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CSeries on Track for Service Entry

Green Aircraft Take Off, for a Price

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How the British Fly the Armed Reaper

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Bombardier officials insist the CSeries program is on schedule for first deliveries in the second half of 2015. Several new orders were also announced, including one from Petra Airlines in Jordan. Page 8

Research into biofuels accounts for roughly half the budget of the Advisory Council for Aviation Research and Innovation in Europe. Work continues on greener engines as well. Page 20

Formed in 2006, the United Aircraft Corporation has succeeded in bringing key elements of Russia’s aerospace industry into a single fold. The company includes civil and military products. Page 54

Facing scrutiny over unmanned armed aircraft use, the UK Ministry of Defence invited the press to its RAF Reaper ground control station. Farnborough Airshow News was there. Page 58

Sir Richard Branson is one of several with plans to bring super/hypersonic technology to flight. But the cost of development runs high. One idea is a digital “view” of the outside. Page 64

local LOCAL heroes HEROES DAVID McINTOSH

Gushing colored smoke, the UK Royal Air Force’s Red Arrows jet demonstration team transformed the sunny sky above Farnborough into one huge patriotic banner.

Airbus brass ‘unanimous’ on A330neo Cameron drops in, and drops a bundle on defense

by Bill Carey

Continued on page 4 u

by David Donald

MARK WAGNER

Airbus’s board of directors has made an “unconditional and unanimous” decision to launch the re-engined, extended-wing A330neo widebody family that will be lower to buy and operate than the Boeing 787, Airbus executives declared on Monday at the Farnborough International Airshow. The manufacturer also announced a memorandum of understanding with Air Lease Corporation (ALC) for 25 A330-900neos and promised further orders will follow this week.

The 252-seat A330-800neo and the 310-seat A330-900neo will feature new Rolls-Royce Trent

Airbus COO John Leahy confirmed the launch of the A330neo, and punctuated the news by announcing an MoU for 25.

On a flying visit to the Farnborough Airshow yesterday, UK Prime Minister David Cameron announced a major boost to the UK’s defense budget by pledging £1.1 billion to a package that both extends current capabilities and introduces new ones. Cameron specifically mentioned Raytheon/Bombardier Sentinel and the Beechcraft King

Air-based Shadow airplanes, which were due to be withdrawn next year following the UK withdrawal from Afghanistan, but which have proved of such use that they are to be retained for at least three more years.

“National security is the very foundation of national prosperity, especially if you’re an open

Continued on page 4 u

Training is our World CAE is located in the Canadian Pavilion in Hall 4, Booth C18-D at the Farnborough Airshow

www.cae.com/civil-aviation

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Farnborough Airshow News

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Day one orders top $50 billion at F’boro

Airbus brass backs A330neo uContinued from page 1

7000 engines and engine pylons, a 3.7-meter wingspan extension to 64 meters, Sharklet wingtips styled after the wingtips on the A350 XWB, and 95 percent spares commonality with the current A330. The manufacturer claims the updated A330neos will reduce fuel consumption by 14 percent per seat compared to current A330s.

It aims to freeze the design of the A330neo by the end of next year and make the first delivery in December 2017.

Airbus pegged the average list price of the A330-800neo at $241.7 million compared to $221.7 million for the current A330-200. It expects the A330900neo to retail at $275.6 million compared to $245.6 million for the A330-300.

“Because we’ve already got a

fully amortized airplane, we can offer it at very, very attractive pricing,” said Leahy.

On Sunday here in Farn­ borough, before the air show, Boeing’s marketing vice president Randy Tinseth told reporters that the re-engined A330 is an acknowledgement

by Airbus that it has only a “one-trick pony” with the A350-900. Airbus president and CEO Fabrice Bregier has admitted that he expects most of the manufacturer’s backlog of A350-800s will be converted to A350-900s.

Airbus is investing between €1 billion and €2 billion ($1.36 billion to $2.73 billion) on the updated A330 and expects eventually to sell 1,000 A330neos, Bregier said.

Leahy said the range of the A330-800neo will exceed that of the 787-8, while the A330-900neo will have shorter range but more seats than the 787-9. o

FOUNDED IN 1972 James Holahan, Founding Editor Wilson S. Leach, Managing Director R. RANDALL PADFIELD, CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER DAVID McINTOSH

Editor-in-chief – Charles Alcock EDITOR – Ian Sheppard

DAVID McINTOSH

Press room managing Editor – R. Randall Padfield

F-35: Another Virtual Appearance Sitting in front of a “virtual” F-35 backdrop, Lockheed Martin CEO Marillyn Hewson (left) and Pentagon acquisition chief Frank Kendall (right) were two of nine senior F-35 officials who showed up in Farnborough yesterday to explain why the F-35 was a good value– and why it isn’t here. Kendall said she was still “hopeful” the jets will be able to show by the end of the week. A full explanation of the engine fire was provided for the first time. “We understand what happened, now we’re trying to figure out why,” said Lt. Gen. Chris Bogdan, the F-35 program head. See tomorrow’s edition of Farnborough Airshow News for a full report.

–C.P.

PRODUCTION DIRECTOR – Mary E. Mahoney the editorial team Rick Adams Roger Boudreau Angus Batey Bill Carey David Donald Thierry Dubois Curt Epstein Miroslav Gyurosi Ian Goold

Guillaume Lecompte-Boinet Reuben Johnson Vladimir Karnazov Nick Klenske Neelam Mathews Jennifer Meszaros David Oliver Mark Phelps Chris Pocock

Gregory Polek Isabella Stifani Matt Thurber Aimée Turner David Underwood Paulo Valpolini Alan Warnes James Wynbrandt

production editor – Lysbeth McAleer the production team Mona L. Brown John Manfredo Jane Campbell Erik Nowicki Alena Korenkov Annmarie Yannaco John T. Lewis PhotographerS – David McIntosh; Mark Wagner

Cameron drops in, drops a bundle

The bulk of the new money is aimed at improving and extending ISR (intelligence, reconnaissance, surveillance) uContinued from page 1 assets, accounting for £800 trading nation like the United million. Specifically menKingdom, and especially if tioned is new equipment for you’re living in such a dan- the special forces, and the gerous and uncertain world,” extension of the Sentinel airasserted Cameron. “You borne radar platform and can’t have a long-term eco- the Shadow multi-sensor airnomic plan unless you also craft. Both were due to be withdrawn next got a long-term year, but will defense plan.” now fly until at Although the least 2018. next UK StrateCameron also gic Defence and broadly outlined Security Review what the other is not due to be £300 million is unveiled until next to be spent on. year, the governCyber warfare ment has been will benefit, as will able to initiate a the Eurofighter number of meaTyphoon. Part of sures in advance.

UK Prime Minister David the budget is to “We didn’t come Cameron visited yesterday. be spent on fundinto government in 2010 and ignore the widen- ing an e-scan radar upgrade for ing black hole in the defense the aircraft.

The latest announcebudget,” said Cameron. “We got a grip, we made a realistic ment comes a few days after assessment, and I can announce the ceremony to name the today that we’re now able to put new aircraft carrier, HMS £1.1 billion of investment back Queen Elizabeth, was held in Rosyth, Scotland. o into our defense capabilities.”

DAVID DONALD

Day one of the 2014 Farnborough International Airshow proved to be a lucrative one for just about all manufacturers of airliners and the engines that power them. An approximate estimate of business announced here yesterday quickly topped $50 billion.

Air Lease Corporation kicked off proceedings with a $6.9 billion launch order for Airbus’s Rolls-Royce Trent 7000-powered A330neo (see separate story on page one) and added a $6.6 billion contract for 60 A321s. Rival leasing group AerCap firmed up a $5.1 billion order for 50 additional A320neos, followed by International Airlines Group, which converted $1.9 billion worth of A320neo options into firm orders.

Monday was also payday for Boeing, which was especially thrilled to win back the UK’s Monarch Airlines as a customer.

Subject to further detailed negotiation, the two sides have provisionally agreed to a $3.1 billion deal for 30 of the new 737 Max 8s. Leasing group Avolon signed a $2 billion commitment for six of the new 787-9 Dreamliners and five more 737 Max 9s.

China’s Okay Airways ordered six of the same narrowbody, as well as four 737-800s, and agreed to convert five existing orders for the same type in favor of the larger -900ER as part of a $980 million contract.

Regional aircraft makers Mitsubishi (LoI with Eastern Air Lines of the U.S.), Embraer (order for 50 E2s from Trans States Holdings), ATR (order for 75 ATR 42-500s from Nordic Aviation Capital) and Bombardier (see page 8) all announced new business yesterday.

Taking account of options and provisional commitments, this could be worth around another $6.5 billion collectively.

Mexican low-cost carrier VivaAerobus selected Pratt & Whitney’s PurePower PW1100G-JM engines to power the 40 A320neos it has on order, plus options for 40 more.

A day after landing a 200-engine, $2.6 billion order from American Airlines for Leap-1A turbofans to power 100 A320neos, CFM International announced a $3.3 billion deal with easyJet. This covers 200 Leap-1As for its A320neo family and 70 CFM56-5Bs for additional A320ceos. China’s Spring Airlines ordered CFM56-5B engines to power 30 A320ceos in a $620 million contract. CFM followed this with a series of other order announcements.

CFM partner GE Aviation won a $1.4 billion order from Air Lease Corporation for GEnx-1B engines to power 30 Boeing 787s. In a business that underlines the value of the aftermarket, Emirates gave GE a 12-year OnPoint contract for maintenance on GE9X engines powering its Boeing 777X at a price of $13 billion. SriLankan Airlines signed a five-year OnPoint deal covering the CFM56-5B. –C.A.

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Pratt confirms oil leak caused PW1500G fire agreement of the regulators,” Webb said. “We look at this as kind of bad timing...right before an air show to have an event like this. Nonetheless, this is part of the process.”

Characterizing the event as “a minor speed bump” on the PW1500’s path toward entry into service, “a plumbing issue,” and part of the normal development process, Webb suggested that every engine manufacturer experiences comparable problems before it introduces a new product.

Still, Pratt & Whitney executives resisted any temptation to identify precisely what engineers believe caused the uncontained failure. “The area that was impacted was in the area in the back end of the engine, but that’s all we say,” said Pratt & Whitney Commercial Engines president David Brantner. “I don’t want to speculate about anything else...the issue is a seal problem in the oil system.”

Notwithstanding his insistence that Pratt fully understands the so-called issue, Webb explained that Pratt resists offering further details because it

Bombardier: CSeries service entry is on track

by James Wynbrandt

JAMES WYNBRANDT

Bombardier Aerospace announced orders and letters of intent (LOIs) valued in excess of $1.65 billion at the Farnborough Airshow yesterday, as well as the selection of an authorized training provider and details of its service and support program

during its update on the in-development CSeries twinjet.

Meanwhile, with the issues regarding the recent engine fire reportedly identified and being addressed (see story above), the Montreal-based company sees no further impediments to the

Mike Arcamone, left, Bombardier president of commercial aircraft, congratulates Riad Khashman, CEO of Jordan-based Petra Airlines on a new letter of intent for up to four CSeries airliners. The deal is valued at $298.4 million.

According to officials from Pratt & Whitney, it was an issue with one of the oil seals that caused the fire in its PW1500G (above), which powers Bombardier’s developmental CSeries airliner (mockup, right).

MARK WAGNER

Pratt & Whitney officials on Sunday afternoon identified the source of the failure of one of the PW1500Gs on the first Bombardier CSeries flight test aircraft as a “seal issue” in the oil system, not the low-pressure turbine, as was previously indicated by Bombardier. However, the officials refused to specify precisely where the oil leak originated or offer detailed information about the expected timing of its so-called fix.

While attending a Sunday “roundtable” discussion with reporters in London prior to the opening of the 2014 Farnborough Airshow, PW1000G programs vice president Graham Webb insisted that Pratt engineers have gained a good understanding of what caused the uncontained failure on May 29 in Mirabel, Canada, and that they’ve already put in place adjustments and “minor modifications,” validation of which continues at Pratt facilities in Connecticut.

“Once ourselves and Bombardier...are fully satisfied that we have a robust fix in place, we’ll start flying again with the

DAVID McINTOSH

by Gregory Polek

hasn’t fully validated the fix, and that it doesn’t want to do is risk releasing erroneous information.

Both Webb and Brantner said Bombardier mistakenly identified the low-pressure

turbine as the source of the problem, because it disseminated information that proved premature. “Bombardier is talk­ing about what they think it is, there was early information and

somebody said, ‘Gee, it could be in the LPT’,” said Brantner. “We’re telling you right now: rear compartment, oil seal issue, plumbing. That’s what we’re fixing.” o

CSeries entry into service in the second half of 2015.

Ray Jones, senior v-p sales, marketing and asset management, Bombardier Commercial Aircraft, provided details about the company’s orders and LOIs. Falcon Aviation Services of Abu Dhabi converted a letter of intent (LOI) for two CS300 jetliners announced at the Singapore Airshow to a firm order, a contract valued at approximately $153.6 million based on list price of the aircraft.

Zhejiang Loong Airlines Co. of Hangzhou, China, has signed an LOI for 20 CS100 airliners, representing a sale of $1.2 billion, if all are converted to firm orders.

Petra Airlines of Amman, Jordan has signed a LOI for up to four CS100 and CS300 airliners. Should the LOI be exercised, it will comprise two firm-ordered CS100s (valued at approximately $136.5 million at list price) and two options for CS300s. If the CS300 options are exercised, the entire contract would be valued at $298.4 million.

Jones also identified Latviabased Air Baltic Corporation as the undisclosed customer that converted options for three CS300s to firm orders at the Singapore Airshow last February, a contract valued at some $220 million. Air Baltic’s original firm order for 10 CS300s with options for an additional 10 was signed in December 2012.

more than 400 components in more than 20 major systems, and includes a component repair management solution and components exchange pool program.

Michel Ouellette, president, customer services and specialized and amphibious aircraft, Bombardier Aerospace, announced Flight Training Alliance, a newly formed joint venture between CAE and Lufthansa Flight Training, has been appointed as exclusive authorized training provider for CSeries aircraft pilot and cabin crew training worldwide. Ouellette also announced that Lufthansa Technical Training has been named exclusive authorized training provider for maintenance training for CSeries aircraft.

Meanwhile, fuel burn, stall performance, noise, emissions and other performance parameters projected for the aircraft have been confirmed in flight tests, and construction of new facilities for CSeries production are on track for occupancy later this summer, according to the company. o

8 Farnborough Airshow News • July 15, 2014 • www.ainonline.com

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by Transport Canada, EASA and the FAA of its maintenance program for CSeries aircraft operators. The maintenance program allows CSeries operators to extend intervals between line maintenance checks (A checks) to 850 hours and base maintenance checks (C checks) to intervals of 8,500 hours.

The Smart Parts program, building on the company’s business aviation and Q400 Smart Parts programs, offers a tailored support solution covering

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Say hello to the future The LEAP engine has 19 fuel nozzles. While they may look deceptively simple from the outside, this revolutionary design, grown using additive manufacturing, is keeping harmful NOx emissions in line.

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Army called to retire Kiowa Warriors

by Bill Carey DRS Technologies, a Finmeccanica-owned U.S. defense contractor, has supported the distinctive sensor ball that sits atop the U.S. Army’s OH-58D Kiowa Warrior since 1998.

Technology updates the company has developed will make the electro-optical targeting system known as the mastmounted sight (MMS) more lethal and better protect Kiowa

Warrior crews–if only the Army continues investing in the longserving scout helicopter.

Budget cuts and reduced spending levels have forced the Army to reevaluate its future

DRS Technologies, which has supported the mast-mounted sight on the OH-58D Kiowa Warrior since 1998, has developed new technology to upgrade the device.

aviation strategy. Earlier this year, as part of its Fiscal Year 2015 budget submission, the service announced an “aviation restructuring initiative” that among other steps will retire the entire fleet of 312 Kiowa Warriors.

With its recent plan to acquire a new-build armed aerial scout shelved, the Army will rely on Boeing AH-64E Apache attack helicopters and unmanned aircraft to perform the armed scout mission in the near term.

Whether or not the Army retires its Kiowa Warrior fleet, the helicopters will remain in service and potentially in harm’s way for another five to eight years, argues DRS (Outside Exhibit 1). The company contends that the Army earlier committed to implementing three engineering change proposals (ECPs) to both update and improve the MMS. It wants the service to “responsibly retire” the helicopters in part by approving the ECPs, which would replace the sight’s laser rangefinder/designator (LRF/D) with an improved LRF/D, add a laser pointer and deliver second-generation forward-looking infrared (FLIR) capability with a new processor.

“We are requesting the Army to continue to procure those engineering change proposals for the mast-mounted sight because the dollar costs are relatively small and because they enhance dramatically the lethality, survivability and safety of the crew,” said Wayne Sauer, DRS Technologies vice president. “We’re not talking millions here. With the three ECPs together, it’s maybe $150,000 to $200,000 per aircraft.” Another plus: the modifications can be done at the unit level, and require little new pilot training, Sauer said.

In May, the U.S. House of Representatives endorsed upgrading the MMS in its version of the Fiscal Year 2015 National Defense Authorization Act, which was advanced to the Senate.

Northrop Grumman and DRS designed the new diodepumped LRF/D as a drop-in replacement for the legacy laser designator. o

12 Farnborough Airshow News • July 15, 2014 • www.ainonline.com

737 Max vice president and general manager Keith Leverkuhn reported that engineers expected to release 25 percent of the design by the middle of the year, will cut flow time by 33 percent, right around the time the first defects by 66 percent, factory full CFM Leap-1B engine goes “footprint” by 50 percent and to test. [The first CFM Leap1B began ground testing on June injuries by 50 percent.

The PAL promises to account 13.–Ed.] Expressing “comfort” for a big part of Boeing’s effort to in the airplanes’ roughly 3,600raise its production rate from 42 nm range, Leverkuhn said he to 47 a month by 2017, at roughly foresees no further changes in the same time it starts its transi- weight or payload specifications.

Meanwhile, Boeing has comtion from building current-generpleted 150,000 hours of laboraation 737s to the new 737 Max. tory development in support of Dedicated Final all the integration of the new Assembly Line systems, new flight deck and To make room for the new fly-by-wire spoilers. “We’re Max, Boeing has begun clear- also doing a lot of mockup ing space in the final assembly work along with the detailed building that now houses the design in our Catia 3-D system east line. “A key foundation of because we know we’ve got to our overall strategy, plan and be able to produce this airplane approach on the Max is to ded- at a high rates,” said Leverkuhn. icate a final assembly line to the “We want to make sure that as Max as we bring it into our sys- we’re going through the designs tem,” said Schryer. “It has lon- that we’ve got the ability to truly ger flows at the beginning than build flawlessly at rates.”

One design element on which the NG and [as] we ramp it up, we will do that on a dedicated flow time management undoubtedly will prove critiline, keeping our cal involves the engine NG lines running inlet. In a departure as they are runfrom Boeing’s previous ning today.” Evenpractice, the company tually, the Max line has decided to perform will run at the same both the detailed design pace as those dedand the build itself at icated to the NG, Boeing Propulsion in she added.

Charleston, South CarPlans call for olina, site of a new the Max line– Beth Schryer, Boeing the central line Commercial Airplanes assembly facility due for completion by the of the three final director of 737 business operation end of the year. assembly lines in “As the engine techRenton–to incorporate three positions, where nology continues to develop, Boeing would build the ini- the desire will be for larger fans, tial examples as well as per- smaller cores, and I think that form flight test installations the people who’ve got the abiland other miscellaneous items. ity to artfully incorporate those Boeing has also begun the pro- engines that are going to look cess of building a new systems- very different from the engines installation tool, where it loads today…are going to have a and stuffs the fuselage sections competitive advantage,” said with systems before they go to Leverkuhn. “So I think us bringwing-to-body join, adjacent to ing some of that capability back the west line. In the process, in, starting on the Max, is going Boeing plans to convert to a to be important for our longer pulse system, creating what play, our longer [term] future.”

Meanwhile, Boeing also Schryer called an even more lean build. The process will plans to invest further in its 737 involve three pulses on three delivery center, revamping the separate lines, meaning it will existing facility and erecting a new building adjacent to it. hold nine fuselages.

Having reached firm con- Designed primarily to improve figuration, the 737 Max design the customer experience, the teams have begun the process expanded center will feature of performing detailed designs, upgraded offices and conferand Boeing plans to build the ence rooms, a new departure first airplane next year, fly it in lounge, space for celebrations 2016 and deliver the first pro- of milestone deliveries and jetways to the airplanes. Boeing duction example in 2017.

During briefings in April at expects to finish the new center, Boeing’s widebody facilities in located at Boeing Field in Seato Everett, Washington, Boeing tle, sometime next year.

The PAL fastens stringers to wing skin panels at twice the rate Boeing now can manage using the current process at its 737 plant in Renton, Washington.

Automated panel assembly line speeds up Boeing 737 production

by Gregory Polek The production system that promises to support a reduction in final assembly times for the Boeing 737 from 10 to 9 days this year should become still more efficient with the introduction of a new automated panel assembly line (PAL) by early 2015.

Built by Mukilteo, Washington-based Electroimpact, the PAL fastens stringers to wing skin panels at twice the rate Boeing now can manage using the current process at the 737 plant in Renton, Washington. Electroimpact designed the machine to “normalize” to the panel with an array of lasers that “see” the surface without touching it, allowing it to follow the panel curvature or contour.

The process improves accuracy,

consistency and “repeatability,” according to Boeing.

The OEM’s existing machines in Renton install about 4,000 fasteners and mechanics install roughly 2,000, often requiring them to contort their bodies into unnatural positions.

The automated system not only eliminates the need to perform fatigue-inducing acrobatics, it promises to reduce repetitivemotion injuries.

In Renton, Boeing has already installed the major foundations to support some 70 machine beds per line. Once installed on the factory floor, the PAL will use a monorail system to load parts rather than overhead cranes, eliminating wait time between positions.

The first PAL machine arrived in Renton in late June.

According to Boeing Commercial Airplanes director of 737 business operations Beth Schryer, the new line will “ramp up” over time starting next year, initially operating simultaneously with the existing line.

“We’re bringing machines in starting later this year as we start the prove-out and qualification of those. This new panelassembly process reduces flow, it reduces defects...the footprint.

It gives us [further] capacity,” said Schryer. “It also is a great enabler for our employees to have a better build process, from an injury prevention and quality output perspective.”

Boeing estimates the PAL

Plans call for the Boeing 737 assembly lines in Renton to produce 47 airplanes a month by 2017.

16 Farnborough Airshow News • July 15, 2014 • www.ainonline.com

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Three Alternative Fuel Processes • The Fisher-Tropsch method was certified for aviation in 2009 and involves liquefying biomass, gas or coal. Invented as far back as 1923, the process is capital intensive.

• HEFA was certified for aviation in 2011. It involves fuel being made from substances such as palm oil and microalgae. Disadvantages include the fact that it competes with food for available land and is also subject to low yield rates.

• A process of fermenting enzymes is used to convert sugar cane or beet pulp into the new o fuel called farnesane.

Photo: ADNOC

In May, an A330-200 operated by KLM Royal Dutch Airlines made a 10-hour flight from Amsterdam to Aruba with tanks filled with a 20-percent blend of fuel made from used cooking oil.

Green aircraft poised for takeoff at a price

by Guillaume Lecompte-Boinet Even as aircraft engine makers continue their focused efforts to reduce fuel consumption and emissions, the use of biofuel alternatives to Jet-A is an increasingly important facet of the campaign to make air transport more environmentally sustainable.

Plans for making biofuels a more mainstream option for operators now account for around half of all the objectives set by the Advisory Council for Aviation Research and Innovation in Europe (Acare). The group, which is backed by the European Commission (EC) and industry players, is working toward the ambitious goals of reducing both carbon dioxide (CO2) and nitrogen oxide (NOx) by 75 percent, and noise by 90 percent.

In 2011, the EC launched its Aviation Biofuel Path 2020 program, which has the main objective of getting aviation biofuel production up to two million metric tons per year. This represents slightly less than 4 percent of current European consumption of Jet-A. Total is among the oil companies that has made a commitment to advancing this cause. “Biofuels, provided that they are produced in a sustainable way, are very relevant to improving the energy efficiency of air transport,” said the French group’s head of biotechnology Phlippe Marchand.

Two methods for producing synthetic fuels, Fisher-Tropsch and HEFA, are already certified. But in the case

Jet Fuel’s Environmental Impact by the Numbers Air transport: • Currently consumes around 200 million metric tons of fuel per year.

• Represents about 3 percent of global CO2 emissions.

• I f nothing is done, given the projected growth in global air traffic, total emissions from air transport could be six times higher by 2050.

Source: European Commission, “Aviation Biofuel Path 2020”

of Fisher-Tropsch heavy investment is required with over $1.3 billion required to build a plant with the capacity to produce 80,000 metric tons of fuel annually.

The HEFA process is compromised on the question of sustainability since it relies on the availability of ingredients such as palm oil. In an attempt to get around this, Total has looked a fermenting sugars as an alternative, partnering with Californiabased Amyris to develop different sources of sugar, such as beets (see related story below, right). Total’s first extraction plant for processing sugar-based fuel is now operational in Brazil and the company is considering the possibility of establishing one in France.

In June 2013, an Airbus A320 powered

by CFM International CFM56 engines made an experimental flight with a fuel mix comprised 10 percent of a new fuel called farnesane. According to Marchand, the engines emitted around 80 percent less CO2 than if they had been run purely on Jet-A. Another important plus is that these new fuels emit very little soot compared with the damaging particles that come from Jet-A. In May, an A330-200 operated by KLM Royal Dutch Airlines made a 10-hour flight from Amsterdam to Aruba with tanks filled with a 20 percent blend of fuel made from used cooking oil. In the same month, a two-year study commissioned by Airbus and partners, including Virgin Australia, reported that Australia’s mallee tree could be another sustainable raw material for biofuels.

Before widespread adoption of alternative fuels can be accepted, aircraft and engine manufacturers will have to be satisfied on certain key technical requirements, namely the density, viscosity and compatibility of the new fuels with all the internal parts of the engines. “These are the topics we are working on as manufacturers,” said Frédéric Eychenne with Airbus’s new energy project office.

Both Airbus and Boeing have

20 Farnborough Airshow News • July 15, 2014 • www.ainonline.com

conducted numerous flight tests in recent years with several types of biofuels. As part of this process, Boeing has increased tests on military aircraft using various combinations of Jet-A and synthetic fuels made through the Fisher-Tropsch method. In January 2014, it tested a fuel produced from Jetropha, a plant that can be grown in arid climates and which emits about half the CO2 emissions of an equivalent volume of Jet-A. Boeing also has biofuel alliances with Etihad Airways, Abu Dhabi’s Masdar Institute and Total.

Nonetheless, there appears to be consensus among the leading stakeholders that the widespread acceptance of these new fuels will take some time. “For the next 30

to 40 years, kerosene [Jet-A] will remain the main aviation fuel,” predicted Eychenne.

Over and above the complex technical requirements, the new fuels will need to be available worldwide at reasonable prices if they are to be accepted by aircraft operators. Contrary to perception, the price of Jet-A has remained relatively stable over the past three or four years. By contrast, the ingredients used for biofuels are subject to significant volatility in pricing, partly because they are also in demand by the food industry. Some alternative sources of fuel, such as those produced from microalgae, are not yet mature processes. Eventually, Total believes that this pricing imbalance between oil and fuel sources such as sugars will be corrected.

Part of the solution may come from the sea. The U.S. Navy has managed to produce a synthetic jet fuel from seawater from which CO2 and hydrogen are captured through a process of electrolysis. Initial estimates suggest that the fuel produced might be priced somewhere between $3 and $6 per gallon, compared with less than $3 for Jet-A. o

Two Boeing partners get OK to market new alternative biofuel

by Gregory Polek Industrial bioscience company Amyris and energy giant Total have begun to market a so-called drop in jet fuel containing a 10-percent mix of renewable farnesane under a newly revised ASTM standard, the companies announced in June. Amyris and Total have worked closely on approval of the new fuel with Boeing, which, according to the airframer’s managing director of environmental strategy and integration, Julie Felgar, wants to see biofuel account for a 1-percent share of the total jet fuel supply within 10 years.

The ASTM standard involved an “endto-end” evaluation program to verify and ensure the compatibility of the renewable jet fuel product with aircraft and engine components and systems. According to the companies, the fuel’s favorable properties include a low freezing point, high thermostability and high net heat of combustion. The Brazilian fuels regulator,

ANP, has indicated it will include the fuel as an option among the other alternative aviation fuels already allowed in the national specification.

“Aviation needs regional as well as global biofuel solutions depending on what feedstocks and processing methods are available,” said Felgar. “The Amyris/ Total fuel pathway will be important in the near term in Brazil, where Gol Airlines, Amyris and Boeing are part of the Brazilian Biojetfuel Platform, a stakeholder-led plan to create a sustainable aviation biofuel industry in Brazil.”

The process developed by Amyris involves the manufacture of yeasts that extract sugars from lignin, a substance that together with cellulose forms the woody cell walls of plants, in this case, sugar cane.

The processing method–namely, the direct fermentation of sugar–allows for a 10- to 15-percent blend rate, said Felgar.

Continued on page 24 u

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SUKHOI FIGHTERS CONQUER THE SKY

Sukhoi’s combat aircraft form the backbone of today’s Russian Air Force. All of the aircraft have been developed by the Sukhoi Design Bureau, which this summer celebrates its 75th anniversary. They are produced by the Sukhoi Company at various serial plants that are subsidiaries of the United Aircraft Corporation. Some of the latest Sukhoi combat aircraft are described below.

SU-32/34 FRONTLINE BOMBER The Su-34 (for which the Su-32 is an export version) is the main attack option for Russian air power. The jet is a direct successor to the Su-24M all-weather day/ night frontline bomber.

The State Joint Acceptance Tests of the Su-34 were completed in November 2010. The commander of the Russian Air Force signed the Su34 State Tests report in April 2011 recommending its deployment with the Air Force. The Su-34 frontline bombers entered service with the Russian Air Force following the RF President Decree of March 18, 2014.

Series production of the Su-34 is organized at the

Sukhoi Company plant in Novosibirsk. The first state five-year contract with the Russian Defense Ministry for Su-34s was signed in 2008 and fulfilled last year. In March 2012, the Sukhoi Company signed another state contract to supply a large batch of Su34s to the Russian Defense Ministry.

In terms of operational capabilities the Su-34 is a 4th+ generation aircraft.

It can effectively engage ground, sea and air targets with high-precision weapons while under enemy fire and can also conduct electronic warfare around the clock in all weather conditions. Its active protection system, together with the latest computers,

better supports the pilot and navigator in carrying out precision bombing and maneuvers under enemy fire. The superior aerodynamics, large internal fuel tanks, highly efficient digitally-controlled bypass turbojet engines, air refueling system, add-on tank suspension and a comfortable crew cockpit all enable long-range missions of up to 10 hours. The onboard digital open architecture makes it easier to replace or update aircraft systems.

The aircraft enjoys excellent flight performance and agility. It also features a long-range aiming system, as well as modern communications and datalink capability to keep the aircraft connected

SU-35 MULTIROLE FIGHTER with flight control centers, ground troops, other aircraft and ships. The Su-34 employs highly efficient long range guided air-to-surface and air-toair weapons with multiple channel capability. It is equipped with a smart radar countermeasure and defense system, plus a sophisticated survivability suite, including an armored cockpit. Presently the operational capability of the aircraft is being increased with new airborne weapons.

According to pilots and navigators, the Su-34 offers excellent ergonomics and extensive automation from takeoff to target approach, operational use, and landing. The aircraft is easy to handle.

The Su-34 bomber has set seven world records, including one for horizontal flight altitude with a 5,000 kg load.

Another top priority program for Sukhoi is the Su-35 (Su-35S for the Russian Air Force), which is a 4++ generation super-maneuverable multirole fighter.

The State Joint Acceptance Tests are now underway and these have already fully proved the main projected specifications of the aircraft and its suite of onboard equipment.

They also demonstrated its super-maneuverability, checked the stability and controllability, and confirmed the power plant parameters and navigation system operability. The maximum close-to-ground speed is 1,400 km/h, rising to 2,400 km/h at altitude.

The operational ceiling is 18,000 meters. The radar target detection range is over 400 km in the air-toair mode, which considerably exceeds that of currently in-service aircraft.

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The phased array antenna radar detects targets at a long range. It can simultaneously track, monitor and engage multiple targets both in the air and on the ground. Up to 8 aerial targets and 2 ground targets can be engaged at once.

The onboard optic radar detects and tracks several targets at a range of more than 80 km.

All work associated with the State Acceptance Tests are proceeding according to the plan. Operational suitability tests, including guided and unguided munitions firing, also have proved to be a success.

The flight test results have established that the performance of the Su-35/ Su-35S is much superior to that of similar in-service counterparts. The aircraft’s onboard equipment performs a wide range of missions and tactical tasks. The Su-35’s design specifications are higher than those of the 4 and 4+ generation tactical fighters like Rafale and EF 2000, and upgraded F-15, F-16 and F-18, F-35 aircraft.

Thus it is a potent rival to the F-22A aircraft.

The Su-35/Su-35S employs many advanced technologies widely used in the Russian military’s advanced airborne complex (PAK FA). In a way, it is a test platform for fifth-generation aircraft advanced technologies. The latest avionics suite has been integrated on the basis of the information control system (ICS) with stand-by multiple-processor computers and high-speed information exchange channels.

The ICS allows efficient

data usage from surveillance and aiming systems, so providing support to the pilot through various combat missions. The Su-35/ Su-35S makes extensive use of real-time situation awareness technologies applied in the spherical information field by resorting to the capabilities of the communication system, radar, optronic surveillance and reconnaissance systems, as well as land control systems of various levels. In addition, the aircraft is fitted with new engines (similar to those on the PAK FA) featuring an increased vectored thrust, built-in auxiliary power plant (BIAPP), and a new radar. The Su-35/Su-35S has a wide range of airborne guided munitions for target engagement at short, medium and long distances plus unguided weapons. The aircraft can carry an 8,000 kg combat load.

The Su-35S is now in serial production at the Sukhoi plant in Komsomolsk-on-Amur (KnAAZ) under the terms of the state contract with the Russian Defense Ministry signed in 2009 for the supply of a large batch of aircraft till 2015.

will also provide a steady load for defense enterprises involved in designing and manufacturing weapons.

The PAK FA’s maiden flight took place on January 29, 2010 at Komsomolsk-on-Amur.

Since April 2010 the prototype in-flight and ground tests have been conducted at the Flight Research Institute at Zhukovsky. So far, five flying prototype have been built at KnAAZ for the ground and flight tests.

All tests proved the aircraft’s solid stability and controllability characteristics for subsonic and supersonic speeds at low and high altitudes and at supercritical angles of attack.

Compared to previous generation fighters, the PAK FA combines the functions of a strike aircraft and a fighter, thus offering a number of unique capabilities. As a 5th generation aircraft, it has a completely new and thoroughly integrated avionics package providing superior automatic control and intellectual support of the crew. This considerably reduces the workload on the pilot, enabling him to better concentrate on the tactical functions. The onboard equipment of the new aircraft makes it possible to exchange information in a real time mode with onland control systems and

FIFTH GENERATION AIRBORNE COMPLEX The program to create the 5th generation advanced airborne complex (PAK FA) for the Russian Air Force is a primary task for Sukhoi. This will strengthen the Force’s fighting capability, as well as radically update the capability of Russian industry, and give fresh impetus to scientific research. It

The onboard equipment is now being tested. In-flight refueling was carried out successfully. The aircraft’s performance in a variety of configurations was also tested successfully.

The main objectives of the current flight tests are to work out combat modes for the aircraft systems, as well as resolve how weapons can be docked and used.

airborne teams as well as to act on its own.

The export version of the 5th generation fighter – a perspective multi-functional fighter (PMF-FGFA) – is being created in association with the Republic of India. The Russian and Indian governments have generally agreed on the workshare of each party.

The parties have approved

the PMF-FGFA specifications, defined their contributions and singled out the systems and subsystems to be developed by India.

At present the contract to develop a preliminary design project of the perspective multi-functional fighter (PMF-FGFA) has been completed. The fighter design has been fully developed. The Russian side has trained the Indian specialists, supplying them with the basic data and software to create a single working environment.

India and Russia work in a team. The Indian working group of experts worked in Russia from January – October 2012, and a group of Russian specialists has also worked in India. The required information exchange has been established.

Both parties have agreed on the amount and division of work during the research and development (R&D) stage. A contract for the R&D has been prepared for signing this year.

The PMF/FGFA fighter will vary from the Russian prototype due to the Indian Air Force requirements.

For more information please contact www.sukhoi.org

Boeing partners get OK uContinued from page 20

In the United Arab Emirates, Etihad Airways, Total and Boeing collaborate on a similar stakeholder effort to develop a biofuel supply chain called BioJET Abu Dhabi. Etihad and Boeing also work with Abu Dhabi’s Masdar Institute on research into halophyte-based biofuel.

Etihad flew a demonstration flight in a Boeing 777 in January using the Amyris/ Total fuel, which at the time still hadn’t

gained approval for commercial use. That test proved highly valuable because the Abu Dhabi partners would use the same processing method with halophytes.

“Plants called halophytes show even more promise than we expected as a source of renewable fuel for jets and other vehicles,” said Dr. Alejandro Rios, director of the Masdar Institute-affiliated Sustainable Bioenergy Research Consortium (SBRC). “The UAE has become a leader in researching [the use of] desert land and seawater to grow sustainable biofuel

Etihad Airways conducted a 45-minute demonstration flight on January 18 with a Boeing 777-300ER using biofuel developed by Amyris and Total and refined by Takreer, a wholly owned subsidiary of Abu Dhabi National Oil Co.

feedstocks, which has potential applications in other parts of the world.”

Felgar said the use of biofuels could reduce net carbon emissions by 50 percent per flight, due partly to the ability of the plants used to absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. “These plants rely on the CO2 in the atmosphere to grow, so they’re also pulling it out, so the lifecycle assessment on halophytes in particular are very good,” she noted.

Challenges associated with plantbased biofuels, of course, include cost and a limited sustainable feedstock.

Last year the U.S. government qualified

sustainable aviation biofuel for tax credits, a move Felgar said helped cut prices substantially and increased the economic viability of a product called green diesel, approval for which could come within a year. Green diesel comes from such materials as recycled animal fat, used cooking oil and inedible corn oil and can blend directly with traditional jet fuel at a ratio of as much as 50 percent.

Without government incentives, green diesel costs roughly $5 a gallon, while with the incentives, the cost falls to about $3 per gallon–virtually on par with traditional jet-A. o

U.S. Museum Honors AgustaWestland AgustaWestland last month received the 2014 American Helicopter Museum and Education Center’s achievement award for “advancements in rotary-wing technologies,” based on the Project Zero tiltrotor demonstrator program. Dr. James Wang, the manufacturer’s research-and-development vice president, accepted the award. Led by Wang, the Project Zero team designed, built and flew a 2,200-pound, all-electric vertical lift aircraft in six months. A few flights took place in 2011-2012.

“Project Zero’s stunning design, dis- The Project Zero all-electric vertical-lift aircraft. ruptive innovation and accelerated development represent a significant accomplishment and is an inspiration to all,” said Marc Sheffler, chairman of the museum’s board. The American Helicopter Museum and Education Center is located in West Chester, Pennsylvania.

–T.D.

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Innovative Solutions. Proven Performance®.

Hybrid Air Vehicles aims for a buoyant future The two huge hangars at Cardington airfield, 50 miles north of London, stand as witness to the golden age of airships in the 1930s. Inside one of the hangars, a successor to those giants of the sky is being prepared for flight. British company Hybrid Air Vehicles (HAV) is pursuing the goal held by so many proponents of lighter-than-air (LTA) and related technology for so many years. The goal is to revolutionize the air cargo market–and maybe also the persistent surveillance market–with buoyant lift.

In fact, this successor has already flown–just once. It is the former long-endurance multiintelligence vehicle (LEMV) that Northrop Grumman (NG) was developing for the U.S. Army.

HAV was the main subcontractor to NG on the LEMV, providing the non-rigid air vehicle design and structure.

The LEMV flew in August 2012 at Lakehurst, New Jersey, ten months later than promised and seven months after it was supposed to deploy to Afghanistan for an operational trial. These delays, and U.S. defense budget cuts, led to cancellation of the LEMV in February 2013. The Army had spent $297 million on the project.

HAV was able to purchase the deflated air vehicle for $301,000, gain an export license and ship it to the UK. Early this

year, the company re-inflated the 300-foot-long, 80-foot-high envelope with pressurized air.

The company’s aim is to complete the full reassembly, inflation with helium and first flight in the UK in the first quarter of next year. HAV now calls this vehicle the Airlander 10, indicating a payload of 10 metric tons. It will serve as the proofof-concept for the Airlander 50, which will be 2.7 times larger by envelope volume. HAV says this vehicle “will revolutionize the air cargo transportation market enabling–for the first time ever– a truly point-to-point 50-[metric ton] cargo-carrying capability that can operate with limited infrastructure and support.”

HAV claims a team that has more than 1,000 years of combined experience in building and certifying LTA aircraft (see box, “Roger Munk, R.I.P”). Since Munk’s death, new directors and executives have been appointed.

They include chief executive officer Stephen McGlennan, who was formerly HAV’s legal advisor; technical director Mike Durham, who has worked on LTA projects for HAV and its predecessor companies for 25 years; and non-executive director Sam Macleod, a former RAF officer who led Goodrich’s UK-based surveillance and reconnaissance business for some years.

CHRIS POCOCK

by Chris Pocock

After being packed and shipped to the UK, the Airlander 10, formerly known as the LEMV was air-inflated at Cardington in February of this year. One of the engine ducts can just been seen at left. The engines and tailfins were not yet attached.

The flight deck of the Airlander 10 attaches to the center lobe of the hull. HAV has designed single and dual pilot versions for the Airlander. The LEMV would have eventually flown unmanned using Northrop Grumman’s autonomous control technology.

In a hybrid air vehicle, about 60 percent of the lift is aerostatic (from helium buoyancy) and 40 percent is aerodynamic (from the vehicle’s shape). During takeoff and landing, powered lift is also employed by vectoring the thrust from four ducted propulsors. In the case of the Airlander 10, these are four 350-hp turbocharged diesel engines.

The vehicle lands and rests on two pneumatic tubes-cum-skids on the underside of the two outer hulls that retract by suction during flight for a cleaner aerodynamic shape. The scaledup Airlander 50 will be powered by four 2,350-shp turboshaft engines, and have a different, air-cushioned landing system

Roger Munk, R.I.P. Roger Munk’s sudden and untimely death in February 2010 at the age of 62 robbed the airship industry of a true pioneer. He had led a series of British companies specializing in lighter-than-air technology (LTA) for nearly 40 years.

Hybrid Air Vehicles (HAV) was his latest company, founded in 2007 to take forward the hybrid concepts that, he eventually concluded, offered more promise for the future than conventional airships. Before that, his life had been starred with technical success and marred with financial failure.

Success included the first airship to incorporate modern polyester materials and full-authority vectored thrust–the Skyship 500 in 1980; jet-powered bow thrusters and fly-by-light controls on a large airship–the Sentinel 1000 for the U.S. Navy in 1990; and the first hybrid air vehicle with a hovercraft-style air cushion landing gear– the Sky Kitten subscale demonstrator in 2000.

Failure included the liquidation of Munk’s first company (Aerospace Developments) and the bringing down of the second (Airship Industries) when the major shareholders’ business empire collapsed. Successor companies ATG and SkyCat also failed.

Then there was the cooling of interest in airships by defense authorities on both sides of the Atlantic in the 1990s. Ironically, the Pentagon warmed again to LTA concepts a decade later. But Munk did not live to see his hybrid air vehicle design concept finally take to the air in full-scale form–the flight of the LEMV in 2012.

According to the Royal Aeronautical Society, Munk was “the inspiration and technical genius that kept HAV and its predecessors at the forefront of the global airship industry for decades.” The Airship Association said that Munk’s “single-minded approach to his adopted trade that made him stand out.”

Tributes from those who worked with him over the years were heartfelt. One wrote: “Two of the most creative years I experienced in life, with extraordinary intellectual exchanges in the technical field of LTA, occurred when I was working closely with Roger.” Another spoke of “the enormous importance, respect and love in which Roger will always be held, by those of us who looked up to him as the leader in our chosen field.” –C.P.

(ACLS). It is essentially similar to that found on a hovercraft.

Better than an Airship?

The cost-per-ton mile of a hybrid lies somewhere between that of a cargo ship and that of a conventional aircraft. But the key attractions of the design are its scalability; its endurance; and its ability to serve austere and remote locations. Unlike an airship, the Airlander has little need of a network of large mooring masts, or winch-andcable devices.

The endurance characteristic of the hybrid led to the U.S. Army’s interest in the design as an ISR platform. The LEMV was supposed to stay airborne for 21 days in its unmanned configuration, at altitudes up to 22,000 feet. The payload was to be a mix of sensors, including radar, SIGINT and full-motion video.

Not everyone in the LTA world buys into the hybrid’s potential. A technical paper for the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) in 2010 concluded that conventional ellipsoidal

airships were better-suited to long-endurance missions than lifting-body hybrids. The author claimed that most previous literature supported his conclusion.

The paper was used in support of an alternative to the LEMV that was sponsored by the U.S. Air Force. This project, called Blue Devil 2, would have produced the biggest conventional airship since the 1960s. But like the LEMV, Blue Devil 2 also fell behind schedule and never made it to Afghanistan. It was cancelled by the USAF in May 2012 before it could fly.

The U.S. Army referred to “technical and performance challenges” in the LEMV project. The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) reported that the vehicle was 12,000 pounds overweight, reducing its endurance to only four to five days (although 16 days could still be achieved if the LEMV flew at 16,000 feet instead of 20,000 feet). In its defense, HAV points to what was–in retrospect–an unrealistic schedule. There was not enough time to correct the Continued on next page u

SCALING UP THE HYBRID AIR VEHICLE AIRLANDER 10

AIRLANDER 50

Envelope volume

1,340,000 cu ft

3,640,000 cu ft

Length

302 ft

90 ft

Width

143 ft

196 ft

Height

85 ft

115 ft

Total weight

44,000 lb

128,000 lb

Payload

up to 22,000 lb

up to 132,300 lb

Endurance

five days manned

up to 4 days manned

Altitude

up to 20,000 ft

up to 10,000 ft

Cruise speed

80 kt

105 kt

Loiter speed

20 kt

40 kt

www.ainonline.com • July 15, 2014 • Farnborough Airshow News 25

existence. AIN understands that the British company was paid about $90 million for its contribution to the LEMV–less than a third of the total expensed by the U.S. government. HAV claims to be well-funded, with a strong and stable shareholder base. Investors include Bruce Dickinson, co-owner of Cardiff Aviation, an MRO and training company. He is better known as the lead singer of Iron Maiden, a rock group. “I put in £250,000 via the Enterprise Investment Scheme,” Dickinson revealed earlier this year.

“It’s a leap of faith–but this thing seizes the imagination!”

British Support

The British government has given HAV a vote of confidence.

The Technology Strategy Board granted the company £2.5 million to develop specific engineering aspects of the hybrid. “Here is a British SME that has the potential to lead the world in its field,” commented the government’s Business Secretary, Vince Cable.

The grant is conditional on HAV raising £1.5 million in matching funds. No easy task, perhaps,

when the past has been littered with airship company failures, both in the UK and abroad.

At the height of the LEMV subcontract, HAV employed some 100 people, but that has now dropped to the current 20 full-time employees, plus consultants and contractors.

The government money is going toward development of the Airlander 50. HAV hopes to fly it in early 2017 and deliver it a year later. But with no current revenue stream, HAV must proceed cautiously. The company can’t afford to build the Airlander 50 without a launch customer. And it must first fly, prove and certify the smaller– but still very big–Airlander 10.

The long-endurance multi-intelligence vehicle (LEMV) during its one-and-only flight on Aug. 7, 2012. Northrop Grumman was the prime contractor on a program that was supposed to fly 21-day surveillance missions.

Certification Challenge

How do you certify a hybrid air vehicle? McGlennan told AIN that the Airlander 10 will meet British Civil Airworthiness Requirements Section B. HAV envisions a five-month flight test program before demonstration flights can take place.

The company will then seek an EASA type certificate for both the Airlander 10 and the HAV

weight growth on the first vehicle; the planned second and third LEMVs would have met the program’s goal for endurance, HAV’s Durham told AIN. According to Durham, the LEMV reached 3,000 feet and flew for 90 minutes on that first flight at Lakehurst. It was flown

by HAV’s own test pilot, David Burns, a British airship veteran with 9,000 LTA hours. The LEMV would have flown again three or four weeks later, but the U.S. Army reduced the number of inspectors overseeing the program from 30 to six, which slowed progress, Durham added.

“Even in modern times, there is no real software or CAD program to predict the response and aerodynamic coefficients of a lifting body,” one experienced airship pilot and consultant, who favors hybrids, told AIN. “Wind tunnels do not produce sensible results, even for normal airships. The only method that produces reliable results is the one used by the late Roger Munk and his team,” he added.

HAV has made a “modest” profit in some of its six years’

HAV

uContinued from preceding page

The Road Not Needed–by the Skunk Works

Lockheed Martin Skunk Works P791

although LM claimed that all the flight test objectives were successfully completed. DARPA’s Walrus project was subsequently canceled.

There were some differences, but also some similarities, between the P791 and the SkyCat hybrid designs that ATG was developing. In 2007, LM took legal action against Munk, ATG and SkyCat Ltd. for infringement of patents. The claims against ATG and SkyCat were dismissed and the claim against Munk was settled in 2008 before trial, with each side ordered to pay its own costs.

LM competed against Northrop Grumman for the U.S. Army’s LEMV contract–and lost. At Palmdale, Boyd’s team refocused on commercial applications.

Details of the P791 were eventually made public in 2010. In March 2011, Aviation Capital Enterprises (ACE) of Canada announced an exclusive agreement with LM to develop a large hybrid airship to help the developers of natural resources to reach remote areas. Nothing more has been said since (by either party) about this relationship.

Earlier this year, Boyd made a presentation entitled “The Road Not Needed” to the Solve For X forum sponsored by Google. He said: “This technology is ready to go...the issue is ‘growing’ the world of transportation to expect such a big change.” –C.P.

26 Farnborough Airshow News • July 15, 2014 • www.ainonline.com

HAV

In recent years, major aerospace companies such as BAE Systems, Boeing and EADS have all expressed interest in lighter-than-air and hybrid air vehicles, for ISR and remote heavy airlift applications. But apart from HAV, only Lockheed Martin (LM) has progressed beyond the drawing board.

In the 1990s, prompted by Fred Smith of Federal Express, the renowned Skunk Works in Palmdale, California, studied concepts for a huge cargo-carrying hybrid named the Aerocraft.

After a design review, the Skunk Works team led by Bruce Wright sought outside expertise. A system design and engineering contract was awarded to Airship Technologies Ltd., led by Roger Munk. But Smith lost interest in the Aerocraft when he realized that it could not meet his cost targets. Wright retired–and later came to the UK to work as a consultant to Munk.

Meanwhile, LM briefed the Aerocraft to the Pentagon. It had obvious military potential. At Palmdale, the team now led by Dr. Robert Boyd continued work on hybrids, in typical Skunk Works secrecy. The U.S. Defense Advanced Projects Research Agency (DARPA) eventually launched the Walrus project to develop a hybrid airship capable of transporting up to 1,000 tons over intercontinental distances. The vision was to carry an entire Army brigade “from the fort to the fight.”

On Jan. 31, 2006, the Skunk Works flew a demonstrator designated P791 at Palmdale (pictured). The P791 was about 125 feet long–much larger than the SkyKitten hybrid demonstrator that Munk’s next company, ATG, had flown six years earlier.

The first flight of the P791 was unannounced but was observed by outsiders. No further flights were acknowledged by the Skunk Works. Earlier this year, however, Boyd told Airship magazine that the P791 flew six times. The flights were not without incident,

The Airlander 50 would be nearly 400 feet long and capable of delivering a payload of up to 132,200 pounds to remote locations. The pneumatic tubes on the underside of the two outer hulls provide a hovercraft-style ability to maneuver over all types of ground and water. They can be retracted in flight to reduce drag.

The former LEMV can be seen, bottom left, arriving by road at Cardington in December 2012. It is now being resurrected as the Airlander 10 in Shed 1, the left of the two giant airship hangars at Cardington that were built to house the airships of a bygone age.

Airlander 50. It has already submitted documentation in support of the latter.

Although the company’s focus has shifted toward civil operators, HAV directors told AIN that they still believe a customer in the surveillance market will emerge–perhaps a para-public operator. The Airlander 10 (ex-LEMV) is sized for this. HAV told AIN it might build a second one of these before embarking on the Airlander 50. The UK Ministry of Defence is showing considerable interest, the company claims. Two weeks ago, [on July 3] HAV hosted defense procurement minister Philip Dunne for lunch at Cardington.

The larger Airlander 50 will be more attractive for remote cargo transport. In August 2011 HAV announced that Canadian aviation operator Discovery Air was its commercial launch customer. “We believe this capability will enable economic development of remote, stranded resources with a low environmental impact,” Discovery Air said. But McGlennan now says that HAV has identified a different potential lead customer for the cargo-carrying version. [Rival hybrid airship builder Lockheed Martin also announced a Canadian tie-up that seems to have lapsed (see box “The Road Not Needed–By The Skunk Works”).] o

Aerostar places Romania among aerospace leaders

by Ian Sheppard

Grigore Filip at one time ran Aerostar’s MiG-21 Lancer upgrade program. Now president and general director, he has overseen a rapid expansion in subassembly manufacturing for modern commercial aircraft, and the growth of its MRO business.

IAN SHEPPARD

At one time its MRO activities were mainly defense-related and it still maintains expertise in MiG-21s–having upgraded 110 Romanian aircraft to MiG21 Lancers in the 1990s–and Let L-39s, and of course Yak-52s. The company has just completed the re-life and upgrade of eight MiG-21s for the Mozambique air force (these aircraft had not been used for almost 20 years), and is looking for other opportunities, while it also overhauls the Romania’s Lancers one by one.

Civil MRO

Filip told AIN that, “With the market shrinking for older platforms, a strategic decision was made to use the knowledge for other markets. We got Part 145 [EASA] maintenance approval and have been maintaining Boeing 737s for ten years, and now also do [Airbus] A320s, BAe 146/Avro RJ and the Rolls-Royce 250 engine, and we can also do BAe146 cargo conversions.” The latter is something pioneered with BAE Systems, although, to date, only two aircraft have been converted.

“The hangar where the MiG-21 upgrade [to Lancers] was carried out was allocated to commercial MRO, but aircraft [fin] heights meant that we invested in a new hangar, which was commissioned two years ago,” said Filip, an aerospace engineer who joined the company–which is run by his father, president and general director Grigore Filip–four years ago to help modernize the business.

The company has been particularly successful in securing civil MRO customers from Africa, including airlines

Aerostar’s biggest MRO client from Africa is Royal Air Maroc (see above, a RAM Boeing 737 has a ‘C’ check).

With a new second hangar opened in 2012, Aerostar’s civil MRO business has grown while military work has enjoyed limited success, such as upgrading 8 MiG-21s for Mozambique (below).

IAN SHEPPARD

The builder of 1900 Yak-52s in the Soviet era and now a growing MRO specialist and aerospace parts manufacturer, Aerostar (Hall 3 Stand B31) has put Romania on the industry map. Despite its home base in Bacau being situated at the outer reaches of the European Union, and with Romania becoming a member of the EU only in 2007, the company has wasted no time in getting fully involved in European aerospace and modernizing its facilities, as AIN discovered on a visit just before the Farnborough Airshow.

Alexandru Filip, director of business development, said Aerostar celebrated its 60th anniversary last year although it became a private company, listed on the Bucharest stock exchange, only in 1998.

Since 1953, he said, it has overhauled 3,500 aircraft and 6,000 engines, more recently gaining approvals for Western types to become a narrowbody MRO specialist.

Starbow, Royal Air Maroc and, more recently, FastJet. Looking around the vast plant in Bacau, however, it is the aerostructures business that shows Aerostar is really leveraging and modernizing its previous expertise. Some 49 percent of its sales now come from civil aircraft production work, 18 percent from civil

Developing in Civil MRO Aerostar has had considerable success building its civil MRO business having gained engineering expertise in defense work over several decades– most recently is its contract with the Mozambique air force to “bring back to life” eight MiG-21s, a contract that included training and support.

Ovidiu Buhai, director of aviation maintenance and upgrades, told AIN that Starbow of Ghana “came for a second aircraft this year and has another BAe 146 its wants a C-check on,” while “FastJet intends to come with another aircraft in November.

“We are looking also to other operators in Africa, within the range

Aerostar has secured several customers in Africa, including Ghana’s Starbow, the West-African partner of Fastjet, which has itself started to send 737s to Bacau for overhaul.

circle–5,000 km or maybe 6,000 km,” said Buhai. “FastJet came because of good price and positive feedback from other airlines,” and he hinted at other customers from Africa already signed up and said it has its first [undisclosed] customer from the East coming later this year.

Almost all Royal Air Maroc’s Boeing 737NGs come to Aerostar for heavy maintenance. “We’d like to have more customers like RAM,” said Buhai, who described late-2013/early-2014 as “a very good season.” He described Aerostar as a “center of excellence for 737 maintenance” though it has considerable experience with A320-family aircraft, too. It has carried out heavy checks on six and has contracted for another four, said Buhai. “So we aim to do another six this year,” he said during AIN’s visit last month. Operators in Turkey, such as Pegasus, are particularly in the company’s sights for follow-on business.

Buhai’s final comments were about a possible third hangar, if it develops a 737 freighter conversion program, or A320. “We’ll need a separate place for this and we have space to put in another hangar,” he said, admitting that the company is also “considering extending our capabilities to Embraer E-170 and E-190 [families].”

Remus Vlad, MRO/upgrades business development manager, listed some of the other work Aerostar had enjoyed, including heavy C-check on a 737-300F for Mena Aerospace Cargo (this aircraft was in the hangar), while a Starbow BAe 146-200 had just left the hangar when AIN visited– with another due in February 2015 if it does not get sold. Vlad said Aerostar carried out “54 heavy checks last year.”

–I.S.

MRO–although the company is looking to establish overseas bases, through partnership or acquisition.

“More than ten years ago, we started small, with fabrications and machining. Now our biggest customer is Airbus and we are well integrated into its supply chain. We started with Airbus UK at Filton [now GKN], manufacturing A320 inner flap shroud boxes, which we still do with GKN. We manufacture all the parts, assembly, do special processes and deliver ready for installment,” said Filip. “It is very important to us because of the volume”–a set of two for each narrowbody aircraft, of which 42 a year are now being built by Airbus. “We produce 25 shipsets a month,” said Filip.

He said that the company had “diversified to build assemblies for other platforms,” such as the Dassault 7X airbrakes and spoilers, and landing gear doors for the Gulfstream G450/550, which are delivered to Fokker Aero. “But our main goal is to grow our footprint in the Airbus supply chain,” he stated, “and different assembly work from other customers that could be from the States”–alluding to a wish to get similar work packages from Boeing. “We have also started the process of qualification for Bombardier,” said Filip.

Aerostar still “has the capability” to produce Yak-52s, said Filip, a couple of examples of which were on the production floor (in for maintenance),

Continued on next page u

www.ainonline.com • July 15, 2014 • Farnborough Airshow News 27

Aerostar boosts Romania’s status uContinued from preceding page

Installing Split Scimitar winglets from Aviation Partners of the U.S., involves strengthening the wing spars. Sweden’s TUIFly tasked Romania’s Aerostar with installing the winglets on two of its Boeing 737s, each involving six days of downtime.

Aerostar fits TUIFly’s Split Scimitar winglets

by Ian Sheppard followed shortly afterwards for a maintenance check, wing strengthening and installation of winglets.

Each installation took six days and “had no impact on the maintenance check downtime,” said Aerostar. Ovidiu Buhai, director aviation MRO and upgrades for Aerostar, said, “We are very proud that Aerostar was chosen by an airline within [the] TUI Travel [group]…to install these revolutionary winglets.

TUI Travel is the European

MARK WAGNER

Aerostar (Hall 3 Stand B31) has become one of the first independent European MRO organizations to install Split Scimitar winglets on Boeing 737-800s. The work was carried out for Sweden’s TUIFly Nordic at Aerostar’s Bacau facility in Romania, which is also the location of its headquarters. The winglets were fitted to two 737 aircraft, one arriving in early May and having the work done during a maintenance check, while the other

launch customer for the Split Scimitar winglets. It placed an order with Aviation Partners Boeing in July 2013 for the fueland emissions-saving winglet.

TUI Travel was also the first customer to fly Blended Winglets on its Boeing 737 Next Generation fleet. The Split Scimitar winglet was the culmination of a five-year design effort by Aviation Partners Boeing, which used the latest computational fluid dynamic technology to redefine the aerodynamics of the Blended Winglet into an all-new “Split Scimitar” winglet.

The new winglet uses the existing Blended Winglet structure but adds new strengthened spars, aerodynamic scimitar tips and a large ventral fin. o

historic harrier This Spanish navy AV8B Harrier returns to the country where its legacy was forged. The vertical-takeoff attack aircraft will perform in some of the flying displays during its visit to Farnborough.

28 Farnborough Airshow News • July 15, 2014 • www.ainonline.com

along with the little general aviation aircraft that Aerostar designed and built (along with doing some replica aircraft) when it was looking to keep its workforce busy in the early 1990s. The “Festival” ultralight has never sold in large numbers, however, because it came just before the composite era and was overtaken by lighter machines that fit the U.S. LSA spec. Nevertheless, as “a transition between the Yak-52 and the global supply chain,” as Filip described it, the project was vital. “It helped us as it was civil, but it was designed before the LSA regulations in the U.S.” Beyond that, after 2000, Filip credits Fokker with getting Aerostar into the mainstream by awarding it work packages, allowing it to secure funds to invest in modern CNC machines and develop new processes.

The company has updated its expertise in landing gear and hydraulic systems, gaining contracts from the likes of Airbus and Socata for landing gear assemblies. While it produces significant assemblies for Airbus A320 family and A330 aircraft, for Airbus subcontractor Messier-Dowty-Bugatti, it builds the entire landing gear assemblies for Daher-Socata TBM 850/900 single-engine turboprops. “We’ve also started on a new project to do undercarriage actuators for the Boeing 787,” said Filip (again, this is for MDB).

Yet another area of aerostructures investment and success has been the aircraft components and spare parts unit, which manufacturers Airbus A380 flap-track raceways (for Fokker), “and we’re also doing S-76 helicopter parts for Sikorsky,” said Filip. “We started last year with the qualification process and now we’re in the industrialization phase.”

The company has also been diligently expanding its capabilities in special processes, including surface coating, heat treatment, shot-peening, painting and nondestructive testing, said Filip. “We are growing our NADCAP accreditations,” he said. Along with all this it has been building up its workforce, adding 300 employees in the past year to take the total to around 1,850. “In engineering, they’re mainly from Bacau as there is a technical university here, but we

also employ aero engineers from Bucharest, and occasionally we get applications from the rest of Europe. We are the biggest employer in Bacau,” he added.

Ambitions

Grigore Filip, Aerostar president and general director, said the company’s ambition is “to continue with the success” of conversion from military to civil business and “continue the growth both in the maintenance market and subcontracting… but in parallel we will not abandon our defense-related activities…and we estimate this will in the long-term account for one third of sales.”

Asked about the company’s business plan, Filip told AIN, “We have a strategy that we have been updating every five years– so the horizon is five years and we are in year two. This year we plan to change the concept to have a permanent five-year rolling horizon in front of us.” He added, “We have a growth target to reach 100 million Euros [$120 million] a year.”

The company is “convinced we have the capability to grow the footprint in production– but our intention is not to grow in Bacau to more than 2,500 employees. Growth beyond that has to be in association with other sites–and not necessarily in Romania.

“We are on the stock market and the stockholders are very happy now–each who already got shares got another three for free.” He said that some 14 percent is owned by S.F. Moldova, an investment fund; another 16 percent is owned by various small shareholders; and 70 percent is owned

by Iarom, a closed company that has a smaller number of shareholders, including Grigore Filip. “Iarom has control but at the same time does not sell shares,” said Filip, who added that it was the only aerospace company in Romania to privatize successfully in the 1990s. Even Romaero in Bucharest failed, and remained state-owned, and has failed to expand so that now Aerostar represents a growing proportion of the country’s aerospace sector– currently about 50 percent. o

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P&W advances GTF through five programs

by Gregory Polek

Gregory Polek

While calling extending its geared turbofan engine family’s thrust rating by another 2,000 pounds “a big deal,” Pratt & Whitney next-generation product family vice president Bob Saia sees still bigger things in the company’s future, including what he called an Advanced GTF that could rival an openrotor design in fuel efficiency by the middle of the next decade.

For now, though, Saia finds himself “busy as a bee” with the five core programs already under way at the U.S. company.

Having received certification for the engine that now powers the Bombardier CSeries flight-test vehicles, Pratt & Whitney (Outdoor Exhibits 3 and 4) expects its second GTF– the PW1100G–to win approval

Bob Saia, Pratt & Whitney nextgeneration product family vice president.

during the fourth quarter to power the Airbus A320neo.

While meeting with AIN during a recent press event at Pratt & Whitney’s headquarters in East Hartford, Connecticut, Saia described the extent to which the PW1100G has benefited from “learnings” gleaned from the CSeries powerplant.

“I’d say the CSeries engine did the heavy lifting because it did the initial testing to validate the design,” said Saia, who noted that the first engine to be tested operated at roughly a 1.5-percent performance deficit, compared to 2 to 3 percent in a typical program.

The first Neo engine, he explained, ran well within 1 percent of performance guarantees.

“The quality of the first 1100G that went to test was probably more like the fifth or sixth engine from the CSeries because it already had all that learning,” said Saia.

Even the CSeries engine required no major redesigns ascribed to technology failings, meaning by the time Pratt had delivered the first two Neo engines to Airbus it had used virtually none of the performance “margin” it allowed itself at the start of the program. As a result, it could increase thrust in the Airbus A321neo’s standard PW1133G by 2,000 pounds without the need for any hardware or design changes.

“We’ve been able to hit all our technical metrics and we’ve been

Pratt & Whitney expects to gain certification of the first version of the PW1100G for the Airbus A320neo during this year’s fourth quarter.

able to use some of the additional development margin to add customer value where needed,” explained Pratt & Whitney vice president of engineering Tom Prete. “The engine will be certified with all the existing redlines, all the existing parameters at the higher thrust level.”

By late May, having built 35 of what it now calls the PurePower engine family, Pratt paid particularly close attention to the concepts of scale and reuse–meaning, for example, the engines designed for the Mitsubishi MRJ closely resemble those destined for the Embraer E175-E2. Similarly, apart from differences in installation elements such as air conditioning and electrical and hydraulic power supply, the CSeries engine virtually replicates the engine under development for the E190-E2 and E195-E2.

Meanwhile, with the engine used for the Bombardier CSeries, explained Prete, the company did “a large amount of scaling” to arrive at the design for the A320neo. In turn, the engine in development for the Irkut MC-21 represents a “reuse” of the PW1100 designed for the Neo. Maintaining commonality in design between the various engine types mitigates risk on several levels. For example, if the MC-21 program stumbles, Pratt could divert hardware making its way through the supply chain to the Neo program.

Scheduled to start building the first engine for the MC-21 later this year and take it to testing by early next year, Pratt also expects to use much of the data collected from tests on the Neo engine to help certify the engine for the Russian airplane.

One big difference in the MC-21 powerplant involves the

P&WC moves ahead with next-gen regional t-prop While ATR and Bombardier continue to vacillate over plans to introduce a new 90-seat turboprop, Pratt & Whitney Canada keeps moving forward with a powerplant it believes will deliver a 20-percent fuel burn improvement over existing engines in the 5,000- to 7,000shp range by the turn of the decade. Dubbed the Next Generation Regional Turboprop (NGRT), the engine would feature an all-new compressor, a miniaturized version of Pratt & Whitney’s patented Talon combustor and (probably) an

eight-blade propeller.

Hoping to finish design work involving the high-pressure compressor that would form the primary basis for the improvements this year, the engine company continues to guard the design details closely of that fundamental component.

Speaking with AIN during a recent media event at the headquarters of parent company Pratt & Whitney in East Hartford, Connecticut, Pratt & Whitney Canada vice president of marketing Richard Dussault took care not to reveal anything

Pratt’s envisioned NGRT engine would feature an all-new compressor, a miniaturized version of P&W’s Talon combustor and possibly an eight-blade propeller.

not already made public by the company in terms of the number of stages in the compressor, its pressure ratio or any unique design elements.

He did confirm that the overall engine design incorporated

30 Farnborough Airshow News • July 15, 2014 • www.ainonline.com

an impeller, or centrifugal compressor, rather than an axial compressor. Testing on the impeller “at the component level” has taken place at program partner MTU in

Continued on page 32 u

nacelle system, which will come from Short Brothers in Northern Ireland, rather than UTC Aerospace Systems (UTAS).

Participating in the other four GTF applications, UTAS opted out of the MC-21 program due to manufacturing capacity constraints, said Saia.

MRJ Program Delays

Constrained for wholly different reasons, the engine for the Mitsubishi MRJ program became the second GTF family member to fly, in April 2012.

More than two years later, however, the PW1200G has proceeded just beyond the halfway point of its certification program because of three separate delays suffered by the MRJ. “We like to have the engine program run in cadence with the aircraft program,” said Saia.

“There are a couple of reasons for that. One is how the engine provides air to the air-conditioning system, [and another is] how the engine talks to the cockpit from an electronics perspective…[both] can change as the aircraft is being developed. So if we go too far, we create a system architecture that may have to be redesigned when you have to put it on the aircraft.”

Saia described Pratt’s running of the first four engines as “really heavy,” through critical testing for stress, structural measurements, temperatures and speeds.

Then, from late 2012 into 2013, the company put the program on what Saia described as a sabbatical, slowing it up to align it with the airframe’s progress.

In the meantime, the A320neo program progressed on schedule, leaving little time for Pratt to dwell on any disappointment about the MRJ delay. o

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French aerospace industry predicts another good year

by Thierry Dubois French aerospace industry lobbying association Gifas (Hall 1 Stand A15) is foreseeing another excellent year in terms of revenue and orders. In an economy bombarded with bad news, France’s aerospace sector is often cited as an example. A thorn in its side, however, has been the euro/dollar currency exchange rate.

Recruitment remains a tricky issue, too.

“There are good dynamics in 2014.

Maybe orders won’t meet last year’s record, but the turnover will stay on the same curve,” said Gifas president Marwan Lahoud, who is also Airbus Group’s chief strategy and marketing officer. In 2013 orders reached an all-time-high of €73.1 billion ($100 billion), while revenues totaled €47.9 billion ($65 billion), the trend having risen since 2009.

The shift to more civil and less defense activity is continuing virtually every year.

In 2013, the civil business accounted for 75 percent of total revenues and 83 percent of orders, by value. Overall, French OEMs have a five- to six-year backlog, Lahoud said. These numbers reflect the quality of the products, an effective supply chain and market confidence, he added.

P&WC advances GTF programs uContinued from page 30

Currency and Employment Issues

A couple of ongoing problems in particular mean the industry has to avoid complacency–one being exchange rates, and the other being skills. The dollar has been consistently and significantly weaker than what Gifas considers an ideal exchange rate: €1=$1.20. As a result, reaching competitive prices is even more difficult. A 2-percent gain in operating margin can be swept away by a €0.10 decrease in the exchange rate. Dassault Aviation, for example, makes it clear that part of its investment in robotization is due to the strong euro, which makes qualified workers even more expensive to employ. “We have been talking to

of the year we’ll be fully ready, proven,” he said.

“Today, all the signals are extremely good; we want to complete the design work and the testing work to make sure that we further optimize…and maybe, in the end when we make a guarantee to an OEM customer, we’ll be able to have very solid data on which to base ourselves and make the commitment to a full engine program.”

This year, not only is Pratt Canada working on optimizing

Gregory Polek

Germany, said Dussault, as has testing on the first stage of the compressor near the engine inlet to verify what he called the entry condition to the compressor.

Now embarking on Phase 2 of testing, the company expects to have completed design work on the compressor at MTU by yearend, said Dussault. “By the end

In France, the aerospace industry’s performance is highlighted as an example for the rest of French industry, and not only because its export balance ranked first, at €22 billion ($30 billion) in 2013, before wines and spirits. “We are seen as strong, dynamic and united,” Lahoud said. Nevertheless, he expressed an intention not to rest on his laurels.

Richard Dussault, Pratt & Whitney Canada vice president of marketing.

the ministry of finance about long-term also competition among aerospace firms. hedging,” Lahoud said.

In those areas where aerospace is a major Employment can be seen as a strong employer, a young graduate will often point of France’s aerospace industry. In choose the largest company, making it 2014, around 10,000 people will be hired. even trickier for a small business to recruit.

One Gifas action has been “shared Last year, this number was close to 13,000, translating into 6,000 jobs created, and apprenticeships.” Some 300 apprentices at year-end, Gifas memthis year will thus learn ber companies counted in both a large group and 177,000 people on their a small business. “This combined payrolls. was our idea and shows But the downside is how united the sector is,” Lahoud said, stressing that companies find it difficult a smaller company may be to find and hire workers. the right choice for a recruit.

“Industrial” jobs have a Geographically speaksurprisingly poor image ing, France’s aerospace in France, being seen as industry is concentrated in gruelling, requiring low a relatively small area. The skill levels and yielding Ile-de-France (Paris) and small rewards.

Midi-Pyrénées (Toulouse) To address this, Gifas regions each account for presents regular comGifas president Marwan Lahoud 28 percent of the workmunications intiatives. is happy with the French force. The third and fourth One such initiative was industry’s performance but wants to avoid complacency. regions are Aquitaine “L’avion des métiers” (Bordeaux) and Provence(“Find your profession in this aircraft”) at the Paris Alpes Côte d’Azur (MarAir Show in June 2013. Visitors could see seille), which, respectively, house several real, skilled professionals demonstrat- Dassault factories and Airbus Helicoping their jobs in manufacturing, logistics, ters’ headquarters, among others. Overall, design and so forth in an aircraft mockup. these four regions are home to three quarAnother cause of hiring difficulty is ters of aerospace employees in France. the high level of qualification the indusEquipment manufacturers employ 44 try needs. “These people are hard to find percent of the aforementioned 177,000, and training an engineer takes a matter while OEMs employ 42 percent and of years,” Lahoud pointed out. There is engine makers 14 percent. o

the compressor, noted Dussault, but the company has spent more time with the airframers in an effort to define system architecture and execute noise and weight trades.

“The propeller is a great example,” he said. “Obviously the bigger the propeller, the more…you need to bring the engine outboard a little bit. So there is some design on the aircraft that they need to take into account in terms of wing design, empennage design.”

The company also continues its studies into bleed-air requirements for air conditioning and pressurization, and the more demanding electrical needs inherent in modern aircraft designs.

“When we combine all that, we can work trades,” said Dussault. “Once we have the core of the engine well understood [we can start] packaging and optimizing the packaging to make the engine as small as we can–and the nacelle small– because that reduces drag.”

Such trades need to result in an engine that can power an airplane between 300 and 325 knots over an optimal range of between 200 and 400 nautical miles, said Dussault, whose speed “sweet spot” for a 90-seat turboprop virtually splits the difference between today’s Bombardier Q400 and the ATR 72-600.

32 Farnborough Airshow News • July 15, 2014 • www.ainonline.com

Although the Q400 seats about 10 more passengers, it also flies as fast as 360 knots–almost 100 knots faster than the top cruise speed of the more fuel-efficient ATR 72-600.

According to Dussault, the airlines have already spoken loudly in favor of a 90-seat turboprop; whether or not the NGRT materializes as a production engine hinges totally on the

willingness of the airframers to commit the needed investment.

Although confident in the technology, Pratt Canada won’t execute a full launch of the program and start building prototypes until an airframer commits, said Dussault. “We need to have the right winning conditions for launch, for making [such] a huge investment,” he concluded. –G.P.

Ukraine Bolsters Air Defenses with modernized Soviet Radars Ukrainian defense electronics group Aerotechnica (Hall 2 Stand C28b) has been at the forefront of the urgent effort to modernize the country’s air defenses in response to the military standoff with Russian-backed separatists. It specializes in replacing dated radar hardware, such as vacuum-tube modules and traveling wave-guide tubes with solid-state components. The company has successfully performed this upgrade with numerous radar sets, most notably the P-18. The firm has also performed upgrades on older-model S-75 Vega (SA-5), S-125 Pechora (SA-3) and the 2K12 Kub (SA-6) air defense systems for both domestic and export customers.

“By the time we finish with an upgrade of one of these Sovietera radar stations, about the only piece of equipment that remains is the antenna itself,” an Aerotechnica marketing executive told AIN. “Almost all of the rest of the entire system is of both our design and manufacture.” The workstations that the radar operators use are also upgraded with new multicolor, multifunctional displays that tie together radar feeds from multiple sources of input.

In fact, the radars proved their worth in the 2008 conflict in the former Soviet republic of Georgia. The systems helped Georgian air defense units to shoot down several Russian warplanes during that campaign and the Ukrainians are now tapping similar equipn ment to guard against aerial attacks.

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Winds of reform blow life into China’s aviation market

China Eastern, one of three state-owned airlines that have dominated China’s skies, now stands to have competition from new airlines, some of which are funded with private capital.

by Jennifer Meszaros Recognizing its potential to become a major industry player, China is finally moving toward greater liberalization of its aviation sector. The announcement followed on the heels of the Third Plenary Session held in November 2013.

It was during this time that China’s new leaders, alongside the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC), committed to a series of reforms geared to loosen the regulatory grip that has significantly hindered industry growth.

The Radio-Electronic Technologies Concern (KRET) is a new player on the global market of radio-electronic solutions for government and business, with the company facing bright technological vistas and having a long-term corporate development strategy.

KRET offers up-to-date radio-electronic products based on innovative Russian technologies and designed for outer space, aviation, navy and army. The RadioElectronic Technologies Concern sports a wide range of products for use in the medical, power generation, transport and other spheres.

The company’s steady growth and good financial standing bolster its commitment to its global security mission with reliance on the best traditions of the Russian radio-electronic school of thought.

The Radio-Electronic Technologies Concern was set up in 2009. It comprises 97 subsidiaries throughout Russia.

Now, eight months later, signs of change are on the horizon.

Perhaps the most notable development to date has been the lifting of the six-year moratorium that previously restricted private carriers from entering the market.

In an effort to bolster the economy, China is turning toward reevaluating private investment as a critical component of aviation growth. As such, the existing regulatory framework has been extended to allow new airlines to establish themselves once again–a major shift for China, which has traditionally been dominated by the stateowned Big Three–where Air China, China Southern and China Eastern have monopolized both airspace and airport slots since 1988 and currently account for about three quarters of the aviation market.

Making good on its promise, the CAAC recently approved several new airlines funded with private capital.

China’s newest airline, Qingdao Airlines, launched services on April 27 from its base at Qingdao Airport, while Ruili Airlines is set to launch later this year from Kunming Changshui International Airport. In total, 12 new entrants are poised to launch service by year-end, increasing the number of passenger airlines to 40.

While most of the new entrants follow a full-service model, the CAAC has signaled greater support for low-cost carriers. LCCs are aligned with China’s plans to develop a network of special economic zones throughout the region.

The movement of goods and people are of strategic importance to China, which boasts the strongest performing domestic market in 2013.

The Cost of Growth

Despite a decline in GDP growth, air travel increased by 11.7 percent last year and IATA forecasts that by 2017 China will see an additional 227.4

million passengers. Some 195 million will be domestic, while 32.4 million will be international. Meanwhile, Airbus predicts that China will overtake the world’s largest domestic market, the U.S., by 2031.

But growth comes at a cost. China is notorious for airport congestion and limited time slots, which is by no means exclusive to first-tier airports. According to CAPA, Chinese airports handled 753.4 million passengers in 2013.

While the new entrants will operate out of second-tier cities, they too will face constraints.

Understanding that a lack of infrastructure has historically hampered growth, the CAAC has plans to add an additional 80 new airports by 2020, including a $14.5 billion second airport in Beijing. Upgrades to existing facilities are also in the works.

For Kunming in the southwest, this has meant a brand-new $3.6 million airport capable of accommodating 38 million passengers. Launched in June 2012, the airport is the fourth largest in China, after Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou. Kunming is also China’s fastest growing airport, posting a 23.9-percent growth in 2013.

In the West, Diwopu International Airport in Urumqi re-opened its Terminal One on April 1 to ease capacity congestion. Urumqi serves as a continental hub for China Southern and is vying to establish itself as a global financial center comparable to Dubai.

Two of China’s newest carriers– Donghai Airlines and Loong Airlines–operate out of Shenzhen Bao’an International Airport and Hangzhou Xiaoshan International Airport respectively. Situated just north of Hong Kong in Guangdong Province, Shenzhen’s newest terminal, which launched in November 2013, was constructed by the Italian group, Studio Fukas, at an estimated $1.4 billion. On May 21, a high-speed rail connecting

Dragonair operates an all-Airbus fleet of 41 aircraft, consisting of A320s, A321s and A330s from its main hub at Hong Kong International Airport to 44 destinations in 13 countries and territories across Asia.

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34 Farnborough Airshow News • July 15, 2014 • www.ainonline.com

the airport to the city’s north station was launched.

Meanwhile expansion is under way at Hangzhou in Zhejian Province. The country’s 10th largest airport is currently conducting flight tests in preparation for opening up its second runway.

While 70 percent of passenger volume occurs in the north, northeast and eastern parts, China hopes that LCCs will encourage traffic in the west.

The CAAC has reformed the previous pricing mechanism to allow start-ups to set the new minimum fare as low as 16 cents (one yuan) to stimulate growth.

has manufactured both fuselage sections and wingboxes for Airbus and Boeing. Avic Shenyang Aircraft Industry satisfies OEM orders for Airbus, Boeing, Bombardier and Cessna, while Avic Hongdu Aviation Industry Corp. has completed OEM services for Bombardier, Goodrich and Vought.

Finally, private company

Zhejiang Xizi Aviation Industry Co. manufactures the APU door and ram-air turbine door for the C919–a 168-seat-narrowbody jetliner manufactured by state-owned Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (Comac). Set to launch in late 2016, the C919 will compete against the Airbus’s A320 and Boeing’s 737. o

Kan Air currently operates chartered and scheduled flight services with 12-passenger Cessna Grand Caravan C208Bs from its hub at Chang Mai International Airport.

Hurdles to Overcome

However, despite this newfound respect for low-cost models, challenges do remain. “The military, which controls China’s airspace, has been rather inflexible toward civil aviation [CA] operations. As the industry has grown, so has congestion,” said Andrew Herdman, director general of the Association of Asia Pacific Airlines.

“This has created a cascade effect on major trunk routes resulting in a chronic problem and impacting growth. While this is not a unique challenge to China, airspace management needs to be shared to liberalize market access.”

Another critical area is the government-imposed restrictions on aircraft importation. Unlike other countries where airlines have the power to decide the time and volume when purchasing aircraft, a central procurement process is in place with the government calling the shots.

A one-airline/one-route policy also exists that restricts one carrier to one long-haul service.

The exception is Air China, which operates from both Beijing and Shanghai. Finally, high airport charges, taxes and tariffs have also impeded growth.

With the launch of new entrants China will be forced to examine these issues. For now, aircraft and OEM manufactures have seen a continuing boom in new orders. Boeing predicts that China alone will need nearly 6,500 aircraft by 2032.

While China lacks the expertise and technology to compete with the Airbus/Boeing duopoly that dominates aircraft manufacturing, several homegrown industries manufacture OEM parts. Under the conglomerate Aviation Industry Corporation of China (Avic), Xi’an Aircraft Industry was the first to obtain international orders and

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GKN rises in global market

Defense applications are now key programs for GKN. Here, a technician conducts an optical inspection of a canopy for the CTOL (conventional takeoff and landing) version of the Lockheed Martin F-35.

by Ian Sheppard GKN Aerospace (Chalet G1) comes to Farnborough content in having achieved “a good set of results” in 2013 as it increased sales by 10 percent to £7.6 billion (around $10 billion). “It was a good year at GKN pretty much across the board–bar land systems,” said Kevin Cummings, CEO of GKN aerospace during a pre-airshow briefing.

“For us in 2013 the big thing was the Volvo integration,” said Cummings.

“That’s gone very well…it’s an acquisition we’re very pleased with.” Aerospace now accounts for around 30 percent of GKN’s turnover ($3.5 billion) and represents the largest profit now out of the UK company’s four divisions, reflected Cummings. “It’s gone from last to first.”

Bringing in Volvo Aero has meant GKN is “now number two in engine products outside the primes…we operate in nearly 39 countries so it’s truly a global business.” The GKN aerospace

division now has 35 sites in nine countries with 11,700 workers in what is a $3.5 billion annual turnover business–up from around $1 billion 10 years ago, thanks to the acquisition of the Bristol Filton site from Airbus and then Volvo Aero.

More recently the company has opened up a new facility in Orangeburg, South Carolina, to work on the HondaJet and expanded its plant in Mexico with new composites and blade machining shops.

However the mainstay of the company’s business is riding on the back of the “supercycle” in narrowbody airliner manufacturing, said Cummings. This, he added, saw Airbus and Boeing deliver 1,274 aircraft in 2013 with up to 35,000 additional aircraft expected to be delivered by 2032– some 40 percent being replacements for older airframes.

GKN also has significant content on the Airbus A350, said Cummings. “We’re looking forward to them ramping up their

Technology comes first in GKN’s portfolio Rich Oldfield, GKN Aero- UK Aerospace Technology Instispace technical director, told tute (ATI), established as part of AIN that technology remains at the “lifting off” strategy for UK the heart of the company’s abil- aerospace using a commitment ity to succeed in the market and of $1 billion from the UK govit invests heavily, especially in ernment and an equal amount from the industry. composites, metalMeanwhile, Oldlics and developing field said, “We are a “niche portfolio also developing a in transparencies, training academy protection systems within GKN.” and coatings, which Bryson, who was many of our compresent at the prepetitors don’t have.”

Farnborough briefAlongside this are ing in London, “important techpraised the current nologies in inspecRich Oldfield, UK government for tion, assembly and GKN Aerospace being so proactive automation.” technical director in supporting the He reflected on industry achievements over the industry, support that was a long past 12 months such as the A350 time coming in this way.

Oldfield said there are four first flight and certification of P&W’s geared turbofan. In that main drivers for GKN: time GKN has “launched four • To deliver on existing contracts; additive manufacturing cen- • The technology insertion cam­paign; ters, opened a GKN office in Bangalore, expanded U.S. tech- • To secure positions on strategic platforms (such as the 777X); nology activities and [achieved] key business wins [such as] the 737 • To develop long-term production positions.

Max winglet.

“Technology insertion is a Additive Manufacturing key part of our strategy…underpinning it is support we get from Oldfield said additive manlocal regions,” he said. He also ufacturing had been a particuadded that the UK’s Aerospace lar focus for GKN over the past Growth Partnership, in which few years, and it is now “flyGKN CEO Marcus Bryson is ing on the [A350] XWB in the heavily involved, is a “key part.” shape of intermediate compresOldfield sits on the AGP’s sor case parts.” He continued, technology working group which “Underpinning all that is materiwas involved in launching the als know-how–how they behave

production rate,” he said, while pointing out that the biggest content per aircraft the company has is the A380, thanks to the Filton acquisition.

Meanwhile in the defense business, Cummings said, “It’s about the

and the manufacturing processes. The advantages are weight reduction of parts and structures, cost-reduction and lowering of aerodynamic drag.” Oldfield sees opportunities on a range of programs such as the A320neo, 737 Max and A350-1000.

He added that GKN is “in the process of manufacturing a laminar-flow wing that will be tested as part of the Clean Sky program.” The company is also working on the open-rotor engine program, “machining components that will go on to the openrotor test bed.”

It’s not all about composites, however, with advanced metallic also getting a lot of attention, plus techniques such as laser-wire deposition, already certified for use on the A350’s landing gear doors “for adding features.” Oldfield said the company is “looking to expand this to other parts.”

platforms you’re on…JSF is becoming the dominant platform.” GKN has around $2.5 million per aircraft so it’s a key program for the company. Cummings is also optimistic about the rampup in A400M production. o

A GKN technician at an electron beam melting (EBM) machine, which permits toolless additive manufacturing that can create solid titanium objects–such as wing ribs from powder–rapidly and cost-effectively. Below, a GKN technician works on a composite spar assembly of a rear trailing edge.

Growing Parts from Powder

Techniques to grow components, such as wing ribs from powder, are also being developed. “The technology is in the early stages but you can see the potential it has,” he said. Titanium alloy is a particular focus as well, such as titanium aluminide for engine parts, he added.

“The industry behind it is maturing–the two big risk items are the stability of the supply of the powders to the quality you need, and if the equipment is stable and mature enough to be a steady-state production solution.”

He said, “For us the starting point is to look at our core bill

38 Farnborough Airshow News • July 15, 2014 • www.ainonline.com

of materials to see if anything can be improved using additive manufacturing…for example, on a bracket you might have an opportunity to save 20 to 30 percent of the cost, just as a direct substitution. The second wave will be truly optimizing how you manufacture, with the key being how you combine processes, and knowing when to use them.”

Overall, he said, additives are “fueling a comeback for metallics,” which also means

a focus on “taking the weight out of carbon [structures].”

Having acquired Volvo Aero, GKN now has significant relationships with all the three major engine manufacturers; it already works closely with RollsRoyce but now it has “big technology programs” with Pratt & Whitney, such as the geared turbofans, and some with GE. On the military side, it has gained a significant role on the Saab Gripen fighter, as well. –I.S.

SIEMENS NX/BLOODHUND SSC

Artist’s impression of Bloodhound SSC during a record run. The actual record attempts are planned to take place in South Africa in 2016.

The car is appearing at Farnborough before heading for South Africa.

Bloodhound is nosing around FIA’14

by David Oliver March 1977 at RAF Fairford.

Unhurt and undaunted, Noble began work on his next project, and after numerous setbacks he reached 633 mph (1,019 kph) driving the Thrust 2 (which was powered by a RollsRoyce Avon) across the Nevada desert in 1983–regaining the World Land Speed record that Donald Campbell originally won for Britain in July 1964 with his Bluebird car.

In 1997, Noble headed the project to build the Thrust SSC powered by a Rolls-Royce Spey 205, driven by RAF Phantom and Tornado F.3 pilot, Squadron Leader Andy Green, at 763 mph (1,228 kph), to became the first man ever to exceed the speed of sound at ground level.

Sound Barrier

In 2008 Noble announced a plan to smash the World Land Speed Record again and, at the same time, inspire the next generation of scientists and engineers with a project christened “Bloodhound SSC.” His team includes experienced specialists from both the

DAVID OLIVER

It is ironic that a Scottish entrepreneur who failed to make a success of two innovative aviation projects has had more success in what many would consider the much riskier world of land-speed record breaking.

A qualified pilot, Richard Noble created ARV Aviation in 1983 to design and build an allBritish light aircraft: the Super2, which was powered by a Hewland AE75 three-cylinder twostroke engine, but only 35 were made before production ceased.

Noble’s next project was to develop the Farnborough F1, a six-passenger single-engine turboprop aircraft designed in 1998 as an air taxi, but it failed to attract investors (although it is now the Kestrel, which is struggling to gain traction under a new venture of Cirrus cofounder Alan Klapmeier).

During this period, Noble pursued a quest to retrieve the World Land Speed record for Britain. His first attempt, called the Thrust 1, was little more than a Rolls-Royce Derwent 8 turbojet bolted to a GKN ladder chassis, which he crashed in

Richard Noble attempted to retrieve the World Land Speed record for Britain in his Roll-Royce Derwent-powered Thrust 1. It crashed in March 1977 at RAF Fairford.

aerospace and automotive industries led by chief engineer Mark Chapman and chief of aerodynamics Ron Ayers. Chapman worked for Boeing’s Propulsion Systems Division, and at RollsRoyce in Bristol on the STOVL system for the F-35 Lightning II. Ayers began his career as an engineering apprentice at Handley Page working on Britain’s Victor V-bomber. After gaining a degree in aeronautical engineering, he worked at British Aircraft Corp. (BAC) as an aerodynamicist on the Rapier and Bloodhound surface-to-air missiles. He was also part of the Thrust SSC design team.

The Bloodhound SSC is a jetand rocket-powered car designed to reach 1,000 mph (1,600 kph).

Its 14-meter-long body has two front wheels within the body

and two rear wheels mounted externally within wheel fairings.

Weighing more than seven tons, its engines will produce more than 135,000 horsepower.

The hybrid vehicle is a mix of Formula 1 racing car and aircraft technology. The front half is a carbon fiber monocoque and the rear a metallic framework and panels like an aircraft.

Advanced Composites Group (ACG), one of the Bloodhound’s many sponsors, is providing composite materials, tooling, design and component manufacturing capability for the project. Lockheed Martin UK is providing research and development toward designing the Bloodhound’s wheels.

Approximately half the thrust of the Bloodhound SSC is provided by a Eurojet EJ200 bypass turbofan engine, which also powers the Eurofighter Typhoon. The Cosworth CA2010 auxiliary power unit, a Formula One engine, provides hydraulic services to the car, and drives the rocket oxidizer pump that will supply 800 liters of high-test peroxide (HTP) to the rocket in just 20 seconds.

The Bloodhound SSC will carry 963 kg (2,100 pounds) of HTP that will be supplied to the chamber by a high-speed pump based on the design of the Stentor rocket engine, which powered the Blue Steel cruise missile of the 1960s.

A Nammo hybrid rocket, which is likely to have a cluster of four or five motors rather than a single large combustion chamber, will provide a thrust

of 123.75 kN (27,500 pounds) which, combined with EJ200, will generate a total thrust of some 212 kN (47,700 pounds).

Surge Risk

The design of the cockpit was recently revealed at the Bloodhound Technical Centre at Bristol. The roof of the cockpit has been designed to create a series of shockwaves that will channel the air into the EJ200 engine. If supersonic air reaches the jet engine fan blades, the airflow will break down and the engine will “surge.” This can generate huge changes in pressure that could damage both the engine and car, and hence the car will use the shockwaves over the canopy to slow the airflow from more than 1,000 mph (1,609 kph) to just 600 mph (643 kph) in a distance of around one meter.

In addition to bespoke Rolex analog instruments, Cam Lock will provide the ADOM 9G aircrew oxygen mask that the driver, Wing Commander Andy Green MBE MA RAF, will be wearing. With a mask seal performance under sustained accelerations of up to +9G, it combines the best driver protection features from both motorsport and aerospace.

Farnborough may be the last time that the public has a chance to see the Bloodhound SSC before it is completed and prepared to be transported to the Hakskeen Pan in South Africa were the record attempt will be made in 2016. o

Aerospace tapping benefits of product lifecycle management Most aerospace and defense executives think their companies would improve their ability to collaborate with suppliers in engineering and manufacturing design by making more use of product lifecycle management (PLM) processes, but few of them believe their companies are making significant progress in this regard. This was the main conclusion of a new survey on product engineering and manufacturing published ahead of the Farnborough International Airshow by Accenture (Chalet J/1). The survey found that 79 percent of executives accepted the case for improving performance through the application of PLM but only 21 percent rated their own companies as “good” at design collaboration with suppliers using these processes.

“The survey results are unsurprising,” said John Schmidt, managing director of Accenture’s North American Aerospace and Defense business. “The need for the industry to move data through the supply chain quickly is increasing and it will continue to increase. There is still much to do and it’s all about getting data into the hands of the assembly and support people.”

The management consulting, systems integration and outsourcing group assists companies in implementing PLM, which helps them to handle more cost effectively all the processes in developing a product from

40 Farnborough Airshow News • July 15, 2014 • www.ainonline.com

its original concept to its retirement, including engineering, supply chain management, manufacturing, services and marketing. The Accenture survey found that the PLM-related challenges most commonly reported for engineering and design functions were the absence of a single system of record keeping (45 percent of respondents) and the lack of integration between different engineering functions (39 percent).

The survey of aerospace and defense executives from companies that generate more than half of all industry revenues concluded that 84 percent could improve their business performance by boosting collaboration between their services and design engineering divisions. Respondents also indicated that while more than four fifths of their manufacturing functions have access to PLM data, 90 percent want more or better information than they have today.

Accenture also assists companies with activities such as engineering documentation and electronic shop-floor work instructions, as well as managing supply chain sourcing, components outsourcing, customer support functions and human resources management.

“We help them with strategy on establishing where they are in the market and how they can improve their operations through people and technology changes,” Schmidt told AIN. –C.A.

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India’s latent defense sector aims to get back on track

by Neelam Mathews A slowdown in reforms in India over private industry will continue to tap the past five years–and a virtual pause resources from [the] government defense in procurement–may be about to change manufacturer Hindustan Aeronautics,” following renewed optimism and confi- said an industry official. dence as the new government shows, for There is caution in India about the the moment at least, that it is serious. As increase in FDI in the defense sector, with hectic activity takes place in the minis- divergent chains of thought. “It will be a tries of commerce, finance and defense, better solution to implement this change increasing manufacturing, exports and in a phased, step-by-step manner–that foreign direct investment (FDI) are focus is, from 26 percent to 49 percent,” said areas of the new regime.

Puneet Kaura, executive director of SamA proposal to increase FDI levels tel Avionics, whose locally made displays from the present 26 percent to 49 percent, by Samtel-HAL joint venture are installed and 74 percent for transfer of produc- on some 100 Sukhoi Su-30 MKI fighters. tion (build to print) and 100 percent in “The Indian manufacturing industry is the case of a single-source-hub transfer, at a very nascent stage…As the industry including transfer of technology, is being matures to absorb more influx of techviewed with interest. nology, a decision to increase beyond While India has moved 49 percent may be taken, but steadily in automobile and au49 percent is good enough for tomotive components mannow,” he said. ufacturing, with auto giA joint venture involvants leveraging the country’s ing Thales manufacturing helstrengths in IT, high-tech enmet-mounted sight and display gineering and research-andsystems and modern aviondesign capabilities, its perforics systems, with a local partmance in the defense sector has ner, for the Indian and export been abysmal. A meager $4.8 defense markets will likely conmillion FDI came in since the tribute to offsets for the 126 Puneet Kaura, initiative started in 2002, under medium multi-role combat airthe 26-percent limit set when executive director of craft (MMRCA) contract.

Samtel Avionics the sector was opened up to priThe Federation of Indian vate participation. It is now being recog- Chambers of Commerce and Industry nized that FDI should be linked with ex- (FICCI) echoes similar thoughts that ports as no business can be sustained in defense production should be restricted the long-term based on domestic orders. in foreign investment. “Given the strategic nature of the defense sector…100 Export Business Growing percent FDI should be allowed in cases Exports from India are expanding in such as aircraft engines, advanced missile some areas where there are natural cost guidance systems, seekers, production of advantages (engineering design) and also smart materials and high-strength carbon in areas of rapidly deepening capability fiber, for which investments can be justi(aerostructures and avionics, for exam- fied only by volumes available through ple). Also, export of defense equipment integration with the global supply chain is a validation of Indian capability for the of the OEMs,” stated the FICCI. On the other hand, rival industry government even if it was created in the first place vis-à-vis a need to address local association the Confederation of Indian capability gaps, explained Rahul Gangal, Industry (CII), the largest in India, has a principal at Roland Berger Strategy made it clear that to attract investment a Consultants. “With the aid of a progres- higher FDI cap, with the foreign investor sive regulatory regime, India could look permitted to have majority equity, would at an annual export potential of aero- act as a catalyst. “Higher FDI will defispace, defense and security of more than nitely help in creating a vibrant domes$25 billion per annum in the next five to tic defense industrial base in the country,” said CII president Ajay Shriram. eight years,” said Gangal.

According to the CII, FDI is directly Recently, Tata Advanced Systems Ltd. (TASL) announced a partnership with related to increasing manufacturing Germany’s Ruag Aviation to manufac- growth to 25 percent of GDP and bringture fuselages and wings for the Dornier ing high-end technology into the country.

228 aircraft, its fourth in the aerospace “The associated benefits are the spin offs sector. Meanwhile, TASL’s joint venture for the civilian market. The CII is keen to with Sikorsky has already delivered more see high-tech and highly complex system than 70 Sikorsky S-92 cabins, having integration work being done in India, produced the entire cabin locally. And, and Indian industry is ready to take this its joint venture with Lockheed Martin challenge,” it said.

Despite roadblocks, delayed deals manufactures the empennage and center wing box for the C-130J transport. are on their way to being cleared and “TASL has better program manage- will require offsets. The MMRCA could ment skills, and in the immediate future, be announced very soon, possibly here

42 Farnborough Airshow News • July 15, 2014 • www.ainonline.com

Under a joint venture with Sikorsky, India’s Tata Advanced Systems, has produced, entirely locally, more than 70 S-92 cabins, one of which is flying for a customer in Brazil (above).

at the Farnborough Airshow, once two major issues–one on offsets and the other on responsibility of liability by Dassault Aviation vis à vis HAL–are decided, an industry official said.

As the government looks at a focus on exports, it has marked out areas of immediate interest, including an aircraft program, shipbuilding, sustainment of munitions, revival of archaic ordnance factories and divestment of HAL. Missile Exports Explored

Export of missiles to friendly foreign countries is being explored, according to Avinash Chander, chief of the Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO). “We are discussing the methodology for developing export potential as well as a policy mechanism for export of weapon systems,” he said.

There is a clear interest in the region in the BrahMos supersonic cruise missile, an India-Russian joint venture. Export of sonars to Myanmar is said to be in process. “Our advantage is lower cost of production,” he said.

Aerospace-related exports were around $5 billion last year and, apart from Sikorsky and Lockheed Martin, include primarily low value items such as fasteners.

Issues in defense procurement policy remain. The exclusion of software and design and engineering services in the Defense Procurement Procedure (DPP) are a big problem. “If you transfer a simulator but cannot transfer software that is part of the package, it renders the hardware useless,” said an OEM. “We understand software was pulled out of the DPP following misuse [but] why not allow embedded

software?” asked the official. Also, with design and engineering, an intrinsic part of the manufacturing and lifecycle process of a product, the exclusion in the policy is seen as a misplaced decision.

Further enhancement in the DPP on offsets has also been called for. “DPP 2013 lays emphasis on indigenization. However, force multipliers and some other provisions that support the Indian industry need to be looked into,” said Kaura.

Concerns about ownership and intellectual property remain. There is a contradiction, in part, as there is an apparent reluctance by large companies to give up ownership unless there is a brand value attached, a reason the 74-percent FDI might initially be restricted to specific projects. “We see more FDI happening in small and medium industries that will be more willing to give up stake. However, how much foreign companies will be interested in releasing transfer of technology to them is another issue,” said a consultant.

“It is strategically prudent to allow a 74-percent FDI in defense, provided OEMs transfer the ownership of 74 percent intellectual property rights and technology portfolios to Indian defense joint ventures and the industrial ecosystem.

This would spur the much-needed demand for industrial growth in manufacturing of complex aviation and defense technologies in the country,” said New Delhi-based Ajay Batra, CEO of the World Intellectual Property Rights Bank. However, lack of government readiness to measure transfer of technology, as well as the lack of an implementation agency, funding and support and export control regulations, have proved to be impediments. o

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Spanish ‘unmanned’ test centers take advantage of sunny skies

by David Donald Spain is forging ahead with plans to become one of Europe’s leading nations in the unmanned arena through the launch of two connected initiatives that will place the country, and the region of Andalucía in particular, at the forefront of unmanned air vehicle research and test.

This year the Atlas (air traffic laboratory for advanced systems) center was formally opened to provide a location for small UAV testing, while larger vehicles can be tested at CEUS (center of excellence for unmanned systems), an extension of an existing test center to cater for medium UAVs. Both locations offer ideal locations for unmanned air vehicle testing, with weather patterns providing an average of 300 sunny days each year.

CEUS is located alongside the INTA (Instituto Nacional de Técnica Aerosespacial) El Arenosillo test center at Moguer, near Huelva. Construction is about to start of new facilities for the testing of UAVs with an mtow of more than 650 kg, and to allow long-endurance flying.

Its proximity to the large INTA missile/

weapons range at Mazagon provides a large area of restricted, instrumented airspace for test flying, mostly over water. The segmented airspace has been created to provide the necessary range area, but without impact on the operations of Sevilla and Jerez de la Frontera civilian airports.

Funded to the tune of around $55 million (€40 million–€21 million from the European Regional Development Fund, €9 million from the Andalucian regional government and €10 million from INTA/ Spanish ministry of defense), CEUS will have a runway close to the shore, control tower, apron, hangarage and administrative buildings. The El Arenosillo range already hosts some UAV and aerial target trials, but until the runway is completed they can be undertaken only by air-dropped or ramplaunched vehicles.

Atlas Operational

Meanwhile, the partner to CEUS is already operational. Located near the town of Villacarillo in Jaén province, Atlas has the distinction of being Europe’s first purpose-built UAV test center, constructed at

a green-field site that was carefully chosen to provide the best test conditions and the lowest environmental impact. Whereas CEUS is intended to handle UAVs above 650 kg mtow, Atlas is designed for test of vehicles below that weight (with a maximum wing span of 12 meters).

Formally opened by the president of Andalucía on March 21 this year, Atlas is also funded via ERDF and government channels, with a combined investment of €4.5 million. However, its design has also been undertaken in close cooperation with potential customers, including Boeing Research and Technology Europe, which is the first to use the center. Airbus Defence and Space is another “major” that has significant interest in the new test centers, having identified CEUS as a key location for testing its Atalante and new Barracuda vehicles.

Atlas offers segregated airspace up to 5,000 feet over an area of more than 1,000 square kilometers of sparsely populated farmland, mostly given over to olive production. The center has a control tower equipped with a Harrier surveillance radar that provides a number of services, such as vehicle tracking, range safety to monitor any aircraft that might stray into the airspace and warning of large-bird activity that may hinder UAV tests.

Operations are conducted from a 600meter runway constructed at Herrera, which has the option of being extended

DAVID DONALD

UNMANNED Aircraft & Systems

An E500 taxies out for a late evening sortie at Atlas. The air vehicle is a product of the Sevillabased Elimco company and is operated by the CATEC research center from the same city.

to 800 meters. There is also a 400-meter auxiliary grass strip. Hangarage is provided, and the control tower doubles as office space, with mission-planning rooms. The site provides ample space for expansion, if required.

Atlas began operations in October 2013, ahead of its formal opening, and now hosts a variety of UAV types, from small rotarywing systems up to more sizeable fixedwing aircraft such as the USol K150. A key partner is the Sevilla-based CATEC research center, which can provide a number of services, including its own air vehicles, experienced pilots for remotely controlled aircraft, and mobile telemetry/ control/datalink services. n

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UAVs continue to expand roles Call it a UAV (unmanned air vehicle) or an RPA (remotely piloted aircraft), the unmanned aircraft has become an integral part of the operations of many air forces, navies and armies around the world. Despite the issues associated with integrating UAV operations into non-segregated airspace, the unmanned aircraft has become a vital tool for performing “dull, dirty and dangerous” missions such as persistent ISR (intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance).

While UAV programs and projects are under way in many countries, the vast majority are concerned with small vehicles that can only be used at a local level.

For the larger vehicles that can operate over vast ranges and long endurances, the current programs that are in widespread service originate from the United States and Israel, the two countries that largely pioneered UAV use, and which remain powerhouses of the industry today.

IAI has continuously introduced improvements to the Heron during its career, but this year undertook a significant overhaul to produce the Super Heron HF, with winglets and heavy-fuel engine.

U.S. Programs U.S. services have integrated the UAV into their operations across the board, from hand-launched vehicles to the mighty Northrop Grumman RQ-4 Global Hawk.

In the “white world” the Global Hawk represents the high end of the U.S. programs, a vehicle with a wingspan of more than 130 feet and a service ceiling of 60,000 feet.

In U.S. Air Force service the type is locked in a battle for funding with the manned Lockheed Martin U-2, although the battle may be something of a moot point given the hints of what other programs are under way. Having proved the value of long-endurance, high-altitude unmanned aircraft, the U.S. Air Force has been undertaking development of stealthy craft sideby-side with the overt non-stealthy types such as the RQ-4. Northrop Grumman is developing a flying wing design known as the RQ-180 that is of a similar size to the Global Hawk, yet is designed to operate in defended airspace.

That such a program, or programs, exists comes as no surprise following the revelation of the Lockheed Martin RQ-170 Sentinel, a smaller stealthy flying-wing design.

Seen operating in Afghanistan as early as 2007, the RQ-170 was brought into the open when one came down on Iranian territory in December 2011.

For the Global Hawk its future success may lie away from the U.S. Air Force, including exports to Korea and Japan. A version known as the MQ-4C Triton has been developed for the U.S. Navy’s maritime patrol mission, and has already been selected by Australia. Other export prospects for the naval version include Canada, India and the UK. The U.S. Navy is also behind the U.S.’s principal “grey-world” UCAV (unmanned combat air vehicle) program, the UCLASS carrier-borne ISR/attack vehicle. A request for proposals was issued this April to four companies. Lockheed Martin is proposing a vehicle that draws on technology from the RQ-170 and manned F-35, while Northrop Grumman is basing its bid on the X-47B demonstrator. Boeing is offering a UCLASS design based on its Phantom Ray demonstrator, while General Atomics is proposing the Sea Avenger, a carrier-capable version of the land-based Predator-C Avenger.

Meanwhile, the “bread-and-butter” U.S. UAV programs have continued to prosper.

Textron’s Shadow is in widespread U.S. service and has achieved notable exports.

The General Atomics MQ-1 has been the backbone of the U.S. Air Force fleet for many years, and has also scored a number of export sales, including to the UAE. An improved version, the MQ-1C Gray Eagle, is being procured in large numbers by the U.S. Army. However, the U.S. Air Force fleet is to be phased out in favor of the larger MQ-9 Reaper.

For General Atomics the Reaper has been a great success. The hunter-killer UAV carries powerful ISR sensors and an array of weapons up to the size of 500-pound guided bombs. In operations the Reaper has proven its worth countless times, and this success has led to important export sales to several European countries, including those with UAV programs of their own.

photo: Sylvain Liechti/MONUSCO

by David Donald

Northrop Grumman has sold its MQ-4C Triton to the U.S. Navy and Australia, and is hopeful of gaining other export orders for the maritime patroller.

UAVs but with the Heron 1 as the centerpiece. This twin-boom vehicle serves with more than 20 operators and has flown for more than 1.1 million hours. It provides the platform for a wide range of ISR missions, including Sigint and maritime patrol. Earlier this year IAI introduced the Super Heron HF, an improved version with a heavy-fuel engine. The company also offers a much larger turboprop Heron TP design (also known as Eitan) that is in Israeli service.

Elbit’s Hermes family has also proved popular with several UAV operators. The Hermes 450 has been used extensively in Afghanistan by the British Army, which has also based its Watchkeeper UAV on the type. Watchkeeper was cleared for restricted military flying earlier this year.

Using the same systems as the H450, Elbit has recently introduced the larger Hermes 900 to the family, and has recorded a number of export sales in Latin America.

Recently Switzerland selected the type to fulfill its UAV requirements.

Europe U.S. and Israeli UAV manufacturers have readily exploited the situation in Europe, where there have been many research programs and collaboration projects going back many years, but little in the way of concrete results for an operational UAV of European origin. That might change through two new initiatives currently under way.

Provision of a medium-altitude longendurance (MALE) UAV for Europe has been identified as a key program for the continent’s industry. In recent times there has been a number of proposals for such a project, but most have foundered due to a lack of budgetary commitment and political will. To accelerate the decision-making required to get such a project off the ground, three aerospace giants (Airbus Defence and Space, Alenia Aermacchi and Dassault Aviation) are jointly proposing a two-year definition phase that could lead to a European MALE that is ready for service in 2020.

Another program that has political backing is a stealthy Anglo-French UCAV. Major partners BAE Systems and Dassault have already both flown technology demonstrators in the form of the Taranis and Neuron, and are now engaged in a two-year feasibility study.

In the meantime, two European manufacturers have been making their own strides in the UAV marketplace. Selex ES is currently the only company to have sold a tactical UAV of European origin in the form of the Falco. A number of export sales have been achieved, including to Pakistan, and the Falco is being used operationally by the UN mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Another European success story is the Austrian Schiebel company, whose Camcopter rotary-wing tactical UAV has been sold to several countries for both land- and ship-based duties. n

Israel Another nation that has scored in the European market is Israel, with the two main UAV companies Elbit and IAI competing to equip the forces of several major European air arms. In one form or another Israeli UAVs have been acquired or leased

by France, Germany, Switzerland and the UK. Australia, Brazil and India have also been good customers for Israeli products.

Both Elbit and IAI have given nothing away about what might be under development behind closed doors. In the meantime, IAI offers a range of conventional

To date, Selex ES is the only European company to have sold a tactical fixed-wing UAV. This Falco is seen operating from Goma in the DR Congo with the UN peacekeeping mission.

www.ainonline.com • July 15, 2014 • Farnborough Airshow News 45

UNMANNED Aircraft & Systems

| SPECIAL REPORT

New players in large-UAV game For years UAVs from the United States and Israel have dominated the larger end of the unmanned market, but now a number of new players have begun to emerge. While they have yet to threaten the dominance of the “big two,” newcomers from other countries are increasingly chipping away at the marketplace and threatening to take sales away from the established suppliers.

For many nations the development of a UAV is an obvious step to drive forward technological expertise, but at much reduced cost compared to a manned program. For the most part such projects have resulted in small UAVs that require little in the way of development investment, and which can be undertaken by universities.

However, the large UAV market is another matter, requiring extensive investment and expertise in the development of sophisticated systems.

a prototype of a V-tailed UAV with slender wings and a prominent nose bulge, but it appears this design has been superseded by the Xiang Long (soaring dragon).

Designed by the 601st Institute (Chengdu) and built by Guizhou, the Xiang Long has an unusual box-wing design. A technology demonstrator was followed by a prototype of a revised design, first seen in 2012.

A bewildering array of more prosaic UAVs has been developed in China, although only a handful have reached operational status. The Predator-like Chengdu/ Guizhou Wing Loong (pterosaur) appears to be in Chinese service, and was publicly displayed at the Zhuhai Airshow. Guizhou has developed a jet-powered twin-boom vehicle known as the WZ-2000, although its status is unclear. Another type in service, probably with the navy, is the Harbin/ BUAA BZK-005, a large twin-boom vehicle

earlier MiG design. Meanwhile, the Sokol plant in Kazan is completing the prototype of the Altius, a large twin-turboprop highaltitude vehicle that could also undertake weapons delivery.

Turkey

with under-nose sensor turret. One of these air vehicles was recently intercepted by Japanese fighters over the East China Sea.

Russia

India

For a country that embraced unmanned reconnaissance aircraft in the 1970s in the form of the Tupolev Tu-141/143/243 series, Russia has surprisingly lagged behind the West in unmanned vehicle development and has turned to Israeli and other suppliers to satisfy its needs. However, at least two projects are under way for sophisticated indigenous designs.

One is for a stealthy UCAV, based on the MiG Skat demonstrator that was unveiled in 2007. The current project involves both Sukhoi and MiG and will draw on the technology developed for the

India is another country that has been investing heavily in its aerospace sector, and has consequently initiated a number of unmanned air vehicle programs, including the Rustom family of ISR and armed ISR vehicles, and the Aura technology demonstrator project for the stealthy IUSAV UCAV. The Rustom series began with an unmanned vehicle based on the Rutan Long-EZ light aircraft that could be armed. Rustom-2 is a twin-engined, T-tailed MALE vehicle that will be capable of releasing weapons, as well as carrying out its primary ISR role.

The Xiang Long box-wing UAV is based on an earlier design that had only a single fin.

Pakistan Pakistan has developed a range of UAVs, as well as employing those from other countries, such as the Italian Falco. Global Industrial Defence Solutions produces a range of air vehicles for Pakistan’s armed forces, the largest of which is the Shahpar. This exhibits a Rutan-inspired canard layout, and may be based on the similar Chinese CH-3 UAV that has also been acquired by Pakistan.

GIDS claims that all of the aircraft and its systems are of Pakistani origin, apart from the Rotax 912 engine (produced by Bombardier Recreational Products of Canada).

South Africa Denel’s Seeker tactical UAV was first developed to answer a South African ISR need during the 1980s. It entered service in 1986 and saw considerable operational action before being retired. However, Denel continued development for the export market, and has sold Seeker IIs to at least three countries, including the UAE. Subsequently a further improved vehicle, the Seeker 400, has been introduced and is being offered for export, including armed options. Denel also developed a larger UAV, the Bateleur, but that project appears to have been shelved while the company focused on Seeker 400 development.

UAE In the Gulf region Adcom Systems from the UAE has created a large HALE-type UAV in the form of the Yabhon United 40.

This unusual design has slender fore and aft wings, and can carry a variety of weaponry, including Adcom’s own Namrod missile.

The serpentine fuselage provides ample space for sensor carriage, and an internal bay that could carry sonobuoys in the maritime patrol role. Among the countries interested in the vehicle is Russia.

Iran TAI

In recent years a number of nations have instigated large UAV programs as technology matures and political ambition grows.

In terms of both system complexity and the number of types being developed, China is by far and away the most important of these emerging UAV developers. In just a few years China has developed and flown a range of UAVs that are broadly similar in capability to their Western counterparts, including high-altitude, long-endurance ISR platforms and a technology demonstrator for a UCAV (unmanned combat air vehicle).

When it made its first flight in November 2013 the Lijian (“sharp sword”) UCAV demonstrator underlined just how far the Chinese had progressed in their unmanned technology. The stealthy UAV is being developed by the 601st Design Institute (Shenyang), Shenyang University and Hongdu. Preceded by scale models, the Lijian first flew with a standard afterburning RD-93 engine that protruded aft of the main body. Further developments are most likely to feature a shorter engine so that rear-aspect signature is much reduced.

Little detail is known of the Lijian, or indeed many of the Chinese UAV projects. The rumored existence of a stealthy flying-wing design, perhaps similar to the U.S. RQ-180, has been reported. One project that has resulted in hardware is a requirement for a high-altitude UAV in the mold of the Global Hawk. Chengdu built

Pakistan’s Global Industrial Defence Solutions produces UAVs for the country’s armed forces. Shown here is the Shahpar, the largest of Pakistan’s UAVs.

As part of a government initiative Turkey has invested heavily in its aerospace industry, and one of the results is the Anka UAV project. Developed to answer a Turkish armed forces requirement for a tactical UAV, the Anka first flew in December 2010. It has a high degree of indigenous equipment, including sensors from Aselsan. The Anka-A vehicle is the foundation for what could be a major UAV family, with a hunter-killer derivative being developed and a larger strategic UAV under study.

The Lijian is a proof-of-concept vehicle for a Chinese UCAV. It first flew in late 2013.

Chinese Ambitions

DAVID DONALD

by David Donald

Turkish Aerospace Industries developed the Anka to fulfill a Turkish armed forces requirement for a tactical UAV. The Anka first flew in December 2010.

46 Farnborough Airshow News • July 15, 2014 • www.ainonline.com

Little is known about Iranian UAV developments, although a number of designs have been seen. Of note at the larger end of the scale is the Shahed 129, which appears to be very similar to the Elbit Hermes 450. n

UNMANNED Aircraft & Systems

| SPECIAL REPORT

UAS test consortium gains impetus

by Gregory Polek The International Consortium of Aeronautical Test Sites (ICATS) welcomed CATUAV Tech Center (CTC) in Barcelona as its fifth member here at the Farnborough International Airshow yesterday, adding Spain to the list of countries involved in the partnership. The other countries represented in the group include Canada, the U.S., the UK and France.

In April, representatives of the UAV test and service center (CESA), Bordeaux, France, the Oklahoma State University– University Multispectral Laboratories, U.S., the National Aeronautical Centre, Wales, signed the MOU. This agreement consolidates the various MOUs signed between the centers over the past two years.

“ICATS represents the first such collaboration between nations to share data on unmanned aerial systems,” said Oklahoma Secretary of Science

and Technology, Dr. Stephen McKeever. “We think this is a great step forward for the UAS community, and we hope it is a vehicle by which we will be able to unify regulations across

international boundaries.”

The mission of ICATS is to develop international centers of expertise focused on the development, applications and operations of Unmanned Aerial

Systems (UAS)/Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems (RPAS).

By sharing information on operational safety, flight regulations and actual operational experience, the consortium aims to develop, test and ultimately gain certification of UAS and RPAS to allow for their use in non-segregated airspace.

Since the formal an­ nounce-

ment, ICATS has received expressions of interest from several UAS/RPAS test sites in multiple countries. The consortium welcomes interest from all UAS test sites and encourages contact with the ICATS Director of International Relations, Dr. Stephen McKeever, Secretary of Science and Technology, State of Oklahoma. o

IAI Flies Flagship IAI’s Tamam division has begun flight trials of its M-19HD ISR payload, the company’s latest advanced electro-optical multi-sensor turret. The M-19HD took to the skies for the first time fitted to a Piper Aztec light twin for trials, but is primarily intended for application to large UAVs such as the IAI Heron and Heron TP for strategic surveillance missions, as well as on other platforms such as aerostats, vessels and manned aircraft.

Weighing from 165 and 187 pounds, depending on configuration, the M-19HD measures 22.6 inches wide and 27.3 inches deep. It can accommodate up to seven sensors to provide a multi-spectral high-definition capability by day and night.

–D.D.

The IAI Tamam M19-HD can accommodate seven sensors.

www.ainonline.com • July 15, 2014 • Farnborough Airshow News 47

UNMANNED Aircraft & Systems

| SPECIAL REPORT

IAI graces Farnborough show with its wide array of UAS With its unmanned air vehicles having achieved more than 1.2 million operational flight hours and serving with more than 50 operators, IAI is one of the leading companies involved in this sector. Here at Farnborough International 2014 it is promoting a wide range of its UAVs, from the 10,230pound Heron TP to the nine-pound vertical takeoff Ghost, along with related technologies such as advanced electro-optical, sigint (signals intelligence) and maritime patrol payloads.

Much of the operational flight hours have been amassed by the Searcher and Heron vehicles. Earlier this year IAI (Chalet A29) unveiled the Super Heron as a major upgrade of the original design. Super Heron was “developed to provide an answer to the growing need in the market for a heavy fuel MALE UAV,” said Shaul Shahar, vice-president and general manager of IAI’s military aircraft group. “It presents some unique capabilities: high speed [maximum of 150 knots], a high rate of climb and flexibility in carrying a variety of payloads. The test phase has been completed successfully, its performance was validated and we are very pleased with the results.”

Meanwhile, the Heron’s “big brother,” the Heron TP, is fully operational with the Israeli air force as the Eitan and is the subject of export interest. “We have received a very positive feedback from the user regarding the Heron TP’s operational capabilities and performance,” Shahar told AIN, adding that, “There are serious talks with several customers.” The Heron TP is NATO-interoperable and fully compliant with STANAG 4671.

Traditionally associated with larger unmanned platforms, IAI is significantly expanding its offer in the smaller UAV marketplace. “We see more demand for tactical and mini-tactical UASs in the market,” Shahar reported, “and we are prepared to answer these needs with stateof-the-art technologies. IAI is interested in this market and continues to invest resources in the development of innovative mini UASs.” Examples of this direction being promoted at Farnborough include the man-portable Bird Eye ramp-launched flying-wing vehicle and the twin-rotor Ghost that has been developed specifically for special forces use, mainly in the urban environment. Also being showcased are the Panther and Mini Panther tilt-rotor vehicles that offer fixed-wing endurance performance but with the ability to take off and land vertically.

In May, IAI North America unveiled the ArrowLite hand-held UAV, which has been designed by the company’s subsidiary Stark Aerospace. ArrowLite was designed with support from the U.S. Combatting Terrorism Technical Support Office to provide an ISR capability to small special operations and counterterrorism teams. Operated by one person and weighing just over six pounds, ArrowLite can be erected and launched in 60 to 90 seconds and fly for up to 150 minutes. The stabilized payload comprises a two-axis-gimbaled thermal imager and laser illuminator, with an encrypted datalink. IAI had delivered 13 systems by May this year, each system comprising three vehicles in waterproof carriers plus a ruggedized ground control system. o

Designed to absorb the harsh environment encountered in the special forces world, the ArrowLite offers an effective range of nearly 10 miles and a dash speed of 55 knots.

48 Farnborough Airshow News • July 15, 2014 • www.ainonline.com

BILL CAREY

by David Donald

Watchkeeper number 33 makes its first test fight on July 8 from West Wales Airport in Aberporth.

A small airport’s renaissance centers on UAS flight testing

by Bill Carey If you build it, they will come. The UK National Aeronautical Centre (Hall 1 Stand C9) has answered the first part of that challenge by making available the facilities to fly large unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) beyond a pilot’s visual line of sight, in an environment that also accommodates manned aviation. The center now awaits a response from what is expected to be a boom market for commercial UAS. The UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) restricts UAS operations to segregated airspace, including airspace identified as a “danger area” because of military testing activities. Until unmanned aircraft have an approved means to “detect and avoid” other flying objects, their use is confined to these designated areas. “It’s really about the airspace; it’s about the ability to operate,” said Ray Mann, who first announced the National Aeronautical Center at the 2012 Farnborough Airshow.

Mann, an entrepreneur and the owner of an electronics recycling business, acquired West Wales Airport in Aberporth, an inactive, World War II airfield, in 2001 to fly back and forth from his cottage in Wales. The airport lies within the “D201” danger area, covering some 2,000 square miles of Cardigan Bay to the west. The Ministry of Defence’s Aberporth Range manages the airspace, which it uses to test air-launched weapons and UAS. When he bought it, West Wales Airport was open to other aircraft operators, but traffic was light so Mann sought other ways to make it a going concern.

The airport has served as a site for testing UAS since 2004. There in September 2005, contractor Thales conducted the first flight in the UK of a tactical UAS–the Elbit Hermes 450, which serves as the basis of the British Army’s Watchkeeper UAS. Mann said he applied for and received CAA authority to host ongoing UAS operations in 2006. In 2011, at the request of the

airport and the Welsh government, which owns the adjoining Parc Aberporth technology park, the CAA authorized another 500 square miles of segregated airspace over land to the east, specifically for the purpose of testing and developing UAS. West Wales Airport manages some 1,500 aircraft movements a year, of which 80 percent are by unmanned aircraft.

“We have a specialty and it’s open to all,” Mann said. “It’s not focused necessarily on military, it’s not focused on civilian, it’s focused on unmanned systems–on an ability to be able to operate them within a regulated aviation environment.”

Last September, the aeronautical center announced a partnership with Newquay Cornwall Airport in southwest England, another facility with aspirations, but not the same expertise, for hosting UAS operations. Whereas West Wales Airport has a 1,200-meter runway, Newquay Cornwall, the former RAF St. Mawgan, boasts a 3,000-meter runway and access to 3,088 square miles of segregated airspace.

Keeping Watch

West Wales Airport remains important to the Watchkeeper. The UK Ministry of Defence awarded a formal release to service the British Army in March. In April, the airport announced the award of a two-year, £2.5 million ($4.3 million) contract from the MOD to continue supplying its airfield and services for Watchkeeper test and evaluation.

“We are open for business on a permanent basis to fly unmanned systems. That isn’t to say that the skies around here are black with unmanned [aircraft],” Mann said.

While the market for smaller UAS weighing up to 20 kilograms (44 pounds) appears to be taking off, there is little activity on larger, commercial systems that will need to be equivalent in performance to manned aircraft, he explained. o

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Emmanuel Foudrot

Airbus Helicopters’ planned production rate is now more than 30 EC175s a year.

Airbus Helicopters gears up for smooth EC175 entry into service

by Thierry Dubois

Emmanuel Foudrot

Certification in hand, Airbus Helicopters is endeavoring to ensure a faultless entry into service of its EC175 medium twin, a critical product for the company in the highly competitive offshore oiland-gas market. The first delivery, to Belgium-based operator NHV, is planned for the second half of this year, almost five years after the first flight. Thanks to the unprecedented preparation at the company’s headquarters in Marignane, France, and at a customer base, program officials believe an EC175 will be able to operate immediately after delivery.

“We want the delivered aircraft to be as close as possible to perfection–our oil-and-gas

simulated 50-hour check and a 100-hour check. They showed 10 of their NHV counterparts how to perform these tasks and receive feedback from them.

The latter ensured that the company’s tooling and Airbus’s procedures are adequate, Boumans said. Airbus aims to meet its target dispatch reliability within two years, Cardin said.

The three launch operators–NHV, Russia’s UTAir and France’s Héli-Union–will benefit from additional support. For each customer, two technical representatives–one mechanic and one avionics specialist–instead of the usual one, will be available on-site for a minimum of six months. For each of the three operators, one pilot instructor also will be made available.

On-site Spares

customers have high expectations for reliability and support,” EC175 program director Laurent Vautherin told AIN. Airbus is under even greater pressure than usual, as a series of incidents and accidents has put its helicopters in a not-so-desirable spotlight, especially in the UK, since 2012.

As a way to polish the EC175 design and anticipate problems, the company flew a prototype in various environments during test campaigns and demo tours.

These included cold weather in Canada, a dry atmosphere in the U.S., humid conditions in Asia and finally the harsh North Sea environment, where poor

weather and salt water prevail.

Airbus Helicopters, for the first time, has planned an “operational maturity campaign” before the entry into service of a new type, EC175 program support officer Véronique Cardin said. Over the last 18 months, the company dedicated two months to testing support and services. Then, an EC175 spent two weeks during May and June at NHV’s base in Ostend, with visits to a site in Den Helder.

Simulated EIS

It was a simulated entry into service. Airbus tested maintainability, including tools and job cards. The aircraft was an Airbus-owned prototype, operated

by Airbus maintenance technicians and crew. “Five NHV pilots flew various mission profiles with Airbus pilots,” NHV fleet manager Mark Boumans told AIN. These included taking off at mtow from an elevated helipad, which represented standard oil-and-gas operations. The helicopter flew five hours per day.

At NHV’s base, Airbus maintenance technicians performed a

Airbus will provide each launch customer with extra onsite spare parts inventory. “We are choosing the parts based upon our experience with other types, the maintenance record of EC175 prototypes and simulated reliability,” Cardin explained.

The two prototypes and the first production aircraft have logged a combined 1,100 flight hours, which has helped solved a lot of teething troubles, she added.

When AIN visited the Airbus Helicopters Training Services (AHTS) subsidiary in Marignane, the company was training its own EC175 maintenance technicians. Fifteen of them are to be qualified before the entry into service. AHTS is also in charge of pilot training and has already qualified five instructor pilots. EASA certification of a level-D full flight simulator was expected in June.

A level III flight and navigation procedures trainer (FNPT), valid for multi-crew coordination, was used for the flight instructors’ qualification.

In the factory in mid-May, AIN saw 14 EC175s at various

Airbus Helicopters has trained five EC175 instructor pilots.

EC175 Main Gearbox Features New Run-dry Design Unlike its sister ship the EC225, the EC175’s main gearbox has no backup lubrication system, which could present a problem should it experience a total loss of oil. To compensate for this, its components have been designed to withstand the absence of lubricant for a limited period of time.

Airbus Helicopters so far has certified a 15-minute dry-run capability (which involved a 30-minute demonstration). Further tests are scheduled for 2015 in a bid to increase the certified duration to at least 30 minutes. –T.D.

An Airbus Helicopters EC175, C/N 5001, wears the livery of Bristow Helicopters which will use it in support of its offshore oil-and-gas activities.

50 Farnborough Airshow News • July 15, 2014 • www.ainonline.com

The EC175 by the Numbers Mtow

16,535 pounds

Recommended cruise speed

150 knots

Max range (5,000 ft, no reserve)

680 nm

Seats

12 to 18

Price

$19 million (€13.6 million)

stages of construction. Vautherin said three deliveries are planned this year and 18 in 2015.

Eventually, the production rate should increase to more than 30 per year. Airbus Helicopters, as of early June, held 64 firm orders for the type.

Not content with the initial version, Airbus Helicopters is increasing the mtow of the EC175 medium twin by 660 pounds (to 17,196 pounds) thus offering an equivalent growth in payload or an extra 40 nm of range. Certification is expected in 2016, following a flight-test campaign scheduled for next year. “Operators will have more flexibility in payload versus range,” Mickael Melaye, senior manager, oil-andgas sales promotion, told AIN. In the cockpit, the “rig ’n’ fly” option will be available in 2016 for automated approaches. The system is designed to significantly cut pilot workload, as it will conduct the entire approach down to the helideck’s height at a single push of a button. The crew will still have to perform the landing. “We bring standardization; an approach in Angola will be the same as in the North Sea,” Melaye said.

A cursor-control device also will be offered in 2016. “For search-and-rescue, when the crew often interacts with the map and the infrared camera, it will be a better interface than two rotating knobs,” said Yves Royannez, program director of the Helionix avionics suite.

Also planned for 2016 is integration of a syntheticvision system. Royannez said Helionix has a very open architecture, which makes additional applications easier.

The new avionics suite was developed with Israel-based electronics firm Elbit, which supplied the hardware and developed mission capabilities–HTAWS, digital map and so forth–under Airbus’s specifications. The main drivers were system redundancy, crew workload reduction, mission efficiency, centralized maintenance and cockpit standardization, Royannez said. Helionix was certified under the latest international avionics standards, which were more demanding and complex than expected. o

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Lord stretches wings into Europe’s airliner sector

by Ian Sheppard Lord Corp. (Chalet A33) is here at in 2012. That company offered “sensors the Farnborough show as it starts a that could make our parts smarter; for major expansion push into Europe. At a example, predicting early failure,” said pre-show briefing at the Royal Aeronau- Bendali. It had “breakthrough technoltical Society in London the company ogy we couldn’t develop [fast enough] unveiled a new “aerospace business ourselves…The sensors can be placed growth strategy for Europe”–the main anywhere and work wirelessly and have focus being the booming fixed-wing air- their own energy-harvesting systems.” liner sector, as Lord is already active in One specific use is “weight on wheel systhe helicopter industry in Europe, spe- tems,” he added. This year the company cializing in noise, vibration and motion- also acquired New York-based Stellar control technologies.

Technologies (STI), a specialist in transThe company told reporters that its ducers and sensors, which has clients in “goal is $2 billion, doubling sales again the oil and gas industry as well as comby 2022,” after it recorded a doubling panies such as SpaceX. over the past 10 years, “now approaching Target Lists $1 billion,” with aerospace playing “a significant role in that.”

Dr. Guy Billoud, Lord’s global direcA diversified company, Cary, North tor for strategic alliances, mergers and Carolina-based Lord Corp.’s aerospace acquisitions, told AIN that the comdivision accounts for around 35 percent of pany has “several [acquisition] target total sales. Within aerolists” with the aim being threespace, it has “four fold: “to complement strategic markets– our offering; to rotary wing, civil increase our physfixed wing, business ical presence in aviation and defense.”

Europe, which It already has a Eurois not sufficient; pean base in Geneva, and to help Switzerland, while its reduce risk in the supAsia Pacific headquar- Microstrain’s wireless ply chain.” He said that data aggregator. The sensors ters is in Hong Kong. Bill sensor the industry is gradually could potentially predict parts failures.

Cerami, the president of seeing more significant Lord’s aerospace and defense global indus- tier “one-and-a-half and two” suppliers try group, said, “We are a stable, 90-year- becoming risk-sharing partners. Lord, old company with a strong balance sheet Billoud said, is well positioned for this that shares in the development risk with because “we’ve always been involved in our partners.” Such partners already designing, certification and production– include Airbus, Saab, Safran, Finmecca- the full spectrum, and even the aftermarnica, Dassault and Pilatus. ket…” Lord also has an MRO business.

Lord Aerospace director, EMEA, Billoud stressed that Lord is focused Rachid Bendali, said “Our value-added on “inorganic growth” as well as organic, is to innovate and share risk to produce and that it is heavily focused on innovathe best aircraft possible.” The process tion–to the extent that it even seeds those of taking its core skillset developed in with specific new technologies to offer, “a the helicopter world into the fixed-wing bit like a VC [venture capitalist].” world has already started, said Bendali.

In 2009 Lord opened a European techFor helicopters, an example of its sys- nology center in Geneva, which now has tems is on the AW139 helicopter, where 15 engineers. This is backed up by 120 it developed an active-noise-control sys- engineers in the U.S. and has led to “a tem for the cabin; meanwhile, on the significant improvement in communicaBoeing 787 it helped to develop systems tions” on projects on which Lord is work“to stop noise getting to the cabin.” With ing in Europe. One project it is working the helicopter, Bendali said “the ride is on is the attachment system for an openalmost jet smooth now.” The aircraft rotor engine, as part of Europe’s Clean flies 11 to 15 knots faster (which allows Sky program. “We’re now looking for the operator, an oil-industry company, opportunities to take part in Clean Sky “to make more missions a day”) and 2,” said Bendali. there is an “unintended consequence” in Lord provided the engine mounts for that “equipment lasts longer as there is the Boeing 737 Classic airliner and for less vibration in the cabin.” the P&W engines on the Boeing 757 and Boasting rich aerospace heritage–Lord 767, but had not won a competition for provided the engine mounts for the Ford airliner engine mounts since the 1970s Trimotor–makes the company confident (it has several contracts with business jet that it can find wider applications in the manufacturers, however). industry, and it sees the Farnborough show At the show this week the company as the ideal place to meet potential partners. is revealing the platform that changed its Lord has also been on the acquisition long wait: a commercial platform contract trail, for example, acquiring Microstrain won in 2012 for a hard-mount system. o

52 Aviation International News • July 15, 2014 • www.ainonline.com

Europe’s Aerospace and Defence Industries Association (ASD) is comprised of 27 national associations and 16 major companies.

Europe makes aerospace a priority

by Nick Klenske

54 Farnborough Airshow News • July 15, 2014 • www.ainonline.com

smooth certification of aircraft and aerospace products is of central importance.

One common concern from the U.S. aerospace sector is that EASA makes it difficult to get FAA-certified products certified in Europe. Although ASD represents companies whose products are certified by EASA, they still see the importance of creating open markets on both sides of the Atlantic.

Today, validation of certified products in either direction, from the U.S. to the EU or vice versa, is governed by the Bilateral Aviation Safety Agreement (BASA) and its technical implementation process.

This agreement provides a formal framework for cooperation and mutual recognition between EASA and the FAA. “ASD, along with its industry counterpart in the U.S.–the Aerospace Industries Association of America (AIA)–is continuing to work with EASA and the FAA for further improvements to this agreement to increase the level of mutual recognition,” said Pie. “Our basic position is that both EASA and the FAA, when they are in the position of validating authority, should further rely on the activities performed by the primary authority to reduce their direct involvement in certification validation. As both are competent authorities, such direct involvement is simply duplication of effort for no safety benefit.”

One of ASD’s main objectives is to contribute to the EU Preparatory Actionm for the Common Security & Defence Policy

MARK WAGNER

With an annual turnover of €186.8 via four sector-focused business units billion (around $200 billion), which rep- (civil aviation, space, security and resents one percent of the European defense) and six cross-functional “comUnion’s GDP, and employing more than missions” (economic, legal and trade, research and technology, envi752,000 people, the European ronment, services, supply chain aerospace and defense indusand external affairs). Furthertries play a key role in securing more, all ASD working bodies Europe’s future. regularly gather industry repre“Aeronautics, space, defense sentatives to pool their experand security are all crucial for tise in order to devise common Europe’s key socioeconomic solutions for the industry and goals as they ensure sustainable to provide advice to officials mobility, provide highly skilled and authorities dealing with the jobs and foster Europe’s knowlindustry. edge through massive R&D The objective of the ASD investments,” said Jan Pie, secJan Pie, business units and commisretary general of the Aero- ASD secretary general sions is to identify policy issues space and Defence Industries to be pursued at the European Association of Europe (ASD).

“In a nutshell, these industries help and EU Member State level and to proEurope achieve and maintain technologi- pose strategies to maximize the benefits for industry. The association’s top priorcal leadership.”

ASD is the industry association rep- ities include: resenting these four key sectors. Based • Implementation of the Horizon 2020 funding period, Clean Sky and Single in Brussels, the association voices the Sky policies. industry’s concerns and interests to the European institutions and international • Contribute to ICAO’s agenda through ICCAIA (the International Coordinatorganizations. Its main objective is to ing Council of Aerospace Industries enhance the competitive development of Associations). these industries by securing funds from the EU, influencing legislation, voicing • Define and develop a strategic research agenda for the security sector. the industry’s objective in global policy and regulatory matters, and representing • Contribute to the EU Preparatory Action for the Common Security & Europe in the global arena.

Defence Policy.

“As a member-driven organization, ASD takes a stance on issues that have • Reshape ASD to best answer member’s needs and requirements. an impact across all companies,” Pie told To accomplish this ambitious agenda, AIN. “Our goal is to provide a common, holistic industry perspective to decision each business unit and commission is supmakers in order to maintain and enhance ported by several permanent and ad-hoc committees and working groups. Their Europe’s leadership position.” work involves discussing the detailed topPolicy Driven ics, drafting position papers and issuing The association’s membership is recommendations to the industry and comprised of 27 national associations other stakeholders. The sectoral groups and 16 major companies from the aero- deal with the more focused sector internautics, space, defense and security est and their work is also used as a basis sectors. ASD statutory bodies are the for the work in all commissions and busiGeneral Assembly and the Board, with ness units. the General Assembly deciding on the Mutual Recognition general policy of the association and the Board being responsible for the One of ASD’s key objectives is to association’s management. ensure market access and competitiveness ASD works closely with its members for European industries. Thus, ensuring

In this sense, ASD is seeking some specific improvements to the EU-U.S. BASA. For example, European industry has heavily invested in becoming a certified design organization (DOA). ASD believes that this means the level of investigation and oversight by both EASA and the FAA should be commensurate with the maturity of that certified organization. Further, ASD advocates that EASA’s resources be focused on areas where safety improvements are most needed, as identified by the European Aviation Safety plan (EASp).

Another issue is that while EASA recognizes FAA production approvals from the whole of the U.S., the FAA still does not recognize the release of parts manufactured in all EU Member States under a Production Organization Approval as per Part 21.A subpart G. “The FAA currently recognizes only POAs issued by EASA for 14 out of 28 Member States,” noted Pie. “This is unacceptable as all EU Member States are complying with the same European regulations and are under the oversight of EASA, which ensures consistent and standard application of the European requirements throughout Europe.”

Another topic of great importance is the emissions trading scheme (ETS), where ASD strongly advocates in favor of the development and implementation of global regulations via ICAO. “I strongly believe that we should always favor global solutions to global challenges, not European solutions to global challenges,” said Pie. “Aircraft emissions and their effect on the environment is clearly a global challenge and thus is more properly addressed by a UN-mandated body like ICAO as opposed to a regional Institution like the EU.” Ensuring a Competitive Europe

All of ASD’s work is aimed at ensuring Europe remains competitive in an increasingly competitive and global aerospace and defense sector. “Europe tends to focus on the European processes, often at the expense of Europe’s position in the global marketplace,” said Pie. “Many of today’s emerging markets are huge single markets, and although Europe talks a lot

about the single market, in reality we are far from being one.”

As a result, while Europe continues to look at the process of becoming a single market, it will face even harder competition as it becomes easier to do business in these other countries. “Our advantage in the aerospace and defense sector is about to be lost if we don’t work to make sure Europe’s rules and regulations benefit European industry, not hinder it,” Pie said.

To accomplish this, much of ASD’s work goes into advocacy aimed at ensuring the support of the political and civil service levels in Brussels, making them aware of the industry’s priorities and concerns. This is of particular importance now as Europe transitions to a new Parliament this summer and, soon thereafter, a new Commission.

“ASD will continue to work closely with the European Parliament as in the past, ensuring that newly elected EU representatives appreciate the competitiveness of the aerospace industry and its contribution to the European industrial and economic prosperity by its creation of high-level and high-value skilled jobs,” said Pie. One example where the European process can and should be developed for increased industrial competitiveness is in the area of EU-funded research and development. The EU recently launched its Horizon 2020 funding period, a program aimed at promoting and funding European innovation and development–including in the aerospace sector. Although the intentions are good, in reality too often the process gets in the way.

Horizon 2020 has allocated over €70

billion toward European research and development, but Pie worries that, to some extent, instead of boosting the EU’s competitiveness, it will instead boost only the EU administrative process. “The feedback we get from members is that 25 percent of the effort to participate in these funding programs goes into administration,” he said. “Too often we see complexity prevail over simplification, and in many cases companies simply find it more effective to ‘go it alone’.”

In comparison, Pie noted that in the U.S. the period between funding and results is much faster, giving companies there a distinct competitive advantage.

“The reality is that in the EU the success rate for small budget proposals is only 10 percent–and this simply needs to change.”

Pie also noted that this transition period happening at the European level also provides an opportune time for ASD to build a more effective organization. To do this, Pie aims to increase the competency level within the organization’s staff in order to better support the member representatives. For example on the aviation side, as of November 1 Vincent De Vroey (formerly of the Association of European Airlines) will be joining ASD as its new director of civil aviation.

“The goal is that with greater competencies internally, with the new Commission and Parliament we will be better positioned to do more proactive forecasting on the issues most pertinent to our member companies,” concluded Pie. “As we transition from a reactive to a proactive association, I believe ASD will begin to drive the European aerospace, defense and security agenda.” o

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BCube to expand aerospace logistics Making its first appearance at the Farnborough Airshow, BCube (Hall 1 Stand C15) is presenting its wide range of services, spanning distribution of parts to managing warehouses and handling the distribution of spare parts from national and international suppliers.

Founded in 1952 by the Bonzano family, BCube employs 4,200 people, operates from 70 sites around the globe (including Italy, France, Germany, Poland, Serbia, Bulgaria, Turkey, Egypt, Argentina, Venezuela, the U.S., Canada, Mexico, China and India) and in 2013 reported total sales of €470 million (50 percent domestic, 50 percent international). The company is now opening a site in Dubai, where a warehouse is to be constructed to support the activities of the local defense industry.

BCube has acquired UNI-EN ISO 9120:2010 quality certification, which enables it to participate in NATO bids. Its Aerospace and Defense division manages the warehouses and handles the spare parts for the Italian Air Force at its air bases at Cameri (for the Tornado and Eurofighter), Pisa (the C130 and C27J) and Treviso (the AMX), and for the Brazilian Air Force (AMX), also at Treviso. With 150 employees it manages 110,000 codes and 620,000 lines per year. It is now also offering its services to aircraft

and equipment manufacturers.

Gen. Claudio Debertolis, head of Aerospace and Defense, said BCube is committed to the expansion of its activities in the international market focusing on East Africa, the Middle East, Asia and the U.S., following the recent acquisition of Eagle Support Services. “The company has been engaged in production logistics for the automotive sector for more than 40 years and has developed its expertise in aerospace by managing the supply chain for Boeing 787 production at the Alenia plant in Grottaglie [in cooperation with Fata Logistics, a Finmeccanica company],” he said. “We transport the parts from the supplier to the plant, we store them, we prepare the kits for the production line of major assemblies of the airplane, which then are shipped to the prime contractor.

“We are doing the same for General Electric: for the powerplant constructions we have dedicated an area of 285,000 square meters to the logistic activities…[and] a joint venture of BCube and Fata Logistics is finalizing an agreement with the Polish helicopter manufacturer PZL Swidnik [a company owned by AgustaWestland] to manage their production logistics.”

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www.ainonline.com • July 15, 2014 • Farnborough Airshow News 55

Lufthansa took delivery of its 75th Boeing 747 and its 13th 747-8I on May 2.

747-8’s continued weight loss boosts performance

by Gregory Polek Boeing’s slow-selling 747-8 hasn’t struggled to gain market penetration for a lack of effort on the part of the company’s sales team, or, as program head Eric Lindblad would attest, a lack of ongoing performance improvements or technological innovation. In fact, today’s 747-8 weighs some 9,000 pounds less than the first example Boeing placed into service in 2011 and 2,000 pounds less than airplanes it delivered around a year ago. With further work, the company expects the weight to eventually drop by more than 10,000 pounds.

an “upgraded” combustor and improved high-pressure turbine aerodynamics, improved engine efficiency by 1.8 percent, meaning today’s 747-8 operates some 3.5 percent more efficiently than the first to roll off the assembly line.

Further advances took the form of upgrades last December to the 747-8’s flight management computer (FMC) that improved navigational performance and step-climb efficiency, while reactivating the tail fuel tanks in the 747-8’s passenger version, the Intercontinental, extended its range to about 7,700 miles at a 467-passenger count.

Gregory Polek

Future Projects

Boeing 747-8 program vice president and general manager Eric Lindblad expects the four-engine jet’s dispatch reliability to exceed 99 percent by year-end.

“We continue to make solid progress there,” said Lindblad.

“As you take weight out you improve gas mileage, and that’s one of the ways that we influence the overall economics of the aircraft.”

Some of the weight savings comes from a performance improvement package (PIP) on the airplane’s GEnx-2B engines, introduced last December. The PIP, which includes a new low-pressure turbine design, redesigned high-pressure compressor airfoils, as well as

Future projects center around what Lindblad characterized as an array of items that increase overall efficiency and would allow for routes between the Middle East and the West Coast of the U.S. or Hong Kong to U.S. East Coast routes. A route between Honk Kong and New York would require some 8,200 nm of range with reserves.

“We’re in the process of really taking pieces of the items that were on the list and incorporating those and if we end up with a campaign that needs that route structure we’ll move forward and do the full menu,” he said.

Some of those items would include aerodynamic changes that involve some of the fairings adjacent to the horizontal tail and an aerodynamic thinning of some of the scalloped areas of the thrust reverser.

A decision to increase maximum takeoff weight would

come at around the same time Boeing decides to change the aerodynamics on the wing-tobody fairing, which Lindblad described as a “fairly largescale job.”

“So we’ll probably wait to see if we actually need that to get to the full 8,200-mile range,” he said.

Now some 31 months into service, the 747-8 fleet operates at a 98.9 dispatch reliability rate.

Some of the “issues” customers still encounter include what Lindblad called interrupts from ground power to APU power

and APU power to generator power, requiring crews to perform a restart sequence that could delay dispatch by “a few extra minutes.”

“We intended to exceed 99 percent [dispatch reliability] before the year’s out, and we pretty much know exactly which improvements we have to make to the aircraft that drive that reliability up and we’re working closely with our customers not only to receive the service bulletins and parts but to incorporate them into their fleets,” said Lindblad.

Of course, future fleets will benefit as well, and as the world cargo market shows signs of life after years in the doldrums, Lindblad sees the timing of the airplane’s maturation aligning nicely with Boeing’s expectations of a sales resurgence.

Sees Sales Resurgence

“We still expect the market to rebound as we’re starting to see some of the signs, and we’re really expecting aircraft sales to start to come into parity sometime in the 2016 time frame, [when] we’ll see the freighter sales pick back up…

We’ve shoved capacity into the marketplace and they’re happy

to take them, but they don’t necessarily put them all into service right away” The cargo market grew by an annualized rate of some 4 percent in the first quarter of this year, just shy of the 5 percent annual rate Boeing projects for over the next 20 years.

Now building 747s at a rate of 1.5 per month, Boeing sold a total of 17 of the fourengine jets last year, representing nearly a 1:1 book-to-build ratio. Its backlog as of midJune stood at 51 airplanes, accounting for roughly three years of production.

On the subject of production system stability, Lindblad drew attention to the fact that the line now runs roughly a day-anda-half behind schedule, compared with four days a year ago.

Boeing expects more efficiency to come from the planned use of a Flex Track automated drilling and riveting machine, now in place on the 777 line, for lap joints and circumferential joints on the 747-8 fuselage. “We’re not done investing not only in the product itself, but the production system, which is important to me to validate that there’s a lot of time left on this aircraft,” concluded Lindblad. o

Apprentices answer the call for increased skills base The trend among tier-two aerospace suppliers Smith acknowledged that it can be challenging to to shoulder a higher level of engineering respon- attract young people to pursue careers in aerospace sibility for the components and subsystems they manufacturing and also to find those with a desirable supply to larger OEMs is just one factor driving level of basic skills. He pointed to this Friday’s Futures the need to ensure the availability of an adequate Day at the Farnborough International Airshow as a skills base. For UK precision engineering com- prime opportunity to recruit new talent. Nasmyth also pany Nasmyth, this has led to a concerted effort sponsors continuing education opportunities for existto recruit and train apprentices in tandem with its ing employees. efforts to launch new joint ventures in places such “OEMs have a finite amount of engineering capacas India and South Carolina. On June 26, it opened ity and so they are encouraging companies down the the office of its new Indian subsidiary in the country’s aerospace hub Bangalore.

In recent years, the company has been taking on around 10 to 15 apprentices annually but managing director Peter Smith told AIN he would like this number to increase so that at any given time roughly 35 of its 680 employees are apprentices– about twice the national average for UK manufacturing firms.

Nasmyth, which is marking its 10th anniversary this year, makes The UK’s Nasmyth is increasing its apprenticeship items such as intermediate casings program in a bid to expand its skills base. to connect the front and rear sections of engines. It is also a specialist in applying supply chain to take more responsibility,” said Smith. customized treatments to aerospace components.

“We are competing against the world’s best and we “We aim to provide a total solution to the OEMs,” have to be selective about the contracts we bid for said Smith. “It might involve machining components, in terms of how they match our skills base and investtreating surfaces or even making significant subsys- ment capability.” tems. It is now more common for us to have significant In terms of rewards for making these investments, design input so that, for instance, we might be given Smith acknowledged that build rates are high in the only the diameter and axis of pipes and then have to civil aerospace sector but in his view they have probadesign the right connections for them.” bly plateaued for now.

–C.A.

56 Farnborough Airshow News • July 15, 2014 • www.ainonline.com

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Remote control: how the British fly the armed Reaper

by Chris Pocock

Rules of Engagement

This close cooperation has led to accusations that the UK lends support to the controversial

U.S. Predator and Reaper operations over the tribal areas of Pakistan, and over Somalia and Yemen. The British government will not comment on whether it shares intelligence with the U.S. that might aid the latter’s UAV attacks on alleged terrorists in those countries. But it insists that the UK has operated its own Reapers solely over Afghanistan, and that all such British operations are conducted in strict

accommodated within the existing legal frameworks.”

At the Waddington briefing, AVM Osborn noted that the rules of engagement (RoE) followed by the RAF’s Reaper aircrew are “exactly the same as for our manned aircraft.”

Those rules stipulate that weapons should not be discharged from any aerial platform unless there is zero expectation of civilian casualties, and that any

that remotely piloted aircraft can reduce the risk of civilian casualties because of this effect.

The MoD says that it knows of only one RAF Reaper strike that resulted in the death of civilians. It said: “On 25 March 2011, an attack on two pickup trucks resulted in the destruction of a significant quantity of explosives and the death of two insurgents.

Sadly, four Afghanistan civilians were also killed. An ISAF investigation concluded that the Reaper crew acted in accordance with established procedures and rules of engagement.”

The RAF deploys the crews of Tornado strike aircraft to Afghanistan for six months at a time, whereas the Reaper crews are doing the mission throughout­

The Reaper can be armed with four Hellfire missiles and two GBU-12 laser-guided 250-pound bombs. The RAF usually flies with all four missiles, but only one bomb. The UAV’s Raytheon MTS-B sensor ball and laser rangefinder/designator is beneath the nose, with the satcom antenna above.

compliance with International Humanitarian Law (also known as The Law of Armed Conflict).

In deference to their American friends and partners, MoD and RAF officials will not comment in detail on the difference between British and U.S. procedures for offensive operations by UAVs. But British Defence Secretary Philip Hammond told the UK Parliament in October 2012 that “the U.S. operates in Afghanistan under a different basis of law from the one under which we operate.” More recently, Ben Emmerson, the British lawyer who is United Nations Special Rapporteur on Counter-Terrorism and Human Rights, told British legislators that “there is a very significant difference in the casualty hit rate.” Emmerson is producing reports for the UN on armed UAV operations.

On the wider issue of whether the U.S. is breaking international law by conducting UAV strikes outside recognized combat zones, Emmerson said, “The reality here is that the world is facing a new technological development which is not easily

The UK Royal Air Force has bought 10 Reaper UAVs, plus associated ground stations. To date, they have flown only over Afghanistan.

i­ndividual or location should be presumed­to be civilian in nature unless there is clear evidence to the contrary. The MoD says that when RAF aircrew operate U.S. Air Force Reapers or Predators under the co-manning agreement, the British RoEs must be applied in any attack.

Reaper Video

Wing Cmdr. Damien Killeen, commander of No. 13 Squadron, showed video from a Reaper strike that was aborted by redirecting a laser-guided Hellfire missile that had already

58 Farnborough Airshow News • July 15, 2014 • www.ainonline.com

An MoD briefing document­ suggests that despite being located thousands of miles from the action, the “situational awareness” of the Reaper aircrews is greater than that enjoyed by aircrew that are actually overflying. “[Reaper] aircrews usually observe a target area for a significant period prior to, and following, an engagement. This allows them to assess target validity, the likelihood of collateral damage and to observe the consequences of an attack in detail,” the document states.

The UN’s Emmerson agrees

their tour on the squadron, which typically lasts two-and-a-half to three years. They work eightand-a-half-hour shifts on a sixdays-on/three-days off pattern.

Within each shift, they spend two periods of two hours each within the GCS actually operating the aircraft and its sensors.

Each crew consists of a pilot, sensor operator and mission intelligence coordinator (MIC).

The UAVs are typically in the air for 16 hours; the maximum is 24 hours if no weapons are carried.

“We try to get airborne every day, but weather is sometimes a

UK MoD © Crown Copyright

MoD © Crown Copyright

In response to increased scrutiny of armed UAV operations by human rights groups, British legislators and the United Nations, the British Ministry of Defence (UK MoD) has stepped up efforts to reassure the public.

Late last year, it allowed media (including AIN) access to the Royal Air Force Reaper ground control station (GCS) at RAF Waddington for the first time.

New documents describing UK operational procedures, including targeting, have been released.

The UK is one of only three countries to have fired weapons from UAVs in combat, the others being Israel and the U.S. “We recognize that safety, legal and ethical concerns have been raised over ‘unmanned’ aircraft. That’s why we prefer the term ‘remotely piloted’; fully trained pilots are in complete control,” Air Vice Marshall Phil Osborn, director of capability, UK Joint Forces command, said during the briefing at Waddington. He said that the RAF’s Reaper fleet had flown more than 54,000 hours, and released 460 precision-guided munitions. The UAV can carry up to four Hellfire missiles and two GBU-12 laser-guided 500-pound bombs.

But the figures show that the preponderance of effort is devoted to the ISR mission, rather than attack, Osborn noted.

Waddington is home to No. 13 Squadron, one of two in the RAF that operate the GA-ASI Reaper over Afghanistan. It was re-formed in 2012 after the UK finally gained permission from the U.S. to relocate two GCS from Creech AFB, Nevada, to the UK. The second squadron, No. 39, remains at the Nevada base with the third British-owned GCS. The RAF began operating its own Reapers over Afghanistan from there in 2008. The service previously contributed aircrews to U.S. Air Force MQ-1/9 Predator/Reaper squadrons in a comanning agreement, which continues. British aircrews flew American Predators and Reapers over Iraq, and more recently over Libya during NATO Operation Unified Protector.

been launched, into an open area. This was because the targeted insurgent had meanwhile moved into an adjacent compound, whose purpose and potential occupants were unknown to the Reaper crew.

Killeen said that thanks to constant operations over Afghanistan, his aircrew had gained “unrivaled familiarity with the territory, including what is normal or not on the ground.”

A 13 Squadron sensor operator told AIN that he had learned to discern on his video feed the vital difference between an insurgent digging a hole to plant an IED, and a farmer digging a water channel. He ascribed this skill to “experience, immersion and ‘campaign continuity.’”

GCS Details

Designed by General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc. (GA-ASI, Hall 2 Stand A9), the layout and controls of the GCS have been subject to criticism in some reports, and by rival providers of GCS. But improvements have been made over the years. The pilot and sensor operator sit side-by-side at one end, faced by no fewer than 14 screens displaying aircraft and engine parameters, the sensor feed, digital maps, satellite imagery for a wider “view,” and other intelligence feeds. A bank of five processors along one side separates them from the MIC at the other end of the cabin–who has another seven screens at his disposal. All three crew can communicate directly with “boots on the ground” in Afghanistan.

In addition to the EO/IR and low-light television full-motion video (FMV), the Reaper also carries a synthetic-aperture

These stills from a Reaper video show an attack on a car that is known to be carrying insurgents. The RAF crew place the crosshairs of the laser targeting system onto the vehicle. While still traveling across open ground, and before it approaches some buildings, it is destroyed by a Hellfire missile.

radar (SAR) including a ground moving target indicator. The SAR/GMTI offers one- to four-inch resolution and a far wider view than the FMV. The GCS at Waddington do not control the takeoffs and landings. The onesecond time lag on the sensor feed from Afghanistan is sufficient to affect pilotage in what has proved to be a critical phase for safety-of-flight, especially in crosswinds. Only the more experienced pilots are deployed to the launch-and-recovery (LRE) ground stations at Kandahar, where they operate alongside U.S. aircrew. They are aided during airfield operations by the separate color/IR camera in the Reaper’s nose. But although Reapers have been damaged in landings, the RAF has written off only one of the five UAVs that it originally acquired. This incident in 2008 was blamed on a mechanical failure that led to a forced landing.

Reaper-X

The RAF has taken delivery of another five Reapers. Together with the ground stations, they were bought using funds earmarked for urgent operational requirements (UORs). Last January, the MoD confirmed that the Reaper UAS will be kept in service after the country withdraws from Afghanistan at the end of this year. The UK’s total investment in this UAS is nearing £500 million, “and we’re not going to throw that away,” a senior RAF officer told AIN recently.

Frame 1 The UK MoD released this 35-second Reaper infrared video from which these frames are captured in order to illustrate how careful RAF aircrews strive to avoid civilian casualties. In frame 1, an insurgent can be seen outlined against the wall of a compound, just above the crosshairs. He is using the wall for shelter in between firing a

chris pocock

constraint,” said one pilot. The Reaper has no anti-icing provision, or protection against lightning strikes.

Most of 13 Squadron’s pilots and sensor operators have previous operational flying experience on fast jets, multiengine or rotary-wing RAF aircraft, said Killeen. But the unit has recently taken two pilots directly from flying training, and also has four who have come via the RAF’s new RPAS (remotely piloted aircraft system) training course. Some of the sensor operators are NCOs. The MICs have an intelligence and/or imagery analysis background, and come from the British Army and Navy, as well as the RAF. At Waddington, the two 40-foot container-sized GCS are located side-by-side on a hangar floor that has been fenced to ensure secure access. But the aircrews that sit inside them are supported by a supervisor and other airmen, located in an operations room in the squadron’s accommodation above the hangar floor.

In there, multiple feeds of collateral intelligence are received and assimilated, and voice contact can be established with various interested parties. These can range from commanders on the ground in Afghanistan to legal advisors at RAF Air Command headquarters.

Inside a Reaper ground control station at RAF Waddington, the pilot occupies the left seat, with the sensor operator on the right faced by no fewer than 14 screens displaying aircraft and engine parameters and more.

Last January, joint firing trials on the UAV of the Brimstone missile that is already carried by RAF Tornados, were successfully completed in the U.S. However, even if airspace rules are changed to allow UAVs to operate in nonsegregated airspace, the Reapers cannot be operated in the UK because the design cannot be certified to the MoD’s new and rigorous military airworthiness requirements. One of the arguments made by European aerospace industry leaders to justify development of a new mediumaltitude long-endurance (MALE) UAV is that it will meet such criteria. Another is that MALE UAVs really need self-protection technology, if they are to operate

Frame 2

Frame 3

weapon from the corner across open ground. He is a legitimate target, and using the Reaper’s laser rangefinder/designator, the aircrew fires a Hellfire missile, causing the screen to temporarily go blank (frame 2). But while the missile is in flight, the insurgent ­(circled) runs along the wall of the compound and through a door into

in anything other than the most benign air defense environments. The MoD is still reviewing future basing options for the RAF Reapers.

But with Italy and France also now operating Reapers, and the Netherlands and even Germany likely to follow, it seems that this particular train has already left the station. In theory, the UK has a requirement for a new MALE UAV as part of the Scavenger program.

But no one is taking bets on it ever happening. Instead, AIN expects that the UK and other European customers will put pressure on GA-ASI to deliver on its promise to develop an improved and certifiable “Reaper-X.” o

Frame 4

another compound (frame 3). The nature of this second compound is unknown to the Reaper aircrew or those supporting them from the squadron operations center. Therefore, the aircrew “pulls” the laser designator off the fleeing insurgent and guides the missile to the right onto open ground, where it explodes harmlessly (frame 4).

www.ainonline.com • July 15, 2014 • Farnborough Airshow News 59

Rolls advances toward evolutionary UltraFan

by Ian Goold New engines planned by Rolls-Royce (R-R) reflect recent powerplant trends, including steadily increasing propulsive efficiency obtained with largerdiameter fans, higher bypass ratios and smaller engine cores. The engines could power updated contemporary widebody platforms, with R-R civil large engines president Eric Schulz confirming “very live” discussions with Airbus. “If it decides to re-engine the A330 or A380, we will be here to provide support,” he said during a preFarnborough Airshow briefing.

R-R (Hall 3 Stand 4 and Chalet D3) plans to focus on a two-step development of the RB211/Trent three-shaft architecture. Because the technology can be scaled, evolution could launch new medium-thrust engines for the narrowbody market–which Schulz aspires to re-enter and where Boeing needs engines for any medium-size, longerrange 757 replacement–or yield engines for large business jets.

According to R-R future programs and technology chief engineer Alan Newby, the new engines represent “the next two major steps in the evolution of the [Trent] family.” The first, he said, dubbed “Advance,” covers a collection of new technologies intended to improve thermodynamic efficiency, while the later UltraFan development will introduce a gearbox to reduce fan speed and raise propulsion efficiency.

The Advance engine will build on the Trent’s “unique” direct-drive turbine architecture and the results of several years of new-technology research, said Newby. He added that the design, which is expected to sport a bypass ratio of more than 11:1 and an overall pressure ratio of more than 60, could enter service soon after 2020.

Expected to follow about five years later, the UltraFan is aimed at offering at least a 15:1 bypass ratio and an overall pressure ratio of more than 70:1. The company suggests that, relative to the Trent 700 powering the Airbus A330, the engines will provide “significant efficiency improvements” of more than 20 percent and 25 percent, respectively. R-R plans to run its first powered gearbox next year and a demonstrator of the engine could fly before 2020.

A big change with the Advance is the core, which “redistributes the workload” between the intermediate- and high-pressure compressors and turbines (IPCs/HPCs and IPTs/HPTs). Newby said that this “good aerodynamic solution” would provide the foundation for future engine generations.

The UltraFan, which could be a stepping stone to an open-rotor design, has a similar “work split,” said Newby, but with an enhanced IP turbine driving the slower fan through a reduction gearbox,

which permits deletion of the low-pressure turbine (LPT).

With deliberate product evolution, R-R has taken the Trent XWB engine’s integrated propulsion system and lightweight LTP and married them to a carbon-titanium (CTi) fan and the new core to create the Advance. In turn, the UltraFan retains the Advance core while introducing the geared multi-stage IPT to drive the fan and compressor.

Fan Reverser

Newby said that ever-bigger engines will require greater integration with nacelles and airframes. The variablepitch CTi fan (derived from a variablepitch-geared turbofan variant of the 1970s R-R/Snecma M45H that powered the VFW-Fokker 614) and an integrated “slim-line” nacelle allows the fan also to replace the thrust reverser.

Both engines represent an orchestration of innovation. The Advance features lightweight, high-efficiency compressors, turbines and CTi fan; advanced high-overall pressure ratio cycle, turbine cooling and materials; “smart” adaptive systems and adaptive cooling; hybrid ceramic bearings; low nitrous-oxide (NOx) combustor; and high torque-density shafts.

Newby said the combustor could provide “a significant reduction in NOx” with a margin that anticipates future legislation.

Dynamic blade sealing is employed to push “as much air as possible through the centre of the engine, especially for cooling at takeoff.”

Building on these characteristics, the main change on the UltraFan is the power-reduction gearbox to drive the lowspeed fan. The engine’s attributes include an advanced CTi fan, hybrid ceramic bearings, cooling air (whose temperature is reduced further to permit “reasonable” cooling when the engine runs

at high temperatures); integrated “slimline” nacelle; bladed disc (“blisk”) and ring (“bling”) compressors; broader application of ceramic-matrix composites (CMCs), including titanium-aluminide (Ti-Al)/CMC IP turbine high-aspect-ratio aerofoils; and a multi-stage IPT. Genesis in RB3025

The UltraFan’s Ti-Al LPT blades and proposed cooling may owe much to the RB3025. For example, the RB3025 sported a “vortex amplifier” to simplify turbine-blade cooling with HPC air. That engine, with an overall pressure ratio of 62:1 and a 12:1 bypass ratio, was offered to power the Boeing 777X. For that application, Boeing extended 777-200LR and -300ER monopoly supply arrangements with General Electric to include new long-range variants.

(The RB3025 was superseded by the RB3039, revealed last year as the genesis for a “radically different” new-generation R-R engine that “probably” would not carry the Trent name.)

In a search for “mature reliability from day one,” R-R will apply a “hierarchy of verification,” beginning with component and capability technologies used in core-integration vehicles to demonstrate “elemental” advances. Technologies will be consolidated, with the manufacturer expecting to run a “significant number” of demonstrator engines for potential use on as-yet-undefined platforms, according to Newby.

Trent 1000 for EFE Work

The CTi fan system on the Advanced Low Pressure System engine demonstrator.

60 Farnborough Airshow News • July 15, 2014 • www.ainonline.com

R-R is using a Trent 1000 donor powerplant for environmentally friendly engine (EFE) work exploring a high-efficiency core on a dedicated test facility at Bristol in the UK. The unit comprises the T1000 “minus fan, plus booster compressor” to test low NOx and high-temperature-combustor HPT technology, according to Newby.

Four series of testing over two years were completed recently, and the program continues through 2015 to test high-temperature capability and core technologies. The EFE program “targets” three areas of environmental concern: “reducing CO2, NOx and noise.”

A T1000 is also the basis for R-R’s advanced low-pressure system program, which will soon begin a third testing session at NASA Stennis in the U.S.,

Titanium-aluminide low-pressure turbine blades and proposed cooling arrangements on Rolls-Royce’s proposed future UltraFan engine may owe much to the RB3025 powerplant unsuccessfully offered to power the Boeing 777X. For example, the RB3025 featured a “vortex amplifier” to simplify turbine-blade cooling with HPC air.

following two rounds at the UK Derby factory. This will coincide with U.S. testing of a newly built flight engine.

The demonstrator engine will be used to verify LP-system, “externals” and composite-fan technologies.

A third T1000 donor engine provides the vehicle for R-R’s advanced low-emission combustion system work for engines offering 30,000 to more than 100,000 pounds thrust. Detailed design had been finalized in early June, and components were being manufactured. Next year R-R plans to groundtest the first engine and flight-test a second on a Boeing 747 testbed. Newby said “lean-burn combustor subsystem verification” has been completed on the EFE and the efficiency, economy and environment core demonstrators, which “validated emissions predictions.”

The Trent XWB program, which exclusively powers the Airbus A350XWB, will yield a further donor engine to develop high-efficiency core architecture for the Advance project. R-R will use it to demonstrate a new core configuration, especially regarding the work split between IPCs/HPCs and IPTs/HPTs. Design Finalized

Newby reported in June that the conceptual Advance design was finalized and that the company was starting to detail externals. An initial gate review has been completed and components with a long lead times have been manufactured; R-R was also obtaining disc forgings.

Functional testing is planned next year, with endurance testing of a second engine slated for 2016. Once the architecture has been validated, R-R will look for additional technologies to insert into the basic design, according to Newby.

Finally, an Advance engine will be donated to UltraFan enabling-technologies work that will be supported by an extensive rig program for key systems alongside technologies development.

Construction of a power-gearbox test facility and associated technology development has begun in Germany. Gearbox testing will take place later next year, with full ground- and flight-test demonstrations scheduled in the latter part of this decade, concluded Newby. o

Saab masters low-cost weapons integration

by Chris Pocock The integration of new weapons on some combat aircraft has become so expensive that European Defence Agency (EDA) held a workshop to discuss the problem. But Saab (Hall 4 Stand E5 and Chalet C35) has some helpful suggestions, based on its experience with the Gripen. The Swedish fighter served as the development platform for the IrisT and Meteor air-to-air missiles, and other weapons were successfully added on time and budget.

“We think it’s important to define the operational requirements, and the levels of system integration that are desired,” said Gideon Singer, the technical director for the Gripen at Saab Aeronautics. Integration can de done over several phases, he told the last Fighter Conference in London, organized

by Defence IQ. “Don’t bite off more than you can chew,” he advised.

Singer listed the considerations that should be fully explored before starting. Is the weapon mature? How many configurations are required?

What are the essentials, as opposed to the “nice-to-haves?”

For instance, is it really necessary to prove the weapon plus three fuel tanks in supersonic flight? “Ask for what you really need–the extra 10 percent will cost a lot more,” he said.

The limits to simulation must be fully understood, he continued.

Integrators should make a clear distinction between the aerodynamic limitations of the weapon and the platform. The integration design should take into account the platform’s existing HMI and HOTAS philosophy. Data-link interoperability is another factor.

“That’s often a nasty surprise at the end,” Singer said.

Lisa Abom, head of the weapons integration office at Saab Aeronautics, said that complex weapons had been integrated on the jet within four years, at costs ranging from $85- to $170 million. Yet the EDA workshop was told of integrations costing up to $270 million for certain other fourth-generation combat aircraft. Why was it cheaper in Sweden? The country has a smaller defense budget, which sets the environment, she claimed.

Also contributing to the picture, she added, is the modular avionics design of the Gripen,

and the systematic planning of software upgrades, with new releases only every two or three years. Moreover, she added, “we have high confidence in our simulation; for instance, in the modeling of weapons separation.”

The MBDA Meteor BVRAAM was a good example of cooperation, Abom said. The Gripen conducted the first eight developmental test firings of the ramjet-boosted missile, and also the first live firing of a production missile in June last year.

“We worked in an open atmosphere, where mistakes could be admitted, then fixed. We kept the test pilots in the loop. There was no blame-gaming,” she told the Fighter Conference.

Abom also described integration of the Thales Digital Joint Reconnaissance Pod (DJRP) on

The Saab Gripen (below) did the first eight development firings of the MBDA Meteor BVRAAM. The European missile house chose the Swedish fighter in preference to the Rafale or the Eurofighter, but the Meteor has since been integrated on all three aircraft. The GBU-49 “smart” bomb was integrated on the Gripen (above) from 2006-09, on time and on budget, Saab said.

the Gripen, which was required by the South African, but not the Swedish air force. This was done in only eight months, with flight tests in South Africa. When asked whether Saab would be prepared to do integration work on a fixed-price basis, she said: “It depends; we’ll consider on a case-by-case basis.” o

New-gen nacelles to fly on Leap and Passport GE Aviation is preparing to begin flight tests of its new Leap1C and Passport engines featuring nacelles developed for them by the group’s Nexcelle joint venture with Safran subsidiary Aircelle. Last month, Nexcelle delivered the first full new-generation nacelles for both programs.

They are due to fly soon on the engine maker’s Boeing 787 testbed. The Leap-1C is to power Comac’s C919 narrowbody airliner, while the Passport has been selected for Bombardier’s Global 7000 and 8000 business jets.

According to Nexcelle president Michel Abella, the primary goal for the integrated approach to designing the nacelles is to lower operators’ direct operating costs by contributing to improved performance of the engines and delivering improved reliability. For instance, overall installed weight has been reduced through using new pylon designs. He told AIN that significant improvements have been achieved by designing the nacelles under the concept of the integrated propulsion system (IPS) in closer engineering cooperation with those working on the rest of the powerplant, including the pylons and mounts.

Nexcelle’s Panache thrust reverser for the Leap-1C IPS

features the company’s new O-Duct design, which replaces two D-shaped doors in a traditional reverser. The O-Duct design is more efficient due to the removal of the links that cut the reverser’s flow path in two with the D-shaped doors.

In the Panache unit, the

thrust-blocking doors are located around the full inner circumference of the composite O-Duct structure. They are deployed by new mechanisms attached to the forward frame and are fully contained inside the O-Duct structure when stowed, avoiding any interference with fan flow.

The Panache system is on display here at Farnborough this week on the Safran exhibit (Hall 4 Stand B12). It also features a new castellated ring interface between the thrust reverser and

The O-Duct design for Nexcelle’s Panache thrust reverser is more aerodynamically efficient than the D-door configuration, which cut the flow path in two.

62 Farnborough Airshow News • July 15, 2014 • www.ainonline.com

the engine, which are connected via the A2 flange. When the ring is rotated, the entire O-Duct moves on pylon-mounted tracks and sliders, opening up access to the reverser’s inner fixed structure for maintenance. The IPS for the Passport engine has a similar design philosophy but it does not feature the Panache thrust reverser.

“One of the good things about the O-Duct is that it is all one piece, which reduces the number of seals inside it and also cuts the aerodynamic losses that you get with a normal thrust reverser,” said Abella.

Under the joint venture, GE’s Middle River Aircraft Systems subsidiary is responsible for the inlet and fan cowl for both the Leap-1C and the Passport. It also makes the engine mounts and inner fixed structures for the Leap engine. Aircelle has developed the thrust reversers for both turbofans, as well as the inner fixed structure for the Leap. The Leap IPS features an electrical thrust reverser actuation system, which is a new approach introduced by Aircelle for the A380.

With flight-testing about to get under way to enable the two new nacelles to enter service around 2017 and 2018, Nexcelle is putting plans in place for product support. The company is also getting ready for the anticipated production ramp up in support of the C919 and Global programs. –C.A.

THE CENTRE OF THE

AEROSPACE INDUSTRY

08-12 NOVEMBER 2015

DUBAI WORLD CENTRAL, UAE WWW.DUBAIAIRSHOW.AERO

Supersonic business aircraft such as this concept from Spike Aerospace could be carrying passengers on transoceanic routes within six to eight years.

Paper airplanes: billions needed for new super/hypersonic designs

by Rick Adams After Sir Richard Branson launches the first passenger flight of his Virgin Galactic space venture, possibly later this year, he’s indicated that he will turn his attention to developing a supersonic commercial aircraft that can transit from New York to Tokyo (10,800 km; 5,800 nm) in “less than an hour.” He envisions an orbital aircraft, which could reach speeds up to 30,000 kph (16,200 knots).

Branson is not the only billionaire entrepreneur who would like a means of getting to the other side of the world far more quickly. Texas tycoon Robert Bass continues to make substantial investments in support of Aerion’s plans to bring a supersonic business jet to market.

Governments have provided research expertise and funding support in the hundreds of millions of dollars range as well through NASA and DARPA in the U.S., and the UK’s more than $600 million budget for Reaction Engines’ hypersonic dreams.

Then there is Spike Aerospace, whose 12- to 18-passenger,

Mach 1.6 S-512 design is still on paper and not yet taking orders– but it created some buzz earlier this year when Spike announced a “windowless” fuselage. At $100 million or more per aircraft, the company expects to recoup its investment from sales of an estimated 400 to 500 supersonic planes in the next decade, according to Vic Kachoria, president of Spike Aerospace, based in Boston, Massachusetts.

Digital Cabin

Kachoria said due to the lack of windows, it now refers to the “digital cabin.” “You’re going to be able to see outside, but you’re going to get a more enhanced view. The entire length of the fuselage can be one continuous panoramic image,” he explained.

The “outside” that passengers see will not be a direct view. Rather, several small cameras mounted on the exterior of the aircraft will be able to relay images of the day or night sky, projecting them onto a cabin wall that is, in effect, one long, high-resolution display screen.

The Spike S-512’s “digital” cabin allows passengers to control displays on a cabin-long window: movies, video conferences, Powerpoint presentations, or nothing at all.

If you prefer, or whoever has control of the display controls prefers, you can also project a Powerpoint presentation, an Excel spreadsheet, a videoconference, a movie–or nothing, if you’d rather sleep.

Kachoria, who describes himself as a “serial entrepreneur,” said that despite the “Oh, my god, it doesn’t have windows” reaction of some and concerns about claustrophobia, windowless aircraft will be the norm within 20 years. Replacing windows, spurs and supports with a streamlined fuselage is simply one element of increasing the speed envelope.

Spike is “at a very early stage; we have a lot of engineering and design work to do,” Kachoria acknowledged. Spike is currently evaluating the preliminary design it announced last October, performing simulation analysis.

Quiet Enough?

The most challenging part of the process, he thinks, will be securing FAA certification–in part because of new noise regulations.

ICAO’s new Annex 16, Chapter 14 noise standards are expected to be in effect for bizjet category aircraft by 2020, and the company is in discussions about potentially unique requirements for supersonic aircraft as well.

The new noise regulations are also uppermost in mind for Aerion, which announced in May a three-engine concept rather than its original twin-jet design. “The new noise regulations absolutely mandated a new engine,” Aerion CEO Doug Nichols told AIN. “Noise drives the design; noise drives the

64 Farnborough Airshow News • July 15, 2014 • www.ainonline.com

engines. The noise regulations were the cause of moving beyond the [Pratt & Whitney] JT8D turbofan, which Aerion had been planning to use in its original two-engine configuration.

“With three engines, and each engine at two thirds of overall thrust,” Nichols said, “the jet velocity out of each engine is lower, so the overall noise signature is lower.”

The tri-jet design will also be a benefit for long routes over water or uninhabited land areas where unrestricted supersonic speeds are permitted. It also enables a larger cabin compartment, which appeals to some potential customers. But Nichols said the third engine does not fundamentally affect the aircraft’s design.

“We have not discarded all of the work we have done. We have built upon this work.

“We are well along into the conceptual design phase,” Nichols said. “We have spent an inordinate amount of time over the past decade working with NASA in phased approaches to testing our technology in terms of our design tools that allow engineers to know, based upon the wind geometry, when laminar flow can become turbulent, and then optimize the wing so

or other resources, and that’s changing the nature of the discussion.” He said the company hopes to assemble the consortium of key partners “perhaps

by NBAA [the business aviation event in Orlando, Florida, in mid-October].”

Boom or Bust

Gulfstream Aerospace (Chalet J3) continues low-key efforts to research supersonic options, but, said spokesperson Steve Cass, it’s interested only in an aircraft that can be used overland and receive U.S. FAA authorization, that is, one that does not create a discernible sonic boom.

Robert Pearce, NASA’s director for strategy, architecture and analysis in the Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate, told an American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics conference in June, “If we can overcome the challenges of the boom, I think it will become a very important part of the aviation system.”

Further downstream are the hypersonic concepts in the Mach 3+ range. Hypermach Europe Aeronautics announced its SonicStar airframe design in 2011, though it has been low on the radar recently. The company has

Mindful of new noise regulations expected to be effective as of 2020, Aerion is revamping its current SST design as a three-engine concept.

we get the largest possible extent of laminar flow and minimize turbulent flow. And we have tested the robustness of our technology given state-of-theart manufacturing capability.”

Aerion, now 12 years into the project, has resumed searching for an engine manufacturer “in order to converge on the optimum engine propulsion system for the airplane.” Once the new engine is selected, Nichols indicated that Aerion can focus on the aircraft’s performance capability and then proceed into the detailed design phases. Aerion also has not given up looking for an aircraft-manufacturing partner to help it build what is now dubbed the AS2. “We’re driving hard to put all the pieces in place to certify this airplane in late 2021,” he said.

Spokesman Jeff Miller said Bass’s decision to fund the aircraft development means Aerion “is not dependent on the OEM

reportedly conducted some windtunnel tests. Originating as a U.S. company focused on electromagnetic drag-reduction engine technology, SonicBlue Aerospace, Hypermach claims to be “supported by the UK government,” though it has yet to receive any financial support from it.

Oxford-based firm Reaction Engines (run by Alan Bond, of Hotol fame) has secured initial funding of $100 million from the UK government for development of a lightweight engine called Sabre, intended to power Europe’s proposed reusable Mach 5 Skylon spaceplane.

Skylon would operate like an airplane, taking off from and landing on standard runways.

The Sabre engines would function like jet engines at low altitudes and slow speeds, but kick into rocket mode at high altitudes. The European Space Agency thinks Skylon could be flying as early as the 2020s. o

Boeing forecast affirms single-aisle dominance Established trends in predicted long-term jetliner requirements will likely continue with little change to the market breakdown by aircraft size, according to latest Boeing 20-year forecast statistics, which were unveiled in London on the eve of the 2014 Farnborough Airshow. Overall, the U.S. manufacturer foresees global demand during the 2014 to 2033 timeframe for some 36,770 new machines, a 4.2-percent increase over last year’s Current Market Outlook (CMO) said Randy Tinseth, Boeing Commercial Airplanes marketing vice-president, who estimates the market is worth $5.2 trillion (at nominal catalogue prices).

Of the required aircraft, 21,270 (about 58 percent) will service fleet growth with the balance of 15,500 being used to replace current units; retirements will provide “a strong base” for demand. Some 5,410 of the present fleet are expected to remain in service beyond 2033.

Single-aisle (or “narrowbody”) aircraft, accommodating 90 to 230 passengers, will continue to dominate the world’s air-transport landscape, sustaining the trend of the past five years by accounting for almost 70 percent of forecast new commercial-aircraft deliveries (see table). Likewise, small and medium twin-aisle (or “widebody”) designs, with capacities for 200 to 400 travelers, will represent a little more than 20 percent of aircraft expected to enter service in the period.

Among bottom- and topend contenders in the 20-year market, regional jets with up to 90 seats and very-large aircraft (VLAs, dubbed “large twin-aisles” by Boeing) holding 400-plus occupants are seen as representing just 6.8-percent and 1.7-percent shares, respectively.

The single-aisle market is projected to need 25,680 new airplanes, driven by the “continued emergence” of low-cost carriers. Based on “overwhelming orders and [predicted] deliveries,” Boeing sees the heart of the single-aisle market as being around 160 seats, the size of the Boeing 737-800 and competing Airbus A320. “There’s no question the market is converging to this size, where network flexibility and cost efficiency meet,” said Tinseth.

Single-aisle Dominance

Having been steady in Boeing predictions for the past halfdecade, the single-aisle market’s 69.8-percent share of 2014-2033 deliveries represents a strong increase for the sector, which had accounted for 59.1 percent of forecast 20-year demand in 2004.

Tinseth said that “about 36-37 percent” of the projected singleaisle demand is already covered by manufacturers’ order backlogs.

The growth has come very much at the expense of the industry’s regional jet element, which declined from a 17.1-percent share of projected deliveries 10 years ago to single digits with the onset of the global financial crisis in 2008.

Indeed, the regional jet share of Boeing’s forecast fell to less than 6 percent in 2011-2013 editions, before showing a slight recovery this year to a 6.8 percent share of expected deliveries between now and 2033.

Nevertheless, Tinseth sees the regional jet market as having “truly stabilized” and he expects it to grow. “That’s where our next competition is coming from,” he said. Single-aisle and regional jet designs have represented a consistent combined share of between 73 percent and 76 percent throughout the past 10 editions of the

Boeing’s Commercial-aircraft Market Forecast (2014-33) Airplane type Seats Regional jets 90 and below Single-aisle 90 – 230 Small twin-aisle 200 – 300 Medium twin-aisle 300 – 400 Large widebody 400 and above Total Source: Boeing Commercial Market Outlook

Deliveries 2,490 25,680 4,520 3,460 620 36,770

Value $ 100 billion $2,560 billion $1,140 billion $1,160 billion $ 240 billion $5,200 billion

DAVID McINTOSH

by Ian Goold

Israel selected the Alenia M-346 for advanced training, joining Italy and Singapore as operators of the type.

First of 30 M346 Advanced Trainers delivered to israel Alenia Aermacchi (Outdoor Exhibit 1) delivered the first two M-346 advanced trainers to the Israel Air and Space Force (IASF) last week. The two aircraft were ferried from Alenia Aermacchi’s factory at Varese-Venegono, northwest of Milan, to their new home at the Hatzerim air base near Be’er Sheva in the Negev desert. Upon receipt of the aircraft, Israel became the third nation to operate the M-346, after Italy and Singapore.

Israel selected the M-346 in February 2012 to replace its elderly McDonnell Douglas A-4N, TA-4H and TA-4J Skyhawks of the 102 “The Flying Tigers” Squadron, which are operated in the advanced training and fighter lead-in roles. Contract signature for 30 aircraft was finalized on July 19 of that year, by which time Israel had announced that it would name the aircraft “Lavi” in IASF service.

The first M-346 Lavi rolled out at Venegono in March. In addition to the two delivered, a further six Lavis are in the final assembly process and component assembly has started on another five aircraft. All 30 are due for delivery to Hatzerim by the end of 2016. As well as the aircraft, the IAF is receiving related ground-based training systems.

When deliveries of all the M-346s have been made, the IASF will have completed a major overhaul of its training fleet. Primary training is undertaken on the Grob G-120A-I Snunit, of which 17 were procured, while basic training is handled by the Textron Beechcraft T-6A Efroni (Texan II). Twenty T-6As were delivered from July 2009 –D.D. to allow the retirement of the IAI Tzukit, an upgraded version of the Fouga Magister.

market forecast document.

The world’s airlines will require almost 8,000 new airplanes in the combined small and medium-sized twin-aisle market segments that, like the combined smaller sectors, have been very consistent over the past 10 years, according to the CMO (which this year makes its 50th appearance in the public domain). At 7,980 units, the 21.6 percent share is one percentage point higher now than ten years ago and has hovered between that level and 23.3 percent throughout 2004-2014.

Very-large Aircraft

Finally, AIN analysis shows Boeing’s forecast statistics for very-large aircraft (VLA) very much yo-yoing from year to year since 2003. While the 2012 prediction of 20-year demand for 790 such machines duplicated the requirement foreseen back in 2004, the U.S. manufacturer’s perception of the 20-year market was as high as 960-990 during 2006-2008, the first three years following its launch of the 747-8 in late 2005.

After falling to 720 in 2010, the VLA market forecast rose to 820 in 2011 before declining once more through 760 last year to the latest prediction of just 620 units.

Proportionally, the sector has accounted for between 2 and 3 percent of the global market during 2004-2013, with projections falling below the lower value only in the 2014 edition of the CMO, the first since Boeing launched its

777X variants late last year.

The Asia-Pacific airline market (including China) will continue to lead the way in deliveries, according to Tinseth. Some 13,460, 37 percent of global requirements, will be needed in the region, with North America and Europe each accounting for about another 20 percent, or around 7,500 machines. Likewise, Latin America and the Middle East

will each take about 2,950 airplanes, or 8 percent.

Airline traffic is seen as growing by 5 percent a year, with passenger numbers escalating by a slightly smaller 4.2 percent annually as average stage lengths increase steadily.

Annual air cargo traffic is predicted to go up by 4.7 percent, ahead of world economic growth put by Boeing at 3.2 percent per year. o

Dunlop Wins Tire Deal With Chinese Airline China’s first privately owned regional airline has awarded Birmingham, England’s Dunlop Aircraft Tyres (Hall 4 Stand D10) a three-year deal to supply tires for its expanding fleet of regional airliners. Under the agreement, Dunlop will support China Express Airlines’ Bombardier CRJ900 NextGen regional jets.

The Guiyang-based airline operates nine of the 75-seat jets and expects to expand the fleet to 12 by the end of this year and to 30 by 2016. The aircraft operate services to cities including Chongqing, Ganzhou and Guiyang, Each aircraft uses six tires–two on the nose wheel and four on the main wheels.

“We will provide China Express Airlines with new tires that have been made at our factory in the UK. They will be then distributed from and retreaded at our joint venture facility in Jinjiang, China,” said Ian Edmondson, chairman of Dunlop Aircraft Tyres.

“By making use of our operation in Jinjiang, the airline will be able to return tires for retreading at a facility that is efficient and that is ideally located for quick and easy shipping to and from its hub airports.”

Dunlop exports more than 80 percent of its UK-made products, largely to operators of Embraer E-Jets. Dunlop has supported E170 and E175 operators for 10 years, starting with LOT Polish Airlines in March 2004. In fact, the majority of E170s and E175s in service use Dunlop tires.

Other notable operators flying with Dunlop tires include Republic Airways, Air Canada, Compass Airlines, EgyptAir Express, Flybe, LOT Polish Airlines, Saudi Arabian Airlines and Trip.

–G.P.

www.ainonline.com • July 15, 2014 • Farnborough Airshow News 65

Waypoint Leasing starts sophomore year in style funding, so they took a risk with me, and it’s worked out.”

U.S.-based Waypoint now has on lease a fleet of 44 aircraft from AgustaWestland, Airbus Helicopters, Bell Helicopter and Sikorsky Aircraft Corp. worth some $500 million, and orders for an additional 80 helicopters valued at more than $1 billion, including expected deliveries of AW109s, AW169s and AW189s in 2014 and 2015. The fleet is leased to a broad range of helicopter operators in 14 countries, supporting oil and gas missions, emergency medical services, search and rescue, firefighting, governmental support and other operations.

“We’re making the aircraft more accessible for operators and ultimately end users, and lowering their costs,” Washecka said of Waypoint and other helicopterleasing firms established in recent years. “Now customers don’t need to make down payments or put down a deposit for a delivery position years in advance.”

By this time next year, Washecka expects Waypoint to have “well north of a billion” dollars in assets. o

DAVID McINTOSH

AgustaWestland, a division of Finmeccanica (Outdoor Exhibit 1), congratulated Waypoint Leasing here at the Farnborough Airshow 2014 on the rotor leasing firm’s first year of operation, which kicked off in March 2013 with an order for GrandNew, AW169, AW139 and AW189s from the OEM. “Our relationship has strengthened and expanded since then, and we are continuing to deliver Waypoint the most modern range of high performance helicopters available in the market today,” an AgustaWestland spokesman said.

“Finmeccanica-AgustaWestland congratulates Waypoint on its success over the past year and looks forward to building on our successful partnership in the future.”

Waypoint CEO Ed Washecka purchased the helicopters on behalf of clients before founding his leasing company, and that relationship formed the foundation for their relationship today. “The AgustaWestland deal is the first one Waypoint signed, Washecka said. “They entered into this contract before I had closed on my

little buddy A Farnborough veteran, Airbus’s massive A400M transport takes the company’s E-Fan electric two-seater under its wing for its first-ever visit.

Waypoint Leasing bought its first helicopters from AgustaWestland on behalf of clients but before closing on funding. The AW169 shown here is at Farnborough on AgustaWestland’s static display.

UAV sector provides new biz for Lycoming

by Matt Thurber Textron’s Lycoming Engines division has found new markets for its man-rated piston engines in the unmanned aerial systems (UAS) segment. For Lycoming, which is celebrating its 85th year manufacturing aircraft engines, its participation in current UAS developments isn’t the company’s first foray into providing engines for unmanned aircraft.

During World War II in the Pacific theater, the Lycoming 435 series, a geared piston engine, flew in a twin-engine Interstate TDR-1 drone that was controlled by a pilot flying nearby in a TBF Avenger. “Our products are multiuse,” said Lycoming senior v-p and general manager Michael Kraft. “An aviation engine is an aviation engine whether the pilot is in the aircraft or on the ground.”

Although the UAS market is relatively small for Lycoming, representing about 10 percent of its business, recent events make piston engines an attractive option for UAS power, Kraft explained. “It is an interesting part of our business. The fact is these are specialty aircraft, not in high volume like general aviation, but it’s an important business.”

Lycoming currently supplies three types of engines for the UAS market, a diesel cycle engine that runs on jet fuel, a sparkignited multi-fuel burning engine and a gasoline-burning engine.

Aerosonde, which is a business unit of Textron operating unit AAI, manufactures the Aerosonde Mk4.7G, powered by the Lycoming EL-005 multi-fuel engine. The engine has a single-cylinder and displaces five cubic inches and is aircooled, direct-injected and sparkignited and thus can run on easily obtainable jet fuel. The Aerosonde small UAS is on display here at the Textron stand (Outdoor Exhibit L2). It was the first unmanned aircraft to make an Atlantic crossing, in 1998, a flight that took 26 hours, 45 minutes.

66 Farnborough Airshow News • July 15, 2014 • www.ainonline.com

The Northrop Grumman Firebird is also Lycoming-powered. A medium-altitude long-endurance UAS, the Firebird’s engine is a gas-powered Lycoming TEO-540, similar to the Lycoming found in

MARK WAGNER

by James Wynbrandt

“To move to the next stage of UAS operation in the national airspace, you have to move reliability of those vehicles to a much higher level,” he said.

“Lycoming has brought to the game a company very focused in aviation for a long time. We know what the elements are to ensure propulsion reliability and thus make this a reliable element of the manned-unmanned teaming situation. We can’t have the weak link be the unmanned [air-

Textron’s Aerosonde Mk4.7G is powered by the Lycoming EL-005 multi-fuel engine.

many general aviation aircraft, but with Fadec digital controls.

The Firebird, which is optionally manned, is ideal for launching from areas where more infrastructure is available and for flying at higher altitudes, according to Kraft. “We’re seeing that every aircraft is a specialty vehicle.” And the appropriate propulsion is critical to the vehicle’s success.

Another critical factor for successful UAS operation is reliability of the powerplant, he explained. “There’s a much larger picture here; the reason for Lycoming’s involvement in the UAS segment gets to operation of UAVs in the national airspace system.” While protocols for sharing airspace with manned aircraft have not yet come into play, it is an important factor for future UAS operations.

craft] part. Reliability is going to approach that of manned aircraft, and that’s going to push the requirements and expectations of UAVs and operation in the national airspace. It’s a great way to onramp some of our advanced technology.”

Lycoming’s own global service and support infrastructure makes it easier to support Textron’s UAS clients from technical publications to fast AOG response.

“It’s a big part of being able to support aviation propulsion,” Kraft said. “UAVs have suffered from companies that don’t have the infrastructure and financial stability that Lycoming and Textron have. This is our business, and we have the wherewithal to make it happen from design to technology development to logistics and support.” o

IAI gets helicopter safety into the mix

by Gregory Polek and Charles Alcock Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) is introducing new helicopter safety technology that allows flight in degraded visual environments. The program is an example of how the group is diversifying its activities to achieve a more balanced portfolio between civil and defense markets. Another example is its new TaxiBot system for more fuel-efficient airliner taxiing, which has just completed certification testing at Germany’s Frankfurt International Airport.

The helicopter safety system, which is being unveiled at the Farnborough International Airshow this week, features staring radar, advanced processing algorithms and cockpit multifunctional display integration.

The technology allows for lowaltitude flight under all weather conditions, light levels and visibilities, as well as for safe landing in brown-out conditions by alerting the pilot of electrical power lines and other ground obstacles.

The system generates a synthetic image of terrain, highlighting flight obstacles such as power lines and their supporting towers or poles. Offering a 95-percent

detection probability for power lines, it comprises two 30- by 40-centimeter (11.8 inch by 15.7 inch) antennas, requires just 250 watts of power and weighs 30 kilograms (66 pounds). The system has successfully undergone flight tests and can perform realtime demonstration flights.

Smarter Taxiing

TaxiBot is a semi-robotic, pilot-controlled vehicle designed to move airplanes between airport gates and runways. The company conducted tests on a Lufthansa Boeing 737 with the support of Boeing and the European Aviation Safety Agency.

IAI plans to conduct an in-service evaluation on commercial flights departing Frankfurt following certification approval.

Meanwhile, IAI has completed assembly of a TaxiBot model designed for widebody airplanes, and has started dynamic driving tests at the factory of ground support equipment group TLD near Tours in France. The system allows aircraft to taxi without running their main engines, resulting in significant fuel savings and reduced pollution.

Even under extreme conditions,above, helicopters can operate safely. IAI’s innovative avionics generates a synthetic vision view of the terrain and obstacles, such as power lines.

IAI president and CEO Joseph Weiss, right, is leading the group’s efforts to achieve a balanced portfolio of civil and defense products with new initiatives such as the TaxiBot airliner taxiing system.

The TaxiBot program represents a new opportunity for IAI in an air transport market that has otherwise been somewhat disappointing for the group due to softening demand for the passenger-to-freighter conversions offered by its Bedek Aviation division.

IAI president and CEO Joseph Weiss told AIN that the group benefits from having a good balance between civil and defense markets to compensate for fluctuating levels of demand. “There are fields [in civil aerospace] that are in better shape, such as subassemblies and assemblies for

commercial aircraft, which pushes us towards activities involving advanced technologies and automation,” he said.

Efforts to achieve a balanced business portfolio have seen IAI pursuing further diversification to be active beyond aviation. “The company maintains a diversified defense-related portfolio covering aviation, space, maritime, land systems as well as cyber,” said Weiss. “We aim that in about five to six years our land-related activities may well represent more than 20 percent of the company’s total sales and maritime-related activities will also increase significantly.”

MRJ mockup features traditional artwork

by James Wynbrandt

DAVID McINTOSH

Japan’s Mitsubishi Aircraft Corp. has brought a new touch to the interior of its Mitsubishi Regional Jet (MRJ) mockup on display here at the Farnborough

Airshow: a flanking pair of cabin dividers decorated with the traditional Japanese “Urushi-nuri Maki-e” lacquer art, created in collaboration with Wajima, a well

known Urushi producer. One panel is fronted by an image of Mt. Fuji, the other by a Mejiro bird, and both are backed by ivy vines common in Japan.

“This is just a concept, to feel [the spirit of] Japan,” said Noriyoshi Saito, MRJ product marketing manager. “We don’t know if the dividers can be certified, [but] we wanted to show Japanese hospitality along with the hardware.”

The company also wants to make the point that the MRJ represents the finest in Japanese craftsmanship, just as Urushi-nuri does. The 26-foot long mockup contains two rows of business class and three rows of slim-line economy class seats, all made by Zodiac, separated by the lacquered cabin dividers. The distance between the rows of seats in economy varies from 29 to 32 inches, so potential customers can see and compare the difference in possible cabin configurations.

Mitsubishi’s MRJ cabin mockup here at Farnborough shows dividers decorated in traditional Japanese “Urushi-nuri Maki-e” lacquer art. Mitsubishi’s Noriyo “No No” Ueda helps visitors explore the cabin.

The group is continuing to invest heavily in medium- to long-term research and development, with a strong emphasis on unmanned aerial systems, missile defense systems and intelligence systems.

Geographical diversification is another important aspect of IAI’s strategy and the group has shown a willingness to commit capital for mergers and acquisitions. For instance, it has just set up a new cyber development business called Custodio in Singapore. “We continue to look for suitable companies for acquisition and joint ventures,” said Weiss. o

Featuring the tallest and widest cabin in class, the MRJ (Outdoor Exhibit E7) also boasts the largest overhead bins in class, accommodating two IATA maximum-size roller suitcases each. “The bigger the bin, the less frustration for passengers and the lower the boarding time,” Saito said. An onboard wheelchair makes the lavatory wheelchair accessible. “For this size aircraft, that’s not very usual, but we want to be kind and open [the aircraft] for those disabled people, as well,” said Saito.

Rockwell Collins will provide the avionics for the aircraft, developed from its Pro Line avionics suite for business jets, which Saito notes are often better equipped than commercial airliners. “Of course the operator [of a regional jet] is cost conscious, so we’re not bringing everything” from a high-end business jet avionics suite into the MRJ. After three major delays, the company feels the MRJ’s developmental problems are behind it, with first flight scheduled for next year and deliveries to launch customer All Nippon Airways set to begin in 2017.

For skeptics in attendance at the airshow, the mockup “is one of the approaches [we’re using] to convince people there will actually be an aircraft,” said Saito. And one that will feature the highest level of Japanese craftsmanship, he might have added. o

www.ainonline.com • July 15, 2014 • Farnborough Airshow News 67

by Bill Carey The U.S. Army’s 1-229th Attack Reconnaissance Battalion (ARB), based at Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington state, has fielded the latest model Boeing AH-64E Apache Guardian attack helicopter in Afghanistan with impressive results, Army and Boeing officials said. The deployment has also afforded the “Tigersharks” an opportunity to direct unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) using the AH-64E’s UAS tactical datalink.

The 1-229th ARB, the Army’s first unit equipped with AH-64Es, achieved initial operational capability of the helicopter in November and deployed to Afghanistan with 24 Guardians in March. “The Echo model is more fuel efficient, more powerful and just as lethal as the Delta model, but it’s more lethal because of the situational awareness we can give to the pilot,” said Col. Jeffrey Hager, the Army’s Apache program manager.

Col. John Lynch, the Army’s Training and Doctrine Command capability manager for reconnaissance and attack, said AH-64Es had accumulated 1,700 hours in Afghanistan between March and late June. Pilots were able to manage unmanned aircraft using E models equipped with the mast-mounted UAS tactical common datalink assembly (UTA) supplied by the Longbow LLC partnership

of Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman. With the UTA fitted above the main rotor, AH-64E pilots can control MQ-1C Gray Eagle and RQ-7 Shadow UAS to Level 4–full flight except takeoff and landing. In this mannedunmanned teaming role, Apaches will fulfill the armed aerial scout mission long served by OH-58D Kiowa Warriors, which the Army is retiring. “They’re actually working with Gray Eagles in theater as much as they can to practice and take advantage of situational awareness,” Lynch said of the 1-229th ARB. Link 16 a ‘Game Changer’

In August, the Army will test AH-64E capability lot 4, which among other updates adds the Link 16 tactical datalink, enabling Apache pilots to communicate and disseminate information in near real-time with other aircraft, ships and ground forces. Link 16 will be a “game changer” for the Apache, Lynch said.

Hager and Lynch spoke with reporters during a press trip Boeing (Chalet B6) sponsored to its Apache assembly plant in Mesa, Arizona, last month. In a separate briefing, Mike Burke, a former U.S. Army brigadier general who recently retired as Boeing’s director of business development for attack helicopters, said the Guardian’s composite main rotor blades, new transmission and improved

E-Models Built in Mesa

Last year, Boeing stopped production of D-model Apaches in Mesa, where only AH-64Es are assembled now for the Army and foreign military sales customers. The E-models are built with new fuselages supplied by Korea Aerospace Industries from Sacheon, South Korea, and components disassembled and repaired from older Apaches by Science Engineering Services (SES) in Huntsville, Alabama.

Jeff Riedel, Boeing director of Apache production, estimated that 12 percent of AH-64E components are remanufactured.

Boeing said it delivered 82 AH-64D/E-models to U.S. and foreign militaries last year.

It had delivered 117 E-model Apaches, including 48 to international customers, from October 2011 through May 2014.

The U.S. Army plans to buy a total of 690 E models.

Burke said other Apaches are operating from Navy ships in the Arabian Gulf, defending naval formations from swarms of small boats. “The U.S. Navy has concluded the Apache does that better than anything else,” he said. In the Pacific, AH-64Es are conducting interoperability-training exercises from Navy ships. The UK Royal Navy operates Apache AH Mk1s from the

Boeing flew an AH64E Apache and an AH-6i light attack/ reconnaissance helicopter in close proximity over the desert near its production facility in Mesa, Arizona.

PHOTOS: BILL CAREY

New E-model Apache deploys in Afghanistan

General Electric T700-GE701D engines have produced a more powerful Apache.

“The aircraft has performed very, very well. It’s flying more time than its D-model counterpart today because of the sustainability of the aircraft,” Burke declared. “The aircraft can now get to the fight quicker than they used to with a full load of ammunition.”

HMS Ocean, a helicopter carrier and assault ship.

Boeing also briefed reporters on its AH-6i light-attack/ reconnaissance helicopter, for which the Saudi Arabia National Guard is the planned launch customer. The manufacturer estimates a worldwide market for 700 to 715 of the single-turbine helicopters based on the Hughes OH-6A Cayuse. It is also upgrading the AH-6M variant U.S. special operations forces use to a Block 3 configuration.

The manufacturer is also working with the Korea Air Aerospace Division on a program to convert a Republic of Korea Army MD-500D to an optionally piloted helicopter, known as the H-6U Unmanned Little Bird (ULB).

Boeing has logged more than 1,700 hours flying the ULB as an unmanned platform.

“We’ve been demonstrating quite a bit on this aircraft,” said Dino Cerchie, Boeing ULB program manager. o

Voss Industries Pursuing Russia, China Relationships

A Boeing AH-64E Apache Guardian skirts the Arizona desert during a demonstration the OEM conducted for reporters last month.

68 Farnborough Airshow News • July 15, 2014 • www.ainonline.com

Voss Industries is displaying examples of its high-performance coupling devices, bulge-formed ducting components and fabricated subassemblies at its Farnborough Airshow exhibit (Hall 4 Stand C11). The company, headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio, specializes in the aerospace and industrial markets and is the parent company of Voss Aerospace.

Voss Industries was founded by William Voss, a mechanical engineer who designed and manufactured clamps in his spare time, eventually forming Voss Engineering with his wife, Marianne, in 1957. The aerospace side of the business was launched when Voss “solved an emergency problem on the Boeing 747,” according to the company.

Now Boeing is one of the company’s largest customers, which include BAE Systems, General Electric Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman and Raytheon.

Voss Industries’ exhibit at the Farnborough Airshow “allows us to better understand our current customers as well as develop new partnerships,” said president Daniel Sedor. “It is a great opportunity to gain insight into emerging technologies that will impact our global customers in coming years, especially as we embark on new paths with Russian –M.T. and Chinese clients.”

Boeing CEO announces plan for high-capacity 737 Max 8 Boeing plans to offer a “minor model” of the 737 Max 8 that would increase seating capacity from 189 to 200 seats and cut seat-mile costs by 5 percent.

Revealing the plans during a “roundtable” discussion on Sunday in London, Boeing Commercial Airplanes CEO Ray Conner told reporters that Ryanair “would be a candidate” for the new version and that the Max 8 would follow to market the second Max model, the 7379, now scheduled for certification in the third quarter of 2018.

Conner said the gross weight of the airplane would increase “a little bit,” making trip mile costs less than 1 percent higher. Boeing (Chalet B1-6) would not stretch the fuselage to make room for the 11 extra seats, but rather simply add an extra exit door in the mid fuselage to meet emergency egress requirements and squeeze seat pitch from the usual standard of 31 inches to roughly 29 inches.

“When you look at where we think we are with the engine, where we know we are with the airframe, that airplane will be 20 percent better on a per-seat basis in terms of fuel efficiency than the [737800NG],” said Conner. “It’s pretty amazing that we’ve gotten that far on the Max in such a short period of time. With the new exit door we’re just taking advantage of the 88 inches of extra space in comparison to an A320.”

Asked to explain the seeming switch from Boeing’s earlier insistence that it would not do anything to distract it from its focus on getting the three main models to market on time, Conner stressed the company’s growing confidence in the schedules it has set for the Max. “We got a lot more comfortable with where we were and where we are,” he said. “The airplane performance has continued to improve over the course of the year. So I just think it was a matter of comfort, and a matter of whether or not the customer base really showed a lot of interest in that airplane and we’ve certainly had interest in the airplane.”

The move counters Airbus’s recent decision to increase the seating capacity of the A320 from 180 to 189 seats. But according to Boeing sales chief John Wojick, Airbus will need to shrink seat pitch in the A320 to less than 28 inches to arrive at its target of 189 seats.

On the prospect of a new single-aisle airplane to fill a market niche covering a seating capacity above that of the 737 Max 9, Conner remained noncommittal. “We haven’t got anything defined at this point in time,” he said. “We have the 737 Max, the whole family, that will carry us into the mid-2020s. We’re constantly thinking about it. It’s a spot that’s not filled today, so you would think about it.” o

Adding an exit door and compressing seat pitch will yield a 200-passenger version of the 737, the Max 8.

Putin praises Rosoboronexport for its worldwide market share

by Vladimir Karnozov Rosoboronexport, Russia’s defense export agency, continues to benefit from backing by President Vladimir Putin.

Speaking at a late April meeting of the Commission for Military Technical Cooperation with Foreign Countries, Putin claimed that Russia is second only to the U.S. in terms of volume of military shipments, with a 27-percent market share.

“Last year [2013], the export of Russian wares and services relating to the military technical cooperation rose by 3 percent, and exceeded $15.7 billion,” reported Putin. Rosoboronexport (Chalet A2) and its partner companies take part in some two dozen international trade shows in pursuit of export opportunities. Beyond the Commonwealth of Independent States, sales success has also come from India, Venezuela, Algeria, China, Indonesia and Vietnam. Latin America is also now viewed as a key growth market for Russian technology.

To further promote Russian products worldwide, Putin has urged Rosoboronexport to assist Russian defense firms in providing more modern and flexible financial instruments to support military sales. He also is encouraging the industry to improve the performance of its aftersales support, as well as to forge more international joint ventures and alliances.

Dialing for Rubles

ribbon falls at u.s. pavilion Wielding “scissors of honor” at the opening of the U.S. pavilion are, left to right: Gerri Gozic, director of aerospace and defense programs, Kallman Worldwide; Marion Blakey, president and CEO Aerospace Industries Association; Richard Shelby, U.S Senator (R-Al); Deborah Lee James, Secretary U.S. Air Force; Tom Kallman, president and CEO, Kallman Worldwide; Matthew Barzun, U.S. ambassador to the Court of St. James’s; and Ken Hyatt, U.S. Deputy Under Secretary for International Trade.

Putin also called for the Russian industry to boost its share of the growing world market for air defense systems.

More than 70 countries operate Russianmade air defense systems and the country claims to be responsible for one-third of all shipments of such systems.

“By technical and combat parameters, reliability and ease of operation, the S-300, S-400 and Pantsyr-S1 [air defense systems] are definite market leaders,” Putin claimed. He called on the Russian

industry to boost its capabilities in the area of air-launched weapons.

Rosoboronexport is responsible for some 80 percent of Russian defense exports, working with more than 700 military equipment enterprises and selling products to 70 countries. According to director general Anatoly Isaikin, last year his organization set another record, by delivering weapons worth $13.2 billion.

Russian defense export agency Rosoboronexport exhibits at around two dozen trade shows each year.

This figure increased four-fold between 2001 and 2013, and at the end of last year the combined backlog stood at $38 billion.

Rosoboronexport is increasing the availability of export-credit funding, especially for Asian and African states. Government-to-government deals involving loans will continue to be used, but Isaikin believes commercial credits are more flexible and easier to arrange, since the largest Russian financial institutions, such as Savings Bank, VEB and VTB, “trust us more today then they used to.” For example, Angola bought 18 Su-30K ex-Indian air force fighters in a deal made possible through a commercial credit line opened

by Russian banks.

Barter deals continue to be attractive, when a foreign customer takes Russian weaponry in return for rights to explore oil fields or other natural resources. Natural resources are in high demand, because they can readily be converted into cash.

Rosoboronexport and a group of Russian investors are close to clinching several barter deals along these lines. o

www.ainonline.com • July 15, 2014 • Farnborough Airshow News 69

MARK WAGNER

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