Aviation Week reports that “Airbus is seeing new materials shortages emerge in the aerospace supply chain as other issues that have dominated in recent months begin to settle down.” Airbus Chief Operating Officer Alberto Gutierrez told ShowNews at the Paris Air Show that there are “new difficulties with raw materials, particularly aerospace steel.” According to Aviation Week, “steel is used in some aircraft parts that are exposed to particularly strong forces, such as the landing gear, and it is also used in castings and forgings.” Gutierrez said that the lead time for steel orders “used to be eight months – now it is 20 months.”
Full Story (Aviation Week)
Tag: aircraft
Boeing Partners with Aurora to Enhance KC-46A Pegasus’ Defensive Capabilities
Janes reports that The Boeing Company announced at the Paris Air Show on June 20 that it will partner with “Aurora Flight Sciences to enhance the defensive capabilities of its KC-46A Pegasus tanker-transport aircraft.” Boeing said that Aurora Flight Sciences is “leading the research and conceptual design of composite components geared at enhancing operational survivability for aerial refuelling and mobility missions. … This work will also focus on producibility and manufacturing at Aurora’s Columbus, Mississippi, manufacturing facility.” According to Boeing, the KC-46A Pegasus “already features defensive systems and data integration for multimission aerial refuelling support closer to the battlespace than existing tankers.” Boeing said, “With more data for the crew and fleet, including recent Block 1 upgrades to further enhance connectivity, the Pegasus can see and relay threat information to joint force warfighters for greater fleet survivability and mission success.”
Full Story (Janes)
Lockheed Martin Picks GE’s CF6-80E1 Engine to Power its LMXT Tanker
Breaking Defense reports that Lockheed Martin has chosen “GE Aerospace’s CF6-80E1 engine to power the aerospace giant’s LMXT tanker pitch for the Air Force, the two companies announced” Tuesday. Larry Gallogly, Lockheed Martin’s campaign director for the LMXT, said during a briefing with reporters, “We have endeavored through our supply chain to make sure we were getting the absolute best bang for the buck, so to speak, and providing the best engine for the LMXT. We’re very happy to announce that competition is now complete, and we have selected an iconic United States company, General Electric, to provide the CF6-80E1 engine for the LMXT.”
Full Story (Breaking Defense)
GE Performs New Dust Test on CFM LEAP Engines
Aviation Week reported that a series of tests at GE Aerospace’s Evendale, Ohio, site are being validated in order to make improvements on CFM International’s LEAP 1 engine to impart CFM56-like durability to the aircraft propulsion system.
Full Story (Aviation Week)
NASA Deploys PC-12 for Advanced Air Mobility Trials
Aviation International News reports that NASA is “deploying a Pilatus PC-12 for test flights in the Cleveland area as part of its work to pave the way for the autonomous operations envisaged for the advanced air mobility sector.” The flights began Thursday and will run through June 25, with the agency’s pilots “following roadways over Cleveland, Lodi, Mansfield, and Medina in Ohio to test communications technology expected to be used by eVTOLs and other new air vehicles.” NASA’s PC-12 “has been fitted with monitors to measure cell tower signal strength at various altitudes in urban, suburban, and rural areas. It will fly no lower than 1,000 feet in populated areas and no lower than 500 feet outside towns.”
Full Story (Aviation International News)
Revolutionary New Air Transportation is Closer Than We Think
The Miami Herald reported that the Federal Aviation Administration has proposed a plan for incorporating air taxis into some of the biggest airports in the U.S., with acting FAA Administrator Billy Nolen working with NASA to provide air taxi lanes in the sky and build “vertiports” for them to land on.
Full Story (Miami Herald)
How Dangerous Are Bird Strikes to Planes?
The Washington Post reports that the Federal Aviation Administration maintains a database of airplane wildlife strikes, and 97% of the over 2,300 recorded in 2023 so far have been birds. The FAA website says, “Wildlife strikes with aircraft are increasing in the United States and elsewhere. Expanding wildlife populations, increases in number of aircraft movements, a trend toward faster and quieter aircraft, and outreach to the aviation community all have contributed to the observed increase in reported wildlife strikes.”
Full Story (Washington Post)
Used Parts Increasingly Sought to Keep North American Jets in ihe Air
Reuters reports that, amid rising costs and supply-chain shortages, North American airlines and aircraft repair shops increasingly using used and generic parts in keeping jets airworthy. Some brand-name parts makers, such as General Electric Co, “stand to benefit because they also sell used parts, known as used serviceable material,” as do some planemakers, such as Bombardier, which “uses a teardown venture to gain parts for its growing ‘aftermarket’ business.” Honeywell Aerospace Trading expects demand for its used parts “to continue through at least the first half of 2024, said Heath Patrick, president for the Americas aftermarket segment at Honeywell Aerospace.”
Airbus Is Hiring Thousands of Workers for Aircraft Production Increase
Reuters reports that Airbus is better prepared for the challenge of securing enough people to handle jet production increases than it was before the pandemic, a senior executive said. The European planemaker plans a two-thirds increase in production of best-selling A320neo-family single-aisle jets to 75 a month in 2026 from 45 now. In Germany, its second-largest base, Airbus plans to hire 3,500 staff for the second year in a row to handle the ramp-up and feed projects on decarbonization and industrial systems.
Full Story (Reuters)
Airbus and Boeing Seek High-Skill Talent in India
Bloomberg reports that The Boeing Company and Airbus “are increasingly looking to India for highly-skilled, low-cost engineers to meet a boom in demand for aircraft and expand their manufacturing presence in the world’s fifth-largest economy.” Airbus is looking to hire 1,000 people in India in 2023, out of 13,000 globally. Boeing already employs approximately 18,000 people in India, including its suppliers.
Full Story (Bloomberg)