AFR Enterprises Blog - page 13

Under an Aviation Restructuring Initiative (ARI) issued in October of 2013, the Army National Guard has been strongly advised by the U.S. Army to retain some AH-64 Apache attack helicopters as opposed to relinquishing it back to the Army. This initiative is designed to reduce the annual procurement by the Guard for the UH-60s helicopters up to ten and requiring only two UH-60 Black Hawk battalions as opposed to the traditional four. The commission is tasked with analyzing and assessing the size and mixtures of forces needed to maintain an active Army National Guard aircraft arsenal. Read more >>

What does it mean to be the most powerful ever? Well, Boeing certainly can soon lay claim to that prestigious mantle. Jackie Nesselroad who is leading the team from Boeing on a mission to build the most powerful rocket in the world. Inside the Michoud Assembly Facility lies the world’s largest welding system in the world. Housed within the mammoth 800+ acre space park built by NASA just outside of the great city of New Orleans, the nearly 200 feet tall metal frame is being worked prepared to hopefully launch the world’s most powerful rocket soon. Christened the SLS, the rocket will have one end game in mind: Mars or bust. Read more >>

Russian Military modifies attack helicopter “MI-24” for more precision and higher maximum speeds. Russia advances to test out their latest idea which evolved into what is known as the Demonstrator PSV “Prospective Speedy Helicopter.” Dispatched on the 23 of December, 2015 from the Mil Helicopter plant near Moscow, Russia. Read more >>

The German automobile manufacturer, Porsche, has recently decided to invest around 1 billion euros, or $1.09 billion, into production facilities at its largest plant in order to produce its first ever all-electric sports car. Porsche, the Volkswagen-owned manufacturer, will open up with more than 1,000 new jobs in Zuffenhausen in Germany at its base where a new assembly line and paint shop will be established in order to manufacture the battery-powered “Mission E” model. Read more >>

The Northrop Grumman Corporation, an American global defense and aerospace technology company, and the United States Navy have recently and successfully completed a land-based operational assessment (OA) with the autonomous, unmanned helicopter MQ-8C Fire Scout. The OA, which was help on November 20 at the Naval Base Ventura County in Point Mugu, California, had successfully revealed the sensor integration and endurance capabilities of the new MQ-8C airframe. Read more >>

According to the Air Transport Association, airlines are currently pocketing an average of $8.27 per passenger, a value which seems to be hard to believe despite the price of a plane ticket. In efforts to maximize profit in the difficult airline business, leading airplane manufacturers have been contemplating several interesting ideas. For Airbus Group, one of their interesting ideas which they recently received a United States patent on is for turn cabins: detachable modules in which the passengers sit, enabling the mixing and matching of cabins and airplanes. Airbus believes that this will enable operators to save a substantial amount of time and money. Read more >>

EVA Airways and the Boeing Company has recently announced that they have finalized the largest ever commercial airplane purchase in Taiwanese aviation. This historic deal is for an order for up to 24 787-10 Dreamliners as well as two 777-300ER (Extended Ranged) jetliners, totaling at more than $8 billion at current list prices. Read more >>

GE Aviation, a leading aircraft engine supplier and subsidiary of General Electric, has recently joined forces with Textron Aviation in order to create an all-new turboprop engine and aircraft intended for the general aviation market. GE Aviation anticipates that this collaboration will allow for the generation of up to $1 billion in annual sales of engines by around 2020. GE Aviation’s advanced turboprop engine will be competing against the widely used engine by Pratt & Whitney known as the PT6, which has led the small turboprop market for roughly 50 years with around 51,000 units produced worldwide. Read more >>

Hewlett Packard Enterprise has revealed their latest series of storage solutions at DockerCon 2015 in Europe. Read more >>

Honeywell Aerospace and Marenco Swisshelicopter have agreed on a contract that will see the former supply their next-generation HTS900 engine to the Swiss manufacturer. Read more >>