Aero Gazette

 Madrid (Spain) March 4 - The first in-flight wet contact of the EADS MTA Air Refuelling Boom System (ARBS) has successfully been performed using an F-16 aircraft.

This advanced boom system, installed on an Airbus A310 used as a flight test bed, performed the wet contact with the receiver aircraft following the planned procedure, at an altitude of 27000 feet. The contact represented how the ARBS will be used during a typical air-to air refuelling mission. This is the 73rd test flight for the boom system totaling more than 200 flight hours.

Along the Flight Test Program the systems have been validated, the boom aerodynamic and the Flight By Wire control system have demonstrated outstanding handling qualities through the whole envelope, the dry contacts had been cleared in flight. After complete ground test refueling operations today fuel transferences in-flight have been made using F-16s from the Portuguese Air Force. This has been the last milestone in the development of the EADS MTA Boom

The ARBS has been chosen by four of the five customers for the A330 MRTT (Multi Role Tanker Transport) and the first aircraft equipped with the ARBS will be delivered to the Royal Australian Air Force early next year. The air forces of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have chosen the A330 MRTT equipped with the ARBS and the same system has been proposed on the KC-30. This is the variant of the A330 MRTT offered by Northrop Grumman, US partner of EADS that has just won the competition to supply 179 tankers to the USAF.

“This is another step forward in our Air Refuelling Boom System programme. It shows our commitment toward the most demanding customers to provide them with the most advanced air-to-air refuelling technologies and systems in the market”, said Carlos Suarez, Head of EADS Military Transport Aircraft Division.

The boom is 17 meters long at full extension and allows the transfer of 2270 litre/minute (1200 US gal/min) of fuel. The fly-by-wire boom is controlled remotely from a console in the cockpit, where an operator uses an advanced technology 3 dimensional visual system. This gives safer operation and a reduced workload for the boom operator, and enables the tanker crew to be located together.

EADS is a global leader in aerospace, defence and related services. In 2006, EADS generated revenues of € 39.4 billion and employed a workforce of about 116,000. The Group includes the aircraft manufacturer Airbus, the world’s largest helicopter supplier Eurocopter and EADS Astrium, the European leader in space programmes from Ariane to Galileo. Its Defence & Security Division is a provider of comprehensive systems solutions and makes EADS the major partner in the Eurofighter consortium as well as a stakeholder in the missile systems provider MBDA. EADS also develops the A400M through its Military Transport Aircraft Division.

(C) EADS

Houston (United States) February 25 - A large number of exhibitors in the Covention Center
(WAPA) - The “Heli-Expo”, the world’ s largest helicopter exhibition, opened yesterday at the Convention Center of Houston, Texas, where there are on spot hundred of exhibitors with all kind of devices used in the helicopter world.

As happened in the past years, also this edition of “Heli-Expo” sees AVIONEWS presents on the scene, to bring its reporters into the exhibition.

Many newness have been unveiled, starting from the the new Sikorsky’s hybrid X-2 to the new Eurocopter EC-175, showed in a high-effect presentation.

Missing is the new turbine powered Frank Robinson R-66, the first helicopter of this manufacturer not equipped with a piston-type engine.

(C) Avionews

Link: Heli-Expo

EGLIN AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. (AP) — Air Force investigators were trying to determine the cause of an apparent collision of two fighter jets that killed one pilot during a training exercise.
The single-seat F-15C Eagles crashed Wednesday into the Gulf of Mexico, said Col. Todd Harmer, commander of the 33rd Fighter Wing, 58th Fighter Squadron. The pilots had ejected and were rescued, but one died later.
The base has suffered a “great loss,” Harmer said in an e-mailed statement. “We will continue to do everything we can to assist our families and airmen at this tragic time.”
The surviving pilot was in good condition. The names of the pilots were not released.
The cause of the collision about 35 miles south of Tyndall Air Force Base in the Florida Panhandle was not immediately known, Harmer said. Weather in the area was clear.
The training exercise emphasized “basic maneuvers and tactics,” he said.
A Coast Guard rescue jet located one pilot and radioed the location to a fishing vessel, which picked him up, said Coast Guard Petty Officer James Harless. A Coast Guard helicopter then hoisted the pilot off the vessel.
That pilot told rescuers he saw the other pilot eject but lost him in the clouds, Harless said. He told them the approximate location for the second pilot, who was found by a Coast Guard helicopter.
Both pilots had been with the 33rd Fighter Wing “for quite some time,” Harmer said.
No debris from the jets has been found.
The Air Force grounded all of its F-15s — nearly 700 — after the catastrophic failure of an F-15C during a routine training flight in Missouri in November. The pilot safely ejected.
Most were back in service by January, but others were grounded indefinitely after defects were found.
The Air Force began using the F-15C in 1979. The planes, built by McDonnell Douglas Corp., were deployed to the Persian Gulf in 1991 in support of Operation Desert Storm and have since been used in Iraq, Turkey and Bosnia.
The planes can fly as high as 65,000 feet, and each costs about $30 million, according to the Air Force.

Link: Video

(C) Associated Press

Washington (United States) February 21 - Riki Ellison, President of the Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance (http://www.missiledefenseadvocacy.org) let the worldwide membership of the Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance know that our Navy’s Aegis missile defense system was successful in its fist try with a SM-3 in the shoot down of the failing US 193 satellite. Extracts of his comments follow:

    “Global protection of human life from Space was proven, demonstrated and executed tonight by the use of our country’s missile defense technology and her current deployed missile defense systems — the Aegis USS Lake Erie (CG 70). This historic intercept of a toxic satellite falling from space, harmful to human life around the world has given mankind its first ever reliable deployed capability to protect life from objects falling from
space.”

    “The investment, the political will, the engineering ingenuity, the determination of our public, our Congress, our military and our President to develop and deploy a system that was created by American Industry and the military, proven through vigorous testing, deployed on sea and land-based platforms and adaptable to provide an accurate pin point
precision defense of hitting an object in space is truly a remarkable historic feat.”

    “The factual reality of using deployed missile defenses to destroy a falling satellite or a ballistic missile or even a meteor from space that would risk human life is an achievement for mankind.”

    “Missile Defense will continue to become more and more universal throughout the world and it will become more reliable and effective, so as to one day in the near future, we as a world can eliminate and mitigate risk from any and all harmful objects coming from space that would threaten mankind.”

    “The intercept of the Satellite US 193 occurred at 10:26 pm EST on Wednesday in the Pacific Ocean off of Hawaii. A Standard Missile-3 (SM-3) was fired a few minutes earlier off the USS Lake Erie using information fed by the ship’s on board Aegis radar tracking and discrimination sensor to guide the missile close to the falling satellite where the missile engaged its heat seeking sensor thereby enabling a direct perpendicular hit on the
5,000 lb satellite with a kinetic energy impact of 22,000 mph. The satellite was destroyed at 10:26 pm EST. The majority of the small pieces of the satellite will burn up in the atmosphere upon reentry whereby the bigger pieces will fall harmlessly into the Pacific Ocean in the first 48 hours, and the remaining pieces will re-enter the atmosphere over the next month.”

    “The Sea Based X band radar was deployed in the area to support independently the discrimination and tracking of the destroyed Satellite.
Other US military sensors and satellites were deployed in the area and were also used for evaluation of the intercept.” “The Aegis Destroyer USS Decatur (DDG-73) accompanied the USS Lake Erie in this mission as a redundant back up with a capable SM-3 missile of its own as well as a duplicate Aegis sensor and radar.” Ellison closed his remarks by saying:
“We as a nation have made the world a safer place for our generation and generations to come.”

(C) MDAA

Kennedy Space Center, Florida February 20 - Space shuttle Atlantis soared through a thin layer of clouds over NASA’s Kennedy Space Center before touching its wheels to the runway Wednesday to end a flawless STS-122 mission.

“This was just an unbelievably super mission for us,” said Bill Gerstenmaier, NASA’s associate administrator for space operations. “I can’t think of a better way to start this year out than with this great flight.”

Commander Steve Frick, Pilot Alan Poindexter and Mission Specialists Leland Melvin, Rex Walheim, Stanley Love, Dan Tani and European Space Agency astronaut Hans Schlegel flew aboard Atlantis on the way back to Earth.

Although STS-122 lasted about 13 days, Tani had been living in space and aboard the International Space Station for 120 days by the time Atlantis landed. European Space Agency astronaut Leopold Eyharts launched aboard Atlantis and took Tani’s place on the station.

“It’s great for the 122 crew to be back on the ground at Kennedy Space Center,” Frick said shortly after the 9:07 a.m. landing. “Everything worked just great and perfectly.”

The mission added the European-built Columbus laboratory to the International Space Station. The lab will host experiments from throughout Europe’s scientific community and will be an important part of the orbiting research complex. NASA’s own Destiny laboratory was already in orbit as part of the ISS. A Japanese laboratory complex will complete a cutting-edge trio of research bases that will host astronauts and experiments at the station.

Space shuttle Endeavour is already perched on its launch pad at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center to launch the first module for the Japanese lab. It is to launch March 11.

“It feels really good to have mission back-to-back again,” said Mike Leinbach, launch director at Kennedy. “The team is really pumped to get going and get ready for their next flight.”

The seven astronauts will stay at the launch site overnight before flying back to Houston.

(C) NASA

Philadelphia (United States) February 20 - AgustaWestland is pleased to announce the Grand Opening of the new AW139 medium twin helicopter assembly line in Philadelphia (PA) during an event held today. The event underlines AgustaWestland’s growing presence in the US and the expansion of its Philadelphia facility which in addition to the AW139 assembly is also responsible for AW119 Ke production and supporting the expanding fleet of AgustaWestland helicopters in North and South America. The company broke ground on this new 110,000 ft2 (10,000 m2) facility in November 2005 and just over one year later in December 2006 the first AW139 assembled in Philadelphia was delivered to its customer.

This second AW139 assembly line is enabling AgustaWestland to meet the growing demand for the AW139 medium twin turbine helicopter around the world but with particular focus on the expanding Americas’ markets. Just over one year since production started this AW139 assembly line is about to reach full scale production and will be able to produce 30 helicopters per year. By early 2008 employment at the Philadelphia facility had grown to approximately 500 people. Giuseppe Orsi, CEO, AgustaWestland said ”The decision to expand this facility and establish the second AW139 assembly line in Philadelphia highlights our growing presence in the United States and our commitment to expand and invest in the United States. The AW139 is proving to be the right solution for more and more missions worldwide including offshore transport, VIP transport, EMS, SAR, law enforcement and recently for Homeland Security here in the United States.”

The Philadelphia facility has steadily expanded to become AgustaWestland’s third main helicopter final assembly location and continues to be the main product support centre for customers throughout the Americas. Customer support is provided 24 hours per day 7 days per week for a fleet of more than 360 helicopters in the Americas. Moreover, the Philadelphia plant is also devoted to both flight and maintenance training activities. AgustaWestland’s presence in Philadelphia dates back to 1980. A 75,000 ft2 (7000 m2) maintenance facility was built in 1986 to support a growing US commercial helicopter fleet. In 2004 the facility underwent major expansion with the relocation of the A119 Koala production line to Philadelphia and today is the sole production location fro the AW119 Ke, the new upgraded version of the A119 Koala. The Philadelphia plant also undertakes the completion and customisation of AW109 Power and Grand light twin helicopters for customers in North and South America.

(C) AgustaWestland

 Singapore February 20 - AgustaWestland is pleased to announce that the Korean Government has signed a contract for two AW139 medium-twin helicopters in maritime patrol configuration for operation by the Korean Coast Guard. The order represents the first AW139 helicopters to be sold into Korea for government applications and both helicopters are scheduled to enter service at the end of 2009. The Korean Coast Guard AW139s will perform Maritime Patrol, SAR and EMS missions and will be equipped with a Forward Looking Infra-Red (FLIR) camera, search/weather radar, rescue hoist, emergency flotation system and a four-axis autopilot with SAR modes.

Speaking after the contract award, Giacomo Saponaro, Senior Vice President International Business Unit, AgustaWestland said “We are delighted the AW139 has been selected by the Korean Government for its maritime patrol helicopter requirement and proud to be able to add the Korean Coast Guard to our growing list of customers. This deal marks the first sale of the AW139 to a government agency in the Republic of Korea and we look forward to building upon this success.” The AW139 is a new generation helicopter setting new standards of safety, comfort and performance in the medium twin engine helicopter market. Designed with inherent multi-role capability and flexibility of operation, the AW139 is capable of carrying up to 15 passengers at high speed, in the most spacious cabin and with the best power reserve of any helicopter in its class. The internal dimensions of the AW139’s roomy unobstructed cabin make it an ideal choice for SAR applications. The flat floor, large cabin doors and unobstructed cabin provide easy and quick access for stretchers and survivors.

With a maximum endurance of over 5 hours and a range in excess of 1000 km, the AW139 can perform long range SAR missions. The new technology Honeywell Primus Epic® fully integrated avionics package, a 4-axis digital AFCS and large flat panel colour displays in the cockpit, reduce pilot workload and allow the crew to concentrate on the patrol and rescue missions. The AW139 has become the benchmark medium-twin helicopter and orders for more than 300 helicopters have been placed by nearly 90 commercial and government customers in over 30 countries to carry out a number of roles including search and rescue, emergency medical services, offshore transport, VIP/corporate transport, law enforcement, homeland security and utility transport.

(C) AgustaWestland

Singapore February 20 - AgustaWestland is pleased to announce that YTL Corporation Berhad of Malaysia has ordered an AW139 medium twin turbine helicopter with an exclusively designed configuration for their VIP and Corporate transport operations. This purchase marks the entrance of the AW139 into the Malaysian VIP helicopter market. Dato’ Mark Yeoh, YTL Group Executive Director said ” The additional cabin space together with the certain key safety features of the AW139 make it an ideal air transporter for our Corporate Executives.” Capt. Revi Chandran, YTL Group Aviation Manager added “In addition the excellent hot and high performance and the extra payload available will give us the flexibility to cater towards more diverse operational requirements.”

YTL, existing and new Malaysian civil customers will benefit from in-country product support through the newly created AgustaWestland Malaysia Sdn Bhd that is completing the setting up of new maintenance and warehousing facilities at Subang Airport, near Kuala Lumpur, to support all AgustaWestland products including the AW139. The VIP version of the AW139 surpasses all other medium twin-engine helicopters in capability, speed, ride comfort and passenger cabin space. The largest baggage compartment in its class, can accommodate a wide range of cargo for business or personal flights. The AW139’s interior materials are selected from the finest available in the world, selected not only to maintain their beauty and value, but to enhance the passenger experience of flying. The AW139 is a new generation medium twin-turbine helicopter setting new standards in the medium twin market. Over 100 AW139 helicopters are now in service worldwide including many performing head of state, VIP and corporate transport duties. The AW139 is also the fastest helicopter in its class with a maximum cruise speed of 167 knots and the only medium twin engine helicopter in production that meets the latest certification standards for safety.

Designed with multi-role capability and flexibility of operation, the AW139 is capable of carrying up to 15 passengers or six litters with two medical attendants or up to four litters and four medical attendants at the highest speed, in the most spacious cabin and with the best power reserve of any other helicopter in its class. The AW139 can be used for a number of applications including executive/VIP transport, EMS/SAR, offshore transport, law enforcement and government roles. More than 80 customers in over 30 countries have ordered more than 300 AW139 helicopters so far. As a major public listed Malaysian company operating since 1955, the YTL Group’s core businesses are ownership and management of regulated utilities and other infrastructural assets, serving 10 million customers in three continents. Its key businesses include utilities, high speed rail, cement manufacturing, construction contracting, property development, technology incubation, hotels and leisure resorts.

(C) AgustaWestland

Komsomolsk-on-Am (Russia) February 20 - As part of the first flight preparation campaign, the Sukhoi Superjet 100 with SaM146 engines installed on its wing has passed the first successful engine run.

The first engine start took place at SCAC’s far-east branch located at Komsomolsk-On-Amur Aircraft Manufacturing Association (KnAAPO).

SaM146 run under the wing of SSJ100 in Komsomolsk followed after a series of power plant and APU testings as well as the checks of the major aircraft systems such as fuel, hydraulics, air conditioning, electrical, avionics and fire-protection. The engine-aircraft systems software interface had been tested at the “Electronic Bird” integration bench at SCAC Design Center in Moscow.

On the eve of the engine-run trials, on February 18, 2008 – SaM146 completed the first part of the test campaign aboard the IL-76 test bench (Gromov Flight Research Institute), having confirmed all expected performance objectives essential for the first flight.

The first successful engine run – is a real milestone in getting the aircraft ready for the first flight.

(C) Sukhoi

Singapore, February 20 - Boeing Australia Limited and AgustaWestland today signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to propose an integrated helicopter aircrew training system to the Australian Defence Force (ADF) for the Air 9000 Phase 7 program.

This collaboration, signed at the 2008 Singapore Airshow, builds on the companies’ successful track record of partnering across a range of helicopter programs such as CH-47 Chinook in Italy and the AH-64 Apache in the United Kingdom.

Boeing Australia Limited President David Withers joined AgustaWestland International Business Unit Senior Vice President Giacomo Saponaro at the signing ceremony.

“AgustaWestland is committed to offering the Australian Defence Force the best integrated training solution to meet its fleet rationalization objectives over time under the Air 9000 program. As the most advanced military light twin helicopter for both basic and advanced training purposes, the high-performance, fully equipped, shippable AW109 LUH covers a large number of land-based as well as sea-based operational applications, so favoring an effective operational conversion training for air crew transitioning to other operational helicopter systems,”Saponaro said.

Withers said this strong alliance will offer the ADF a proven, off-the-shelf integrated training system that significantly enhances its ability to train world-class helicopter pilots and air crew. The ADF is expected to solicit industry proposals in September.

“Boeing Australia Limited has proven performance in delivering in-country training and rotary wing support and has tremendous experience in providing project management, engineering and other support services to the ADF,”said Withers. “Together with AgustaWestland’s rotorcraft design and manufacturing expertise, we offer a highly successful, low-risk solution for the Air 9000 Phase 7 program.”

AgustaWestland, a Finmeccanica company, is one of the largest helicopter companies in the world. The company offers an unrivalled range of helicopters, training and support solutions to satisfy the requirements of civil and military customers. AgustaWestland has its primary operations in Italy, the United Kingdom and the United States of America.

Boeing Australia Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary that reports to Boeing International Support Systems, is a high-technology aerospace company specializing in installation and support of systems for defense and commercial customers.

(C) Boeing