2018cnc6-7

88 www.CNC-West.com CNC WEST June/July 2018 ...Hotline Continued From Page 8 Space X to Build Huge Rocket at Port of LA The future SpaceX deep-space rocket ca- pable of flying missions to Mars will be built at the Port of Los Angeles, Mayor Eric Garcetti announced. The BFR — which stands for Big Falcon Rock- et — will be the largest rocket ever built, capable of carrying 150 tons and powered by 31 Raptor engines. The Los Angeles Board of Harbor Commis- sioners will consider leasing an 18-acre siteon Terminal Island to SpaceX to build the 4,400-ton rockets, which will be so massive they must be moved by water. Both SpaceX and the port confirmed early negotiations in April, but wouldn’t provide further details. But descriptions in plan- ning documents led many to believe the plant will produce the BFR. According to plans reviewed by the harbor commission in March, SpaceX would build a 105-foot-tall, 203,450-square-foot build- ing on the vacant site, which today is used mostly for film shoots. It would accommodate up to 750 workers daily, according to plans. The facility would be used “to design, develop, and manufacture prototypes and first-generation models of specialized com- mercial transportation vessels,” according to a project description. Boeing Gets Big Order from Southwest Airlines Southwest Airlines said in late April that it quietly pulled the trigger on options to buy 40 additional 737 Max 8 jets, becoming the largest airline customer for the popular Boeing airplane. The Dallas-based budget airline disclosed the 40-jet order, worth $4.68 billion at list prices, and other airplane deals in an update on its aircraft fleet modernization plans contained in its latest quarterly earnings report. Southwest said it will take 10 more 737 Max 8 single aisle jets each year between 2019 and 2022. Southwest also said five prior 737 Max 8 orders, originally slated for delivery in 2019, have now been accelerated and shifted into the fourth quarter of 2018. Lastly, three older, pre-owned Boeing 737- 700 Next Generation jets, previously sched- uled for delivery to Southwest in 2018, have now been replaced with three new 737 Max 8 aircraft, to be delivered in 2019. Sacramento Based Aerojet Rocketdyne Signs Decade Long Order Rocket company United Launch Alliance will stick with an Aerojet Rocketdyne engine for the upper stage of ULA’s new Vulcan rocket. ULA announced in early May that the Aero- jet Rocketdyne RL10 engine, which has powered the company’s rocket upper stages for years, will remain the upper-stage engine of choice after Vulcan starts flying in 2020. ULA reach a long-term agreement with Sac- ramento, California-based Aerojet Rocketdyne to supply RL10s “for the next decade” and develop a new variation of the RL-10 for ULA to use as well, the company said. ULA considered other upper-stage engine options and as recently as last month was publicly holding open the possibility it could switch suppliers. The new version of the upper-stage engine, dubbed the RL10C-X, will increase the use of additive manufacturing — an advanced form of 3-D printing using metals — and introduce other advanced technologies to improve the engine’s quality, reliability, affordability and performance, ULA said. Boeing, Uzbekistan Airways Finalize Order for 787-8 Dreamliner Boeing and Uzbekistan Airways, the flag carrier of the Republic of Uzbekistan, an- nounced in late April the finalization of an order for one 787-8 Dreamliner, valued at $239 million at current list prices. Uzbekistan Airways currently operates two Dreamliners on international routes, includ- ing Europe, Southeast Asia, Japan and USA. With today’s order, the carrier will add five more Dreamliners as part of its plan to modernize and expand its fleet. Boeing Business Jets Grows Order Book with New Sales Boeing Business Jets have won four new orders in 2018 as elite customers continue to favor Boeing’s portfolio of ultra-large- cabin, long-range airplanes, the company announced recently at the European Business Aviation Conference & Exhibition (EBACE). Continued on page 90