FARNBOROUGH, England, 26 July 2010. World sales of commercial regional passenger aircraft with 30 to 120 seats will total 6,875 over the next two decades, led by North America with 2,400; Europe with 1,510; and China with 950, says Brazilian commercial aircraft manufacturer Embraer in its latest market forecast. This would represent a 4.9 percent annual increase in world regional aircraft sales through 2029. Embraer released the forecast last week at the Farnborough International Airshow in Farnborough, England.

FARNBOROUGH, England, 24 July 2010. Honeywell (NYSE: HON) announced that its Primus Apex integrated avionics suite has received Technical Standard Order (TSO) approval from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) for the new Viking Twin Otter Series 400 aircraft.

FARNBOROUGH, England, 24 July 2010. The U.S. Navy completed a series of three captive flight tests on Raytheon's (NYSE: RTN) Joint Standoff Weapon C-1, putting the program closer to achieving initial operating capability in 2012.

FARNBOROUGH, England 23 July 2010. Virgin Atlantic selected Rockwell Collins to provide avionics equipment including a new released digital radio altimeter for Virgin's fleet of 10 A330-300 aircraft. Deliveries of the fleet of 10 aircraft are scheduled to begin in spring 2011. Virgin Atlantic will be the launch customer for Rockwell Collins new Digital Low Range Altimeter (DLRA) LRA-2100. The DLRA system uses digital signal processing to gauge the aircraft's height above terrain. This newly developed system provides improved accuracy, especially over challenging terrain and objects on approach. The smaller, lighter unit is a drop-in replacement for the LRA-900.

FARNBOROUGH, England, 23 July 2010. A few last-minute commercial passenger aircraft sales waited until the last minute to be announced Friday at the Farnborough International Airshow in Farnborough, England. As of noon local time at Farnborough Friday, 14 more passenger aircraft were ordered since the last report, which by rough count brings the total number of commercial aircraft sold during the show to 835. On Friday French carrier Air Austral ordered two Boeing 777-200LR widebody jetliners for delivery in mid-2011 and 2010. Air Austral already operates three 777-200ERs and two 777-300ERs. This deal brings total sales of widebody passenger jets at Farnborough to about 80.

FARNBOROUGH, England, 23 July 2010. The U.S. Navy selected Raytheon (NYSE: RTN) to provide V-22 Osprey avionics systems software, situational awareness software and prototype hardware, and avionics acquisition support.

FARNBOROUGH, England, 23 July 2010. Lufthansa Airlines selected the Esterline CMC Electronics (CMC) IntegriFlight CMA-5024 Global Positioning System (GPS) Landing System Sensor for the retrofit of eleven Airbus A340 and six Boeing B747 aircraft. Replacement of the first-generation GPS receivers previously used on these aircraft with the CMA-5024, will enable Lufthansa to operate these aircraft in compliance with new Automatic Dependent Surveillance - Broadcast (ADS-B) airspace requirements, such as those in force over vast areas of northern Canada.

FARNBOROUGH, England, 23 July 2010. BAE Systems is supporting England's Royal air force (RAF) Tornado GR4s on deployed operations in Afghanistan by working in close partnership with the RAF to deliver Urgent Operational Requirements (UORs) and capability upgrades. The aircraft in Afghanistan are currently providing vital close air support to troops on the ground.

FARNBOROUGH, England, 23 July 2010. Pratt & Whitney Canada (P&WC) selected avionics and power provider Air Data Inc, in Montreal to design, manufacture, and service aircraft engines powering business, general aviation, and regional aircraft and helicopters.

FARNBOROUGH, England, 22 July 2010. Northrop Grumman Corp.'s (NYSE:NOC) first Block 40 RQ-4 Global Hawk high altitude long endurance (HALE) unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) has completed envelope expansion flights, just six months after conducting its first flight. The Block 40 aircraft will be equipped with the high performance Multi-Platform Radar Technology Insertion Program (MP-RTIP) sensor and is the first of 22 Block 40 Global Hawks assigned to Grand Forks Air Force Base, North Dakota.

FARNBOROUGH, England, 22 July 2010. Business dealings at the Farnborough International Airshow in Farnborough, England, wrapped up Thursday afternoon with a rough count of 821 passenger aircraft sold during the first four days of the show. Little, if any, business typically is conducted at this show on the final Friday. Among the most interesting aspects of this flurry of new passenger aircraft buying was the near lack of sales of the biggest and most heavily touted aircraft at the show -- namely only three sales of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, 15 purchases of the future Airbus A350 widebody, and zero purchases of the giant Airbus A380 super jumbo jet.

FARNBOROUGH, England, 22 July 2010. Boeing [NYSE: BA] and its subsidiary Insitu Inc. demonstrated a high-performance narrowband relay communications system aboard a ScanEagle unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). The relay was designed to meet the needs of small distributed forces operating in areas where line of sight (LOS) communications would not normally be possible.

FARNBOROUGH, England 22 July 2010. Northrop Grumman Corp. (NYSE:NOC) has delivered the operational software package for the AN/AAQ-37 Electro-Optical Distributed Aperture System (EO-DAS) to Lockheed Martin Corp. (NYSE:LMT) for integration into the F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter.

FARNBOROUGH, England, 22 July 2010. L-3 Link Simulation & Training won a $21 million contract option to build a third F-16 Mission Training Center (MTC) suite. This contract option, received from the Aeronautical Systems Center's Training Systems Product Group at Wright Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, brings the total contract value on the program to $132.8 million. L-3 Link will build and deliver an F-16 MTC suite that includes four high-definition simulators. The Boeing Company will provide the instructor/operator stations and brief/debrief systems.

FARNBOROUGH, England 22 July 2010. Officials at Sikorsky Innovations in Stratford, Conn., unveiled an X2 Technology Light Tactical Helicopter (LTH) simulator. X2 Technology combines an integrated suite of technologies to advance the state-of-the-art, counter-rotating coaxial rotor helicopter. It is designed to demonstrate that a helicopter can cruise comfortably at 250 knots while retaining such attributes as excellent low-speed handling, efficient hovering, and a seamless and simple transition to high speed. 

FARNBOROUGH, England, 22 July 2010. Rockwell Collins and Bombardier Aerospace released the "V7" cabin electronics system (CES) software for operators of Bombardier's Global 5000 and Global Express XRS business aircraft. The new software includes dozens of improvements to enhance the look and feel of the system.

THE FARNBOROUGH BLOG, 22 July 2010. The Eurofighter Typhoon is arguably one of the finest jet fighters in the world today. With air-to-air, and air-to-ground capability, advanced avionics, and unmatched maneuverability, this high-performance tactical jet is a favorite the air forces of Austria, Germany, Italy, Saudi Arabia, Spain, and the United Kingdom. Still the fighter jet and its makers find themselves in an awkward position when it comes to export sales.

FARNBOROUGH, England, 22 July 2010. The Brazilian aircraft manufacturer Embraer signed an agreement to sell 28 KC-390 medium-sized military cargo jets to the Brazilian air force. The agreement was announced Wednesday at the Farnborough International Airshow in Farnborough, England. The Embraer KC-390, the heaviest aircraft the company has ever made, is a twin-engined military transport jet that Embraer has under development. The jet will be able to haul as much as 19 tons of cargo, including wheeled armored vehicles, and similar in size to the U.S.-built Lockheed Martin C-130J four-engine military utility turboprop.

FARNBOROUGH, England, 22 July 2010. Passenger aircraft sales continued Wednesday into Thursday morning at the Farnborough International Airshow in Farnborough, England, although at a slower pace than the previous two days. By rough count, 121 firm sales and options for passenger jetliners and turboprops happened at Farnborough Wednesday through Thursday morning, bringing total sales and options announced at the show to about 723.

FARNBOROUGH, England, 21 July 2010. Bombardier Aerospace's annual aircraft market forecasts for the business and commercial aircraft markets indicates that while the business aircraft and commercial aircraft markets were affected by the recession, business indicators show improvement and with positive signs for the global industry in 2010. Bombardier officials say that the market fundamentals are strong in the long term and that there is reason to be cautiously optimistic that demand for new commercial aircraft and business jets will return, with emerging market opportunities in China, India, and other developing regions stimulating the recovery.