ASAP NSN Parts Blog

Pratt and Whitney Canada, one of the global leaders in aerospace technologies, is introducing their PT6B-37A engine to China, in order to power twenty-five new Agusta Westland QW119Kx Helicopters. The helicopters, which will be used for emergency medical purposes, are provided by defense company Finmeccanica through a contract with Sino-US. Over the course of the next two years, a total of sixty Agusta helicopters will be delivered under this contract to the medical team. Pratt and Whitney executives were delighted to be selected for this opportunity.

Turbomeca, the French manufacturer of low-power and medium-power gas turbine turboshaft engines for helicopters, remains hopeful that their Ardinden 3 engine will be offered on the Airbus Helicopter H175 super medium. Currently, the H175 helicopter features Pratt & Whitney Canada’s PT6 engines. The Airbus H175 helicopter remains as the only aircraft from Airbus Helicopters which is not equipped with an engine from Turbomeca.

The Boeing Company is struggling to agree on an idea regarding what kind of midsize jet they should build to compete with the Airbus A321neo. The two options they have, as they see it, are to create a bigger and better version of the 737 MAX, or to create an entirely new 797 aircraft. Chief Ray Conner of Boeing Commercial Airplanes has expressed his desire to finalize decision sometime this year.

The Flight Acquisition Storage and Transmission (FAST™) solution from Pratt & Whitney Canada is now available for the AgustaWestland AW139 helicopter. The FAST™ solution from Pratt & Whitney Canada offers a wireless solution which provides preventative and actionable engine health information in addition to flight data recorder (FDR) data collection as well as transmission to operators. Available through Finmeccanica’s Helicopter Division, the FAST™ solution allows for lessened pilot workload while simultaneously reducing the operating costs as well as downtime of the helicopter due to advanced engine health monitoring accuracy.

Van Horn Aviation (VHA), the Rotor blade manufacturing company has received the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) supplemental type certificate (STC) for their composite main rotor blades tailored for the JetRanger helicopter Bell 206B. The new VHA 206B rotor blades have triple the amount of service hour life at more than 18,000 hours compared to the current OEM blades which stands for the original equipment manufacturer.

ViaSat announced yesterday, February 22, 2016 that they have come to an agreement to provide Qantas Airways the highest-quality and fastest in-flight Wi-Fi connectivity on Qantas’ domestic flights. ViaSat speeds will be up to 10 times faster than ground based in-flight internet services. This will allow customer to stream live sports, news, TV shows, and movies.

On Monday February 16th, 2016 an article was released discussing the enhanced SR series 2016 for the Cirrus aircraft. This article talks about the newest improvements in design, convenience, and luxury when it comes to the SR models. Aviation Pros describes the experience on the same caliber as “luxury automobiles to both pilot and passengers.”

Rolls-Royce, the British car manufacturer and aero-engine manufacturer, has been striving to continuously increase the production rate at its engine assembly plant located in Singapore. The company has been working hard to develop the new Trent 7000 as well as various other new technologies which can potentially be utilized on future engines.

The U.S. Department of Defense recently announced that Rolls Royce has been awarded two contracts by the Airforce, each worth more than $70 million. The contracts are meant to provide logistics, supplies and propulsion system sustainment for the Airforce’s C-130J aircraft. The first contract is worth approximately $77 million and requires Rolls Royce to supply 24 spare AE2100DE engines to the Airforce. These engines will then be delivered to Saudi Arabia. The AE2100D3 engine is built to power high-speed regional aircrafts as well as maritime patrol aircrafts. It has a power range of between 3600 shaft horsepower and 4700 shaft horsepower.

Boeing was recently awarded a multibillion-dollar contract with the U.S. Navy and the Royal Australian Air Force. The contract is worth approximately $2.4 billion and is for 20 P-8A Poseidon aircrafts. Out of the 20 aircrafts 16 of them are meant for the U.S. Navy and will be used to replace the Navy’s P-3C Orion Aircrafts. Meanwhile 4 of them will go to the RAAF. Based on Boeing’s Next-Generation 737-800, the P-8A is considered one the worlds’ most advanced anti-submarine and anti-surface aircrafts.

Although fuel efficiency standards are not nearly as strict in the aerospace industry as they are in the automotive industry, aviation is still responsible for a large percentage of global emissions. With this in mind, NASA has decided to embark on a quest to develop hybrid aircraft engines. This new initiative is a rare move for NASA in that it will focus primarily upon improving aircraft as opposed to spacecraft.

The Algerian Air Force has recently placed an order for a dozen Sukhoi (Su-34) “Fullback” fighter bombers from Novosibirsk Aircraft Production Association, a Russian aircraft manufacturer, in order to gradually replace their aging fleet of MiG-25s from the Soviet-era. These aging MiG-25s have been patiently awaiting retirement from service as the Algerian Air Force has been undergoing a force modernization program.

With the goal to go after the U.S Army’s Training Aids, Devices, Simulators, and Simulations Maintenance Program, or ATMP, Lockheed Martin is currently in the process of assembling a team. They have partnered with Cubic Global Defense and Pulau to compete for the $2.8 billion training and simulation contract that is currently held by Raytheon.

Saft announced that it was awarded a multi-million dollar contract from Textron Systems for lithium-ion batteries to power Universal Ground Control Stations. Under this $2.2 million contract, Saft will deliver 92 integrated charger batteries. These lithium ion batteries, more commonly known as Integrated Charger Batteries (ICBs), will be used to provide back-up power to control unmanned aerial systems (UAS) stations.

Saab has subcontracted OSI Maritime Systems to deliver its tactical dived navigation systems for Royal Swedish Navy’s two new A26 submarines. It is the market’s leading and most comprehensive submarine navigation software available. OSI will be designing, constructing, integrating, and setting to work a tactical dived navigation system (TDNS) for each of the submarines.

The Israeli Navy has just completed its first successful launch of its Barak 8 surface-to-air missile. Developed as a collaboration between the Israeli Ministry of Defense (IMOD) and India’s Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO), the Barak 8 is a short to long range naval based missile intended to be launched from the sea. Although the Barak 8 will won’t be fully operational for another two years, Israel believes the missile system will allow them to protect their offshore gas fields from Hezbollah militants. During the initial test, a Barak 8 missile was launched from an Israeli ship and intercepted a drone device meant to simulate a hostile craft.

The US Navy and BAE Systems delivered 110 advanced precision kill weapons system (APKWS) to Jordan, which makes it the first country to receive the system as an international partner. The APKWS will be used on the Jordanian CASA CN-235 light gunship aircraft. This order was placed back in 2014 through a foreign military sale (FMS).

Lockheed Martin’s PAC-3 Missile successfully intercepted an incoming target on Thursday, Nov. 19, as part of a U.S. Army-led missile defense flight test at White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico. The “Hit-To-Kill” PAC-3 Missile is the world’s most advanced, capable and powerful terminal air defense missile. It defeats the entire threat: tactical ballistic missiles (TBMs), cruise missiles and aircraft.

The US State Department has approved a potential $157 million sale of TOW 2A radio frequency missiles and M220A2 TOW launchers to the African country of Morocco. The official request from Morocco is for 600 TOW 2A radio frequency missiles, 300 M220A2 launchers, and seven TOW 2A launchers. 

GE announced that it will partner up with VolkerStevin Ltd. to provide solutions for the Defence Infrastructure Organization (DIO) for the Royal Navy. The Royal Navy will benefit from this partnership as it will receive a rotary frequency converter (RFC) which allows for a reliable, safe, and efficient power transfer to HMS Queen Elizabeth from the national grid. The HMS Queen Elizabeth is considered one of the first of the Royal Navy’s new aircraft carriers from the Porthsmouth Naval Base located in the UK.