Boeing Wins The TX-50 Trainer Competition

Boeing has just won another big get with its Trainer-X program. Over 351 trainers will be built by Boeing beating both Lockheed/KAI and Leonardo of Italy with its T-100 offering. It's a 9.2 billion dollar deal where it could possibly build many more hundreds going into the future.

Boeing Wins Big Chopper Battle

Boeing will take an order for 84 of its MH-139 in a co-shared program with Leonardo. Below is a snippet of the win and copter replacing the aged Huey's from the Vietnam war era.

The 787-10 Is A Graphic Center Of Travel

Airline strategies have expanded both ends of the scale. Ultra Long Range to regional travel. Those extremes are marked by the A-350 ULR flown by Singapore Airlines and the 737 flown by Southwest Airlines. A graphics display is rendered, intersecting passenger load, distance, and market density. During the formative years of education a class, most of us readers endured, was geometry. Lines intersect an optimal value. This is what Boeing has done with its 787-10. It's not a long thin route hopper like the Singapore A350-ULR nor is it a 737 Max 8 flying to Las Vegas from Minneapolis. It is optimized for 330 passengers going 6,400 miles. 

Most routes travel the world within 6,400 miles and most passenger densities fall within that band. You may call the 787-10 a generalist, meeting the business model of most airlines. The 777X and the A-350ULR are specialists with a limited thin market. Connecting Singapore with NewYork is a very long thin route. However, Singapore Airlines has ordered 49 787-10's and taken delivery for 6 of its type. It has only ordered seven A350-900 ULR's, hence the long thin route commitment and it will launch its first A-350-900ULR this week to Newark, NJ. 

Singapore happens to be in a 5,000-mile circle of the world's most dense population centers. EVA air has ordered 18 787-10's residing in Taiwan opposite of China.

The coincidence of 787-10 capability and population density concentration is no accident. These two airlines have ordered almost 40% of the 787-10's currently booked by Boeing. When the Emirates order is booked by 40 more 787-10 the balance will rise to 51% of the 787-10 ordered by three airlines. Singapore, EVA, and Emirates, totaling 107 787-10 airframes out of 211 787-10 booked.

The real potential is the whole world where 80% of airline travel resides within a  6,400-mile route circle. The long thin route is rapidly becoming saturated and both Boeing and Airbus will want more orders sooner rather than later. However, the market lies within the 6,400-mile route circle and Boeing has that covered as it prepares to deliver 787-10's to United Airlines sooner rather than later.

Expect more 787-10 orders by Airlines plying European airspace. It would safe to say the order book count for the 787-10 may rise to 300 units instead of its current 171 numbers during 2019. Airlines that may be targeted for a 787-10 order have already been contacted and these may include Delta and American to name a few.

Board Room Question: Will The 787 Deliver 144 in 2018?

I would say no up front but... there are certain objectives to consider.

• Will Hainen find finances for its 787's that are ready for delivery?
• Can Boeing make 14 787 a month during October November, and December of 2018?
• Does Boeing have a packed parking lot of 787 at this moment? 

So far Boeing has delivered 94 of its 787 far short of 144. More like 50 short of that number at this point. If Boeing gets its customer, Hainan Airlines, to have a delivery by end of September, the number will stack up like this. It has already delivered 6 out of 15 scheduled for September. It needs another 9 delivered by the end of the month for 15 total, and Hainan is the lynchpin. If it does occur, then Boeing has only to deliver in the next ninety days or so, another 41 787's by December 31, 2018.

If Boeing produces 14 a month through December it can meet its goal of 144 units delivered during 2018. A slightly lumpy production record suggests Boeing needs to drain its parking lot of 787's waiting for completion and delivery. The recent Hurricane Florence took a little momentum out of Boeing's sails but is just now getting back on its production track. Fourteen a month delivered is possible but unlikely.

Not having an actual parking lot count makes this a difficult call but judging by Everett and Charleston's current parking lot valet, it is safe to say Boeing has at least six frames awaiting customers not mentioned or named Hainan.

The chances of Boeing meeting these aggressive objectives is a fifty-fifty proposition. Given Boeing's capability, it is a do-able achievement, but given external haphazard conditions, Boeing is at a high risk of delivering only in the 130's rather than 144 787 units this year. Every day is worth watching the delivery numbers as the Boeing ship of production and delivery slowly gains speed. It has the ability to make its goal but time has narrowed the risk factors in it not achieving a fourteen a month delivery goal in the fourth quarter.

"Bigger Navy" Seeks Smaller Cruiser

The DDG 1000 or Zumwalt Class ship and Arleigh Burke Destroyer are the main bread and butter ship if the Navy. Since the Zumwalt is more of a test bed than a frontline warship, a new cruiser is in the discussion. The most recent Navy cruiser is called the Ticonderoga class from the 1980's. A New cruiser design the Navy may want is a course correction from the modern Zumwalt tumblehome hull design. Below are rough comparisons the Navy will be working with going to an all-new cruiser with a Winging It estimation for a Ticonderoga type replacement as shown Below.

   
The first topic for change is a new hull. The Navy wants a new hull thus eliminating the current Arleigh-Burke and Zumwalt hulls. The second item under review is stealth capability. A new cruiser may forego some stealth and rely more on combat sensor fusion from satellite to ship and defensive laser guns canceling the need for a fishing boat size of the electronic signature. The thought maybe "we are right here, come and get us" so the hull design will be based on optimal function more than having a stealth-like capability. The thought may come to, "you can't hide a carrier because we don't have to."

A cruiser may follow the carrier philosophy having systems adequate enough taking out any attack from above or beneath the surface and stealth is an expense better spent on weaponry. Speed and endurance may be the primary changes made to the cruiser. Not as many will be built as an Arleigh-Burke or LCS were built but it doesn't have to have numbers. The purpose of a cruiser may become an ocean region focal point where it manages all military assets while traveling fast looking for that opportunity to Marshall military assets. It will have a battle punch itself! Submarine warfare will have a high priority in its suite.

The hull will be designed for speed and space as the battle nerve needs to move quickly as carrier groups ply the seas. It will become the quarterback for the destroyer groups escorting a Gerald Ford class carrier. It could be the F-35 of the high seas with its own suite of sensor fusion. If you miss the battleships from WWII then buy the board game.

The Zumwalt is the pilot hole for the next cruiser. The Arleigh-Burke are the lessons learned as the battlefront changes.

Another talking point is propulsion. Could it be a nuclear-powered machine? That is a strategic question. Fossil fuels can power a ship for about ten thousand miles and then require a fill-up. If a ship is in service for 40 years that is a lot of fossil fuel that may be not around when the ship progressive through its lifetime of service. In a time of war, oil access becomes a weapon. A nuclear warship includes a bulky space for a reactor. But a mass of petroleum is no longer needed for its operation. This is a concept where better military minds can determine a direction on how to use fuel. If a cruiser is few in numbers like the carriers then there are many questions about how much the Cruiser will do in an over-arching warfare mode. Or how important the cruiser becomes because of new capabilities installed. As stated earlier complete stealth is being traded out for speed and size having weapons capabilities for neutralizing adversarial weapons. It will take another 15 years before a ne cruiser type is deployed and could be a replacement for the Destroyers with fewer numbers. 

Boeing's Objectives Reveals A Fragile Outflow

Whether there is a hurricane or financial problems, Boeing has exposed a vulnerability with its high minded goals. They want to produce 12, 787 a month, straining suppliers and customers alike. In July Boeing could only deliver eight of its 787. In August Boeing delivered another eight. It’s already September 19, 2018, and the month only reveals four of its 787 delivered.

In total, since July first, Boeing has delivered 20 787's where a prorated pacing suggest it should have delivered at least thirty 787's during this time span. There are 10 787's not delivered, suggesting $2 billion in revenue missed since July 1, 2018. The stockholders are getting nervous, the day traders are jumping around the market like jumping beans.

A Chinese buyer has reached a financial box and can't fund delivery on two more 787's. Supplier problems arise in a seasonal fashion all that with Hurricane Florence. Boeing has reached a perfect storm. Production is slowed to a walk instead of its usual run. Like all convergences, it passes. Boeing will help solve its 787 supply chain hiccup and a customer’s financial plight. Water does run downhill and Charleston once again will have to spray for bug abatement after its swamps lose some water. It will take Boeing until Christmas to make its own perfect storm to cease and fair weather returns. The productivity lost will crawl back with a few deliveries missing in action as it had predicted a robust production year. It now appears it may deliver about four short of its goal by year's end.

Day trader alert, go fishing until December 15, 2018, and then buy Boeing at year-end after all this nonsense becomes a bad memory and someone on the top floor lost a bonus. That's how the corporate world works, there are ludicrous bonuses at stake and a position to continue holding until the golden parachute delivers near a top floor window.

Boeing may delivery 17 units in a month but it needs several months in a row with 17 787'delivered to make up ground before year's end. The Boeing plant parking lot could save the day if enough airplanes store outside awaiting delivery. Delivery is at a different pace than production and that's Boeing story and they are sticking to it. The perfect storm is only a movie and Boeing is making movement happen. They will still fall short but beat Airbus for this year's World's Largest Airplane Maker Award. It happens and how you scrape it off is how you roll!

777X Shows Up as A Test Article

777X Video Ready For Testing

The Cheesy reporting is all about Big and Beautiful but a very good look at the 777X exterior of the airplane.

Note: wait for it to load it takes a few seconds.

797 Is Just Where Boeing Wants It To Be "Finding 797"

The devil is in the details and that is what Boeing is doing with its NMA 797 concept,. making details It's supposed to be:q

 "BOEING SEES `797′ HAVING 40% LOWER TRIP COSTS VS COMPETITION"

The gauntlet has been thrown down without a weapon in sight. Boeing has 40 engineers turned loose a Spirit and they aren't widdling 797 sticks for trade shows. It's been a while since Winging It has uttered an opinion about the 797 programs, so.  now is a good time to look at the 797 program prospects and other stuff. 

It dawned on me that Airbus hasn't closed on some big deals announced at Farnborough this last summer. I suppose as Airbus habit to flood end of December for a rush of orders thus frustrating Boeing once again at the end of the year as the 2nd place  for order numbers. However, Boeing is playing the game this year and it has the upper hand. The first indicator is Boeing has secured 581 net orders by the end of August where Airbus has only 219 net orders to show for its efforts. Boeing has been storing commitments like a squirrel's winter cache. Big bodied orders lay about awaiting some kind of year ending announcement. Emirates hasn't added its committed forty 787-10. Nor has Boeing indicated how many EVA air has up its sleeve for the same model. Even though Boeing has confirmed its Farnborough order foray into a market lead during 2018 it still remains that several hundred more orders are pending an end of year announcement or an Airshow splash. In one sort month from November 12-16, there is a Dubai Airshow, and perhaps Emirates is waiting for that week to make Boeing's day. It's also conceivable EVA air will roll out the execs for the show and compliment emirates on its taste for 787-10's. If sixty 787 units are announced it would complete Boeing's year.

If Boeing does manage a hundred or more orders next month at the show, it would push the 2018 order total to about 600 units for the year. I wouldn't expect Airbus will have a big show standing for its orders. They are still struggling since those heady days at Farnborough. Airbus would like Air AsiaX to deliver some A330NEO confirmations before year's end after saying it would buy up to a hundred A-330-900 NEO's at the show. The number is fishy and a firm count is hard to come by as different news organizations say different "things" about the deal. The one fact is Airbus own website says 219 net orders for 2018 and Air AsiaX is listed anywhere as of August 31, 2018.  Timing is everything and Boeing could firm up another 100 787's by year's end over what it has already net booked for 2018 (96) 787's.

Airbus needs several grand slams to catch Boeing by year's end. Now moving towards the 797 and its announcement. Boeing is expensing real money on the program at this time. It takes 40 engineers about $8 million in payroll to draw CAD pictures in St. Louis, MO not counting the office building in Seattle, Wa for the 797 program masthead. The total bill for the 797 programs could be $20 million a year at this time and this doesn't count travel expenses for all those trips to customers Boeing is making. Add another $10 million to the 797 tabs.

The 797 has started its money pit several years back and its growing every day. The R & D division is more than a placeholder for Idle dreams. It is a real deal for siphoning resources and impressing launch customers. The Paris Airshow looks to be where the 797 aviation concepts will land as the biggest sideshow for the event. Or it may be the main event for 2019. If Airbus books 600 orders by year's end it will be a satisfactory year. The annual backlog event will give Boeing a chance to gloat as it closes the backlog the Boeing-Airbus gap by several hundred units this year as Boeing cheers the results

Counter War Ahead Of War

Adversarial nations to the US can't make an F-35 because they cannot expend its resources making a copy of a fifth-generation fighter like the F-35.

However, war-making programs fall behind countermeasure making elements costing billions and years of process obsolescence for war-making. Another way of putting it, it's taking years to make an F-35 while costing over a trillion dollars for its program life and in the meantime potential adversarial nations are developing faster and cheaper countermeasures against the F-35. Russia has reached the point of almost mothballing its SU-57 fifth-generation fighter because it can't seem to put it together fast enough having the full capability at a price it can afford. India has dropped out of the SU-57 program, a key contributor to its financial and technical components.

America, with a bottomless checkbook, can no longer keep pace with its own ideas for warfare. The F-35 goes on without a rival. The Chinese j-20 j-31 are rapidly becoming a paper tiger as it looks for a suitable engine powering its fifth-generation paper multirole fighter fleet.

These issues are pushing the countermeasure realm ahead of the war-making realm. It's cheaper and faster program time for developing long-range AA missiles and detection systems are a way of defeating the F-35 or F-22 American fighter jets, rather than making a comparable a fifth generation multi-role fighter for themselves.

However, the US is also developing countermeasures for fifth-generation fighters. Its vast satellite and technological advances are rendering foreign fifth generation fighters a lost cause for money spent and time allowed for war-making development. The real battle is being won in the ivory castles with window shades. The R&D segment must replace its military composition every generation while an F-35 is taking more than a generation of time to deploy, but in this case, money is no object. The adversarial players are constrained both by money and a workable technological advance within a time frame.

Hence a counter warfare evolution manifests itself through ramjet or missile technology for foreign nations. The "new" technology will be laser fired munitions exacting a toll on speed and numbers offered foreign powers. A laser realm will target anything flying that is mechanical under the speed of light. The US is rapidly making laser energy available for the F-35, warships and every other kind of war-making device generating energy. Laser technology is on the clock but will be complimenting traditional units of the Army, Navy, and Airforce by about 2025. Time is on the side of the US, in this case, as it deploys its F-35 or Columbia Class "Boomer" submarine. Money is the key weapon of war and countermeasures to development of new weapons lags behind war-making from the availability of money and the advance of "new" technology.

Boeing is Out pacing Airbus 581 to 219 for Orders YTD

This is a full month after Farnsborough and Airbus have been unable to firm up its Asia orders for its new  NEO derivative offered. It has 219 orders booked for the Airbus YTD However analyzed Boeing has positioned itself to beat Airbus for order number during the next few cycles. It also has positioned its productivity ahead of Airbus for several more cycles. It feels as if the wheels have come of Airbus desires as its leadership changes over to the next traunch of company officers. Boeing with its own troubles is making headway will production hiccups and engine problems. By 2019 they will be ahead of the class for the world scene. When the Embraer deal becomes a reality a serious competition begins with its respective additions Bombardier and Embraer regional aircraft as those companies have aligned with Airbus and Boeing respectively.

Below is a gander at what Boeing has achieved for its orders in 2018.

Boeing has the orders pole position with four months to go. Its 581 net orders found in the lower right-hand corner, indicates a strength in single-aisle and an expanding widebody dominance over Airbus. I always expect Airbus to add additional orders during the last hours of the year as its customs suggests. However, there is a vast backlog of orders for Boeing when noting unfinalized orders during 2018. Boeing could add another 60 787's by years end with an outstanding Emirates 787-10 commitment and another bunch of 787-10's are in the works with EVA air. It doesn't end there as the aggressive Boeing Sales catches Airbus during a time when its own production woes have hit it with little relief. My prediction for the year-end unit tally of 2018 orders; Airbus 500 units; Boeing 850 units ordered. We'll just have to wait and see if this prediction plays as suggested.

Boeing Booked About A Net 99 Aircraft in August.

Either Boeing's website for monthly orders and deliveries is broken or Boeing no longer wants its customers to see what's happening over a month to month process. However, a news reporting link mentions Boeing booked about 90 single-aisle and four other frames (3-787 & 1-777) and with the Hawian order splitting 5 787-9 leases through BCC pushing its net total year to date for 581 orders. No other detail is available.


Reuters 9/11/2018:   <<Link)

Quoting Boeing during recent pressor" "Boeing also said its 2018 net orders totaled 581 aircraft through August, up from 487 toward the end of July. That includes 90 orders in August for 737 variants from leasing firms and unidentified customers." 

Airbus now sits at 219 net orders for all types by the end of August for the year 2018.

The First 777X Is Ready To Fold, Bend, and Mutilate With Post Office Precision

The time has arrived for the 777X. Sans engines it will go to a frame or some kind of jig to hydraulically bend wings back and forth. Stress the body and strike the concept to see if it will break. Engineers have calculated using computers and algorithms designing and building this copy. The time has come to see if theory beats real stresses imposed on its frame. The process will include those who know the 777X goals and performance metrics. Bending and folding may fracture some parts making a part removal, and concept changes a process of betterment. A replacement part improved will be reinstalled and another fold or bend will occur within the framework including wings.

First, 777X won't fly, but it will take a "bullet" for others that follow

This whole process will take about a year and the hopeful result will be an airframe ready for engines, fuel, and systems. The first flight tests imposed on the frame. will occur late 2019 long after the conceptual stress tests are complete and solutions for faulty designs are replaced and then succeed. Boeing will be looking at airframe duration or longevity while in service. Boeing wants to know the first flight is a winner and it can go further once over-loaded and flown and landed. The whole process is not new at this point. Boeing has gone through this many times with the Max family,787 family and all airplanes it has ever built. Yes, the folding portion of the wing will continue to test through the first stage. It's kind of the main public show during this build process. The other stuff is the immense plastic wing and new features like large windows will be fully vetted. 

Once the engines come on, a whole new series of tests will occur with its systems. The landing gear will be tested alongside the fold bend and mutilate phase of its body and wings. It won't take long to find out about the landing gear attached to its frame. Boeing has been at that for decades and the fit and function are what's at stake.

America May Build A Super "D" Disrupter.

Destroyer-Cruiser but what about new stuff in the hull. Even hull design supersedes the DDG1000 class of destroyer. The Navy is racking its brains for coming up with a hull, housing all those new toys. First of all a brief history of the fighting surface ship.

There was a battleship, then a smaller cruiser after which the fleet depended upon a destroyer also known as a fleet escort ship in a carrier flotilla. During the last twenty years, a techno blitz formed the DDG 1000 (Destroyer) for replacing the DDG51 series of Arleigh-Burkes. Now the Navy has made a reversal by dropping the DDG1000's to just three ships instead of dozens of its types replacing the DDG51's from the 20th-century design.  However, costs have driven the DDG1000 out to sea and made the Arleigh Burke flight III the new kid on the dock.

The DDG 1000 has become a weapon and systems lab. Its tumblehome hull works as a stealth enhancer and its important weapons systems unproven thus making it a "lab" of sorts for anything next! A class of ship has yet been designed. Not a destroyer or cruiser but something in between those types. Hence the name "Goldilocks Disrupter".

A disrupter would be between a cruiser and the tonnage of a Zumwalt or about 9,000+ up to 15,000 tons. A ship length would extend beyond 500-600 feet. Not quite a destroyer at the lower end or a Zumwalt at the upper end but heavy enough for containing serious weaponry or defensive systems not yet installed on either the Zumwalt or Arleigh-Burke. The hull design is what's in the debate. It won't be tumblehome or Burkish in function but will have stealthy-like angles, thus making its real profile indistinguishable for absolute detection. Hence, the sticking point on how to build the hull.  

So look for a 12,000-ton Disrupter-class for about 30 hulls coming to a shipyard near Bath, Maine. This ship will embody the functionality of the long worked Arleigh-Burke and the electronic capability of the Zumwalt. It will have a Laser gun, Missiles, and AESA-6. Its main gun will shoot 60 miles or so because by the time the first hull will be built a gun fitting the needs of both a cruiser and a destroyer is completed. It will be the new influence of power on the high seas. Two Disrupters will shadow a Gerald Ford type carrier with a few destroyers thrown in for added defense. The fire-power will amount to what the Zumwalt was intended but its versatility equals a "Burke" in spades.

This yet to be confirmed hull will house both crew and ancillary forces depending on the situation it encounters. A definite Blue-water warrior with a stand-off littoral capability, it will be a game changer (hence Disrupter) in any conflict. More likely it may replace the Zumwalt's lofty goal of 30 hulls now reduced down to just three hulls. It may cost a billion+ but not to exceed the Zumwalts per ship cost. Money on that program was mad lab spending which will be installed on a new hull designed as a Disrupter.  

Helicopters are needed for up to four seated on its "large stern deck. An F-35B could land on its platformed deck. Missiles cells forward are the business end for worldwide conflicts. The back-end is for surgical strikes and disruption on the battlespace. The ultimate game-changing offers little comfort to potential adversaries as adaptation is its secret weapon. How well it changes its mission profile on a large scale makes its primary mission, offensive, but its defensive profile makes it a fool's errand to try and take it out. All of this from the Zumwalt lab. 

A National Treasure Is Too High A Risk?

Japan is considering a hybrid F-22.F-35 rendering. This of course to the common observer would mean an F-22 aero performance married to an F-35 electronic center with a dash of stealth sprinkled on its skin. The big discussion point for acquiring such a beast is its cost. Just losing just one to a mechanical issue or a military incident would sink over $200 million dollars at a glance. Or to common folk, it would equal about four hundred sensibly sized homes in the western world per hybrid jet.

All the lessons learned and all the advancements added to a hybrid would make a national treasure to the likes of what Nicholas Cage would hyperventilate over on his next "National Treasure" movie. It would be such an airplane equivalent to losing a battle in a war with one downed jet. However, the risk of just one loss is balanced with a victory by one super-jet. If it took out a missile battery with one shot it would set back someones industrial complex by ten years. Or a back to the drawing board event costing the adversary billions in a new missile scheme.

There is much more at stake. The national security and defense are at stake and that has no price tag for our cultural sensibilities at this time or at any time. People will fight to win at a World War II scale or just die. So the reward outweighs the risk in this case. War is already declared and for example, the US has been waging a techno-war for some time. It so far is winning through its F-35, satellites and other such devices we are not informed about during the 21st century. Money is only spent others cannot match and thus the war being fought is won through superior firepower of spending. This strategy could too also come to a dead end when an adversary comes up with something so off the wall or out of a garage it stifles those spending ludicrous amounts on military industry without end or limits.

The price for Japan building a super-fighter or Europe answering with a gen 6 fighter is what is at stake. The risk of losing that techno war is with its national resources  (money) but not its people. The national sovereignty is at risk if it cannot defend itself, Anialation is no longer a modern answer as a nation has too much to offer once subdued. The risk comes back to losing just one jet with its 200+ million costs. Today, implementing a total victory is a mad solution for any combatant, so building a fleet of maybe 100 such jets is the risk for such a great reward of defending its sovereignty. The US, being a developmental partner would make a Japanese super fighter possible. The trade for such a deal would be another 250 US F-?  A military partnership with Japan would complete the F-22 objective of about 400 in its class, as the US was seeking when it started the F-22 journey by only 187 units could be obtained. Except in this case improvements in melding the F-35 capabilities with the F-22 could be achieved.