked from the flyby spacecraft have provided an amazing glimpse into the life of a comet. "They say a picture can speak a thousand words," said Deep Impact project manager Rick Grammier of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. "But when you take a look at some of the ones we captured in the early morning hours of July 4, 2005 I think you can write a whole encyclopedia."
The Deep Impact scientists are not the only ones taking a close look at their collected data. The mission's flight controller team is analyzing the impactor's final hours of flight. When the real-time telemetry came in after the impactor's first rocket firing it showed the impactor moving away from the comet's path. "It is fair to say we were monitoring the flight path of the impactor pretty closely," said Deep Impact navigator Shyam Bhaskaran of JPL. "Due to the flight software program this initial maneuver moved us seven kilometers off course. This was not unexpected but at the same time not something we hoped to see. But then the second and third maneuvers put us right where we wanted to be."
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Alcatel and Finmeccanica finalize space ventures
Zwei neue Gemeinschaftsfirmen gegründet
Alcatel and Finmeccanica announced the successful creation of two new joint ventures effective as of 1 July 2005: Alcatel Alenia Space and Telespazio. The creation of these two new companies represents a great opportunity for their growth. Their common objectives will be to consolidate leadership in telecommunication satellite systems and services, to acquire a strong position in the most important European programs, such as Galileo and GMES, and to strengthen space defence and security, as well as observation, exploration and science.
Alcatel Alenia Space, of which Alcatel holds 67% and Finmeccanica 33%, now combines the activities of Alcatel Space and Alenia Spazio. It focusses on the design, development, and manufacturing of space systems, satellites, payloads, orbital infrastructures and space transportation, instruments and associated ground systems for civilian and military applications. The operational headquarters of Alcatel Alenia Space are located in Cannes, France, with plants in France, Italy, Belgium and Spain. With estimated 2004 sales of 1.8 billion euros and around 7,200 employees, it is the European leader in satellite systems.
Telespazio, of which Finmeccanica holds 67% and Alcatel 33%, combines Telespazio with Alcatel Space Services and Operations activities. It concentrates on operations and services for satellite solutions, which include control and exploitation of space systems as well as value-added services for networking, multimedia and earth observation. Its headquarter is located in Rome, Italy with plants in Italy, France and Germany. With estimated 2004 sales of 350 millions euros and around 1,400 people, it is a key player in the space services market.
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Saab takes charge on NH90 systems
Verzögerung in der Entwicklung
On 31 January 2002, Saab signed the contract with NH Industries (NHI) regarding delivery of systems to the 18 helicopters that FMV ordered from NHI. The delivery primarily applies to a so-called Tactical Mission System (TMS) – a command and control system that makes up a part of the helicopter's electronics. The value of the contract amounts to SEK 2 billion. During the second quarter, a thorough internal auditing of the program has been performed. We can state that development of the system is greatly delayed leading to unavoidable additional costs compared with the original cost estimate. We feel that a provision is necessary already in the second quarter interim financial statement, which means that the income for 2005 will be charged with SEK 250 million. These estimated additional costs were not taken into consideration in the profit forecast provided in the interim report published 21 April 2005.
“Saab's business operations are characterized by complex development assignments on the front edge of technology. During the years we have pursued several significant development programs and dealt with the associated risks with great success. I regret this provision that we are now forced to make, which is primarily caused by unclear points concerning the project specification at the time of the signing of the contract and also related issues about the time schedule for the implementation of the project”, says Saab's President Åke Svensson.
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Lufthansa/Swiss gets anti-trust approval
Übernahme erhält grünes Licht
The European Commission and the US competition authorities have given their approval to the takeover of Swiss International Air Lines Ltd. by Deutsche Lufthansa AG. The securing of European and US anti-trust approval paves the way for SWISS's integration into the Lufthansa Group. "This is a partnership for all our customers," says Wolfgang Mayrhuber, Chairman of the Executive Board and CEO of Lufthansa. "Lufthansa and SWISS deliver quality mobility to and from Europe. Following our successful public purchase offer and the plans to welcome SWISS to Star Alliance, these regulatory approvals mark a further milestone on our joint journey forward. And in just a few weeks' time, the customers of our two airlines will be feeling the first benefits that our partnership will bring."
"The green light from Brussels and Washington gives us the opportunity to ensure the long-term future of the air transport connections that are so crucial to Switzerland and its economy," adds Christoph Franz, President and CEO of SWISS. "With Lufthansa and SWISS, we are seeing the team-up of two globally-reputed airlines with the same strong commitment to superior service and quality. Following today's approval, we can now offer our customers more destinations, better connections, integrated frequent flyer programmes, greater lounge access and much more besides." Its new partnership with SWISS will enable Lufthansa to further consolidate and develop its position as a leading international network carrier. From the start of the 2005/06 winter schedules, all customers of both airlines will be offered an expanded global network of products and services. Members of Miles & More and Swiss TravelClub will be offered enhanced services and further benefits over the course of the summer.
The European Commission has agreed certain measures with Lufthansa and SWISS to ensure adequate market access for possible new competitors. These centre largely on making landing and takeoff slots available to other carriers on various European and intercontinental routes. US anti-trust approval has been granted unconditionally. The Swiss-domiciled AirTrust company will be paying the agreed purchase price of CHF 8.96 per share to minority shareholders who have tendered their SWISS shares under the recent public purchase offer within the next ten days. Parallel to this, Lufthansa will increase its shareholding in AirTrust from the present 11 per cent to 49 per cent. Once the current negotiations to secure SWISS's traffic rights have been successfully concluded and corresponding agreements have been obtained, Lufthansa will raise its holding in SWISS to a full 100 per cent (in 2006 at the earliest).
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Eurofighter heat test campaign starts
Hitzetests für Eurofighter
EADS CASA Military Aircraft has just started long-term tests under operational conditions on a Eurofighter at the Spanish Air Force base of Morón (near Seville). Following the Cold Environmental Trials carried out last winter near the Arctic Circle in Sweden, the instrumented production aircraft IPA4 and the mobile telemetry station were transferred from the EADS Military Aircraft Spain site at Getafe near Madrid to Morón, where an equally ambitious test programme is to be conducted.
As Eurofighter gives the user air forces an integrated Network Enabled Capability (NEC), which is indispensable for future operations among several Air Forces, the Spanish Air Force will actively support the tests by locating its MIDS (Multiple Information Distribution System) ground station at Morón and flying one or two operational Eurofighters in joint missions with the IPA 4. Moreover EADS CASA Military Aircraft will place its MIDS station at Talavera Air Base (near Portugal) and operate it from there. These circumstances will create the necessary network to conduct most favourable Data Link tests.
Morón in the south of Spain provides optimum conditions for the successful execution of the campaign. These include among other things the unusually high temperatures this summer, which will provide the proof that Eurofighter meets all the operational requirements, also under such extreme environmental conditions. Furthermore, the proximity of the Atlantic Ocean offers flight corridors that also allow low-level supersonic flights, another common requirement for most of the planned flight tests.
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NEWS IN BRIEF / KURZMELDUNGEN
The test phase of the ANTLE (Affordable Near Term Low Emissions) engine has reached its end. This experimental vehicle for mid-term aircraft engine technology is part of the EEFAE project (Efficient and Environmentally Friendly Aircraft Engine), the largest scale aeronautic research programme ever launched by the European Union in the area of propulsion. Industria de Turbo Propulsores, S. A. (ITP) has been responsible for the design, manufacture and assembly of the Low Pressure Turbine (LPT) of this engine and for the (external) engine casing. The series of tests which took place between the months of February and May in the Spanish National Aerospace Institute (INTA) represent the culmination of five years of coordinated research by companies and institutions from throughout the European aerospace sector. Along with ITP, also contributing to the ANTLE, which is based on a Rolls-Royce tri-shaft engine, were the Italian company Avio, responsible for the intermediate pressure turbine, and Rolls-Royce Deutschland, in charge of the high pressure compressor. The low-emission combustion chamber and the high pressure turbine have been developed through a national programme in Britain under the leadership of Rolls-Royce UK, and the support framework for the rear bearing was the responsibility of Volvo Aero.
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SELEX Sensors and Airborne Systems, a Finmeccanica company, has secured an £850 million order (1.250 billion euros), to manufacture the EuroDASS Electronic Warfare suite for the second production batch of the Eurofighter Typhoon programme. EuroDASS is designed to enhance aircraft survivability with an advanced suite of self defence sensors and countermeasures. These detect and evaluate potential threats at maximum range and then automatically deploy the most effective countermeasures without the need for crew intervention. SELEX Sensors and Airborne Systems leads the EuroDASS consortium, which also comprises Elettronica of Italy (which is 32% owned by Finmeccanica, has a 300 million euros share of the order), INDRA of Spain and EADS of Germany. The EuroDASS consortium supplies the state-of-the-art defensive aids suite to the Typhoon. This order, combined with the £100 million (148.3 million euros) development contract awarded for EuroDASS earlier this year and a £500 million (741.6 million euros) order to manufacture the CAPTOR radar system awarded in December 2004, brings the total orders awarded to SELEX Sensors and Airborne Systems for Tranche 2 of the Eurofighter Typhoon programme to approximately £1.5 billion (2.2 billion euros).
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Cessna, in cooperation with Pratt & Whitney Canada Corp (P&WC), introduces PowerAdvantage Plus (PA+) into its family of cost of operations programs; each of which is designed to provide Citation operators with simple, efficient, predictable and dependable management of aircraft and engine maintenance costs. PA+ is a new guaranteed engine maintenance cost program and represents Cessna's continued commitment to assisting Citation customers in minimizing and managing their cost of operations. "The Cessna and P&WC partnership represents the best qualified, and most committed source, to provide Citation operators with the quality, reliability and value they expect in support of their aircraft and engines," said Jack Stiffler, Vice President Citation Parts Distribution.
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Finland has outlined its national space strategy for 2005 to 2007, which has the aim of developing those fields of space science with the most substantial societal impact. The strategy emphasises the potential societal benefits of the sector, the value of the new information that is produced through space research, and the potential growth in competitiveness of Finland's space industry. Timo Kekkonen, Director General of the Finnish Space Committee which drew up the strategy, said: 'The previous strategic choices made in the space sector have been successful. The aim is to continue to support the growth of the business in the space industry and to increase the utilisation of the applications of space technology, satellite navigation and remote sensing.' During the two year period covered in the strategy, growth in Finnish space activities will be focused on projects co-financed by the European Union and European Space Agency (ESA). 'Finland is in favour of the new European Space Programme and considers its sub-programmes, the global navigation satellite system Galileo and the GMES remote sensing programme, especially important.'
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The European Space Agency (ESA) and the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) signed an agreement on 27 June 2005 for including European instruments on board India's first scientific mission to the Moon, Chandrayaan-1. This agreement, under the umbrella agreement for co-operation already existing between ISRO and ESA, was signed by Mr G Madhavan Nair, Chairman of ISRO, and Mr Jean Jacques Dordain, Director General of ESA, at Bangalore. Chandrayaan-1 is planned for launch around 2007 on board India's Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle. The 525 kg satellite will be placed in 100 km polar orbit around the Moon with a lifetime of two years. It will help to unravel the mysteries of the origin and evolution of the Solar System and, in particular, the Moon. Under the agreement, Europe will potentially co-ordinate and support the provision of three instruments: CIXS-2, the Chandrayaan-1 Imaging X-Ray Spectrometer; SARA, a Sub-keV Atom Relecting Analyser; and SIR-2, a Near-Infrared Spectrometer. It will also contribute to the hardware for the High-Energy X-ray Spectrometer (HEX). Direct ESA in-kind contributions are also foreseen under this historical agreement. ESA and ISRO will share the data resulting from their respective experiments, as per the agreement signed on 27 June.
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Lockheed Martin and Stork Aerospace signed a contract extending the existing order for the design and prototype production of the new F-35 Joint Strike Fighter electrical wiring system. The contract extension includes extra design work and represents a value of US $ 25 million, small earlier contract changes included. This brings the total value of the wiring systems order to US $ 82 million, which means the potential JSF order value for Stork now amounts to US $ 315 million. The added work will be carried out over the next two and a half years. Fokker Elmo, part of Stork Aerospace, received the order in 2003 for the development of the entire aircraft's wiring, including the mission systems. Initial work involves the development and production of complete sets for the F-35 test aircraft during the program's System Development and Demonstration (SDD) phase. The first sets have now been delivered.
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On 3 July, American adventurer Steve Fossett landed the replica Vickers Vimy on a Galway golf course in a recreation of the first transatlantic flight by Alcokc and Brown. He and co-pilot Mark Rebholz took off from Newfoundland at 10.52pm on Saturday and completed the journey in under 19 hours. The organisers said the bi-lane landed safely and 'without a wobble' on the eighth fairway of the Connemara Championship Golf Links in Clifden at 5.04pm. Fossett and his co-pilot navigated their way across the Atlantic using only a sextant and compass - the instruments available to Alcock and Brown in 1919.
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Raytheon's Space and Airborne Systems (SAS) and Boeing finalized a $60.8 million contract for continued participation on the P-8A MMA (Multi-mission Maritime Aircraft) industry team. Under the systems development and demonstration (SDD) contract, Raytheon will provide two upgraded APS-137D(V)5 maritime surveillance radars. The company will also contribute to related software design and provide radar simulation for design labs and program reviews. The P-8A MMA program celebrated its first year anniversary last month. "From the beginning, the entire industry and U.S. Navy team has built an outstanding spirit of understanding and cooperation," said Capt. Joe Rixey, Naval Air Systems Command P-8A MMA Integrated Product Team Lead. Prior to its formally negotiated contract, Raytheon worked with the Boeing-led P-8A MMA industry team under a letter contract. "Raytheon and Boeing wanted to provide the best value for the best price," noted Mack Moorman, Raytheon's P-8A MMA program manager. "And I am convinced we've done that."
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The U.S. Army paved the way for continued modernization of the world's most capable multi-role combat helicopter by signing the first production engineering contract with Boeing for Block III AH-64D Apache Longbows. The research, development, test and evaluation contract, signed in a virtual ceremony June 28 in Washington, D.C., Huntsville, Ala., and Mesa, Ariz., provides FY05 funding of non-recurring engineering costs for Block III enhancements for Apache Longbow attack helicopters. The total value for Boeing of the developmental contract is $27.2 million. Additional contracts, for further engineering and production work, are anticipated as the program matures. "The Block III technologies have been selected in answer to requirements specified by the U.S. Army's Apache Operational Requirement Document," said Al Winn, Boeing vice president of Apache programs. "Army and Boeing leadership listened to battlefield commanders and aviators to make certain that the Block III technologies enhance crew effectiveness." Production of Block III Apaches will begin in 2010 following completion of current Apache production work that has been on-going in Mesa, Ariz. since the Apache program began.
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Construction of the new NH90 simulator centre at Bückeburg has begun with erection of the building. This part is the responsibility of CAE Elektronik GmbH, which is working as a contractor to HRMI Helicopter Training Media International GmbH, the prime contractor in this deal.
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ScanEagle, a long-endurance fully autonomous unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) developed by Boeing and The Insitu Group, successfully completed sea trials aboard the USS Cleveland as part of the U.S. Navy-sponsored 2005 Joint Task Force Exercise The two week exercise off the San Diego coast tested and evaluated the battle group's reaction to multiple wartime scenarios, and is the final certification prior to deploying. The trials verified ScanEagle's shipboard launch and recovery capabilities as the UAV completed four launches and captures, as well at 68 approaches, aboard the Cleveland. ScanEagle also provided real-time video to ships in the fleet during the exercise.
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Delta Air Lines and five of its SkyTeam partners – Air France, Alitalia, CSA Czech Airline, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines and Northwest Airlines – filed their response to comments on their application for antitrust immunity with the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT). This application for antitrust immunity has received broad support from affected communities, airports, corporate customers, and consumer travel and public interest groups. Supporters include the State of Georgia, the City of Atlanta, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce, Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport, the Cincinnati USA Regional Chamber of Commerce, the Northern Kentucky Chamber of Commerce, the City of Minneapolis, the City of St. Paul, the City of Eagan, the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce, the Minneapolis Regional Chamber of Commerce, Greater Minneapolis Convention and Visitors Association, Bloomington Convention and Visitors Bureau, City of Burnsville, St. Paul Chamber of Commerce, Memphis Shelby County Airport Authority, the City of Memphis, Shelby County, the Memphis Convention and Visitors Authority and Wayne Country Airport Authority in Detroit. Letters of support have also been filed by the Business Travel Coalition, a public interest group representing the interests of corporate purchasers of air travel, and a number of major corporations, including Federal Express, General Motors and Ford Motor Company.
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Mr. Jurek Wilczynski, President of Heli Invest (Poland) and Mr. Jean-Pierre Dedieu, Executive Vice President of Eurocopter Customer Support, signed a contract covering the creation of a maintenance center. The 3-year contract calls for Heli Invest to perform light maintenance on EC120 and EC130 helicopters and to promote Eurocopter customer services in Poland. Encouraged by the buoyant market since the first EC120 was sold to a private operator 4 years ago, Heli Invest decided to set up maintenance facilities so the company could offer its customers a Eurocopter-approved "all-inclusive package".To achieve this, the President of Heli Invest first hired qualified technicians, and had them trained by Eurocopter. Quality procedures for the maintenance of Polish civil helicopters were then implemented to obtain the Part 145 approval from the EASA (European Aviation Safety Agency) in the next few weeks.
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Lockheed Martin flew the first F-16 produced for the Chilean Air Force on its initial production acceptance flight. Two flights were successfully accomplished here on June 23, with no discrepancies reported on either flight."The Chile program continues to progress right on schedule," said June Shrewsbury, vice president of F-16 programs. "First flight is a significant milestone and the first of several leading to the planned arrival of the aircraft in Chile early next year. We continue to be excited about our progress and about meeting our customer's expectations."This milestone follows the April 14 inauguration ceremony for Chile's Peace Puma program held in Fort Worth attended by the Chilean Minister of Defense, Jaime Ravinet, the Commander-in-Chief of the Chilean Air Force, Gen. Osvaldo Sarabia, and Chile's Ambassador to the United States, Andres Bianchi. The next milestone planned for July involves the acceptance of the first three Chilean aircraft by the U.S. government. One of these aircraft will be used for flight testing. The other two will be used for hands-on maintenance training of Chilean Air Force technicians. This training will be done in Fort Worth. The next two aircraft off the production line will be the first sent to Chile early next year. All 10 aircraft are planned for delivery in 2006.
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CIT Group Inc., a leading provider of commercial and consumer finance solutions, today announced the sale of the majority of its corporate aircraft portfolio to GE Commercial Finance. The sale is a result of CIT's risk-adjusted capital discipline and will allow for the redeployment of capital into higher-returning businesses.The transaction includes approximately $700 million in loans and $200 million in leases on 380 aircraft including business jets, turbo props and helicopters. The sale of a majority of the assets closed on June 30, 2005. The balance of the sold assets will be transferred during the third quarter of 2005. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
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Arianespace's upcoming Ariane 5 flight with the largest commercial telecommunications satellite ever to be carried into geostationary transfer orbit (GTO) will be delayed by a few days. This is the result of an anomaly with ground equipment used to prepare the launcher at the Spaceport in French Guiana.Additional checks with the ground equipment are to be performed in an operation that should take a few days, leading to an equivalent delay for the liftoff that initially was scheduled for July 11.
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Boeing recently signed an agreement with Honeywell Aerospace that will allow the two companies to significantly reduce an airline's maintenance costs. The companies partnered as part of Boeing's Integrated Materials Management (IMM) initiative. Through this program, Boeing and suppliers such as Honeywell maintain an airline's inventory of spare parts, providing items as needed. By reducing inventory, IMM reduces an airlines cost of doing business. Honeywell is the first contracted original equipment manufacturer (OEM) to support the IMM program. Honeywell will provide a variety of mechanical products such as valves, switches and seals. The company is a major supplier of products and aftermarket services and support for The Boeing Company.
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From 1 July on the air forces of NATO member countries will employ a new weapon system within the NATO Integrated Defence System to accomplish their permanent mission of surveillance and management of the skies above the Alliance area. From this date on the Czech air force is going to use their new JAS 39C Gripen fighter aircraft for the first time to carry out its mission of keeping one Quick Reaction Alert (QRA) team on permanent standby. Already in April the first batch of six new fighters arrived in Caslav, Bohemia. The small town is the home base of the Czech army's 21st Flying Corps. The unit is undergoing a conversion to the Swedish-British Gripen interceptors and will receive a total of 14 aircraft of this type. In case of an alert the QRA assets will be activated and employed during air incidents by NATO agencies, flying sorties out of the Czech base at Caslav. Such an incident may be an aircraft deviating from its established route possibly leading to an airspace violation. Another example is an incident in which communication is lost between civilian Air Traffic Control agencies and aircraft. This would also trigger a so-called QRA scramble. Once the fighters are airborne the NATO Combined Air Operations Centres (CAOCs) will vector them to the aircraft that caused the incident. In almost all incidents a technical or human error is the reason for the problem – nevertheless, the QRA assets offer a suitable means for a reaction even to more serious cases (aircraft hijackings, possibly with a terrorist background)
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MBDA Italy inaugurated officially the new site of pyrotechnic integration for Marte, Milan, Milas, Otomat and Aster missiles, located within the Italian Navy's Centre of advanced integration of ammunitions (CIMA) of Aulla, close to La Spezia naval base. The Aulla centre of pyrotechnic integration occupies a constructed site about 2500 square meters, inside the munitions depot created as early as 1909 as logistic support to the naval base of La Spezia, the arsenal of the Italian fleet. The new structure, intended for the integration of the systems of the most modern weapons produced by MBDA for the Italian armed forces, will have a capacity at full production rate of about thirty highly specialized engineers and technicians.
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Venus Express, the first European space probe to investigate the planet Venus has completed the development, integration and test phase in Toulouse. Venus Express is being manufactured by EADS Astrium as prime contractor for ESA (European Space Agency). The research probe is scheduled for launch on board a Soyuz-Fregat rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome (Kazakhstan) in late October 2005. EADS is the principal shareholder of Starsem, the launch provider, with 35%, Arianespace holding 15%. For two Venusian years (500 Earth days), the probe will investigate the atmosphere of the hottest planet in terms of structure, composition and dynamics. Venus Express, carrying seven scientific instruments (spectrometers, imagers and a plasma analyser) will orbit the second planet of the solar system at an altitude between 250 and 66,000 kilometres by flying above its poles. Analysing and understanding the prevailing conditions in the atmosphere and in the near environment of Venus is of critical importance to understanding long term climatic processes governing the evolution of life on Earth.
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Griffon Corporation announced that Telephonics, the company's electronic information and communication systems subsidiary, has received a subcontract award from General Dynamics Canada (GDC) (Ottawa, Ontario) for 31 ship sets of integrated Maritime Surveillance Radar and Mark XIIA Identification Friend or Foe (IFF) interrogator sub-system hardware with options for initial spares and 20 years of in-service support for the Canadian Maritime Helicopter Project (MHP). The subcontract, including all options, could exceed $50 million in value with the first test aircraft system to be delivered in July 2007. General Dynamics Canada is part of the Sikorsky Aircraft-led team selected for the MHP in 2004. Under its MHP contracts, Sikorsky will supply and support 28 of its H-92 helicopters, designated the CH-148 Cyclone by the Canadian Forces.
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Boeing confirmed that Guggenheim Aviation Partners (GPR), the U.S.-based aviation investment firm acting on behalf of the Guggenheim Aviation Investment Fund LP (GAIF), has placed an order for six 747-400ER Freighters valued at approximately US$1.37 billion at list prices. Deliveries are scheduled to begin in late 2006 and continue through the first half of 2008. These airplanes were added to the Boeing orders and deliveries Web site on June 30, attributed to an unidentified customer.
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Korean Air's cargo operation has been ranked the world's largest commercial airline cargo operation by the International Air Transport Association (IATA). This is the first time the Korean flag carrier has achieved the world's number one position in terms of international scheduled freight tonne-kilometres. "This achievement is the result of our aggressive strategy to constantly enter new markets, build up our infrastructure and create strategic partnerships to meet our customer's growing needs," said Yang Ho Cho, Chairman and CEO of Korean Air." During 2004, Korean Air recorded 8.164 billion FTK (Freight Tonne-Kilometres) ahead of the long-time number one carrier since 1986, Lufthansa Cargo. Korean Air has been ranked among the top three freight carriers since 1993, and has consistently placed among the top five commercial airline cargo carriers in FTKs since 1991. Three other Asian airlines filled out the top five cargo carriers. Singapore Airlines ranked third, Cathay Pacific ranked fourth, and China Airlines ranked fifth.
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MTU Maintenance Hannover, an MTU Aero Engines Holding AG affiliate, has been awarded a contract from JetBlue Airways for the maintenance of all V2500 engines operated by the airline. This involves up to 360 engines powering JetBlue's Airbus A320 family fleet. The sole-supplier contract runs for 10 years and is worth approximately 750 million euros. The fly-by-hour agreement can be renewed twice for five years each. "We are pleased to launch this maintenance program with MTU Maintenance for our V2500 engines," said JetBlue CEO David Neeleman. “The company's dedication to reliability and quick turnaround and high on-wing times will allow JetBlue to continue providing outstanding customer service while maintaining high aircraft utilization." "This large order adds substantially to the continued growth of our civil repair business," emphasized Udo Stark, president and CEO of MTU Aero Engines Holding AG. "Having JetBlue as a partner consolidates our position as the world's largest independent provider of engine services, measured by sales."
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EADS Defence and Communications Systems (DCS) has just signed a contract worth 19.3 million euros with the Vietnamese Ministry of Natural Resources and the Environment for the turnkey provision of a complete environmental and natural resources monitoring system, to be operated by the national Centre for Remote Sensing in Vietnam. The integrated system to be supplied by EADS DCS consists of a receiving station for satellite images from SPOT and ENVISAT, a centre for the processing and distribution of images, and 15 specialised application systems for operational and research purposes. These systems will be installed on the premises of the main public operators, namely Vietnamese ministries and other project partners such as the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, the Ministry of Fisheries, the Ministry of Natural Resources and the Environment, the national civil defence agency and the Vietnam Petroleum Institute. The fifteen applications will be employed in such activities as risk prevention and support for emergency rescue services, the observation and planning of agricultural land use for the cultivation of major crops including rice, the surveillance of maritime and coastal zones, research in connection with the preservation of resources in inland waters and forests, and geological studies for the petroleum and mining industries. The project is expected to last 3 years, including installation of the system, training, technical assistance, a variety of pilot projects in each field of application, and assisting the system's future owners with the development of their national centre for remote sensing.
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On July 5, 2005, one of Be-200 prototypes designed by Beriev Design Bureau, an asset of IRKUT Corporation, left for Italy where it be used for forest fire fighting purposes. Operation of Bå-200 amphibian in Italy will be conducted by SOREM S.r.l. company being an official operator of Canadian CL-415 amphibians in service with the Italian Civil Protection Department. Test operation of aircraft is a mandatory condition prior to decision of the Italian authorities on the purchase of aircraft. Last autumn Be-200 aircraft already demonstrated its effectiveness during test operation to fight forest fires in Italy. In the course of its service the aircraft completed 46 sorties totaling 90 ours. It made 255 approaches scooping as much as 2 000 tons of water. The aircraft proved its efficiency and reliability taking part in extinguishing of 3 fires at Sardinia on September 3, 11 and 13, 2004.
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Boeing successfully completed the aircraft performance and flight handling test program with the first 737 airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) aircraft for Australia's Project Wedgetail. “The plane performed superbly in terms of its avionics, structure, systems, flight handling characteristics and performance,” said Patrick Gill, Boeing vice president of 737 AEW&C programs. “This milestone validates the aircraft's digital design, and wind tunnel and simulator analyses. It is a major step forward in providing this powerful, new capability to Australia.” The aircraft exceeded all specification requirements for altitude, speed and endurance. It logged more than 245 flights and more than 500 flight hours. Takeoff performance, flight handling and simulated air to air refueling testing were conducted at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif. Engine nacelle and engine component cooling were tested in Mesa, Ariz. Additional tests included icing and crosswinds.
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