Otto Aviation officially introduces the Celera 500L passenger aircraft

Otto Aviation is pleased to officially introduce the Celera 500L, the most fuel-efficient commercially viable passenger aircraft in the world. The full-scale prototype has completed 31 successful test flights that validate its operating performance goals. Otto Aviation currently holds seven patents, further contributing to the credibility and potential of the aircraft.

The aircraft has a maximum cruise speed of 450 miles per hour, a range of over 4,500 miles, a large stand-up cabin and an astounding fuel economy of only 18 to 25 miles per gallon. The dramatic reduction in fuel consumption makes the Celera 500L the most environmentally friendly airplane in its class and presents a major leap forward in the effort to develop a zero-emission air transportation system.

The manufacturing detail delivers cruise efficiencies unmatched by conventional aircraft while offering a clean-sheet design that will completely alter the way people and parcels travel.

“Our goal was to create a private aircraft that would allow for direct flights between any city pair in the U.S. at speeds and cost comparable to commercial air travel,” said William Otto Sr., chairman and chief scientist of Otto Aviation.

The Celera 500L offers a spacious stand-up cabin with six first-class seats and lavatory.

Otto adds, “Since the results from our prototype test flights have been so promising, we’re ready to bring the Celera 500L to market.”

Pryer Aerospace to support New Glenn heavy-lift launch vehicle

Pryer Aerospace, a manufacturer of aerospace structural components and assemblies in Tulsa, Okla., announced Wednesday that it has signed a multi-year contract with Blue Origin, LLC, a privately-funded space company and manufacturer of reusable launch vehicles and engines. Under this contract, Pryer will provide large complex machined parts and leading edge structures for New Glenn, Blue Origin's massive heavy-lift orbital launch vehicle, designed to support national security space launch and commercial space missions for years to come.

"With this contract Pryer Aerospace solidifies a role for Oklahoma and our company in the space industry,” said Jeff Landreth, CEO of Pryer.

Navy C-26 maintenance contract awarded to Vertex Aerospace

Vertex Aerospace was awarded a Contractor Logistics Support (CLS) contract with the U.S. Navy's Naval Air Systems Command in Patuxent River, Md. Vertex will provide full CLS maintenance support to Navy C-26 aircraft, to include aircraft maintenance, materials, avionics, engines, propellers, and ground support equipment.

The work will be performed at two U.S. locations and two international sites and is expected to be completed by 2025. Vertex has a long history of successful CLS maintenance support to Navy platforms, including the C-9, C-12, CH-53E, E-6B, T-34, T-44, T-45, TH-57, F-16 and F/A-18 aircraft programs.

Cadence Aerospace appoints VP and general manager at Tell Tool

Cadence Aerospace, a provider of aerospace components and assemblies to commercial and defense customers, announced Friday the appointment of Edward Torres as vice president and general manager of the company’s Tell Tool Operations in Westfield, Mass. In his new role, Torres will be responsible for all day-to-day operations at the Cadence Tell Tool location in Westfield, including manufacturing operations, profit and loss, business planning, quality, staffing and customer engagement.

Torres joined Cadence Aerospace in January 2018. In his most recent role as Vice President Operations & Engineering, he was responsible for managing the Quality Engineering, Inspection, MRB and Root Cause Corrective Action teams.

Prior to joining Cadence Aerospace, during 2017-2018, Torres served SQA Services, an aerospace parts and metals supplier, as Regional Senior Supplier Quality and Trainer. There, he was responsible for driving supplier performance improvements among suppliers of metals, tooling and composite parts.

Earlier in 2016-2017, he served the independent consulting firm Quality Consulting as Quality System and Corrective Action Consultant, where he supported a range of procedures and updates to client business manuals regarding digital product definition for certification and preparation of AS9100 RevD and NADCAP requirements.

At AVCORP Composite Fabrication/HITCO Carbon Composites, Torres held five positions of increasing responsibility during a 15-year tenure, finishing his career at the company in 2016 as Quality Manager, leading commercial quality engineers and other teams for customer programs including Boeing, Pratt and Whitney, Spirit AeroSystems, and Fuji Heavy Industry. He also served as Director of Quality, overseeing engineers, inspectors, MRB, material testing lab, calibration, non-destructive testing, quality management system, quality assurance specialists and documentation teams. In addition, Torres was Quality Engineering, MRB, Inspection and RCCA Manager, and earlier, he was Quality Inspection and Operations Manager. Torres joined the company as Chief Inspector, supervising and training inspectors on new digital equipment and performing supplier audits.

His career at Cory Components/Matrix Science Corp., a supplier of parts and metals to the aerospace industry, spanned 11 years. Torres joined the company in 1990, serving as Tooling and Source Inspector, utilizing a series of specialized software programs. He later was promoted to Inspection Supervisor in 1999 and oversaw inspections performed for Boeing, Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman programs.

Torres studied Business Organizational Management at the University of Phoenix, Calif.

Bye Aerospace and SolAero Technologies collaborate on unmanned aerial vehicle

SolAero Technologies Corp. recently announced a product development and manufacturing collaboration with Bye Aerospace to power Bye's StratoAirNet solar-electric unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) with SolAero's solar cells and flexible solar modules.

The StratoAirNet UAVs will provide persistent intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance to support commercial and government security requirements. The initial medium-altitude StratoAirNet 15 proof of concept prototype is undergoing final assembly. Following the successful preliminary design review process, flight tests were conducted on a small-scale wing powered by SolAero solar cells. Following further measurements and fit checks, additional test flights will soon commence on the 15-meter wing span prototype.

Since 2001, SolAero products have reliably powered nearly 200 successful satellite missions in space. The solar cells on StratoAirNet will allow the airplane to fly at higher altitudes with almost unlimited flight endurance, said George Bye, CEO of Bye Aerospace.

Bye said potential commercial mission applications for StratoAirNet include communications relay, internet service, mapping, search and rescue, firefighting command and control, anti-poaching monitoring, damage assessment, severe weather tracking, agriculture monitoring, mineral source surveying, spill detection and infrastructure quality assessment.

US aerospace and defense exports expected to increase by 3.2 percent in 2016

Gross exports in the U.S. aerospace and defense sector increased by $5 billion in 2015, a 58.9 percent increase in the last five years, according to Deloitte's "U.S.Aerospace & Defense Export Competitiveness Study."

Looking forward, the U.S. aerospace and defense sector's gross exports are expected to increase by 3.2 percent in 2016. This is largely due to an increased pipeline of defense platform products announced and expected for foreign military sales by U.S. defense contractors

"The U.S. aerospace and defense sector was the largest contributor to America's net exports during the 2010 to 2015 period," said Tom Captain, vice chairman, Deloitte LLP. “The sector is also a top employer, taxpayer and contributor to the nation's gross domestic product, making it key to U.S. manufacturing competitiveness."

During the 2010 to 2015 period analyzed in the survey, the U.S. aerospace and defense sector was responsible for the following:

• Sector accounted for 9.5 percent of total U.S. exports in 2015, with the sector's contribution increasing from 7.1 percent of total exports in 2010.
• U.S. accounted for 33 percent of global defense exports in 2015.
• Total aerospace and defense gross exports in 2015 were $143.3 billion, a significant increase of 58.9 percent over the last five years.
• China was the largest aerospace and defense export market for the U.S. in 2015, followed by the U.K. and France.

The top five exporting states - Washington, California, Connecticut, Texas and Georgia - accounted for about 61 percent of the total aerospace and defense sector exports in 2015. Washington state also showed a strong 109.4 percent increase in exports in 2015 compared to 2010 as the state that continues to have the largest presence in the commercial aircraft manufacturing subsector.

Ball Aerospace names new vice president roles

Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. has promoted Mike Gazarik, Technology Director, to the position of Vice President for Engineering and named Jeff Osterkamp Vice President for Mission Assurance.

Gazarik joined Ball in March from NASA where he was the Associate Administrator for the Space Technology Mission Directorate at NASA headquarters. Since then, he has worked to align Ball's technology development with business development and growth strategies. As the vice president of engineering, he will provide overall strategic and operational leadership of the organization, which includes all disciplines of engineering as well as manufacturing, testing, supply chain management, facilities, IRAD and intellectual property.

Gazarik earned a bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Pittsburgh and a master's and Ph.D. from the Georgia Institute of Technology, also in Electrical Engineering.

In transitioning from the role as VP for Engineering to VP of Mission Assurance, Osterkamp replaces Sherri Fike who retired in December. Osterkamp has more than 30 years of experience at Ball Aerospace. His previous roles include executive leadership of the company's component technologies business area; the National Defense strategic business unit; the Program Management Office; Sensor and Video Technologies; and Advanced Antenna and Video Systems.

Osterkamp earned his B.S. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Idaho and an M.S. in Engineering Management from the University of Colorado.

Baltimore university selected for NASA cooperative agreement

NASA's Minority University Research and Education Project (MUREP) has selected nine universities for cooperative agreement awards totaling $3.6 million to create and operate a NASA MUREP Aerospace Academy.

The universities will receive as much as $160,000 per year for two years and up to $1 million for a third year. The aerospace academies will engage historically underserved and underrepresented students in grades K-12 through hands-on activities that reflect each of NASA’s four mission directorates: science, aeronautics, space technology and human exploration and operations. The academies will also provide access to NASA technology through an Aerospace Education Laboratory, and encourage families and communities to get involved through the Family Café, an interactive forum with activities, workshops and guest speakers.

The universities selected for Aerospace Academy grants are:

• California State University, Fresno
• Cuyahoga Community College, Cleveland
• Elizabeth City State University, North Carolina
• Hartnell College, Salinas, California
• Morgan State University, Baltimore
• Tennessee State University, Nashville
• Texas State University, San Marcos
• The University of Texas at El Paso
• York College, City University of New York
  

MUREP awards promote STEM literacy and enhance and sustain the capability of institutions to perform NASA-related research and education. The goals of the program are to expand the nation's base for aerospace research and development, increase participation by faculty and students at minority serving institutions, and increase the number of undergraduate and graduate degrees in NASA-related fields awarded to students from minority serving institutions.

Virginia-based AMA awarded NASA contract option

NASA has exercised the third option of its Technology, Engineering, and Aerospace Mission Support 2 contract with Analytical Mechanics Associates Inc. (AMA) of Hampton, Va. AMA will continue providing engineering support to the agency's Langley Research Center.

The potential value of the contract, including the approximately $50 million one-year option that starts Oct. 1, is $341.3 million. This is a cost-plus award-fee, indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contract.

Under the contract, AMA will support research and technology on complex, long-term NASA missions. This includes scientific research; engineering design, analysis, and development; and technology readiness level advancement of work associated with evolving NASA missions. The company also will implement technology programs, tests, operations, systems analysis and conceptual design, as well as provide program and project management support.

Over 3,000 space payloads to be launched over next 20 years

An estimated 3,164 space payloads are proposed to be built and launched to earth or deep space orbits between 2013 and 2032, according to Teal Group, an aerospace and defense market analysis firm based in Fairfax, Va. They estimate the value of these satellites and other space payloads at more than $235 billion.

Teal analysts identify and quantify 276 proposed launches in 2013 (minus the 150 launched through Nov. 20), 481 in 2014, 481 in 2015, 329 in 2016, 173 in 2017, 102 in 2019, 111 in 2020, 98 in 2021, 103 in 2022, 81 in 2023, 82 in 2024, 99 in 2025, 89 in 2026, 75 in 2027, 83 in 2028, 86 in 2029, 104 in 2030, 79 in 2031, and 85 in 2032.

"Keep in mind, probably half (or more) of the spacecraft announced and identified in our Teal Group Worldwide Mission Model will never be built and launched, because of insufficient funding or technical challenges,” said Marco Caceres, a lead analyst for Teal Group. “And other spacecraft not yet proposed or even conceived will be built and launched.”

Receive DCNewsroom email alerts, subscribe here.

Navy renews AAR airlift support contract

Global aerospace and defense contractor AAR announced Monday that the Military Sealift Command (MSC) has exercised a second one-year renewal option for the company's airlift division to ferry critical supplies to U.S. Navy ships in the Western Pacific and Indian Oceans, and the Arabian Gulf.

MSC is the leading provider of ocean transportation for the Navy and the U.S. Department of Defense, operating approximately 110 ships daily around the globe. Under the agreement, AAR will support MSC's vertical replenishment program, delivering supplies to support combatant ships at sea.

The contract renewal is valued at approximately $15 million, and includes the use of four helicopters, personnel, and operational and technical support services.

The original contract, awarded to AAR in 2011, included a one-year initial base period, three one-year options and an additional 11-month option for an estimated total value of $77 million.

AAR provides expeditionary airlift services in support of contingency operations worldwide. The company currently operates a fleet of more than 50 fixed-wing and rotary-wing aircraft to transport personnel, supplies, and mail for the U.S. Department of Defense in Afghanistan and the Western Pacific.

Receive DCNewsroom email alerts, subscribe here.

Gitlin named president of Aircraft Systems at United Technologies

United Technologies Corp. (UTC) announced Thursday that David Gitlin has been named president of the Aircraft Systems business segment of UTC Aerospace Systems, effective immediately and reporting to Alain Bellemare, president and CEO, UTC Propulsion & Aerospace Systems. Gitlin succeeds Curtis Reusser who is leaving to pursue his career outside of UTC.

Gitlin has served as senior vice president of Aircraft Systems since the launch of UTC Aerospace Systems.

Gitlin, 44, has been with UTC since 1997, holding leadership positions in legal, business development, program management and customer service. Before the acquisition of Goodrich, he served as president, Aerospace Customers & Business Development, at Hamilton Sundstrand, where he oversaw aerospace customer service and support, business development activities, strategic partnerships, and mergers & acquisitions.

UTC is based in Hartford, Conn.

Receive DCNewsroom email alerts, subscribe here.

Video: Japan launches fourth cargo ship to International Space Station

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's HTV-4 Transfer Vehicle was successfully launched from the Tanegashima Space Center on Saturday for a rendezvous with the International Space Station (ISS).



Once there, the HTV-4 will deliver 3.6 tons of dry cargo, water, experiments and spare parts to the ISS. Unlike a Russian Progress vehicle which docks automatically, the HTV-4 will be captured by the Canadarm2 and berthed to the ISS. The cargo ship is scheduled to reach the space station on Friday.

Receive DCNewsroom email alerts, subscribe here.

NASA may partner with Space Florida to operate Shuttle Landing Facility

NASA has selected Space Florida, the aerospace economic development agency for the state of Florida, for negotiations toward a partnership agreement to maintain and operate the historic Shuttle Landing Facility (SLF).

NASA Administrator Charles Bolden and the director of NASA's Kennedy SpaceCenter, Robert Cabana, announced the selection during a news conference Friday at Kennedy's Visitor Complex in Florida.

"This agreement will continue to expand Kennedy's viability as a multi-user spaceport and strengthen the economic opportunities for Florida and the nation," Bolden said. "It also continues to demonstrate NASA's commitment and progress in building a strong commercial space industry so that American companies are providing safe, reliable, and cost-effective transportation to and from the International Space Station and other low Earth orbit destinations."

NASA issued a Request For Information document in August 2012 to identify new and innovative ways to use the SLF for current and future commercial and government mission activities. Space Florida's proposal is aligned closely with Kennedy's vision for creating a multi-user spaceport.

The SLF opened for flights in 1976. The concrete runway is 15,000 feet long and 300 feet wide.

Follow DCNewsroom on Twitter.