Blogs - ASAP AM Spares

USA TODAY released an article on Tuesday January 26th, 2016 stating that JetBlue announced on Monday stock that the company is ready to overhaul the Airbus 320s jet’s cabins. The JetBlue carrier has been patiently awaiting a new overhaul of all of its Airbus 320s. JetBlue has over 100 Airbus 320 jets that need a total redesign. Along with the Airbus 320s, JetBlue has added some Embraer E190s as well as Airbus 321s. The Embraer E190s were added in 2005 and the Airbus 321s were added in 2013. Read more >>

Today news broke of the delivery and acceptance of the very first Q400 cargo-combi aircraft. The love-child of Bombardier Commercial Aircraft and Ryukyu Air Commuter Co., Ltd (RAC) of Okinawa, Japan is one of five ordered by RAC. The airline was established in 1985 and started operations on 17 February 1985. It is owned by Japan Transocean Air (72.9%), other shareholders (22.0%) and Okinawa Prefecture (5.1%). Read more >>

Airbus and Boeing have been in a production competition for all of 2015. Airbus had over 1,000 more airplane orders than Boeing, however Boeing had made and delivered more airplanes. Airbus now has control over 55% of the market with the orders customers have placed. In 2015 there were exactly 1,036 orders which netted over $1 trillion worth of jets. In doing so also secures Airbus production for a decade. Airbus was able to outsell its competitor, the Boeing 737 max, with its A320neo family fleet of planes. This plane is considered to be more fuel efficient than the Boeing 737 max. The first A320neo will be delivered this month in January with over 800 more on order. The A320neo is the dominant plane for those in the smaller short-haul aircrafts market. Read more >>

Lockheed Martin has been awarded a contract from the United States Missile Defense Agency for a Long Range Discrimination Radar (LRDR).The contract is for nine years, plus options, with the highest potential total being around $784 million. Under the terms of the deal, Lockheed will develop and build the LRDR in order to support a layered ballistic missile defense strategy that will protect the U.S. homeland from ballistic missile attacks. The need for these sort of defense systems is growing rapidly. Potential threats from hostile countries continue to grow as places like North Korea and Iran become more advanced with their missile systems. Read more >>

General Atomics Aeronautical Systems has been award a contract by the United States Army for full-rate production and supply of the Improved Gray Eagle (IGE) unmanned aircraft system (UAS). Details of the contract were not immediately available, but what is known is the defense company will provide a quantity of nineteen IGEs. Deliveries are scheduled to be completed by September of 2018. Read more >>

Thales Group was able to successfully fly their Watchkeeper unmanned aircraft system for the first time in controlled civil airspace.The test was conducted in the UK, and was part of Project Claire - a joint initiative featuring Thales, NATS, the Dutch National Aerospace Laboratory NLR, the UK Ministry of Defence (MOD) and the UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA). It is funded by the SESAR joint undertaking. The test itself involved the UAS flying side-by-side with a manned aircraft. The remote controlled aircraft flew around for approximately one hour. It was piloted by Thales staff based at West Wales Airport, with NATS controlling it path. Read more >>

The Boeing Company is planning to assemble either their Chinook heavy-lift helicopters or Apache attack choppers in India, as they also explore the possibility to manufacture a fighter jet in the country.India already plays a part in the construction of these, as the fuselage is manufactured in the country. They have already signed a contract worth approximately $3 billion for 15 Chinooks and 22 Apaches, and discussions continue with Indian suppliers to make Apache parts. Read more >>

American rocket manufacturer Aerojet Rocketdyne has completed two major subsystem reviews of the Orion spacecraft for Lockheed Martin and NASA. Orion is being developed to ensure mission success and astronaut safety, and its subsystems require a critical design review (CDR) of the jettison motor and the crew module reaction control system (RCS). Read more >>