CEO ‘Frustrated’ With NextGen Transition
Below are excerpts of a speech given by Clayton M. Jones, chairman and CEO of Rockwell Collins, at a RTCA symposium March 14 in Washington, D.C.
When I first came to Rockwell Collins in 1995 as vice president and general manager of our Air Transport business, all I knew about the air traffic system was from my experience as a pilot in the Air Force…. [T]he idea of having aircraft with the onboard technology to safely and efficiently fly anywhere, at any time, outside of special use airspace was an exciting inevitability. That excitement was further heightened by the knowledge that the U.S., through organizations like RTCA and the FAA, and by using the formidable technical capability of industry, was quickly moving toward that extraordinary vision of the future that we called Free Flight.
Now, here we are in 2007 and we’re only slightly closer to that vision. And over those 12 years, I must admit that my emotion regarding this subject has changed from excitement to frustration. So what happened? Well, one thing that didn’t happen is the problems we were trying to solve didn’t go away…. Today, we’re facing exactly the same situation we had in 1995 and 2000.
Today, NextGen is our latest and greatest hope, but while hope springs eternal, who among us is ready to bet the ranch that NextGen is going to happen, or even be known as that a few years from now? In my view, yet another "better way" is quickly slipping away from us.
And, if you excuse my cynicism, I fear that what appeared to be a promising and accelerated process involving the stakeholders and industry is becoming another activity mired in process and hindered by bureaucracy.
Interestingly, unlike many challenges in the aerospace industry, the difficulty is not in technology development or availability. Instead, it would appear that the root cause of our problem is our struggle to define the concept of operations for the airspace of the future…. I fear the direction we’re currently heading is no closer to an integrated single system and an agreeable concept of operating because we continue to think in terms of a ground piece and an aircraft piece. In fact, [the] Joint Program and Development Office’s Agile Airspace Integrated Product Team is headed toward a restructuring that separates the integrated airspace into two parts — the aircraft system and the ground system — the exact opposite of what is needed.
[T]he first thought I would leave with you is that to realize the dream of the Next Generation Air Transportation System by 2025 is to accept the need to integrate the aircraft and the ground systems and to do the hard work of allocating appropriate levels of performance between them. The second area for consideration is that we must make sure we have a credible implementation plan that is endorsed by the broad community, and once that plan is created and endorsed, ensure we execute to that plan.
We need a game plan to proceed from today to NextGen by 2025, and the [FAA’s] Operational Evolution Partnership is clearly the vehicle to do that. The OEP recognizes that we have a legacy infrastructure that must evolve to become capable of supporting future capacity and advanced operations…. It’s a much broader perspective that encompasses legacy and next generation system requirements with a structure of managing necessary research and implementation. This is a great first step.
Commercial
Crowded U.S. Skies
U.S. skies are crowded and getting worse, according to a forecast by FAA. The agency predicts airlines will carry 768 million passengers in fiscal year 2007, more than one billion passengers by 2015 and 1.2 billion by 2020.
The forecast also expects 62.5 million take-offs and landings at the nation’s towered airports this fiscal year. By 2020, that number is expected to reach 81.1 million operations, growing by an average of 1.4 million per year during the forecast period.
In addition, general aviation is expected to increase 59 percent by 2020, led by robust growth in very light jets.
"The new demand our forecast anticipates will only add pressure. As more planes carry more passengers and cargo, FAA and contract towers will need to handle an average of 1.4 million more U.S. operations each year between now and 2020. To put this number into perspective, imagine adding twice the traffic at Dallas-Fort Worth airport into the system every year," Transportation Secretary Mary Peters said March 15, addressing FAA’s annual forecast conference in Washington, D.C.
FAA Administrator Marion Blakey and Peters said the United States must act now to ensure planes keep moving smoothly. That includes implementing the Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen) and passing the Next Generation Air Transportation System Financing Reform Act of 2007.
Peters said the financing reform package would replace the decades-old system of collecting ticket taxes with a cost-based funding program that relies on a combination of user fees, taxes and a federal government contribution to achieve the NextGen system.
"Without NextGen, some parts of the system will ‘freeze’ first. Soon, other areas will follow. The system will reach its absolute breaking point, and our customers will be the ones who suffer," Blakey said.
NextGen Equipage Woes
The avionics equipage requirements and cost of the Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen) are of great concern to airlines and airframers, according to a high-level panel convened March 14 for RTCA’s "Bridge To NextGen" symposium.
"From a carrier perspective, equipage is one of the single-most critical issues," said James C. May, president and CEO of the Air Transport Association, representing airlines. The estimated cost of equipage to carriers, he said, may be $20 billion or more over the next two decades.
"The challenge is, what equipment do we order for those out-years. It’s a hell of a gamble," May added.
Kevin Brown, vice president and general manager of Boeing Air Traffic Management, offered the airframer’s perspective. The NextGen initiative here, and the Single European Sky ATM Research program in Europe will fail, Brown said, without the development of common equipage standards. "We cannot stand regionally designed flight decks on our aircraft that fly the world," he said.
Brown said new aircraft will benefit from forward-fit modular avionics. "The bad news — retrofit," he said, explaining that some 16,000 legacy aircraft with "point-wired, federated architectures" will be difficult to upgrade. One solution might be to use supplemental, new technologies like electronic flight bags to display air traffic information, he suggested.
Charles Leader, director of the multi-agency Joint Planning and Development Office planning the transition to NextGen, said he is "not aware of anyone who wants to have multiple sets of equipage and that is not the outcome we are looking for." However, Leader said government’s role is to set functional requirements for NextGen; industry’s role is to determine how those requirements will be achieved. — Bill Carey
‘Airport of the Future’
Jeppesen, Englewood, Colo., and Sensis Corp., Syracuse, N.Y., joined a Lockheed Martin-led consortium to develop the "Airport of the Future."
Under the Integrated Airport Project, a three-year effort designed to develop new technologies in airport operations, Jeppesen will provide a detailed Airport Mapping Database at Daytona Beach International Airport (DBIA) and Sensis will apply its expertise in Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B), System-Wide Information Management networks and decision-support tools that enable trajectory-based operations to improve flight path predictability, increase operational efficiency and reduce controller workload.
The Integrated Airport Project, which Lockheed Martin leads with Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University and DBIA, will showcase emerging technologies in safety, security, capacity and efficiency in the next generation of airports. Embry-Riddle, DBIA and Lockheed Martin are pursuing federal funding for the project, which is designed as a 50-50 government-industry partnership.
In addition to Sensis and Jeppesen, other consortium members include Transtech Airport Solutions, Windsor, Conn., ENSCO, Falls Church, Va., and Mosaic ATM, Atlanta.
The project has four phases. Phase 1, focused on safety and security, began last fall and is expected to last through the third quarter of 2007. Phase 2, which began in the first quarter, is focused on airport surface capacity and efficiency. Phases 3 and 4 will begin in 2008 and will focus on arrival and departure management efficiencies, navigation and all-weather operations.
European ATSAW
Eurocontrol and Airbus are trialing an Airborne Traffic Situational Awareness (ATSAW) system that eventually will enable pilots to manage their own separations. Also involved in the trial are systems house Sofreavia and DSNA, the French Air Navigation Services Provider.
Under the ATSAW program, pilots use their navigation displays to "see" proximate traffic provided by Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast signals.
Alex Wandels, program manager for the European Cascade program, of which ATSAW is a part, predicts readiness of the system by 2011 for sequencing and merging aircraft as they approach their destinations.
Before this, however, the system could enable pilots of trans-oceanic flights outside of radar coverage to manage their own in-trail separations, enabling them to climb to higher flight levels as fuel is used, something that is not permitted at present. — George Marsh
Continuous Descents
The use of advanced continuous descent approaches (CDA) at Stockholm’s Arlanda airport will be repeated at Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport, bringing the potential of eased capacity and fuel and noise reductions to another European hub.
In an interview with Avionics, Jacco M. Hoekstra, head of the Air Transport Division of the Dutch National Aerospace Laboratory (NLR), said the Dutch program is expected to proceed to a demonstration later this year. A kickoff meeting was held at the ATC Maastricht conference in February.
"We are looking at down-linking flight information to increase predictability and enable continuous descent approaches," Hoekstra said. "It’s interesting to look at a city pair, because then you also have complete flights. So the city pair we are looking at is Stockholm-Amsterdam."
The effort mirrors a program sponsored by the European Commission and industry in Sweden, using Scandinavian Airlines’ Boeing 737s, to downlink four-dimensional trajectory (4DT) information from aircraft flight management systems to ground controllers.
The 4DT downlinks, including three spatial dimensions and a very accurate time of arrival, facilitate continuous descents to Arlanda airport, cutting down on the noise and fuel expended during vectored approaches.
Speaking at the Avionics 2007 conference in Amsterdam, Lars Lindberg, president of Avtech Sweden and a SAS captain, said the Swedish program has accomplished 550 CDAs and demonstrated $60 million in annual fuel savings.
The first 4DT flight took place in January 2006, and general operations began that March. Lindberg said 12 new CDAs have been approved for SAS at Stockholm Arlanda and will be available to other airlines in September.
A380 Lands Stateside
The Airbus A380 made its long-delayed U.S. debut in March, with twin East and West coast landings — a chance, observers said, for Airbus to prove its superjumbo aircraft is ready for October deliveries.
An A380 operated by German carrier Lufthansa made the eight-hour flight from Frankfurt International Airport, landing March 19 at New York’s John F. Kennedy Airport. The same day, an A380 operated by Australian carrier Qantas completed a 12-hour flight from Toulouse, France, to Los Angeles International Airport.
The Lufthansa aircraft continued with a demonstration flight to Chicago’s O’Hare Airport, before returning to New York, and then Frankfurt.
The plane then headed to Hong Kong and back, before continuing to Washington Dulles International Airport March 25, with a final stop at Lufthansa’s Munich hub March 28.
The Qantas aircraft spent two days at LAX carrying out airport function and compatibility checks.
The A380 program has suffered two years of production delays that have cost Airbus billions in lost profits. The first A380 is scheduled to be delivered to Singapore Airlines in October. Qantas has ordered 20 A380s for delivery between 2008 and 2015. Lufthansa, which has ordered 15 superjumbos, will take delivery of its first A380 in 2009.
787 On Track
On the same day of the A380’s inaugural flights to the United States, Boeing said its 787 Dreamliner program is on-time and may be ramped up to accommodate strong orders.
In a March 19 conference call with analysts and reporters, Boeing said the 787 is set to make its first test flight this summer, with the first customer delivery in May 2008.
"A lot of people are working very, very hard around the world to make sure this airplane gets to the market on time," said Mike Bair, general manager of the 787 program.
In early April, Boeing said total 787 Dreamliner orders topped 500 with an order from Japan Airlines. Since the launch in 2004, a total of 43 customers have ordered 514 787s, Boeing said.
Boeing said the 787 production line is sold out until 2013, but the company may increase production to accommodate the strong interest. "We’ll probably end up increasing the rates, driven by the intense market interest," Bair said.
Boeing expects to build 112 airplanes in the first two years of production. The company said it will not increase production before it increases capacity at its Seattle-area assembly plant over the next two years.
Nippon Cargo Avionics
Nippon Cargo Airlines will use the Rockwell Collins avionics suite on its six new Boeing 747-400F aircraft. Deliveries are to begin in October and run through February 2009.
Among the avionics selected was the GLU-925 Multi-Mode Receiver (MMR), an integrated unit that provides the aircraft’s primary position, velocity and time reference and enables precision landing capability.
The MMR also offers instrument landing system capability and high-integrity, satellite-based positioning for navigation and future landing functions. The system is designed to meet future air traffic management requirements while offering commonality across fleet types.
Other Rockwell Collins equipment chosen by Nippon Cargo Airlines include the ADF-900 Automatic Direction Finder, DME-900 Distance Measuring Equipment, HFS-900D High Frequency System, CPL-920D Coupling Unit, the VOR-900 VHF Omnidirectional Radio, the CMU-900 Communication Management Unit with VHF Data Radio, SAT-906 Satellite Communication System and the TTR-921 Traffic alert Collision Avoidance System.
Avionics 2008 Planned
Dates have been set for an expanded Avionics 2008 Conference and Exhibition following the successful Avionics 2007, held in Amsterdam in early March.
This year’s fifth annual conference, co-sponsored by Avionics magazine, was the best attended in the history of the event, attracting more than 1,000 attendees. The two-day conference featured separate Civil, Military and COTS/Embedded tracks.
Those who were not able to attend the 2007 event but would like to obtain conference materials should visit www.blaxx.net/2007/avion07/proceedings.
Exhibition space is filling up fast for the 2008 event, prompting the move to the larger Passenger Terminal Amsterdam in downtown Amsterdam, according to event organizer Simply Group Ltd. Avionics 2008 will take place March 5 and 6. For more details, visit www.avionics-event.com.
Satcom STC
The FAA granted International Communications Group’s (ICG) authorized reseller, L2 Consulting Services, a supplemental type certificate (STC) for installation of ICG’s ICS-120 Iridium Communication System. ICG said the STC is applicable to B757-200/200PF/200CB/300 series aircraft.
The ICS-120 is a single-channel communication system certified for cockpit communications using a telephone dialer adapter. The ICS-120 features a dedicated short burst data transceiver for Aircraft Communications Addressing and Reporting System communications to provide unrestricted access for the flight crew to air/ground datalink services. The ICS-120 is also compatible with most communications and data management units, connecting via the ARINC 429 data bus, and eliminating the need for any additional interface devices.
The ICS-120 system provides a range of cabin telecommunications unit features, including intercom calling, call transfer, conferencing and follow-on dialing. Other features include credit card calling, digital echo suppression, store and forward fax service and secure voice operation.
Lighting Acquisition
Emteq purchased airborne lighting systems company Flight Components AG, of Bachenbülach Switzerland, a move the company said will expand its reach in the lighting market. Financial terms were not disclosed.
Emteq, New Berlin, Wis., said the acquisition will enable it to offer a complete array of exterior lighting products, including anti-collision, position and tail lights, to complement its existing interior light-emitting diode (LED) solutions.
"The acquisition allows Emteq to provide comprehensive nose-to-tail and wing-to-wing lighting solutions for both its fixed-wing and rotorcraft military and commercial customers, while increasing Emteq’s presence in Europe," the company said.
"This acquisition provides us with a product line of exterior lighting that complements our LED interior cabin lighting solutions, integration services and avionics related products. Our customers are looking for more value and turnkey capabilities, and Flight Components’ exterior LED lighting is second to none," said Jerry Jendusa, Emteq’s president and CEO.
Sukhoi Superjet Supplier
Los Angeles-based Teledyne Controls, a business unit of Teledyne Technologies, was selected by Thales to supply the data acquisition system for the Sukhoi Superjet 100 aircraft.
Under the agreement, Teledyne Controls will supply its Integrated Flight Data Management Unit (IFDMU), designed to perform flight data acquisition, aircraft condition monitoring and data recording.
The IFDMU supplied for the Sukhoi SuperJet 100 is a customized version of Teledyne’s Flight Data Interface Management Unit (FDIMU). The FDIMU is a compact and integrated data acquisition and recording system, which combines into a single line replaceable unit multiple functions of traditionally separated systems.
Manufactured by Sukhoi Civil Aircraft, a unit of Sukhoi Co., Russia’s major aircraft holding company, the Superjet 100 is a regional jet featuring 75 and 95 seats. The first test flight is scheduled for September, with first aircraft deliveries anticipated in late 2008.
Fuel Cell Airplane
Boeing plans to conduct a series to experimental test flights in Europe this year of a manned airplane powered by a fuel cell and lightweight batteries, the company announced in March.
The goal of the Fuel Cell Demonstrator Airplane research project is to develop environmentally progressive technologies for aerospace applications. Boeing Research and Technology Europe (BR&TE) recently completed the systems integration phase, which began in 2003.
"While Boeing does not envision that fuel cells will provide primary power for future commercial passenger airplanes, demonstrations like this help pave the way for potentially using this technology in small manned and unmanned air vehicles," said Francisco Escarti, BR&TE managing director.
The Boeing demonstrator uses a Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM) fuel cell/lithium-ion battery hybrid system to power an electric motor, which is coupled to a conventional propeller. The fuel cell provides the power for the cruise phase of flight. During takeoff and climb, the flight segment that requires the most power, the system draws on lithium-ion batteries.
Boeing said the flight tests, which will take place in Spain, will demonstrate for the first time that a manned airplane can maintain a straight, level flight with fuel cells as the sole power source.
The demonstrator aircraft is a Dimona motor glider, built by Diamond Aircraft Industries of Austria, which also performed major structural modifications to the aircraft.
With a wing span of 53.5 feet, the airplane will be able to cruise at about 62 miles per hour using fuel cell-provided power.
Spanish avionics group Aerlyper S.A., of Madrid, performed airframe modifications, mounting and wiring of all components; SAFT France designed and assembled the auxiliary batteries and the backup battery; Air Liquide Spain designed and assembled the onboard fuel system and the refueling station; the Electronic Engineering Division of the Polytechnic University of Madrid collaborated in the design and construction of the power management and distribution box.
Other suppliers include UQM Technologies (United States), MT Propeller (Germany), Tecnicas Aeronauticas de Madrid (Spain), Ingenieria de Instrumentacion y Control (Spain), GORE (Germany), Indra (Spain) and Inventia (Spain).
Corporate
VLJs on the Rise
Very Light Jets (VLJs), one of the fastest growing segments in the aviation industry, are poised for further growth in the coming years, according to FAA.
In its annual industry forecast released in March, FAA predicted VLJs will grow by 400 to 500 aircraft a year and will reach 6,300 units by 2020.
"There’s a lot of excitement about the potential [of VLJs]," said Ed Bolen, president and CEO of the National Business Aviation Association.
However, airspace congestion will become a larger concern if FAA’s robust forecast is realized.
"I worry we’ll face a sky darkened by dentists" piloting VLJs, said Jeffrey Shane, the Department of Transportation’s undersecretary of transportation and policy.
At the FAA conference in March, Shane moderated a panel, which included Bolen, Air Transport Association President and CEO James May and Airports Council International-North America President Gregory Principato.
FAA said it is still undetermined whether VLJs will be used mainly as personal aircraft or as corporate jets.
"The key driver of the market for microjets is the on-demand air taxi industry," the agency stated in its forecast. "Those who believe that the time has come for the air taxi industry tend to have higher fleet forecasts while those who are less sanguine about the prospects for the on-demand air taxi industry tend to have more conservative fleet forecasts."
Steve Hanvey, president and CEO of charter company SATSair, Greenville, S.C., described an "intermodal shift" in the way some people travel. He said 50 percent of his company’s customers are using air travel as a way to avoid gridlock on the nation’s highways. "The challenge is for us to understand the societal challenge we’re going through," Hanvey said.
Flight Deck STC
Avidyne Corp., Lincoln, Mass., and S-TEC Corp., Mineral Wells, Texas, received FAA supplemental type certification (STC) for installation of the Alliant Integrated Flight Deck on Beechcraft King Air E90- and C90-series turboprop aircraft.
The installation, Avidyne said, enables owners of King Air aircraft to update their systems with situational awareness and safety tools at a fraction of the cost of a new aircraft.
The Alliant installation and flight tests for the 90-series STC were completed on a 1976 E90 owned and operated by Standridge Color Corp., a Social Circle, Ga.-based manufacturer of colorants for the plastics industry.
The standard Alliant Integrated Flight Deck package includes dual-redundant Avidyne EXP5000 10.4-inch primary flight displays, an Avidyne EX500 multi-function display, the S-TEC IntelliFlight 2100 digital autopilot, Mid-Continent two-inch standby instruments and interfaces to most popular traffic, terrain, lightning, radar and radar altimeter systems.
Military
Lockheed, Kaman Pact
Lockheed Martin and Kaman Aerospace Corp., of Bloomfield, Conn., announced a new partnership to market advanced manned and unmanned helicopter systems worldwide for government applications.
The two companies will develop an unmanned version of Kaman’s K-MAX Aerial Truck helicopter. Lockheed Martin said it will focus on advanced unmanned aircraft system flight control for autonomous military operations and also will provide mission-specific avionics, sensors and weapons solutions. No timetable for the development was given.
Cobra UAS
Raytheon received Experimental Airworthiness Certificates from the FAA for three of its Cobra Unmanned Aircraft Systems.
The certification permits Cobra flight operations in a specified section of southeastern Arizona. It also authorizes Raytheon to conduct research and development, crew training and market surveys using the Cobra system.
The certification brings Raytheon’s certified Cobra fleet total to five. The Cobra test bed will be used to support the development, test and demonstration of sensor systems; networked command, control and communications systems; and unmanned aircraft system architectural concepts.
Australian Hornets
The Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) selected a Raytheon radar warning receiver for its F/A-18 tactical aircraft fleet as part of the Hornet Upgrade program.
Raytheon said the deal for 66 ALR-67(V)3 systems is part of a production contract Raytheon has with the U.S. Navy’s Naval Air Systems Command.
To kick off the program, Raytheon received a $6.3 million antenna contract from the Navy in support of the RAAF program. The contract includes delivery of 20 antenna sets for the RAAF and forward antenna development effort for the RAAF and the Finland Air Force.
The ALR-67(V)3, which is the radar warning receiver on U.S. Navy F/A-18E/F carrier-based tactical aircraft, provides digital technology to detect and identify threat radar emitters.
Raytheon said the integration of the ALR-67(V)3 will provide the RAAF with a digital radar warning receiver that is fully integrated with the Hornet’s avionics systems. Work on the radar warning receiver is being done by the company’s Electronic Warfare organization in Goleta, Calif., with support of facilities in El Segundo, Calif., Forest, Miss., and McKinney, Texas.
C-17 Collision Avoidance
Honeywell said its Military Airborne Collision Avoidance System-Formation Rendezvous (MILACAS-FR), selected by Boeing for the C-17 Formation Flying System, has been certified by the FAA for use on all military aircraft.
Honeywell is producing 180 MILACAS-FR systems for Boeing’s C-17 fleet as part of a $20 million contract. The collision avoidance technology will enhance accuracy and safety during military formation flights.
Similar to Honeywell’s Traffic Collision Avoidance System, MILACAS-FR detects nearby aircraft in flight and evaluates their threat potential. The system provides traffic alerts and maneuvering advisories to help pilots avoid mid-air collisions.
Broadband Satcom
ViaSat, Carlsbad, Calif., delivered a hatch-mounted Ku-band satcom antenna for C-130 aircraft in March.
The hatch-mounted antenna, which received airworthiness certification from the U.S. Air Force at Warner Robbins Air Force Base in Georgia, enables configuration of aircraft for 2-way broadband communication access to terrestrial services without any permanent modifications.
Ground crews can configure the aircraft for a specific mission, and then return the plane to normal transport configuration when the mission is complete.
The antenna enables use of an airborne satcom system to access wide area SIPRNet and NIPRNet networks at data rates up to 10 Mbps inbound and 512 kbps outbound while airborne and enroute to mission destinations.
Airborne Early Warning
Boeing completed the integration of major subsystems aboard a 737 Airborne Early Warning and Control (AEW&C) aircraft for Australia’s Project Wedgetail.
The subsystems include communications, navigation, mission computing, radar and electronic warfare self protection. Boeing said it conducted tests aboard the aircraft and at its System Integration Lab in Kent, Wash.
Integration is a major step toward functional checkout of the AEW&C system with the aircraft, which was planned for the end of April. FAA certification and qualification testing are scheduled this summer.
Boeing will deliver the first two of six Wedgetail aircraft to Australia in March 2009, and the remaining four aircraft by mid-2009. Turkey and the Republic of Korea also have purchased four 737 AEW&C aircraft each.
The aircraft is equipped with Northrop Grumman’s Multi-Role Electronically Scanned Array antenna with integrated identification friend-or-foe capabilities. The system also includes a flexible, open architecture for cost-effective future upgrades, an extensive communications suite and aerial refueling capability.
IP Data Link
ViaSat and DRS Technologies demonstrated an Internet Protocol (IP) data connection from the cockpit of an F/A-18 fighter to a ground network.
Under a contract with the U.S. Navy Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command and Program Executive Office for C4I, the companies used a ViaSat Multifunctional Information Distribution System LVT(1) terminal modified to provide IP communications to and from an onboard DRS Airborne Tactical Server (ATS).
For the test, conducted at the Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division, China Lake, Calif., the aircrew used an Advanced Technology Forward-Looking Infrared camera to record video and transferred IP data files at rates in excess of 70 kbps, moving images of 35,000 bytes to the ground network.
The configuration of a ViaSat terminal and a DRS ATS replaces the Solid State Recorder typically installed in the F/A-18, providing the same video, audio and data recording functions and adding a Microsoft Windows-compatible file server.
Contracts
–– Lockheed Martin won a $22.1 million contract from the U.S. Air Force to provide a replacement unit for a defensive avionics system which identifies, acquires and denies enemy radars and missiles for the B-1 bomber.
–– Canadian simulator manufacturer CAE sold its first three Boeing 787 full-flight simulators — two to Qantas and one to Shanghai Eastern Flight Training, the training subsidiary for China Eastern Airlines. At list prices, including buyer-furnished data and equipment, the contracts are valued at nearly $57 million.
–– Smiths Aerospace won a contract with a potential value of $38 million to provide performance-based logistics in support of electronic systems on Royal Australian Air Force Hawk aircraft. The program includes a four-year, $9 million contract, with a series of five-year follow-on options worth $29 million.
–– ARINC Engineering Services, Annapolis, Md., received a $485,000 task order to provide engineering, training and maintenance support in Southwest Asia for the Air Force’s Transportable Radar Approach Control systems used for air traffic control.
–– InterSense signed a contract with L-3 Communications Link Simulation and Training division to supply five additional suites of its IS-900 inertial-acoustic helmet tracking system to support the U.S. Army’s Aviation Combined Arms Tactical Trainer program. Financial terms of the contract were not disclosed.
–– BCF Designs Ltd. of the United Kingdom said it signed a contract with the U.S. Navy, giving the company responsibility for supporting fuel system test sets for 11 fixed wing and rotary platforms.
–– Meggitt said its wholly owned subsidiary, Meggitt Avionics, was selected by Boeing to supply the standby flight display system for the Block III AH-64D Apache Longbow.
–– BVR Systems, Rosh Ha’Ayin, Israel, said it won a $1 million contract for its tactical simulation suite. The initial contract calls for the adaptation, integration and qualification of its Embedded Virtual Avionics product. No further details were disclosed.
–– Astro-Med, West Warwick, R.I., received a multi-year, $6 million contract to furnish cockpit printers for an unnamed aircraft manufacturer.
–– Seoul-based Korean Air extended a flight operational communications contract for three years with ARINC. Financial terms were not disclosed.
–– Vision Systems International, a joint venture between Rockwell Collins and a subsidiary of Elbit Systems, was awarded a contract to supply its Joint Helmet Mounted Cueing System to the Portuguese Air Force for its F-16 Fighting Falcon aircraft. Financial terms were not disclosed.
–– BAE Systems received a $37 million production contract from the U.S. Air Force to provide 41 AN/ALR-56M radar warning receiver systems, which will be used aboard new C-130J aircraft for the Air Force and U.S. Marine Corps.
–– A Lockheed Martin-led team received a $40.4 million contract modification to complete technological upgrades on the A-10 aircraft. The team, which includes Northrop Grumman, BAE Systems and Southwest Research Institute, will complete the A-10C Precision Engagement program’s engineering and manufacturing development phase.
For more detailed information on contracts, visit www.aviationtoday.com.