Aerotime reports Boeing has been awarded $450.5M by the USAF to modernize Japan’s F-15J fleet, incorporating advanced radars, electronic warfare, and mission systems. The uprades “will significantly enhance Japan’s air defense fleet’s operational capabilities and situational awareness. Additionally, the Japan Super Interceptor variant will have the capability to launch Lockheed Martin’s Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile (JASSM).”
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Tag: awarded
FAA Awards uAvionix BVLOS Contract
Unmanned Systems Technology reports, “uAvionix is to advance the commercial utilization of Uncrewed Aircraft Systems (UAS) in the National Airspace System (NAS) through a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) contract. The Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) contract aims to develop highly reliable Command and Control (C2) communications for extended Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) operations across challenging terrains.”
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NASA’s DART Mission Recognized by AIAA
Space Coast (FL) Daily reports that NASA’s DART mission “was recognized by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics with the organization’s newest award the AIAA Award for Aerospace Excellence at the AIAA Awards Gala, Thursday, May 18, at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C.” DART was honored with the Award for Aerospace Excellence “which celebrates a unique program or mission in the aerospace community deserving timely recognition, namely for marking ‘humanity’s first time purposely changing the motion of a celestial object by a team of protectors of our home planet.’”
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2023 AIAA Wright Brothers Lectureship in Aeronautics Awarded to Larry A. Young, NASA Ames Research Center
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Lecture will be Delivered on 12 June, During 2023 AIAA AVIATION Forum
May 15, 2023 – Reston, Va. – The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) is pleased to award the 2023 AIAA Wright Brothers Lectureship in Aeronautics toLarry A. Young, NASA Ames Research Center. Young will deliver his lecture, “NASA Aeronautics Contributions to the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter,” Monday, 12 June, 1730 hrs PT, during the 2023 AIAA AVIATION Forum, San Diego. Forum registration is open. Journalists can request a Press Pass here.
The AIAA Wright Brothers Lectureship in Aeronautics commemorates the accomplishment of the Wright Brothers in creating the first practical airplane and also recognizes the success of their approach to problem-solving – beginning with study of the literature, and including innovative thinking, constructive debate, systematic testing, and teamwork. In particular, the Wright Brothers Lectureship is awarded for the recent accomplishment of a significant “First in Aeronautical Engineering.” The lecture will highlight the details of the accomplishment and the approaches to meeting both the technical and programmatic challenges involved.
Young’s lecture, “NASA Aeronautics Contributions to the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter,” will highlight NASA studies on how to enable planetary flight with aerial vehicles, especially Mars airplanes. In the late 1990s, NASA began studying Mars rotorcraft and other vertical lift planetary aerial vehicles. The Ingenuity Mars Helicopter was developed by NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory with substantial contributions from NASA Ames Research Center and NASA Langley Research Center. This work included detailed analysis in areas such as performance predictions, computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis, control law validation, and experimental analysis.
Young received his bachelors and masters degrees in Mechanical Engineering from Washington State University. He has conducted rotorcraft and vertical flight research in the Ames Aeromechanics Office for over 40 years. Young performs research on advanced aerial vehicle and aerospace system conceptual design. Among his current and past projects are studies into fundamental vortical flow physics, planetary aerial vehicles, rotary-wing vehicles for disaster relief and emergency response missions, “rotorcraft as robots,” and advanced tilt-rotor aircraft design. Young was an early researcher into Mars rotorcraft and other vertical takeoff vehicles for planetary exploration. Young is an AIAA Associate Fellow and a Vertical Flight Society (VFS) Technical Fellow.
For more information about the AIAA Honors and Awards program, contact Patricia A. Carr at [email protected].
Media Contact: Rebecca Gray, APR, [email protected], 804.397.5270 (cell)
About AIAA
The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) is the world’s largest aerospace technical society. With nearly 30,000 individual members from 91 countries, and 100 corporate members, AIAA brings together industry, academia, and government to advance engineering and science in aviation, space, and defense. For more information, visit aiaa.org, and follow AIAA on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram.
P&W Awarded $5.2B to Support Production of 15th, 16th Lots of F135 Engines
Reuters reports that Pratt & Whitney “said on Monday it has been awarded a $5.2 billion contract to support production of the 15th and 16th lots of F135 engines, with an option to award a 17th lot, powering all three variants of the F-35 Lightning II fighter aircraft.” P&W said that the “total contract value for lots 15-17, with exercised options, is about $8 billion and will fund over 418 F135 engines.” According to Reuters, the “contract funds production of 278 F135 engines with an option to order up to 518 engines. It also includes program management, engineering support, production support and tooling.”
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University of Maryland Professor Inderjit Chopra to Receive the Prestigious AIAA Walter J. and Angeline H. Crichlow Trust Prize
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 15, 2022 – Reston, Va. – The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) is pleased to announce that Inderjit Chopra, Alfred Gessow Professor in Aerospace Engineering, Distinguished University Professor, and Director of Alfred Gessow Rotorcraft Center at the University of Maryland in College Park, Maryland, has been selected to receive the 2023 Walter J. and Angeline H. Crichlow Trust Prize. The award includes a $100,000 cash prize.
“Professor Chopra has been a leading scholar and researcher in the field of rotorcraft for over 50 years,” said Darryll J. Pines, President, University of Maryland, and AIAA Fellow. “He has made significant contributions toward future designs and systems. His graduates are everywhere throughout industry, government, and academia. He has a lifelong legacy of impact to the field that will last for generations to come!”
The prize, awarded by AIAA every four years for excellence in aerospace materials, structural design, structural analysis, or structural dynamics, will be presented to Chopra during the plenary session on Monday, 23 January, at the 2023 AIAA SciTech Forum, National Harbor, Maryland, 23–27 January.
“The Crichlow Selection Committee believes that Chopra’s work is especially critical today. His contributions include fundamental research in rotorcraft with the development of a smart rotor system with active flaps to actively control vibration, enhance rotor performance, and carry out primary control. Industry is studying these systems for incorporation into today’s rotorcraft. Professor Chopra is also dedicated to his students and volunteerism with his work in many professional societies,” said Jeanette L. Domber, Program Manager, Civil Space, and Astrophysics Opportunity Lead, Ball Aerospace, and AIAA Director, Aerospace Design and Structures Group.
Chopra is the Alfred Gessow Professor in Aerospace Engineering, Distinguished University Professor, and Director of Alfred Gessow Rotorcraft Center at the University of Maryland. He received his Doctor of Science in Aeronautics and Astronautics from MIT in 1977. At MIT, he worked on aeromechanics of wind turbines. In 1977, he joined NASA Ames/Stanford University Joint Institute of Aeronautics & Acoustics, where he worked for four years on the development of analysis and testing of advanced helicopter rotor systems. In 1981, he joined the University of Maryland and became the founding member of the Army’s Rotorcraft Center of Excellence and has been working on various fundamental problems related to aeromechanics of helicopters including advanced designs, aeroelastic stability, active vibration control, composite blades, smart structures, micro air vehicles and delivery drones, and comprehensive analysis. His direct graduate advising resulted in 61 Ph.D. and 125 M.S. degrees, and his students are now playing dominant roles in rotorcraft industry, academia, and federal labs. An author of a book on smart structures and one on human-powered helicopters, 250 archival journal papers, and 440 conference proceedings papers, Chopra has been an associate editor of the Journal of the American Helicopter Society (1987–1991), AIAA Journal of Aircraft (1987–present), Journal of Intelligent Materials and Systems (1997–2014), and International Journal of Micro Air Vehicle (2013–2018). Under his guidance, his students won first place in 22 out of 25 attempts in the AHS International Student Design Competitions. Among his VTOL innovative designs are a world-record holder human-powered helicopter, cyclocopter, da Vinci aerial-screw, MARS helicopter, solar-powered helicopter, and quad-biplane. He was awarded the 2002 AIAA Structures, Structural Dynamics, and Materials Award, 2002 AHS Grover E. Bell Award, 2001 ASME Adaptive Structures and Material Systems Prize, 2004 SPIE Smart Structures & Materials Lifetime Achievement Award, 2008 Indian Institute of Science Centenary Distinguished Alumni Award, 2009 AHS Alexander Klemin Award, 2012 AHS Igor Sikorsky International Trophy, 2016 ASME Spirit of St. Louis Aviation Medal, and 2018 AHS Nikolsky Honorary Lectureship. He has been a member of the Army Science Board (1997–2002, 2019–present), NASA (NRC) Aeronautics and Space Engineering Board (2007–2012) and NASA (NRC) Research and Technology Roundtable Board (2011–2015).
Chopra is a Fellow of AIAA, a Fellow of AHS, a Fellow of ASME, and an Honorary Fellow of AHS.
Media Contact: Rebecca B. Gray, [email protected], 804-397-5270 cell
About AIAA
The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) is the world’s largest aerospace technical society. With nearly 30,000 individual members from 91 countries, and 100 corporate members, AIAA brings together industry, academia, and government to advance engineering and science in aviation, space, and defense. For more information, visit aiaa.org, and follow AIAA on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram.
HondaJet Elite II Awarded FAA Certification
Aviation Today reports, “The HondaJet Elite II aircraft, revealed during the 2022 NBAA Convention and Exhibition in October, just received type certification from the Federal Aviation Administration on November 2.” The jet had two major upgrades – a range of 1,547 nautical miles and increased fuel capacity of more than 200 pounds. Each figure is an improvement from the previous Elite S variant.
Full Story (Aviation Today)
Penina Axelrad Awarded 2024 Yvonne C. Brill Lectureship in Aerospace Engineering
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Dr. Axelrad’s address, “The Evolution and Impact of Global Navigation Satellite Systems,” set for Oct. 1, 2024
July 10, 2024 – Reston, Va. – The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) and the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) are pleased to announce that Penina Axelrad, distinguished professor at the University of Colorado Boulder, has been selected as the recipient of the 2024 Yvonne C. Brill Lectureship in Aerospace Engineering.
Dr. Axelrad will present her lecture, “The Evolution and Impact of Global Navigation Satellite Systems,” on Tuesday, Oct. 1, at 11 a.m. ET, in conjunction with the NAE Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C. Registration for this lecture is free and open to the public.
Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) provide the basis for smartphones to effectively guide us to our destinations, safe and flexible navigation for tens of thousands of airline flights per day, seamless synchronization of power grids, and precise timing of financial transactions. GNSS also enable scientific observation of Earth’s variable gravity field, soil water content and vegetation, and even Earth’s atmosphere and ocean surface winds. Dr. Axelrad’s lecture will discuss what we can learn from the remarkable evolution of a military navigation system into a global utility, and will explore where today’s advances in the utilization of signals-of-opportunity, optical communications, atomic clocks, and quantum sensing might lead.
Dr. Axelrad is a distinguished professor in the Ann and H.J. Smead Department of Aerospace Engineering Sciences at the University of Colorado Boulder. She earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in aeronautics and astronautics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1985 and 1986, respectively. In 1991, she earned her doctorate in aeronautics and astronautics from Stanford University.
Since 1992, she has been a faculty member in aerospace engineering sciences at the University of Colorado Boulder, with a focus on astrodynamics and satellite navigation, and she served as department chair from 2012 to 2017. She has supervised 26 doctoral graduates and taught courses on topics including GPS, dynamics and systems, spacecraft dynamics, and estimation.
Axelrad and her students have made key contributions to GPS receiver autonomous integrity monitoring, GPS-based attitude determination, the characterization of multipath effects in GPS measurements, the utilization of reflected GPS signals for remote sensing of Earth’s surface, and direct positioning. Her current research interests include new technologies and algorithms for positioning, navigation, and timing (PNT) in space, airborne, and land environments.
Axelrad is a member of the NAE and an AIAA Fellow. She also is a fellow of the Institute of Navigation (ION). She is a past recipient of the AIAA Lawrence Sperry Award, the ION Johannes Kepler Award, and the Women in Aerospace Educator Award.
AIAA, with the participation and support of the NAE, created the Yvonne C. Brill Lectureship in Aerospace Engineering to honor the memory of the late pioneering rocket scientist, AIAA Honorary Fellow, and NAE member Yvonne C. Brill. Brill was best known for developing a revolutionary propulsion system that remains the industry standard for geostationary satellite station-keeping. The lectureship emphasizes research or engineering issues for space travel and exploration, aerospace education of students and the public, and other aerospace issues such as ensuring a diverse and robust engineering community.
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AIAA Media Contact: Rebecca Gray, [email protected], 804-397-5270
NAE Media Contact: Sabrina Steinberg, [email protected], 202.334.2622
About AIAA
The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) is the world’s largest aerospace technical society. With nearly 30,000 individual members from 91 countries, and 100 corporate members, AIAA brings together industry, academia, and government to advance engineering and science in aviation, space, and defense. For more information, visit aiaa.org, and follow AIAA on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram.
About NAE
Founded in 1964, the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) is a private, independent, nonprofit institution that provides engineering leadership in service to the nation. The mission of the NAE is to advance the welfare and prosperity of the nation by providing independent advice on matters involving engineering and technology, and by promoting a vibrant engineering profession and public appreciation of engineering. Follow NAE on Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube.
Boeing Awarded Air Force’s Next-Gen Fighter Contract
Defense One reports, “Boeing will develop and build a sixth-generation fighter jet for the Air Force, President Donald Trump announced Friday, ending months of deliberation about whether to proceed with the effort and how much it might cost. ‘After a rigorous and thorough competition between some of America’s top aerospace companies, the Air Force is going to be awarding the contract for the Next Generation Air Dominance platform to Boeing,’ Trump said. Boeing beat out Lockheed Martin, its only rival for the NGAD contract after Northrop Grumman dropped out last year.”
Full Story (Defense One)