Page 52 - World Airnews September 2020 Edition

NEWS DIGITAL

TEXTRON AVIATION ADDS

SECOND TEST PLANE

to the specially built prototype that made 19 people.
its own first flight in May. The company "SkyCourier should have a lot of growth
Textron Aviation has added another said that aircraft has made 38 flights, and is a great product that’s coming along
test aircraft to its Cessna SkyCourier totalling 76 hours. really well," Textron CEO Scott Donnelly
programme, keeping development of the FedEx is the launch customer for the said last month following the company's
new turboprop moving forward despite Wichita-built SkyCourier, with the cargo second-quarter earnings.
the industry impact of Covid-19. company having 50 firm orders and 50 The progress on the SkyCourier follows
The USA Textron division said in a press options on the utility turboprop, and the other changes in the company’s turboprop
release that the aircraft flew for the first new test aircraft is configured for those line-up, with the announcement earlier of
time recently last month. cargo operations. upgraded versions of its Beechcraft King
The new addition to the test fleet is a Textron Aviation is planning a passenger Air flagship, now known as the King Air
production-conforming model, as opposed version of the aircraft that can seat up to 360/360ER. Q

NEWS DIGITAL AIRBUS TO BUILD BADR-8

SATELLITE FOR ARABSAT

New multi-mission satellite to deliver broadcast, broadband
and telecommunications services over Europe, Middle East,
Africa and central Asia

Airbus has been contracted by
Arabsat to build BADR-8, their new
generation telecommunications
satellite. BADR-8 will replace and
increase Arabsat’s capacity and
augment its core business at the
BADR hotspot 26°E. The BADR-8
satellite will be based on the-state-of-the-art Airbus Eurostar Neo “This further strengthens our continuing strategic partnership
electric orbit raising platform giving access to a wide range of with the Arab Satellite Communications Organisation, which has
launchers. been connecting people by satellite across the Middle East and the
BADR-8 will also include the Airbus-developed TELEO optical world for more than 40 years.”
communications payload demonstrator. The satellite is scheduled for launch in 2023 and its electric
This payload will enable very high capacity analogue optical propulsion system will enable it to reach geostationary orbit in
feeder link communications, as part of the development by Airbus four to five months, depending on the type of launcher used. It has
of a new generation of optical communications technology in been designed to remain in service in orbit for more than 15 years.
space to be integrated in its future commercial products, which is The satellite will have a launch mass of around 4.5 tonnes and
highly robust against jamming. power of 17 kW.
Jean-Marc Nasr, head of space systems said, “This important Khalid Balkheyour, president and CEO of Arabsat said, “We
contract with our long-standing customer Arabsat has a special sig- are delighted to sign this contract with our long term partner
nificance for Airbus Defence and Space. It is the first seventh-gen- Airbus. It marks another milestone in our objectives to provide
eration Arabsat satellite and the first Eurostar Neo satellite we are customers with premium satellite technology with the highest
building for Arabsat after six previous Eurostar satellites. BADR-8 level of performance, and to expand reliability and service security.
incorporates the best of our expertise and technologies, including BADR-8 will be joining our Badr-network at Arabsat 26°E hotspot,
a very innovative optical communications hosted payload. expanding our service over EMEA region.” Q

World Airnews | September Extra 2020
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