ASAP AM Spares Blog

In recent news, a group of European scientist join in research to create a better way to enhance airport security.  The project is known as the MIRPHAB, or ‘Mid-Infrared photonics devices fabrication for chemical sensing and spectroscopic applications and is being instructed by a French CEA- Leti Administration. They have created a hand held chemical spectroscopic sensor with the ability of instant detection of gases from within a 30m distance. The device is designed with photonics technology and a mid IR sensor which uses spectroscopic sensors that read certain gas that given off when gases are interacted with light.

Airbus Helicopters announced they believe a deal with Poland for 50 H225M rotor craft is imminent. This comes eighteen months after the Caracal was provisionally selected for the tri-service deal in which Warsaw selected the 11t type back in April of 2015. The change in government contributed to breakdown of negotiations but the deal has since been cleared by the national defence ministry. Airbus Helicopters is just now hashing out the details on its offset package with the Polish ministry of development.

The Departure Clearance air traffic control tower services is up to speed by the FAA, the goal is to have it running in fifty-six airports before 2016 ends. Washington Dulles International Airport located in Virginia has accomplished using the structure created by the FAA. There was even a presentation of the works, featuring a UPS Boeing 767. The reasoning for this system is to ensure flight clearances, instructions, traffic management, and flight crew requests and reports. FAA also has three other systems airspace systems to ensure safety in the time of flight. Text message is being used as a main stream of communications between flight management systems and ground automation systems. The great thing about using text messages to communicate are to eliminate the crowding on the radio systems.

Airbus Helicopters has announced after a lengthy and drawn out period of negotiations that the Kuwait Ministry of Defense has extended a contract for 30 H225M Caracal helicopters. If French media reports are to be believed, the contract is worth more than 1 billion dollars which includes a support, services and training package.

Stephen Trimble wrote an article for Flight Global discussing about how Russia is planning to add more variety in terms of scope for future transport dealing with the military, however much of the details are left to be unknown at this time. There is a state run news agency called TASS in which the Ilyushin chief executive Sergei Velmozhkin mentions that research and development will being next year for the transport. There will be a scheduled in service date of 2027 for the transport as well.

What does it mean for flexible wings to act like shock absorbers, when a plane is in flight it goes through irregular shaking due to a brief and strong rushes of wind. These wind rushes can cause an airplane to go through some rough vibrational shakes. Having flexible aircraft wings however can reduce these shakes tremendously because what will happen is that the wing will suck most of the shock due to the wing’s flexibility. The flexibility of the wing can cause a negative effect on the performance of the plane but a very minimum effect.

Bill Carey wrote an article for AIN Online talking about how the U.S. Navy launched the unmanned aircraft system (or UAS) from a coastal patrol ship in the Arabian Gulf. The unmanned aircraft system was launched so that it could scout and provide surveillance during the missile testing. Not only was the unmanned aircraft system tested from coastal patrol ships, but also from guided missile destroyers as well as fast transport ships. The unmanned aircraft system is called the RQ-20A Puma.

The Test Flight: Siemens AG, the German engineering company has teamed up with Airbus in an effort to research and eventually build a working hybrid-electric aircraft.Earlier this April, Siemens had announced its plan to fly one of its aircrafts using its new 260kw electric motor.Three months later, the firm was able to successfully fly the aircraft using the Siemens electric motor. The 2,200 pound Extra 300LE aircraft only flew for thirty minutes and a short distance from the Schwarze Haide Airport.

Private equity firm AE Industrial Partners, LLC (“AEI”) acquired Aerospace Parts Manufacturer AC&A. The PE firm investment is headquartered in Boca Raton, Florida and their portfolio consists of investments in aerospace, power generation and specialty automotive companies. The newly acquired AC&A specialize in manufacturing composite and metallic parts and tooling. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

The Great Elephant in the room in regards to aerospace and defense industries has long been the issues with short production cycles contrasted by long service cycles. The issue doesn’t come from manufacturing the parts needed for new missions or critical programs as that can be expedited to meet the deadline set forth. The real issues stems from trying to source these parts ten or twenty years down the road when they are obsolete but many legacy programs are still utilizing the components. The three most exasperating challenges that this presents to most aerospace and defense supply chains are as follows.