flight international

THIS WEEK

6 | Flight International | 8-14 March 2016 flightglobal.com

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AIRBUS OUTLINES IRANIAN AMBITIONS

SALES Airbus chief executive Fabrice Brégier says it is “much too

early” to discuss the possibility of having components manufactured

in Iran. Export licences from the US Office of Foreign Assets Control

are still pending for an Iran Air acquisition agreement covering 118

Airbus jets. “What we’re looking for more than [parts] production is

support in training and maintenance – making sure they will be very

efficient using these new-generation aircraft,” says Brégier.

IATA CALLS FOR RUSSIAN RATIFICATION

REGULATIONS The Russian government is being urged to ratify the

Montreal Convention and take other steps to align the country’s air

transport system more closely with international standards.

Speaking at an Aviation Day Russia event in Moscow on 2 March,

IATA director general Tony Tyler said the 1999 convention is a “major

cornerstone” of international air transport, and, if implemented,

would be “important for the success of Russian aviation”.

IMPROVED IL-76 MAKES FIRST FLIGHT

MODERNISATION Ilyushin has performed the first flight with its new

Il-76MD-M transport, which features modified flight, navigation, radio

communication and lighting systems. The sortie was conducted on

28 February from Zhukovsky near Moscow, the design bureau

states. Russia’s United Aircraft Corporation says the enhancements

will keep the four-engined transport viable for another 40 years.

AIR CHINA COMMITS TO A330 ORDER

FLEET Air China has entered into a purchase agreement with Airbus

for 12 A330-300s, with deliveries to begin later this year and run

until 2018. It is not immediately clear if the order is linked to a large

batch of the twinjets that China’s state aviation supplier group

signed for last year. The carrier already has 23 A330-300s and 30

-200s in its fleet, says Flightglobal’s Fleets Analyzer database.

PYONGYANG HIT WITH AVIATION FUEL BAN

PENALTIES New sanctions imposed by the UN Security Council

against the North Korean government include a ban on the supply of

aviation fuel. Made in response to a recent nuclear test performed

by Pyongyang, the measures will affect national airline Air Koryo,

which operates a variety of Antonov, Ilyushin and Tupolev aircraft.

COMMISSION TO INVESTIGATE LAUNCHER REFORM

SPACEFLIGHT The European Commission is to investigate a plan

for Ariane 6 developer Airbus Safran Launchers to take control of

launch operator Arianespace. “A competitive space industry has a

crucial role in strengthening the EU’s industrial base and boosting

our global competitiveness,” says Commissioner Margrethe

Vestager, in charge of competition policy. “The Commission needs to

make sure that all players in the space industry continue to have

strong incentives to innovate.”

DELTA WILL PART OUT MALAYSIAN 777

ACQUISITION Delta Air Lines has received a used Boeing

777-200ER purchased from Malaysia Airlines. The Atlanta-based

carrier plans to part out the 1998-vintage widebody – now registered

N318MY – to support its eight -200ERs and 10 -200LRs. Delta chief

executive Richard Anderson revealed last December that the airline

had agreed to purchase a used -200ER for $7.7 million.

See Feature P

BRIEFING

N

ASA has selected Lockheed

Martin to design a half-scale

supersonic X-plane with boom-

suppression technology, in an

effort to lift a decades-old interna-

tional ban on flying faster than

Mach 1.0 over land.

Made on 29 February at Wash-

ington National airport, the an-

nouncement launches the pre-

liminary design phase of the

quiet supersonic technology pro-

gramme, or QueSST.

NASA administrator Charles

Bolden links QueSST with the

agency’s legacy of high-speed re-

search, starting with the rocket-

powered Bell X-1, which first

broke the sound barrier in 1947.

“We’re continuing that super-

sonic X-plane legacy with this

preliminary design award for a

quieter supersonic jet, with an aim

toward passenger flight,” he says.

A Lockheed rendering shows

an aircraft with an elongated nose

designed to attenuate the effect of

the supersonic shockwave. The

single-engined design also fea-

tures a vectored thrust nozzle,

delta wing and two forward con-

trol surfaces mounted forward of

the cockpit. This has an upward-

facing window, but no forward-

facing windscreen. Some systems

suppliers have suggested that aer-

odynamic requirements would

force a future supersonic aircraft

to use enhanced or combined vi-

sion systems for the pilot.

NASA has previously de-

scribed its planned low-boom

supersonic demonstrator as

weighing about 11,300kg

(25,000lb): large enough to accu-

rately replicate the acoustic sig-

nature of a 100-seat airliner

weighing around 136,000kg.

The US Federal Aviation Ad-

ministration has banned super-

sonic flight over land since the

late-1960s, but in the past dec-

ade, several companies have ex-

pressed interest.

Airbus-backed start-up Aerion

believes its business jet concept

could exceed M1.0 over water,

but other companies, including

Gulfstream, think the market is

sustainable only if the ban on

over-land supersonic flight is

overturned.

NASA plans to start building

the new X-plane in 2019, with a

first flight scheduled in 2020. An

acoustic survey would begin in

2021 in southern California, and

continue for several years.

Lockheed in 1967 lost a bid to

build an FAA-funded supersonic

transport, before Boeing’s 2707

project was cancelled in the

1970s. Fifteen years ago, start-up

company Supersonic Aerospace

International paid Lockheed’s

Skunk Works unit to develop a

concept for a supersonic busi-

ness jet, but the global financial

crisis in 2008 devastated its

funding sources. ■

TECHNOLOGY STEPHEN TRIMBLE WASHINGTON DC

Lockheed QueSST

to beat the boom

NASA selects manufacturer to develop half-scale model to

research supersonic flight with a reduced sound signature

Lockheed Martin

The X-plane design is expected to be ready for first flight in 2020

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