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 July 24-August 13, 2017 Contents Volume 179 Number 15

Grand Neal AVIATIONWEEK

& S PA C E T E C H N O L O G Y
Winner 2017

40
Digital Extras Access exclusive The unprecedented rate of long-range missile testing by North Korea
online features from articles has added a new level of urgency to the Trump administrations review
accompanied by this icon. of U.S. missile defenses.

7 Feedback
8 Whos Where
9-10 First Take
11 Up Front
12 Going Concerns
13 Inside Business Aviation
14 Airline Intel
15 Washington Outlook
56 Classifed
57 Contact Us
57 Aerospace Calendar

DEFENSE CONNECTED AEROSPACE

16 France and Germany propose a 24 Low-cost, unmanned combat 28 Low-cost, long-haul carriers study
European answer to the F-35 and aircraft drive need for less cabin connectivity options to draw
look at other military cooperation expensive powerplants passengers and drive profts

COMMERCIAL AVIATION 26 AERONAUTICAL ENGINEERING

18 Airlines are concerned Brexit could 30 NASA develops an airliner concept
mean regulatory chaos that could reduce noise by 90% and
for European air transport enable continued capacity growth

19 Norwegian Airs ambitious SPACE

expansion plans depend on
overcoming multiple obstacles
21 U.S. legacy carriers delay widebody
orders, weighing Boeings New
Midsize Airplane and other options
PROPULSION
24 Firefy returns, bolstered by new
funding, to develop an upgraded
small-satellite launch vehicle
26 Aquatic UAV technology developed
for environmental sampling could
be used for intelligence-gathering
31 Small satellites are popular, but
industry analysts warn that their
revenue potential is uncertain
DEFENSE
32 MiG-35 steals spotlight at MAKS
air show near Moscow as Russian
aerospace pivots to next generation
34 Austria aims to replace its
Eurofghters by 2020 with
supersonic-capable aircraft

ON ThE COVER 35 Agricultural aircraft are taking

on the role of low-cost, long-
Loss of control and upset recovery remain a major concern in endurance strike platforms
general aviation and at airlines. Senior Editor for Avionics and
Safety John Croft reports on new symbology and techniques that
might help. Cover photo by Nathan Richards/Barron Associates.
37 Japan makes progress on its
Also in this issue: France and Germany plan Europes answer to the Future Fighter engine, which will
F-35 (page 16), a new urgency to missile defense (page 40) and U.S. be much larger than predecessor
legacy carriers hold back on widebody aircraft orders (page 21).
39 South Korea is close to deploying
Aviation Week publishes a digital edition every week. Read it at a ballistic missile featuring a
AviationWeek.com/awst and on our app. maneuverable reentry vehicle

AviationWeek.com/awst AviAtion Week & SpAce technology/JUly 24-AUgUSt 13, 2017 3


MISSILE DEFENSE
40 North Koreas accelerated missile
testing adds urgency to tests and
upgrades of U.S. interceptors
42 First ICBM target intercept by the
Ground-Based Midcourse Defense
system, illustrated step by step
INTERVIEW
44 CEO says acquisition of B/E
Aerospace will make Rockwell
Collins a leader in smart airplanes
30
GENERAL AVIATION
46 Aviation Week ight tests a new
upset recovery guidance system
to help prevent loss of control
48 New aftermarket autothrottle
manages power and observes
limits for non-Fadec turboprops
4 AVIATION WEEK & SPACE TECHNOLOGY/JULY 24-AUGUST 13, 2017
50
50 Electrics and new regulations
combine to open the way for a
revitalization of general aviation
35
50 Sikorsky boosts marketing for its
versatile and rugged twin-engine
turboprop built by PZL Mielec
53 Airbus plans to y its urban air
mobility demonstrator by 2018
and production prototype by 2023
AIRLINES
54 Lessors owned by low-cost carriers
target third-party business as the
next phase in their evolution
EDITORIAL
58 UK leaders need to quickly gure
out how to preserve their enviable
aerospace sector as Brexit looms
58 U.S. Space Council reestablish-
ment is encouraging, but NASA
needs a new administrator now
48
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Drone GenealoGy
In Predator to Stingray (July
10-23, p. 39), acting Navy Secretary
Sean Stackley said that the MQ-25
Stingray is the Navys frst carrier-
based unmanned program. However,
this is incorrect.
It is a little-known fact that the
frst armed drones were fown of of
U.S. Navy carriers in combat during
World War II. Armed with a single
2,000-lb. bomb or an aerial torpedo,
the Interstate TDR was controlled
mainly by a Grumman TBF Avenger.
A camera mounted in the nose of
the assault drone, as it was called,
allowed the operator to control the
aircraft in fight.
The drone itself utilized a fairly
simple steel-tube frame and molded-
wood skin design. This made little
use of strategic materials, freeing up
resources for higher-priority aircraft.
Out of the 50 drones used opera-
tionally, 31 were able to strike their
targets successfully, and there were
no losses among the pilots of the
controlling aircraft.
Nevertheless, due to technical
difculties (coupled with the success
of more conventional weaponry), the
TDR saw only two months of op-
erational use before the project was
canceled. However, the TDR is by
far the ancestor to the modern-day
PrecUrSor FroM the PaSt
I cant help but notice the similarity
between Chinas three-phase plan for reus-
able lifting-body space launchers (July 10-23,
p. 21) and the cover of Galaxy Science Fiction
Magazine, July 1955. Some old ideas are just
too good to give up on.
H.M. Gold
lANeSBOROUGH, MASSACHUSeTTS
aviationWeek.com/awst
Feedback
unmanned combat aerial vehicle. Both
it and its rival, the Naval Aircraft
Factory TDN (the TDR being favored
over the TDN for production) were
the frst carrier-borne UAV programs
for the Navy, not the Stingray.
Jacob Katz
NORFOlk, VIRGINIA
Online, readers reacted to other
aspects of the UAV overview feature,
including:
Crabble, who notes:
Drones are mostly for persistent-
surveillance and intelligence-
gathering missions, and they fulfll
those roles extremely well. Manned
aircraft are still the heavy hitters in
any signifcant confict.
persmit queries:
Who is the catapult ofcer in the
photo signaling to on an unmanned
drone?
JDrouin responds:
The drone operator (among oth-
ers). Unmanned in the case of
drones, does not mean no human
pilot is involved.
U-2 SqUareD
Perhaps reader Merle Hanley
(July 10-23, p. 7) did not realize there
Colin Throm/AW&ST
AviAtiOn Week & SpAce technOlOgy/JUly 24-AUgUSt 13, 2017 7
Address letters to the Executive Editor,
Aviation Week & Space Technology, 1911
Fort Myer Drive, Suite 600, Arlington, Va.
22209 or send via email to:
awstletters@aviationweek.com
Letters may be edited for length and clarity;
a verifiable address and daytime telephone
number are required.
are two distinct U-2 aircraft. The
original was for the CIA in the 1950s,
but in the 1960s a larger version
designed to carry a much larger
payloadwas developed for the U.S.
Air Force.
When viewed side by side, the dif-
ference between the two is obvious.
So the managers cited in The U-2
lives On (June 26-July 9, p. 24) are
correct in a way.
John Miller
GRANTS PASS, OReGON
More F-35 rUMinationS
I read with interest the comments
that followed the letter F-35 Takes
Center Stage (July 10-23, p. 7).
When it comes to maneuverability,
based on watching numerous videos,
I believe that the F-35s performance
can, at best, be qualifed as good. I
detected signs of sluggishness and
even uncertainty in some control
responses.
As to agility, the F-35 falls far short
of several competitive types, perhaps
most noticeably the Dassault Rafale.
Regarding the classifcation of
the eurofghter Typhoon primarily
as an air combat aircraft, I believe
the manufacturers would argue this
pointit is used regularly as a strike
aircraft. I am equally certain Das-
sault would disagree since they have
proved its multirole capabilities.
I once pointed out to a computer
engineer that my specialized but
badly defective computer was, in its
present state, nothing more than an
expensive tin can. The same could be
said of the F-35 if its pilots continue
to be rendered unconscious or inca-
pacitated by hypoxia.
If this had been an aircraft pro-
duced during the stress of a major
confict, any shortcomings might be
understandable. But the project was
launched in 1996 ,and the frst fight
took place in 2006. If a manufac-
turerespecially one that overshot
forecast costs on a monumental
scalecannot get its product right in
11 years, this should be a source for
concern.
Richard Chandless
CReCHe SUR SAONe, FRANCe
 Whos Where
T
he Aerospace Industries Associa-
tion has hired David Silver as
vice president of civil aviation
to spearhead eforts to grow civil
aviation infrastructure investment,
incorporate unmanned systems in
the national airspace and streamline
FAA certifcation. Silver was Boeing
Commercial Airplanes director of en-
gineering and regulatory afairs.
Nordic Aviation Capital has named
Brian Ruben Pedersen chief fnancial
ofcer. He had been CFO at Maersk
Global Shared Services.
Global Jet Capital has appointed
Christopher H. Paul senior manag-
ing director/general counsel and
David Settergren director of sales for
Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and
Thailand.
GE Aviation has hired John Mans-
feld as chief digital ofcer to oversee
development of its aviation digital
portfolio. Mansfeld was president,
general manager and chief technology
ofcer of Hitachi Ltd.
The C&L Aviation Group has named
Tim Brecher as president of C&L
Engine Solutions, which specializes in
servicing, maintaining and supporting
corporate and regional operators.
The U.S. Navy has assigned Rear
Adm. Roy J. Kelley as Naval Air
Force commander, U.S. Atlantic
Fleet, Norfolk, Virginia, from direc-
tor, JSF Fleet Integration, Wash-
ington; Rear Adm. (lower half)
William D. Byrne, Jr., as Carrier
Strike Group 15 commander, San
Diego, from commander of Carrier
Strike Group 11, Everett, Washington;
Rear Adm. (lower half) Gregory N.
Harris as Carrier Strike Group 11
commander from commander of the
Naval Aviation Warfghting Develop-
ment Center, Fallon, Nevada; Rear
8 AvIATIoN WEEK & SPACE TECHNoLoGy/JULy 24-AUGUST 13, 2017
Adm. (lower half) Dale E.
Horan as director, JSF Fleet
Integration, Washington, from
Carrier Strike Group 8 com-
mander, Norfolk, Virginia;
Rear Adm. (lower half) Dan-
iel L. Cheever as commander
of the Naval Aviation Warf-
ighting Development Center
from chief of staf, Naval Air
Force, U.S. Pacifc Fleet, San
Diego.
PPG has promoted Tim
Behmlander to aerospace
general manager for the
Americas. He was aerospace
general manager for Europe,
Middle East and Africa. Behm- David Coleman Battle Creek, Michigan; David
lander succeeds Dave Morris,
who has retired.
MRO provider Avocet Avia-
tion has hired Edward Gray
(see photo) as general man-
ager/chief of operations, roles
that will include development
of an on-site school and an ap-
prenticeship program.
The American Astronautical
Society has named Jim Way
executive director. He was
director of marketing at Sight-
line Media Group.
Greenwich AeroGroups Pro-
fessional Aircraft Accessories
has appointed Mark Iddon
as vice president of sales and
marketing. He was executive
vice president of sales, mar-
keting and product support for
Tronair Inc.
James Buck, Aspen Avion-
ics fight operations director,
will become regional sales
manager in addition to manag- Andre Borschberg to its board. He is executive
ing Aspens fight-test program.
Aircraft interiors company IPC
To submit information for the
Whos Where column, send Word
or attached text files (no PDFs) and
photos to: whoswhere@aviationweek.com
For additional information on
companies and individuals listed in
this column, please refer to the
Edward Gray
Aviation Week Intelligence Network
at AviationWeek.com/awin For
information on ordering, telephone
U.S.: +1 (866) 857-0148 or
+1 (515) 237-3682 outside the U.S.
Mouldings has promoted
Kasey Harwick James Williamson to lead
manufacturing engineer/tool
room output and design, Hugh
Henry to project engineer and
Gareth Harkness to quality
engineer.
Duncan Aviation has named
Kasey Harwick (see photos)
director of maintenance,
Coleman head of aircraft sales
and acquisitions, Wheel-
ing, Illinois; Jason Burhoop
project manager, Lincoln,
Nebraska; and Tifany Grifn
director of interior modifca-
tion sales, also at Battle Creek.
Jason Burhoop
Heule Tool Corp. has pro-
moted William Hargrove to
national sales manager from
applications engineer/national
accounts manager.
Honors And ElEctions
Andre Borschberg (see
photo) has been elected to the
Tifany Grifn board of Marenco Swisshelicop-
ter. Borschberg, a former Swiss
Air Force pilot, was cofounder
of the Solar Impulse project,
the frst round-the-world solar
fight.
The Association for Un-
manned Vehicle Systems Interna-
tional has named John Cofey
director of unmanned systems for
Cherokee Nation Technologies. c
AviationWeek.com/awst
First Take
COMMERCIAL AVIATION
easyJet has obtained an air opera-
tors certifcate in Austria to deal
with the UKs decision to leave the Eu-
ropean Union (EU). The new Vienna-
based airline, EasyJet Europe, will
enable EasyJet to continue to operate
fights both across Europe and domes-
tically within European countries after
the UK has left the EU, the company
says (page 18).
Air canada Flight 759 overfew
four aircraft on the taxiway paral-
lel to Runway 28R at San Francisco
International Airport near midnight
on July 7. Canadas Transportation
Safety Board estimates the Airbus
A320, lined up on the taxiway rather
than the runway, overfew the frst two
aircraft by 100 ft. The closest lateral
distance was 29 ft.
American Airlines is ending its
codeshares with etihad Airways and
Qatar Airways as a protest against
what the U.S. carrier alleges to be gov-
ernment subsidies of the Gulf carriers.
The last valid date of travel using the
codeshares will be March 24, 2018.
Modeled on the data-driven com-
mercial Aircraft Safety team, the
industry-government Unmanned
Aircraft Safety Team has formed its
frst three working groups, to tackle
loss of control, reduce injuries and im-
prove the safety culture among drone
operators.
pariss charles de gaulle Airport
has installed a counterdrone system
developed by airport operator Groupe
ADP and the DSNA Services subsid-
iary of French civil aviation authority
DGAC. The Hologarde system com-
prises radar, radio-frequency detec-
tion and infrared cameras.
the european parliaments envi-
AviationWeek.com/awst
For the latest, go to AviationWeek.com
Joepriesaviation.net
ronment committee has voted to
keep international fights exempt from
paying for emissions under the EUs
Emissions Trading Scheme until the
end of 2020, pending the creation of a
worldwide scheme for ofsetting CO2
emissions.
DEFENSE
France and germany plan to collabo-
rate on a new combat aircraft as part
of a strengthened defense agreement
between the countries. They have also
signed a letter of intent to develop a
maritime patrol aircraft. Common
road maps for both programs are to be
developed by 2018 (page 16).
Belgiums shortlist for its future
fghter has shrunk to three after the
Swedish government withdrew Saabs
Gripen E from the tender. Swedish
defense materiel organization FMV
says Brusselss need for extensive
operational support would require a
Swedish foreign policy that does not
exist.
Airbus Defense and Space few a
stealthy unmanned aircraft on July
18 at a test range in Overberg, South
airbus Defense anD space
Africa. The Sagitta subscale demon-
strator was developed with German
universities and institutes under a
national research project focusing on
autonomous fight control and other
advanced technologies.
AviAtion Week & SpAce technology/JUly 24-AUgUSt 13, 2017 9
South korea is testing a ballistic
missile larger than the previously
revealed Hyunmu 2A and 2B and fea-
turing a maneuverable reentry vehicle
with high accuracy. The 800-km-range
(500-mi.) Hyunmu 2C was fight tested
in late June and is close to deployment
(page 39).
in search of the root cause of a spike
in hypoxia-like incidents involving
student pilots, the U.S. Navy is looking
at the quality of the air provided to the
oxygen generation system by the T-45
Goshawk trainers Rolls-Royce Adour
engine.
korea Aerospace Research institute
has demonstrated the automatic
takeof and landing of a tiltrotor un-
Korea aerospace research institute
manned aircraft system on a moving
ship. The July 7 fight involved the
210-kg (450-lb.) TR-60 vertical-take-
of-and-landing UAS being developed
with Korean Air.
thailand will buy eight more korean
Aerospace industries t-50 advanced
jet trainers to supplement four ordered
two years ago and scheduled for deliv-
ery starting later this year.
GENERAL AVIATION
chinese carmaker geely, the owner
of volvo and lotus, has purchased fy-
ing-car developer Terrafugia, reports
the South China Morning Post. The deal
could position Hangzhou-based Geely
to enter the embryonic urban air trans-
port market.
Regulators in norway and the Uk
are to lift the restrictions placed on
operators of Airbus AS332L2 and H225
Super Puma helicopters after the loss
of a Norwegian helicopter last April.
It will be up to operators and their
customers to decide whether they re-
introduce the helicopters to service.
First Take
QUOTED

Systems Loral and DARPA that will

demonstrate robotic satellite servic-
ing in geostationary orbit and leave
a commercial capability in place.
The judge ruled U.S. National Space
Policy could not be used to stop the
program.
SIBNIA

Siberian aeronautical research in- SpaceX Dragon crew capsules will

stitute SibNIA ew the prototype of
an all-composite, turboprop-powered
derivative of the Antonov An-2 utility
biplane on July 10. SibNIA is working
to establish a public-private partner-
ship to produce the aircraft in the
Novosibirsk region.
Kaman delivered the rst K-Max
external-lift helicopter produced since
2003 to Chinas Lectern Aviation on
July 13. The aircraft is one of two to be
splash down in the ocean, not re
thrusters to touch down on land as
planned, says CEO Elon Musk, citing
the safety qualication efort required.
He also expects to be able to rey a Its still a couple of
Falcon 9 booster within 24 hr., prob- years away, but it will
ably by next year. happen. Im amazed at
RECOGNIZED how fast its going.
JON BEATTY
Frank Morring, Jr., who retired on
June 30 after 28 years covering the Flight Safety Foundation President
spaceight industry for Aviation Week and CEO on the prospect of package
& Space Technology and Aerospace Daily, deliveries via drones.
has received the NASA Distinguished

KAMAN AEROSPACE
operated by Guangdong Juxiang Gen-
eral Aviation, primarily for reghting.
Kaman plans to extend resumed K-Max
production at least until 2019.
SPACE
Orbital ATK has failed in a lawsuit
to block a program by rival Space
Frank Morring, Jr. (left) and Bob Robert Heinlein, Gene Roddenberry,
Jacobs, NASA deputy associate Neil deGrasse Tyson, astronauts Har-
administrator for communications. rison Schmitt, Ilan Ramon and Chris
Hadeld, and several cosmonauts.
Public Service
Medal, the DIED
highest honor
the agency Aviation journalist and communi-
can bestow cator Clifton Clif Stroud III, who
on a non- was also an accomplished church or-
government ganist, died on July 12, age 60. Stroud
individual. edited Aviations Weeks former ATC
Morring joins a Market Report and worked for several
group of distin- other aviation publications as well as
guished peers writing for the FAA on the NextGen
that includes program.

70 YEARS AGO IN AVIATION WEEK

The title Aviation Week was born in July 1947, when the maga-
zine Aviation resumed weekly publication 17 years after the
Great Depression had forced it to go monthly. An accompanying
letter to subscribers promised that Aviation Week would have
more technical content from the largest and more expert staff
in aviation publishing. All the news, mailed to you on Friday
of every week. The magazine continued to sell its front cover
to advertisersin this case Curtiss Wrighta practice that
would continue for another nine years. The title was expanded
to Aviation Week & Space Technology in 1960. In 2015, print fre-
quency was reduced to biweekly, and new articles and columns
were posted online every weekday to meet the demands of less
patient digital-age readers.

Our searchable online archive includes every issue of Aviation Week back to 1916: archive.aviationweek.com

10 AVIATION WEEK & SPACE TECHNOLOGY/JULY 24-AUGUST 13, 2017 AviationWeek.com/awst

 Up Front By Richard Aboulafa
Contributing columnist
Richard Aboulafa is
vice president of analysis
at Teal Group. He is
based in Washington.
commentAry
with the Sino-Russian twin-aisle joint
venture: Russias idea of a joint venture
involves selling its intellectual property
at a high price, while the other side
contributes nothing more than cash.
Sure enough, while the new China-Rus-
sia Commercial Aircraft International
Corp. calls for the jet to be manufac-
tured in Shanghai, the research and
development center will be in Moscow.
Russias attitude is understandable:
Theres a big disparity between the two
countries in aerospace technology and
UAC manufacturing skills. But China might
be inclined to think of a joint venture
Game Changer? as something that involves joint fnan-
cial contributions, rather than merely
an intellectual property sale.
Chinese-Russian widebody jet project This pattern has played out before
in previous Russian joint ventures.
is not another Airbus in the making Right now, Russias ffth-generation
fghter aircraft joint venture with
India is falling apart. This is hardly

I n May, the Chinese and Russian governments announced a

joint venture to build a new, clean-sheet twin-aisle jetliner.
The twinjet will be intended to carry 280 passengers up to
surprising, since Russia is now
demanding $7 billion for its Sukhoi
fghter jet technology. Thats on top
of the money needed to actually build
7,500 nm, competing with Airbuss A350-900 and Boeings these aircraft in India.
787-9. Like those aircraft, the new C929, as it has been called, is The closest thing so far to a success-
expected to include composites for about 50% of its airframe. ful Russian aerospace joint venture
is Superjet International, which was
It is tempting to think of this new successful. Just 104 Il-86s and about created between Sukhoi (49%) and
concept as a game changer. After all, 30 Il-96s have been delivered since Leonardo-Alenia Aeronautica (51%).
Russia has deep aerospace engineering 1979. The Il-96, intended to rejuvenate While 100 or so Superjets have been
experience, and China is one of the two the family and let Russian industry delivered during the past fve years,
biggest commercial jetliner markets compete with Western jetmakers in the organization has lost hundreds
(with the U.S.). Barriers to entry in the the post-Soviet era, has been a notable of millions of dollars. In April 2017,
twin-aisle market are higher than for failure. Il-96 production still sputters Leonardo sold 41% of the joint venture
almost any other industry. Vladimir along at a very low level today, and to Sukhoi, leaving it with 10%. Sukhoi
Putins Russia is eager to restore the hopes of relaunching it with Pratt & paid 1.16 for the 41%.
countrys former aerospace glory, and Whitney engines and Rockwell Collins Assuming the new twin-aisle does
Chinas government wants to create a avionics died in the early 2000s. The overcome the hurdles associated with
national aircraft industry. Il-96 competed with and lost against Russian aviation joint ventures, a large
Also, only two countries have Airbuss A340 family, which was not and fundamental problem remains.
developed jetliners in this class on exactly the greatest triumph of jetliner Both parties involved are pursuing this
their own, the U.S. and the former technology either. projectand the commercial aero-
Soviet Union. European manufactur- Russias original idea for a twin- space industry in generalthrough
ers were able to join the club only by aisle joint venture with China, government-owned industries. They
pooling their resources under Airbus. reported in the Russian press in 2012, are following a government road map
A Sino-Russian Airbus sounds like a revolved around working together on and are not subject to private-sector
disruptive event. future developments of the Il-96. And discipline.
However, this is not another Airbus despite the Il-96s shortcomings, Rus- Government ministers are not known
in the making. The story of Russias sia expected to be paid for its intel- for understanding commercial market
sole twin-aisle family, and the history lectual property. In May 2012, Russias needs and opportunities, and airlines
of Russias previous aviation joint RT.com news service reported that are unlikely to be interested in buying
ventures, serve as a cautionary tale Moscow will provide the know-how jets from a state-owned company. While
for this project. and technology, while Beijing will be both countries could privatize their
Russias Ilyushin Il-86 and Il-96 twin- responsible for the cash. jetliner industries, neither appears to
aisle quadjet series were not terribly This speaks to the biggest problem be on a path to doing so. c

AviationWeek.com/awst AviAtion Week & SpAce technology/JUly 24-AUgUSt 13, 2017 11

 Going Concerns
commentary
Northern Highlights
MDAs U.S. Access Plan and recent
maneuvers spotlight the real space race
T hese are heady days for
MacDonald, Dettwiler and
Associates (MDA).
Recently, the Vancouver-based aero-
space and satellite provider revealed
its new U.S.-based satellite-servicing
company, its launch customer, fresh
blood at the top of its Space Systems
Loral (SSL) unit and other key ap-
pointments, while reveling in a federal
court victory bolstering that business.
And its expected $3.6 billion acquisi-
tion of Westminster, Colorado-based
commercial remote-imaging company
DigitalGlobe is icing on the cake.
Canadians should be cheering en
masse. Collectively, these events may
come to form the new face of outer
space north of the border, eclips-
ing Canadarm (the Shuttle Remote
Manipulator System) and astronaut-
crooner Chris Hadfeld.
But it may not sit well at Dulles, Vir-
ginia-based Orbital ATK. Orbital also is
gearing up a satellite-servicing system
(AW&ST June 12-25, p. 56). But it took
it on the chin when a U.S. district court
allowed a program by SSL and the
Defense Advanced Research Projects
Agency (DARPA) to demonstrate
robotic satellite servicing in geostation-
ary orbit under the Robotic Servicing
of Geosynchronous Satellites.
On-orbit satellite servicing is expect-
12 AviAtion Week & SpAce technology/JUly 24-AUgUSt 13, 2017
Digital globe
ed to burgeon in coming years and has
spurred major investments in the area
by companies such as Orbital. Provid-
ers see demand by satellite operators
to better use existing space assets via
life extension, inspection and repair.
Moreover, satellite servicing could
allow partial assembly in orbit, either
augmenting existing satellites, replac-
ing elements from modular satellites
or constructing larger satellites freed
from the mass and size constraints of
launch, according to MDA.
Orbital noted that the court deci-
sion, if it stands, returns the issue to
the executive branch and Congress for
resolution. That is worth remembering,
as those branches of government are
courts of public opinion where America
First sentiments are gaining sway
lately. Interestingly, MDA increasingly
can make the same arguments.
How so? MDA is becoming more
American. The most tangible example
came in February when it announced
the DigitalGlobe deal. The acquisi-
tion is a key component of MDAs U.S.
Access Plan, unveiled last October. At
the time, MDA announced the creation
of SSL MDA Holdings, a Delaware
corporation that serves as the operat-
ing company for all MDA businesses,
including in the U.S. and Canada.
Then on June 28, MDA announced
the new ventureSpace Infrastruc-
By Michael Bruno
Michael Bruno is
Senior Business Editor
Join the conversation at:
AviationWeek.com/GoingConcerns
michael.bruno@aviationweek.com
ture Services (SIS)to commercial-
ize sophisticated satellite-servicing
capabilities, including refueling.
MDA also announced an agree-
ment with communications satellite
giant SES for an initial life-extension
contract, with options for future exten-
sions. SIS has awarded SSL a $228
million contract to design and build a
space-servicing vehicle. MDA said it
will fully meet the specifcations for
DARPAs RSGS program, which is de-
signed to inspect, repair and augment
geosynchronous satellites. Plans call
for the vehicle to include a refueling
payload to extend the life of satellites
that are low on propellant.
Interestingly, SIS will be majority-
owned by Finance Technology Lever-
age, a global investment company
headquartered in Silicon Valley, along
with other U.S. investors; SSL MDA
Holdings will maintain a minority own-
ership. Full fnancing for the venture is
expected to conclude this summer.
At the same time as the SIS ribbon-
cutting, MDA announced that John
Celli will retire as SSL president after
a 36-year career there. Valley veteran
Dario Zamarian has been appointed
group president, while Paul Estey was
named executive vice president/chief
operating ofcer, both efective July 17.
Altogether, the Canadian invasion
appears to be on track, save for some
minor hiccups. On the same day as
the district court decision, MDA and
DigitalGlobe said they withdrew and
refled their joint voluntary notice to
the U.S. Committee on Foreign Invest-
ment in the United States (CFIUS) to
provide additional time for the inter-
agency group to complete its consid-
eration of the proposed merger. Upon
acceptance of the refling, CFIUS will
initiate a new 30-day review period.
The DigitalGlobe takeover is one of
the frst CFIUS decisions under the
Trump administration, but no one
seems worried because MDA clearly
plans to incorporate the ultimate par-
ent company in the U.S. by 2019.
MDA and DigitalGlobe believe that
CFIUS will conclude its consideration
of the transaction with no unresolved
issues of national security, the
companies said July 12, echoing what
many fnancial analysts have told
investor clients in recent months. c
aviationWeek.com/awst
 Inside Business Aviation
commentAry
Star-Spangled
Showtime
How to eschew escorting fghters
I try to attend the Experimental Aircraft Associations (EAA)
annual AirVenture periodically, but this years extravaganza
(July 24-30) isnt on my travel schedule. So I went to the EAA
website to see what Ill be missing. Holy cow!
My frst visit to the show, held at
Wittman Regional Airport in leafy,
sleepy Oshkosh, Wisconsin, was in
the 1970s and left an indelible impres-
sion. Id never encountered so many
airplanes and aviation enthusiasts in
one place at one time.
The feld, which is pretty much
empty for 50 weeks of the year, was
chockablock with thousands of aircraft
of all typeshomebuilts, biplanes,
vintage production models, factory-
built singles and twins old and new,
warbirds, aged transports, aerobats,
gyrocopters, the works. The grounds
were teeming with air-minded gawk-
ers by the tens of thousands at any
given hour. The sprawling avmart was
a riot of aviation junk and gems, the
workshops delivered invaluable info
on motorized levitation, and the daily
air shows left spectators agog. It was a
stunning, delightful eye-opener.
Air show season is upon us again,
and having recently attended the Paris
Air Show as well as the European Busi-
ness Aviation Convention and Exhibi-
tion in Geneva, I wondered if AirVen-
ture might have been gently eclipsed
over the ensuing decades. It has not.
Says Dick Knapinski, EAAs senior
AviationWeek.com/awst
Maureen Spuhler
communications advisor, this years
AirVenture will have a lot more going
on than the outings of a decade ago.
Attendees and exhibitors share the
view that Its Oshkosh, so it needs to
be bigger and badder than all the rest.
How big and how bad? EAA es-
timates a half-million peoplehailing
from countries across the globewill
pass through its gates during the eight-
day gathering. Mind you, 5,000 are vol-
unteers who may have arrived weeks
in advance to paint picnic tables,
mow the lawns, set out trash bins and
police the place. Airplanes10,000+
of themwill cover Wittmans infelds,
parking and ultralight areas and Lake
Winnebago seaplane base, with the
overfow crowding neighboring air-
ports in Fond du Lac and Appleton.
This is an anniversary year for
aviation and aerospace events includ-
ing the Doolittle Raid (75th), forma-
tion of the U.S. Air Force (70th) and
Apollo 1 disaster (50th). To honor
those involved, EAA hopes to launch a
formation of 16 B-25 Mitchell bombers
from Wittman, the same number that
lifted of from the USS Hornet on April
18, 1942. During the course of the show,
those will be complemented in a fyby
AviAtion Week & SpAce technology/JUly 24-AUgUSt 13, 2017 13
By William Garvey
William Garvey is Editor-in-Chief
of Business & Commercial Aviation
Join the conversation at:
AviationWeek.com/IBA
william.garvey@aviationweek.com
parade comprising a B-1 Lancer, B-2
Spirit and B-52 Stratofortress. Mean-
while, a pair of B-29s, Fif and Doc,
several B-17s and an A-20 will round
out the Oshkosh bomber wing.
In salute to the Apollo program, nine
of the participating astronautsBuzz
Aldrin, Frank Borman, Walt Cunning-
ham, Joe Engle, Dick Gordon, Fred
Haise, Jim Lovell, Jack Schmitt and Al
Wordenwill attend, along with for-
mer Flight Director Gene Kranz. Why
at Oshkosh? Knapinskis response:
Astronauts are airplane geeks, too.
The commemorative fights are in
addition to the daily performances by
a collection of world-class aerobats
including Sean Tucker, Patty Wag-
staf, Gene Soucy and Mike Goulian.
The Red Bull Wingsuits will drop in,
quickly; Dassault is donating a Falcon
8X to the aerial exhilaration; and the
U.S. Navys Blue Angels will show their
colors on the fnal Friday and Saturday.
There is little debate that whats
known simply as Oshkosh has
evolved into Americas unofcial na-
tional air show. Knapinski notes, quite
rightly, This has become a gathering
place for everyone in aviation.
To satisfy attendees looking for
something more than fying fash, EAA
has slated daily forums and work-
shopsan astounding 1,500 of them,
actuallycovering a range of subjects
as broad as aerospace itself.
As youd expect of an organization
that celebrates building aircraft in
home garages, there are a number of
sessions in metalworking, fabric stitch-
ing, engine conversions and such. But
what most intrigues me is the unex-
pected: There is a NASA panel entitled
The Journey to Mars Is Underway,
as well as Mountain Flying in New
Zealand, Precision Ag With Drones
and Electric Aircraft. So Where Is
My Flying Car? has as a counterpoint,
Uber ElevateUrban Aerial Ride-
share. Rescuing Sea Turtles by Air
is something Ive never contemplated,
while How To Avoid a Fighter Escort
addresses one I have, thanks to the
FAAs pesky Temporary Flight Restric-
tions.
All things considered, Knapinski
says, the show is just beyond cool.
The perfect antidote for a hot week in
late July. c

commentary
Protecting Innovators
U.S.-EU open skies and the European common
market are both remarkable successes
T he commercial aviation industry is looking back at two
milestones that have defned its current shape: The Euro-
pean Unions common aviation market, created 25 years ago,
treated the member states as one; the open-skies agreement
between the European
Union and the U.S. 10 years
ago replaced many bilateral
air service agreements, in-
cluding the famous Bermu-
da II deal, which severely
limited U.S. carriers access
to Heathrow Airport.
These milestones have a few
things in common. They have been a
huge success from the point of view of
consumers and those that wanted to try
new business models. If the evidence of
this is weaker for transatlantic routes, it
is because we are only now beginning to
see new strategies emerge and prosper.
Unfortunately, both achievements are
also under immense threat.
The industry should unite and fght
back, including legacy airlines such
as Air France-KLM, Lufthansa and
the big three U.S. carriers that may
believe they could beneft from rolling
back the clock. They wont.
Conceptually, the threat is protec-
tionism, as displayed in the rhetoric
of the Trump administration, and
demands by the big three U.S. carri-
ers to go against foreign competitors
such as Norwegianand Brexit. With
Brexit, a big piece of the transatlantic
market is removed from the protec-
tion of open skies, and a large section
of the common aviation market will
also disappear at the end of March
2019, when the UK leaves the EU. It
is crucially important that what will
be out of reach in the future for both
deals be regulated by a modern legal
framework that takes into account the
changes the market has undergone
14 AviAtion Week & SpAce technology/JUly 24-AUgUSt 13, 2017
Airline Intel
and pushes back on attempts to either
protect incumbents or prove a broader
political pointor both.
The big achievement of the EU
common market over the past 25
years was that it created space for
new business models to thrive. In-
novators such as Ryanair, EasyJet and
their second-generation followers like
Norwegian and Wizz Air were key to
the common markets success. Incum-
bents Lufthansa, British Airways and
Air France would have changed noth-
ing and simply continued to operate
their hubs in a cozy oligopoly.
It is understandable on the one
hand why the EU wants Brexit to be
painful for the UK. It could serve as a
cautionary tale that leaving the EU is
not a good idea. But there is a fne line
between making a point and hurting
consumers and industry more than
necessary. The EU and its member
states should propose a generous in-
terpretation of ownership-and-control
regulations, which is a major concern
for EasyJet, Ryanair and carriers of
that ilk.
And as much as proving a point to
the UK may be tempting, the Europe-
an Commission has been driving lib-
By Jens Flottau
Jens Flottau is Managing
Editor for Civil Aviation
Join the conversation at:
AviationWeek.com/AirlineIntel
Jens.fottau@aviationweek.co.uk
eral air service agreements elsewhere,
so this one should be no exception.
An important aspect of Brexit that
has often been overlooked is that it
afects the transatlantic market; there-
fore incumbent carriers should have at
least as much interest in resolving the
issue as their competitors. The existing
EU/U.S. open-skies agreement needs
to be altered to refect the post-Brexit
change, and the UK needs to negotiate
a new bilateral with the U.S.
The joint ventures created by
Lufthansa/United Airlines, Delta
Air Lines/Air France-
joepriesaviation.net
KLM and American
Airlines/British
Airways were based
on the assumption of
free market access for
competing carriers. If
that is no longer the
case because parts
of the transatlantic
operation are now sub-
ject to some form of
limitations, the ratio-
nale behind approving
those joint ventures disappears. And
rightly so. Ironically, it is now in the
best interest of the big legacy carriers
to keep the transatlantic market open
to new competitors.
The success of new business mod-
els is not yet as clearly visible as that
of the low-cost carriers, but change is
underway. Norwegians daring expan-
sion into a large Boeing 787 operation
across the Atlantic has shown what
could be possible.
And others are following suit:
International Airlines Group created
Level, the carrier that is launch-
ing long-haul low-cost fying from
Barcelona, Spain. Even Lufthansa,
not known for being innovative, is at
the forefront of the development with
its Eurowings ofspring. Norwegians
future success is dependent to a
large extent on its ability to expand
transatlantic fying from London-
Gatwick. The temporary approval of
Norwegian UKs license by the U.S.
Transportation Department is a wel-
come sign in difcult times. The silver
lining of Brexit could be the reform
of ownership and control limitations
and a strengthening of liberal air
transport policies. c
aviationWeek.com/awst
 Washington Outlook
CommentAry
Down, Not Out
What will McCains illness mean for defense?
S en. John McCain (R-Ariz.) may be battling an aggressive
form of brain cancer, but even from his hospital bed he re-
mains a leading voice on defense issues.
That said, as he undergoes treat-
ment, his absence from the chamber
could afect the timing of passage of
the bill that tackles defense policy,
including securing additional funding
for the Pentagon, acquisition reforms
and assistance for Ukraine. Since the
start of the year, McCain has prod-
ded Congress and the White House
to dedicate billions more to defense.
McCain and his House counterpart,
Rep. Mac Thornberry (R-Texas),
drafted a highly prescriptive plan
that would provide $640 billion for
defense in fscal 2018. While many
in Congress support McCains call
for higher defense spending, defense
analyst Byron Callan of Capital Alpha
Partners says few or none have the
Vietnam prisoner of wars stature or
reputation. Within the GOP, there
remains a divide between those who
believe in higher defense spending
and U.S. global engagement and those
who believe that debt, smaller govern-
ment and focus on domestic issues
are more important, Callan says.
And at a time when President Donald
Trump is increasing cooperation with
Russia, McCain has taken a hard
stance against Russian encroachment
in Ukraine, decrying that Russian-
backed separatists in the Donetsk
region proclaimed an independent
state called Little Russia.
The ultimate responsibility for this
latest fagrant violation of Ukraines
sovereignty lies squarely with Vladimir
Putins Russia, upon whose leadership,
fnancing, troops and weapons the
separatists are entirely dependent,
McCain said in a statement issued the
evening before he underwent surgery
to remove a blood clot. He argues that
sanctions will not be enough to change
Russian behavior: We must start by
sending a strong Russia sanctions bill
AviationWeek.com/awst
Chip Somodevilla/Getty imaGeS
to the presidents desk and providing
Ukraine the defensive lethal assistance
it needs to defend itself. c
CAll for leAdership
Trumps new National Space Council
appears to have broad support from
space industry and former govern-
ment ofcials. The question appears
to be whether the council, to be led by
Vice President Mike Pence and Scott
Pace, the councils newly appointed
executive secretary, will have the di-
rection it needs from the White House
to be successful.
Pace points out that the Obama
administration lacked direction when
it comes to space policy. Now he will
have a hand in trying to reorient the
nations diverse space interests.
At an event hosted by the Space
Policy Institute at George Washing-
ton University, currently headed by
Pace, U.S. Air Force Gen. (ret.) Robert
Kehler, the former commander of U.S.
Strategic Command, said the space
council faces myriad issues includ-
ing space exploration and whether
government or industry leadership
should prevail. There is a real role
for a national-level efort, he says. c
exit the ex-im
The Aerospace Industries Association
(AIA) is adding its voice to a growing
AviAtion Week & SpAce technology/JUly 24-AUgUSt 13, 2017 15
Edited by Jen DiMascio
Jen DiMascio is Managing
Editor for Defense and Space
Join the conversation at:
AviationWeek.com/WashingtonOutlook
jennifer.dimascio@aviationweek.com
chorus calling on the White House to
withdraw its nomination of former
Rep. Scott Garrett (R-N.J.) as the next
Export-Import Bank chairman. When
Garrett was nominated in April, AIA
was optimistic despite reports about
his staunch opposition to the export
credit agency. Since then, we have
grown increasingly troubled by the
absence of any indication that [Garrett]
has evolved his position on the bank
since 2015, when he openly argued that
Congress should take every opportunity
to keep the Export-Import Bank out of
business.
AIAs opposition to Garrett follows
the lead of the South Carolina Chamber
of Commerce and the National Associa-
tion of Manufacturers, whose presi-
dent, Jay Timmons, lambasted Garrett
in a Wall Street Journal op-ed. But even
if the White House were to withdraw
its nomination of Garrett, the Ex-Im
Bank would still be hog-tied. The chief
problem for customers such as Boeing
and General Electric has been a dearth
of confrmed board members. With-
out a quorum, the fve-member board
cannot approve deals of more than $10
million. And temporary terms have ex-
pired for two acting membersChair-
man/President Charles Hall and Vice
Chairman/First Vice President Scott
Schloegel. Still, critics might note that
even with a crippled Ex-Im, U.S. A&D
companies exported $146 billion worth
of products last year, generating a trade
surplus of more than $90 billion. c
pACkAge deAl
House Republicans are combining
spending bills into oneto fund the De-
fense Department, Energy and Water
Department, the Legislative Branch and
Veterans Afairsand forwarding the
package to the House foor for a vote.
The package does not include a
spending bill that contained fund-
ing for NASA. Nor does it contain a
transportation package approved by
the House Appropriations Commit-
tee July 17 to fund the FAA. That
fscal 2018 legislation would add $16.6
billion$434 million above Trumps
request. In addition to funding, it
contains provisions afecting main-
tenance, repair and overhaul shops;
manufacturers; pilots and other
groups. c
 DEFENSE

Europe Awakens
France and Germany propose to all, Alonso said. There is no place to do two or three
diferent systems in Europe. . . . The time is right for us to
a European answer to the F-35 decide to build.
Now it seems that Alonsos plea has been answered, and
Tony Osborne RAF Fairford, England the possibility of a German order for the F-35mooted after
Berlin was reportedly given classied briengs on the U.S.

T
he leaders of France and Germany have ghterlooks increasingly unlikely.
declared an ambition to build a European But so does British involvement in such a program, despite
the UK having been a preferred partner for European combat
answer to the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. aircraft development for decades. The result of Britains June
French President Emmanuel Macron and Ger- 2016 vote to exit the European Union has made the future
man Chancellor Angela Merkel are working to of European defense cooperation with the UK less certain.
However, BAE Systems ofcials are more optimistic, indi-
mend European defense relations and bolster cating that they have access to technologies and capabilities
their defense industrial base, which has been the new system might need.
eroded by overly aggressive budget reductions. I am convinced that we, the UK and BAE Systems, will,
one way or the other, have an involvement, said Chris Board-
The two countries want to strengthen their defense rela- man, the managing director of BAEs military aircraft busi-
tionship via a permanent structured cooperation, which ness, at the Royal International Air Tattoo (RIAT) July 14.
will strengthen coherence, continuity, coordination and col- Europe has now recognized what the rest of the world is
laboration between European States, ofcials say. doing, added Boardman, pointing out that nations across
And going beyond ghters, the two leaders also proposed the world are investing in next-generation ghter aircraft. I
development of a new maritime patrol aircraft platform and a dont feel threatened by it. . . . I want to see how it matures.
ground-based indirect re system, and they have reiterated a BAE is already heavily involved in development of the F-35
need to develop a European intelligence-gathering unmanned and its supply chain and is sending engineers to Turkey to as-
air system as they met in Paris for the Franco-German Min- sist in development of a Turkish indigenous ghter called TF-X.
isterial Council on July 13. One European industry executive at RIAT questioned what
The announcement for the ghter has certainly surprised additional capabilities BAE would be able to bring beyond
industry ofcials, who sensed political movement but had no those that Airbus and Dassault could provide.
idea it would surface so quickly. Asked whether a Franco-German program could harm
Airbus, which will likely work on any resulting program
from the German side, welcomed the move, adding that
strengthening the Franco-German axis will help to safeguard
critically needed European defense capabilities in the future.
Dassault would probably support the project in France.
Now the two countries want to dene a road map to the
ghter by mid-2018, but there is no clue how far the time
line extends into the future. Germany would likely want an
aircraft that would replace both the Panavia Tornado and the
Euroghter Typhoon, while France would use the resulting
platform to replace its Dassault Mirages and Rafales, possibly
including those operated by its navy.
The plan has its origins in Germanys NextGen Weapon
System (NextGenWS) studies, which were detailed by Berlin
in early 2016. It called for concrete European collaboration,
to progress a manned or unmanned ghter platform.
Documents at the time noted that a national single-hand-
ed development for weapon systems of this complexity no
longer seems possible.
Airbus was contracted to begin studies later that year with
two teams working on concept denition and specications
making extensive use of simulation. Spain has also become
involved in the NextGenWS to see if the joint platform could
meet its own future combat air system requirements to re-
place its navys McDonnell-Douglas F/A-18 Hornets and AV-8
Harriers.
Then, in June, Airbuss head of military aircraft, Fernando
Alonso, urged France to join the discussion. It is clearly in
our European interest to dene one single system available

16 AVIATION WEEK & SPACE TECHNOLOGY/JULY 24-AUGUST 13, 2017 AviationWeek.com/awst

the future of the Anglo-French unmanned combat air vehicle
demonstrator program, Boardman said that industry on both
sides of the English Channel is working to bring the program
to the next stage of commitment. He added, Nothing I see
is stopping the pace of that discussion.
Macron and Merkels announcement was obliquely aimed
at Washington as well, taking place as President Donald
Trump touched down in Paris on July 13 for the Bastille Day
celebrations the next day. More efcient European coopera-
tion could lead to defense equipment that could better com-
pete with American products, with research and develop-
ment supported not only by the national governments but
also the newly launched European Defense Fund for research
and development.
Macron has called for a deep revolution in how the pro-
grams might be structured, hinting that he recognizes the
mistakes of past multinational programs. The Typhoon has
struggled to achieve exports in part because of the high costs
associated with its four-nation construct and having assem-
bly lines in the partner countries.
Today there are too many European standards and quali-
cations, and sometimes there is competition among Euro-
peans internationally, Macron said.
In addition to the ghter, the two countries are signatories
to a letter of intent signed in Brussels on June 29 to develop
a new multimission and maritime patrol aircraft capability
along with Greece, Italy, Spain and Turkey.
Although discussions are at an early stage, it is clear the
nations are looking for one of two outcomes. One would be a
joint acquisition program, similar to the Multinational Multi-
Role Tanker Transport Fleet launched by the Netherlands
and Luxembourg and recently signed on to by Germany and
Norway, but operated and run by NATO. Or perhaps, and
the more likely of the two, is an entirely new European-
developed platform, for which the industrial base there has
been lobbying hard.
In a study published by NATOs Joint Air Power Compe-
tence Center (JAPCC) in June 2016, senior ofcers said that
NATO countries needed to identify a common aircraft re-
placement for the Lockheed P-3 Orion-series that remains
in service with several nations. JAPCC says many of these
aircraft will need replacing around 2025.
The study contends there has been a dramatic fall in the
number of maritime patrol aircraft since the end of the Cold
War, with around 120 such platforms chopped from national
inventories. Some nations did away with the capability en-
tirely, including the Netherlands. Italy, with its new Leonardo
ATR 72-based aircraft, retains the ability to surveil the seas
but is no longer equipped for anti-submarine warfare.
Germany is operating a eet of former Dutch P-3 Orions,
while France is operating the Dassault Atlantique 2, currently
undergoing feasibility studies on upgrading the platform to
keep it operational until 2030. Greece is reentering the mari-
time patrol mission with upgrades to its elderly eet of P-3s,
while Turkey will soon take delivery of a much-delayed eet
of anti-submarine warfare-capable ATR 72 Meltem IIIs.
A communique from the Franco-German Ministerial
Council says that a common road map for the platform will
be developed in 2018.
The JAPCC report says several nations had been waiting
to see what Britain would do to rebuild its maritime patrol
capability after retiring the Nimrod. The UK ended up select-
ing the Boeing P-8 Poseidon, a platform the report says is
beyond the nancial means of many countries.
Although the Cold War is not returning, the Bear is awak-
ening from hibernation, and NATO cannot aford to function
with a future capability shortfall against a growing submarine
presence, the report states. c

Germanys plan for a new ghter was originally proposed as a Panavia

Tornado replacement, but the partnership with France could result in
an aircraft that also replaces the Euroghter and Frances Rafale.

OLIVER PIEPER/BUNDESWEHR

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 COMMERCIAL AVIATION

Painful Divorce there would likely be a very high price

to pay: The UK would have to remain
a member of the European Common
Aviation Area and continue to accept
Airlines are concerned that Brexit could mean all of the EU aviation regulations such
as passenger rights, European Court of
regulatory chaos for European air transport Justice rulings for the sector and the
European Aviation Safety Agency as
Jens Flottau Frankfurt the aviation safety regulator. However,
getting out from under EU regulation

A
lthough completion of Brexit is 20 months away, airlines was a key goal of Brexit supporters.
and regulators are hard-pressed to resolve myriad legal IAG is in a particularly tricky posi-
tion. The group is based in Spain, but
questions raised by the UKs decision to leave the Euro- its largest subsidiary, British Airways,
pean Union. Some industry ofcials predict chaos is inevitable operates from London. IAG holds
unless there is a quick resolution. only 49.9% of the British Airways vot-
ing rights (but 99.65% of the nominal
If we dont have a clear legal frame- August 2018 to ensure sufcient time share capital in BA) for the purposes
work by September 2018, we will not for it to be ratied by the remaining 27 of implementing the British Airways
be flying to the UK, Ryanair CEO member states. nationality structure, according to
Michael OLeary told members of OLeary is pessimistic that a deal the IAG 2016 annual report. A nominal
the European Parliament. It will be can be accomplished so quickly: To majority (50.1%) of the voting rights
a huge mess. Given the state of nego- find an open skies agreement in 12 are held by a British trust that has a
tiations over the UKs vote to leave the months is an impossibility, he avers. say in core decisions such as appoint-
European Union, there is a real pros- Other industry observers note that ing chief executives. IAG needs a new
pect that there are no ights between September 2018 will be too late, and EU/UK deal that allows it to own a
the UK and Europe from March 2019 that March 2018 is even more unre- British airline with all of its current
for some months, he warns. alistic. There has to be some bridge trafc rights intact. It also needs the
On March 29, British Prime Min- solution, says Marius Boewe, a lawyer U.S. to agree to a new U.S./UK deal
ister Theresa May ofcially declared specializing in aviation regulation at that continues to accept the trust
the countrys intention to exit the EU. Herbert Smith Freehills, a UK-based structure of British Airways. As a fur-
The UK will lose its status as an EU law rm. ther complication, IAG is 20% owned
member state by the end of March Willie Walsh, chief executive of by Qatar Airways. The IAG struc-
2019, given that terms of the conditions International Airlines Group (IAG), ture will not survive a hard Brexit,
must be concluded within two years. is clear about his targets: A compre- Ryanairs OLeary cautions.
OLeary urged parliament members hensive air services agreement simi- Others, including Ryanair, are in no
to tackle negotiations afecting the air lar to, but more open than the EU/U.S. easier position. Deducting the shares
transport portion of the exit with alac- open skies agreement, which main- owned by UK investors, Ryanair cur-
rity, noting that such complex matters tains all the freedoms of the air and rently has less than 50% European
do not have the luxury of time and need includes provisions that would allow ownership, which would not allow it to
immediate resolution. Ryanair (and airlines to be fully owned by nationals continue ying intra-European routes.
other carriers) will be making route of both parties. Ryanair may force some UK investors
decisions for summer 2019 beginning That is a very big ask. The EU will to sell shares and buy them back to en-
in September or October 2018 at the play extremely tough, says Boewe. sure majority EU ownership, OLeary
latest; therefore, a new EU/UK avia- While the UK could in theory expect hints.
tion agreement must be negotiated by to retain the access that Walsh wants, Walsh does not share OLearys pes-

London Gatwick Airport is by far

EasyJets largest base.

18 AVIATION WEEK & SPACE TECHNOLOGY/JULY 24-AUGUST 13, 2017 AviationWeek.com/awst

simism. I dont agree with his projec-
tions that the UK will no longer be
connected, because it is in everybodys
interest [to retain air service]. But we
do need certainty sooner rather than
later. He also stresses that the IAG
structures remain valid and that the
company continues to comply with all
rules and regulations.
EasyJet is already reshaping its
corporate structure and setting up a
new air operator certicate (AOC) to
deal with the fallout of Brexit. Europes
second-largest low-fare airline earlier
this year applied to Austrian aviation
regulator Austro Control for an a AOC
and says the process is now well ad-
vanced and the airline therefore
hopes to receive the AOC and license
in the near future. The new airline,
EasyJet Europe, will be based in Vi-
enna. The structure will enable Easy-
Jet to continue to operate ights both
across Europe and domestically within
European countries after the UK has
left the EU, the company states. This
would be the case regardless of the
outcome of talks on a future EU-UK
aviation agreement.
EasyJet plc, the holding company,
currently owns 100% of EasyJet Air-
line Co. Ltd., which operates services
within and from England and Wales,
and 49% of EasyJet Switzerland SA.
The remaining 51% is owned by Swiss
nationals.
EasyJet Europe, the new Austrian
AOC, will be 100% owned by EasyJet
plc, but the future ownership structure
of the British airline is not yet clear.
EasyJet plc has around 27.5% UK
ownership, not counting the 33.72%
held by the founding Haji-Ioannou
family. Its current EU27-ownership
(the shares owned by nationals of the
future EU of 27 countries) is at 47%.
But the company says the holding
structure, while based and listed in
London, will continue to be European.
Therefore, EasyJet has to orchestrate
a yet-to-be-dened change in its share-
holder structure that ensures another
4% of its share capital will become
European-owned.
Herbert Smith Freehills Boewe says
the new EasyJet structure could very
well work out ne, and the initiatives
indicate that the airline is far advanced
in preparing for Brexit.
Whether EasyJet Airline Co., the fu-
ture British airline, will be 100% owned
by the holding company depends on
the future aviation agreement as well
as British regulations regarding airline
ownership. EasyJet could be forced to
set up an independent trust that for-
mally owns 51% of the British airline
to ensure its UK status. That would
be the favored structure of Bernstein
Research analyst Daniel Roeska, who
would like to see all of the afected air-
lines establish shields to protect na-
tional structures in the UK and the EU.
However, in EasyJet Airline Co.s
case that may not be necessary, de-
pending on how the Haji-Ioannou stake
is categorized. EasyJet founder Stelios
Haji-Ioannou and his family have dual
Cypriot/British citizenship. If the UK
and the EU agree, that stake could,
Northern Exposure
Norwegian has ambitious expansion plans,
but multiple obstacles remain
Madhu Unnikrishnan Oslo
in theory, be counted as belonging to
both the EU27 and British portion of
the share capital, since Cyprus is an
EU member.
EasyJet as a whole currently op-
erates 266 aircraft; 25 are based in
Geneva and belong to EasyJet Swit-
zerland. Another 100 are based in six
future EU27 countries. These, along
with 4,000 employees, will be placed
under the roof of EasyJet Europe. No
jobs will shift from the UK to Austria,
the company has stated.
Transatlantic joint ventures are
also at risk. Approvals hinge on an
open transatlantic market, which ends
in March 2019, says Sean Kennedy,
Airlines for America (A4A) senior vice
president of global government af-
fairs. London-Heathrow routes repre-
sent eight of the top 10 transatlantic
markets for U.S. airlines and 53% of
U.S.-originating Heathrow trafc con-
nects to what will be the reconstituted
European Union. Therefore, Kennedy
stresses, a liberal EU/UK agreement is
needed as much as a new UK/U.S. deal.
Observers believe that the three
joint ventures routes between conti-
nental Europe and the U.S. could still
retain antitrust immunity post-Brexit.
But given U.S. carriers reliance on
Heathrow, that would make relatively
little diference. c

N
orwegian Air Shuttles plans to knit the world with low-cost long-haul ser-
vice received another boost earlier in July when the carrier took delivery
of its rst Boeing 737 MAX aircraft, which it plans to operate from Europe
to the Northeastern U.S. andas CEO Bjorn Kjos predictseventually to New
Delhi. In addition, the company is taking advantage of aviation liberalization by
setting up subsidiaries in Ireland, the UK and Argentina.
But Norwegians ambitious plans do not have clear runways. Political forces
beyond the companys control could crimp its expansion, particularly in two key
markets: the U.S. and Northeast AsiaChina, Japan and South Korea.
Norwegian is facing headwinds in the latter market due to the issue of Russian
overight. Russia is not a signatory to the 1945 International Air Services Transit
Agreement (IASTA), which allows reciprocal overight of countries in the pact.
Instead, Russia charges royalties to carriers that want to y over its vast Siberian
territory. These royalties amount to hundreds of millions of dollars a yearmost
of which goes to Russian carrier Aerootbut are a necessary cost of doing busi-
ness, particularly for European airlines seeking to serve Northeast Asia.
The problem for Norwegian is that these overight rights are negotiated by
EASYJET

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 COMMERCIAL AVIATION
governments, not by individual airlines, and many of the
agreements negotiated by countries where the carrier op-
erates were hammered out before Norwegian began long-
haul service. For example, Denmark, Norway and Sweden
have agreements with Russia that cover SAS Scandinavian
Airlines, while those negotiated by the UK cover British Air-
ways and other incumbent carriers such as Virgin Atlantic
Airways.
Norwegian serves Bangkok from Copenhagen, Oslo and
Stockholm, and plans to launch London-Singapore service
this autumn. But to reach points in China, Japan and South
Korea, it needs Russian overight rights.
The company is working with the governments of the
Scandinavian countries and the UK to negotiate overight
rights with Russia. Overying the Siberian corridor is nec-
essary for us to expand and the lack of these rights is limiting
our Asian expansion, Kjos says.
Norwegian has not announced any rm plans to serve
China, Japan or South Korea, but Kjos says these countries
are in the companys sights. He had no time frame for when
negotiations will be completed, but notes: We are having
very positive discussions with the Russians and are inter-
ested in possibly serving Moscow, as well.
On the other side of the Atlantic, problems for Norwe-
gian have been playing out for longer, but still remain an
impediment to its expansion. The companys Irish subsidiary,
Norwegian Air International (NAI), won the right to serve
the U.S. in the waning days of the Obama administration,
after more than two years of erce opposition from unions.
They alleged that NAI was established in Ireland to skirt
Norways strict labor laws and therefore violated Article 17
bis of the U.S.-EU open-skies agreement, which covers labor
provisions.
Unions and other groups have renewed their complaints,
alleging that Norwegian UK (NUK), which was just granted
temporary permission to y to the U.S. by the Transporta-
tion Department, operates under the same model. The latest
shot red in this battle came last month, when Rep. Frank
LoBiondo (R-N.J.) added an amendment to the FAA reau-
thorization bill that would change the U.S. Transportation
Departments permitting process, targeting in particular
what unions call ag-of-convenience carriers. This is the
label they have applied to NAI and NUK, which y with Irish
and British air operators certicates, respectively. They ar-
gue that the U.S. airline business could sufer the same fate
as the maritime industry, which was brought to its knees in
the middle of the 20th century when shipping lines began
registering vessels in countries with lower taxes and less-
stringent labor provisions than the U.S.
Kjos scofed at this notion. I cant understand labors ar-
20 AVIATION WEEK & SPACE TECHNOLOGY/JULY 24-AUGUST 13, 2017
Norwegian plans to use its Boeing 737-8
aircraft for transatlantic ights and possibly to
connect Stockholm with destinations in Asia.
guments, he says. Are unions suggesting that labor laws
NORWEGIAN AIR SHUTTLE
in the UK and Ireland are worse than those in the U.S. and
Norway? That is just not true.
We are a European carrier, in compliance with all labor
laws and with the open-skies agreement, and we are de-
nitely not subsidized. I simply cannot understand how they
can say there are ags of convenience in Europe.
Labors arguments are being pushed forward by the three
largest U.S. legacy carriersAmerican Airlines, Delta Air
Lines and United Airlines, Kjos says. It is getting fairly ex-
pensive to y domestic in the U.S. now, he explains. They
want to protect those high fares across the Atlantic as well,
and we ofer fares that are too low, and they hate competition.
I cannot understand where this ag-of-convenience ar-
gument comes in, he continues. We are not set up, like ship-
ping, in some country with low taxes to evade paying taxes
or labor; we are operating from advanced European states.
The carrier operates its transatlantic ights with crews
based in the U.S. or Europe, Kjos says.
Indeed, Norwegians supporters argue the company is tak-
ing full advantage of the liberalization aforded by the open
skies agreement. It allows European carriers to y from any
point in the EUincluding countries, such as Norway, that
are not part of the bloc but have signed the agreementto
any city in the U.S. The company set up NUK as a hedge
against Britains decision to leave the EU, or Brexit, which
could complicate matters if the UK and EU cannot negotiate
a new air services agreement before 2019. NUK will be a
standalone operation ying in and out of London, because I
am not sure a UK operator will be allowed to y in and out
of other European states after Brexit, says Kjos.
But the competition has not stood still. The open-skies
agreement created a vacuum for U.S.-bound ights at Lon-
dons Gatwick Airport, from which many carriers decamped
in favor of Heathrow Airport. Access there had been re-
stricted by the bilateral agreements that the open-skies deal
superseded. International Airlines Group (IAG), the parent
company of British Airways, has responded with new ights
to U.S. destinations from Gatwick, including Fort Lauder-
dale, Florida, and Oakland, California. These are routes that
Norwegian operates but British Airways has not served,
according to Craig Jenks, founder of industry consultancy
Airline/Aircraft Projects Inc.
IAG also has launched Level, a new low-cost, long-haul
carrier. Level will operate ights to the U.S. and Buenos Ai-
res, Argentina, from Barcelona, Spain, which Jenks believes
is IAGs response to Norwegians low-cost, long-haul ights
from that city. This is propelled by IAGs determination not
to cede ground, he says.
It remains to be seen if British Airways will respond with
AviationWeek.com/awst
routes to Singapore and Buenos Aires from Gatwick, to
match Norwegians fights, he says.
But Buenos Aires also is a focus of Norwegians expansion,
and not merely for connecting Argentina with Europe. The
company could secure the necessary government approv-
als for a planned Argentinan subsidiary by the end of the
month, Kjos says.
The new airline, Norwegian Argentina, would serve the
domestic market and connect Argentina with Europe and
eventually operate from Argentina to other South Ameri-
can countries. We are setting up an Argentine company
and are getting an Argentine [air operators certifcate],
Kjos says. We are in the process of recruiting for a base in
Buenos Aires.
In order to operate routes within Argentina, Norwegian
needs to secure what Kjos calls concessions from the gov-
ernment. Kjos expects these approvals by the end of July, at
which point the carrier would set up its subsidiary and staf
its base in Buenos Aires.
Argentina is very underserved and has no LCCs in its
markets, Kjos notes. Fares are very high, and there are 45
million people in the country, so we think it has incredible
potential as a tourist market. Initial routes would be from
Buenos Aires to Europe, either to London or a city in Scandi-
navia. He did not detail possible internal Argentinen routes.
All of this expansion requires more aircraft, and Norwe-
gian has a large orderbook with both Boeing and Airbus. The
company has 114 Boeing 737-800s in its feet, two 737-8swith
four more of these 737 MAX airliners entering the feet by the
end of Julyand 14 787-9s. It has orders for 106 additional
MAX aircraft and 42 more 787-9s. In addition, Norwegian has
ordered 30 Airbus A321neo LRsits frst Airbus aircraft
which are expected to begin joining the feet in 2019.
One quirk of Norwegians structure is that all of its aircraft
are owned by a wholly owned leasing subsidiary, Arctic Avia-
tion Asset (AAA). This lessor converted 30 of its 100 Airbus
A320neo orders to the A321neo LRs that Norwegian plans
to operate, with 70 of the A320neos to be leased to other
airlines by AAA. As Norwegian replaces its 737-800s with
MAX aircraft, the older 737s will go back to AAA to be leased
to other airlines, says Kjos.
This rapid expansion comes at a cost. Norwegian in June
reported yields were down 6% from the same month in 2016,
although trafc was up 19% on 20% more capacity. Yields
for the full-year 2016 fell 5%, and unit revenues were down
3%. In the frst quarter of this year, the company lost $181
million, which it attributed to higher fuel costs, increased
competition and the strength of the Norwegian kroner. In
the second quarter, the company reported a proft of $121
million, but a loss of $50 million for the frst half of the year.
Yields for the frst half of 2017 declined by 9%, compared
with the frst half of 2016.
Against the backdrop of these fnancial results, Frode
Foss, the companys chief fnancial ofcer, announced he
was leaving the company after 15 years in the position. Tore
Ostby, currently vice president for investor relations, is suc-
ceeding him on an interim basis. The news of Fosss depar-
ture sent Norwegians stock plunging 8% in a single day, and
it still has not recovered fully.
Despite this, Kjos remains optimistic about the carriers
expansion plans. Norwegian recently announced several
new U.S. destinations including Austin, Texas, and he says
the company is exploring using its new MAX aircraft in
Asia. The MAX can fy between Stockholm and Delhi,
he says. From Stockholm, with our feet, we can cover
most of Asia. c

Unknown Territory A350-900s also has undergone sev-

eral iterations and has actually grown
to 35 A350-1000s. However, the airline
The three big U.S. legacy carriers deferred deliveries of four A350-1000s
from 2018 to 2019, again raising more
are holding back on widebody orders uncertainty about its large A350 com-
mitment.
Jens Flottau Frankfurt The 787 also is afected by these de-
velopments. Delta canceled an order

D
elta Air Lines took delivery of
its frst A350-900 on July 13, an
event celebrated by Airbus as a
major milestone for the program. After
all, the aircraft was the frst A350 de-
livered to a North American customer.
But while Delta now is slowly starting to
renew its widebody feet, this delivery
cannot hide the fact that the U.S. mar-
ket has been troubling for three of the
latest widebody programsthe A350
and Boeing 787, as well as the 777X.
The facts are sobering. None of the
three legacy U.S. carriersAmerican
Airlines, Delta and United Airlines
arguably the only U.S.-based candi-
dateshave placed orders for the
777X, a program launched on the basis
of orders from the big three Gulf car-
riersEmirates, Etihad Airways and
Qatar Airwaysas well as Lufthansa.
The three U.S. carriers have ordered
a total of 82 A350s, but when these air-
craft will actually arrive is not clear.
Delta ordered 25 -900s and is under-
stood to be taking 15 of them within the
next two years or so. However, it also
deferred deliveries for 10 more, from
2019-20 to 2021-24. American has an
order for 22 A350s, placed initially by
its predecessor US Airways in 2005.
The frst aircraft was supposed to have
arrived three years ago according to
the original plan, but several defer-
rals have pushed first delivery back
to 2020. Uniteds 2009 order for 25
for 18 of them last December, after
having deferred deliveries until 2020
and later. The order had been placed
by Northwest Airlines, which merged
with Delta in 2008.
There are multiple reasons for the
slow sales of large widebody aircraft
in the U.S.market-driven, strategic,
sometimes even personal. But if ana-
lysts and experts observing these de-
velopments are right, neither Airbus
nor Boeing can hope for the situation
to change soon.
In recent years, U.S. carriers have
focused on turning around the do-
mestic market to achieve higher proft
margins through capacity discipline
and other changes. That exercise has

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 COMMERCIAL AVIATION
been very successful, based on the
mega-mergers that created four large
groups controlling around 80% of
the trafc. The transatlantic market,
in spite of growth in Asia, is still the
mainstay of U.S. carriers long-haul op-
erations and is in the process of funda-
mental change, as U.S. airlines are not
nearly as much in control of that situ-
ation as they are on domestic routes.
Beyond the emergence of low-fare
carriers such as Norwegian Air Shut-
tle, Level, WOW Air and Eurowings in
a big way, there is also the slow-but-
steady growth of narrowbody ights
into secondary markets that is eating
into the backyards of major hubs. The
North Atlantic market will change
quite dramatically over the next 5-10
years, predicts Kiran Rao, executive
vice president of product strategy at
Airbus Commercial Aircraft. The
[North American] market is also con-
cerned about transpacic routes as a
lot of Chinese airlines are coming in
and Singapore Airlines is relaunching
nonstop U.S. ights. Transpacic will
also change, but it will change in a dif-
ferent way.
Short- and medium-haul ying has
already become a commodity, says
George Hamlin, president of Hamlin
Transportation Consulting. We begin
to see the same across the Atlantic.
So as low-cost and narrowbody opera-
tors gain a bigger share of the transat-
lantic market, incumbents are cautious
about adding new capacity and are still
in the process of guring out what will
be the right future aircraft. With the
current low fuel prices, airlines also do
not feel a need to replace their existing
eets as soon.
When the fleet changes come, the
replacement aircraft may not be any
22 AVIATION WEEK & SPACE TECHNOLOGY/JULY 24-AUGUST 13, 2017
of the widebodies currently offered,
or could be the proposed Boeing New
Midsize Airplane (NMA). As sketched
out, the new Boeing aircraft would
have the range to y most transatlan-
tic missions and would ofer more ex-
ibility than the Airbus A321LR, whose
range is limited to around 4,000 nm.
The NMA also could have a major ad-
vantage from an airline strategy point
of view vis-a-vis larger aircraft: If the
lower end of the market is going to be
dominated by the Norwegians of the
industry and the large legacy carri-
ers cannot compete on price because
of their much higher costs, they likely
will have to focus on the premium end
of the market. This, in turn, will proba-
bly lead them to order smaller aircraft
with fewer seats that have to be lled
at steep discounts.
While Airbuss Rao concedes he does
feel some interest in the NMA from U.S.
carriers, he believes they may not be
able to wait that long. The big mainline
carriers will have to replace large eets
of Boeing 757s and 767s over the next
several years, many of which are used
on transatlantic routes. With Boeing
targeting entry into service of the NMA
around 2025, waiting for the new type
would be a big risk, Rao says, simply
because airlines could not cope with
a potential delay of the type that the
industry has seen in many recent de-
velopment programs.
Rao may have a point. Of Uniteds 79
Boeing 757s, 72 are 15 or more years
old. All of its 52 767s exceed 15 years
of service, as do 72 of 79 777s. At Delta,
almost all of the 129 757s are more than
15 years old, as are all 84 767s. Ameri-
cans entire in-service eet of 51 757s ing them. Rao, of course, insists that
exceeds 15 years, as do 23 of its 31 767s.
By 2025, all of these aircraft would be
at least 23 years old and many of them
close to or beyond 30 years. No margin
for replacement would be left.
So far, with a combined 91 rm or-
ders from two airlines for the 787 and
82 from three airlines for the A350, nei-
ther of the programs can claim great
success in the U.S. market, not to men-
tion the total absence of orders for the
777X. In spite of the Delta cancellation,
the 787 may be a little more protected
from deferrals than the A350 because
it is slightly smaller and therefore pres-
ents less of an additional risk for 757
and 767 replacements should airlines
choose neither to wait for the NMA
nor opt for the A321LR or A330neo,
which Airbus is heavily promoting for
the transatlantic market as well.
Kevin Michaels, managing director
of the AeroDynamic Consultancy, be-
lieves Boeing will continue to have a
Delta took delivery of its rst
A350-900 earlier in July.
tough time at Delta. Delta is Airbus-
AIRBUS
friendly right now, he remarks, a view
supported not only by the A350 order
but also by the airlines support as a
launch customer of the A330neo. Also,
Boeings complaint against the Bom-
bardier C Series sales to U.S. custom-
ers did not go down well in Atlanta.
But if I were Airbus, Id be most
worried about the United order,
Michaels argues. That order was orig-
inally placed in 2010, just before the
merger with Continental. Since then,
many Boeing-friendly ex-Continental
Airlines executives have taken on key
roles at United. It could play out to a
similar situation as the Delta-North-
west merger, where Delta inherited
the 787 order and then deferred them
for a while, until just recently cancel-
we are not talking about canceling
orders. c
AviationWeek.com/awst
 THINK MORE
THINK MAX

Introducing the 737 MAX 10. The newest addition to the 737 MAX family offers the lowest per-seat cost in the
single-aisle segment. Setting new standards in seat costs and efciency, the 737 MAX is now the most protable
family in any airlines eet. Its time to take a closer look. Think more. Think MAX.

boeing.com/737MAX
 PROPULSION

Rocket Resurrection
New investment revives small-sat launcher
developer with bigger rocket plan
Guy Norris Atlanta

W
hen promising U.S. space
startup rocket company Fire-
fy shut down late last year in
the face of severe fnancial problems it
seemed a salutary reminder of the risks
facing the many newcomers chasing the
small-satellite market.
Now, just a few months later, the
surprise rebirth of a newly capitalized
Firefy is reinforcing investor and in-
dustry faith in the growing potential of
the dedicated small-sat launch business
as order books continue to build. The
vehicle developer is not only fully fund-
ed, but is also reshaping its course to
develop a larger, more capable version
of the companys original Alpha rocket.
Renamed Firefly Aerospace, the
former Firefly Space Systems was
poised to begin full-scale tests of its
Alpha vehicles pressure-fed FRE-2
aerospike rocket engine when fund-
ing issues intruded in late 2016. After
attempts to raise additional financ-
ing fell through, the companys assets
were acquired in March 2017 by EOS
Launcher, which was renamed Firefy
Aerospace. The company is wholly
owned by Noosphere Ventures, the
strategic venture arm of Noosphere
Global, a private technology group
with interests in space technology, en-
terprise software, consumer internet
and advertising technology.
Im happy to report that Firefly
Aerospace is fully funded, says Fire-
fly founder and CEO Tom Markusic.
A high-net-worth individual is fund-
ing this project, and I dont have to
worry about raising money anymore.
We have all of our facilities and all
of our technology in place. We have
a team of about 65 people in place
today, setting up rocket engine
tests in Texas. The wealthy backer
is thought to be Maxim Polyakov,
founder and CEO of Noosphere.
Speaking at the American Institute
of Aeronautics and Astronautics Power
and Energy forum here, Markusic says
the revitalized company is rebuilding
quickly after last years collapse, which
led to the laying of of the entire work-
force. We had about 200 folks at Firefy
before and we are rebuilding again to
about 100. In the past couple of months
we have hired about 65 people and we
are aggressively hiring again.
In the meantime, Markusic acknowl-
edges the impact of the shutdown and
the subsequent decision to upgrade the
Alpha design has had an inevitable ef-
fect on the development schedule: At
the end of the day, we are supposed to

Price of Power labs Grey Wolf low-cost cruise missile prototype program.
Kratoss LCASD prototype, now ofcially designated as the
XQ-58A Valkyrie, is a 29-ft.-span unmanned aircraft capable
Low-cost unmanned combat of Mach 0.85 and up to 4,700-nm range to accompany manned
strike aircraft. The aircraft is planned to fy in early 2018.
aircraft demand cheaper engines LCASD is not expendable but is intended to be afordable
enough to be sacrifced in combat. Attritable loyal wingmen
Graham Warwick Atlanta can improve manned-fghter survivability by overwhelming
enemy air defenses. But engines need to be designed for

A
dvances in propulsion have historically led progress
in aviation, but unmanned aircraft have turned this
rule of thumb on its head. Most larger UAVs use ma-
ture engines adapted to their specifc requirements, such as
increased endurance and power generation.
Reasons include the need to minimize risk by focusing tech-
nology development resources on the airframe and electronics
and adapting an of-the-the-shelf engine. Cost is another major
factor, as bigger UAVs are not built in large quantities.
Now engine manufacturers are being called on to develop
inexpensive, limited-life engines to power a new generation
of low-cost unmanned combat aircraft and cruise missiles.
Eforts to drive down the cost of these systems are being
hampered by the price tags for available engines.
Leading the call for a new class of engine is Kratos De-
fenses unmanned systems division, which is building the
Low-Cost Attritable Strike Demonstrator (LCASD) for
the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratorys (AFRL) Loyal
Wingman concept. The company is also bidding for the
low-cost manufacturing, fewer parts, and a life measured in
hundreds of hours.
With AFRLs unit cost goal of $3 million for an initial 100
vehicles, and $2 million for higher quantities, the engine
has become a cost driver, says Joe Valenzuela, Kratos se-
nior business development executive for tactical unmanned
aircraft systems (UAS).
We have moved the price down for everything but the
engine, which is now the driver for cost, he told the Ameri-
can Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics Propulsion &
Space conference in Atlanta on July 10. The engine is 40%
of the price of LCASD, he says. The price pressure is even
greater on the Grey Wolf tactical cruise missile, with a target
unit cost around $200,000 where a typical missile engine can
cost upward of $100,000, Valenzuela says.
The XQ-58A is powered by an off-the-shelf Williams
FJ33-5 turbofan, in production as a business-jet engine.
We do not have an engine developed for this, so we use a
commercial engine, says Valenzuela. But it has a 3,500-hr.

24 AVIATION WEEK & SPACE TECHNOLOGY/JULY 24-AUGUST 13, 2017 AviationWeek.com/awst


FIREFLY AEROSPACE
launch in the second quarter of 2018,
but I think we are about a year behind
schedule on that. However, it will actu-
ally be a much more capable vehicle.
The initial Alpha rocket was a Fal-
con 1-class vehicle designed to deliver
200-kg payloads to a 500-km sun-syn-
chronous orbit. The revised Alpha will
have a signifcantly larger payload, but
for the moment Markusic says only that
we will be releasing details of that with
our new user guide, which should be
within the next month.
Speaking to Aviation Week on the
conference sidelines, he adds that the
upgraded performance is sufciently
significant to require a change to
pump-fedas opposed to pressure-
Much of the work already conducted
by Firefy on the propulsion system,
such as this full-mission duty cycle
combustor test, will be incorporated
into the updated Alpha.
fedengines. In addition, he adds that
the revised confguration may not fea-
ture the aerospike frst-stage engines
which were a design hallmark of the
initial Alpha. Thats not 100% decided
though yet, he adds.
Renamed the Reaver after charac-
ters from the science fction television
series Firefy, the main propulsion
system for Alpha will still be based
on much of the development work
already underway for the existing
liquid oxygen (LOX)/RP-1 two-stage
design, says Markusic. Together with
the upper-stage unit, powered by the
newly renamed Lightning engine, the
current confguration is now 82 ft. tall
and is a simpler, more conventional
configuration. It no longer features
the helium tanks of the initial Alpha
design, which were used to pressure-
feed the propellant from composite
tanks into the pintle injector of the
aerospike. The helium system was an
added complexity to the original de-
sign, as it required cryogenic storage
at high pressure before being heated
to increase its specifc volume using
waste heat from the combustors.
The vehicle uses conventional tech-
nology where we can, says Markusic.
We are developing the propulsion
system and testing full-scale, 6-ft-dia.
LOX and kerosene tanks under high
pressure. For some of the mechanisms
of the vehicle, such as the separation
rings, we are buying of the shelf. In
overall terms, the revamped Firefy is
ready for full-scale development and
production, he adds.
We have everything in place. We
have a 20,000-ft.2 engineering facil-
ity in Cedar Park, Texas, and we have
about 50,000 ft.2 of brand-new manu-
facturing product facilities for building
composite and metallic components in-
house. We also have 200 acres of test
facilities including a 150,000-lb.-thrust
horizontal engine test stand, and we
are in the process of constructing a
comparable thrust level stand for ver-
tical testing. c
Check 6 Guy Norris and Graham
Warwick discuss the thrusts of this
years AIAA Propulsion & Energy
conference: AviationWeek.com/podcast

time between overhauls versus our 200-300-hr. fight time. ested in the XQ-58A as an expeditionary unmanned aircraft.
Engines designed for reliability and long life on manned Valenzuela characterizes the vehicle as a hybrid between a
vehicles are far more expensive than powerplants for ex- UAV and a missile. The aircraft can be stored, predeployed
pendable cruise missiles or attritable unmanned combat at a forward location and pulled from storage to perform
aircraft designed for a handful of missions. multiple missions.
We need engines that are inexpensive. That requires a The idea is there is no depot-level maintenance. If its no
change in paradigm, he says. Instead of an engine that runs longer good enough to fy, you dispose of it, he says. Kratos
forever, we are willing to accept failures. An engine that can entered the attritable-aircraft market after acquiring aerial-
last 50 hr., enough for fve missions, is good enough if its at target maker CEI, and its targets average six fights before
the right price. being lost. We are already making attritable aircraft with
Low-cost, short-life engines will require a new business our target drones, he says. c
model for manufacturers, Valenzuela says, as
there will be no maintenance, repair and over-
haul revenue with which to recoup investment
in development. Instead they face the challenge
of cutting costs enough to make money produc-
ing hundreds of engines a year, he says.
Kratos is building one LCASD for AFRL and
two more aircraft on company funds, one for
fight test and one for ground test with an option
for fight. Valenzuela says the company is talk-
ing to other potential customers and expects to
build more aircraft.
U.S. Special Operations Command is inter-

Kratoss XQ-58A low-cost unmanned com-

bat aircraft demonstrator is powered by an
of-the-shelf business-jet turbofan.
KRATOS DEFENSE

AviationWeek.com/awst AVIATION WEEK & SPACE TECHNOLOGY/JULY 24-AUGUST 13, 2017 25

 ProPulsion
Do the Locomotion
Nature-inspired UAV can operate underwater as well
Tony Osborne London
A
n unmanned air vehicle with the
ability to operate in the water as
well it does in the air is under
development at a British university.
The Aquatic Micro Air Vehicle, or
AquaMAV has been designed by a team
at Imperial College in London to fy to a
body of water, dive in and propel itself
under the surface before emerging to
resume its normal wing-borne fight.
Primarily meant for environmental
sampling work, the technologies with-
in AquaMAV could lead to a submarine
launch-and-recover unmanned device
for intelligence-gathering applications.
AquaMAVs potential has already
been noted; the project has received
funding from the UKs Engineering
and Physical Sciences Research Coun-
cil and, more recently, from the Defense
Science and Technology Laboratory.
A robots function is derived from
its mobility, says Rob Siddall, lead au-
thor and Imperial College postgradu-
ate whose doctoral thesis inspired
AquaMAVs development.
There are systems that operate in
the air, and those that operate in the
water, but few that do both well. . . . We
wanted to move in both mediums better
than other systems, says Siddall.
Some companies have developed
quadcopters that operate well in the
air and then land on the water and use
ballast tanks to sink, allowing them
to operate under the surface. But
analysis by Siddalls team suggests
that quadcopters
are very inefficient
in liquid because
their propulsion sys-
temsdesigned for use in the
airlimit them to traveling short dis-
tances. Also, they have difculty pro-
pelling out of choppy waters.
Because of its more efcient shape
and propulsion method, the AquaMAV
can travel greater distances underwa-
ter and can enter and leave the surface
in higher sea states than other systems.
Weighing in at just under 200 grams
(0.4 lb.) with a wingspan of 60 cm, the
AquaMAV needs to be lightweight
and small so it can enter the water
at speed without damaging its deli-
cate wings and control mechanism.
26 AviAtion Week & SpAce technology/JUly 24-AUgUSt 13, 2017
While most of the lift is provided by
the elliptical wing, control is provided
by a V-tail with dual elevons for roll,
pitch and yaw.
As it dives in, the AquaMAVs main
wings fold back 90 deg., rather like a
seabirds as it enters the water.
One of the initial challenges was to
ensure the propeller that pulls the
AquaMAV through the air could
also provide propulsion underwater.
However, a propeller
that spins too fast
in the water simply
cavitates and is inef-
fcient, so the team studied an
epicyclic gearing system using a series
of opposed one-way bearings that are
engaged when the AquaMAV enters
With its lightweight, simple design,
AquaMAV has been devised to dive
into the water like a seabird.
the water. Engaging the gearbox re-
duces the power needed underwater
by a factor of fve, but increases the
thrust by a factor of two, says Siddall.
As for launching out of water, the
team studied oceanic fying squid,
a species that impulsively propels
itself using a jet of water in a process
called aerial locomotion. Somewhat
emulating this capability, the Aqua-
MAVs hollow fuselage flls with water
when it frst submerges.
To return to the air, AquaMAV uses a
carbon dioxide (CO2)-powered thruster
to expel the water in its fuselage via a
specially designed shape-memory al-
loy valve. This pushes the aircraft out
of the water, at which point the wings
redeploy.
Currently the CO 2 must be re-
charged after each fight, which limits
As it enters the water, AquaMAV
folds back its wings to keep them
from damage on impact. They
spring open again after launch.
RobeRt Siddall/impeRial College, london photoS
it to only one water launch per fight.
However, the team is looking at ways
it could be recharged, perhaps through
reactive chemicals such as an acety-
lene explosionalthough this method
poses potential regulatory issues and
could inadvertently contaminate the
water samples being collected.
Special coatings are being consid-
ered so the system can enter and exit
water tainted by oil or other pollutants
that alter the waters surface tension.
All the elements of AquaMAVs ca-
pabilities have been tested in isolation,
so far. Later this year, a series of dem-
onstration fights are planned, taking
the system through the full envelope
of aerial and subsurface operation.
The frst prototype was remotely con-
trolled, but the next round of proto-
types will feature a more autonomous
flight control system developed by
Delft University in the Netherlands. c
AviationWeek.com/awst
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 ConneCted AerospACe
Low-Cost Connections
The rise in low-cost, long-haul operators is
prompting questions on the best approach to IFE
Helen Massy-Beresford Paris
E
uropean airlines are fghting for
profitability in a crowded and
competitive market. And low-
cost, long-haula business model that
brings with it questions about how in-
fight connectivity can both appeal to
passengers and drive ancillary reve-
nueis emerging as one way forward.
Although low-cost, long-haul opera-
torsand their infight entertainment
(IFE) optionsare more established
IAG
IAGs low-cost carrier, Level, launched last June and is ofering internet connectivity for
about $10 for basic service.
elsewhere in the world, Europe has
lagged a bit. But with Norwegian Air
shaking up the transatlantic market
with a furry of new routesmost re-
cently from Scotland to the U.S.and
its plans for UK-South America ser-
vices next year, European carriers are
rethinking their approach to entertain-
ment and connectivity oferings. With
decreasing costs for greater access to
high-speed broadband, this is now an
afordable add-on.
Carriers are weighing the pros and
cons of seatback screens or IFE services fights want to be connected. The lon-
28 AviAtion Week & SpAce technology/JUly 24-AUgUSt 13, 2017
channeled through infight broadband
to customers own devicesa lighter
and cheaper solution for cost-con-
scious operators that can still drive
ancillary revenues, whether through
passengers paying for the connectivity
itself, entertainment options, or buying pass big network hubs, is driving that
extras such as onboard refreshments.
Low-cost long-haul carriers build
their revenue on ancillaries and ser-
vice, so of course to generate revenue
they need to propose services, says
Florent Petteni, aircraft interiors
marketing manager at Airbus. Decid-
ing how to use that connectivity is the spokesman says. The new carrier will
big question, Petteni says. The busi-
ness model on connectivity is not very
stable right now.
Norwegian itself ofers free Wi-Fi on a goal, Boost will not be marketed as a
most European routes and plans to of-
fer it on long-haul routes, although no
dates have been confrmed, according
to a spokesman.
Even people who want low-cost
ger you go without comms, the more
uncomfortable it makes people feel,
says David Bruner, vice president,
global sales and marketing for Pana-
sonic Avionics.
Were certainly seeing trends to-
ward more of an expectation that
you stay connected all the time, says
Casey Goelzer, regional director of
product marketing at Boeing Com-
mercial Airplanes.
The growth of low-cost, long-haul
carriers, driven by a generation of
aircraft such as the Airbus A350 and
Boeing 787, which enable them to by-
rethink, Bruner says. People might as-
sume only a full-service carrier would
ofer onboard connectivity, but Norwe-
gian has broken that idea. Norwegian
does it for freeit is
an economical service
if you want entertain-
ment, he adds.
That presents chal-
lenges and opportu-
nities for hardware
providers such as
Panasonic, whether
that means keeping
costs down or ofering
a way to diferentiate
levels of service and
price points. There
is pressure on us to
deliver lower-cost so-
lutions. Part of what
weve done is to ofer
airlines a way to con-
trol what they deliver
to customers. They
want to ofer diferent
products to different
people, Bruner says.
Two major Euro-
pean airline groups
are in the early stages
of their own long-haul,
low-cost operations.
Air France plans to launch its Boost
project by year-end, and will reveal
details of onboard services later, a
focus on innovation and modernity in
a bid to attract younger travelers. Al-
though keeping operating costs low is
low-cost airline.
Meanwhile, International Airlines
Groups (IAG) low-cost carrier (LCC),
Level, took its inaugural flight from
Barcelona, Spain, to Los Angeles June 1.
Level offers internet connectivity
AviationWeek.com/awst

from 8.99 ($10.15) and IFE choices,
including 66 movies, 117 TV programs
and 69 audio albums, a total of more
than 230 hr. of entertainment via in-
dividual touchscreen monitors, with
both IFE and connectivity provided
by Panasonic. As an introductory per-
quisite celebrating its launch, all pas-
sengers will have free access to the
content, an IAG spokeswoman said.
Jay Sorensen, president for product,
partnership and marketing practice at
airline consultancy IdeaWorksCompa-
ny, believes all carriers will eventually
adopt a model that relies on passengers
personal devices, with the exception of
premium cabins, where screen size will
continue to be an important feature.
Younger generations of consumers
are certainly moving toward bringing
their own content with them, and this
will only increase as technology plac-
es more options in a personal device
than the installed equipment on a jet,
Sorensen says.
Assuming the U.S. electronics ban
is a transitory bump in the road, that
trend should continue.
Honeywell Aerospaces JetWave
hardwarewhich will be fitted onto
Norwegians Boeing 737 MAX air-
craftenables passengers to bring on
devices. It can be a low-cost solution
providing connectivity for customers,
and it makes for a different weight
situation for airlines [compared with
AviationWeek.com/awst
Panasonics Bruner believes airlines
are also increasingly seeing the ben-
efts of the connectivity they ofer pas-
sengers beyond the cabinand here
low-cost operators will have lessons to
Honeywells JetWave system
(pictured being installed) uses
Inmarsats GX Aviation Ka-band
service (inset) to provide infight
connectivity.
teach their legacy counterparts. The
company now holds orders to install
their system on twice as many aircraft
as currently use it, Bruner says.
For a while, offering passenger
Wi-Fi is exciting, but then it becomes
more about what you are doing to
make the crew and the aircraft more
efcientthat is where we are going
to see the new battleground. LCCs
Honeywell AerospAce And InmArsAt
may not be the frst adopters [of con-
a seatback IFE system], says Kristin nectivity] but they may be the most
Slyker, vice president for connected efcient at knowing how to get a re-
aircraft at Honeywell Aerospace. turn on investment. They will start to
Honeywell aims to have more than shake up the business and improve
1,200 aircraft equipped with the Jet- how connectivity is used, Bruner
Wave satellite communications sys- predicts. c
tem, which makes use of Inmarsats GX
Aviation Ka-band service, by year-end,
up from about 500.
Outside Europe, a well-established
low-cost, long-haul carrier, AirAsia X
provides passengers with the Xcite
Tab, preloaded with high-definition
movies, TV series, music, games and
magazines. For premium economy pas-
sengers, the tablet is included in the
ticket price; economy passengers can
rent it for a few dollars per fight.
Equipping economy-class with
seatback IFE is simply too expensive
in the long run, Sorensen says. There
is the capital cost of equipment, the
weight/fuel penalty of fying the equip-
ment, and the ongoing maintenance
expense. All the while, the revenue
potential of these systems has never
been a big proft-makeroftentimes,
airlines work to mitigate the losses.
Boeings Goelzer also sees a growing
trend toward using passenger-owned
devices. Its a very efective way to de-
liver IFE contentit is less expensive
and lighter-weight [toward] the airlines
fuel bill. Particularly for an LCC opera-
tion, thats a very good development.
Sorensen adds: The one area where
airlines will continue to have an advan-
tage is internet and data accessthe
consumer cant replace that capability
on their own.
AviAtion Week & SpAce technology/JUly 24-AUgUSt 13, 2017 29
 AeronAuticAl engineering
Quiet Progress
Already potentially the quietest confguration
for a future airliner, the hybrid wing body
could be even quieter
Graham Warwick Washington
O
f the environmental challenges
facing commercial aviation,
noise is perhaps the tough-
est. Public opposition to building or
expanding airports is already a con-
straint on capacity and, long term,
could curtail the growth of air trans-
port.
To prioritize its investment in tech-
nology development, NASA has set
aggressive environmental goals for
the medium and far term, including
containing noise within the airport
boundaries. Its research indicates the
targets can be met only with unconven-
tional aircraft confgurations.
So far, the blended wing bodyor,
as NASA calls it, the hybrid wing
body (HWB)has shown the most
promise, but it still falls short of meet-
ing the noise goals. Now further study
suggests technologies exist that can
bring HWB noise tantalizingly close
to NASAs far-term target.
The new study indicates that signif-
cant redesign of the landing gear and
high-lift systems could add to the sub-
stantial noise reduction possible from
advanced ultra-high-bypass engines
and noise-shielding aircraft confgu-
rations.
30 AviAtion Week & SpAce technology/JUly 24-AUgUSt 13, 2017
NASA
For NASA, far term is an aircraft
entering development in 2035, and the
study has identifed technologies that
could reduce the HWBs noise by then
by a cumulative 50.9 EPNdB below
todays Stage 4 limits. This would cut
the area exposed to sound levels louder
than 85 dB by 94.4% relative to a Boe-
ing 777-like aircraft.
Such a dramatic reduction in the
area exposed to elevated noise could
enable continued growth in airport
capacity, but it requires noise genera-
tion and propagation to be addressed
across the aircraft, from engines and
landing gear to the high-lift system and
propulsion-airframe integration.
Of the confgurations studied dur-
ing NASAs six-year Environmentally
Responsible Aviation (ERA) program,
completed in 2015, the HWB emerged
as the quietest. Analysis showed the
single biggest diferentiator was pro-
pulsion-airframe aeroacoustic inter-
actions, which were most favorable
on the HWB where the engines are
mounted above a broad centerbody.
ERA was aimed at developing tech-
nologies to meet NASAs midterm
environmental goals for aircraft en-
tering development in 2025. The 301-
seat HWB confguration that emerged
achieved a cumulative 40.4-EPNdB
reduction below Stage 4, just shy of
the 42-dB goal. This compares with a
reduction of 22.1 dB possible with an
advanced tube-and-wing aircraft of
equivalent size, NASA says.
The exploratory study to identify
technologies that could push noise re-
duction toward the 52-dB goal by 2035
was led by Russ Thomas, a senior re-
search engineer at NASA Langley Re-
search Center. Results were presented
at the American Institute of Aeronau-
tics and Astronautics Aviation 2017
conference in Denver in June.
Comparison with HWB-2016
(top) highlights the changes to
the HWB-FT-2017 (bottom),
including podded gear, vertical-
tail root extensions and elliptical,
scarfed nozzles with chevrons.
Several of the technologies involve
the geared-turbofan engines. Included
are an acoustic liner that extends to
the lip of the inlet to help absorb fan
noise with a shorter, lighter and lower-
drag nacelle. A liner is also added to
the core nozzle plug to absorb low-
frequency combustor noise.
Over-the-rotor acoustic treatment
is integrated into the rub-strip area of
the fan casing. The upper bifurcator,
which divides the bypass duct into left
and right halves, is thickened slightly
to increase the liner area. Aft duct and
bifurcator liners are also designed to
shift fan noise directivity and increase
shielding efectiveness. A liner is ap-
plied to the centerbody elevon to ab-
sorb fan and core noise, and acoustic
treatment is used to reduce difraction
of propulsion noise around the center-
body trailing edge.
The updated design, which NASA
labels the HWB-FT-2017, also incorpo-
rates chevrons on the fan and core noz-
zles. These reduce noise by increasing
mixing of the exhaust with ambient
air. Chevrons are used on the Boeing
787s General Electric GEnx engines,
but were not incorporated on the ear-
lier HWB design.
A major part of the HWBs noise re-
duction comes from airframe shield-
ing of fan and jet noise. On the HWB-
FT-2017, this is further optimized. An
elliptical fan nozzle is used to reduce
the distance between the nozzle crown
and airframe surface to increase
shielding efectiveness. The fan nozzle
AviationWeek.com/awst

is also negatively scarfedlonger on
the bottomwhich has the effect of
increasing the shadow region below
the airframe. The roots of the vertical
tails are extended to enhance shielding
at sideline angles.
But the biggest contributors to the
noise reduction from the earlier HWB-
2016 to the updated HWB-FT-2017
involve the landing gear and high-lift
system. All of the confgurations stud-
ied during the ERA program used
leading-edge Krueger faps for high lift
to enable drag-reducing laminar fow.
These unfold from under the wing to
protect the leading edges from insect
and other contamination during take-
off and landing, but the deployment
mechanism and cove area, or cavity
behind the extended faps, are sources
of noise.
In the HWB-2016 design, the flap
brackets were normal to the wing
leading-edge, creating a strong cross-
fow and noise. On the HWB-FT-2017,
the brackets are realigned with the
freestream flow to reduce both the
level and directivity of the noise that
is generated.
A cove fller is a fexible surface that
deploys as the flap extends, to fill in
the cavity and smooth the airfow. In
2016, Boeing and Embraer fight-tested
a cove fller for conventional leading-
edge slats on their E170 EcoDemon-
strator and showed a noise reduction
of about 10 dB, says Thomas.
Landing gear, meanwhile, is the
highest source of noise on approach
and a barrier to further reductions in
system-level aircraft noise. The HWB
ofers a way forward because, with its
engines mounted atop the airframe,
the gear can be shortened signifcantly
compared to aircraft with engines un-
der the wing.
The HWB-2016 used a partial
main-gear fairing to reduce noise.
The HWB-FT-2017 goes further, as it
uses podded gear that leaves only the
wheels exposed when deployed, similar
to the sponson-mounted gear on mili-
tary airlifters. Pod gear reduces noise
generation and also refection by the
underside of the aircraft.
Thomas and his co-authors say their
road-map study shows there are well-
founded noise-reduction technologies
with the potential to enable the HWB
concept to meet NASAs far-term
goal. But they caution that individual
technologies may not directly apply to
other unconventional confgurations. c
AviationWeek.com/awst
SPACE
Fortune Hunters
Small satellites are in vogue, but realizing
profts from them could prove elusive
Jen DiMascio Washington
T
he potential fortunes to be made
from small satelliteswith large
feets of low-Earth-orbit (LEO)
communications satellites and big-
data analysis culled from remote-
sensing constellationsremain highly
uncertain, caution satellite industry
analysts.
Alongside those developments, a
furry of investments in small launch
vehicles is equally precarious.
The satellite business remains domi-
nated by markets built around end us-
ers, in particular satellite television. In
all, satellite revenues generated $260.5
billion in 2016, the U.S.-based Satellite
Industry Association (SIA) reports. In
comparison, just $13.9 billion is gener-
ated by actually making the satellites,
and the launch industry brought in
only $5.5 billion last year.
But small satellitesthose under
600 kg (1,320 lb.)continue to be on
the radar for disrupting the satellite
manufacturing business, says Char-
ity Weeden, senior director of policy
at SIA. There are cubesats being
launched by the dozens. There are also
trends to customized small satellites,
that are expected to continue into 2017.
Earth-observation satellitesmany
of which are cubesatsrepresented
51% of the 126 launched in 2016. It is a
dynamic segment of the marketgrow-
ing by 11% since 2015. And low-latency
small-satellite constellations planned
for the future of broadband internet
services are still in the planning stages.
Curbing the enthusiasm is experi-
ence with past boom-and-bust cycles
particularly in the communications
market. Marco Caceres, senior analyst
and director of space studies for the
Teal Group, says he has been waiting
for the satellite and launch vehicle
markets to take of for 20 years. The
first-generation systems went bank-
rupt, as cost projections were vastly
underestimated.
When I hear NASA, the U.S. mili-
tary or any company talk about the
cost of the satellite or launch vehicle
or constellation, I automatically mul-
tiply that by fve [for commercial com-
AviAtion Week & SpAce technology/JUly 24-AUgUSt 13, 2017
panies] or 10 times [for the military],
Caceres said recently at the Center
for Strategic and International Stud-
ies. You have to be really skeptical of
them, he adds.
An increasing demand for data from
Earth-observation imagery is drawing
other companies to a market for small-
er satellitesfor commercial, govern-
ment or military use. New companies
are cropping up to provide sensors of all
kinds, synthetic aperture radar, radio
occultation and hyperspectral imagery.
The growth in emerging remote-
sensing companies is particularly
tantalizing because they are creating
a new market. They are going to be
selling complex analytic tools in en-
tirely new customer sets with entirely
new products, says Clarissa Chris-
tensen, founder and CEO of Bryce
Space and Technology, adding that
the market will be similar to satellite
television in that it uses space while
adding value. Its an integrated busi-
ness model, she notes.
An upsurge in mergers and acqui-
sitions that occurred in 2016 will con-
tinue this year as companies look for
new ways to tap into data from space,
Weeden says.
Last month, Italys Telespazio an-
nounced it had signed an agreement
with U.S.-based Orbital Insight to form
a joint venture called e-GEOS to pro-
vide new products and services for
emergency management, agriculture,
environmental monitoring and safety,
using satellite data.
Other traditional companies are ad-
justing to the changing marketplace by
creating more customizable small or
midsize satellites.
Lockheed Martin is investing mil-
lions to adapt its midsize LM 300 sat-
ellite bus, weighing 300-1,000 kg, for
all commercial and government mis-
sions. The LM 300, which has fown for
more than a decade, will be equipped
to handle communications and sensing
and to be fexible between orbits.
The real innovation from Lockheed
would be to commoditize volume pro-
duction of all reusable pieces of the
31
 SPACE
satellite and then allow
the customer to tailor cer-
tain elements as needed,
says Rick Ambrose, ex-
ecutive vice president of
Lockheed Martins Space
Systems. The goal is to be
able to offer a savings of
20-30% and delivery times
inside of two years. In ad-
dition, clients that have
had a satellite in space for
many years may want to
change its use over time.
Meeting client specifi-
cations is not just driving
satellite design; it is also
a big part of the nascent
launch vehicle market. In
the last year, a number of
small-satellite launches
were delayed. Trying to
DEFENSE
Changing of the Guard
MiG-35 takes the spotlight at Moscows
last MAKS show to be staged at Zhukosky
James Drew and Maxim Pyadushkin Zhukovsky, Moscow
T
wo dogfghting Sukhoi T-50 ffth-
generation fighters dominated
the aerial display at the MAKS
Air Show here on July 18-23, but the
spotlight was on the MiG-35 with news
that Russia will buy the 4+++-gen-
The Russian Air Force will purchase MiG-35
multirole fghters beginning in 2018.
JAmes Drew/Aw&sT PhoTos
32 AviAtion Week & SpAce technology/JUly 24-AUgUSt 13, 2017
eration lightweight multirole fghter
under its new armaments program
beginning in 2018.
The confirmation by Deputy De-
fense Minister Yuriy Borisov is a
boost for the Mikoyan design bureau,
fnd a spot on an aford-
able launch vehicle can
be frustratingly difcult.
To meet that demand,
more than 30 space
launch companies are
developing an array of
launch capabilities. Vir-
gin Galactic is offering
a 400-kg satellite a $10
million ride to LEO on
Launcher One. Rocket
Lab and Vector Space
Systems are developing
rockets that would tar-
get smaller satellites of
Avio is developing a
dispenser for its
Vega C rocket that
can carry 20-30
small satellites.
Avio
which since the end of the Cold War
has played second fddle to rival Suk-
hoi and its successful Su-30 Flanker
fghter family under Russias consoli-
dated United Aircraft Corp. (UAC).
MiG Aircraft Corp. CEO Ilya
Tarasenko expects serial production
of the MiG-35 to begin in 2019 at the
Sokol plant in Nizhny Novgorod, where
manufacture of MiG-29M2s for Egypt
is due to end by 2020. The MiG-35, in
fight-testing since January, is a deriva-
tive of the MiG-29 Fulcrum.
The aircraft has two Klimov RD-
33MK engines with full-authority
digital control, 12% more thrust and a
4,000-hr. life. The MiG-35 is planned to
be equipped with a Kret Zhuk X-band
active, electronically scanned array
radar and a new targeting pod.
Although not a low-observable air-
craft like the T-50, the fghter incorpo-
rates radar-deflecting materials and
inhibitors as well as electronic counter-
measures, Tarasenko says. The MiG-35
also has a counter stealth L-band radar
in the leading-edge root extensions.
The fghters are to be purchased un-
der Moscows 2018-25 state armaments
plan, which is expected to be approved
in September. Military officials have
told Russian media that 24 MiG-35s,
enough for two squadrons, would be
procured initially to replace MiG-29s.
The armaments plan, which report-
edly has been cut to under $290 billion
from the initial $927 billion request, is
expected to focus on procuring new
AviationWeek.com/awst
less than 200 kg for a slightly greater
price per kilogram.
In the near term, there is an op-
portunity for small launchers simply
because fights are difcult to fnd, says
Christensen. But she notes that wheth-
er the investment interest in small
launch vehicles will create a new mar-
ket depends on two factors: One: the
ability of the supply-side entitiesthe
companies building small launchers
to achieve the price targets they have
identifed; larger is easier in terms of
cost per kilogram. Two, it depends on
the fnancial success of the very-small-
satellite constellations.
Theyve got to prove themselves, launch and then deliver them to dif-
she adds. There are some apparent
success stories. But nobody has said
yet, Were positive on investment. upper-stage AVUM Avionics Module,
The success of small satellites will
be highly dependent on launch, says
A turboprop engine for the Il-112V
light transport will fy on the
Il-76LL testbed.
systems rather than modernizing ex-
isting platforms. Included is the frst
purchase of production T-50s, with
deliveries beginning after 2018, says
Borisov.
The T-50 is undergoing state test-
ing by the Russian Air Force, and two
more prototypes are slated to join
the trials this year. These aircraft are
powered by the Su-35s Saturn AL-41
engine. The new Item 30 powerplant
developed by United Engine Corp.
(UEC) is expected to fy in the T-50 by
year-end, he says.
Another benefciary of the new ar-
maments plan is Russian Helicopters
Mi-38 medium transport, which frst
few in 2003 but has struggled to fnd
customers. Beginning with two of the
30-passenger helicopters in 2019, pro-
curement is planned to total 15 through
2020, says Borisov.
The plan is also expected to include
procurement of Ilyushin Il-112V light
transports to begin replacing the air
forces aging Antonov An-26s. The pro-
totype is in fnal assembly at VASO in
Voronezh, but frst fight has been de-
layed again, slipping about six months
to the frst half of 2018.
According to UAC President Yury
Slyusar, the reason for the latest de-
lay is design documentation. A com-
bination of paper and electronic docu-
AviationWeek.com/awst
Air Force Col. Steve Butow, the mili-
tary lead for the Pentagons Defense
Innovation Unit Experimental effort
to seed promising new technologies in
the commercial sector. You can put a
lot up, but they need to be in the right
place, he says.
Italys Avio is one of many existing
companies preparing to meet that
challenge. It has launched two initia-
tives: One is a mini-launcher to carry
dedicated payloads of about 250 kg.
The other is the Small Spacecraft
Mission Service, a dispenser that
can stack 20-30 spacecraft ranging
in weight from 1 kg to 300 kg for a
vice president of business develop-
ferent orbital planes.
The dispenser will ride on Vega Cs
risky. This is how markets are sup-
scheduled to launch in 2019. It uses a
liquid bipropellant system fueled by
ments did not match, forcing reissue of
all documentation in electronic format
and a remanufacture of parts that had
been made using paper drawings.
The Il-112Vs 3,500-shp Klimov TV7-
117ST turboprop appeared at MAKS,
mounted under the wing of one of two
Gromov Flight Research Institute (LII)
Il-76LL fying testbeds on static display.
The TV7-117 was originally developed
for the abandoned Il-114 regional airlin-
er, and a campaign of 50-60 test fights
of the upgraded engine is planned to
begin in about three months.
The second Il-76LL on display is
being used to test the Aviadvigatel
PD-14 turbofan for Russias MC-21
narrowbody airliner, which is now
in flight-testing at UAC subsidiary
Irkut, powered by Pratt & Whitney
PW1400G geared turbofans. UEC says
12 engines have been built to produc-
AviAtion Week & SpAce technology/JUly 24-AUgUSt 13, 2017
nitrogen tetroxide as the oxidant and
unsymmetrical dimethylhydrazine as
the fuel. Both are propelled by pres-
surized helium gas and a cold gaseous
nitrogen system for attitude control.
It enables us to make orbital deploy-
ments in the course of two months,
says Avio CEO Giulio Ranzo. We will
have an unmatched ofering in terms
of fexibility to deliver many diferent
objects in many diferent places.
Ultimately, the rush to produce
launchers for any kind of niche will be
difficult both technically and from a
business perspective. But it is best to
keep in mind, says Richard DalBello,
ment and government afairs at Virgin
Galactic, that business is inherently
posed to work, he says. Not everyone
will be successful. c
tion standards, with
Russian certification
planned for 2018 fol-
lowed by European
approval in 2019.
The MC-21 itself
did not make an ap-
pearance at the show,
which was the 13th
MAKS and the last
to be hosted by LII at
Zhukovskys storied
Ramenskoye Airport.
The biennial show will
move to Kubinka air-
base, 90 min. west of
Moscow, for 2019 and beyond.
While fghters dominated the news,
Zhukovskys last MAKS was scheduled
to witness the frst fight of the T-500
all-composite agricultural aircraft
from Ramenskoye on June 23. The
T-500 has been developed from the
MV-500 crop duster by Rostec com-
pany ORPETechnologiya.
The show debuted the Yakovlev
Yak-152 diesel-engine primary trainer
under development by UAC to replace
the Russian Air Forces aging Yak-52s.
Russian Helicopters displayed the
Mi-8AMTSh-VA Arctic helicopter; its
subsidiary, VR-Technologies, unveiled
a concept model of the fve-passenger
VRT500 light helicopter. c
Gallery See more of the aircraft on
display at this years MAKS Air Show:
AviationWeek.com/MAKS-Gallery
33
 DEFENSE
Early Retirement
Austrian air defense overhaul nixes
Eurofghters and Saab 105s
Tony Osborne London
I
t is a matter of concern for an aircraft manufacturer when
one of the richest countries in the world declares its fght-
er is too expensive for it to operate. But then Austria is a
something of a special case. Critics generally agree that the
landlocked neutral state probably never really needed the 15
Eurofghter Typhoons it ordered in 2003.
In Austrian hands, the advanced multirole fghter, origi-
nally designed to tackle the latest Russian threats, has been
relegated to an interceptor role, with many of its advanced
electronic warfare systems removed.
The Austrian jets do not even carry radar-guided beyond-
visual-range air-to-air missiles, just short-range infrared-guid-
ed IRIS-T weapons, and rarely leave the countrys airspace.
Now Vienna is planning to cut the Eurofighters career
short, aiming to phase italong with its elderly Saab 105
jet trainersout by 2020, in favor of a feet of 18 supersonic-
Austrias Eurofghters have no electronic warfare sys-
tems and carry only short-range air-to-air missiles.
capable aircraft of a single type to meet the countrys airspace
protection needs.
The country had planned to keep the Eurofghter in service
until the 2040s. The Austrian defense ministry claims that
replacing both aircraft is cheaper than simply replacing the
trainer and upgrading the Eurofghter.
It is possible that the Eurofghters could live on, if Vienna
was willing to purchase several two-seat versions, and retroft
the electronic warfare equipment and the ability to use radar-
guided missiles, but this seems unlikely.
Brigadier Karl Gruber, commander of the Austrian Air
Force, says that continuing operations with the existing Aus-
trian Eurofghter feet would involve cost risks that are dif-
fcult to quantify at present.
Vienna describes the aircraft as having inferior equip-
ment to other fghters on the market, and keeping them in
service for another 30 years would likely cost the Austrian
taxpayer 4.4-5.1 billion ($5-5.8 billion).
Much of the uncertainty surrounds the future of the
Tranche 1 versions of the fghter that Austria operates. Al-
though many of the Eurofghter partner nations are now plan-
ning to keep their Tranche 1s in service longer, there will be no
single upgrade approach for the aircraft as there is with the
more modern Tranche 2/3 aircraft. Instead, the Eurofghter
partners are taking a national approach to upgrades. Spain
and the UK have already gone down this route, with the Span-
ish Air Force developing its own in-house.
Fighter jet acquisition is generally unpopular in Austriaas
it is in much of Europeand the countrys experience with
the Eurofghter has not been a happy one.
It introduced the type in 2007 for air defense and air polic-
ing duties, replacing a feet of Saab J35 Drakens. Vienna had
originally planned to buy 18 aircraft, but the procurement
became highly politicized. In 2006, a newly elected coalition
34 AviAtion Week & SpAce technology/JUly 24-AUgUSt 13, 2017
government cut the order to 15, resulting in fraught negotia-
tions with what was then EADS.
Then in February 2017, Vienna fled a criminal complaint
against Airbus Group and Eurofghter GmbH, claiming it had
been deceived by the two companies into buying the aircraft.
It also questioned the OEMs true ability to deliver, and [the]
true specifcations of the Eurofghter interceptor planes.
Austria is demanding restitution from the companies for
the value of the 15 Eurofghters purchased, plus the diference
between the operating cost of the Eurofghter incurred to date
and the hypothetical operating cost of an alternative aircraft,
minus the current value.
So far, the actual operating cost to date adds up to
1.1 billion, the Austrian defense ministry said in February.
Defense Minister Hans Peter Doskozil says that if Austrians
want to continue to maintain their neutrality, a new feet of
fghters is essential, and the country needs to bring the esca-
lating costs of the Eurofghter under control and minimize
the enormous cost risks associated with it.
Geoff Lee/eurofiGhter Gmbh
The Austrian Air Force says it has evaluated 19 potential
air defense systems. However, its Active Airspace Surveil-
lance studies concluded that a single feet of supersonic fght-
ers was the way forward. The studies state that the aircraft
need to be equipped with an advanced self-defense system
and guided missiles with all-weather capabilities, suggest-
ing Austria will invest in radar-guided beyond-visual-range
weapons.
The debate on Austrian airspace surveillance has been
dominated for years by the budgetary burdens associated
with the operation of the Eurofghter, says Doskozil. The
new concept for the active monitoring of our airspace is
both cheaper and more militarily efective than the continu-
ation of the status quo. It will save taxpayers money and
enable us to monitor Austrias airspace both by day and
night, he adds.
The plan appears to end hopes of a new Typhoon trainer
contract that both the UK and Italy were chasing, with the
BAE Systems Hawk and the Leonardo M346, respectively.
The study states, however, that a new turboprop trainer to
replace the Pilatus PC-7 will be needed to support training
for the new fghter.
To meet its needs, Austria could acquire secondhand F-16s
or the Saab JAS-39C/D Gripen, already in service with the
Czech Republic. Saab has identifed Austria as a potential
customer for the Gripen for several years. c
AviationWeek.com/awst
 DEFENSE

Battle of the Ag-Planes

Low-cost crop dusters and reghting aircraft
take on ISR and border surveillance missions
Tony Osborne London and Jen DiMascio Washington

Agricultural aircraft have made their own impact in
counterinsurgency operations over the years. In Colombia
and Central America, the crop sprayers have been used
for just that, directly targeting drug crops with chemicals.
Increasingly, agricultural aircraft such as the Air
Tractor AT-802, Thrush 710P and Thrush 510G are
taking on a greater role as low-cost, long-endurance
platforms kitted out with surveillance systems and a
wide range of precision-guided weaponry. Platform in-
tegrators are touting the diference in cost compared with
other light ghters and business-jet derivatives as they
target customers in Africa, Eastern Europe, the Middle
East and elsewhere for border security, light strike and
surveillance missions.

AIR TRACTOR AT-802U
Air Tractor, which builds the AT-802
firefighting platform, already pro-
duces its own in-house intelligence,
surveillance and reconnaissance
(ISR) strike platform, and the com-
pany has displayed the aircraft at a
number of international air shows.
But solid sales remain elusive. Mar-
keted as the Aerial Escort Aircraft,
Air Tractor did ofer the aircraft to
Lebanon in 2015.
Air Tractor says the AT-802U pro-
vides 6-8 wing hardpoints for weap-
ons, as well as three fuselage hard-
points; dedicated gun stations are
located on the inner wing hardpoints.
Ammunition for guns mounted there
is fed from a magazine mounted in
the nose, just forward of the cockpit.
The company has also studied devel-
opment of a steerable 30-mm cannon
for tment on the centerline.
One key selling point is that the AT-
802 is combat-proven in counterdrug
operations run by the U.S. State De-
partment. The departments Air Wing
aircraft have taken 200 bullet strikes,
yet the eet has maintained a 100%
safety record with no loss of life or
injury, according to the companys
literature.
L3 TECHNOLOGIES LONGSWORD
L3s Longsword uses the AT-802 plat-
form but has maximized it for extend-
ed range and payload. To increase the
range, L3 converted the agricultural
aircrafts bays for carrying pesticides
or re retardants into self-healing fuel
tanks.
As an ISR platform, the aircraft can
y for as long as 10 hr. at up to 22,500
ft. In that capacity, the Longsword car-
ries the L3 Wescam MX-15D high-def-
inition electro-optical infrared sensor,
an L3 ForceX Widow MMS mission
software system, the Thales Scorpion
helmet-mounted display and a full-mo-

L3s Longsword has plenty of wing space to

cover precision munitions, with 11 hardpoints
that can carry guns, guided and unguided
bombs as well as rockets and missiles.
L3 TECHNOLOGIES

AviationWeek.com/awst AVIATION WEEK & SPACE TECHNOLOGY/JULY 24-AUGUST 13, 2017 35

 DEFENSE
IOMAX
tion video display. It can defend itself
with an armored cockpit, the AN/AAR-
47 infrared warning receiver and an
AN/ALE-47 electronic warfare coun-
termeasures dispenser system.
If frepower is needed, the aircraft
can be outfitted as a bomb truck,
carrying Hellfire missiles, Gatling
guns, Mk. 82 bombs and M260 rocket
launchers on up to 11 hardpoints. Even
with a full load of weapons, it can oper-
ate for longer than 6 hr., company of-
fcials say, adding that other light fght-
ers may fy faster or higher, but they
do not carry more payload or stay on
station as long. Think of this more like
an Apache with very long legs, says
Joseph Siniscalchi, an L3 senior vice
president for business development.
In January, the U.S. State Depart-
ment approved the potential sale of as
many as 14 of the aircraft to Kenya, but
the transaction has been challenged.
The late Ron Howard, as CEO of Io-
max, had argued that its counterinsur-
gency aircraft, Archangel, was unfairly
overlooked by the African nation. In an
interview not long before his untimely
death, Howard suggested that Kenya
was being sold an uncertifed and still-
developmental platform.
The Longsword is certifed for the
ISR mission, and L3 is working with
the U.S. Air Force Seek Eagle ofce to
certify some weapons. Kenya has also
asked L3 for weather radar and com-
munications systems, but Siniscalchi
says the country would have to cover
the cost of certifying the add-ons.
For now, Kenya has asked to extend
its letter of agreement through mid-
September, Siniscalchi says. At that
point, the two governments could de-
36 AVIATION WEEK & SPACE TECHNOLOGY/JULY 24-AUGUST 13, 2017
cide to extend the deal, or Kenya could
search for another aircraft.
Patrick Penland, L3 vice president
for transport programs, is adamant
that the air force did not select the
Longsword. The Kenyans chose the
AT-802 Longsword. That was based
on having come to Waco, Texas, where
L3s platform integration ofce is based,
Penland says. Their deputy chief of air
force came and saw the ISR confgura-
tion.
IOMAX ARCHANGEL
Perhaps the biggest success story has
been development of the Iomax Arch-
angel in association with the United
Arab Emirates (UAE). The Archan-
gels success in Yemen and, on a less
high-profile scale, in Libya has cer-
tainly increased public and industry
perception of the agricultural aircraft
as an alternative platform to the nu-
merous trainers turned light-attack
turboprops that have sold well in Afri-
ca, Latin America and the Asia-Pacifc
region.
North Carolina-based Iomaxs as-
sociation with the UAE began in 2009
when the Middle Eastern nation opt-
ed for a Border Patrol Aircraft (BPA)
based on the standard Air Tractor
AT-802 crop sprayer. Iomax delivered
a podded electro-optical camera and
added hardpoints to the wings in ex-
pectation of the ftment of weapons. In
2011, a further 14 were ordered.
However, to realize the full potential
of the aircraft, in 2012 Iomax changed
suppliers to Thrush, because Air Trac-
tor was at the time unwilling to make
the structural modifcations to the air-
craft that Iomax needed.
The Iomax Archangel can
carry GBU-Paveway II 250-
lb. laser-guided bombs, Hell-
fre missiles and Raytheon
Talon laser-guided rockets.
Aviation Week reported that
when test pilot Joe Edwards
flew the Pratt & Whitney
Canada PT6A-67F-powered
Archangel, the pilots cockpit
was moved forward 48 in. to
improve visibility over the nose,
while the mission operators po-
sition occupies the real estate
where the pilot would have sat.
(AW&ST April 17-30, p. 40),
Inside, the aircraft is
equipped with a CMC avionics
suite that in the front cockpit
features three multifunction displays
and a centrally ftted head-up display.
The rear cockpit contains two multi-
function displays and a single 17-in.
large-area display that feeds the im-
age from the electro-optical camera.
Other design features include a fve-
blade propeller that helps reduce the
noise of the aircraft when operating at
altitudes of around 15,000 ft.
Iomax has already carried out an
extensive program of weapons integra-
tion work for both the AT-802 and the
Archangel. Weapons regularly ftted
to the UAE aircraft include Roketsan
Cirit lightweight missilesreportedly
highly effective against moving tar-
getsthe GBU-58 Paveway II 250-lb.
laser-guided bomb and the Hellfire
missile. The aircraft have also recent-
ly been upgraded to use the Raytheon
Talon laser-guided rocket.
The original batch of AT-802-de-
rived BPAs have now largely been re-
placed with Archangels; the AT-802s
have been handed to other regional
air forcesat least six were gifted
to Jordan, while 12 are now with the
Egyptian Air Force. Iomax told Avia-
tion Week in February that negotia-
tions were underway to sell a further
12 Archangels to the UAE to allow for
the formation of a second squadron.
The company is also working on devel-
opment of a Block 2 version featuring a
number of avionics, performance and
weapon upgrades. The installation of a
lightweight Martin-Baker ejection seat
has also been discussed.
LASA T-BIRD
Bulgarias Light Armed Surveillance
Aircraft (LASA) Engineerings T-Bird
AviationWeek.com/awst
 The Bulgarian com-
pany Light Armed
Surveillance Aircraft
Engineering has
already sold its T-Bird
aircraft, based on the
Thrush 510G,
in Africa.
made its unannounced
debut at the recent
Paris Air Show. As the
only non-U.S. company
now offering a light-
attack capability on an
agricultural aircraft,
it seems the company
has enjoyed some limited success. Its
prototype T-Bird is already in opera-
tion in Africa, apparently working for
a private contractor on ISR duties, ac-
cording to company executives.
The T-Bird is being touted as being
a unique combination of a high-pay-
load light aircraft with an advanced
Western technology ISR suite, and
a proven, powerful ex-Warsaw Pact
counterinsurgency package.
LASA has developed the T-Bird in
a way that skirts U.S. International
Trafc in Arms Regulations. The com-
Tripling Thrust
Japan makes progress on a Future Fighter engine
far larger than its predecessor
Bradley Perrett Beijing
T
he airframe for Japans proposed
indigenous fighter is for now
only a concept, but the engine is
turning into actual hardware. Govern-
ment defense engineers are this month
beginning testing the core of the ad-
vanced turbofan for the proposed
2030s fghter.
Lockheed Martin, meanwhile, has
responded to Tokyos request for infor-
mation on alternatives for its Future
Fighter. The company says it has of-
fered no specifc type, though the F-35
Lightning, already on order for the
Japanese Air Self-Defense Force, must
be a prospective candidate, probably in
modifed form.
The indigenous fighter would be
much bigger than the F-35, with a twin
engine installation. The turbofan is the
AviationWeek.com/awst
pany is using the Thrush 510G airframe
that is powered by the General Elec-
tric H80 turboprop. Underneath the
fuselage is an Airborne Technologies
of Austria-developed pod that carries
both an electro-optical camera and a
data link for data transfer. The cockpit
has been modifed with night-vision-
goggle-compatible digital instrumen-
tation provided by Aspen Avionics and
Getac-made rugged tablets that allow
the rear crewman to use the electro-op-
tical camera. Ballistic protection for the
engine and cockpit has also been ftted.
XF9-1, says the defense ministrys Ac-
quisition, Technology and Logistics
Agency (ATLA), naming the engine for
the frst time. Maximum thrust with
afterburning, previously stated as 15
metric tons (33,000 lb.), is now said to
be above that level, but the exact fgure
has not been disclosed. Maximum dry
thrust will be more than 11 metric tons.
Considering how few countries have
the technology to build advanced and
powerful aeroengines, this is a notably
ambitious program. Japan has previ-
ously developed no combat aircraft en-
gine bigger than the XF5-1 demonstra-
tor, which generates less than a third
of the XF9-1s thrust.
Japans aerospace propulsion spe-
cialist, IHI Corp., is the main con-
tractor for the engine program and
AVIATION WEEK & SPACE TECHNOLOGY/JULY 24-AUGUST 13, 2017
LASA
The wing structure has been modi-
fed for three hardpoints, and so far the
company has carried out integration of
Russian-made weapons only. At Paris,
the aircraft carried pairs of distinctive
UB16/32 and UB16/57 Russian-made
unguided rocket launchers and a pair
of UPK23/250 gun pods.
LASA says the aircraft costs several
times less to operate than other sur-
veillance platforms such as a Beech-
craft King Air or derivatives, and tens
of times less compared to specialist
strike aircraft and helicopters. c
the XF5-1. IHI built the core and per-
formed functional testing on it before
delivery to ATLA on June 28. Testing
at the ATLA will begin in July to verify
its performance, says the agency. A
full demonstrator engine is to be com-
pleted by the end of June 2018, it adds,
confirming and refining a schedule
published in 2015.
The agencys predecessor, the
Technical Research and Development
Institute, said in 2010 that it wanted
to pursue this program as part of a
technology-acquisition efort for a pos-
sible indigenous combat aircraft, what
is now an option for the Future Fighter
program that would replace the Mit-
subishi Heavy Industries (MHI) F-2
in the 2030s. The airframe design has
been studied extensively but will not
be built unless and until the govern-
ment goes ahead with full-scale devel-
opment of the fghter.
IHI says it was contracted in 2010 to
study components for the engine and in
2013 to build the core, which comprises
the high-pressure compressor, combus-
tor and high-pressure turbine. The core
was preceded by a compressor and
37
 DEFENSE
combustor, each tested independently.
The complete demonstrator XF9-1 will
be built under a 2015 contract.
It will have a diameter at the inlet of
about 1 m (39 in.), compared with the
1.2-m maximum diameter of the Gener-
al Electric F110. A drawing of the XF9-1
suggests that the case downstream of
the inlet is only a little wider than the
inlet, if at all, though accessories will
add to width and depth, as usual. The
length of the XF9-1 will be about 4.8
m. The core is about 1.5 m long. The
quoted thrust levels are for the static,
sea level condition.
If published material is taken at
face value, the design has lost a previ-
ously intended feature, three rows of
fixed and variable inlet guide vanes
that would have acted together as
a radar blocker, impeding
radio-frequency
energy on
its way to and from the compressor. A
2011 illustration showed that feature,
but more recent pictures, including the
latest, depict a conventional single row
of inlet guide vanes. The usual type of
radar blocker, which Japan has worked
on, is not part of the engine but rather
is installed in the inlet duct upstream
from it.
Other key features from the early
design of the engine remain: a three-
stage low-pressure compressor, six
stages in the high-pressure compres-
sor and single-stage high- and low-
pressure turbines. Those features, and
the counter-rotation of the low- and
high-pressure spools, match the con-
fguration of the Pratt & Whitney F119
of the Lockheed Martin F-22.
A 3D vectoring exhaust nozzle, di-
recting thrust up or down as well as to
one side or the other, is planned.
Average temperature at the turbine
inlet will be 1,800C (3,300F), ATLA
says, repeating an earlier figure. At
least early in development, in the
38 AviAtion Week & SpAce technology/JUly 24-AUgUSt 13, 2017
1980s, the Pratt & Whitney F119 had
a temperature at the combustor exit,
just upstream from the high-pressure
turbine, of about 1,600C. The same
companys F135 engine, ftted to the
Lockheed Martin F-35, operates at
about 2,000C.
Japan is due to decide between the
indigenous fghter and the alternatives
in fscal 2018. Since the government
will presumably frst want to see the
results of testing of the complete dem-
onstrator engine, a decision late in the
fscal year is likely.
Lockheed Martin has proposed an
improved version of the F-35, says
the Nikkei, a reliable
ry
ist
e Min
ens
Def
ane
se
Jap
newspaper. But the
company says it has not gone
as far as suggesting any particular
model. It submitted a draft response
to a ministry request for information
at the end of June which did not pro-
vide any specific offering of aircraft
type, a spokesman for Lockheed
Martin says. The Japanese ministry
of defense continues to define their
requirements for the F-2 replacement
and discussions between U.S. and Jap-
anese government ofces are ongoing.
Nonetheless, an upgraded F-35 is an
obvious possibility for Future Fighter.
The manufacturer would be keen for
Japan to pay for improvements that
would support extended production,
while commonality with Japans
F-35As would cut the countrys oper-
ating costs. Most important, starting
with the current design should greatly
reduce the expense of development.
Indeed, the Nikkei says that adapt-
ing an existing design is the cheapest
of three options for the Future Fighter,
the others being developing an aircraft
independently and doing so with an-
other country. It cites no sources
and notably fails to mention an even
cheaper possibility that the govern-
ment has been considering: importa-
tion of an unmodifed fghter type.
MHI is assembling most of the 42
F-35As that Japan is buying. It could
be expected to undertake any neces-
sary development, fabrication and as-
sembly of the airframe for an updated,
specifically Japanese version, which
would presumably be called the F-35J.
The Lightning in its current form is
rather distant from the ideal of Japa-
nese defense ministry engineers for
a 2030s fghter. Their concept for an
all-new aircraft includes internal car-
riage of six long-range air-to-air mis-
siles, such as MBDA Meteors, and two
of short range. Looking for great range
and endurance, they have produced
concept designs for a fighter larger
than the Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor
and much larger than the F-35.
The XF9-1 demonstrator is due
to be complete by the end of June
2018.
Britain is integrating the Meteor on
the F-35, but the U.S. fghter will carry
no more than four such weapons inter-
nally, and then with no room for short-
range air-to-air missiles. Lockheed
Martin could conceivably improve the
F-35s range and endurance with ex-
ternal tanks, perhaps conformal and
at some cost to stealth. It could also
ft the lightest Lightning version, the
F-35A, with the bigger and more volu-
minous wing of the F-35C, the variant
designed for catapult launch and ar-
rested recovery at sea.
Japanese avionics would also be pos-
sible for an F-35J. As a case in point,
Israel will at least load its own software
on its version, the F-35I.
In June 2016, the Japanese defense
ministry sought information from air-
craft manufacturers about three pos-
sibilities for the fghter program: creat-
ing a new type, modifying an existing
one or importing.
The possibility of international joint
development has since emerged as a
variation of the first option. Britain
and Japan agreed in March to look
at the possibility of jointly creating a
fighter for the 2030s; BAE Systems
would be the obvious partner for MHI,
while Rolls-Royce would work with
IHI. Swedens ambassador to Tokyo
says Japan should consider Saab, too.
The F-2 was a modification of an
existing type, the Lockheed Martin
F-16. The U.S. company supported the
development efort. c
AviationWeek.com/awst
Terminally Guided
New South Korean ballistic missile
is reminiscent of Pershing II
Kim Minseok Seoul and Bradley Perrett Beijing
S
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AviationWeek.com/awst
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SOUTH KOREAN MINISTRY OF DEFENSE
wff f fff wfbffk fn f ffffng
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AVIATION WEEK & SPACE TECHNOLOGY/JULY 24-AUGUST 13, 2017 39
 MISSILE DEFENSE
New Urgency
How will
Washington
respond to
North Koreas
missile threat?
James Drew Washington
T
he unprecedented rate of long-range missile testing by
North Korea has added a new level of urgency to the Trump
administrations review of U.S. missile defenses.
Missile defense advocates are no lon-
ger comfortable relying on a few dozen
silo-based interceptors in Alaska and
California to thwart potential attacks
on the mainland. They are now appeal-
ing to the government to pump billions
of dollars into strengthening todays
homeland and regional defenses, while
investing in future technology for multi-
object kill vehicles, laser-carrying un-
manned aircraft, defenses against hy-
personic weapons and an overlapping
web of missile-tracking satellites. There
are even discussions about putting la-
sers and interceptors in space, akin to
then-President Ronald Reagans 1983
Strategic Defense Initiative.
Nearer term, advocates say sev-
eral lines of efort are crucial for the
U.S. Missile Defense Agency (MDA):
increasing the reliability and size of
the Ground-based Midcourse Defense
(GMD) systems interceptor eet; im-
proving the quality, manufacturability
and number of kill vehicles atop those
interceptors; adding sensors; and
adapting the system to meet hyper-
sonic weapon threats.
The Missile Defense Advocacy Al-
liances Riki Ellison and Center for
Strategic and International Studies
Thomas Karako want to see an im-
provement in the overall capability,
reliability and capacity of the 44-mis-
sile Ground-Based Interceptor (GBI)
eet and the procurement of additional
spares to hedge against any potential
North Korean missile raid, if deter-
40 AVIATION WEEK & SPACE TECHNOLOGY/JULY 24-AUGUST 13, 2017
rence fails. The MDA requests $150
million in scal 2018 for six additional
interceptors and two more silos at Fort
Greely, Alaska, but still needs approval
and funding from Congress. Some U.S.
lawmakers have called for 14-28 spare
interceptors.
KILL VEHICLE CHASM
The reliability of kill vehicles has been
an ongoing sore point for the MDA;
six of eight failed GMD tests since
1999 were attributed to malfunctions
or separation failure of the Raytheon
Exoatmospheric Kill Vehicle (EKV).
But efforts to correct the issue ap-
peared to pay of May 30 with the rst
successful U.S. end-to-end ICBM inter-
cept test using Raytheons latest Ca-
North Koreas New Missiles
Bukkeukseong-1
(KN-11) SLBM
LAUNCHER: Sinpo-
class submarine
ROCKET: Single-
stage, solid
propellant
SUCCESSFUL
FLIGHT TEST:
May 2015
RANGE: 1,000+ km
KOREAN CENTRAL NEWS AGENCY PHOTOS
Hitting a bullet with a bullet: The
MISSILE DEFENSE AGENCY
Capability Enhancement-II Block 1
Exoatmospheric Kill Vehicle tested
on May 30 is to be the nal version
of Raytheons EKV hit-to-kill inter-
ceptor series until the new Rede-
signed Kill Vehicle arrives in 2022.
pability Enhancement-II Block 1 EKV.
Ellison and Karako say this variant
is an improvement over the version
elded in 2004, but as the number of
missiles capable of reaching the U.S.
increases over the next decade, kill
vehicles must become more reliable,
cheaper and small enough to deploy
in clusters.
The MDAs fiscal 2018 program,
however, delays testing and fielding
of the EKVs replacement, the Rede-
signed Kill Vehicle (RKV), until 2022,
a two-year deferment. It brings for-
Hwasong-10 (Musudan)
IRBM
LAUNCHER: Road-
mobile launcher
ROCKET: Single-
stage, liquid
propellant
SUCCESSFUL
FLIGHT TEST:
June 2016
RANGE: 3,000+ km
AviationWeek.com/awst
ward deployment of the Multi-Object
Kill Vehicle (MOKV) to 2025 from the
2029-30 time frame.
Karako applauds acceleration of the
MOKV, which will enable a single inter-
ceptor to carry several hit-to-kill pay-
loads instead of one EKV or RKV. But
he worries about the consequences of
delaying the RKV, since the production
line and supply chain for the EKV is
winding down.
The RKV is engineered to be more
reliable and less expensive than the cur-
rent-generation EKV, which was rushed
into service during the George W. Bush
administration. The number of manu-
facturing steps will be reduced by 70%.
Raytheon delivers the final eight
CE-II EKVs this year, at which point
production will end, and the company
will focus solely on future product de-
velopment until the RKV enters pro-
duction at the turn of the decade.
Buying more interceptors and kill ve-
hicles as spares could negate this issue.
The dirty little secret is: There
are no operational and testing spares.
None, Karako says. Every time MDA
conducts another test, theyll need to
pull one out of the ground from Fort
Greely. Theyre not going to replace
it because theres nothing to replace
it with. Forty-four interceptors will go
down to 40, a 10% reduction, and thats
before the delay of RKV became public.
Raytheon manufactures the EKVs in
Tucson, Arizona, where it has capacity
to build more CE-II kill vehicles.
Boeing is the prime contractor for
the RKV, with Lockheed and Raytheon
as major suppliers. Raytheon has 50%
of the workshare and is responsible
for integration, assembly and testing
of the future kill vehicle at its Space
Bukkeukseong-2
(KN-15) MRBM
LAUNCHER: Road-mobile,
tracked transporter-
erector launcher
ROCKET: Cold-
launch, two-stage,
solid propellant
SUCCESSFUL
FLIGHT TEST:
February 2017
RANGE: 1,000+ km
AviationWeek.com/awst
Factory in Tucson. Boeing attaches
the missile-hunting payload to the GBI
interceptor.
David Dutcher, Boeings director
of the GBI and RKV programs, says
his team has stood up a capability to
produce more interceptors, if needed.
The company is also working on the
next-generation MOKV.
The MDA says the two-year delay
for the RKV allows more time for sys-
tems engineering, parts and materials
screening and hardware qualication,
while reducing overlap between devel-
opment and production. The addition-
al time reduces program concurrency
and will support meeting the programs
primary goalachieving high levels of
reliability, the agency says.
But without some overlap, Raytheon
would have to lay of much of its skilled
kill vehicle production workforce until
the RKV is approved for production.
Despite the schedule change, Ray-
theon says it is condent of meeting all
RKV testing and elding requirements,
if funded and resourced properly.
Bruce Jurcevich, Lockheeds director
of advanced interceptor systems, says
the RKV has been the MDAs No. 1 prior-
ity for improving kill vehicle reliability
and reducing manufacturing complex-
ity and unit cost. The previous system
had producibility issues, he says.
The RKV will introduce on-demand
communications so kill vehicles can
send and receive target updates, dis-
crimination data and hit assessments
during spaceflight. This is an initial
step toward collaborative intercepts
against one or more targets.
Boeing, Lockheed and Raytheon have
received contracts worth $50-60 million
each to begin developing and proto-
Hwasong-12 IRBM
LAUNCHER: Road-mobile launcher
ROCKET: Single-stage,
liquid propellant
SUCCESSFUL
FLIGHT TEST:
April 2017
RANGE: 3,000+ km
Sources: Pentagon 2017 Ballistic & Cruise Missile Threat Report, CSIS, Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance
AVIATION WEEK & SPACE TECHNOLOGY/JULY 24-AUGUST 13, 2017
typing their MOKV concepts. Karako
says the government could move more
quickly toward MOKV but should not
jump to multithreat intercept capa-
bility without rst nishing the RKV.
The path to MOKV is through RKV,
he says. MOKV requires more of a leap
[in technology]; RKV is an evolution.
The MDA believes the MOKV could
revolutionize the missile defense ar-
chitecture by multiplying the number
of warheads each interceptor can de-
stroy. Today, the Pentagon would launch
two or more multimillion-dollar GBIs
against a single incoming warhead.
Instead of a unitary kill vehicle, its a
swarm of them, Karako says.
The agency could also develop a
smaller MOKV payload for Raytheons
new 21-in. SM-3 Block 2A, an Aegis
exoatmospheric interceptor designed
to intercept medium- to intercontinen-
tal-range missiles. The missile has failed
in one of two intercept tests, possibly
delaying low-rate production.
HYPERSONIC IMPERATIVE
Russian and Chinese development
of hypersonic cruise missiles, glide
weapons and maneuverable reentry
vehicles could soon render Western
antiballistic missile defenses obsolete.
These weapons either skim along the
upper atmosphere at high speed or
maneuver in unpredictable ways to
outplay traditional missile shields.
Congress directed the MDA to ad-
dress this challenge and develop plans
and programs to counter hypersonic
threats due to enter service in the
next few years.
The agencys answer is a series of
demonstrations involving radars,
high-altitude drones and a space lay-
Hwasong-14 (KN-14/
KN-08 Mod 2) ICBM
LAUNCHER: Road-mobile
transporter-erector
launcher
ROCKET: Two-stage
liquid propellant
SUCCESSFUL
FLIGHT TEST:
July 2017
RANGE: 5,500+ km
41
 Missile Defense

er as well as new weapon concepts,

it told Congress in June.
First GMD Intercept of an
For detection, the MDA is evaluating
new electro-optical/infrared and laser Test Designation: Flight Test Ground-Based
rangefnding sensors in space and on
high-flying drones. Because of their Interceptor (FTG)-15
speed, hypersonic missiles have strong
heat signatures, which makes detec-
tion easier from certain vantage points.
Directed-energy weapons on drones or 1 ICBM Target Launch from
in space could knock out targets from
above at the speed of light but probably
Kwajalein Atoll North Korean-style
not from below, due to a plasma layer. ICBM target launches from Kwajalein
In 2015, the agency even expressed Atoll, Marshall Islands, headed toward
interest in adapting high-speed con- California, over 5,000 mi. away.
ventional interceptors such as the
Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense
system and SM-6 to knock out hyper-
sonic threats. The MDA is also assess-
ing the utility of high-speed projectiles,
such as Mach 3-capable hypervelocity
powder guns and electromagnetic rail
guns that fre rounds at six times the 2 Terrestrial Tracking and
speed of sound.
Many industry analysts see space as Discrimination Radars Space-
the ultimate high ground for sensing based infrared sensors detect the
and intercept of hypersonic threats. ICBMs fery launch and cue tracking
The MDA says it is establishing a and discrimination radars on land and
three-phase limited contingency ca- at sea in the Pacifc. The information is
pability for real-time hypersonic mis-
relayed to the central launch command
sile warning across the majority of
the threat profle. This includes a mix and fre control center in the U.S., which
of overhead persistent infrared sen- prepares a response based on trajectory
sorsairborne and space-bornebut and expected impact point of the threat.
also terrestrial sensors.
The agency has been maturing ste-
reoscopic tracking and range-fnding of 3 GBI Launch from
ballistic and hypersonic threats using
two customized General Atomics Aero- Vandenberg AFB, California
nautical Systems MQ-9 Reaper UAVs Three-stage Confguration 2 Ground-
with chin-mounted Raytheon Multi- Based Interceptor armed with the
spectral Targeting System (MTS-C) newest Capability Enhancement CE-II
turrets. The MDA is also exploring
ground-based MTS-C sensor sites. Block 1 Exoatmospheric Kill Vehicle
For the space layer, the agency wants launch from a production-like test silo at
many small, inexpensive satellites and Vandenberg AFB.
hosted payloads instead of billion-dol-
lar behemoths, and its budget includes
funding for an overhead miniature sen-
sor experiment. A $21 million contract
for space sensor concept development
4 Kill Vehicle Target
is due to be awarded this year. Discrimination The kill vehicles
Kingston Reif of the Arms Control onboard seeker uses advanced
Association cautions that establishing
algorithms to distinguish the deadly
even a limited defense against hyper-
sonic weapons would be wildly expen- warhead (in red square) from
sive and cost-prohibitive. The better an- potential decoys (in white squares),
swer might be to prevent the capability countermeasures and space debris as it
from coming out of the bag in the frst aligns for intercept using its divert and
place, through arms control.
We can see the point where Russia, attitude control system.
the U.S. and China are all felding these
systems, he says. c Missile Defense Agency Photos

42 AviAtion Week & SpAce technology/JUly 24-AUgUSt 13, 2017 AviationWeek.com/awst

ICBM TTarget
Missile Defense Integration and
Operations Center GMD Fire Control

Hawaiian Islands 4 3
Terrestrial Tracking and
Discrimination Radars 5 Vandenberg Air Force Base

2 6

NASA
Wake Island

1
Kwajalein

5 Kill Vehicle Terminal 6 Kill Vehicle-Target

Phase The nal image of the Collision Exoatmospheric
target reentry vehicle before Kill Vehicle and target reentry
impact. If this had not been a test, vehicle impact in a ery
it probably would have contained collision, as seen through an
an armed nuclear warhead. infrared sensor. In a real-life
scenario, multiple interceptors
would be red against a single
warhead in case the rst shot
misses.

AviationWeek.com/awst AVIATION WEEK & SPACE TECHNOLOGY/JULY 24-AUGUST 13, 2017 43

 INTERVIEW

Rockwell distribution to make the dumb

products you acquired from B/E
smart?

Redened
Rockwell Collinss $8.6 billion acquisition of B/E Aerospace has boosted the companys
We can see where we will be leading
in the next generation of smart cabin
technology. Weve got all the parts. We
just need to write the applications,
whether it is ofoading maintenance
sales and workforce by 50% and expanded its expertise in cockpit avionics, communi- information or providing the flight
cations, simulation and training, and information management into aircraft interior crew valuable information that helps
products such as seats, lighting, galleys, lavatory systems and oxygen systems. Rockwell them serve the passengers. Weve got
Collins also is a major supplier on defense platforms such as the Lockheed Martin F-35 a synergy team working [to dene]
ghter, Boeing KC-46 tanker and Embraer KC-390 airlifter. Chairman, President and those product oferings.
CEO Kelly Ortberg sat down with Aviation Week Editor-in-Chief Joe Anselmo at the
recent Paris Air Show for a wide-ranging discussion. How do Safrans planned acqui-
sition of Zodiac Aerospace and
Kelly Ortberg (center) has made employee your purchase of B/E change the
engagement a key priority. The job site Glass- supplier landscape?
door gave him an employee approval rating of
89%, well above the average of 67%. I dont know that it really changes a
lot. Legacy Rockwell Collins and leg-
acy Safran dont compete much. We
have always competed with Zodiac,
so its just a dynamic. Theyre heftier,
and were heftier. Heft has some val-
ue, but you still have to ofer the best
value to the customer to be selected.

Boeing is launching a new after-

How does the acquisition of B/E
remake Rockwell Collins?
Ortberg: It makes us a bigger, more di-
verse company. Interiors get retrotted
several times in the life of an airplane.
We do not see that in avionics. So it
gives us the ability to pivot a little bit
to the aftermarket when we see soft
patches in OEM production rates. We
are a trusted source to the airlines and
OEMs. If we are going to grow, we have
to have a bigger portfolio.
Some Wall Street analysts were
less than kind about the B/E deal.
I think the acquisition probably sur-
prised some of them. We ended up
with over 98% shareholder approval
for the deal. Since the close [in April]
I feel like some of the revenue synergy
opportunities might come in faster
than I anticipated. We originally tar-
ROCKWELL COLLINS
geted $160 million of cost synergies
per year. I have challenged the team
to get that to $200 million.
What is the defense share of your
business now?
Its right around 30%, down from
about 45% before we did the acqui-
sition of B/E. But defense is still a
major component of our company.
The growth is good, and the market
recovery is here. About 70% of our
defense business is based on U.S.
Defense Department spending, and
clearly that environment is improv-
ing. We have had four consecutive
quarters of growth greater than 5%
in our defense portfolio, and I think
youre going to see sustained levels
of growth both in the defense budget
and in our business.
Is the plan to use your capa-
bilities in areas such as wireless
market business with a goal of
generating $50 billion in annual
sales. Does that worry you?
Im not worried. I think it presents
some opportunities for us to be a
value-added partner. Theoretically,
we could deliver aircraft maintenance
data through our information systems
on the airplane. And then they could
monetize that datapredictive analyt-
ics, maintenance applications where
they have knowledge of the aircrafts
performance that we dont have.
Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg
recently told us he is preparing
for a hypercompetitive environ-
ment.
I think its hyper competitive right
now. There are going to be more play-
ers with the [Bombardier] C Series
and the Chinese coming to market,
but Airbus and Boeing are pretty
competitive themselves. That flows
down to us. We have to continue to
be a value-added, low-cost supplier
or we are not going to have positions
on their next-generation aircraft. So
we continue to focus on size, weight,
power and cost reduction across our
product portfolio.

44 AVIATION WEEK & SPACE TECHNOLOGY/JULY 24-AUGUST 13, 2017 AviationWeek.com/awst

So what technologies are going
to reshape Rockwell Collins?
Information technology: I think we
are in the early phases of the con-
nected airplane. There are a lot of
applications that have not yet even
been thought about. All the systems
on the airplane are now sitting on an
Ethernet network, whereas before
they tended to be hard-wired and in-
dependent, so that even if you had a
radio link you couldnt get the infor-
mation out of the boxes.
Now everything is sitting on a net-
work, so you can move information
back and forth and access it. Enhanc-
ing the visual realm is [another] one
of our key growth areas. Its fusing
databasesnew sensors with much
lower cost and higher performance
COCKPIT
Rockwell Collins Head-up displays
B/E Aerospace Head-down displays
Integrated avionics systems
Communication, navigation
and surveillance systems
Pilot controls
The acquisition
of B/E aerospace CABIN
Broadband connectivity
greatly expands
Wireless routers
Rockwell Collinss
Moving maps
commercial air-
craft oferings. Premium seating
Economy seating
with the real world, and [also] creating
a virtual world so you can see what
you cant see.
What are your thoughts on pro-
posals to privatize the U.S. air
trafc control system? President
Donald Trump and Rep. Bill Shus-
ter (R-Pa.) are arguing that you
need privatization to speed up
modernization of the system.
We are not taking a position on priva-
tization. The important thing is that
we dont drop the ball on the next-
gen modernization that is underway.
The argument is that the budget en-
vironment makes it very difficult to
make strategic progress, and priva-
tizing would allow that to be more
streamlined. That very well could be
the case. We just want to make sure
that if we do privatize, we dont lose
momentum.
AviationWeek.com/awst
What is your assessment of the
momentum?
I think its going too slow, but Im also
encouraged. We are making great
progress. Were in the middle of the
ADS-B (automatic dependent surveil-
lance-broadcast) mandate. All new
airplanes are being delivered with
this functionality. But it is important
that the route structures and ground
systems [utilize ADS-B] in concert, so
that the airlines [and business avia-
tion operators] get a return on invest-
ment for that equipment.
Rockwell Collins has developed
a new pilot helmet for the F-35.
How is that going?
Weve introduced the new light-
Fly by wire
Autopilot
Flight tracking solutions
Flight deck connectivity
Oxygen systems
Galley systems
Lavatories
Water and waste solutions
Cabin and specialty lighting
Oxygen systems
Crew rest
weight helmet, which helped lower
weight restrictions to allow [for]
lighter pilots. There were also some
changes in the ejection seat capabil-
ity. The performance of the new hel-
met is really good, and were support-
ing Lockheed Martin now with the
ramp-up. We are in the early phases
of that program, so there is a long
runway ahead.
It seems like the F-35 program
has turned the corner.
It really has. The helmet is a good
example. It is the frst time we have
done things like this. As much as you
plan, there are discoveries. Thats
why we do test programs. But I think
weve whittled down the problems,
improved the product and driven the
cost down. Lockheed has done a great
job at the airplane level, too. As long
as we can keep doing that, I think we
AviAtion Week & SpAce technology/JUly 24-AUgUSt 13, 2017 45
will keep the program very viable,
and well see a lot more international
[sales] opportunities.
Is Rockwell Collins on any of the
T-X trainer teams?
No comment. Thats a program of
interest to us. But we are the tail on
the dog on those kinds of programs.
Well wait and see what the OEMs do.
There are a few programs that sort
of shape the industry. Thats probably
one of them.
Youre in your ffth year as CEO.
How has the company changed
under your leadership?
We are a different company than
we were, no question. We have been
EXTERNAL
Aircraft sensors/antennas Deicing systems
Actuator solutions Lighting
Food and beverage Interior monuments
preparation and
storage equipment
and structures
Power conversion
Interior reconguration
and certication services
Source: Rockwell Collins
working a lot on employee engage-
ment. Weve tried to make the culture
much more open and inclusive and
break down some of the stovepipes,
the fear of speaking up, and make
people more comfortable sharing
their ideas. Weve been getting more
diverse globally. We have different
cultures in meetings, and we have got
to have an environment where every-
body is providing input.
Some of that is addressing simple
things, like the formality of the dress
code and getting rid of reserved park-
ing spots. That created a hierarchy of,
Im in a meeting with Kelly, so I cant
talk. Weve tried to break that down.
I do skip level meetings all the
time, everywhere I go, where I skip
over diferent levels of management
all the way down to entry-level folks.
Sometimes information gets fltered,
and that gives me a good way to keep
my fnger on the pulse. c
 GENERAL AVIATION

Divine Guidance
Testing upset recovery cues in a Learjet 25B
knowledge deciencies in recovering.
At Niagara Falls the morning of
April 3, I met Nathan Richards, the
principal investigator on the DAGUR
project and a senior research scien-
tist with Barron. DAGUR provides vi-
John Croft Niagara Falls, New York sual recovery-guidance cues that pop
up on a pilots primary ight display

P
reliminary results from a NASA-funded engineering when triggered by certain conditions,
evaluation show pop-up guidance cues on the primary including when the aircraft is out of
ight display could help pilots avoid losing control of their normal flight envelope bounds or is
doing something the pilot is not com-
aircraft. I was one of ve pilots selected to evaluate the software manding. The Niagara Falls ight tests
package, called Damage Adaptive Guidance for Piloted Upset would reveal the diference in recover-
Recovery (DAGUR), during a recent ight-test campaign. ing an errant aircraft with and without
the special guidance, at least for the
DAGUR is one of many loss-of-con- upset recovery guidancegiving pilots fairly small sample group of ve pilots.
trol (LOC) preventives and initiatives special cues that provide clear and The basic idea is to show the pilot
under development or already de- unambiguous directions on how to the recommended inceptorwheel/
ployed after a string of LOC accidents y the aircraft out of the anomalous throttle/rudder pedalpositions that
in 2009, most notably the Continental condition. DAGUR, developed by Vir- will efect a safe recovery, says Rich-
Connection/Colgan Air Flight 3407 ginia-based Barron Associates under ards. The pilot is shown both the rec-
crash in Clarence Center, New York. contract to NASAs Langley Research ommended positions and the current
Based on the captains erroneous in- Center, was designed with the CAST positions and is tasked with following
puts, the Bombardier Q400 was own goal in mind. the recommendations. Its just like
into a deep stall from which it did not My flight test took place in early playing Pac-Man on the screen. In
recover. The crash killed all 49 passen- April using Calspans variable-stabil- theory, guidance like this would have
gers and crew on board and one man ity Learjet 25B from Niagara Falls In- given the captain of Colgan 3407 the
in the house it destroyed. ternational Airport, only 20 mi. from cues needed to return the aircraft to
Following Colgan, dozens of safety Clarence Center. a stable condition after he entered a
upgrades in the U.S. were proposed To be accepted into the test pro- deep stall at relatively low altitude.
and implemented, including a rule that gram, I had to provide a summary of Richards has compiled the flight
requires first officers to have an Air my ight hours, a ight crew authori- data from all five pilots into a final
Transport Pilot certicate (normally zation signed by my supervisor and report that was recently submitted to
requiring 1,500 hr. of ight time) and a DAGUR consent form detailing the NASA and will be the topic of a pre-
for all pilots to have recurring upgrad- risks involved (minimal). The form sentation he will give at the American
ed simulator training that includes full also discussed the feedback I would Institute of Aeronautics and Astronau-
stalls and upset recoveries. Other up- be asked to provide the researchers: tics Science and Technology Forum in
grades are forthcoming, including vol- an evaluation of my perceived per- January 2018.
untary implementation by industry of formance after each maneuver and In the spring of 2016, Barron tested
multiple Airplane State Awareness an overall evaluation at the end of DAGUR with 10 Air Transport Pilot-
initiatives launched by the Commer- the test. The postmaneuver perfor- licensed pilots in a xed-based simu-
cial Airline Safety Team (CAST) in re- mance rating, dened in a one-page lator at the companys Charlottesville,
sponse to the LOC problem, the cause ow diagram, results in a 1-10 gure, Virginia, headquarters. The simulator
of the deadliest airline crashes. with 1 meaning excellent perfor- used a transport-class model devel-
One of the CAST initiatives involves mance and 10 meaning major skill/ oped by NASAs Langley Research

Calspans variable-stability Learjet 25B was the ight-test aircraft for a

NASA-funded upset recovery guidance study in April.
JOHN CROFT/AW&ST

46 AVIATION WEEK & SPACE TECHNOLOGY/JULY 24-AUGUST 13, 2017 AviationWeek.com/awst


Recovery guidance includes a
pitch-and-roll cue (left and right
magenta wings), a yaw or rudder
cue (below the wings) and power
cues on the left side (to put the
green in the red).
Center to emulate the heavy control
feel and performance of a 150,000-lb.
large twin-engine transport similar to
the Boeing 737 or 757. The pilots were
given a slate of 14 random scenarios
using a mix of visual and instrument
flight conditions. Each scenario was
run twiceonce with guidance; once
withoutbut not sequentially and with
no prior warning to the pilot as to what
scenarios he or she was about to expe-
rience. Scenarios included low-altitude
wake vortex, high-altitude stalls with
several different flap settings, nose-
high and nose-low upsets, rudder and
aileron hard-overs and runaway trim.
The real benefit of the guidance
is the initial reaction, says Richards,
to get the aircraft back to a safe state
where you can let your mind catch up
to whats going on.
The simulation results were posi-
tiveoverall, recoveries with DAGUR
were better than recoveries without
paving the way for the live fight-test
demonstration in April with the Cal-
span Learjet 25B. My fight included
11 randomly selected scenarios all
fown with a view-limiting headgear
to simulate fying in instrument condi-
tions. Each maneuver started at 15,000
ft. and 250 kt. in a military operations
area over Lake Ontario, with all 22 ma-
neuvers taking approximately 90 min.
to complete.
Evaluation pilots are seated in the
co-pilot seat in the Learjet, which has
fy-by-wire controls and can emulate
a variety of aircraft, in this case a
transport-class aircraft similar to
but not the same as the Langley mod-
el. The aircraft has built-in safety trips
that return control to the safety pilot
in the left seat (with traditional con-
trols) when maneuvers exceed certain
G loads or sideslip angles. There were
no pitch or roll limits, although the
safety pilot would generally intervene
when the bank angle exceeded 90 deg.
With the recovery guidance, what a
pilot sees on the primary fight display
are magenta desired state cues for
the control yoke (pitch-and-roll con-
trol) and rudders in the middle of the
display (see image) and a red power
cue on the left side of the screen. To
AviationWeek.com/awst
recover, the pilot uses the control yoke
and rudders to move the blue cues for
pitch and roll into the magenta targets
and the throttles to move the green
power marker into the red power cue.
In order to simplify certification on
potential new products, Barron built
DAGUR as an advisory only tool,
meaning that pilots can use or ignore
the information.
Rather than the standard upset
recovery sequence that pilots are gen-
erally taughtreduce angle of attack
(AOA), adjust power, roll wings level
and adjust pitchDAGUR determines
its recovery guidance by simultane-
ously prioritizing AOA, bank angle,
airspeed and sideslip, each with a dif-
ferent weighting. For fy-by-wire air-
craft, the recovery guidance could be
built directly into the fight software
for automatic recoveries.
Richards says DAGUR does not take
into account terrain and obstacles in
its recovery guidance, largely to sim-
plify certifcation of the software. We
didnt want to carry a database of
buildings and terrain, he says. He is,
however, contemplating whether a re-
covery at lower altitude could demand
higher G loads given the immediacy of
the required response. DAGUR limits
control inputs based on the maneuver-
ing load factors of +2.8 and 0.25g.
The frst order of business at Cal-
span before flying was to sit in the
right seat of the Learjet 25B and fy
a series of recoveries in ground-sim-
ulation mode. In the left seat for this
portion was Ryan McMahon, Calspans
director of programs, who along with
Richards talked me through several
recoveries, including a nose-low case
in which I kept my eyes closed until
told to recover. Two other entry types
would be used: 1) actively fying and
AviAtion Week & SpAce technology/JUly 24-AUgUSt 13, 2017
Barron associates
recovering at the frst sign of a prob-
lem and 2) being given step-by-step
instructions by the safety pilot in the
left seat. In addition to my self-rating
for each maneuver, Richards was also
interested in how I perceived the speed
of the recovery guidance: too fast, too
slow or just right.
Barron hired Systems Technology,
Inc. to develop the dynamic models of
pilot behavior over a wide spectrum of
pilot types for the cues. I found that
the guidance was set properly for my
control responses during the evalua-
tion fight.
My portable primary fight display,
mounted on top of the instrument
panel, was easy to see, although in
some cases the bottom of the screen
was blocked by the control yoke when
it was pressed fully forward based on
my seat height. Following the guidance
was easy once I fgured out which sym-
bol represented the current state and
which represented the desired state, a
critical understanding for recoveries.
I believe the polarity would be more
straightforward for pilots used to fy-
ing with fight director symbology in
glass cockpit displays, whereas my
piston-powered aircraft has traditional
steam gauges.
Brian Ernisse, vice president of
aerospace operations at Calspan and
a former U.S. Air Force developmental
test pilot for the F-22 and F-16, was the
safety pilot for the fight. There were
broken clouds over Lake Ontario, not
ideal for the planned maneuvers at
15,000 ft., but we launched with the
intent of fying as many scenarios as
possible. Ultimately, we were able to fy
all 22 cases (11 with guidance, 11 with-
out), but in at least one case Ernisse
had to ofer maneuver advice before
the guidance popped up due to the
47
 GENERAL AVIATION

clouds above our altitude.
In practically all cases, my recover-
ies were far superior using DAGURs
upset guidance, particularly for a wake
turbulence for which my unaided re-
covery attempt tripped the Learjets
G limits. With DAGUR, the recovery
was quick and smooth. Richards says
wake turbulence recoveries were an is-
sue for many of the evaluation pilots as
well, largely due to their overcontrol-
ling of the aircraft. For other scenarios,
including icing on the wing, DAGUR
guidance was critical, as I had no
awareness of the aircrafts decreasing
controllability as the simulated ice load
increased. Similar to synthetic vision
or a head-up display, I quickly became
attached to having the DAGUR guid-
ance, although this could have been
partially due to my unfamiliarity with
the Learjet fight deck and handling.
Overall, Richards says the data
shows that DAGUR boosted the pro-
fciency of any given pilot in any given
scenario. In a lot of scenarios, it re-
duced overcontrolling, and there were

Autothrottle forces. We are looking to do a twin next, without mention-

ing what platform, says Askarpour. The amazing thing
about our autothrottle is that it is designed for retroft.

Add-On New engines will probably have a Fadec, but there are a
huge number of PT6s out in the feld that are non-Fadec.
This is a very good solution for all of those.
Witnessing a bolt-on pilot I rode in the right seat as Smedberg few N271SS in the
left seat on April 28 on a short fight from Wilmington,
workload reliever frsthand Delaware, to Trenton, New Jersey, and back. IS&S is based
in nearby Exton, Pennsylvania. In the back was Markus
John Croft Wilmington, Delaware Knopf, IS&Ss vice president for product development.
N271SS is a 17-year-old PC-12 equipped with IS&Ss Next-

W
hen Innovative Solutions and Support (IS&S) Gen cockpit, an upgrade certifed by the FAA in early April.
chief pilot Eric Smedberg lined up on Runway 32 The launch customer for both the NextGen cockpit and the
at New Castle Airport here in late April in the A/T is Brian Cleary, president of the Pilatus Owners and
companys PC-12 test aircraft on a demonstration fight for Pilots Association.
Aviation Week, he initiated takeof with the push of a but- Before takeof, Knopf and Smedberg explained the op-
ton. The throttle moved to full power on its own. eration of the system. Pilots activate the A/T by pushing
The Houdini momentthe turboprop singles Pratt & a master on/of switch in the center quadrant, forward of
Whitney PT6 engine does not have a full authority digital
engine controller (Fadec) normally required for an auto-
mated throttlecame courtesy of IS&Ss newly FAA-cer-
tifed autothrottle (A/T) system. The bolt-on aftermarket
upgrade can be installed into a companion IS&S PC-12
NextGen fight deck in as little as 30 min., says the company.
Rather than a Fadec, the IS&S A/T uses the computing
power in the fight deck displays to generate position com-
mands to an actuator mechanism under the console that
moves the throttle while the system software monitors a
variety of engine and aircraft limits. IS&S is marketing
the upgrade as a pilot workload reliever that prevents the
engine from exceeding over- and undertorque and turbine
temperature limits and keeps the aircraft from fying too
slow or too fast.
Along with the approximately 900 PC-12s that can be
upgraded with IS&Ss NextGen cockpit (the pre-NG mod-
els), the company says its new A/T can also be retroftted
to more than 13,000 PT-6-powered aircraft on 25 difer-
ent aircraft models. Computing power for non-IS&S fight
decks would come from an IS&S-built integrated standby
instrument.
IS&S President Shahram Askarpour says his company
is interested next in ftting the system to a twin-engine
aircraft. For a twin, the A/T could add the safety beneft of
limiting power at low airspeeds in a failed engine scenario,
to avoid a loss of control from the yaw and roll efects of the
operating engine overcoming the fight control countering
IS&S chief pilot Eric Smedberg (left) demonstrates to
AW&STs John Croft the industrys frst aftermarket
autothrottle for a non-Fadec PT6-powered turboprop.
John Croft/AW&St

48 AviAtion Week & SpAce technology/JUly 24-AUgUSt 13, 2017 AviationWeek.com/awst

far less oscillations back and forth, he
says. The data shows that it augments
a pilots upset recovery performance.
That is not to say that every pilot
will want the guidance advice. We
work with a lot of pilots, Richards
says of his work at Barron. We see
50-year-old ex-fghter pilots, and they
want nothing to do with augmented
symbology; but you get a 22-year-
old Airbus pilot, and theyre psyched
about any guidance you can provide.
Richards says one airframer is inter-
ested in potentially pursuing DAGUR
for its aircraft. Calspan, which pro-
vides upset recovery training, would
like to keep DAGUR on the variable-
stability Learjet as training wheels
for pilots learning upset recovery
skills. Richards says Barron is also
building a scaled-down version of
DAGUR on a tablet that could be used
by light-aircraft pilots. c
Video John Croft fies in the Calspan
Learjet 25B to test DAGUR:
AviationWeek.com/DAGUR-tests

the throttles. There is a disconnect on the right side of the
throttle lever and a takeof/go-around (TOGA) button on
the left side of the throttle lever. The pilot selects torque
or airspeed mode using an A/T tab on the right side of the
primary fight display (PFD), dialing in the torque or speed
set points using knobs at the top of the displays. The A/T
controls to those parameters. Knopf explains that takeof,
climb and cruise are usually fown in torque mode with
descents, approaches and landings fown in speed mode.
Overriding the throttle clutch mechanism takes approxi-
mately 10 lb. of forcewhich I found to be very easy to
doand sets of an audible beeping sound.
Based on manually entered information about our fight,
the IS&S fight control computer calculated a maximum
takeof torque of 43.4 psi. After receiving takeof clearance
from the tower, Smedberg lined up on Runway 32, pushed
the TOGA button and activated the A/T in the torque mode
via the PFD. The throttle advanced smoothly, taking ap-
proximately 7-10 sec. to reach full power.
In the background, six diferent controllers are process-
ing data for the A/T system, including airspeed, torque
and the various overlimit protections, says Knopf. With
the active system, the pilot can avoid having to manage
the tricky process of how fast to bring in the power. If
you bring the throttle up incorrectly, it will very quickly
overtemperature and overtorque due to the turbine kicking
in, says Askarpour. Its a lot of fnagling. Bring the throttle
upwaitbring it up some more.
The A/T has its own alerting functions. You get PFD
annunciations that tell you when you approach thresh-
oldstemperature, torque and othersin red, says Knopf.
And if it cannot recover you in 5 sec. from those overlimit
conditions, it will disconnect the autothrottle and give you
an audible tone.
Smedberg says the PC-12s engine also has a built-in
torque limiter, but the A/T provides another level of protec-
tion in case that limiter fails. He also points out that unlike
a Fadec engine, the throttle cannot be shoved forward to
let the electronics take care of the power scheduling; the
throttle remains directly connected to the engine.
Climbing to 2,000 ft., Smedberg switched the A/T to
speed mode and set it for 180 kt., providing a bufer for the
200-kt. maximum speed allowed below the Philadelphia
Class B airspace. I found the A/T would generally control
airspeeds to 10 kt. of target. Knopf says the overshoot
could be somewhat higher in turbulence. During a required
navigation performance approach to Runway 24 at Tren-
ton, Smedberg had the speed control set to 155 kt., and
there was a fap overspeed caution as the speed neared
163 kt., the fap limit. The A/T reduced power in response.
On the missed approach, Smedberg clicked the TOGA
button and the A/T transitioned to torque mode, advancing
full power for the climb out. During the climb to 2,700 ft.,
Smedberg switched over to speed mode, an entry that im-
mediately caused a red fashing Torque Protect caution
on the upper left side of the PFD. The A/T immediately
reduced power in response. Knopf explained that the com-
manded speed was set too high.
Overall, the A/T is a positive addition to this fight deck,
allowing pilots, many of whom are owner-operators, to bet-
ter focus on communications, navigation and surveillance
functions in high-pressure situations, while knowing the air-
craft and engine limitations are being met. A key element
in keeping the fights safe will be for the pilots to become
profcient with the A/T and its operating modes. c

Video John Croft samples the IS&S aftermarket autothrottle

on a demonstration fight in the companys Pilatus PC-12 out of
Wilmington: AviationWeek.com/Innovative-autothrottle

AviationWeek.com/awst AviAtion Week & SpAce technology/JUly 24-AUgUSt 13, 2017 49

 GENERAL AVIATION
Electric Avenues
New rules and renewed innovation are key to
kick-starting general aviation
John Croft Washington
T
he convergence of four factors
electric engine technology, pow-
erful lithium-chemistry batteries,
automatic control systems and exible
new regulationsis opening new de-
grees of freedom in aircraft design, not
the least of which are the propulsion
systems for general aviation aircraft.
The action could be the key to revi-
talizing the general aviation industry,
which, based on pilot population, has
been slipping in popularity since the
early 1980s. Getting young people in
and getting them interested requires a
technology injection, says Greg Bowles,
vice president for global innovation and
policy with the General Aviation Manu-
facturers Association (GAMA). It also
requires an acknowledgement that for
various reasons, weve been frozen in
time. Bowles says the primary reason
was that regulationsthe FAAs Part 23
certication rules, specicallywere
prescriptive rather than performance-
Curious Stepchild
Marketing Sikorskys little-known M28
John Croft Fort Worth
TECH. SGT. SAM KING/U.S. AIR FORCE
50 AVIATION WEEK & SPACE TECHNOLOGY/JULY 24-AUGUST 13, 2017
based. However, with the new Part
23 set to go live at the end of August,
Bowles says the industry will now be
able to actually design and innovate
and put the cool stuf in the eld.
The new Part 23 certication rules,
which govern airworthiness standards
for normal, utility, acrobatic and com-
muter category (19 passengers or
fewer and a maximum takeof weight
of 19,000 lb. or less), include alternate
types of propulsion (electric was not
included in legacy rules), and airfram-
ers can use consensus standards to
show compliance. The eld is plowed
and ready to be planted, says Bowles.
Ideas that may bear fruit under the
new rules include using an electric
boost for takeof so that the fossil-fuel-
burning engine in a hybrid can be de-
signed for the lower power needs of
the cruise portion of a flight; putting
medium-size electric motors with pro-
pellers on wingtips instead of winglets
to cut induced drag and gain 10-15% in
aerodynamic efciency; placing small
electric motors strategically on the air-
craft to eliminate the need for aps and
high-lift devices, allowing engineers to
optimize the airframe design for cruise;
and putting slow-turning propellers up
front because electric motors can gen-
erate high torque at slow speeds.
Hotbeds of activity for electric pro-
pulsion include GAMAs Electric Pro-
pulsion and Innovation Committee
(EPIC), which is managed by Bowles
and in January published two stan-
dards that industry can use to measure
hybrid and electric propulsion perfor-
mance. One standard covers fixed-
wing aircraft in typical missions; the
other encompasses vertical-takeoff-
and-landing missions.
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical Uni-
versitys (ERAU) Hybrid Consortium
is another key innovation center. It is
involved in a project to produce a nine-
passenger hybrid turboprop by 2025
and a large hybrid-electric jet by 2035.
Members of the Hybrid Consortium,
led by ERAUs Eagle Flight Research
Center and Argonne National Labora-
tory, include Airbus, Boeing, GE Avia-
tion, Hartzell, Rolls-Royce, Textron,
and Cape Air airline, although partici-
pation is open to all entities who share
W
hen Sikorsky bought the
Polish aerospace struc-
tures company PZL Mielec
in 2007, the main focus was to produce
helicopter structures and the S70i
International Black Hawk helicop-
ter. Included with the purchase was
an odd t for a helicopter manufac-
Long a specialty aircraft for mili-
taries including the U.S. Air Force,
Sikorsky is reintroducing its PZL-
built M28 as a solution for niche
passenger operations as well.
AviationWeek.com/awst
 Unusual designs will accompany the entry of elec-
tric and hybrid engines into general aviation, as seen
in this artists concept of a possible nine-passenger
aircraft by the Hybrid Consortium.

the common goal. EPIC is looking at Bowles. Right now, the answer is yes ment systems. A third stage will in-
EMBRY-RIDDLE AERONAUTICAL UNIVERSITY

all types of electric and hybrid congu-
rations, as well as automation, says
Bowles. He notes that the consortium
is doing a deep dive into the hybrid elec-
tric turboprop angles.
Given the pace of battery energy
density advancementlithium-chem-
istry batteries have been improving
about 3% every yearall-electric air-
craft will be doable in the near term for
smaller-scale vehicles with relatively
short range. But for a larger business
aviation-sized aircraft in the nine-pas-
senger size, hybrid power (a combina-
tion of fossil fuel and electric in series
or parallel drivetrains) is necessary
and has only recently become viable.
Were now on the brink of whether
hybrid electric makes sense, says
and nowere at the breakeven point.
However, next year it will be a yes
since were improving batteries by 3%
per year, he says.
The Hybrid Consortium has been
studying series and parallel hybrid
turboprop designs. In series, a turbine
engine charges the batteries that drive
the propeller; in parallel, both the en-
gine and the batteries drive the prop.
The idea is to avoid deep aeronautical
changes to an airframe, and to devel-
op a clean-sheet 600-shp serial hybrid
turboprop engine with battery packs
as the power source. The conceptual
design of clean-sheet airframes and
propulsion systems is complete, and
the group is now designing the motor,
battery packs and battery manage-
volve nishing the detailed design of
the prototype engine as well as build-
ing and testing the engine.
Pat Anderson, director of the Eagle
Flight Research Center and founder of
the consortium, says the researchers
have come up with hybrid turboprop
designs that result in 9% lower direct
operating costs compared to fossil fuels.
The conuence of new technologies,
research and regulatory advancements
is going to change what future airplanes
will look like, predicts Anderson.
Bowles refers to that conuence as
degrees of freedom in a design. Ive
been in aerospace for 20 years and
havent seen this level of innovation. Its
degrees of freedomthings designers
could not have considered before. c

turer: PZLs xed-wing M28, a rugged twin-engine turbo-
prop. Sikorskys new owner, Lockheed Martin, has only now
begun to market it in earnest in the regions where it may
sell the best.
PZL began producing the latest generation of the M28 in
Mielec, Poland, in 1993 and since the Sikorsky purchase has
been delivering about 10 aircraft per year. Customers include
the governments of Indonesia, Jordan, Poland, Venezuela,
Vietnam, the U.S. and several commercial operators.
People come to our chalet, they see printed material and
pictures of the M28, says Adam Schierholz, Sikorskys busi-
ness development regional executive for Latin America, of
recent military shows in South America. They expect to see
Black Hawks and S-92s and S-76s. When they see the M28,
they are surprised and interested.
Schierholz tackled the information vacuum by getting
company approval for an M28 Latin American tour. One-
and-a-half years in the making, the tour launched in March
and nished in May after visiting seven Caribbean and Latin
American countries, including Trinidad and Tobago, Argen-
tina, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador and Mexico. A PZL crew ew
the aircraft to North America from Poland in late February,
with marketing stops in several U.S. cities, including Dallas-
Fort Worth, where Aviation Week interviewed the team and
took a short demonstration ight. In all, the Polish-registered
aircraft (SP-DGW) made 50 ights and hosted 676 visitors
during the tour, according to Lockheed Martin.
On a scale from 1-10, I expected interest in this region
to be a 10, says Schierholz. It was a 15. He says there has
been at least one request for proposal submitted from po-
tential military, government or civilian customers in each
country visited, some for multiple aircraft. The split between
commercial and military applications is 50/50, he says. The
two most likely procurementsSchierholz would not say
which countries are involvedhave been pushed into 2018
for budgetary reasons, he says. The others dont have ap-
proved budgets yet, but are enthusiastic and seeking money
to procure the aircraft. Schierholz predicts 2018 will be a
big year for the M28.
Sikorsky says a major selling point for Latin America
and the Caribbean is the utility of the cabin, which can be
ordered in eight diferent versions: A 19-passenger airline
conguration with 2-1 seating and an underbelly luggage pod
a cargo version a combination passenger/cargo (combi) a VIP
a medevac conguration for six litters and seven passenger
seats a search-and-rescue version a 17-seat paratrooper drop
version and an 18-passenger utility cabin. The cargo congu-
ration has an option for a hand-cranked cargo hoist capable
of lifting 1,540 lb. Sikorsky is considering a reghting ver-
sion of the M28 based on a request from Chile, a country the
aircraft did not visit on the tour.
The most common use is the combi version, says
Ingmar Wyczalek, PZLs regional sales manager for North and
South America. Its very versatile for unprepared strips in re-

AviationWeek.com/awst AVIATION WEEK & SPACE TECHNOLOGY/JULY 24-AUGUST 13, 2017 51

 GENERAL AVIATION

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TECH. SGT. SAM KING/U.S. AIR FORCE

rear doors allow for cargo drops, a sfvff fm hf A
feature the U.S. Air Force uses for Fff, b hfy f
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ff ws fqppfd wh sfvf ff sfs hf f f s w pmf dffvf f Sfhfhfz Wf hvf fmf
hf fb (whfh s b hf szf f hf S-92 fb), hff bfk wh hf sffs pvf [hf ] ws whwhff
ppf sfs hf f, w ffs d f hs vfsmf, hf sys
Wf dd h ppsffy, shw ff vs d hf , Thf ff, SP-DGW, s w Skskys fffy
sys Kf Gmmf, Skskys bsfss fqs mf Cfsvfff, Pfsyfv, s dfms f hf US
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Sfhfhfz sys hf mfy dfmss Sh mbf Sfhfhfz sys hf fmpy fds kffp
Amff wff hf fpsf f hf Thf Bzf Amy Cfsvfff s pfpff wff sff c
sfd hf M28 f hh- d fw-fdf pfhf dps d
f pfhf dps, d f hff dys Ms h-
wfs Bzf, hf my fw f, pssff d mfdfvf ms- Video John Croft takes a demonstration ight showing of the
ss ff ffks bdf ps fs Thf Bzf- M28s features and capabilities: AviationWeek.com/M28-demo

52 AVIATION WEEK & SPACE TECHNOLOGY/JULY 24-AUGUST 13, 2017 AviationWeek.com/awst

Ambitious Spark
Work accelerates on Airbus plan for on-demand
air transport over congested cities
Tony Osborne London
A
irbus has set itself a goal of
having a serialized production
urban air mobility (UAM) sys-
tem ready for testing in a major city
as early as 2023.
The company is investing in two
UAM research programs: CityAirbus,
being developed in Europe by Airbus
Helicopters under the groups Chief
Technology Ofce (CTO), and the Va-
hana, being developed by the companys
Silicon Valley ofshoot, A3. Airbus says
it has proved there is a willingness to
pay for such a service through its proj-
ects including Project Ponton and later
Voom, an on-demand helicopter fight
service operating in Sao Paulo.
There is a high willingness to pay,
Mark Cousin, head of flight demon-
strators for Airbus CTO, said at the
Royal Aeronautical Society in London
in early July. When you consider the
time a journey takes in the air com-
pared to on the ground, the air journey
is sometimes cheaper than the ground
journey.
Data collected from the Ponton and
Voom programs suggest that passen-
gers are willing to pay $8-18 per seat
per minute for a speedier journey.
Motivated by these early fndings,
Cousin said work is now rapidly pro-
gressing on the first prototype of a
CityAirbus craft. The so-called Alpha-
Demonstrator will be a 2.2-metric-ton
unmanned aircraft powered by eight
fxed-pitch ducted propellers driven
by electric motors to prove the archi-
tecture, modularity and scalability of
the principle. The AlphaDemonstra-
tor, which will be smaller than Airbuss
H120 turbine helicopter, is expected to
fy by the end of 2018.
The BetaDemonstrator is planned to
follow; it will be manned by a test pilot
and is due to fy in 2019. A prototype of
a serial production air vehicle, or Gam-
maDemonstrator, could be ready by the
end of 2022 or early 2023.
We are . . . trying to drive the de-
velopment of technology with demon-
strators rather than through the classic
TRL [technology readiness level] pro-
cess, Cousin said. We set aggressive
AviationWeek.com/awst
goals for a demonstrator. Even when
the technology doesnt exist today, we
use that mechanism to force the de-
velopment of technology faster than it
would otherwise happen.
Preliminary design review for the
AlphaDemonstrator took place on
July 4, and the company is investing in
the creation of an iron bird test rig that
is expected to be ready by year-end. A
1/7th-scale model of the aircraft confg-
uration has already fown, and full-scale
propulsion arms have been tested in a
whirl tower in Germany.
What results from the CityAirbus is
likely to be a 2-4-seat air vehicle with
a range of 60 km (37 mi.) and a cruis-
ing speed of around 120 kph (75 mph).
Key challenges for Airbus will involve
safety and the environmental foot-
print, particularly in terms of noise.
Cousin believes it will be possible to
achieve noise reductions in hover of
around 10-12 db. Low operating costs
will also be a targetAirbus is aiming
for the cost of operation to be 25% that
of a twin-engine helicopter.
The winner [in the UAM industry]
will be the manufacturer that designs
the most efficient system in terms of
power usage because, in the end, ev-
eryone will have access to the same
battery technology, Cousin said. The
highest-performing product will be the
one using the least power.
One major consideration for the air-
AviAtion Week & SpAce technology/JUly 24-AUgUSt 13, 2017
craft is the need to keep the CityAirbus
cabin attitude as close to horizontal as
possible in all phases of fight. Cousin
said Airbus has several ideas being pat-
ented that could solve this challenge.
Another key element of consider-
ation is how the UAM system will work
in a city. Airbus is weighing how it will
be involved in the UAM business, as a
manufacturer of the air vehicles only
or as an Uber-like operator.
Studies for such an operation in Lon-
don examined the use of 160 air vehicles
to serve 10 pickup locations around
London, including one at Heathrow
Airport and another at London City
Airport. Cousin said CityAirbus could
transfer passengers from one airport
Airbus sees the CityAirbus
and other UAM concepts
operating in megacities
across the world.
Airbus
to the other in less than 20 min., com-
pared to 1 hr. 15 min. by road or public
transport at non-peak times. Airlines
are interested in the concept, accord-
ing to Cousin, as it could provide a more
convenient means of shuttling their pre-
mium passengers to the airport.
At this years Geneva Motor Show in
March, the company unveiled its modu-
lar Pop-Up concept featuring modular
air and ground components to carry a
passenger pod. Pop-Up has also gar-
nered interest from companies explor-
ing possibly transporting the passenger
pods by train and even hyperloop for
longer-distance journeys.
But questions remain about the
speed of development of battery ener-
gy densities that will allow the aircraft
to operate over the ranges and at the
speeds required, as well as the time re-
quired to charge the batteries.
Slow battery-charging speeds could
make modular systems such as Pop-Up
more attractive options, as ground and
air vehicle elements could be stocked
and recharged to be used as needed. c
53
 AIRLINES
Leasing Disruptors
Building third-party business will be key for LCC-owned lessors
Adrian Schofeld Auckland and Hong Kong and Helen Massy-Beresford Paris
L
ow-cost carriers (LCC) have al-
ready caused seismic shifts in
the global airline industry, and
now they are aiming to further boost
their infuence by growing into the air-
craft leasing arena.
While some LCC-owned leasing units
have become well-established, they are
still just beginning to make inroads with
third-party customers. The ability of
these lessors to transition beyond the
airlines within their parent groups will
determine how much they can shake up
the narrowbody leasing market.
Three of the major LCC players in the
leasing sector are AirAsia, Lion Air and
Norwegian Air Shuttle. While airlines
establishing leasing units is not a new
phenomenon, the entry of the LCCs is
a recent twist. These carriers are using
their lease operations to manage their
deliveries and fnancing, dispose of re-
tired aircraft and as a potential relief
valve if delivery rates outstrip demand.
Norwegians Arctic Aviation Asset
(AAA) bills itself as an asset manage-
54 AVIATION WEEK & SPACE TECHNOLOGY/JULY 24-AUGUST 13, 2017
ment company, set up to manage the
airlines own feet rather than as a les-
sor. However, as the carriers aircraft
orders and ambitions have grown, the
mission of its subsidiary has evolved.
As an LCC, we have to keep our
costs low, AAA CEO Tore Jenssen
says. To this end, Norwegian believes it
is important to have a fairly young feet
when it comes to fuel burn, efciency
and maintenance, he says. In contrast,
other airlines might have a strategy of
buying aircraft at the end of their life
instead, he notes.
Since Norwegian placed its frst or-
der for new aircraft in 2007, the carrier
has said it is not planning to operate
the aircraft until end-of-life, Jenssen
says. At some point in the future they
were going to trade [these] assets.
There would be two ways of doing
that: leasing them out or selling them,
depending on the market. We have
always known there would be a lot of
airplanes that would be handed back to
the market from Norwegian, he says.
Arctic Aviation Asset leases
Boeing 737-800s to its parent,
Norwegian Air Shuttle.
JOEPRIESAVIATION.NET
The founding of AAA as a standalone
business came in 2013, after Norwegian
placed a bumper order of 222 aircraft,
mainly consisting of Boeing MAX and
Airbus NEO narrowbodies. This made
it a logical step to split out the carriers
asset management activities into a
separate business.
Today AAA manages 129 airplanes,
of which it owns 77. The remainder of
its feet are leased from other lessors
such as AerCap and placed into the
Norwegian group, across its diferent
operating certifcates in Ireland, Nor-
way and the UK. All of Norwegians
aircraft are managed by AAA.
AAA has moved on from its origins
as purely a vehicle for finding new
homes for aircraft considered too old
to be flown cost-efficiently. However,
the scale of its third-party leasing of
new aircraft remains small. Only three
A320neos have been placed with an-
other operator, Hong Kong Express.
Nine more will be allocated to the Hong
Kong carrier this year and next. All of
AviationWeek.com/awst
the NEOs due for delivery through 2018
have been placed, but AAA is looking to
lease out more of the type as they arrive
starting in 2019.
I think having an asset manage-
ment arm for the airline provides fex-
ibility, says Jenssen. We have a fairly
long-term view on what Norwegian as
an airline needs, what is going in there,
what is coming back and what we need
to place elsewhere.
Jenssen sees the logic in other car-
riers establishing asset management
arms, particularly those with large or-
derbooks that will be looking to replace
and phase out older aircraft. Depend-
ing on the volume, on the orderbook and
on a lot of other things, it could make
sense to have such an asset arm, says
Jenssen. He notes that many legacy car-
riers have subleased aircraft through
their alliances but says, Norwegian is
a standalone; we have no alliance and
we depend on ourselves, so we have to
handle this externally.
Airlines setting up leasing units
could become a growing trend, Jenssen
says. The airline industry will require
more leased aircraft in the future, and
at the same time there are many air-
lines that have placed very large pur-
chase orders, so maybe well see this
The AirAsia Group has transferred
many of its aircraft to its leasing
subsidiary Asia Aviation Capital.
more and more, he says. Whether as
a standalone asset arm or joint venture
with other lessors, there are very dif-
ferent ways of structuring this.
AAA is always scanning the market
for interesting assets but has no im-
mediate purchase plans, Jenssen says,
noting that availability in OEM order
books is limited for the next few years.
AAAs focus will instead be on placing
the frst of the aircraft that were deliv-
ered to Norwegian in 2009, which are
now due to be turned around for sale
or lease elsewhere.
AirAsia is another airline that has
set up a leasing unit: It launched Asia
Aviation Capital (AAC) in 2014, basing it
in Labuan, Malaysia. The leasing opera-
tion is now at a signifcant crossroads,
as AirAsia is attempting to put together
a deal to sell AAC to outside interests.
The parent company set an offer
deadline of March 31 but has not re-
vealed bidders for AAC. AirAsia Group
CEO Tony Fernandes said in late May
that the parent was in fnal negotia-
AviationWeek.com/awst
tions regarding a sale. AirAsia expects
AAC to be worth about $1 billion.
AAC has primarily been used as a
vehicle to lease aircraft to AirAsias
overseas franchises. The lessor had 63
aircraft on its books at the end of 2016,
according to AllianceDBS Research.
The total comprised 57 aircraft allo-
cated to AirAsia afliates, four to the
parent Malaysian operation and two to
non-AirAsia carriers.
AllianceDBS notes that more than
40 additional AirAsia aircraft are
likely to be transferred from AirAsia
to AAC and leased back to AirAsia. A
significant share of AirAsias order-
book is also designated for the lessor.
AAC declined to be interviewed for
this story, but Chief Financial Ofcer
Simon Perkins talked about the units
ambitions during a recent Interna-
tional Society of Transport Aircraft
Trading conference in Hong Kong.
Perkins says AAC intends to diversi-
fy from its current activities into a fully
The AirAsia Group has transferred many of its aircraft
to its leasing subsidiary, Asia Aviation Capital.
fedged global lessor. This indicates a
greater focus on third-party custom-
ers. He acknowledges that AAC cant
be [like GE Capital Aviation Services]
due to its smaller portfolio. However,
the unit can make its [size] an advan-
tage rather than a disadvantage, and
can be reactive and responsive to op-
portunities.
AAC will likely remain based in Asia
post-sale, as this region is where the
most growth is expected. Even as it
diversifies its leasing activities, AAC
will probably continue to stay focused
on narrowbody aircraft, says Perkins.
The widebody leasing sector is consid-
ered more risky.
Lion Air is another Asian LCC giant
AviAtion Week & SpAce technology/JUly 24-AUgUSt 13, 2017
that has formed its own leasing unit,
Transportation Partners, which was
established in Singapore in 2011. The
unit leases aircraft to Lion Group car-
riers, as well as to third-party airlines.
It has previously placed aircraft with
carriers in Brazil and China.
Transportation Partners has 63 air-
craft on its books, comprising narrow-
body jets and turboprops. In a recent
report, Fitch Ratings noted the lessor
has a relatively young and liquid com-
mercial aircraft portfolio [and] cash
flow generation supported by solid
lease yields. However, a number of
risk factors were also identifed.
According to Fitch, there is some
risk due to common ownership with
Lion Air, which is also Transportation
Partners major customer. Such a dy-
namic is not uncommon with airline-
owned lessors, but Transportation
Partners still has relatively weak cor-
porate governance, says Fitch.
The lessor will beneft from the rise
Airbus
in popularity of its ATR 72 turboprops
and also from deliveries of widely
utilized current and next-generation
narrowbody aircraft from Airbus and
Boeing, says Fitch. The ratings agency
notes management is seeking to spread
its customer base through the place-
ment of its orderbook deliveries with
third-party airlines.
However, Fitch believes there is exe-
cution risk with the ability of Transpor-
tation Partners to successfully diversify
away its from its afliate airlines. It also
must contend with the competitive-
ness of the overall aircraft leasing en-
vironment, which could pressure lease
pricing, and ultimately earnings in the
medium term, the agency notes. c
55
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 Editorials

Peril Ahead for UK Aerospace

I s the UK in danger of becoming an aerospace island unto itself? A

year after its citizens voted to pull the nation out of the European
Union, questions about its aerospace future continue to grow.
The latest cause for concern in London is a surprise proposal
by French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor
Angela Merkel to jointly develop a new combat aircraft as Eu-
There clearly is a business case for closer de-
fense cooperation between France and Germany.
New military programs are crucial to rebuild-
ing the defense business of Airbusa predomi-
nantly Franco-German companyafter its pro-

ropes answer to the F-35 (see page 16). Should the plan proceed
to co-develop a ffth-generation fghter, as well as maritime patrol
aircraft and other military platforms, UK industry could fnd it-
self left out in the cold.
A lot is at stake as the nation braces to formally exit the EU in
March 2019. The UK boasts the worlds second-largest aerospace
sector after the U.S., directly supporting 130,000 jobs and gen-
erating more than $40 billion annually in sales, mostly through
exports. Wings for all Airbus aircraft and Bombardiers C Series
are produced in the UK. But British aerospace companies are
heavily dependent on their ability to trade freely in Europe with-
out tarifs and to draw skilled workers from across the continent.
While it remains to be seen whether the ambitions of Macron
and Merkel will come to fruition, their proposal signals an in-
fection point in Europes defense landscape. Ever since Charles
de Gaulle withdrew France from NATOs military structure in
1966, the UK and Germany have been close partners. They col-
laborated with Italy to develop the Panavia Tornado. Later, when
Frances Dassault refused to share the lead role on a new fghter,
the outcome was the UK/German/Italian/Spanish Eurofghter and
the French-only Rafale.
Proposed Franco-German
collaboration is an infection point
in Europes defense landscape.
posed merger with the UKs BAE Systems was
scuttled. Politically speaking, the tie-up provides
a high-profle sense of European solidarity now
that the UK and U.S., in Merkels view, have be-
come less reliable allies because of Brexit and
a Trump administration that at times has been
critical of the NATO alliance.
Unless the UK takes charge of its aerospace
destiny, it could fnd itself on the sidelines in
Europe. While even closer cooperation with the
U.S. is certainly an option, it is not a cure-all.
UK leaders need to wake upfastand fgure
out how to keep their enviable aerospace sector
from going the way of the British Empire. c

Where Is Trump ence, exploration and human spacefight, many Americans believe
wrongly, we thinkthat their nation is in retreat.
Headed on Space? As John Logsdon, the space historian and founder of George
Washington Universitys Space Policy Institute, wrote in Sky &

P resident Donald Trumps reestablishment of

a National Space Council is an encouraging
sign that the administration recognizes the im-
portance of space technology to U.S. commerce,
securityand to its national spirit.
This is a critical time for the U.S. in space. In the
commercial realm, no nation is more dependent on
Telescope magazine: There is a pressing need for coherence in
managing the increasingly complex U.S. space enterprise. With
NASA hoping to resume human travel to distant destinations, with
national security dependent on space capabilities, with the space
environment increasingly congested, competitive and contested,
and with a multifaceted U.S. private space sector emerging, coor-
dination becomes imperative.
So, two cheers for recreating the space council! We withhold the
third cheer because the proof is in the pudding. Dating to 1958,

Two cheers for restarting

the space council. Now who
for NASA administrator?
space councils have typically been chaired by the vice president
space technology than the U.S. Communications,
banking, environmental management, agriculture
and myriad other activities are more efcient and
efective because of space applications. This im-
portance grows daily. On the military and intel-
ligence side, there are heightened worries about
missile threats and how to protect space assets
and deter adversaries. Meanwhile, in space sci-
(Vice President Mike Pence will chair this one) and have included
cabinet secretaries and other senior administration ofcials. The
panels have ranged from very efectivenotably under President
George H.W. Bush, where there was an aggressive stafto feck-
less. Two presidents, Richard Nixon and Bill Clinton, scrapped
their space councils entirely. We are optimistic that the Trump ad-
ministration will recognize the usefulness of a space council.
Still, there is another pressing matter that desperately needs
attention: NASA does not have a permanent leader. It takes time
for a new administration to fll thousands of positions. But NASA
needs a strong hand now. The agency is one in which Americans
take great pride. This is not just another political appointment.
The Trump administration must make fnding a NASA adminis-
trator a high priority. c

58 AviAtion Week & SpAce technology/JUly 24-AUgUSt 13, 2017 AviationWeek.com/awst

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