International Aerospace Discussion

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shiv
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Re: International Aerospace Discussion

Post by shiv »

Lessons Learned The Hard Way For Airbus
This was supposed to be a pivotal year for Airbus. The aircraft manufacturer had planned to ramp up production of the A350 and the new A320neo, delivering the next-generation airliners to eager customers. But the carefully scripted ramp-ups have been blown off course by suppliers, whose late deliveries have left nearly complete airplanes missing everything from engines to bathroom doors. Airbus plans to deliver 50 A350s this year. With seven months to go, it has delivered just nine. Now Airbus is going public with its ire.

At a media briefing in Hamburg, Chief Operating Officer Tom Williams singled out Pratt & Whitney, noting sarcastically that as a result of delays with Pratt’s PW-1100G engines Airbus is building A320neo “gliders.” While Airbus hopes that problem will be resolved soon, the airframer continues to be bedeviled by late deliveries of interior equipment, and CEO Fabrice Bregier says he has had enough.

“I will progressively get rid of delinquent suppliers who are not meeting the standards of our customers,” Bregier says. Airbus suppliers, he complains, are “great at marketing” but “understaffed” when it comes to engineering and execution.


“I was upset [by the issues],” he said. “I was here when we started the A350 program in 2007. We went through tons of difficulties and now we are blocked by poor quality items such as toilet doors that don’t properly shut or a few missing seats.”

Airbus head of programs Didier Evrard conceded in Hamburg this week that the A350 program was “in a big crisis” at the beginning of the year because of serious delays in the supply chain, but he believes that “delivery targets for the year remain absolutely achievable.”

Airbus wants to deliver about 650 aircraft this year. It delivered 177 by the end of April, including 144 A320-family aircraft, 19 A330s, six A350s and eight A380s.


“2016 is the beginning of a very challenging period for us,” Evrard said, referencing the A350 situation as well as the planned production hike on the A320 side. The manufacturer is defining a change program dubbed “ready to operate,” which is targeting improved aircraft readiness at the time of delivery. “We have to put in place the foundations of this program now,” Evrard said. This effort is to be rolled out over the coming years and applied to all commercial programs.

Among the initiatives is the creation of an empowered focal point within Airbus for all customer questions arising in the final phase of production and preparation for delivery.

Planning and analysis of potential hiccups as well as supply chain monitoring are other areas that need urgent improvement. “The cabin supplier issues are particularly difficult because they hit us at the very end,” Evrard says.

Many of the problems that Airbus had to deal with lately were not directly of its own making, but linked to the delayed delivery of Zodiac seats and other cabin components. Zodiac has put in place a recovery program that has raised confidence inside Airbus that the airframer will still be able to reach its target of at least 50 A350 deliveries this year. But industry sources have concerns that other suppliers have been able to hide their own delays behind the much bigger problems at Zodiac, which have been so much in the public focus. As Zodiac gets back on track, others could be facing similar issues, albeit not quite of the same magnitude.

Evrard, too, concedes that other suppliers are having a hard time facing up to their commitments. “We had to announce a couple of weeks of delays to some of our customers,” Evrard says. Among others, Cathay Pacific was affected by these issues, but finally received its first A350 last Saturday. Evrard said the “cabin supplier deficiency was not anticipated” and meant “additional stress.”

Airbus has delivered nine A350s so far this year, compared to three at the same time last year, but most of this year’s work is now left for the remaining seven months of 2016. “We know already that December will be a horrible month,” Bregier says.

Nonetheless, Evrard believes Airbus has a “strong summer plan in place that will enable us to achieve a much higher throughput in the second half of the year.” Among other measures, Airbus has added another Station 20, which is used for cabin outfitting; it has become available as A330 production ramps down.

Airbus has so far delivered 24 A350s since December 2014. In addition to the first Cathay Pacific aircraft, Qatar Airways has received eight units, Vietnam Airlines four, Finnair five and LATAM and Singapore Airlines three each. In addition, 40 A350s are currently in the final assembly process, including all three A350-1000 test aircraft. The stretched version of the aircraft is planned to be delivered to the first operator in the second half of 2017. Its first flight is to take place in September.
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Re: International Aerospace Discussion

Post by Austin »

Su-27 of Russian Knights demo-team has crashed, pilot is killed.((
(in Russian) https://lenta.ru/news/2016/06/09/eremenko/

RIP, Major Sergei Eryomenko.
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Re: International Aerospace Discussion

Post by Kartik »

US Marines recovering boneyard Hornets to plug capability gap
The US Marine Corps (USMC) is having to recover Boeing F/A-18C Hornet combat aircraft from the 'boneyard' at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base (AFB) in Arizona to bridge the delayed introduction into service of the Lockheed Martin F-35B Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter (JSF), a Boeing official said on 10 June.

Speaking at Boeing's Global Sustainment and Support (GS&S) site at Cecil Field in northern Florida, Bill Maxwell, senior manager F/A-18 operations, said that the USMC has contracted the company to recover 30 legacy Hornets from the 309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group (AMARG) facility at Davis-Monthan AFB to cover a projected shortfall in numbers and capability as the service transitions over to the JSF.

"The USMC wants 30 Hornet aircraft - two full squadrons - recovered from the boneyard and 'reconstituted' for fleet service. These aircraft were never meant to fly again, but Boeing is bringing them to Cecil Field and extending their airframe lives from 6,000 hours to 8,000 hours, replacing all the old avionics with the latest systems, and returning them to the marines," Maxwell said.

While Maxwell declined to be drawn on specific enhancements included in the F/A-18C+, as the reconstituted aircraft are designated, it has previously been reported by IHS Jane's that it includes integrating the Link 16 datalink; fitting colour screens in the cockpit and navigation upgrades with a moving map display; the incorporation of new Naval Aircrew Common Ejector Seats; and integrating the Joint Helmet-Mounted Cueing System.

Boeing has to date delivered two F/A-18C+ aircraft, and is working on four more at Cecil Field. A further five are set to arrive at the facility before September, with the remaining 19 set to arrive later on an undisclosed schedule. Maxwell noted that it takes about one-and-a-half years for the refurbishment work to take place, with particular attention being paid to those structural components that are subjected to the most stress during operations, such as the longerons.
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Re: International Aerospace Discussion

Post by brar_w »

Prolonged deployments, surges and sustained high utilization rates coupled with a delayed induction plan for the replacement will do that to ya. You can't essentially rotate units half-way across the world and adhere to peacetime utilization models. The Navy will learn that too later in the next decade unless they buy a few dozen extra Super Hornets to compensate. They are in a similar boat with worn out F/A-18's that have had multiple deployment cycles (deployed cycles are much more severe) but have so far diverted the need to the young F/A-18E/F fleet to compensate. That SH Fleet will need some major overhauls starting around 2025 and that will choke their depots, much the same way the Marine's depots are choked by the Hornet. Two ways have been identified to remedy that. Either increase depot end-strength, or simply buy more Rhinos so that the existing backlog is compensated for by having fresh jets rotate as worn out ones await their SLEP's and overhauls. The Politicos are unlikely to increase end-strength since it has long term ramifications (as a comparison the USAF is short of 30,000 airmen) so its a few dozen stop gap Super Hornets since it serves two purposes in that it maintains reasonable readiness int he 2020's and ensures jobs in St. Louis and gives the Navy a viable, low risk production line while the F-35C full rate acquisition in around 2022.

US Political gridlock has ensured that the result is a 'hollow military' that would require at least 6-10 years of sustained investment to recover readiness. The only upside is that outside of Army systems, modernization hasn't taken a very big hit over the last 6 years of sequestration. They have moved stuff to the right but most of the critical stuff has been protected - naturally at the expense of immediate and even short term readiness.
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Re: International Aerospace Discussion

Post by NRao »

DR works. :)


USMC!!!! For you.
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Re: International Aerospace Discussion

Post by brar_w »

General Atomics Predator-C fitted with the Multispectral MS-177 sensor:

Image
SAN DIEGO – 13 June 2016 – General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA‑ASI), a leading manufacturer of Remotely Piloted Aircraft (RPA) systems, radars, and electro-optic and related mission systems solutions, today announced the successful flight tests of Predator® C Avenger®, equipped with a MS-177 Electro-optical/Infrared (EO/IR) sensor manufactured by UTC Aerospace Systems.

MS-177, an advanced sensor in UTC's SYERS family of sensors, is a key component that supports GA-ASI's effort to equip Avenger with a long-range imaging capability. MS-177 is more technically advanced than the SYERS 2 flying on U-2 aircraft and also is significantly more affordable to manufacture. The sensor is a 7-band multi-spectral system that can be upgraded to a 10-band system to enhance target detection for maritime applications.

"Avenger and MS-177 deliver a game-changing capability that dramatically alters the Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance [ISR] landscape," said Linden Blue, CEO, GA-ASI. "A MS-177-equipped Avenger provides a strategic ISR capability at a fraction of the cost of other ISR collecting platforms, offering high-resolution imagery from significant standoff ranges, thereby expanding the situational awareness of the warfighter greatly."

During government-funded testing, Avenger demonstrated its ability to collect high-resolution imagery of land-based and littoral objects with the MS-177 sensor at altitudes above 37,000 feet Mean Sea Level (MSL). A total of seven test flights occurred between January and February 2016 at Naval Air Weapons Station, China Lake, Calif.

GA-ASI plans to begin flight testing of an Improved Avenger in October 2016, which will further enhance the operational capabilities of the MS-177. With an increased wingspan of 76 feet, Improved Avenger will extend the aircraft's already impressive endurance from 15 hours to 20 hours, thus increasing the utility of MS-177 over a longer period of time. Improved Avenger will provide an optimal balance of long loiter ISR and precision-strike capability, supporting a wide array of sensors and weapons payloads to perform high-speed, long-endurance, multi-mission ISR and ground support missions.

High-resolution photos of Avenger are available to qualified media outlets from the GA-ASI media contact listed below.
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Re: International Aerospace Discussion

Post by NRao »

Habits!

Why China wants U.S. military jet engines
China appears to be going to great lengths to get its hands on high-tech U.S. jet engines to beef up its military capabilities.

On Thursday, a woman named Wenxia Man was convicted in a Florida court of conspiring to evade U.S. export laws by illegally acquiring and sending fighter jet engines and drones to China, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

Prosecutors said Man was working with an associate in China to buy and export engines made by Pratt & Whitney and General Electric (GE), which are found in a range of top U.S. military aircraft, including the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, the F-22 and the F-16 fighter jets. She was also found to have tried to export a General Atomics drone, and technical data for the different hardware items.

..........

The Department of Justice statement didn't provide details on Man's background. The Sun Sentinel in Florida reported that she was born in China but is a naturalized U.S. citizen. She will be sentenced in August and could spend up to 20 years in jail.

..........

In March, a Chinese man pleaded guilty to cyber spying on Boeing and other U.S. firms by hacking into their networks to pilfer sensitive information to send to China.
Can civies buy those engines?
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Re: International Aerospace Discussion

Post by TSJones »

you have to create a front organization.......
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Re: International Aerospace Discussion

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SaiK
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Re: International Aerospace Discussion

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Singha
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Re: International Aerospace Discussion

Post by Singha »

message being sent from Guam

Image
Image
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Re: International Aerospace Discussion

Post by Singha »

note dharmendra, sunny deol and akshay kumar together above.
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Re: International Aerospace Discussion

Post by shiv »

Sunny Deol also has water-pump handle ready..
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Re: International Aerospace Discussion

Post by TSJones »

Russia Begins To Reduce ISS Participation

http://nasawatch.com/archives/2016/08/r ... ins-t.html

"Russia's state space corporation Roscosmos plans to reduce Russia's crew at the International Space Station (ISS) from three to two cosmonauts, the Izvestia newspaper writes on Thursday, citing Roscosmos manned programs director Sergei Krikalev. "Plans to reduce the crew stem from the fact that less cargo ships are sent to the ISS and from the necessity to boost the efficiency of the program," the newspaper quotes Krikalev. Apart from that, it will make it possible to lower expenses on the space station's maintenance."
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Re: International Aerospace Discussion

Post by Lisa »

NRao wrote:Habits!

Why China wants U.S. military jet engines
China appears to be going to great lengths to get its hands on high-tech U.S. jet engines to beef up its military capabilities.

On Thursday, a woman named Wenxia Man was convicted in a Florida court of conspiring to evade U.S. export laws by illegally acquiring and sending fighter jet engines and drones to China, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

Prosecutors said Man was working with an associate in China to buy and export engines made by Pratt & Whitney and General Electric (GE), which are found in a range of top U.S. military aircraft, including the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, the F-22 and the F-16 fighter jets. She was also found to have tried to export a General Atomics drone, and technical data for the different hardware items.

..........

The Department of Justice statement didn't provide details on Man's background. The Sun Sentinel in Florida reported that she was born in China but is a naturalized U.S. citizen. She will be sentenced in August and could spend up to 20 years in jail.

..........

In March, a Chinese man pleaded guilty to cyber spying on Boeing and other U.S. firms by hacking into their networks to pilfer sensitive information to send to China.
Can civies buy those engines?
Strangely enough, I do remember an incident when one did, ie,

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_Mon ... utomobile)

"The most famous "Green Monster" was powered by an ex-F-104 Starfighter General Electric J79 jet engine, producing 17,500 lbf (78 kN) static thrust with four-stage afterburner, which Arfons purchased from a scrap dealer for $600 and rebuilt himself, over the objections of General Electric and the government, and despite all manuals for the engine being classified top secret.

The engine had been scrapped because of damage caused by ingesting a bolt. Art removed 60 blades out of approximately 1000 in the engine, removing broken blades and ones at 180 degrees, or the pair at +/-120 degrees to maintain balance. He tested it by tying it to trees in his garden, a procedure which drew complaints from his neighbors."
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Re: International Aerospace Discussion

Post by TSJones »

there are other guys who have used military jet engines to break the land speed and water boating speed world records.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nloF0eF-zFs

also it is quite common for military jet engines to ingest foreign objects. everything from birds and humans to wrenches and landing gear safety pins. I've seen it happen.
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Re: International Aerospace Discussion

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NRao
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Re: International Aerospace Discussion

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Singha
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Re: International Aerospace Discussion

Post by Singha »

China has now merged all its engine makers, infused additional funds and created a unified national engine shop for both military and commercial engines.

they also took 1st delivery of the supersonic LIFT plane under work for a while.
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Re: International Aerospace Discussion

Post by dhiraj »

http://www.cnbc.com/2016/09/01/spacex-r ... aunch.html

SpaceX rocket explodes at Cape Canaveral hours before launch
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Re: International Aerospace Discussion

Post by dhiraj »



SpaceX - Static Fire Anomaly - AMOS-6 - 09-01-2016
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Re: International Aerospace Discussion

Post by Neela »

Singha wrote:China has now merged all its engine makers, infused additional funds and created a unified national engine shop for both military and commercial engines.

they also took 1st delivery of the supersonic LIFT plane under work for a while.
$7.5 billion pumped in, 100000 employees.
20 years of growth, investment in education, infrastructure, mainland peace and large investments keeping the future in mind WILL PAY OFF!
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Re: International Aerospace Discussion

Post by NRao »

Japanese airline to replace 100 engines on its 787 Dreamliners

Engines for you:
ANA says it will replace the engines on its fleet of Boeing 787s after a series of engine failures caused by corrosion and fatigue cracking of turbine blades.

The Japanese airline plans to swap out all 100 Rolls-Royce engines currently used on its 50 Dreamliners. The process could take as long as three years, according to spokesman Yoichi Uchida.
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Re: International Aerospace Discussion

Post by Bheeshma »

Wow that is some Alacantra level explosion. Thankfully no loss of life. No news if it was a reclaimed first stage or new one they were using but the explosion happened in second stage not the first one.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M5BYDVVgnVc
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Re: International Aerospace Discussion

Post by malushahi »

happened in the first stage during static test fire.
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Re: International Aerospace Discussion

Post by Prem »

Some real cool pictures of Israeli F16s
http://www.cnet.com/pictures/up-close-w ... ACQf1069b9
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Re: International Aerospace Discussion

Post by shiv »

So what's up with Elon Musk and and his rocket?
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Re: International Aerospace Discussion

Post by dhiraj »

Seems one more : this time from China

http://spaceflightnow.com/2016/09/02/ch ... t-failure/

Chinese officials silent after Long March rocket failure
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Re: International Aerospace Discussion

Post by shiv »

dhiraj wrote: Chinese officials silent after Long March rocket failure
Typical. They release only bositive news that is designed to make adversaries like Indians shit in their pants. And we behave exactly that way.

One tight slap in 1962 and 7 decades of fear. Talk about value for money...
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Re: International Aerospace Discussion

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Re: International Aerospace Discussion

Post by TSJones »

some gumbahs are scratching their heads about SpaceX doing a wet dress rehearsal with the pay load attached.

ULA, Space X's main competitor for government business, does not do wet dress rehearsals unless the time constraints mandate it such NASA's Osiris launch. and that was because the juxtaposition of the planets for deep space travel mandated it,

Space X was just launching an earth orbit comm sat. Shouldn't have been a risk taking manuever. Other than Space X has a crowded backlog scheduled. they gambled and they lost. US Air Farce wants to participate in the investigation of the explosaion, and Space X wants the Air Farce's business badly, Champagne is flowing freely at ULA.

and the payload was Israeli not US Air Farce.
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Re: International Aerospace Discussion

Post by TSJones »

Why Boeing's Dreamliner pitch to Pakistan is a big win for both jetmaker, airline

http://finance.yahoo.com/m/21e06546-68d ... liner.html

whut ever...........
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Re: International Aerospace Discussion

Post by NRao »

AirAsia flight bound for Malaysia landed in Melbourne after pilot error

A flight to Malaysia from Sydney accidentally flew 6,000 kilometers (3,728 miles) in the opposite direction to Melbourne because its pilot entered the wrong coordinates, an Australian aviation investigation report has found.

Carrying 212 passengers, the AirAsia flight bound for Kuala Lumpur on March 10, 2015, was incorrectly guided to Melbourne after the pilot manually entered the wrong coordinates into the flight's onboard navigation systems.

It was the first of several errors the flight crew made that day, according to the report (PDF) the Australian Transport Safety Bureau published Wednesday.

Faulty earmuffs prompted the captain and the first officer to swap their preflight duties. The captain usually conducts an external inspection, while the first officer remains in the cockpit to complete preparation procedures.

When manually entering the coordinates of the plane's position, the pilot incorrectly entered the longitude from a sign outside the cockpit window as 01519.8 east (15 degrees 19.8 minutes east) instead of 15109.8 east (151 degrees 9.8 minutes east), the report said.

"This resulted in a positional error in excess of 11,000 kilometers (6,835 miles), which adversely affected the aircraft's navigation systems and some alerting systems," the report said.

The crew had "a number of opportunities to identify and correct the error," the report said, but didn't notice the problem until after the plane became airborne and started tracking in the wrong direction. Several message alerts and sounds suggested the error before takeoff, but the crew ignored them, according to the report.

Once the captain and the first officer realized the mistake, they tried to fix the system. But it was too late.

"Attempts to troubleshoot and rectify the problem resulted in further degradation of the navigation system, as well as to the aircraft's flight guidance and flight control system," the report said.

As systems failed further, the crew asked to return to Sydney and conduct a landing without the use of navigation systems. However, weather conditions in Sydney forced the plane to land in Melbourne instead.

The plane spent three hours on the ground in Melbourne before eventually departing for the Malaysian capital.

In a statement obtained by CNN, AirAsia X said all aircraft have been equipped with upgraded flight management systems since the incident.
"AirAsia X would like to stress that we have in place robust management systems to monitor and prevent similar incidents from reoccurring," a representative said.

"We also wish to reiterate that we have regularly passed safety and security audits conducted by various international regulators. .. We remain committed to ensuring our compliance to all safety and security regulations."
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Re: International Aerospace Discussion

Post by SaiK »

http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/index.html#public

live now.

why that smoke near the 2S?

--ps

on course to asteroid Bennu in 15 min from now.. and returning back with samples
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Re: International Aerospace Discussion

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ANALYSIS: AFRL prepares to unveil 20-year propulsion vision
Since the arrival of the high-bypass turbofan almost 50 years ago, engineers have made huge strides in jet engine efficiency without altering the basic architecture. Two air flows of constant volume either bypass or enter a core section. The core combusts a mixture of compressed air and fuel to generate thermal energy, which is then converted to supply some of the aircraft’s thrust and most of the power.

For combat aircraft in the mid-2030s, that basic architecture is not going to work, according to the US Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL). Plans to insert laser weapons into future fighters and armed drones will overwhelm power and thermal management capacity. Ever-growing range and endurance standards require another step change in fuel efficiency for thrust, while advances in ground-based air defences will only increase demand for instant acceleration and nimble manoeuvring.

“In some ways, you’re going to ask the engine to do things they haven’t been asked to do before,” says Chuck Cross, the AFRL’s chief of the Turbine Engine Division.

In the AFRL’s vision, the architecture of the jet engine for military aircraft will change dramatically over the next two decades. Bypass ratios will ebb and flow depending on mission need. Key elements of the compressor will change shape in mid-flight, reshaping the air flow as it is squeezed en route to the combustor. Electrical power could be extracted from low-pressure and high-pressure compressor sections, feeding energy to power-hungry lasers and advanced sensors. The heat created by that power will be stored in newly-created systems, such as electrical accumulators or wax-based heat exchangers.

This re-imagining of the aircraft propulsion system will require a series of innovations extending well beyond the jet engine itself. That is why Cross will appear on 12 September at the Turbine Engine Technology Symposium in Dayton, Ohio, to unveil a new 20-year plan to drive several key advances in jet engine technology.

In a scheduled presentation to the biannual gathering of engine industry officials, Cross will explain the AFRL’s current thinking on the Advanced Turbine Technology for Affordable Mission Capability (ATTAM), the third in a 29-year-old series of engine development umbrella projects.

The first such initiative — Integrated High Performance Turbine Engine Technology (IHPTET) — lasted from 1987 to 2005, yielding a step change in thrust and power performance with the Pratt & Whitney F119 and F135 fighter engines. A second programme — Versatile Affordable Advanced Turbine Engines (VAATE) — sought to deliver another step-change in power, while adding a focus on driving down development and maintenance costs.

The US military’s VAATE-sponsored initiatives are scheduled to continue through 2019, but AFRL has already sketched the broad outlines for the ATTAM programme that will replace it. Reflecting the broad nature and scope of innovations required to achieve goals, ATTAM will be inter-connected with the AFRL’s aircraft based efforts, including projects called Energy Optimised Aircraft and the Megawatt Tactical Aircraft Initiative, Cross says.

Several VAATE initiatives set the stage for further advances that will be pursued under ATTAM. For example, the AFRL has funded GE Aviation and Pratt & Whitney to demonstrate separate prototypes of a jet engine with an adaptable bypass flow. These adaptive engine technology demonstrators (AETDs) will lead to a follow-on competition to develop a final prototype of an engine that can be inserted into the Lockheed Martin F-35A after 2021, allowing that short-ranged fighter a range boost of up to 25%.

Another programme that will transition from the VAATE initiative is a follow-on from the highly efficient embedded turbine engine (HEETE). Originally conceived for mobility aircraft, the advanced compressor developed under the re-named ADAPT programme will feature variable stator vanes inside the compressor, shifting the direction of the airflow as the AETD technology adjusts the amount of bypass flow. Additionally, future engine cores could engage another stage of compression in certain flight modes.

As the engines become more efficient, the materials used inside the core must be adapted to endure hotter temperatures, Cross says. So temperature-resistant metallics and ceramic matrix composites now used behind the combustor could migrate to the last stages of the high-pressure compressor, he says.

For ATTAM, however, the key is to integrate the aircraft’s propulsion system and onboard power systems.

“The big challenge we see in the future is how do I really design and procure systems that take into account all these different variables, and it may not mean buying the best engine - the most optimised cycle. You may sub-optimise one part for the greater system,” Cross says. “As we work closer with the power and energy community, we start to really investigate those give and takes.”
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Re: International Aerospace Discussion

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Boeing and Saab unveiled their new trainer for USAF's T-38 replacement program. They've built (using company funds) two production standard aircraft, with intentions to fully fit them with proposed mission systems and avionics in order to better compete with derivatives of proven designs like the KAI T-50, and the Leonardo M-346. They emphasize that these aren't prototypes which most likely means they are good to transition (if selected) in supporting the EMD, test and evaluation program which requires 7 aircraft.

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Re: International Aerospace Discussion

Post by Manish_P »

Good to see that brar_w is back.. and he doesn't dissapoint :)
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Re: International Aerospace Discussion

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Re: International Aerospace Discussion

Post by brar_w »

Next-gen US military helicopters prepare for 2017 flights
The US Army's Joint Multirole-Technology Demonstrator (JMR-TD)/Future Vertical Lift (FVL) effort is moving towards first flights in 2017, but meanwhile is focused on crucial system architecture demonstrations.

Dan Bailey, the army's programme director for JMR/FVL, said the effort is demonstrating the platform and, perhaps more importantly, its mission system architecture.

US Army and US Navy planners hope to eventually buy replace a variety of aircraft via FVL. Among other initial parameters, the government is seeking a platform to carry 4 crew and 12 or more troops, self-deploy out to 2,100 n miles, and fly at up to 230 kt or more.

"We're into the second of our mission system architecture demonstrations," Bailey said during 23 September comments at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, DC.

Subsystem technology is particularly important, Bailey said, because he expects an FVL to be flying for many years in many environments, and therefore requiring easy upgrades. For example, he noted aircraft such as the Boeing AH-64 Apache has been flying for decades and will continue for many more, but newly integrated subsystems have kept the platform viable. Apaches were designed in the 1970s and first delivered to the US Army in 1984.
The JMR-TD programme's focus over the next year is on an architecture implementation process demonstration (AIPD), and six contractors are working on that to validate interoperability between the various pieces, Ryan Bunge, Rockwell Collins' manager for Special Operations, Air Force, and Advanced Rotary-Wing Programs, said during the event.

The platforms themselves are to begin flying prototypes late in 2017, and these will undergo 150-200 hours of flight time - and downtime to review data - that take it through 2019, Bailey said. Those flights are likely to uncover engineering issues that will have to be worked out during a development phase.

Bell Helicopter and Sikorsky were awarded contracts to support the cost of building demonstrator aircraft for JMR-TD, which is a precursor effort to FVL. For JMR-TD, Bell is working with its V-280 Valor tiltrotor aircraft and Sikorsky teamed with Boeing to develop the SB>1 Defiant.

Vince Tobin, Bell Helicopter's vice-president for Advanced Tiltrotor Systems, said the Valor prototype is 65% built, and the company is still working on the engines and gearboxes, which it hopes to fit into the nacelles in November. He said the first flight would happen "not later than September 2017".Pat Donnelly, Boeing's director of Future Vertical Lift, said the company is "readying our fuselage for structural verification testing for assembly by the end of the year", and it would fly an SB>1 by the end of next year.

Meanwhile, Bailey said he was not sure what engine might power an FVL, and for now it is up to the contractor teams to provide whichever engine system they believe meets requirements.

Bell is using the General Electric T64 engine for the V-280, and Boeing is using the Honeywell T55 for the SB>1 Defiant.

Bailey said his programme office is involved in the army's Improved Turbine Engine Program (ITEP) from a science and technology perspective, but not necessarily expecting to use the engines in an FVL.

ITEP, a top army aviation priority that is to be fielded before FVL, is meant to keep Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk and Boeing AH-64E Apache Guardian helicopters relevant for decades longer. The Pentagon awarded a combined USD256 million to Advanced Turbine Engine Company (ATEC) - a joint venture between Honeywell and Pratt & Whitney (P&W) - and General Electric to move ITEP through a preliminary design review phase.Interestingly, US Marine Corps (USMC) officials have suggested they would like FVL to lead to an optionally manned aircraft. The USMC for several years used the remotely piloted Lockheed Martin K-MAX unmanned helicopter (which can be optionally manned) for cargo operations in Afghanistan.



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More on the ITEP Engine program mentioned above from Aviation Week -

U.S. Army Outlines Options For Future Vertical Lift Engine
Bailey outlined the options for FVL Medium’s engine, which could draw on several ongoing Army efforts to develop technology for a next-generation power plant. Under the Improved Turbine Engine Program (ITEP), which aims to develop a more powerful, reliable and lower fuel-burn engine for existing AH-64s and UH-60s, the Army recently awarded preliminary design review contracts collectively worth more than $250 million to GE and a Honeywell/Pratt & Whitney team.

The ITEP engines, which will begin entering service in 2024, call for 25% lower fuel burn, 50% greater power and 20% longer design life than the GE T700 that currently powers both helicopters. The engine is also required to perform well in hot/high conditions. However, as the ITEP engines are only rated at 3,000 shp, there has been some debate over the past few years over whether they will be the right fit for the first, medium-lift FVL. Most observers—including, apparently, the two teams participating in JMR-TD —estimate FVL Medium will need at least 5,000 shp.

Right now, the Army is focused on getting ITEP online for legacy platforms, Bailey said. Still, he left the door open to using an improved ITEP for FVL across the planned family.

FVL also could draw on the Army’s Future Affordable Turbine Engine (FATE) technology demonstration program, which is aimed at much larger, next-generation engines in the 5,000 to 10,000 shp class, Bailey said. GE’s first engine in the FATE development demo program, which aims for a 35% reduction in fuel consumption and 80% better power-to-weight ratio compared with today’s engines, will go to test this September.

The Army could use technology from the FATE demonstrator to build a new engine, or infuse FATE technologies back into an existing engine for FVL, Bailey said.

Bailey also raised the possibility of building a new centerline engine for the FVL family.

Both the Army and industry are confident that the FVL program of record will come complete with an engine that will provide the capabilities and performance the Army is looking for.

“We would not have invested what we have invested in the tech demonstrator to lead to FVL without making sure that we are talking extensively with our engine manufacturing partners to make sure there will be an engine, whether or not there is a formal program,” said Vince Tobin, Bell’s vice president for advanced tiltrotor systems.
brar_w
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Re: International Aerospace Discussion

Post by brar_w »

Lockheed's TPY-X Gallium Nitride long range radar (L-Band). Currently in final stages of internal testing.

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