Boeing satt på gjerdet for lenge

At Airbus tok 260 maskiner fra Boeing i forbindelse med American Airlines` megastore bestilling nylig, ga Boeing et sjokk. Dette sammen med A320neo`s voldsomme suksess, fører til at Boeing kaster inn håndkleet, kryper til korset og bekjenner at de vil tilby B737 serien med ny motor. Detaljene vil lanseres i løpet av høsten, men det antas at motoren blir den nye versjonen av CFM-56 serien, nemlig den såkalte Leap-X. En kan uten videre si at presset fra kundene om å bygge en helt ny maskin nå må vike for en 737neo. Eller... har Boeing kapasitet til å utvikle en ny type maskin? Time will show.

Marokkansk C-130 havarert - 78 omkommet

Flyet havarerte sør i landet, antakelig i forbindelse med oppdrag i det okkuperte Vest Sahara. Sjekk http://tinyurl.com/3cy57x9

Nytt fra Oshkosh

Spesialdesignet for NextGen airspace, men sikkert kompatibel med tilsvarende utvikling i Europa.

Avidyne Launches "Plug & Play" Stack, Synthetic Vision Upgrade

Avidyne introduced a full panel-mounted, plug-and-play replacement avionics stack for general aviation aircraft at EAA AirVenture on Monday morning. The stack includes the IFD540 FMS/GPS/ Navigation/ Communication system with touch-screen controls, the AMX240 stereo audio panel with marker beacon, the AXP340 Mode S extended-squitter transponder, and the attitude-based DFC90 digital autopilot—although the autopilot requires you also have an Aspen Evolution PFD or an Avidyne Entegra PFD. The IFD540 is sized to replace the popular Garmin GNS 530 and the AXP340 is a slide-in replacement for the popular KT76A and KT78A transponders. Ease of installation will provide significant cost savings for buyers, the company said. The transponder provides "ADS-B Out" capabilities, which will be required in most U.S. airspace by 2020.

Avidyne also announced that their DFC90 digital flight control system is now available for the Cessna 182, Beechcraft Bonanza and Beechcraft Baron (with the same PFD requirement). Certification for Piper Matrix and Mirage aircraft is expected soon. And the company said synthetic vision will be included in the next upgrade to Entegra Release 9. The upgrade, 9.3, is expected to receive final FAA certification later this year. It will also provide support for three-screen R9 installations and on-board weather radar.

Euro Hawk fløyet fra Edwards AFB til Manching i Tyskland

Northrop Grumman flew the Euro Hawk UAV demonstrator for the German air force (GAF) to Manching airbase near Munich for further development and testing.
The journey from Edwards AFB in California on July 20 took slightly more than 22 hours, four hours longer than originally planned, and was delayed 48 hours by weather and flight-plan difficulties.

The Euro Hawk is a signals-intelligence (Sigint)-only version of the RQ-4 Global Hawk Block 20, in which Northrop is partnered by EADS Cassidian Air Systems.
Cassidian will now add its integrated, signals-intelligence system (ISIS) to the UAV, so that flight tests can resume by year-end. The pods and fairings for this combined communications-intelligence/communications-intelligence (Comint/Elint) system are already on the aircraft, which logged more than 100 test flight hours at Edwards. Northrop completed additional electromagnetic interference testing there, prompted by German concerns over the dense radio-frequency environment that the Euro Hawk would encounter in Europe.
The ISIS design includes options for onboard storage and automatic analysis, to reduce the bandwidth requirements for datalinking to the ground stations. Cassidian is also responsible for these, comprising a fixed-site, mission-planning and evaluation center at Nienburg, and a mobile-mission-execution set-up in containers.
Ten contractor test flights from Manching are planned before the Euro Hawk is moved to Schleswig-Jagel airbase in northern Germany for joint testing with the GAF mid-2012. German pilots are currently being trained, at Beale AFB in the U.S., to operate the UAV’s launch-and-recovery and mission-control ground stations.
The Germans are doing a full, military certification of the Euro Hawk, which must also meet various NATO standardization agreements (STANAGs). If all goes well, the GAF will order an additional four Euro Hawks for delivery between 2015 and 2017.

Det er verdt å merke seg at dette ubemannede flyet skal erstatte tyskernes Breguet Atlantics som ble satt på bakken ifjor.

F-35A ankommet Eglin AFB

The first two production Lockheed Martin F-35s for operational training have been delivered to Eglin AFB, Florida, about one year behind schedule.
F-35As AF-9 and AF-8, the first deliveries from low-rate initial production (LRIP) Lot 2, flew to the Florida base on July 14 and 20, respectively.

Two F-35As were produced in LRIP Lot 1, but they were diverted to flight-test duties and delivered to Edwards AFB, California, earlier this year. A total of 59 F-35A/B/Cs will be based at Eglin to train pilots and maintainers from the U.S. Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps, and export countries. A total of $400 million has been spent on F-35 training facilities at the base.
Meanwhile, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), the ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, revealed the extent of cost overruns on the early LRIP aircraft. The first 28 production aircraft from LRIP Lots 1 through 3 would cost the Pentagon $771 million more than originally anticipated, he said. McCain is pressing for greater accountability on the F-35 and has threatened to force a vote on the floor of the Senate to end the program in 2012, if costs cannot be contained. Lockheed Martin and Pratt & Whitney were awarded cost-plus contracts for these aircraft.
The Netherlands joined Norway in deferring F-35 deliveries. Having bought single aircraft in LRIP Lots 3 and 4, the Dutch will buy no more F-35As until LRIP Lot 11 in 2017, a three-year delay on its previous plans. Norway announced a two-year delay until LRIP Lot 10 in 2016. Deliveries follow two years after placing an order.
According to the latest production plan crafted last November, Australia (two aircraft) and Italy (four) plan to buy their first aircraft next year, in LRIP Lot 6.
Turkey plans to buy its first six F-35As in 2013 and the UK is scheduled to buy its first seven F-35Cs the same year, having bought three F-35Bs in LRIP Lots 3 and 4.
Canada expects to begin buying in 2014, and Denmark in 2016, although the latter is still formally evaluating alternatives.
Israel has ordered 19 F-35As, which should compensate for deferrals by the international partners.

Oshkosh AirVenture i full sving

Nydelig dag i dag i motsetning til fjoråret hvor det var værkaos. Sjekk informasjon og bilder via http://tinyurl.com/3raqg6y Bildet viser en Diamond. Sikkert den med dieselmotorer. Virkelig en drømmemaskin, spør du meg....

Politihelikopteret på ferie - Gå for UAV

Maskinen ble ikke brukt fordi mannskapet var på fellesferie. I hvilken grad helikopteret kunne hatt en positiv innvirkning i en eller annen sammenheng blir spekulasjoner. Ennvidere bør det vurderes om ikke beredsskapstroppen burde ha eget helikopter.
Jeg håper at Utøya ikke har innvirkning på valg av redningshelikopter. Dersom du har fulgt med på bloggen så har du lest at en av grunnene til at valg av helikopter ligger så langt etter skjemaet er Forsvarets klart uttrykte ønske om å ha NH90 i denne tjenesten. Det skulle sogar utstyres for kontraterror virksomhet, noe som ikke er en oppgave for et sivilt redningshelikopter.
Dette bør åpne noen øyne folkens. Som du har lest i denne bloggen adskillige ganger, så er det nær umulig å få gjennomslag for bruk av ubemannede fly i spesielt sivile sammenhenger i Norge. Hollandsk politi har vært i Norge og fortalt om den særdeles store suksessen de har hatt med å finne hasjfarmer med ubemannede fly. Nå er det åpenbart for de fleste at et ubemannet fly eller helikopter raskt kunne være på plass over Utøya den 22. juli. Det betinger naturligvis at operatøren ikke er på ferie. En slik oppgave må altså rullere blant flere "flygere". Sjekk ut litt om hva slags utstyr som kan være aktuelt i flyet: http://tinyurl.com/3lbrfmm
Foto: Scanpix