Northrop tanker bid to go ahead
Competition Northrop Grumman is to bid for the US Air Force's 179-aircraft KC-X tanker requirement, having previously threatened to withdraw. The company says the USAF's "capabilities-based final request for proposals" allows its Airbus A330-based KC-30 to be competitive with Boeing's KC-767. "A new tanker is our number one acquisition priority and it appears we have a great horse race," says air force secretary Michael Wynne.
Denmark to be last to sign to JSF phase
Agreement Denmark will sign the Lockheed Martin F-35 Joint Stike Fighter production, sustainment and follow-on development memorandum of understanding on 27 February, becoming the last of the eight international partners to agree to participate in the next phase of the programme. Italy signed on 7 February and Turkey on 25 January, after team member Northrop Grumman signed a letter of intent to establish Tusas Aerospace Industries as a second source for the F-35's centre fuselage.
Tiger plans to roam in the outback
Competition Singaporean low-cost carrier Tiger Airways is to establish an Australian domestic airline in a bid to break the "cosy duopoly" of the Qantas Airways Group and Virgin Blue. Tiger chief executive Tony Davis says the airline could be launched this year and that the air operator's certificate application process has begun. The Australian carrier will have the same ownership as the Singaporean operation - 49%-owned by Singapore Airlines - and have five Airbus A320s in service by year-end, says Davis.
Boeing to offer manned aircraft for BAMS
Surveillance Boeing will offer a derivative of an existing manned aircraft to meet the US Navy's Broad Area Maritime Surveillance (BAMS) unmanned air vehicle requirement. The aircraft is likely to be a business jet, possibly a Gulfstream. "We are talking about an existing aircraft, not a UAV," says Boeing Advanced Systems president George Muellner. "There is navy interest in the capability for manned and unmanned operation." Other BAMS contenders are the Lockheed Martin/General Atomics Mariner and Northrop Grumman Global Hawk UAVs.
Australian Navy to fly A109Es
Procurement The Australian Navy's Fleet Air Arm will introduce three Agusta Westland A109E Powers next month as part of a four-year, A$24 million ($18.7 million) turnkey deal with Raytheon Australia. Two have been sourced from the Swedish air force and the third from a French civil operator. The A109s will be used to train junior flightcrew after they have graduated from the AS350 Squirrel before transition to operation conversion on Sikorsky Seahawk, Kaman Seasprite and Westland Sea King helicopters.
UK astronaut campaign launched
Funding The UK space community is pushing the government to fund a 5% increase in the country's annual £200 million ($400 million) civil space programme. As part of the campaign it launched last week it is claiming this would enable up to three "science-educator astronauts" to visit the station twice for 10-day science research missions by 2010.
Greensboro gets HondaJet production nod
Selection After a competition between several US locations, Honda Aircraft has selected Greensboro, North Carolina as the production site for the HondaJet light business jet. Design, final assembly, flight test, certification and deliveries will be located in new facilities to be built close to the research and development centre that Honda established at Greensboro in 2001 to assemble and test the proof-of-concept HondaJet. Honda Aircraft's worldwide headquarters, responsible for marketing, sales, service and development of future products, will also be located at Greensboro.
Source: Flight International
