Aerospace Diary

Programs Aerospace Daily & Defense Report Jun 30 , 2010 , p. 12 Neelam Mathews NEW DELHI — Lockheed Martin India is offering its software expertise to help Bharat Electronics Ltd. (BEL) of India design the country’s coastal surveillance system. “We have looked at different bids — their radars and C2 systems,” Roger Rose, CEO of Lockheed Martin India, tells Aviation Week. “We have made an offer to BEL to cooperate as they design the system. . . . The hard part is putting the system together and getting the results. India has a huge coastline. The question is how do you allow the free flow of vessel traffic and still protect your coastline.” Lockheed Martin’s MTM-300 is a rules-based software system that integrates and displays vessel tracks from the sensor suite. It has the ability to display vessel tracks from multiple sites and multiple sensors. In addition, vessels tracked by multiple sources are correlated by MTM-300 into a single, fused system track to minimize ambigui...

Safety Aviation Daily Jun 29 , 2010 , p. 12 Neelam Mathews India will develop an action plan within eight months to address priorities identified at a two-day meeting of ICAO’s Industry Safety Strategy Group. The Global Aviation Safety Roadmap is an international strategic plan to promote aviation safety programs that complement the implementation of tactical solutions contained in the U.S. Commercial Aviation Safety Team’s (CAST) safety plan. “What makes the roadmap — the first in Asia — unique is that it is not an audit. We can measure how we are doing. We do not want to create bureaucracies,” says Gerardo Hueto, deputy chief engineer for aviation system safety at Boeing Commercial Airplanes, which helped create the plan. A major focus area identified in the workshop are gaps in the use of technology to enhance safety, including runway excursions. Risks associated with excursions are related to oncoming monsoons that create water-logged runways, low visibility in winter and...

Airports Aviation Daily Jun 29 , 2010 , p. 14 Neelam Mathews GMR Infrastructure Ltd. is increasing its foray into international airport development with a contract to build, operate, modernize and expand Male International Airport (MIA) in Maldives. GMR, which along with consortium partners won the bid to develop Istanbul, Turkey’s Sabiha Gökçen International Airport, opened the airport last year, one year ahead of schedule. The new international terminal, which is designed to handle 20 million passengers, was built for $606 million with a 20-year concession period. The term of the Male Airport contract is for 25 years. MIA, a gateway to resort islands, also includes a seaplane port. Situated on Huhule Island on the southwestern tip of India, Male Airport is the largest airport in the capital of Maldives. With its tourism potential and exponential growth in passenger movement, it is the base for tourist traffic from Europe in the entire region.

Aerospace Daily PROGRAMS June 29, 2010 NEW DELHI — India will need more than 50 medium-sized transport planes in the medium-term, given its diverse border, homeland security and humanitarian needs, Alenia Aeronautica estimates. “India has a lot of hot borders,” says Paolo Girasole, head of Alenia parent company Finmeccanica in India, referring to airlifters required in the remote areas of eastern India occupied by local insurgents, the Naxals. The company has responded to a request for proposals for two medium transport planes, for which it has offered its C-27J Spartan for the Border Security Force. Trials were held last July in Leh and Bengaluru. A request for information is out from the Indian air force for 16 medium airlifters, Roberto Leva, director of Alenia Aeronautica in India, tells Aviation Week. The Philippines and Malaysia also have shown and interest in procuring the aircraft. The C-27J is an advanced derivative of Alenia’s G-222 (C-27A Spartan in U.S. service), w...

Defense Aviation Week & Space Technology Jun 28 , 2010 , p. 48 Neelam Mathews New Delhi Robert Wall Washington Andy Nativi Washington Boeing ponders C-17 derivative, but exports hold the most promise Printed headline: Lifting Fortunes Boeing is once again renewing proposals for a C-17 derivative to try to maintain its military airlifter business line. The latest iteration is the C-17FE concept. The “FE,” which stands for fuel efficient, would have a narrower fuselage by several feet than the aircraft now in production. It also would involve lightening of the structure through use of composites. The goal is to meet the nominal Joint Future Theater Lift (JFTL) program threshold. U.S. Army/Air Force directives would impact the design as their needs evolve. But the ultimate aim is to meet 99% of the JFTL requirement with the C-17FE. PiX-The first three of six C-130Js, due to arrive in India by year-end, are being assembled at Lockheed Martin’s Marietta, Ga., factory.C...

News AWIN First Jun 25 , 2010 Neelam Mathews mathews.neelam@gmail.com Emirates Airlines may fly its Airbus A380 to Delhi for a test run just as the new Terminal 3 at Indira Gandhi International Airport opens to international airlines on July 15, . India’s civil aviation regulator has received Emirates Airline’s request to fly Airbus A380 to Delhi, Director General of Civil Aviation Nasim Zaidi said in a statement to Bloomberg News. It is not clear whether the pending approval is for the one-time run or for scheduled flights to Delhi. Enquiries to Emirates remained unanswered. GMR, the major stakeholder of the Delhi airport, earlier asked Airbus to fly an A380 to Delhi for the terminal’s inauguration on July 3, The DAILY has learned. But after Airbus agreed, GMR reportedly changed its mind. Emirates and Lufthansa have applications pending to fly the A380 into India; however, sources close to the matter say the Ministry of Civil Aviation is not in a hurry to give the permiss...

News AWIN First Jun 24 , 2010 Neelam Mathews mathews.neelam@gmail.com Business is returning for international carriers as India’s hot summer weather is driving people to cooler climates. Airlines of the Lufthansa Passenger Airline Group -- Swiss International Airlines, Austrian and Lufthansa -- are consolidating their position as the leading European provider, offering 75 weekly flights from seven Indian destinations, starting from the winter schedule. Lufthansa,­ which ran an all-business-class Boeing 737 before the recession to Pune from Frankfurt, has introduced an economy-business configuration on four weekly flights, up from the present three. The carrier will replace an Airbus A340-300 on its Chennai-Frankfurt route with an A340-600, adding 80 seats. However, Lufthansa’s request to fly the A380 was rejected by the Indian government. Swiss, which serves Delhi-Zurich and Mumbai-Zurich, will operate daily flights, up from six per week, to Delhi and five per week to Mumb...