paris airshow news 6-20-11

ParisAir Show NewsTM

Vol. 43 No. 13

6•20•2011

PUBLICATIONS

MONDAY

Hybrid Rotorcraft Powerplants Going Green Combat Aircraft In the News AINonline’s Paris Videos

Eurocopter’s X3 Demonstrator makes its international debutCall it the “X-cubed” and watch what the innovative rotorcraft can do in the flying display. Hint: It flies fast! Pages 4 and 68

Narrowbody power struggleEngine makers square off in fight for technology choices for the next-generation A320 and 737 replacements. Page 40

Safran/Honeywell joint venture wantsairplanes to taxi greenlyAPU would power electric motors on the landing gear to taxi airplanes from ramp to runway. Page 86

Dassault Rafale proves its mettle over Libya Page 72Lockheed Martin F-35 battles budget woes Page 82USAF extends U-2’s life as Global Hawk falters Page 85

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Boeing basks in Sunrise’s glow as Intercontinental bows at show by Gregory Polek

The first Boeing 747-8 Intercontinen-tal flew into a blustery Le Bourget Air-port Sunday morning, fittingly marking its international airshow debut in its dis-tinctive reddish-orange Sunrise livery.

In fact, the sun never set on 747 pro-gram chief test pilot Mark Feuerstein and his co-pilot, BBJ president Steve Taylor, during their nine-hour, 52-min-ute flight from Seattle’s Boeing Field to Le Bourget. Completing a 4,400-nm Great Circle route over Greenland and Scotland’s isle of Islay, RC001 landed on Le Bourget’s Runway 25 at 9:30 a.m. The pilots reported a virtually flawless first international flight for the first 747-8I prototype.

“We received a lot of attention coming into Paris,” commented Feuerstein. “It’s an enormous privilege to bring the air-plane to Paris for its debut…It’s an easy airplane to fly and truly is one of the fin-est flying airplanes in the sky today.”

On hand for the event, Rob Pollack, Boeing vice president of brand marketing, explained the reasoning behind the choice of the airplane’s unique paint scheme. The “Sunrise” color, he said, represents pros-perity and good luck in eastern cultures. Aiming to market the airplane largely in the Far East and India, Boeing chose the livery largely to appeal to those markets.

The airplane, one of five Boeing jetlin-ers that are on display at Paris, will remain

on show until June 21, when it will return to flight-test activity.

Elizabeth Lund, 747-8 program man-ager, told AIN that the two Interconti-nental flight-test aircraft have now flown some 300 hours, roughly a third of the expected total needed for certification. The OEM hopes to gain certification for the passenger version of the 747-8 by the end of the year.

Boeing expects the freighter version of the model, the 747-8F, to arrive in Le Bourget today by about 5 p.m. Lund said the company has completed 96 percent of the testing for that program and expects certification sometime late this summer (see related story on page 84). o

Honeywell goes green with bioflightby Kirby J. Harrison

Honeywell made history here in Paris on Saturday morning, landing its Gulfstream G450 jet at Le Bourget after the first transatlantic flight using bio-fuel. The trip’s green credentials can be measured in the 5.5 metric tons of car-bon dioxide (CO2) saved in the course of the seven-hour flight from the New York-area Morristown Airport.

In fact, the aircraft crossed the Pond only partly powered by biofuel. The G450’s fuel system was set so that num-ber-one (left) engine burned a 50/50 blend of “Honeywell Green Jet Fuel” and stan-dard jet-A fuel, while the other engine consumed pure jet-A.

Adding to the “greening” of the 2011 Paris Air Show is the expected arrival today of a Boeing 747-8F also using Honeywell’s

James Rekoske, v-p and general manager of renewable energy and chemicals for Honeywell UOP, is all smiles after the flight.

Boeing’s new 747-8 Intercontinental says, “Bonjour,” to the City of Light as “Sunrise” kisses the tarmac at Le Bourget Airport yesterday morning. The pilots reported a virtually flawlesss flight on the 4,400-nm Great Circle route from Seattle.

Continued on page 85 u

> Honeywell’s transatlantic biofuel flight

> EADS Zehst aircraft concept

> Superjet bounced landing at Le Bourget

> Boeing 747 Intercontinental

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Paris Airshow News is a publication of The Convention News Co., Inc., 214 Franklin Ave., Midland Park, NJ 07432; Tel.: (201) 444-5075. Copyright © 2010. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission of The Convention News Co., Inc. is strictly prohibited. The Convention News Co., Inc. also publishes Aviation International News, AINalerts, AIN Defense Perspective, AIN Air Transport Perspective, AINmx Reports, Business Jet Traveler, EBACE Convention News, HAI Convention News, MEBA Conven-tion News, NBAA Convention News, Dubai Airshow News, Paris Airshow News, Singapore Airshow News.

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ParisAir Show NewsTM

EnginE gEarbox glitch DampEns airbus a400m’s lE bourgEt DEbutAn engine gearbox anomaly picked up during flight testing of an Airbus A400M has prompted Airbus Mil-

itary to withdraw its new military transport aircraft from the daily flying program here at the Paris Air Show. “The A400M had a small incident with the gearbox of one aircraft,” said Airbus Military CEO

Domingo Ureña. “We are waiting for the full analysis before restarting flight tests.”

This is a further setback to the A400M program, fol-lowing an issue with cracks in its huge (17-foot diameter) counter-rotating propellers, but not serious enough to ground the aircraft. Therefore, one of the four prototypes was permitted to fly to Le Bourget and to take part in the show’s opening fly-past with the Patrouille de France. Afterward, it will be placed back in the static park for the show week.

The four flying A400Ms have completed more than 1,400 hours of flight testing in some 450 flights, and a fifth aircraft is being prepared for its first flight.

Certification of the A400M to civil standards is planned by the end of the year and first delivery–which will be to the French air force–around the end of 2012.

Airbus Military has 170 firm orders for the A400M from the seven partner nations (Belgium, France, Germany, Luxembourg, Spain, Turkey and the UK) and four from Malaysia, for a total of 174. The model is anticipated to be named “Atlas” sometime this summer. –I.S.

Airbus uses A350 delays to challenge Boeing 777by Ian Sheppard

Airbus has revealed that first deliveries of its A350XWB-800 and A350XWB-1000 will be delayed by two years–to mid-2016 and mid-2017, respectively. At a briefing in Paris on Satur-day, it claimed the delay of the -1000 would allow it to boost the payload-range performance to better match the Boeing 777-300ER, which is something its customers have been requesting.

“The A350-1000 now sits right on top of the 777-300ER,” insisted Fabrice Bré-gier, Airbus COO, who added that the price for the -1000 would be increased by $9 mil-lion to reflect the enhancement.

According to Rolls-Royce president Mark King, the Trent XWB engine, which powers the

A350-1000, will have its maxi-mum rated thrust increased from 93,000 to 97,000 pounds, although the only difference from the engines powering the other variants will be a slightly larger (scaled up) core, and the insertion of various technol-ogy refinements flowing from its Advance 3 technology dem-onstrator program.

The result is that the A350-1000 will be able to fly about 400 nm farther (8,400 nm with a full load of 350 passengers), or carry 4.5 tons more payload. It will be created by adding five frames in the aft fuselage sec-tion and six frames in the front section to stretch the base-line A350-900. The -1000 will require some strengthening

linked to the higher mtow, and a further optimized wing.

King confirmed that, in return for its further investment of time and money, Rolls-Royce is now the exclusive engine supplier for the A350-1000, although not for the A350-800 and A350-900. Airbus COO for customers John Leahy said that

no customer had yet asked for an alternative engine.

Currently, six Trent XWB engines are being tested, with flight testing of one of the engines on an A380 due to start by the end of this year. The higher thrust version of the engine is scheduled to run for the first time in mid-2014. o

x-ratED hybriD prEmiErEs in parisThe first public flight of Eurocopter’s X3 hybrid demonstrator will take place today at the Paris Air Show. It is powered by a five-blade main rotor system and two propellers on short-span fixed wings (see page 68).

With the the Airbus A350XWB delayed for two years, the A380 remains queen of the skies. Airbus said at a briefing Saturday that the delay of the -1000 would allow it boost performance to better match Boeing’s 777-300ER.

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Irkut proceeds on MC-21 narrowbodyby Vladimir Karnozov & Charles Alcock

With a budget of close to $7 billion, the MC-21 narrowbody airliner is the most ambitious and expensive civilian aeronau-tical project ever attempted by a Russian company. Irkut, part of Russia’s United Aircraft Corp. (UAC) is leading the program. Its goal is for deliveries to start in 2016 and for annual production to reach a rate of 70 airframes.

There will be three members of the MC-21 family with a standard range of 1,900 nm, rising to 2,700 nm for an ER (extended-range) version. In all-economy-class con-figurations with a 32-inch seat pitch, the MC-21-200 offers 150 seats, while the MC-21-300 will have 181 seats and the MC-21-400 will have 212. In addition to stretched fuselage, the MC-21-400 model features a wing span that is almost four feet longer than that of the other types.

At last year’s Farnborough airshow, Malaysia’s Crecom Burj Resources became the MC-21’s launch customer. By February of this year, Irkut was

claiming around 150 orders and commitments for an aircraft that competes with Airbus’s new A320neo, as well as the Bom-bardier CSeries and China’s Comac C919. Irkut claims that its clean-sheet design will over-take the evolutionary A320neo in terms of flight performance, while delivering operating cost reductions of between 12 and 15 percent compared with those of the existing A320 and Boeing 737 families, as well as Russia’s Tupolev Tu-204.

Irkut president Alexey Fedorov told AIN that Airbus will not be able to achieve this degree of increased efficiency simply by re-engining the A320. He indicated that the MC-21 will trump the Neo develop-ment with improved aerodynam-ics and greater weight savings through extensive use of com-posite materials in the airframe.

In November 2010 the MC-21 passed an airframe mockup inspection by Russian aviation authorities. In the same month,

the Perm-based Aviadvigatel engine maker submitted the core for the first PD-14 turbofan for bench testing. The PD-14 is a Russian alternative to the Pratt &Whitney PW1400G geared turbofan, which Irkut also intends to offer as powerplant for the MC-21.

Irkut has followed Suk-hoi’s example with the smaller Superjet SJ-100 development of using Boeing’s “seven-gate” path to aircraft development.

Fedorov told AIN that it is in the process of passing through the fourth gate in which it freezes the aircraft concept design and selects vendors. “The negotia-tions are intense and will con-tinue during the air show in Paris,” he said. “The signing of contracts will close the fourth gate. However, I cannot name the exact date of the completion of this process yet.” He said that the next phase, involving final resolution of the aircraft config-uration, will be completed in the first half of 2012.

Beyond that, Irkut needs to prepare manufacturing docu-mentation for the MC-21 proto-types. These are due to start flying in 2014 and in 2016 obtain certi-fication from both the authorities of the Commonwealth of Inde-pendent States and the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA). Fedorov said that work has advanced well and that the com-pany faces “no insoluble prob-lems” in achieving service entry before the end of 2016.

The commitments made to the MC-21 program to date also include a memorandum of understanding for 50 aircraft signed with the state-backed Russian Technologies group. This would see deliveries made between 2016 and 2022. Accord-ing to Fedorov, Irkut is now working to finalize this contract.

At the same time, Irkut has confirmed that it is respond-ing to a request for a proposal from European low-cost carrier Ryanair. The notoriously hard-bargaining operator also is look-ing at the Comac C-919, having so far failed to extract what it considers to be sufficiently low pricing from Airbus or Boeing.

In anticipation of MC-21

serial production, Irkut is mod-ernizing its Irkutsk Aviation Plant, which will serve as the final assembly line. It has already invested some $340 million in the facility as part of a process that saw the company approved by Airbus to make parts for the A320 family.

Meanwhile, in the military domain, Irkut continues output of the Sukhoi Su-30MK fight-ers and it is working on a further upgrade for India’s air force that will incorporate BrahMos anti-ship missiles.


Irkut president Alexey Fedorov thinks his MC-21 narrowbody will outperform the re-engined Airbus A320.

Thales has 20/20 vision for cockpit of the future by Bernard Fitzsimons

Even as it works toward deliv-ery of the first flying A350 cock-pit later this year, Thales (Hall Concorde) is exploring possibil-ities for the post-2020 generation of aircraft at its Le Haillan facil-ity in Bordeaux. The one-dis-play cockpit interactive solution (Odicis) featured in the compa-ny’s pavilion here is intended to help define what Thales terms cockpit 3.0, a successor

to the first- and second-genera-tion flight decks represented by the Concorde, with its separate instrument for each parameter, and the A320, which allocated a single display per function.

The A350 will stick with the A320-derived format used by the A380 to minimize the amount of retraining needed as pilots move from other Airbus models, though the displays themselves

will be bigger, lighter and less power-hungry. As Sebastien Per-rignon, A350 program manager, explained at Le Haillan before the airshow, the A350 will have six 15-inch diagonal screens in place of the A380’s eight eight- by six-inch screens for a 60-per-cent increase in display area. But the screens will be divided to present each pilot with the famil-iar primary flight and navigation displays side by side, using the same colors and symbology.

Each screen has the same part number and uses the same soft-ware, and each incorporates a computer to generate head-up dis-play and airport navigation imag-ery. The total weight saved by reducing the number of screens and eliminating the separate image generators is 15 kilograms, Perrignon said, while power con-sumption is reduced by 150 Watts.

As four of the screens cover the functions of the A380’s eight, the other two, at the extreme left and right, are available for onboard information system (OIS) functions, such as charts, manuals and performance calcu-lations. Integrated with the avi-onics rather than stand-alone as on the A380, they are controlled

by the same keyboard and cur-sor control units as the main screens, so the pilots can share information by moving it to one of the center screens. They also provide automatic backup if one of the center display units fails.

Alongside the A350 cockpit mockup that functions as a rep-resentative test bench, Thales is using a PC-based simulation platform for preliminary develop-ment and testing, plus the iDeck demonstrator that was shown here two years ago.

The iDeck was developed originally to demonstrate the company’s technologies and dis-play know-how to Airbus dur-ing the selection process. Now it is being used to develop new for-mats and to demonstrate new symbology and concepts to Air-bus and airline pilots.

Prototypes of most system hardware and the first version of the associated software have already passed acceptance tests in Airbus’s labs and simulation benches, Perrignon said. The first full specification software standard, including HUD and airport navigation functions, has been integrated on the test bench at Le Haillan ahead of delivery to Airbus this summer, and the first flying hardware will follow before the end of the year.

Thales’ Cockpit 3.0 research, meanwhile, is aimed at developing

concepts for use on military air-craft, helicopters and business jets as well as the next generation of Boeing and Airbus airliners. Denis Bonnet, head of innovative cockpit design, said the idea is to design the cockpit around the crew, so the Odicis cockpit has a single screen that can be tailored to what the crew wants to do.

One idea is to have a new mis-sion management display for the left-seat pilot with the PFD and 3-D terrain on the right to sup-port a division of responsibili-ties that would see one pilot flying and the other managing the mis-sion. “Most mission management is head down while the pilot is usu-ally head up,” Bonnet explained.

“They can also interact with the screens,” he said. “We wanted to test the ability to take benefit from a touch screen.” The screens enable imagery to be rearranged, while maps can be zoomed and manipulated in the same way as an iPhone screen.

The Odicis cockpit uses five projectors behind the screen to generate the imagery with a new, higher level of contrast and brightness. The ideal configura-tion would have a depth of just six inches behind the screen, but that would have required prohib-itively expensive folded optics, Bonnet said. In a real cockpit there could be twice as many projectors. o

The A350 cockpit being developed by Thales features six large screens offering 60 percent more display area than the A380’s eight.

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Elbit shows prowess on Hermes, Skylark UAVsby David Donald

Israel’s Elbit Systems has announced a number of impor-tant developments in recent weeks, covering a range of the company’s diverse capabilities. A selection of its services and prod-ucts are showcased on the compa-ny’s booth in the Israeli Pavilion.

UAVs are an area of consid-erable expertise for Elbit, and recently the company achieved its first sale for the Hermes 900 MALE air vehicle, to a Latin American customer. In another UAV development, the com-pany has successfully completed a series of tests with its Skylark I LE man-pack UAV controlled by a new lightweight forward ground control station (FGCS)

using the Dominator hardware.All of the lightweight FGCS’s

four-component units (FGCS computer, handheld display, operator stick and active Sky-lark Rambo transducer) are attached to or carried in a sol-dier’s combat vest. For covert and on-the-move operations, the handheld display can be replaced by an eyepiece.

The new FGCS is 66 pounds lighter than the standard GCS, and is at the heart of a new operational concept in which dispatcher units launch and recover the UAV, but hand over control to dismounted soldiers in the operational area.

Electro-optical systems are

an important business area for Elbit, and recently the com-pany announced a large order from an Asian country for the Compass 15-inch multi-sensor turret to equip a fleet of mari-time patrol aircraft.

Here at the Paris Air Show Elbit is showing its C-Music system for the first time, a multi-spectral fiber laser-based directional infrared countermeasures system. It is being displayed in a pod that also includes the Paws passive IR approach warning system.

To illustrate another capa-bility, Elbit gained a contract last month from the Romanian Ministry of Defense to upgrade the air force’s C-130 Hercules aircraft with various advanced electronic systems from Elisra, an Elbit subsidiary. The work is being performed over the next four years, and is being undertaken in conjunction with local industry.` o


z Honeywell Tenders Buy Offer To EMS Technologies Honeywell (Hall 3 B56) announced earlier this week that it has

offered to acquire EMS Technologies for $491 million, pending shareholder and regulatory approvals. The acquisition should be completed in the third quarter of this year. EMS Technologies’ corporate headquarters is in Norcross, Georgia.

EMS’s aviation division (Hall 3 DE161) is a provider of satellite broadband communications systems and satcom antennas, but it also offers asset tracking and management, military/government, space and mobile computing/data collection products and services. The company provides satellite voice and email, using the Iridium and Inmarsat networks, and voice and high-speed data on Inmarsat, as well as voice and data services for air traffic management and safety services.

For military/government customers, EMS uses Inmarsat to provide intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, airborne command and control and roll-on/roll-off satcom systems.

Honeywell CEO Dave Cote described the acquisition of EMS Technologies as a “strategic fit” with the company’s own stable of satcom products, including Ku-band and Swift64 systems that run on the Inmarsat network. But buying EMS instead of developing these products in-house accelerates Morristown, New Jersey-based Honeywell’s move further into the telecom sector.

z Eurocopter Tiger Extends Thales TrainingThales announced last week that its contract to support

training systems for the Eurocopter Tiger attack helicopter has been extended by another four years. The contract is undertaken by Thales (Hall Concorde) in partnership with Rheinmetall Defence Electronics, and was awarded by Europe’s defense procurement agency OCCAR.

“Thales has been working alongside the French and German forces for a number of years in the Tiger training capacity,” said

Pierre Segretain, the company’s v-p training and simulation. “The extension of this contract confirms the high standard of support services required by our customers.”

The support contract for the Tiger aircrew training means (TATM) began in November 2006, and covers the support and integrated services for 26 Tiger simulators and associated systems that are located at the

Franco-German joint training facility at Le Luc in the south of France, and at national facilities at Fritzlar and Roth in Germany, and Pau, France.

Support activities include the daily servicing and maintenance of the simulators and ensuring that they are in the appropriate training configuration. The support services are provided in such a way as to adapt the TATM assets to the live training program, which can vary according to weather and aircraft availability.

z IS&S Gets STC for Boeing 757 Cockpit DisplaysInnovative Solutions and Support (IS&S) has received European

Aviation Safety Agency supplemental type certification for its cockpit flat-panel display system (FPDS) on Boeing B757-200 and B757-300 aircraft. The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration and Transport Canada have already certified the display.

The IS&S FPDS retrofit offers an engine indication and crew alerting system, as well as Class 3 e-charts, providing real-time positioning.

Exton, Pennsylvania-based IS&S (Hall 3 D94) is also providing the flight management system to Eclipse Aerospace for its Eclipse 500 very light jet. “Eclipse twin-engine jet operators are now able to upgrade their aircraft with an integrated flight management system through Eclipse Aerospace,” said IS&S president Roman Ptakowski. The FMS features include en route GPS navigation, missed approach and procedure turns, as well as holding patterns and automated airway entry.

news clips

The Hermes 900 is based on the systems of the highly successful Hermes 450 UAV, but offers greater payload, range and altitude capability.

Smart bomb heads IAI line-up Israel Aerospace Industries

(IAI) is showing off its latest precision-guided munition here at Le Bourget. Known as ML-GB (medium-weight, laser-guid-ed bomb), the weapon has dual-mode guidance and is intended for use by light attack aircraft, as well as by multi-role fighters.

Weighing 253 pounds, MLGB has a number of advanced fea-tures corresponding to key requirements in the modern bat-tlefield. It is five feet six inches long and is carried on standard

14-inch lugs. Fixed cruciform wings of 17-feet-four-inches span give a good standoff glide capability when released from altitude, and the relatively light warhead provides low collateral damage effects.

MLGB employs a combina-tion of GPS and semi-active laser guidance, the latter pro-viding better than one-meter CEP accuracy and a capability against moving targets. If laser guidance is not available, then the system guides the weapon

to GPS coordinates with slightly reduced accuracy. Fuzing options allow the choice of air-burst, impact or delayed (penetration) detonation.

Some of IAI’s other capabilities are also on show here in Paris, includ-ing sensor turrets from the Tamam division. The latest products are the MOSP3000 14/15-inch and MiniPOP eight-inch stabi-lized turrets, both of which can accommodate up to

five sensors and are integrated with INS/GPS systems to enable geo-referencing and geo-point-ing capabilities.

Additional IAI capabilities in the spotlight are the company’s work on nano-satellites, which are typically less than 22 pounds in weight, and the ELM-2288 AD Star mobile air defense and threat alert radar.

AD Star is a product of IAI’s Elta subsidiary, which among its wide electronics portfolio produces ISR (intelligence, sur-veillance, reconnaissance) sys-tems. Elta’s ELI-3120 manned compact ISR system has recently been installed in a King Air 350 aircraft and delivered to a Latin American customer for missions targeting drug traffick-ers, illegal logging and mining, deforestation, border crossing and pollution. –D.D.

MLGB’s wide-span wings bestow a healthy stand-off capability on this dual-mode precision weapon.

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Rolls-Royce on target to deliver ‘mature’ Trent XWB in 2014 by Ian Goold

With positive early test results and an accelerating work schedule, Rolls-Royce is con-fident it can deliver the Trent XWB as a mature engine, ready for full production before the end of 2014. Related technology programs are said to be on track in terms of high temperature and thrust. The new engine is to power the Airbus A350XWB, for which orders from nearly 40 customers number more than 570, having risen by over 60 in the past 12 months.

Later this year, the manufac-turer expects to have optimized its final Trent XWB manufactur-ing methods, drawing on lessons learned from construction of eight development engines (see box). Rolls-Royce claims that its preparation for manufacturing is the “fastest ever” large-fan pro-duction ramp-up. “Proper pro-duction” will start toward the end of next year, with a maxi-mum rate of almost one engine a day (315 a year) being achieved by late 2017 or early 2018.

The 118-inch-diameter fan is Rolls-Royce’s largest and pro-vides a lower hub-to-tip ratio, enhanced by use of a narrower hub than that on the Trent 900, which powers the larger A380.

The fan blades have an increased surface area–“as much as 50 percent” more–providing higher air flow and reduced drag-to-weight ratio, explained Trent XWB chief engineer Chris Young in a briefing ahead of the Paris Air Show.

The large fan is combined with a smaller core to pro-duce a higher load differential between the various bearings in the three-shaft powerplant. The “optimized bearing-load man-agement system” sees greater loads carried further forward, where larger bearing balls pro-vide better mechanical loading, which in turn is better for fuel burn, said Young, who acknowl-edged that this “more capable” solution is also heavier.

The Trent XWB’s “rising line” compressor sees consid-erable innovation, with blades rotating at higher speed toward the rear of the intermediate-pressure stage. The long-term fuel burn will benefit from increased overall pressure ratios in the two-stage intermediate-pressure turbine (IPT).

The short low-pressure tur-bine (LPT) has been scaled from that in the Trent 900 and is nine inches shorter. The lighter

LPT offsets the higher weight of the IPT. The rear fan case, made of composites material and supplied by new Trent part-ner ATK, has gone well, said Young. To ease portability of completed engines, Rolls-Royce has developed a transporta-tion stand that enables a simpler separation of the fan case from the core before being are air-freighted to Airbus.

A major focus for Rolls-Royce has been its plan to deliver engine maturity during–or even before–production ramp-up. Trent XWB program director Chris Choler-ton said the manufacturer has matured its design processes, looking at all disruptive events occurring throughout the Trent fleet and applying the knowl-edge of previous failure modes to establish reliability.

It has used failure-mode effects and critical analysis (FMECA) and the Pareto princi-ple–the idea that, say, 20 percent of causal events generate perhaps 80 percent of consequent effects–on some 400 parts and has 1,200 mitigation plans in progress.

Huge investments have been made in computing capacity to support component and systems


Trent XWB Turbofan Put To the Test

Eight Trent XWB engines–serial numbers 20990 and 20001 through 20007–are being used in Rolls-Royce’s test program. Following are descrip-tions of the status or goals for each of the eight:

By the end of this month, the manufacturer hopes to complete pass-off tests of Trent XWB 20990, its most highly instrumented flight-test engine ever, ahead of trials aboard the Airbus A380 flying test bed.

Bird-ingestion trials are to be conducted with Trent XWB 20001, on which the fan blades have been fitted with strain gauges for initial tests with a “me-dium” bird that will continue in July with a “large” specimen. This engine was previously used for performance-envelope expansion, compressor functional operations, and operability testing.

Serial number 20002 is being used on Rolls-Royce’s Test Bed 58 at Derby for integration of aircraft interface systems. After low-pressure turbine testing in May, the unit was to be used for thermal and emissions tests, integration of buyer-furnished equipment and water ingestion trials with all work sched-uled for completion before this week’ show.

Next month will see engine cyclic tests performed with Trent XWB 20003. This month, 20004 is to begin endurance testing–involving “lots of hours” at high speed and high thrust, according to Trent XWB chief engineer Chris Young as the manufacturer confirms the powerplant’s maturity.

Trent XWB 20005 is being used for tests in the UK and the U.S. and in late May was scheduled to undergo flutter and crosswind tests. The unit also has been involved in thermal survey work at Derby, while the U.S. program also involves fan strain-gauging, noise and thrust-reverser tests. The thermal survey has yielded positive results with Rolls-Royce saying, for example, that cooler-than-predicted disc-cavity temperatures have been demonstrated.

Engine 20006 is being reconfigured ahead of altitude testing that is sched-uled to begin in the U.S. in August. The powerplant has been used to validate sea-level performance, low-, intermediate- and high-pressure bearing loads, variable-frequency generators and oil-system optimization.

Next month, thermal and strain-gauge testing of the intermediate pres-sure turbine will be performed on Trent XWB 20007. –I.G.

The Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 engine, developed to power the much-delayed Boeing 787, above, will also be a mature product when it enters service with Japan’s All Nippon Airways later this year. The manufacturer has almost 50 engines completed or in production. For its Trent XWB Rolls-Royce established a goal of delivering a mature engine even before prodution ramp up, and looks on target to meet that goal. The company is seeing positive early test results for its Trent XWB (right) and, with an accelerated work schedule, is confident it can deliver the Trent XWB as a mature engine, ready for full production before the end of 2014.


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testing aimed at reproducing in-service operating conditions. Key technology contributions to the Trent XWB program have come from Rolls-Royce’s environment-friendly high-tem-perature and E3E two-shaft demonstrator engines.

There are four Trent XWBs undergoing tests, with a fur-ther four being built for comple-tion by July. Testing momentum is increasing in anticipation of the Airbus A380 flying-testbed (FTB) first flight with a Trent XWB later this year. Choler-ton claimed that initial testing has gone “very, very well.” The engine, which initially will pro-vide 84,000 pounds thrust, has been operated at thrust levels of more than 100,000 pounds, said Young, with the first unit exceeding expectations.

Rolls-Royce invested increased resources into the early stages of the program, including proof-of-concept work. The highly instru-mented engines, from which more than 1,500 parameters–including overall gas flow–are measured, are validating all the design modules.

Young said the XWB has yielded the “best-ever Trent performance” results. Choler-ton added that specific fuel con-sumption has been “excellent; better than expected.”

By late May, Rolls-Royce had

completed 63 rig-test programs as it sought to ensure engine reliability, having begun investi-gation of mechanical behavior at an early stage and increased its diagnostic capability. Many elements of such testing have been pushed to “extreme limits,” according to Cholerton.

The company has completed a large proportion of emis-sions-control reliability testing. Inspections and product assess-ment tests covering humidity, thermal and vibration (such as that following blade loss) per-formance have been completed

ahead of final humidity inspec-tion and checks.

Functional operation is described as “excellent,” with “very good” surge margin dem-onstrated in the intermediate-pressure compressor on which one of the four rows of guide vanes are fixed. Young said final nozzle optimization, balancing specific fuel consumption with operability, is a key milestone in progress toward first flight of the Trent XWB.

Rolls-Royce claims that “real-time” digital X-ray equip-ment introduced for the Trent

XWB program is the most pow-erful in western Europe, show-ing how all the engine parts are working compared with their intended operation. The system saves weeks of time compared with earlier film technology, according to the company.

Young said the digital X-ray results obtained so far will con-tribute to engine optimization and further improvements in perfor-mance. For example, in the first and second stages of the low-pres-sure turbine, the manufacturer has been able to observe movement of the blade tips relative to the blade

seal; if tighter tip clearances can be obtained, then initial perfor-mance can be maintained further into the engine’s life.

The manufacturer said much has been learned during early maintainability validation tasks. All on-wing tooling has been val-idated ahead of the Trent XWB installation on the FTB, which must be approved by the Euro-pean Aviation Safety Agency.

FTB operations mark a fourth “parallel stream” of test-ing, which began last year with rig work, followed by initial expansion of the performance envelope and the start of matu-rity testing. Function and per-formance testing now under way will be followed by certification-related activity.

The FTB will sport a brand-new pylon, which introduces a new mounting that hangs the powerplant from the fan and rear engine cases, rather than–as previously–“Airbus-style” from the core, which now carries no load. “We have felt for some time that this was the preferable mounting and have worked with Airbus from very early on” to develop it, said Young. o


R-R Trent XWB nears maturityuContinued from page 12

The Trent XWB’s 118-inch-diameter fan is Rolls-Royce’s largest. The blades have an increased surface area providing higher air flow and reduced drag-to-weight ratio than those on the Trent 900.

Next Up: Power for Boeing’s 787-10X

Rolls-Royce is working “very closely” on the engine requirements for a 787-10X development being considered by Boeing, according to Trent 1000 pro-gram director Simon Carlisle. “The goal is to be ready with an engine for the whole [787] family,” so if Boeing looks at payload/range or economics “so will Rolls-Royce.”

The UK engine manufacturer is confident that the Trent 1000 engine, devel-oped to power the much-delayed Boeing 787, will be a mature product when it enters service with Japan’s All Nippon Airways (ANA) later this year. Carlisle said the Trent 1000 is “the only engine certified to 74,000 pounds thrust, [ap-proved for] 330 minutes extended-range twin-engine operations, [to have per-formed] over 1,000 flights [and flown] over 2,800 hours.” The 787 flight-test program has “gone very well for us,” according to R-R, which has almost 50 en-gines completed or in manufacture.

In May, two significant Trent 1000 flight test activities remained to be con-ducted: extended-range twin-engine operations clearance and function and re-liability trials. But the engine development had been held back by that of the airframe, which has been delayed by more than three years. “The program has been much slower than we would have liked,” said Carlisle. “I guess we’ll nev-er know what 2007 entry-into-service would have been like, but the engine is now much more reliable.”

Next month, Boeing will conduct 787 operational validation flights with ANA. Rolls-Royce said a high level of support–both people and parts–is being estab-lished ahead of service entry–initially in Japan, then in Europe and on the U.S. West Coast.

The engine manufacturer, which is “seeing more [sales] campaign activity”

as airlines are “beginning to wind up acquisitions in anticipation of the end of the recession,” expects to see order decisions coming at the end of the year. It claims a 50-percent customer share, saying that one of its 21 Trent 1000 cus-tomers remains “unannounced,” while another is a private customer.

At ranges below 3,000 nm, a new Trent 1000 delivers up to a 1.5 percent advantage over its competitor, according to program chief engineer Andrew Green. “The [engine’s] superior performance retention is worth an additional one percent through [more efficient] fuel burn, saving over $1 million per air-craft over 15 years,” he explained.

Rolls-Royce has already developed A and B variants, and Carlisle said a planned Trent 1000C, and the 787-10X, will be “all about economy.” The manu-facturer is evaluating all phases of economic fuel burn as it seeks to understand Boeing requirements so it can provide all necessary thrust.

Claiming that the Trent 1000 delivers the best lifetime fuel-burn for the 787, Rolls-Royce said the engine offers very significant margins over likely future emissions standards on noise, smoke, carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide and ultra-hydrocarbons. Green said the 787-8’s claimed QC0.25 noise quotient is “pret-ty unprecedented.”

Green also said the Trent family, which has logged some 65 million flying hours, has enjoyed a 15-percent efficiency improvement since the advent of the Trent 700. The smaller engine benefits from both the Trent 800 and Trent 1000. The latter is contributing technology to the Trent 900 product-improvement pro-gram now under way and, in turn, the Trent 800. The company is considering how best to deliver new Trent 1000s from its Asian factory in Singapore to Boe-ing’s final assembly line in the U.S. –I.G.

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Europe makes plans to expand its ballistic missile defenseby Chris Pocock

Are the nations of Europe serious about comprehensive ballistic missile defense (BMD)? Or are they happy to let America provide the only effective shield over their cities and populations? Despite a ringing declaration of intent at the NATO summit meeting in Lisbon last November, these questions remain unanswered.

Until Lisbon, NATO’s policy was to develop only a Theatre BMD–that is, the means to protect limited areas against short- and medium-range ballistic missiles when, for instance, troops are deployed on operations. A Theatre BMD could be done by networking existing air defense systems that have a potential low-altitude (for example, terminal) BMD capability.

Eight European NATO members have acquired such systems–Germany, Greece, the Netherlands, Spain and Turkey oper-ate Patriot batteries, while France, Italy and the UK are introducing ship- and land-based systems that fire the co-devel-oped MBDA Aster missile.

NATO is paying for the software to network these national systems at a cost of €800 million ($1.1 billion). The program is called active layered theatre ballistic missile defense (ALTBMD), and the eight nations listed above are the key participants, plus the U.S. According to NATO, the ALT-BMD system “will be the most sophisti-cated of its type in the world.” After five years of development by a transatlantic consortium led by ThalesRaytheonSys-tems, an “interim capability” was declared last January. Housed in transportable trailers, it is a communications, command and control battle management system that is capable of protecting a brigade-size deployment. Initially, the sensors and shooters of only five NATO members–France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and the U.S.–are being linked .

At Lisbon, NATO leaders resolved to expand the ALTBMD program to pro-tect European populations and territory against the full range of ballistic missile attacks. This effectively requires the addi-tion of an “upper” layer of defense so that incoming missiles are intercepted in mid-course–also known as exo-atmospheric interception. But the NATO council has not yet authorized the development of

a specification for upper layer defense. However, further work to “industrialize” and fully integrate the lower layer net-working capability of the ALTBMD sys-tem has been scheduled.

In the meantime, only the U.S. (and Russia) has developed a mid-course inter-ception capability against ballistic missiles. Moreover, the U.S. has just begun to deploy such a defense in Europe. The capability resides in the U.S. Navy’s Aegis-equipped cruisers and destroyers, with their SPY-1B radars and their Standard SM-3 Block 1A missiles. The promise to deploy was made by President Barack Obama in September 2009, when he scrapped the Bush Adminis-tration’s previous plan for a ground-based BMD shield in Europe.

The Bush plan was to site 10 ground-based missiles capable of mid-course interception in Poland, plus a large guid-ance radar in the Czech Republic. The scheme would have been similar to the


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U.S. Navy Aegis warships have been deployed to European waters to provide ballistic missile interception capability. However, it is not clear

how many ships will be sent to European waters, as the 21-ship Aegis fleet is stretched thin, meeting demand in other parts of the world.

Lockheed Martin’s THAAD interceptor follows a corkscrew pattern to intercept short- and medium-range ballistic missiles.

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The Patriot Did BMD First

The Patriot air defense missile system was designed by Raytheon and first field-ed in 1984. Four years later, a missile de-fense capability was added, mainly through changes to the guidance software. In the 1991 Gulf War, the system had mixed suc-cess against Iraqi short-range Scud missiles, and it became clear that its blast-fragmen-tation warhead was inadequate to the task. Lockheed Martin then leveraged its previ-ous work on hit-to-kill technology to devel-op the PAC-3 missile for Patriot batteries. The combination of an agile airframe with a mil-limeter-wave seeker and very fast comput-ing of the hit-to-kill algorithms, together with an upgraded acquisition radar on the ground, proved successful. Four years after it first flew, the PAC-3 missile scored operational success by destroying two Iraqi ballistic mis-siles during the second Gulf War in 2003.

In addition to the U.S., 12 nations have bought the Patriot system. In Europe, Ger-many and the Netherlands have PAC-3s, while Greece and Spain operate the less capable PAC-2. –C.P.

The Patriot PAC-3 launch was the first theater ballistic missile defense weapon. Germany, the Netherlands and the U.S. are the only NATO nations that have bought it.

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An EADS schematic shows the various stages of a ballistic missile intercept system.

ground-based midcourse (GMD) defense system that the U.S. Missile Defense Agency (MDA) has already deployed in Alaska and California as a defense against ICBMs fired from North Korea. GMD was America’s first BMD system and has been very expensive. Boeing is the prime contractor. It fires three-stage exoatmospheric kill vehicles (EKVs) after tracking of the threat by large land- and sea-based X-band radars. Two-stage EKVs would have been used for the European deployment.

According to the U.S. Government Accountability Office, the GMD system has cost $38 billion to date (in 2011 dollars). Development continues; Boeing made the first flight of a two-stage GMD booster last June, but an enhanced version of the EKV failed two intercept tests last year.

The new plan was termed the Euro-pean phased adaptive approach (EPAA) and was partly driven by a reassess-ment of Iran’s ICBM program, which is less advanced than previously thought. However, it allows the U.S. to deploy a limited BMD shield in Europe much ear-lier than a GMD system, and with the added flexibility that a ship-based system brings. Moreover, the Aegis/SM-3 capa-bility is proven after 10 years of develop-ment and eight successful intercept tests. Lockheed Martin is the prime contractor and Raytheon builds the missiles, which each cost $15 million.

The MDA is planning upgrades to the SM-3 interceptor and has recently awarded contracts to define and plan a

Block IIB version of the SM-3 that can defend against longer-range ballistic mis-siles. The EPAA will also be enhanced by adding ground-based versions of the Aegis system in Romania (2015) and Poland (2018). Development of this ver-sion has not yet begun, however. The ter-minal high-altitude air defense (THAAD) system (see below) may also be incorpo-rated into the EPAA.

Future UncertainAt the time of writing, however, many

questions remain. The U.S. has not announced which southern European country will house a powerful but trans-portable X-band radar–the Raytheon AN/TPY-2. This radar is deemed essen-tial to augment the SPY-1B radars aboard the Aegis ships. (In BMD, the more radars that can detect and track the approaching missiles, the better. They have a compli-cated task of distinguishing between the separating missile boosters and the con-tinuing re-entry vehicles, and must also discriminate between actual warheads and decoys. That’s why the U.S. has also upgraded its ballistic missile early warn-ing radars, including one in the UK, so they can contribute to the BMD network).

Although the U.S. Navy has begun deploying single Aegis ships to the Med-iterranean, it’s not clear how many will deploy to Europe to provide a territo-rial missile shield. Three may be the min-imum for proper coverage, but they are in demand elsewhere–in the Gulf and the northern Pacific. There are 21 Aegis

ships in the fleet today, with another 17 due by 2015.

Also to be decided: whether they will be stationed in northern European waters as well as the Mediterranean; whether they will home-port in Europe and, indeed, whether they will maintain con-tinuous coverage, or be deployed only on occasions of heightened tension. Nor is it clear when or to what extent the U.S. will allow command and control of the Aegis system to be incorporated into NATO’s ALTBMD system. NATO says the lat-ter is already designed to communicate with AN/TPY-2 radars and Aegis ships, although “full interlinking” is not sched-uled until 2017.

THAAD was the first intercept sys-tem designed specifically for BMD. Conceived in 1992, it has been under development by Lockheed Martin for the past decade, with at least $16 billion spent to date (in 2011 dollars). It is a deployable system that can defend against short- and medium-range ballistic missiles during their late midcourse and terminal phases.

According to Lockheed Martin, THAAD “fills the gap between low-exo and high-endo with a high, sin-gle-shot probability.” So, THAAD is a supplement to the Patriot PAC-3 and SM-3 Block 1A, and is interoperable with those systems.

The THAAD radar sensor is the same Raytheon AN/TPY-2 that supplements the Aegis shipboard coverage from land. There are eight THAAD interceptors per launcher, with rapid reload capability,

and up to nine launchers per battery.The hit-to-kill vehicle separates from

the single-stage booster after launch. Ter-minal guidance is by infrared seeker. After a successful series of flight tests, some design and production issues have delayed acceptance of the first two THAAD bat-teries, but the MDA plans to buy another five to seven batteries for the U.S. Army. THAAD is available for export, with the UAE a likely first customer.

Since its creation in 2002, the MDA has spent $7 billion to $10 billion on BMD each year. In addition to Aegis, GMD and THAAD, the MDA is responsible for developing the airborne laser test bed (see box on page 24) and satellites with infra-red sensors that can provide an early cue to the radars by detecting ballistic missile launches. MDA has also put BMD sensors on airships and aerostats. Europe cannot possibly compete with this level of activity.

However, two major air defense pro-grams with BMD capability are being funded in Europe at the moment, although one of them–the NATO medium extended air defense system (MEADS)–is under threat. The MEADS is a tri-national development involv-ing Germany (a 25-percent share; main contractor LFK), Italy (16.7 percent; MBDA Italia) and the U.S. (58.3 percent; Lockheed Martin).

MEADS was conceived in the mid-1990s and a development contract worth $3.4 billion was signed in 2005. The plan was to improve the Patriot PAC-3 missile and add new surveillance and fire con-trol radars, plus a new launcher and com-mand-and-control system. Key selling points for MEADS included 360-degree coverage, air transportability by C-130J or A400M aircraft, a netted distributed

www.ainonline.com • June 20, 2011 • Paris Air Show News 21

The new MEADS surveillance radar, above, includes 10,000 transmit/receive modules made in Europe. The Mode 5 IFF system being designed by MBDA Italia is the first to be certified outside the U.S.

The MBDA Aster 30 missile, right, forms part of the all-European BMD system. It successfully intercepted a ballistic missile for the first time last year. The UK adopted the Aster 30 as the Sea Viper on six new warships.

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Israel’s Arrow

The Arrow BMD (ballistic missile de-fense) system that now protects Israel was co-developed and produced by Boeing and Israeli Aircraft Industries (IAI), but funded mostly by the U.S. MDA. Designed to offer better protection than the Patriot PAC-3, development began in the late 1980s with Israeli industry providing the L-band radar and the command and control system. The vertically launched Arrow 2 two-stage mis-sile provides terminal phase interception with an electro-optical sensor and a blast-fragmentation warhead. There have been three successful flight tests. The system was declared operational in 2000.

IAI is leading the development (with Boeing) of the Arrow 3 interceptor, an exo-atmospheric missile with a high-resolution infrared sensor on a gimballed seeker. The fire-control system would not change from the Arrow 2 system. –C.P.

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architecture that uses open standards and capability against next-generation air and missile threats. Other types of intercept weapons, such as the surface-launched version of Germany’s IRIS-T air-to-air missile, can also be added.

Flight tests of MEADS are scheduled for next year. But the U.S. Army has now recommended against production, claim-ing that it is too expensive and does not meet U.S. requirements. The Pentagon has not yet endorsed the Army’s deci-sion, which has surprised the European partners. MBDA chief executive offi-cer Antoine Bouvier recently described MEADS as an “emblematic transat-lantic cooperation. We have a contract, and the German and Italian govern-ments strongly support us,” he continued. Lockheed Martin described MEADS as “the first all-new air and missile defense system of its kind in decades.”

Homegrown DefenseLast October, the MBDA Aster 30

Block 1 missile became the first Euro-pean weapon to successfully carry out a ballistic intercept. The target represented a medium-range ballistic missile and was intercepted at 300-km (186 miles) range by a missile launched from a French Army Mamba battery. Mamba was pre-viously known as the SAMP/T (Sol-Air Moyen Portee Terrestre) system, which comprises a Thales Arabel radar, a com-mand-and-control system and up to eight vertical launch units.

The Aster is a very agile hit-to-kill mis-sile that employs an active radar seeker for terminal guidance. France and Italy combined to develop the SAMP/T and

its ship-based counterpart, the SAAM (surface-to-air anti-missile), which also uses Aster 15 missiles. The UK subse-quently adopted the Aster 30 as the Sea Viper for six new warships, with guidance from a BAE Systems radar called Samp-son. Italy has also employed an indige-nous radar–the Selex Empar.

In test-firings, Aster missiles have also successfully intercepted various other missile and air-breathing threats, but its potential for BMD is what most excited Bouvier. “This is Europe’s own missile defense program; it’s so important,” he said. MBDA is pro-posing a Block 2 development of the Aster with two missile stages that could intercept at much higher altitude using an infrared seeker. It could therefore defend larger areas, perhaps approaching the coverage offered by THAAD. It’s worth noting that six THAAD batteries can defend the same area as 100 batteries of a terminal intercept system, such as the PAC-3 or Aster Block 1.

Bouvier suggested that Europe should resolve to develop the Block 2 Aster, partly out of obligation to contribute more to its own defense after the Lisbon decision, but also as a hedge against the U.S. cooling on the whole EPAA plan. Given the current defense spending environment, though, he is also realistic. “We are proposing to work with a minimum budget until 2015, and then proceed,” he said.

One final piece of the puzzle is beyond the scope of this article: that is Rus-sia’s anti-missile capability and whether it could be deployed to protect part of Europe. Talks about that possibility have been going on within the NATO-Russia Council, most recently in April. o

Boost Phase Interception May Be Impractical, but Tracking Is Essential

It was always an ambitious plan: Develop the world’s most powerful airborne laser, integrate it on a large airliner and use it to shoot down ballistic missiles at the most opportune time–dur-ing the boost phase. Go operational in 2007. But after spending almost $5 billion on the airborne laser (ABL) in 15 years, the MDA redesignated it as the airborne laser test bed (ALTB). However, in February last year the ALTB finally succeeded in destroying two test missiles. The program continues, researching such challenges as jitter from the airborne platform and atmospheric compensation for the laser.

The ALTB fires a megawatt-class chemi-cal oxygen-iodine laser (COIL) from inside a Boeing 747-400F. Two kilowatt-class elimina-tor lasers are also carried in huge nose turret, to track the ascending target prior to attack-ing it. The airliner first flew in 2002 and the COIL was first ground-tested in 2004. Boeing is responsible for overall system integration, Northrop Grumman provides the COIL and Lockheed Martin is responsible for the track-ing and fire control system.

But even if attacking ballistic missiles as they ascend has proved impractical for now, there is plenty of interest in acquiring the earliest possible tracks of them from an airborne platform. In addition to developing new satellites for tracking, the U.S. Missile Defense Agency has a program called AirBorne InfraRed (ABIR), which uses a Reaper UAV equipped with a standard Raytheon multispectral targeting system turret. In Europe, Diehl has developed a combined MWIR and LWIR airborne sensor that also detects missiles plumes in the boost phase. –C.P.

Boeing’s airborne laser test bed (ALTB) intercepts a ballistic missile during the boost phase last year.

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Europe to expand missile defense systemuContinued from page 21

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Pax power pushes demand for in-flight connectivityby Charles Alcock

The market for in-flight con-nectivity is about to step up a gear as passenger power pushes demand to be able to use per-sonal smart phones, laptops and tablet devices, according

to provider OnAir. The Airbus/SITA joint venture’s CEO Ian Dawkins told AIN that expe-rience from the just-completed first full year of availability for its GSM-service (voice, SMS

and mobile data) and in-flight Internet access has established that when this level of connec-tivity is assured, passengers will quickly embrace it and regard as a necessity.

OnAir, established in 2005, has some 36 operators either using its service or waiting to have the systems installed in their fleets. Most of these are airlines, with about half a

dozen being operators of exec-utive or VIP aircraft. The Swit-zerland-based company said it expects to see a steep increase in new orders, even from an air-line sector that is still struggling with relatively soft demand and increased operating expenses.

Dawkins argued that easy-access connectivity, for which voice calls are priced at no more than standard international roaming rates with billing directly through the customer’s own cell-phone provider, is becoming a key service differentiator for carriers looking for new ways to attract and retain high-yield passengers. “We do expect to receive new orders this year,” he predicted. “The market is more buoyant and there is a real hun-ger for connectivity.”

Phone and Internet ServiceThis year, OnAir expects to

complete at least fleet-wide instal-lations for four more airlines. Installations are generally done during C- or D-check overhauls, with work being performed by approved STC holders selected by OnAir. Among the launch operators are Oman Air, Saudi Arabian Airlines and Egyptair.

With greater urgency to provide connectivity, supplier readiness is becoming a more significant issue in the market, according to OnAir chief com-mercial officer Stephan Egli. “The timing of when a sup-plier can deliver has become a


Bizjet Crowd Craves In-flight Comms More Than Most

There is one segment of aviation that has been large-ly impervious to the economic downturn–the highest of the high fliers; namely, owners and pas-sengers in large-cabin business jets. They have proved to be early adopters of the most advanced in-flight connectivity and so it is to this sector that OnAir has turned its attention more recently, with half a dozen of its three dozen cli-ents in this market to date.

More recent installations have included an Airbus ACJ319 oper-ated by Comlux and a Dassault Falcon 7X in the fleet of Dasnair.

Last month, OnAir signed a new partnership with TriaGnoSys to provide installation of the voice, text message, Internet and email services on business aircraft. Ger-many-based TriaGnoSys has ex-tensive experience providing mobile communications for land, sea and air applications. –C.A.

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more competitive issue,” he said. “With the market moving more quickly now, the time to enter the market has been a big factor in recent [airline] bids and that’s good news for the industry.”

OnAir claims to be the only provider offering both GSM mobile telephony and wire-less Internet connectivity in one package. “We have real data on what passengers prefer to use and we’ve seen from the first year that 95 percent of passengers will want to use smart phones when they have the choice,” said Dawkins, referring to passengers who had used the service.

OnAir’s market research from a first full year of operations, which ended in April, has also

shown that consumer use of the connectivity available mirrors that of smart phone roaming use on the ground, in that they are generally not downloading large amounts of data to access, for example, video streaming. “And airlines are finding that it is a way to connect with their passengers by offering addi-tional services directly to their phones and other devices, such as letting them know where their luggage will be at the air-port for their next flight depar-ture if they are connecting,” said Dawkins. The system can also be used to pre- arrange rental cars or order limousine service.

According to OnAir, the per-formance of the service generally

has been very reliable in the first year. There have been a few teeth-ing problems involving interfaces with the satellite communication or in-flight entertainment sys-tems, as has often been the case with new cabin systems.

Ready for Ka-band TransitionSo what about the sustain-

ability of the technology under-writing OnAir’s connectivity–a combination of Pico cells to allow GSM phones to be used in flight safely and the ubiqui-tous SwiftBroadband satcom service? Is this a system archi-tecture that’s in it for the long haul, or will operators find themselves depending on tech-nology that has been super-seded by the next big idea in mobile communications?

Given the global reach of Inmarsat’s SwiftBroadband, it is unsurprising that it remains the dominant satcom solution. The only anticipated change on the horizon is the availability of the Ka-band, from 2014, as a capacity-enhancing alternative to the existing L-band service. OnAir is essentially agnostic on this possible switch, which could be accommodated by the

relatively simple installation of a new Ka-band antenna. “The fact is that there is more than enough capacity for current lev-els of usage for four or five more years,” said Dawkins, claiming that OnAir is the service pro-vider offering the most straight-forward transition to Ka.

“This is the right technol-ogy today and there is a simple upgrade path,” Dawkins main-tained. “Other technologies are available but they are not

as easy to upgrade. There have been issues [for operators] with services that were stopped. But, SwiftBroadband also provides excellent clearance for roaming service around the world, and it isn’t easy to do this.”

The hardware for OnAir’s service weighs little more than 75 kilograms. It can be installed in an overhead baggage bin in a typical airliner. o

Airline passengers will soon regard in-flight Internet as a necessity, says OnAir.

Customers want phone and Internet service in one package, according to OnAir. The company provides that in a 75-kg system that can fit in an airliner’s overhead compartment.

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Raytheon ups SeaVue capabilityby Bill Carey

Raytheon’s Space and Air-borne Systems division has upgraded its SeaVue maritime surveillance radar, incorporating a situational awareness package that has been fielded with the U.S. Navy and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agency and is now available for export. The Sea-Vue expanded mission capability (dubbed XMC) software upgrade enhances small-target detection and tracking in high sea states and significantly eases operator work-load, according to Raytheon.

SeaVue is a family of light-weight, modular, X-band sur-veillance radars. They provide inverse synthetic aperture, syn-thetic aperture radar and moving target indicator modes as well as a weather detection and avoidance

mode. The mechanically scanned system, consisting of a transmit-ter, processor and antenna, can be adapted to different fixed- or rotary-wing platforms, with nose-mount or belly-mount antennas.

“We try to maximize our sys-tem performance based on the constraints of the platform,” said Brad Hopper, Raytheon senior manager for business development in the intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance systems mission area.

The means to detect small targets in high sea states is a Raytheon strength, he said. The capability was developed for the U.S. Navy to detect “short expo-sure” periscopes during high sea states, a requirement of the Cold War era. The same technology

proves useful today in detecting stealthy craft, known as self-pro-pelled semi-submersibles, used to transport illicit drugs over thou-sands of miles, Hopper said.

The SeaVue XMC incorpo-rates ocean surveillance initiative technology, including stream-ing digital video, developed by Raytheon with the U.S. Naval Sea Systems Command, CBP and the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab. Attributes include automatic detection and tracking of thousands of mari-time targets simultaneously, an order of magnitude improve-ment over standard radars track-ing hundreds of targets, Hopper explained. The radar tracks are correlated with ship automatic identification system (AIS) data

tracks, allowing the radar opera-tor to quickly sort out noncoop-erative targets from those using AIS–the maritime equivalent of the identification friend or foe system–to identify themselves.

The upgrade incorporates precision tracking algorithms designed to maintain tracks on small targets in congested litto-ral waters. “It’s critical in a very congested littoral environment, where there can be thousands of targets, to be able to track all of those quickly,” Hopper told AIN. “This is a significant issue for many of our customers.”

According to Raytheon, the XMC upgrade significantly reduces operator workload from a standard radar system. “It allows the operator to intel-ligently sort through the tar-get field with attributes such as location of the vessel, heading, speed and ship length, to name a few,” Hopper explained. “This allows the operator to quickly locate potential threats in a given area and be able to sort through those and single out the things he really needs to look at.”

The CBP was the first to deploy the SeaVue XMC capa-bility, completing flight trials in May 2010. The radar is oper-ating on the agency’s Bombar-dier DHC-8 aircraft, P-3 Orion and marinized version of the General Atomics MQ-9 Pred-ator B called the Guardian, which adds SeaVue radar and electro-optical/infrared sensor. The U.S. Navy has been using SeaVue on a classified platform.

Counter-Narcotics OpsThe CBP’s office of air and

marine branch operates 270 air-craft, including two Guardians and five Predator Bs. Following operational testing, the Guard-ian was to be deployed to “drug source and transit zones to sup-port joint counter-narcotics oper-ations.” The mission points to the versatility of the SeaVue radar, which can be applied for drug enforcement, border surveillance,

exclusive economic zone mon-itoring, oil-spill detection, anti-piracy and other missions.

“There is an increasing need for homeland security, not just the ability to protect your own bor-ders, but also as part of an inter-national coalition,” Hopper said. “It’s the small vessels that go out and highjack the large ships. The ability to monitor and detect those in a vast ocean under high sea state conditions, that’s exactly where our systems play very well.”

The SeaVue XMC system used for the unmanned Guard-ian is divided into two parts, Hopper said. Some of the radar processing is done on the plat-form; the operator interface and some of the tracking algorithms are based at the ground station, controlled by the operator.

The XMC situational aware-ness package has been upgraded incrementally to the final config-uration now being offered to the U.S. domestic and international markets. “It’s had a lot of opera-tor input into its development,” Hopper said. Late last year, the SeaVue XMC was approved for export to Morocco.

Raytheon has delivered more than 1,900 maritime radars worldwide, fielded on a range of platforms including the U.S. Navy’s new P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft with upgraded Raytheon AN/APY-10 radar, the P-3, Beechcraft King Air 350, De Havilland Canada DHC-8 and Predator Guardian. About 500 radars are still operating, including 150 SeaVue systems used by Japan, Mexico, Italy, Austra-lia, the UK, Thailand, Norway, Pakistan and Taiwan. In Aus-tralia, SeaVue radar has logged 150,000 operational flight hours as part of that country’s Coast-watch program, operated by the Australian customs service. o


The U.S. Customs and Border Protection

Agency uses Raytheon’s SeaVue radar in its

Guardian UAS.

The SeaVue radar system–consisting of an antenna, transmitter and processor–can be adapted to a number of different rotary- and fixed-wing platforms.

EADS here at Le Bourget to recruit new talent

European aerospace giant EADS and its four divisions–Airbus, Astrium, Cassidian and Eurocopter–will hold more than 20 workshops here at the Paris Air Show to help recruit more than 4,000 new-hire employ-ees and 4,000 interns. Entitled “Work for EADS,” the work-shops will take place every day this week, apart from Sunday. Participants will meet top EADS executives, engineers and human resources representatives.

Highlights of the recruitment activities include Diversity Day on June 21, Intercultural Day on June 22 and Professional Day on June 25. EADS personnel will meet participants at the compa-ny’s HR lounge on the static dis-play in front of Hall 2A.

According to Jörg Kutzim, head of the EADS Recruit-ment Center, the workshops will give students, graduates and experienced professionals the

opportunity “to discover what it’s like to work for EADS and to meet experts and see what motivates them to continuously push boundaries.”

Registration for the workshops closed in late May. EADS expects more than 1,000 participants and is providing all with entry tickets to the airshow on the day of their workshops and reimbursing part of their travel expenses.

In a recent survey conducted by Sweden-based employer-branding consultancy Universum, EADS was ranked third among 100 top-preferred employers in Europe, just behind Google and Audi. The survey was conducted among 19,890 engineering stu-dents at 100 leading academic institutions across Europe. The consultancy reviewed more than 60,700 employers before choosing the top 100 for ranking. Partici-pants in the pan-European sur-vey represented 135 nationalities

among the continent’s top aca-demic institutions. Last year, EADS was ranked seventh.

“Our aim is to recruit over 4,000 new employees in 2011. In times of economic growth and increasing scarcity of qual-ified employees, it is extremely important to appeal to young people seeking a job. Our fasci-nating products such as the Air-bus A380 or the Ariane launcher definitely support this goal,” said Jussi Itävuori, head of EADS human resources. “In order to retain talented young people…we are launching initiatives to improve professional develop-ment opportunities and career paths of our employees.”

Earlier this year, EADS and its divisions were honored with the Randstad Award as most preferred employer in Germany, France and Spain. In France, personnel marketing institute trendence and Universum rated the group as most preferred company for engineers.

EADS currently employs some 122,000 people and gener-ated €45.8 billion ($65 billion) in revenue in 2010. –R.R.P.

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L-3 turns its attention to high-tech export prizesby Charles Alcock

Prompted in part by the prospect of squeezed Pentagon budgets, U.S. defense groups have been consolidating operations in pursuit of higher value, higher technol-ogy pursuits. At L-3 Communications, as at both Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman previously, this means shifting out of service activities where margins are tighter and there is less scope for differen-tiation in a tight market, according to the New York-based group’s chairman, presi-dent and CEO Michael Strianese.

“The services segment can be a great performer, but it may not make sense to make more investments here, and there could be others who can take this fur-ther,” Strianese told AIN. Pricing pres-sure in defense services has come from smaller second- and third-tier providers.

In Strianese’s view, it is no surprise in this respect that it has been private equity companies that have been the main buy-ers of service operations for-mally owned by defense prime contractors. Generally, these deals have been heavily lever-aged, putting further pressure on the companies concerned to achieve more fruitful profit margins in order to clear the debt. Strianese indicated that L-3 could have more to say about further consolidation of its own operations when it gives its next earnings update in July.

At L-3, the consolidation process has already seen the merging of its sensors and simulation divisions to form an Electronic Systems group. The same process has hap-pened in what L-3 now calls Warrior Sys-tems, combining products such as Insight night-vision equipment for soldiers with other electro-optical and battlefield intelli-gence systems. “This consolidation reduces overhead and concentrates research-and-development spending,” said Strianese. “For the customer it does mean that we present one face to them with a much

broader range of products.”Despite the inevitable pressure to con-

tain costs, L-3’s strategy remains heavily tipped toward strong research-and-devel-opment spending. “We are investing in areas where we will see further growth, such as ISR [intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance] for smaller aircraft, night-vision systems and innovative ways to upgrade and maintain existing air-craft,” said Strianese.

Value-Added ProjectsHere at the Paris Air Show, L-3 is eager

to advance its ambitions to take the deliv-ery of added value through technology to key emerging markets, such as those in Asia and the Middle East. It has had success in the UK through programs such as the new Integrated Broadcast Service and the RC-135-based Rivet Joint program to replace the Nimrod signals intelligence platforms.

But with the UK’s defense bud-get facing similar constraints to those of its close ally the U.S., it is new military requirements in markets further east where some of L-3’s more exciting prospects are now to be found.

The package it put together for the U.S. Project Liberty requirement, converting Hawker Beechcraft King Air 350s into MC-12 ISR platforms is a prime example of the approach L-3 is looking to advance even further.

It has built more advanced King Air-based ISR platform that will be ready to display at Britain’s RIAT show next month.

The requirements of export clients are not always as well defined as those of Project Liberty, which was conceived by the Pentagon specifically with the Afghanistan campaign in mind. But to L-3 this, in itself, presents an oppor-tunity for early engagement with pro-spective clients to help them define the system requirements.

“We can offer ISR systems for smaller aircraft at a very attractive price point compared to other systems they have seen so far,” said Strianese. “And we’re plat-form agnostic, so that as long as the air-craft they have in mind is suitable for our payload, we are happy to adopt to it.”

Outside the U.S., Canada and the UK, L-3 does already have some pres-ence in the Middle East, with new offices in Abu Dhabi and in the Saudi capi-tal Riyadh, from where it is looking to exploit demand for border security infra-structure. It has been active in South Korea, mainly in terms of base support and training activity. In Australia it has been improving the sonar capabilities of the P-3 Orion aircraft–another export-able fleet life extension possibility, along with upgrade options for aging combat aircraft such as Boeing F/A-18s.

“There aren’t so many new program starts in the international markets but all countries have an installed base to work with, and when you get to the higher end of the overhaul work, that’s where we come in,” said Strianese, arguing that L-3 has the required flexibility and agil-ity to match its expertise to the actual needs and realities of a foreign military, rather than seeking to impose predeter-mined solutions.

One highlight of L-3’s exhibit here at Le Bourget this week is a new applica-tion that can bring real-time video from its Video Scout system into the battlefield via Android smart phones. “The technol-ogy has been moving very fast and young service people are very up-to-date,” com-mented Strianese. “This puts full-motion

video from aircraft into the hands of the warfighter through a commercial, off-the-shelf product, as well as giving them geo-location mapping. They can see exactly what the overhead platform is seeing.”

Also being demonstrated here this week is L-3’s main offering in the still-grow-ing airport security market. Its ProVision full-body screening machine uses millime-ter-wave scanning to generate a clear pic-ture of anything concealed on a passenger rather than X-rays, over which there are still safety concerns in some circles.

But what further sets ProVision apart, according to L-3, is its new automated target detection capability. The system has been programmed to be able to pick up on objects that “don’t belong” in the standard image of a passenger passing through security. This means that the human security screeners can focus their attention on more closely scrutinizing the “exceptions” rather than wasting time and attention span to the same degree on each passenger.

ProVision is already in extensive use at airports in the U.S., where the Transporta-tion Security Administration is upgrading them to have automatic detection capabil-ity. Strianese said there are very significant export opportunities for the system in the fast-expanding airports of Asia and the Middle East. The system has already been supplied to or ordered by airports in Aus-tralia, New Zealand, Italy, Germany, the UK and Indonesia. o


L-3 Beefs Up Mobius To Challenge Firebird

L-3 Communications has confirmed plans to more than double the size of its Mo-bius optionally manned aircraft. The new version will be 140 percent larger to allow for a two-seat manned configuration. The second seat can be occupied by a second pi-lot and/or sensor operator.

The existing development model has a maximum takeoff weight of 3,000 pounds and a wingspan of almost 27 feet.

L-3 also plans to expand the package of available ISR sensors and introduce an auto-matic takeoff and landing system. It sees the improved Mobius as a direct competitor to Northrop Grumman’s just-unveiled Firebird unmanned aircraft in the medium-altitude, long-endurance sector. –C.A.

L-3 is converting 37 King Air 350s for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance operations in Afghanistan as part of Project Liberty.

L-3 president and CEO Michael Strianese

L-3’s Warrior Systems produces night vision systems for the military and federal law enforcement agencies. The unit also produces tactical illuminators.

The company’s foray into airport security is the ProVision ATD, right, which detects objects that don’t belong on passengers for more focused screening.

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Airbus Military boosts support service offeringsby Chris Pocock

Airbus Military wants to boost reve-nue derived from support services from the current 10 to 15 percent of the total to between 30 and 40 percent during the next five years. It is offering customers that are buying the A330 tanker and the A400M airlifter a menu of options developed from training and maintenance contracts for the CN235 and C295 military trans-port aircraft.

According to the Euro-pean group, integrated service offerings such as these “demonstrably mini-mize the life-cycle cost” for the aircraft. The recently opened training center at Seville in southern Spain will offer more than 100 courses per year and full-flight simulators.

“Beyond traditional prod-uct support, our first offer is Full In-Service Support [FISS],” explained Philippe Galland, head of customer services. This provides maintenance on and off the air-craft, spares, component repairs and a guarantee of the fleet’s availability. The contract is priced per flight hour, but with some fixed-price options.

In commercial aviation, many airlines have signed up for such deals, and defense/government operators are now follow-ing this trend, said Galland. The operator achieves certainty in budgeting, and there are cost benefits when Airbus Military is able to manage a pool of spares for multi-ple operators. Airbus Military also provides continuous fleet monitoring and up-to-date fleet configuration control. The company has signed up 15 C212, CN235 and C295 operators for FISS, plus the Brazilian and Spanish Air Forces for their P-3 Orions that were upgraded by Airbus Military.

Integrated Support ServicesBeyond FISS, the company is offer-

ing integrated mission support services (IMSS). This additionally provides fully trained aircrew, plus mission planning, operations support and forward mainte-nance. The UK Royal Air Force has signed up for IMSS as part of the country’s pri-vate finance initiative (PFI) deal to acquire 14 A330MRTTs in the Future Strategic Tanker Aircraft (FSTA) program.

The aircraft are being supplied through Airtanker Ltd., in which Airbus Military parent company EADS has a 40-percent stake. The IMSS contract for the FSTA is being executed through a second com-pany, AirTanker Services Ltd., in which EADS holds a 28-percent stake. Airbus Military has signed a second IMSS con-tract with Spanish Customs for the opera-tion of six C212s.

The Royal Australian Air Force

(RAAF) is the launch customer for the A330MRTT. Airbus Military has signed a 20-year contract with Qantas Defense Services, which will become the prime training and support contractor to the RAAF. Galland said this makes sense because Qantas operates A330 airliners.

For other customers, Airbus Military could assume the role of prime contrac-tor for support. “We are flexible–what-ever is the most efficient arrangement,” Galland added. For instance, to support the A3330MRTTs for the UAE Air Force, the company will act as a subcontractor to the Advanced Military maintenance, Repair and Overhaul Center (AMROC) that Lockheed Martin and Mubadala are establishing in Abu Dhabi.

For the A400M airlifter, Airbus Mili-tary is committed to supplying various ser-vices, with options, as part of the launch contract. For the longer term, it is negoti-ating a contract that is somewhere between the FISS and IMSS models with the air forces of France and the UK, who have agreed to cooperate in supporting their air-craft. “We recognize that the services for each A400M nation must reflect differing operational requirements,” Galland said.

Airbus Military is offering to pro-vide central resources, such as an A400M maintenance center and the training cen-ter at Seville. It has submitted national and total training proposals to France and the UK, the latter in cooperation with Thales. Both countries will initially train aircrews in Seville. The company also is expecting a request for proposal from Germany for support services soon, and is in discussion with the other European launch nations.

Last year, Galland’s predecessor, Rich-ard Thompson, said the company aims to achieve airliner-standard dispatch reliabil-ity for the A400M–about 98 percent. “This compares with 85 percent for the C-17 and C-130J. We are also prepared to guarantee the number of hours of downtime per year, which will be 50 percent that of the C-17,” he added. Thompson has since moved to head up Airbus in the UK. o


Airbus Military has built a new training center in Seville, Spain, as part of a plan to provide long-term support services to the operators of the new A400M airlifter (shown here), A330 tanker and light-medium military transport aircraft.




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New orders set to drive up ATR productionby Thierry Dubois

Here at the Paris Air Show, ATR is showcasing its newly certified ATR 72-600 in the livery of Royal Air Maroc. Meanwhile, the European airframer’s final assembly line in Toulouse is to ramp up production of the 70-seater by 40 per-cent–in part driven by expectations of significant new orders to be placed at Le Bourget this week. Plans for a 90-seater

could be firmed up next year.The ATR 72-600 received its European

Aviation Safety Agency certification in late May. U.S. FAA approval is expected soon, thanks to the joint certification pro-cess the two agencies follow, ATR CEO Filippo Bagnato said last week in Paris. The six-month delay in getting the air-craft’s certification, which was planned

for 2010 at the program’s launch in 2007, is not due to any specific issue, according to Jacques Desbarats, commercial senior vice president.

The aircraft on display is soon to be delivered to the Moroccan operator. The -600’s second customer is Brazilian air-line Azul. The improved ATR 72 has a list price of $22.7 million ($800,000 more than its predecessor, the ATR 72-500). It is powered by a pair of Pratt & Whitney Canada PW127M engines for better hot-and-high capabilities. Maximum takeoff weight and zero-fuel weight increase by 1,100 pounds.

In the modernized cabin, passengers will enjoy 30-percent larger overhead bins. Bagnato told AIN that ATR engi-neers have found a good tradeoff between bin volume and headroom.

In the cockpit, the crew will benefit from a new Thales avionics suite with five six- by eight-inch LCD displays. It is built under an integrated modular avionics architecture. An AFDX bus makes data interchange swifter. The autopilot has Cat 3A approach capability.

The ATR 42-600 sells for $18.9 mil-lion, again $800,000 more than the -500 version. It is to be certified by year-end. Bagnato specifically mentioned the autopilot as a component that calls for extensive flight-testing by ATR and EASA engineers. The certification pro-gram involves one aircraft.

In sales, Bagnato highlighted the emerging markets of Brazil, Russia, India and China as holding a lot of hope for the near future. There are already two ATR operators in Brazil: Azul and Trip Linhas Aéreas. In Russia, deliveries have started to UTAir, which has ordered 20 aircraft; and in India, traffic is growing again, Bagnato noted.

But China is not as promising for ATR. As Desbarats explained to AIN, the Chinese government has set a 26-percent import tax for ATR-category aircraft because they compete with a local design: Xian’s MA-60. In total, the so-called BRIC countries will have accounted for 15 to 20 percent of ATR sales in the first half of 2011.

Thanks to sustained sales (includ-ing orders to be announced here at Le Bourget), production is to increase from 52 or 53 aircraft this year to about 70 next

year. Desbarats told AIN he would like more but Bagnato has decided to limit the ramp-up to what he sees as a rea-sonable level. He does not want to cre-ate too much complexity, as the ramp-up is simultaneous with the inception of the new -600 versions. He made it clear that the 70-aircraft production plan will be confirmed once the company has ensured the supply chain can accommodate the increase, and he said he hopes production will go beyond 70 in 2013 and 2014.

The -500 variants will still be produced along with the newer -600s until 2013. Bagnato hinted 2014 will see the termi-nation of the -500 production run. How-ever, ATR does not want to rule out -500 orders too quickly, in case a -500 customer would want to keep fleet homogeneity.

To support the increasing production rate, ATR is growing its workforce. From today’s 3,000, it should reach 4,500 in 2013–mainly in France and Italy–includ-ing ATR direct jobs and jobs at share-holders EADS and Alenia Aeronautica. ATR currently employs about 900 peo-ple directly.

Asked about the 90-seater project, Bagnato wanted to appear conservative. Citing Boeing 787 and Airbus A380 woes,

he said he wants to have a clear idea of the technology the aircraft will use before it is launched. Next year, ATR sharehold-ers will be able to make an informed deci-sion, he said.

ATR customers are perceived as “not needing tremendous performance.” They just need a larger turboprop, Bagnato asserted. “The enemy is cost; economics are paramount,” he said.

The company claims a 60-percent share in the regional turboprop mar-ket today. According to Desbarats, the ATR 72 has a 35- to 40-percent fuel burn advantage over the speedier Bombardier Q400. “Fuel accounts for 30 percent of an airlines’ costs,” Desbarats said. At 360 knots, the Q400 can cruise 80-knots faster than its European rival.

The 1,000th ATR aircraft should be delivered during the first half of 2012. o


ATR 72-600 by the Numbers

Engines Pratt & Whitney Canada PW127M (2) Takeoff power 2,750 shp each Range with max payload 900 nm Mtow 50,700 pounds Max payload 16,500 pounds Passenger seats 68 to 74

This newly certified ATR 72-600 on display here is soon to be delivered Royal Air Maroc. The second customer for the -600 is Brazilian airline Azul.

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GKN Aerospace nabs win on Falcon’s new super midsizeby Gregory Polek

Dassault Aviation has awarded GKN Aerospace a life-of-program contract to design and build the wing movable sur-faces for its next-generation, super mid-sized (SMS) business jet. It is one of the first major system supplier selections to be announced for the long-anticipated program. The work likely will be done at GKN’s Filton operation in the UK, which to date has focused mainly on wing pro-duction for Airbus.

“This contract opens an important and promising new relationship between our company and Dassault Aviation, one of the premier aircraft design and manufac-turing businesses in the world today,” said Phil Swash, GKN’s president and CEO for the Aerostructures-Europe division. “It is a clear indication of the global competitiveness and depth of expertise of the GKN Aero-space team and, specifically, of our grow-ing Filton-based wing-structures activity.”

Complete ControlGKN (Hall 2B EF166) will take respon-

sibility for the complete design, compo-nent manufacture and assembly of wing movable surfaces for the SMS, expected to enter service in 2016. The company aims to bring significant performance, weight and cost benefits to the wing of Dassault’s new jet and already has engineering teams working on the program, colocated in facilities in France and Bristol, UK.

Separately, the UK-based group has gained a multi-year follow-on order, val-ued at approximately $450 million, from Lockheed Martin for engine nacelles for the C-130J military airlifter. The new five-year contract extension takes continuous manufacture at GKN Aerospace through to 2018–and well into its third decade.

GKN plans to supply 37 full air-craft nacelle sets this year, almost dou-bling previous annual production rates. In total, the company expects to sup-ply 158 nacelles, including spares, during the remainder of this year and to deliver 2000 nacelles by 2018. It expects skilled

employment on its C-130J production line to triple by the end of 2011 and to include a growing number of apprentices.

Finally, GKN Aerospace has signed an agreement this week with Recy-cled Carbon Fibre (RCF) to recycle the uncured carbon waste from its aerostruc-tures manufacturing operation in Cowes, Isle of Wight, UK. Recycling will take place at RCF’s carbon-recycling facility near Birmingham in the UK.

GKN estimates that the Cowes site will recycle some 100 metric tons of car-bon waste in the next 12 months, as part of the so-called cost-neutral agreement. Plans call for the recycled material to appear in a variety of products, including paints and coatings, thermoplastic polymers, compos-ite tooling and deep-sea buoyancy prod-ucts. In the coming five years, as GKN Aerospace sees existing orders reach full production levels, the company expects a 30-percent rise in the quantity of waste for recycling from the Cowes site alone.

“Our composite research facility has been working with RCF for some time and our aim now is to commence a pro-gram that will ultimately establish recy-cling as an integral part of our full production manufacturing process in the UK, and globally,” said Rich Oldfield, GKN Aerospace director of technology.

“To balance the performance and environmental gains achieved through using composites in aircraft operations, it is vital the industry progresses toward greener manufacture on a number of fronts and we believe an effective recy-cling process is at the heart of that pro-gression,” Oldfield said.

For more on GKN’s perspective on the market and its investments in new technol-ogy see page 38. o

Easy, boy

In considerably earlier times, this could be a cavalryman calming his trusty steed. But this is 2011 and and the only one needing steadying would be the target of this F-15E’s weapons array.

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Boeing’s not showing its hand on plans for new-gen narrowbodyby Gregory Polek

It seems clear now that Boeing will not announce a decision on a successor to the 737NG at this Paris Air Show. But even the extent to which it will deliver on its promise to provide more “clarity” about its deliberations remained something of a mystery as the salon was set to open.

During a pre-Paris press briefing ear-lier this month at Boeing’s 737 plant in Renton, Washington, Nicole Piasecki, Boeing Commercial Airplanes’ vice pres-ident of business development, offered some clues, however. Most notably, she said the company would likely talk more about the size range an all-new narrow-body would occupy. She also said the “baseline” for such an airplane would include a composite fuselage, and could incorporate a single- or twin-aisle cabin.

“I don’t think that’s going to solid-ify this year in Paris by any means, but the market is moving up a couple of seat rows,” she said, referring to the baseline size of the potential new airplane. “The heart of the market is the 737-800 [at roughly 160 seats]. We continue to see that for the next 20 years, but it is up-gauging a little bit, and so our airplane would optimize the heart of the market area but a little bit gauged up.”

Piasecki also stressed that Boeing will not rush its decision, regardless of the existence and early success of the A320neo. Customers want Boeing to “get it right,” she said, and the substan-tial backlog already in place for the exist-ing airplane certainly doesn’t promote a sense of urgency. Piasecki insisted the 737-800, as it exists today, already offers 2-percent better per-seat operating costs than the A320neo promises to deliver in 2015. Boeing’s calculations show that a re-engined 737-800 would cost 8 percent less to operate than the Neo. An all-new airplane would deliver “at least” double

that benefit, she added. “We don’t have a decision date at

the end of this year,” she said. “We will decide when we are ready. These are big, big decisions with lots of implications that we are approaching very deliberately and very carefully and we have the option to re-engine and we have the technology plans in place and team in place to do a new small airplane program.”

Piasecki said Boeing spent most of the first half of this year “deeply dissect-ing the marketplace” and talking with a group of customers about the various configuration possibilities. The company will spend the second half of the year analyzing the existing 737 production sys-tem and gauging its ability to “transition” into a new system capable of accommo-dating a rate of between 50 and 60 units per month.

Now building 737s at a rate of 31.5 per month, Boeing plans to raise the rate in Renton to 35 in January and to 38 in the second quarter of 2013. Accord-ing to Beverly Wyse, 737 program manager, the company continues to evalu-ate yet another rate increase, to occur “about a year later,” to 42 per month, to help control a backlog of more than 2,000 airplanes.

In fact, Piasecki reckoned that cus-tomers will continue to take delivery of the existing NG for more than a decade, regardless of whether Boeing decides to re-engine or develop an all-new successor to the 737. That means years of simultaneous production of both the existing 737 and whatever succeeds it. “The transition is going to take time,” Piasecki said. “There are certain segments of customers that are going to want to keep their fleet; it’s a workhorse; it’s reliable. As the segments of the market move, you could see a low-cost type [of airline] wanting to keep [its]

existing fleet going. The rollover of these large fleets will take years to occur.”

Southwest Airlines is an example. Pias-ecki stressed the importance of Southwest to Boeing’s thinking on the eventual size and shape of the NG’s successor. “We will address the requirements for Southwest and that may help define the sizing of the airplane,” she said. But with an all-new airplane unavailable until at least 2019, questions have arisen whether Southwest would prefer a re-engined airplane, which would arrive in the marketplace closer to the middle of this decade. “We are very engaged with [Southwest] on both alter-natives,” said Piasecki. “And it is very

much a part of our thought process.”If Boeing does eventually decide to re-

engine, CFM International, the current sole-source of 737 engines, appears likely to serve at least as the lead powerplant supplier. Boeing’s work with CFM now involves what chief program engineer John Hamilton described as “trades” to deter-mine the optimum fan size the 737 could use without extending the nosegear. o

Boeing Vows To Defend

Lower Reaches of Narrowbody Market

Boeing intends to defend the segment of the market where its 737-700 resides, at least with incremental product improve-ments in the “medium term” future and pos-sibly with an all new airplane to appear in 2019 or 2020, according to Nicole Piasecki, Boeing Commercial Airplanes’ vice presi-dent of business development. That bit of in-formation might particularly interest Brazil’s Embraer, which continues to wait for Boeing to announce a decision on an eventual suc-cessor to today’s 737NG before it commits to a new program of its own.

Analysts have speculated that Boeing could abandon what now constitutes the lower reaches of the narrowbody market, particularly if it opted to build an all-new air-plane. Such a move, they argue, could leave an opening for Embraer to develop a 130- to 150-seat narrowbody of its own and help the Bombardier C Series gain more traction in its 110- to 145-seat segment.

“There is, obviously, emerging com-petition in the marketplace,” said Piasecki. “It is Boeing’s intention to defend the lower part of the market.” Still, she acknowledged an undeniable upward shift in the heart of the narrowbody segment “by a couple of seat rows.” In fact, Piasecki confirmed that Boeing will no longer pursue the sector of the market served by the 737-600, which typically ranges in capacity from 110 to 125 seats, due to pilot scope clause consider-ations in Europe and the U.S.

For what Piasecki called the medi-um-term future, Boeing has turned its at-tention to the so-called NG+, which, she said, amounts to a phrase for continuous improvement.

“We have a whole bunch of things that we’re taking a look at to eke out more per-formance in the mid-decade, 2015 time frame,” she said, in addition to the 2-percent fuel-burn improvement expected to result this year from the 737’s latest Performance Improvement Package (PIP).

“We feel our NG is very competitive,” said Piasecki. “On that program we’re way down the learning curve, we’ve got a set of customers that is very strong; we have an installed fleet and so we believe [in] our abil-ity to continue to make these incremental improvements in our program in the medi-um term, including going up in production rate to make our airplanes available.”

The Bombardier 130- to 145-seat CS300 will deliver, according to Piasecki, a small per-seat operating cost benefit over the existing 737-700. However, “I’ll say that our numbers are different from what their claims are in the marketplace,” she said. “We don’t publicly talk about our numbers, but we have confidence that our 700 can compete very aggressively and the 737-700 re-engine or new small airplane would be superior in terms of operating econom-ics to the C Series 300.” –G.P.

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(Water) bombs aWayWith forest fires and wildfires plaguing much of the world, including lately in Siberia, this Russian Beriev Be 200 is one of the few purpose-built firebombers on the market.

A new customer for a Boeing 737, like these coming down the Renton, Washington production line, would have to wait until 2016 to take delivery.



BAE and Dassault team on Telmos unmanned air vehicleby David Donald

Here at the Paris Air Show, Dassault and BAE Systems have joined forces to display a mockup of the UK company’s Mantis medium-altitude long-endurance (MALE) UAV technology demonstrator. The com-bined exhibit highlights the recent agreement between the two companies to codevelop the Telmos UAS to meet the needs of both Brit-ish and French armed forces.

Mantis was initially created as a joint UK government/industry program to dem-onstrate a deep and persistent ISTAR capa-bility, and flew in Australia in 2009 just 19 months after the program was initiated. The vehicle incorporated a number of innova-tive technological and construction features and demonstrated that the capability existed in Europe to create a vehicle in this class.

With the success of the first flight behind it, the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) began to explore options for a bilateral program with another European partner, and a joint BAE/Dassault feasi-bility study was undertaken in 2010 on behalf of the UK MoD and its French counterpart, the DGA. The study looked at national requirements, common solu-tions and industrial capabilities, while analyzing cost and schedule.

The conclusion was that a joint proj-ect was feasible and it was included in the UK/French defense cooperation treaty signed last November by Prime Minister Cameron and President Nicolas Sarkozy. In turn, this led to a memorandum of understanding in February between BAE Systems and Dassault to jointly pursue a proposal for the design, development, pro-duction and support of a MALE Opera-tional Unmanned Air System (OUAS) for service entry in the 2015-2020 time frame. The name Telmos was announced just before the show.

Both companies have extensive experi-ence in the unmanned arena–BAE Systems through its Raven, Corax, HERTI, Man-tis and Taranis programs, and Dassault through the AVE series, SDM MALE and Neuron–and both have complementary areas of excellence and key suppliers. The joint program allows sharing of invest-ment and technological developments for

the benefit of both nations. At present there is no formal joint

requirement for the OUAS MALE, but UK and French teams are working on an integrated requirement. According to one French industry source close to the pro-gram, the requirements are “already very close to convergence.” The requirement will be based on the provision of affordable, actionable combat ISTAR capability on a 24/7/365 basis, the ability to incorporate the rapid implementation of new technology and the ability to operate on a worldwide basis across a range of operational scenar-ios. OUAS MALE will be part of the UK’s Scavenger requirement for data collection and Solomon for data dissemination, as well as corresponding French requirements.

One element of OUAS MALE that is still to be defined is the acquisition approach, which is constrained by Euro-pean Union competition law. A decision is expected in mid- to late summer.

Meanwhile, BAE Systems and Dassault have already mobilized a team to mature the joint proposal and are hoping for an early down-select to one industrial team. According to Ian Fairclough, BAE Sys-tems’ project director for strategic UAS, “An early start would enhance the ability to de-risk the program downstream, deliver a more mature initial operating capability, get funding focused on one core design and help sustain industrial capabilities.”

It is accepted that the BAE Systems/Dassault Telmos proposal will be based to some degree on the Mantis. Dassault spokesman Yves Robins concurred, com-menting that, “We are happy to see BAE as the lead. Mantis is the startpoint.” The Joint Project Office will be established in the UK at Abbeywood.

Although the prop-driven Mantis technology demonstrator was designed so that it could trial jet power as an alterna-tive, it is likely that the Telmos will retain turboprops, trading time-to-height per-formance for better endurance charac-teristics. Weaponizing the vehicle has been studied, initially by BAE Systems as part of the UK-only program but now expanded as part of the joint proposal. o

The Dassault/BAE Systems Telemos will likely be based to some degree on the unmanned Mantis technology demonstrator.



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GKN set to reap lush harvest after investing in fallow yearsby Charles Alcock

When GKN Aerospace CEO Mar-cus Bryson gets bullish about market conditions it is probably worth pay-ing attention. He was quick to identify the full extent of the downturn trig-gered by the global financial crisis and has generally erred more toward the “glass-half-empty” view than seeing the glass as being half full. But, at a briefing ahead of this week’s Paris Air Show, he was adamant that the indus-try is back in growth mode and that GKN has positioned itself well to tap the fruits of growing demand.

Last year, which Bryson described as having been “good but not excep-tional,” GKN won new contracts that will lead to more than $1.5 billion in new business. The new work includes a contract to make fuel tanks for the General Atomics Predator UAV and

Eurocopter’s EC 135 helicopter, as well as for various Boeing 787 components for Japan’s Fuji Heavy Industries.

Production ramp-up for GKN’s role in major new programs such as Air-bus’s A400M military transport and the A350XWB airliner, as well as for the Lockheed Martin F-35 Joint Strike Fighter and the Boeing 787 widebody, are expected to bring in approximately $640 million in new revenues. In mid-April, GKN signed a new long-term production contract with Boeing. Run-ning through 2020, the contract cov-ers titanium structural wing-to-body and wing-to-nacelle fittings for the 787. These are manufactured at GKN’s plant in St. Louis, Missouri. Just over half of UK-based GKN Aerospace’s worldwide workforce is in the U.S. For the A350, GKN is providing inboard and outboard wing flaps, as well as cabin windows.

With airframers now looking to boost output fairly quickly there could be further opportunities for GKN to capitalize on the lack of preparedness of some rival suppli-ers, Bryson claimed. “As build rates grow, we will start to see some distress in the sup-ply chain with some suppliers struggling to make the necessary investments,” he said, referring to the impact that diminished income and profitability has had in some sectors of the industry. “This is why Airbus is giving long advanced notice of produc-tion rates increasing.”

Back in January 2009, GKN Aero-space took a big leap forward in expanding its own production capac-ity when it acquired the former Airbus wing factory at Filton in the UK. At the height of the downturn, the invest-ment might have seemed inauspicious, but output from the facility was a big factor in boosting annual revenues by almost 50 percent from around £1 bil-lion in 2008 to £1.45 billion in 2010.

While revenues were essentially flat between 2009 and 2010, profitabil-ity in GKN’s aerospace division last year represented a margin of 11.2 per-cent–above the 7.6 percent achieved group-wide.

The civil side of GKN’s business accounted for 53 percent of revenues last year and by 2014 this is expected to increase to 62 percent. Other drivers in this sector include increased output for both the A320 single-aisle family and its 737 rival from Boeing, as well as for the A380, A330 and Boeing 777. Further ahead, Bryson sees more opportunity in programs such as the new A320Neo and the 747-8 (for which GKN is con-tracted to develop thrust struts), as well as the Bombardier C Series (ailerons and winglets) and China’s Comac C919 air-liners. GKN is continuing talks with the Chinese about a possible contribution to the C919.

Despite the anticipated reduction in the proportion of military business to overall sales and pressure on defense budgets, GKN still feels that this sector

is largely positive for 2011 and going for-ward. In addition to its stake in the F-35 and A400M programs, GKN continues to generate ongoing earnings from pro-grams such as the C-130J and C-17 mil-itary transport, as well as from Saudi Arabia’s F-15 fighters, the V-22 Osprey tiltrotor and Sikorsky’s Blackhawk fam-ily of helicopters.

The group is now focusing on oppor-tunities with new generation U.S.-led programs, such as the CH-53K heavy-lift assault/transport helicopter, the KC-46A tanker, as well as various future unmanned combat air systems and the Armed Aerial Scout rotorcraft. Its cor-porate structure in the U.S. means that it is cleared to work on the Pentagon’s top-secret “black” programs. GKN also expects to grow its business with both BAE Systems and Northrop Grumman over the next three years.

Earlier this year, GKN added a new airframer to its client base when HondaJet announced its selection to manufacture the entire composite fuse-lage for its new business jet. The first production units are due to be deliv-ered to Honda’s U.S. factory in the spring of 2012.

Aerostructures account for fully 65 percent of GKN’s business, followed by 25 percent for propulsion systems. Specialty products, including fuel tanks and inflatable aircraft recovery floats, represent 10 percent of the busi-ness. Throughout these sectors, after-market work generates 15 percent of all revenues.

GKN’s work in aerostructures spans much more extensive sections of air-frames. These include winglets, wing trailing and leading edges, vertical and

GKN has invested heavily in automating processes for a manufacturing of composite aerostructures, vastly speeding up the process for tape laying when making structures such a wing slats.

GKN is working with Rolls-Royce to develop a new composite fan casing, but it still believes that metals have a future where their use would be more cost effective, such as in this aluminum isogrid casing.

GKN Aerospace CEO Marcus Bryson is optimistic that sustained growth is returning to the aerospace industry and believes that companies that have continued to invest during the downturn will capitalize on this trend.

Transparencies such as this cockpit window are part of GKN Aerospace’s special products division, accounting for 10 percent of revenues. The company is developing cabin windows for the Airbus A350XWB.


horizontal tail planes, composite and metal fuselage structures, as well as fully integrated floor structures.

In the powerplant department, GKN makes both composite and metallic fan blades and cases (see box), as well as blisks (a blade/disk combination), dif-fusers, turbine casings, exhaust systems, fan inlet frame, inner core fairings, com-pressor cases, ducts and compressor and turbine vanes.

Following on from a joint ven-ture started two years ago with Rolls-Royce to develop a new composite fan

blade, GKN is extending this alliance to develop a composite fan case. The case is intended for possible use on future large turbofans and potentially could be applied to whatever powerplant is required for the new-generation single-aisle airliners envisioned by both Boeing and Airbus.

“We are now building on our proven track record of growth and profit mar-gin progression,” concluded Bryson. He pledged that the group would continue its high levels of investment in research and technology development (see box). o

GKN Bets Big on Technology To Drive Growth

Even during the most unsettling periods of the recent economic downturn, GKN Aerospace continued to invest heavily in being at aerospace’s technological leading edge. Prime evidence of this is its leadership role in the establishment of the UK’s new National Composites Centre, where work is due to start this summer. To kick-start this initiative, GKN and partners from aerospace and other industries have just completed the Inspirational Composites project to define the initial R&D goals for the new government-backed facility, which will be based close to GKN’s Filton site and will work closely with nearby Bristol University.

Also kicking off soon in Filton will be work commissioned through a new R&D collaboration agreed with Airbus parent group EADS to develop more environmentally sustainable methods for aircraft manufacturing. This too has enjoyed some financial support from the UK government.

GKN has extended its role in the European Commission-backed Clean Sky program to develop and harness technology that can reduce air transport’s environmental footprint. Working with Airbus, the company is in the middle of the design phase for developing a laminar wing that will be flown on an A340 in 2014 to prove whether the anticipated reduction in drag delivers sufficient cuts in fuel burn to merit its adoption for new airliners.

‘Niche’ Technologies

The engineering team led by GKN technology director Richard Oldfield is also applying itself to the development of what he called “differentiating technologies” in areas such as transparencies and coatings. “We’ve got about a dozen different technologies coming together,” he told AIN. “We’re applying niche technologies to aircraft structures to increase functionality and add value.”

For instance, GKN is working on coatings that would resist the formation of ice on aerostructures to reduce the need to use energy-consuming heat for de-icing. Ice protection research work has also yielded new designs for engine inlets and exposed areas of wings. This work, and greater use of smart coatings, is also reducing the noise footprint of aircraft

Providing lightning protection for composite structures has been another big issue for the GKN research team because the traditional method of fitting copper mesh inside the structure would add weight and so undermine one of the key

reasons for using composites. “So instead, we’ve been finding ways to integrate other metallic elements into the composites to replicate the effect of the copper mesh,” Oldfield explained.

Pairing Composites and Metals

Not so long ago, the ascent of compos-ites in aerostructures manufacturing seemed an unstoppable progression that could happen only at the expense of metals. Fresh thinking at GKN is changing that, with engineers in-creasingly coming to the conclusion that the two families of materials can coexist in coop-erative harmony to give manufacturers the best of both worlds.

The company is making progress in the application of hybrid structures that combine titanium and composites. The company has devised a way to use degradable hooks to bind the two materials together until they are permanently bonded.

What’s more, GKN also is finding ways to make more efficient use of the materials individually. With composites it is increasingly building up structures from a powder form so that the manufacturer ends up using 90 percent of the raw materials, as opposed to the traditional approach in which it would start with a composite block and then machine away 90 percent of the mass to use only the remaining 10 percent.

Working with engine maker Rolls-Royce, GKN also is testing new sintering techniques in which metallic powder is formed into structures by applying heat without reaching melting point. This could reduce a four-stage forging process for making turbine blades into a single process. Other work is being done to fine-tune the material properties of metals by remixing the powder content.

So for GKN, it is no longer a case of composites or metals. “What it comes down to is which material is most competitive and offers the highest [profit] margin [for a specific application], or could it be that this would be from a combination of both,” concluded Oldfield.

But one of his greatest challenges remains recruiting the right engineering talent for GKN’s work, with the UK education still lag-ging in the production of a new generation of aerospace engineers. The company needs to find at least 300 more composites specialists and is having to implement its own training programs to cross-train people with the right aptitude but insufficient direct experience in the field. –C.A.



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Power struggle intensifies over new narrowbodiesby Julian Moxon

Almost three full decades ago a battle was raging over the powerplant options for what was then the all-new Airbus A320. The competitors–CFM Interna-tional and International Aero Engines (IAE)–were making claim and coun-ter-claim as to the potential advantages their respective engines would bring to the aircraft, which had been developed to grab a slice of the huge single-aisle market until then dominated by the ubiq-uitous Boeing 737.

Today, the fight to power the much-anticipated son-of-the-A320 is no less intense. But this time it is the re-engined, “sharklet” wing-tipped version: the A320neo. CFM International is still there in its original 50/50, transatlantic partner-ship between GE Aviation and Snecma, but this time only one of the original five IAE partners is present: Pratt & Whitney, which at the time of writing had taken all of the 332 orders and options for the

aircraft with its all-new PW1100G geared fan engine. Rolls-Royce, the other major IAE partner, is absent from the com-petition, its future single-aisle strategy depending entirely on powering all-new single-aisle aircraft.

The intensity of the A320neo engine fight was highlighted a few weeks before this year’s Le Bourget show, when CFM quietly revealed it had decided to increase the fan diameter of its Leap-X engine by two inches. The move resulted from Airbus’ concerns that the existing engine’s 71-inch fan would result in a significant fuel burn disadvantage com-pared to the PW1100G. Airbus wanted to offer potential customers a choice of engines with similar performance because the resulting A320neo order book would be more likely to be split 50/50 between the competing engines–forcing the engine manufacturers to keep their prices down and helping the aircraft

itself to be more competitive. The fan diameter increase means the

engine will have a bypass ratio closer to the 12:1 figure set by the PW1100G, with its 81-inch fan. The late decision means extra work for France’s Snecma, however, which is responsible for the all-compos-ite fan, adding to the workload as Leap-X development continues toward its early 2016 entry-into-service date.

Improved Fuel BurnTom Brisken, general manager, cus-

tomer strategies at GE Aviation, claims the larger fan will bring improved fuel burn performance without requiring major work on the core, which is approaching its first major test. “We con-tinue to develop the core as is usual in engine development programs,” he told AIN. “I am convinced that if we can nail the core, we will have, by far, the best engine for the A320neo.”

Paul Adams, Pratt & Whitney’s senior engineering vice president, disputes this. He reckons that in order to achieve the higher bypass ratio, CFM will “possibly” have had no choice but to reduce the core size of the Leap-X, in turn increasing core temperature. “The downside is that would be very negative from the maintenance point of view,” he told AIN. CFM denies it has had to do this, but the argument high-lights the PW1100G versus Leap-X battle-ground: reliability and maintenance costs.

GE’s Brisken remains adamant that reliability, besides fuel burn performance, is central to airline decision making and that an engine based on an existing highly reliably design dating back to the GE90 powering the Boeing 777 will prove its worth. “There have got to be some con-cerns about bringing a brand-new engine to market,” he said.

Pratt & Whitney, only too aware that the gearbox reliability issue was central to sales of its engine, came under intense pressure from the airlines to provide strong maintenance guarantees. Test-ing of the geared fan engines already in development for the Bombardier CRJ and Mitsubishi MRJ has revealed no problems. “We also have a more conser-vative core [than P&W’s],” said Adams. “I have no worries with this engine at all.”

The Leap-X program was launched in July 2008 as a response to the dra-matic surge in fuel prices. The biggest investment in CFM’s history, the engine now represents the company’s stake in a potentially vast market for more fuel-effi-cient aircraft. The engine combines the best technologies of the new GEnx that powers the Boeing 787 with the proven assets of the CFM56, designed for high-cycle operations typically flown by sin-gle-aisle aircraft. “It is evolutionary, not revolutionary,” said Brisken. “At entry into service we’re aiming for dispatch reli-ability levels in the same league as the CFM56-5 today–99.98 percent. It’s a big challenge but that’s our target.”

Several A320neo order decisions are thought to be in the pipeline, includ-ing from Virgin America and Air Asia, both potentially major customers. Both Brisken and Adams reckon the market

will run for around 10 years and be worth potentially “several thousand” aircraft.

What, then, of Boeing’s answer to the A320neo? Perhaps all will be revealed here at Paris, but the general opinion is that it has abandoned any plans for another re-engined version of the 737 and is concentrating on an all-new air-craft. Boeing has said only that it intends to address the single-aisle market with a 145- to 185-seat offering.

All-new EngineThis is where Rolls-Royce comes in.

At the 2010 Farnborough airshow Rolls’s head of strategic marketing, Robert Nut-tal, insisted that an all-new engine for an all-new aircraft was the only solution that made business sense to the UK company. “First, we don’t think a re-engined aircraft offers any significant net financial benefit to the industry,” he told AIN. “Second, at manufacturing level the program will be only half as long as a new engine pro-gram, so the returns are far less, and third, if re-engining occurs it delays an all-new aircraft which would bring real benefits in terms of fuel economy and emissions.”

With the A320neo, the third option has now happened, so does Rolls-Royce still believe in its strategy of a year ago? Speaking exclusively to AIN before the show, Nuttal confirmed that the company remained “unable to see a business case” for powering a derivative aircraft and was pressing ahead with an aggressive technol-ogy readiness program aimed at providing an advanced engine for an all-new aircraft. “We believe that a bespoke engine provides a viable, strong business case,” he said.

The company is running two engine demonstrator programs as well as an open-rotor research effort, all aimed at providing a “range of concepts to suit the timing and size of aircraft when they appear.” The three-shaft Advance 3 pro-gram and two-shaft Advance 2 are each running core technology demonstrators, the Advance 2 core having already dem-onstrated, said Nuttal, a “world-leading 22:1 pressure ratio high-pressure com-pressor.” This core goes to its next alti-tude test in June and will continue testing to 2014. Testing of the first Advance 3 core is complete and the second core is on track for the third quarter of this year.

“We are the only company to have three potential candidates for a future new aircraft,” said Nuttal. “Our strategy is to ensure we are in a position of technical readiness with programs that are applica-ble across the board. There is a tremen-dous amount going on at Rolls-Royce.” He is “emphatic” that the UK company will be aboard any new single-aisle aircraft.

GE and P&W both claim that develop-ment versions of their respective engines will also be suitable for an all-new aircraft. Brisken said GE has been “very engaged” with Boeing developments of the Leap-X. “We have to make the right decision at the right time,” he stated. “We will not be sur-prised if Boeing launches this year. They like our technology and they like what we’re doing. Boeing will want the best.”

Adams said the Boeing issue is “really interesting from our point of view. I think

The Pratt & Whitney PW1100G geared turbofan selected to power the Airbus A320neo is derived from the company’s original Pure Power 1000G geared turbofan, above. Pratt revealed a full-scale model of the original at its stand at the Farnborough International airshow in 2008.

CFM has tested and evaluated all three major elements–the turbine, the combustor and the compressor–of the Leap-X core demonstrator. The company recently decided to extend the fan diameter to improve fuel burn.


they will come out with an all-new aircraft. They are very interested in our geared fan engine, which has considerable develop-ment capability.” He said that the develop-ment process would produce a PW1100G offshoot with a further 5-percent fuel burn advantage over the A320neo engine by the expected 2019-2020 in-service date. “We’re looking at a range of possibilities with Boeing,” he added.

Open RotorsOpen rotors remain potential future

powerplants only for Rolls-Royce and GE/Snecma. Brisken said it is still “too early for such an engine and the airframers recognize that. We don’t see an open rotor before 2030 from the tech-nology point of view and we still ques-tion if it is the right approach.”

Rolls-Royce puts the airframe require-ment slightly earlier, at “mid to late decade.” Nuttal said the airframers are taking open rotors seriously and that both Boeing and Airbus have been involved in simulations of potential engine configurations. “We’re working on both pusher and tractor lay-outs. A rear location is more complex than

an underwing tractor, but we’re looking at all the airframe issues,” he explained.

Rolls-Royce has completed the first three open-rotor test sets and is about to embark on the fourth, which will con-centrate on blade optimization. Nuttal said trials to-date have shown that an open rotor could yield up to a 10-percent fuel burn advantage over a conventional engine designed at the same time, but it would be 10dB noisier. “That means it would still be quieter than anything fly-ing today, so we’re confident that with continuing development we will have a very viable product,” he concluded.

With the battle lines drawn between CFM and Pratt & Whitney on the A320neo and with Rolls-Royce putting all of its single-aisle cards on a future all-new aircraft, this year’s Paris Air Show promises to be as interesting as ever for engine industry-watchers. o

Rolls-Royce is one of two manufacturers contemplating an open-rotor design for narrowbody aircraft. The company estimates that the engine could be 10 percent more fuel efficient than traditional engines, but the tradeoff would be increased noise.

Rolls-Royce open-rotor pusher

Rolls-Royce open-rotor tractor



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Airbus carefully ramps up productionby Thierry Dubois

Building on a strong upturn in global airline traffic, Airbus is ramping up pro-duction of all its models–A320 family, A330 and A380–while keeping a careful eye on possible supply chain issues that could hit increased output rates for these models and also for the new A350XWB widebody. Meanwhile, costs and an uncompetitive euro-dollar exchange con-tinue to give headaches to the European airframer’s top management.

“In [airline] traffic, after minus four percent in 2009, we are now experienc-ing a seven- to eight-percent growth, and a five-percent growth is almost guaran-teed,” Airbus COO Fabrice Brégier emphasized in an early June meeting with the French aerospace journalist association (AJPAE). This explains the increased pro-duction rates for the fast-selling A320 single-aisle family, for which output will increase from 36 to 42 aircraft per month. This year, a first target is 38, but early next year the rate should reach 40 and it is expected to hit 42 in the fourth quarter.

Production is spread among Toulouse (a steady 14 aircraft per month); Tianjin, China (increasing from three to four per month); and Hamburg, Germany, which is to reach 24 per month and is thus accommodating most of the ramp-up.

“If we could go to 45, we would have a market for that,” Brégier said. But the supply chain would find it hard to follow. According to Brégier, those companies concerned are mostly small ones, as some of these businesses have had financial trou-bles during the recent downturn. This has made it hard for them to invest to be ready for the ramp-up and, at the same time, airframers have continued to exert down-ward pressure on prices paid for what they produce, making cash even harder to find.

Airbus’s answer to this is that smaller, tier-two and -three firms should con-solidate. “They could be more efficient, financially more robust and could more easily transfer work to low-cost coun-tries,” Brégier suggested. To help those small companies that are having a hard time, Airbus is a partner in Aerofund–a financial support organization that also has French engines and electronics group Safran as a partner. Also, Brégier is the president of “Pacte PME” (“SME com-pact”), a group of 36 large corporations that aim at a fairer relationship between them and small subcontractors.

But difficulties can also affect major first-tier Airbus partners. EADS subsid-iary Aerolia, an aerostructures special-ist, has a factory in Tunisia but it had to close it during the North African coun-try’s revolution early this year. Growth plans there have been postponed by two or three months, Brégier said.

What about the transition from pro-duction of the existing A320 to the re-engined A320neo family? “Transitions are always delicate but, fortunately, this one will be short, as we have brought forward the Pratt & Whitney version’s entry into service to October 2015,” Bré-gier answered. He forecast that, in 2018, about 40 Neos will be produced.

On the A330 widebody, the production rate is to increase from nine per month, early in 2012, to 10 per month in the sec-ond quarter of 2013. This ramp-up has

contributed to making the sup-pliers’ workload heavy. Aero-lia, for example, manufactured 45 percent more components in 2010 than in 2009.

Brégier predicted the A330 will continue to be manu-factured until at least 2020, despite the A350XWB’s arrival on the market in 2013. He would not comment on the anticipated end of the A340’s 18-year production run (ended in 2010), but he did concede that increas-ing fuel prices and evolving

ETOPS rules for twin-engine operations made the quad “less competitive.”

On the A380, Brégier said about 25 cop-ies should be delivered this year. However, he said, “We are keeping a close eye on the uncertainties Rolls-Royce is facing with one Trent 900 supplier.” He was referring to problems at Japan-based turbine blade manufacturer IHI, whose factory was seri-ously damaged by the earthquake and sub-sequent tsunami in March. According to Brégier, after having been stopped for sev-eral weeks, the factory has been restarted and Airbus hopes to meet nominal pro-duction levels in July.

“On the A380, since the end of 2009, we have fulfilled our delivery sched-ule commitments,” Brégier noted. He asserted that Airbus now has a good command of the production ramp-up. The rate is predicted to reach about 40 per year before 2020. From an account-ing standpoint, the double-decker is expected to contribute to Airbus’ profits, at last, in 2014 or 2015.

Having had to cope with all the afore-mentioned supply chain issues, how is Airbus preparing for the A350? Is the new widebody’s supply chain ready? Spe-cifically asked about composite compo-nent providers, Brégier answered that some of them are using such materials for the first time. “The challenge is not really in large panels but rather in clips, frames, stringers and so forth,” he said. Brégier admitted that Airbus is now solv-ing teething problems in material quality and control processes.

The first A350XWB final assembly is to start late this year. Brégier insisted sys-tem installation in the airframe must be “robust.” This is especially important for electric systems in a composite fuselage,

and Airbus will be mindful of fairly recent wiring problems with the A380 program. But Brégier expressed confidence that the production ramp-up would be relatively easy, once the tooling is in place at the suppliers’ facilities.

In terms of orders, Airbus is expecting 2011 to exceed 2010, which ended with 574 net sales. There were 70 cancellations last year and these are expected to stay at a similar level, between 10 and 15 percent of annual orders, in 2011.

As for costs, Brégier emphasized that the Power 8 cost-cutting plan had its objectives surpassed. Running from 2007

to 2010, Power 8 envisaged a total €2.1 billion ($2.9 billion) savings but ended up with €2.5 billion ($3.5 billion) saved. A follow-on plan, Power 8+, is running through 2012 to save another €650 mil-lion ($900 million).

The amount saved with Power 8 equates to a €0.25 improvement in the euro-dollar currency exchange rate, Bré-gier noted. “A weak dollar quickly anni-hilates our competitive efforts,” he said. Therefore, while half of an A320’s cost basis is in dollars, this proportion will rise to three quarters on an A350.

Meanwhile, Airbus is still hiring. The company recruited 2,200 staff (half of them in France) in 2010. This year, Brégier sees 4,000 people being hired throughout Europe, with the same pro-portion in France. o


Airbus COO Fabrice Brégier sees production increasing for all models, but supply chain issues remain a concern.

IAE to consider new variant of recently updated V2500 by Ian Goold

International Aero Engines (IAE) will begin to consider a “SelectThree” vari-ant of its established V2500 turbofan around the end of 2011 as a potential fol-low-on to the SelectTwo version unveiled earlier this year and launched by Middle East operator Gulf Air. The powerplant manufacturers making up the group have extended their partnership agreement to 2045 and Asian carrier China Southern has become the largest V2500 customer.

Ian Aitken, president and chief exec-utive of the partnership, which com-prises Japanese Aero Engines, MTU Aero Engines, Pratt & Whitney and Rolls-Royce, told AIN that he expects to hear from engi-neers “in six months’ time” about possi-ble further V2500 enhancements. He said IAE investment is not constrained to any

particular area of engine operations and that improvements could come in soft- or hardware changes or in, say, maintenance costs. “I’ve said, ‘Tell me what is possible’ and then I’ll see the business case. There are a lot of technologies available from each partner.”

A new V2500 customer, Bahrain-based Gulf Air, has placed the first orders for the SelectTwo version, which will power six Airbus A321s. IAE and Airbus are engaged in a “rigorous” SelectTwo

flight-test, validation and certification program to be completed later this year. The upgrade–comprising an electronic engine-control software upgrade and a new data-entry plug, and available as a V2500-5 SelectOne sales order option–is planned for service entry in 2013.

SelectTwo aims to provide 0.58-per-cent fuel-burn savings, compared with SelectOne engines, for a 500-nm A320 mission. IAE said that for a 10-airline fleet making 2,300 flights per aircraft per year, this equates to savings of $43,000 per aircraft per year at current fuel prices and 148 metric tons of carbon dioxide per aircraft per year.

Recent new, or extended, customer agreements include a China South-ern order for 65 SelectOne engines to be

announced today as the car-rier extends its V2500-powered fleet to 177 aircraft–in service or on order–making it the leading V2500 customer. Deliveries of these latest engines, which are covered by a long-term mainte-nance agreement and are valued at more than $750 million over-all, are to begin in May 2012.

Over the past several months, IAE also has reached agreements with Air Leasing, Bank of China, Sichuan, TAM, Vietnam Aircraft Leasing and Vietnam Airlines. After China Southern, the next four lead-

ing V2500 users are JetBlue, US Airways, United Airlines and TAM, each with more than 100 IAE-powered aircraft.

The IAE partnership, which was formed in 1983, has agreed a 30-year extension to its collaboration agreement until 2045. There are nearly 6,500 V2500s in service with–or on firm order from–almost 200 customers in more than 70 countries. The V2500 in-service fleet has doubled in the past five years, according to International Aero Engines. o

International Aero Engines is to consider a possible SelectThree variant of the V2500. The four partners in the program have extended their collaborative agreement to 2045.


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Raytheon develops missile for small UAVsby David Donald

Raytheon’s growing portfolio of precision munitions is to expand with the development of a new smart missile to arm small UAVs that are currently unable to carry weapons. Initial flight tests have produced good results, and the small tactical missile (STM) is gearing up for more advanced testing in the coming weeks.

STM development was spurred on by the experience of operators of small UAVs such as the U.S. Army’s RQ-7 Shadow. “Operators of these UAVs can see guys planting IEDs, but they have nothing to shoot,” explained Cody Trets-chok, Raytheon’s STM capture manager, referring to operations in locations such as Afghanistan against insurgents armed with improvised explosive devices. “They can call in airstrikes but that might take 30 to 60 minutes, by which time the enemy has gotten away. The challenge is,

what can we do for these small systems? How can we dramati-cally reduce the kill chain?”

Arming the UAVs themselves is the obvious answer, but the size and payload capacity of the vehicles demands a very small weapon. There are advantages as a small warhead significantly reduces the level of collateral damage, an important consid-eration when operating in pop-ulated areas. “But you can go too far,” warned Tretschok. “It doesn’t make sense to make a weapon that doesn’t have a large enough warhead to be effective.”

Answering this conundrum is a seven-pound warhead devel-oped by Nammo Talley. The small size of the warhead has allowed Raytheon to devise a missile that weighs just 13 pounds yet still delivers an effective blast.

The STM is unpowered, but its wings give it a range of around four to seven kilometers when

launched from a typical 8,000- to 12,000-foot altitude. Guidance is by semi-active laser and/or GPS.

Flexibility of operation was an important driver in its design, and it incorporates a range of advanced features drawn from Raytheon’s extensive munitions range, including off-boresight launch, impact angle control, fuzing options (point, delay and airburst) and high agility to engage moving targets. The weapon is fully interfaced with the UAV operator’s station.

Development of STM began around three years ago, and in 2010 flight tests were undertaken at the Yuma Prov-ing Ground in the U.S. Three drops were undertaken from the Cobra autonomous UAV platform, which was developed

by Raytheon as a testbed for unmanned systems and sensors. All three drops used inert weap-ons, one being guided by GPS alone and two using both GPS and laser.

While ground tests of the warhead continue, more flight tests are planned for the end of the summer with fuzing options added. STM drops from a tac-tical platform are planned for later in the year, or early next.

Further developments of the STM are being worked on, including a common launch tube for two missiles for carriage by larger platforms. Although these platforms can carry larger weapons such as the Hellfire, the STM can be carried in larger numbers and offers a useful low collateral damage option.

The provision of a motor to extend range is also being exam-ined, although the weapon’s cur-rent glide range is well matched to the way in which small UAVs are typically employed. Heli-copter- and ground-launched concepts for the STM are also under review.

The STM becomes the small-est member of a family of smart weapons from Raytheon that ranges from the Paveway laser and dual-mode bombs, down through the SDB II, JAGM and Griffin. The latter is a 33-pound weapon that has been integrated with the U.S. Air Force’s A/MC-130W Dragon Spear Hercules used by the U.S. Special Oper-ations Command and has also been linked with larger UAVs and helicopters. o

A test item of Raytheon’s small tactical Missile is carried by the 10.2-foot wingspan Cobra UAV, which was developed by the

company specifically to conduct UAV trials.

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High technology has its own languageSafran is a world leader in commercial jet engines, helicopter turbine engines, landing gear and automated

Because craftsmanship is a source of pride, Safran speaks the language of passion.

Passion 550 x 176 Show Daily Ain:Mise en page 1 19/05/11 17:06 Page1

Sargent invests for coming boomby Charles Alcock

This time last year, newly restructured Sargent Aerospace & Defense was busily expanding its component-making facilities in anticipation of a full-blown indus-try recovery in the second half of this year. Preparing to depart for this week’s Paris Air Show, the U.S. group’s president Scott Still said this trend has since been deferred by what he estimates to be six to nine months, but he has no regrets about getting his company in growth mode and is already reaping the benefits of an investment totaling some $20 million.

In August, Sargent expects to open its new 70,000-sq-ft facility in Tucson, Arizona–more than doubling the size of its headquarters. Production equipment is being installed next month and work is already under way to trans-fer activities from the company’s other factories in California. Overall, employment at the site

is targeted to grow by around 100, with 30 jobs added so far and up to another 40 antici-pated in the first half of next year. In addition to existing in-production aircraft, Sargent is gearing up for its contributions to Boeing’s new 787 widebody and the Airbus A350XWB, as

well as Lockheed Mar-tin’s F-35 fighter.

Despite the slow-than-expected recovery, Still told AIN that airframers are already ramping up production and there is an increasingly prevalent view that some tier-two suppliers have not been able to make the neces-sary investments to be

ready to boost output. “Ramp-up rates look like [they will be] 30 to 40 percent above current levels,” he said. “Some suppliers could be in trouble [in terms of lack of preparedness]. Some are going to fall down and we could capitalize on that.”

Another issue facing tier-two

suppliers is the growing desire of their tier-one masters to commit them to lock in prices for contracts running as long as 10 to 15 years. This is in the context of rising raw material costs that have seen increases as high as 15 percent since 2009. Sargent has endeavored to protect itself through some material price hedging through 2012, but Still acknowledged that this is a hard calculation to get right and spells risk for him and his rivals.

Sargent has a growing appetite of its own to increase its position on the global aerospace stage. After recruiting as its new vice president for aftermarket services Kevin Connelly, who has expe-rience in the Asia Pacific region, the company has opened a sales and business development office in Singapore and is quickly real-izing the opportunities now at its feet. It is also handling some cus-tomer support out of Singapore and will soon place space inven-tory there. The next step is a study

that could lead to the establish-ment of a facility for manufac-turing and repair and overhaul work in China, most likely close to Shanghai.

On the technology front, investment has also been made in developing new high-veloc-ity oxygen fuel (HVOF) spray and shot-peen processes. This has great potential both to increase production rates, and also to serve as an environmen-tally friendly alternative to tra-ditional chrome plating, which is fast going out of favor in the aerospace sector.

The processes are just being started at Sargent’s Torrance, California factory, where it makes various fasteners and bearings. Following imminent approval by Boeing, Messier Dowty and manufacturing standards group Nadcap, HVOF should be ready

for full production in August. Still said the new approach could save three to six weeks for pro-ducing components for the 787 and A350, and he intends to extend its use to Tucson.

Sargent also is in the final stages of bringing its new Kahr bearing liner for helicopters to market. “This should be ready for flight testing in the early part of the fourth quarter [of 2011] and it is performing better than we had thought [in ground tests],” said Still.

The company also is seeing sustained recovery in its after-market business. Its focus here is to seek out high-value, niche overhaul and repair tasks in areas such as bearings, fasten-ers and engine rings for aircraft such as A320s, 737s and 777s now approaching the end of their warranty periods. o

Scott Still,Sargent

president

Sargent Aerospace & Defense manufactures actuators and valves, fasteners and pins, seals and alignment joints, specialty bearings and hot-section components for OEMs.

www.safran-group.com

High technology has its own languageSafran is a world leader in commercial jet engines, helicopter turbine engines, landing gear and automated

Because craftsmanship is a source of pride, Safran speaks the language of passion.

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Rafael adds functionality to its Litening reconn podby Chris Pocock

Haifa, Israel-based Rafael Advanced Defense Systems is pro-moting a new version of the very successful Litening pod here at Paris, after celebrating the 1,000th sale of this targeting and naviga-tion system. It has also developed a multi-sensor ground station from one that it previously built to handle imagery from the Rafael Reccelite reconnaissance pod.

First produced in 1992, Lit-ening pods have been sold to 26 countries and integrated on some 22 different aircraft, mostly fighters but also the U.S. Air Force’s mighty B-52. With its third-generation FLIR, improved CCD sensor for the visible spectrum, electronic image stabilization and dual-wavelength laser, the Liten-ing III offered a step-change in capability when it became avail-able five years ago. Rafael claims that the Litening was the first pod to incorporate a FLIR sen-sor with a wide field-of-view to provide a display on the pilot’s HUD to enable low-level navi-gation at night. The system can also provide air-to-air capability by detecting targets at beyond visual range.

Northrop Grumman pro-vided the FLIR and has been a

major partner on the Litening. The U.S. market and FMS sales account for more than half of all sales. Other partners are Zeiss in Germany, and Ultra Electronics of the UK, which has provided an alternative narrowband datalink to one designed by the Israelis. Imag-ery from the Litening III over Iraq and Afghanistan has been downlinked directly to forward air controllers for target verifi-cation and direction.

Now comes the Litening IV, in which the sensors have improved range and accuracy, according to Haim Jacobovitz, vice president and general manager for Rafael’s NCW sector. Also, he told AIN, image-matching and processing


Iron Dome from Rafael proves its worth in Israelby David Donald

Having been developed in some urgency, Rafael’s Iron Dome dual-mission defense sys-tem is now operational, and in April an Israel Defense Forces (IDF) battery proved its worth for the first time when several Grad rockets were intercepted after launch from the Gaza Strip into southern Israel. The IDF currently has two batteries in place, protecting the cities of Ashkalod and Be’er Sheva, and is in production with another four or five batteries to widen the area that can be protected.

Ultimately Israel hopes to have 10 to 15 batteries and plans to invest nearly $1 billion in the program. At least $205 million of that is coming from the U.S., that amount being allocated by Congress toward

Iron Dome development and production in April.

Development of Iron Dome began in January 2008 to meet a variety of threats. It can be used in the V-SHORAD role against tra-ditional air threats and as a coun-ter-rockets-and-mortar (C-RAM) system. Each battery has 20 Tamir interceptor vehicles and can be carried on military vehicles for rapid redeployment. With the bat-tery in place and communications antennas raised, the system can be linked to the command/control network and be ready to fire in around two minutes.

Targets can be engaged at ranges from four to at least 70 kilometers, and the interceptor is designed to destroy the incoming threat rather than deflect it, an

RA

FAE

L


The Rafael’s new Imilite ISR exploitation system makes possible multi-sensor feeds and fusion.

A Litening III navigation and targeting pod hangs from the forward left fuselage station of a UK Royal Air Force Tornado strike fighter. It is used to guide direct smart weapons such as the Enhanced Paveway IV bomb that is carried on the forward right station.

Rafael Can Help Partners Stretch Budget and Technology Gaps

In defense terms, few would question the proposition that the state of Israel punches above its weight. And the same could well be said of its defense companies. Take Rafael, for example.

“I am running a boutique [defense company], we’re not Northrop Grumman,” Rafael’s chairman Ilan Biran told AIN, pointing out that most of its ac-tivities are confined to research and develop-ment and low-rate-of-production programs.

That’s true, but despite having fewer than 7,000 employees, Rafael has built an impres-sive position in the air defense and air superi-ority sectors that has drawn it into partnership with the mighty U.S. group. Biran and his team are here in Paris to show off Rafael’s technol-ogy portfolio and to remind the world that it has ambitions in the export market and is very open to part-nership in an environment of fast-changing military require-ments. The company’s extensive Le Bourget exhibit features its air-to-air and air-to-ground weapons, as well as compre-hensive array of C4ISR and electronic warfare technology.

Currently, about 60 percent of Rafael’s income comes from exports and Biran wants to grow this to at least 70 percent. He believes that today’s squeezed defense budgets could bring more nations to its door, looking for ways to harness its technology to modernize their defenses. Rafael

is very open to work-share partnerships and joint ventures.“A key issue today is the fact that governments in many

countries are suffering from a lack of budget,” said Biran. “Countries can decide that they won’t invest everything in active capability on their own and will instead share tech-

nology because no one can develop everything these days. But local production is also a big issue and we are happy to work that way.”

Having started life as a national defense laboratory, Rafael’s core mission has always been to use innovation to bolster Israel’s de-fenses. In this respect, explained Biran, the company has always had the view that its tech-nology needs to be at least a generation ahead of whatever its enemies might have at their disposal. That means working to a five-year

business plan, while also considering research-and-devel-opment objectives in terms of at least 10-year periods, and developing manpower and leadership capability with a view to the next 20 years.

Biran told AIN that proving the operational value of the Iron Dome defense system had been “a real breakthrough” for Rafael. He predicted that programs such as the David’s Sling air defense system will also be a game-changer in providing “the ultimate solution” to knocking out just about any ballistic missile (see main story). –C.A.

Ilan Biran, Rafael chairman


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important consideration when the threat of chemical and biological warheads is present. The system can launch multiple interceptors to handle salvo attacks.

Iron Dome has aroused significant interest around the world, including that from the U.S. The recent operational

debut has underlined the successful test campaign, which has achieved 100 per-cent success so far in nearly 40 launches against a wide range of threat types.

David’s SlingIsrael is implementing a three-layered

air defense system to protect its territory. Iron Dome forms the lower tier of the system, while IAI’s Arrow defends the upper tier. Occupying the middle zone will be the David’s Sling ballistic missile defense system, codeveloped by Rafael as prime contractor with Raytheon, and on behalf of both the Israel Missile Defense Organization and the U.S. Mis-sile Defense Agency.

David’s Sling employs a two-stage Stunner hit-to-kill interceptor with radar and electro-optical guidance, offering a range of up to 170 kilometers. Five flight tests have been undertaken so far to test the interceptor’s control system, the most recent in January. Later this year Rafael and Raytheon will conduct the first inter-cept tests. Around nine such trials are planned and they will include multiple launches. Initial operational capability for David’s Sling is set for the end of 2012,

and Rafael expects to receive a low-rate-initial-production con-tract in the coming months.

SpyderIron Dome and David’s Sling

are both IDF programs, but with significant export poten-tial. Rafael has also developed a mobile air defense system aimed at export customers, under the acronym Spyder (Surface-to-air Python DERby). As its name sug-gests, it is based on the company’s Derby active-radar guided mis-sile and similar Python 5 weapon with imaging infra-red seeker, which were initially developed for air-launched employment.

Rafael has developed two Spyder systems. Spyder SR is a short-range, 360-degree, slant-launched sys-tem with a five-second reaction time, while Spyder MR is a vertical-launched medium-range system with two-sec-ond reaction time. Both are self-pro-pelled and capable of fully networked operation. Spyder has been selected by a number of armed forces, including India, which already uses Derby in its air-to-air application. o

Rafael Iron Dome proves its worthuContinued from page 48

Israel now has two Iron Dome batteries in place to protect cities

in the south from rocket attacks.

has been added within the pod, which provides additional functionality, such as missile launch detection. The Litening IV pod’s external dimensions are unchanged. The new version is already in produc-tion for the Israeli air force and has been offered to India, Jacobovitz added.

The use of the Litening III and simi-lar, competing pods in a non-traditional intelligence, surveillance and reconnais-sance (NTISR) role has been well publi-cized. Fighters patrolling over Afghanistan have provided overwatch for convoys and helped to detect IEDs.

Jacobovitz does not discount the pod’s value in this application, but he is keen to tout the merits of the dedicated recce pod that Rafael developed from the Litening. This is the RecceLite, which offers advan-tages such as geo-referencing and a wideband datalink that allows for image processing on

the ground. “A number of our Litening III customers–including Germany, the Neth-erlands, India and Spain–have additionally bought RecceLite,” he noted.

The eight customers for RecceLite also bought Rafael’s ground station. Now this has been further developed to receive, process and exploit imagery from other sensors. The Imil-ite system can handle video and SAR/GMTI radar imagery, as well as EO/IR imagery, on one desktop. “We’ve spent a huge amount on image processing because there is so much value to be added there and nobody was really doing fusion,” Jacobovitz said.

The Imilite system can combine non-imagery data such as targets, threats, COMINT detection and mission status within the operator’s workflow. It can gen-erate a variety of standard and tailored reports, including annotated maps, data overlays from geo-spatial intelligence sys-tems and visual aids. The German air force has bought and deployed the Imilite sys-tem to Afghanistan, where it is processing multiple imagery feeds from the Tornado and the Heron UAV. o

Rafael updates Litening poduContinued from page 48




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With the Comac C919, China eyes the big time by Bernard Fitzsimons

China’s new single-aisle air-craft, the Comac C919, has amassed its first 100 orders and a heavyweight team of interna-tional suppliers as it heads for a scheduled first flight just three years from now and service entry in 2016. Only a scale model is on show here at Le Bourget this week, but the program repre-sents nothing less than China’s first serious bid to hit the inter-national air transport big time.

The Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (Hall 5, Stand B244) was established in May 2008 with former defense technology minister Zhang Qin-gwei as chairman. Its aim is to help meet the country’s need for large numbers of new aircraft to connect fast-growing cities in far-flung provinces. Last Novem-ber, while formally launching the C919 at the Zhuhai airshow, the company put the requirement at 2,950 single-aisle 150-seaters, 802 widebodies and 687 regional jets over the next 20 years, based on annual revenue passenger mile growth of 7.7 percent.

Comac is responsible for pas-senger aircraft with 70 seats or more. The other group cre-ated at the same time, Aviation Industry Corporation of China (Avic), is responsible for mili-tary transports and the MA-60 commercial turboprop. But while Comac will make parts and assemble the C919 at a new Shanghai Aircraft Manufac-turing (SAMC) facility in the Pudong district of Shanghai, it is subsidiaries of Avic (Hall 2a, Stand D252) that will supply the bulk of the structure.

Xi’an Aircraft (XAC) will make the wings, Chengdu Air-craft the cockpit, Hongdu Avi-ation in Nanchang the fuselage and Shenyang Aircraft the tail, while Harbin Aircraft supplies composite parts. Alcoa has been working with Comac on new aluminum-lithium alloys and advanced structural concepts since 2009.

At the Zhuhai event, Comac showed a full-scale mockup of the forward 75 feet of fuselage, including cockpit and represen-tative cabin. During the follow-ing month, the company held rollout ceremonies for a real alu-minum-lithium forward fuselage barrel plus sections of the hor-izontal stabilizer, aft fuselage, pylon and wing. This year the

target is to complete the detailed design of the aircraft.

Engine SuppliersCFM International, the

joint venture between GE Avi-ation and Safran, will supply the C919’s Leap-X1C engines as part of a complete integrated propulsion system. Nacelles and thrust reversers will come from Nexcelle, the joint ven-ture formed by Safran subsid-iary Aircelle and GE Aviation’s Middle River Aircraft Systems unit. CFM and Avic Commer-cial Aircraft Engine (ACAE) will build a final assembly line and engine test facility. Aircelle and XAC are establishing a joint venture to make thrust reverser and door subassemblies and assemble thrust reversers, air inlets and fan cowls.

Another Safran subsidiary, Labinal, is forming a joint ven-ture with SAMC that will focus on electrical wiring intercon-nection systems. Italy’s Avio is positioning itself as a supplier of combustors, having signed a memorandum of understand-ing with ACAE and another with Xi’an Aero Engine cover-ing the establishment of a cen-ter of excellence for combustor design and manufacture.

Landing Gear and WheelsLiebherr-Aerosapce Linden-

burg and Avic Landing Gear Advanced Manufacturing will build the landing gear in Chang-sha, which will also be the site for wheel and brake produc-tion by a joint venture involving Honeywell Aerospace, Hunan Boyun New Materials and Changsha Xinhang Wheel & Brake. Michelin will supply Air X radial tires.

Liebherr-Aerospace Toulouse will produce the integrated air management system using com-ponents supplied by Nanjing Engineering Institute of Aircraft System. Parker Aerospace is responsible for the fuel, inerting and hydraulic systems through a joint venture with Avic Systems, and for the FCS actuators–busi-ness expected to be worth more than $4 billion to the U.S. com-pany. Moog will cooperate with Avic’s Qing’an Group on the high-lift system, including flap and slat actuators, pilot inter-faces and electronic controls.

Including the wheels and

brakes, Honeywell has con-tracts worth an estimated $11.3 billion covering the fly-by-wire flight control system, 131-9[C9C] auxiliary power unit and Laseref VI inertial reference sys-tem. The FCS letter of intent was signed with Avic Electron-ics Group, and Honeywell plans to establish a joint venture with Avic’s Flight Automatic Control Research Institute. The APU partner is Avic Harbin Don-gan Engine. Crane Aerospace & Electronics will provide the brake control system.

Avionics SuppliersApart from its involve-

ment in the engine, GE Avi-ation is partnering with Avic Systems to develop the avion-ics core processing, display, on-board maintenance and flight recording systems via the new GE-Avic Civil Avionics Sys-tems joint venture. Eaton and Shanghai Aviation Electric will make the cockpit panel assem-blies and dimming control sys-tem, a program estimated to be worth more than $425 million over a production run of 2,500 aircraft. Another $1.8 billion could come from the produc-tion and aftermarket support of fuel and hydraulic conveyance systems through a joint venture with SAMC.

Rockwell Collins will con-tribute communication and nav-igation systems with China Electronics Technology Avionics (CETCA), the aircraft simula-tor (with Xi’an Simulation Sci-ence and Technology) and the cabin core and optional in-flight entertainment systems (with Shanghai Aero Measurement-Controlling Research Institute) using a distributed passenger address system from Cobham. It will also supply an integrated surveillance system (with China Leihua Electronic Technology Research Institute) combining weather radar, TCAS, mode-S and TAWS.

United Technologies sub-sidiary Hamilton Sundstrand stands to earn upward of $1.5

billion from the pro-gram. As well as the elec-tric power generation and distribution system, to be supplied through a joint venture with Avic Elec-tromechanical Systems (Avic EM), it will pro-vide the ram-air turbine emergency power system. In addition, Hamilton Sund-strand’s Kidde Aerospace & Defense unit is developing the C919’s integrated fire and over-heat protection system, while its France-based Ratier-Figeac unit will supply pilot controls, includ-ing the sidesticks and thrust control quadrant. The elec-tric power joint venture is to be based in Xi’an, and development of the facility was due to begin this month.

Interior FurnishingsIn the cabin, linings, luggage

bins, galleys and lavatories will be produced in Zhenjiang by a new subsidiary of Austria’s FACC, which itself was acquired by Avic Aircraft in 2009. CETCA is working with Thales on a range of IFE systems, and with Panasonic Avionics on an external communications system that will support cellphone and Internet access for passengers. Zodiac Aerospace subsidiary Monogram Systems will provide the water and waste systems.

Just last month, Michelin was selected to develop and sup-ply its Air X radial tires for the C919. This is the French compa-ny’s first involvement in a Chi-nese aircraft program and builds on an alliance it established with Comac back in November 2009.

On the human resources side, Pratt & Whitney recently signed a memorandum of understand-ing (MOU) with Comac to pro-vide leadership training for senior executives and mid-level managers, as well as project management training and train-ing in skills needed to achieve competitive excellence. The pro-grams are targeted at those exec-utives and other employees with high potential and are scheduled

to begin in mid-year. They will be conducted by Pratt & Whit-ney’s customer training center in collaboration with UTC sibling Hamilton Sundstrand.

Despite all the joint ventures and internal modernization, Comac remains a distinctively Chinese endeavor. “Chinese characteristics” heads the list of basic principles for developing the C919: “We should set our footing on the practical situa-tions in China, leverage on the whole nation’s strengths and wis-dom, and bring into full play the political superiority of the social-ist system which is capable of concentrating all of its resources in achieving great things.”

The designation itself com-bines C for China with a 9 that signifies enduring or long-last-ing plus 19 to represent the max-imum passenger load of 190. The largely symbolic launch orders, half of them firm and half options, came from the country’s three biggest airlines–Air China, China Eastern and China Southern–plus Hainan Airlines, Chinese lessor CDB Leasing and GECAS.

But Comac’s target is to sell more than 2,000 copies of the C919, and China’s aerospace ambitions go far beyond that. Medium-term goals include developing a Chinese engine to power the C919 from 2020. Meanwhile, the company is exploring the twin-aisle C929, with up to 290 seats, and has already carried out preliminary tests in DNW’s high-speed wind tunnel in Amsterdam. o


At right, Safran CEO Jean-Paul Herteman (left) hosts a visit by Comac president Jin Zhuanglong to the new CFM56 final assembly line at Snecma’s Villaroche plant. CFM’s Leap-X1C will power the C919.

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z Liebherr Joins Embraer’s KC-390 TeamEmbraer Defense and Security has selected Liebherr-

Aerospace to provide the environmental and cabin pressure control system for the KC-390 military airlifter. The systems will be developed and manufactured in Toulouse, France, and will feature integrated control architecture combined with high-reliability lightweight pneumatic and mechanical components.

According to Francis Niss, president of Liebherr-Aerospace & Transportation SAS, the systems “will provide crew and troops with the most advanced air management system, enabling optimized conditions, as well as proven robustness under all of the aircraft’s operating situations,” The KC-390 is due to make a first flight in 2014 and enter service in the following year.

z Piaggio Celebrates Groundbreaking of PlantPiaggio Aero (Static Display T19) last week broke ground

for a new factory, which will produce subassemblies and parts for the A180 Avanti II twin turboprop. The new facility, which will be located at Villanova d’Albenga, Italy, is scheduled to be operational by 2013. The company said it will “increase production-line efficiency and speed up lean manufacturing cycles” compared with the current Finale Ligure plant.

The move will mark the end of the company’s 100-year association with the Finale Ligure plant, where it built some 55 examples of aircraft. Final assembly of the Avanti II, which has a 402-knot (Mach 0.7) maximum cruise speed, will remain at the company’s Genova Sestri Ponente facility.

“I’m proud that Piaggio Aero is able to continue its industrial expansion in Italy, and with the great support of our primary international shareholders–Mubadala and Tata–will continue down the path of sustained future growth,” said Piaggio Aero Industries chairman Piero Ferrari.

z Mitsubishi Lands Third Customer for MRJMitsubishi Aircraft Corp. has signed a memorandum of

understanding (MOU) with Hong Kong-based aircraft lease and maintenance company ANI Group Holdings covering a firm order for five of its new MRJ regional jets. ANI Group currently leases aircraft to five Indonesian airlines.

The Japanese airframer called the new order an important first step toward cultivating the fast-growing Asian market for Mitsubishi Aircraft. Until the ANI signing, Japan’s ANA stood as the only Asian customer for the MRJ.

Neither ANI nor Mitsubushi specified which variant of the MRJ–the MRJ70 or MRJ90–the MOU covers. However, ANI said it would consider placing an order for 20 more airplanes once Mitsubishi launches a 100-seat version, now known as the MRJ-100X.

Mitsubishi Aircraft has collected firm orders from ANA for 15 airplanes, along with options on another 10, and for 50 airplanes from Trans States Airlines of the U.S., which also holds options on another 50.

z Cebu Pacific Signs MOU for 30 A321neosAirbus got a jumpstart on its goal of boosting the backlog for

its new A320neo family of airliners to 500 orders by the end of this year’s Paris Air Show by signing a deal with Cebu Pacific earlier this week. The Philippines-based carrier has signed a memorandum of understanding with Airbus for the purchase of 30 A321neos. The carrier has also exercised existing options for seven more standard A320s, increasing to 41 the total number of airplanes it has ordered from the Airbus single-aisle product line. The aircraft will join an existing fleet of A319s and A320s flying on the low-fare carrier’s domestic and regional network.

Cebu Pacific’s network covers 33 domestic and 16 international destinations, including Osaka, Seoul, Beijing, Jakarta, Bangkok and Singapore.

The largest model in the A320neo series, the A321neo claims fuel savings of 15 percent and additional range capability of over 500 nm (950 kilometers), or the ability to carry two tons more payload at a given range. The fuel savings alone translate into 3,600 fewer metric tons of CO2 per aircraft per year, claims Airbus.

news clips

Dassault boss upbeat on Falcon bizjets, Rafale by Chris Pocock

Dassault chairman and CEO Charles Edelstenne was in a typi-cally upbeat mood at the compa-ny’s pre-show media briefing on Friday. Development of the Fal-con super mid-size (SMS) and 2000S business jets is proceed-ing apace, and sales of the com-pany’s existing business jets are slowly recovering. The Rafale fighter has again proven itself in combat, this time over Libya, and the export market still beck-ons. Cooperation with BAE Sys-tems on the medium-altitude, long-endurance (MALE) drone is ready to go.

Edelstenne said that all the structure and the main systems suppliers for the SMS have now been selected–although Dassault still has not revealed their identi-ties. The initial digital model and high- and low-speed wind-tunnel validation have been completed. The prototype will fly in 2014, with deliveries two years later.

Meanwhile, the Falcon 2000S entry-level model should be cer-tified by the end of next year. At a price of “less than $25 million,” it will offer superior airfield, climb and cruise per-formance and specific fuel con-sumption that beats smaller jets, Edelstenne claimed. Initiatives to improve the existing range include maximum takeoff weight increases; certification for steep glideslope approaches; Category 3 HUD; and the Falcon Broad-cast System, a real-time report-ing system for in-flight failures, which is being trialed by 10 Fal-con operators. The EASy 2 new-generation cockpit has just been certified for the Falcon 90, and approvals for the Falcon 7X and 2000 are to follow in mid-2012.

Looking further ahead, the company is working on tech-nology initiatives for the next

generation of Falcon jets, such as new control laws for the air-craft on the ground; laminar flow; a composite wing box; and Clean Sky research.

China has been the leading market for the company’s busi-ness jets this year, and Edelstenne noted with approval the country’s recent progress in developing air-related infrastructure and in reg-ulatory reform. “The pre-owned market is beginning to show signs

of life,” he continued. But the weakness of the U.S. dollar versus the euro still disturbs the Dassault boss because “this imbalance translates into a roughly 40-per-cent penalty for the French share of our production costs.”

Highlights of the Rafale

combat jet’s performance over Libya have included seven-hour, buddy-refueled missions and a record-setting 57-kilometer range achieved by an AASM-guided bomb when attacking a tank. All the Scalp missiles that were fired hit their targets, Edelstenne noted. Since the French were first into the fight, before Libya’s air defense system was degraded by NATO attacks, the Rafale’s Spectra self-defense system was truly proved in action, he added (see pages 72 to 76).

With the Rafale now in head-to-head competition against the Eurofighter Typhoon for the prized order of 126 from India, Edelstenne could not resist an invitation to make some comparisons. He claimed that the Rafale was ahead on the technical evaluation.

As for cost, the federal nature of the Eurofighter consor-tium, with no prime contractor responsible, would count against the Typhoon, he believes. “I’m more than optimistic,” he con-tinued. But Edelstenne admitted that the offset provisions in the Indian requirement are tough. “First I want to win, then we will negotiate,” he said.

Elsewhere, the UAE might still become the first export cus-tomer for the Rafale, Edelstenne suggested. Brazil would not decide until 2012 at the earliest. Switzerland went unmentioned by the Dassault boss, but other company officials have been encouraged by a recent vote by the federal parliament there to resume the evaluation of a new combat aircraft.

From current French orders alone, production of the Rafale is assured until at least 2018, at the current rate of 11 per year. “Beyond that, French air force requirements indicate that deliv-eries could continue until 2025,” Edelstenne added.

As for the new Franco-Brit-ish cooperation on the Man-tis MALE drone, now renamed Telemos, BAE Systems will be the prime contractor while Dassault takes charge of the systems. o

Fix in Hand for Falcon 7X Trim Fault

A fix has been designed and certified for the runaway elevator trim control that was experienced by a Falcon 7X in late May. Dassault chairman and CEO Charles Edelstenne said the aircraft was grounded by EASA at Dassault’s be-hest. “We immediately mobilized all the resources at our disposal to identify the cause of this malfunction and develop a solution,” he said. The long-range business jet’s fly-by-wire system was not to blame, he continued.

All 112 aircraft in the fleet must be modified at the company’s mainte-nance centers, but the first few have already been done, he added. Addition-al layers of protection have been added to the pitch trim system, a company statement added. –C.P.

Dassault chairman and CEO Charles Edelstenne is feeling good about his company’s bizjets and Rafale fighter.

Dassault has designed and certified a fix for the runaway elevator trim control experienced by a Falcon 7X in late May.

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Cockpit 4000 refreshes C-130s as FMS and EFB demand growsby Matt Thurber

At this year’s Paris Air Show, Esterline CMC Electronics (Hall 5 Stand 242) is showing, for the first time, the Cockpit 9000 avionics suite selected as an upgrade for Lockheed Martin C-130 cockpits. CMC also is highlighting the Cockpit

4000 system, the SmartDeck general avi-ation integrated avionics suite, recent FMS wins, the TacView military EFB and a new addition to the executive team, Claude Chidiac, vice president of cus-tomer support and strategic development.

“The C-130 market has been a real strength for CMC,” said president Greg Yeldon. So far the system has been installed in seven C-130s–six for the Royal Saudi Air Force and one for the Fuerza Aérea de Chile. The Royal Saudi Air Force has a total of 23 orders and Chile two for the Cockpit 9000, and there are 10 inter-national customers. Hundreds of C-130s qualify for the Cockpit 9000 package, said Yeldon. “We see more opportunity out there and we’re working hard at those.”

The all-digital Cockpit 9000 suite is built around the company’s latest gener-

ation flight management system (FMS)–the CMA-9000. This FMS has been certified by Transport Canada with fully coupled vertical-navigation capability for the Sukhoi Superjet 100. The Superjet 100 is equipped with dual installation CMA-9000 FMSs, which includes multi-sensor-based navigation and enhanced operational capability.

The Cockpit 4000, a fully integrated glass cockpit featuring CMC’s Sparrow-Hawk HUD, is designed for the trainer mar-ket and is on display in a number of aircraft at the Paris Air Show, including the Hawker Beechcraft T-6B and AT-6. The Cockpit 4000 also flies in or has been ordered for the Pilatus PC-7, PC-9M and PC-21, Aer-macchi M-311, Korea Aerospace Indus-tries KT-1C and BAE Hawk Mk51/A and Mk66. So far, CMC has delivered more than 200 Cockpit 4000 systems to Hawker Beechcraft.

Another Paris first for CMC Esterline is the Smart Deck inte-grated cockpit, which CMC licensed from L-3 Avionics last October. “We have been tran-sitioning that into CMC since October and that’s going very well,” Yeldon said. No OEM has selected SmartDeck yet, he said, “but there’s been a lot of activity surrounding this acquisition and everything’s been pos-itive with respect to the response from the market and the opportunities that I see for us.” CMC is retaining the SmartDeck name for the avionics system, which brings technologies like synthetic vision, an intu-itive user interface, electronic charts, data-link weather and enhanced vision system to general aviation cockpits.

CMC Esterline’s key FMS product line continues to develop and will incor-porate NextGen capabilities as the FAA’s new air traffic control system phases into widespread use over the coming decade.

CMC’s FMS on the Sukhoi Superjet 100, which was certified in Russia in January, is also installed on the Sikorsky Black Hawk and a number of Eurocopter heli-copters. “We see a lot of opportunity on the FMS front for retrofits,” he said.

On the military front, CMC’s TacView portable mission display “is gaining a sig-nificant amount of acceptance within the military community,” according to Yeldon. “There has been a lot of activity this year.”

In fact, CMC already has a contract from Northrop Grumman to supply TacView for the U.S. Air National Guard

and Air Force Reserve Com-mand real-time information in the cockpit (RTIC) program. The contract covers dual installations of the TacView system on board a total of 32 C-130H aircraft, with deliver-ies already begun this month and planned for completion by October.

The touchscreen TacView display is night-vision com-patible and offers a variety of capabilities for displaying mis-sion information, including

moving maps with tactical overlays, mis-sion planning, navigation and approach charts, checklists, live video and CMC’s I-Series enhanced vision system.

Esterline CMC’s commercial EFBs have been installed in more than 40 aircraft types, and Yeldon doesn’t see Apple’s iPad affecting CMC’s EFB business. “We’re in the higher-end Class 2 [and 3] EFB mar-ket,” he said, “which is still demanding aviation-grade certified products. The cus-tomers we’re talking to, the positions we’re on, they’re not seeing the iPad as an alter-native. There is a difference in terms of the level of certification that our customers want from our product.”

In the aerospace marketplace, Esterline CMC is benefiting from growth

in the airline and military seg-ments, while business avia-tion remains stable, although Yeldon said, “that is starting to turn in the right direction.” CMC’s revenues are split 50/50 between commercial and military markets. “We’re not dependent on one cus-tomer or one key program,” he said. “The military trainer program is important to us. The retrofit portion, as bud-gets are under pressure, repre-sents an opportunity to CMC. Large new aircraft builds may

be slowing down, but aircraft need to be upgraded to meet current requirements.”

CMC has not yet tapped the growing unmanned aerial system market, but “it’s on a watch list,” said Yeldon. “As UAVs fly more in commercial airspace they’re going to need more commercial capabil-ity. It’s not a market that we’re in today, but is something we have looked at.” o


CMC TacView portable mission display is gaining favor with the military.

Hundreds of Lockheed C-130 Hercules provide a lucrative market for Esterline CMC’s Cockpit 9000 avionics suite.

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Thinking without limits

The Future of the Helicopter begins here.Paris Airshow - Hall 2a - Stand A253

AIN ShowNews BGT 275x352 X3.indd 1 23/05/11 18:19

Persistence brings new rewards for airship and hybrid projectsby Chris Pocock

A comeback for airships? How many times have you heard that before? However, thanks to generous funding by the Penta-gon, four separate projects to develop very large buoyant air vehicles for unmanned persistent surveillance missions are under way in the U.S. Three of them are to take to the air within the next few months.

Leading the way is Northrop Grum-man’s Long Endurance Multi-Intelligence Vehicle (LEMV), which the company describes as “a revolutionary concept that will shape the future of ISR.” It’s not actu-ally an airship, although it has a nonrigid envelope that is inflated with helium. In fact, the elliptical and cambered shape gains up to 40 percent of its forward lift through aerodynamics. This is a big beast–300 feet long, 113 feet wide and 85 feet high, with an envelope volume of 1,340,000 cu ft. That is longer than a football field and taller than a seven-story building.

The LEMV is powered by four 350-horsepower supercharged diesel engines, housed in vectoring ducts with blown vanes that direct the thrust for takeoff and landing. Pneumatic tubes contained within skids on the under-side of the two outer hulls facilitate the landing by “sucking” the vehicle to the ground and securing it. Unlike an airship, therefore, the LEMV has no need for a network of enormous mooring masts or winch-and-cable arrangements. British company Hybrid Air Vehicles developed this design and is the most significant subcontractor to Northrop Grumman.

The U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command (USASMDC) is spon-soring development of the LEMV. In June 2010, it awarded Northrop Grumman a contract worth $517 million for “up to three” systems. “This opportunity leverages our leadership positions in UAVs, C4ISR sys-tems and integration, and moves Northrop Grumman into this rapidly emerging mar-ket space of airships for the military and homeland defense arenas,” commented Gary Ervin, president of Northrop Grum-man’s Aerospace Systems sector.

The LEMV is supposed to fly at alti-tudes up to 22,000 feet for 21 days at a time. It can be optionally piloted for long ferry flights to the region of operation. The maximum speed is 80 knots and the loiter speed is just 30 knots, with low-speed con-trol provided by bow thrusters. The pay-load is a mix of sensors, such as radar, SIGINT and full-motion video, weigh-ing up to 2,750 pounds in total. An open-architecture design provides plug-and-play capability so that new sensors can easily be added, according to Northrop Grumman. The LEMV can be operated from the Army’s Universal Ground Control Station and its data will be fed to the Army version of the U.S. military’s standard processing and exploitation system (DCGS).

Northrop Grumman described the

development schedule as “very aggressive,” but nevertheless completed the critical design review of the LEMV last Febru-ary. Hybrid Air Vehicles was due to deliver the engines, propulsion ducts, bow thrust-ers, fuel tanks and payload module from the UK last month. The fabric and enve-lope are being manufactured in the U.S. Northrop Grumman said it would inflate the hull this spring, fly the LEMV by late summer and ferry it to the Yuma Proving Ground for customer trials in November. Early next year, it would deploy to Afghan-istan for a Joint Military Utility Assess-ment. Hull inflation has apparently slipped into the summer, but Northrop Grumman was not able to provide further comment in time for this article.

Blue Devil 2Meanwhile, the U.S. Air Force is spon-

soring what looks like a very similar dem-onstration, at much lower cost. A contract worth $86.2 million has gone to Mav6, a three-year-old company that is now led by the Air Force’s former ISR chief, Dave Deptula. Mav6 describes itself as an “agile systems integrator” that customizes off-the-shelf equipment to rapidly equip front-line units with innovative new systems to fight an asymmetric enemy. Mav6 plans to add a suite of sensors to a conventional airship that would fly at 20,000 feet for up to seven days. It also is to be deployed to Afghanistan for trials early next year.

The project is dubbed Blue Devil 2, after the comic-book superhero. It is related to Blue Devil 1, a separate con-tract that was awarded to SAIC, to inte-grate and operate wide-area full-motion video and COMINT sensors on a King Air aircraft. The airship will be provided by TCOM, which is best known as a sup-plier of tethered aerostats, but which has also produced the Skyship series of air-ships. However, the “Polar 1000” design that TCOM is building for Blue Devil 2 is much larger–370 feet long with an enve-lope volume of 1,400,000 cu ft.

“It’s the biggest airship since the 1960s. Fabrication is in progress and we expect to fly in September,” said Mav6 vice presi-dent business development Dave Bithner. He told AIN that by using a traditional hull the company can focus on its spe-cialty–customizing and integrating the wide-area sensors and the communica-tions architecture. In particular, there will be sophisticated onboard data processing and storage so that users on the ground can “pull” the information as required down austere datalinks.

Not everyone is convinced that the LEMV and Blue Devil 2 demonstrations will succeed. Ed Herlik is a former U.S. Air Force pilot and engineer, who stud-ies UAVs and lighter-than-air technology for the Market Intel Group (see box).



The U.S. Army has sponsored development of a hybrid airship under the Long-Endurance Multi-Intelligence Vehicle (LEMV) program. Built by Northrop Grumman and based on a British design, the 300-foot-long machine is due to fly this summer and deploy to Afghanistan next winter.

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Commercial Markets Will Drive Stratospheric UAV Demand

Stratospheric UAVs–mostly airships–that stay airborne flying for months or years will form a new communications and sensing infrastructure, according to the Market Intel Group (www.marketintelgroup.com). Government contracts are funding development of such UAVs at present , but commercial markets will eventually dwarf defense requirements.

“There’s a huge commercial potential, especially in those regions that have not developed alternative ground-based infrastructure, such as Africa, China or India,” said analyst Ed Herlik. He estimated the commercial mar-ket potential at $250 billion, ver-sus only $2 billion for defense. The applications include mobile telephony, wireless Internet, direct broadcast television and radio, and overhead imagery. Herlik’s latest report for the Market Intel Group examines the potential payloads: “How and where the money will be made,” he said.

A number of mostly small and secretive companies are eyeing the potential, Herlik added. They include Swiss-domiciled StratXX and Global Near Space Services of the U.S. According to the latter’s Web site, the U.S. Naval Air War-fare Center awarded the company a contract to begin development of its StarLight stratoship, which would fly at 85,000 feet.

Herlik said the optimum altitude for stratospheric airship UAVs is 65,000 feet. Notions of going higher are unrealistic because the gas volume of an airship (for example, the helium) doubles every 10,000 feet above 50,000 feet. But one potential drag on developments is regula-tory–gaining permission from airspace authorities for these type of operations.

As for the defense markets, “near-space UAVs will draw orders away from both the high-altitude [Reaper] and jet-stream [Global Hawk] markets,” Herlik predicted. -C.P.

Stratospheric airships cost so much less than satellites that they have the potential to exploit a $250 billion market for communications services, according to the Market Intel Group.

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“They will be vulnerable to attack from the ground,” he told AIN. “Remember that their advertised operating altitude is 20,000 feet above sea level. Many areas of inter-est in Afghanistan are well over 10,000 feet. Also, terrain masking will negate the value of their wide-area sensors,” he continued.

High-altitude AirshipsHerlik’s air force career included work

on the promising area of “near-space” sur-veillance concepts. The concept of using unmanned, electric-powered airships for surveillance and communications at very high altitudes is seductive. They offer huge cost savings over satellites and should also be much cheaper than specialized high-altitude UAVs to deploy and operate.

By floating in a geostationary posi-tion above the jetstream, an airship could survey a 600-mile diam-eter area and millions of cubic miles of airspace. One drawback: they must be very large, since a huge volume of helium is required to sustain lift at 70,000 feet. Conventional airships reach their “pres-sure height”–the altitude at which they must begin to vent helium–at about 10,000 feet.

Free-floating bal-loons are routinely used to loft scientific payloads to very high altitude. In 2005, a small strato-spheric airship developed by balloon-maker Aerostar, together with Southwest Research Institute, reached 74,000 feet with a 60-pound payload over New Mex-ico. The sponsor of that effort, named HiSentinel, was the same Army organiza-tion that is funding the LEMV. In 2008, the USASMDC also took over the high-altitude airship (HAA) project that had previously been run by the U.S. Missile Defense Agency.

ISIS ProgramLockheed Martin has worked on the

HAA project for some years. The compa-ny’s Defense and Surveillance Systems unit in Akron, Ohio, has an 80-year heritage in lighter-than-air systems and is another supplier of tethered aerostats. Compared with the company’s aerostats, even the sub-scale high-altitude long endurance-demon-strator (HALE-D) airship that Lockheed Martin has built at Akron for the HAA program is more than twice as long–240 feet. The hull volume is 500,000 cu ft.

The first flight of the HALE-D is scheduled for July at Akron. The goal is to fly for at least two weeks at 60,000 feet, while providing 500 watts of power to a 50-pound communications relay payload. The technical challenges for stratospheric airships include developing lightweight propulsion units, solar energy capture and storage, and high-strength

fabrics that can resist persistent exposure to ultraviolet radiation. The Lockheed Martin HALE-D airship is driven by two two-kilowatt electric motors and pow-ered by thin-film solar cells and recharge-able lithium-ion batteries.

The ultimate goal for the HAA is an airship that could station-keep at 65,000 feet for months at a time with large multi-mission payloads. The airship should also be capable of moving to other locations. It would be recoverable to the launch site so that the payloads could be changed and periodic maintenance performed.

Although the HALE-D has yet to suc-cessfully demonstrate the HAA concept, another Lockheed Martin unit is already under contract to the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) for an ambitious application of strato-spheric airships. In April 2009, DARPA awarded a nearly $400 million contract to the Lockheed Martin Skunk Works and Raytheon to produce a radar surveillance platform. This is the Integrated Sensor Is

Structure (ISIS) program in which a very large active-array dual-band radar will be part of the airship structure.

“The operational goal for ISIS is to look for airborne and ground-based tar-gets and to communicate directly with the battlefield from a single antenna for up to ten years,” said Michael Wechsberg of Raytheon Space and Airborne Sys-tems. From 70,000 feet, the ISIS airship “will have the ability to track the most advanced cruise missiles at 600 kilometers and dismounted enemy combatants at 300 kilometers,” according to Lockheed Martin. The early concept of integrating the active array into the airship’s surface area has been dropped. Still, the antenna must be very large to compensate for the relatively low power that will be available to it. Artists’ concepts show the radar occupying the entire central structure of a huge airship. For the ISIS demonstration, Lockheed Martin is building a one-third scale airship, which is due to fly in 2013.

Theoretically, operational airships developed from the ISIS concept could supplant and maybe even replace both the E-3 AEW and E-8 JSTARS radar surveillance aircraft. But there are major challenges, such as the further develop-ment of high strength-to-weight mate-rials, regenerative fuel cells, lightweight antennas, calibration of the antennas and a high-bandwidth yet covert datalink. o

Airship, hybrid projects yield new rewardsuContinued from page 58

Stratospheric airships must be made from high-strength fabrics that can resist ultraviolet radiation. They must also capture and store solar energy to power lightweight electric motors. This is an artist’s impression of the Lockheed Martin ISIS, which will internally carry a huge Raytheon surveillance radar to 70,000 feet.

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Chromolloy expands its engine coatings businessby Bill Carey

Chromalloy, one of the world’s largest independent providers of advanced coatings and repairs for gas turbine engines and a manufacturer of approved engine replacement parts, this year marks its 60th anniver-sary with ongoing growth and a change in scenery. The company this fall will relocate its corpo-rate headquarters from Orange-burg, New York, to Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. The new site also will serve as an engine tech-nology center of excellence.

Formed in 1951 as a research-and-development company in the metals processing field, Chro-malloy has grown by partnering with engine original equipment manufacturers. As these OEMs became more aggressive in the engine aftermarket, it developed its own repair and parts design and manufacturing capabilities.

On the coatings side, Chro-malloy has joint ventures with Rolls-Royce in the UK to pro-vide advanced coatings for RB211 and Trent engine hot sections. In the U.S., it works with Pratt & Whitney to provide thermal barrier protection coat-ings used in commercial and military engines. It also provides coating services to engine mak-ers Honeywell and GE Aviation.

On the repair side, Chromal-loy says it has developed 3,000 designated engineering represen-tative (DER) repairs approved by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration, at a rate of 200 new DERs annually. The com-pany counts more than 300,000 parts manufacturer approval (PMA) engine replacement parts

in operation worldwide.“Through the evolution of

60 years, the business model has developed in many ways from what was an OEM-centric base,” said Peter Howard, Chromalloy vice president of technology and quality assurance. “Today, we are the largest independent pro-vider of aftermarket services, both repairs and replacement parts, but we still maintain close relationships with OEMs.”

Chromalloy now employs 4,000 people at 37 locations in 15 countries, with annual revenue of approximately $1 billion. It is part of the Sequa company, which in turn is owned by private equity operation The Carlyle Group.

Engine ExpertiseThe company’s primary focus

is on turbine engine hot-section components, in the aft section of an engine where combustion takes place and extreme temper-atures are generated. It serves the commercial air-transport, military and industrial gas tur-bine markets. Commercial avia-tion represents about 70 percent of its business.

“With the advanced engines that are coming out today, the turbine inlet temperatures are about 2,300 degrees Fahrenheit. Those kinds of temperatures are close to the melting point of the material,” Howard told AIN. “Today we’re very focused on thermal barrier coatings and how we allow the turbine com-ponents to operate in those kind of temperature environments [for] long periods of time.”

In March, Chromalloy unveiled

plans for a new facility that will serve as a technology center of excellence for gas turbine engine research and development, as well as its new headquarters. The leased 30,000-sq-ft facility in Palm Beach Gardens will be organized with labs, office space and a 10,000-sq-ft ware-house. Meanwhile, manufactur-ing operations will continue in Orangeburg, where about 350 people are employed.

Chromalloy initially expects to employ 52 technical, executive and administrative staff at the new facility. Technical staff at engineering centers throughout the company, including the Tur-bine Design Analytics Group in Stuart, Florida, will be consoli-dated at Palm Beach Gardens.

“As the engines advance and get more sophisticated, the

development and, more impor-tant, substantiation of repairs requires more testing, more analytical tools to validate the repairs,” said Howard. “We took a decision about 12 months ago that we wanted to centralize some of our engineering func-tions to support those kinds of activities. We’ll be staffing up an organization that over the course of the next three years will grow to 80 or 100 engineers.”

Component CapabilitiesLast year, Chromalloy ex-

panded its existing turbine en-gine component casting oper-ation in Tampa by opening a 150,000-sq-ft investment cast-ing foundry. The Chromalloy Castings center, operational since October, can produce up to one million pounds of super-alloy components and parts for turbine engine hot sections, in-cluding vanes, nozzles and high-pressure turbine blades.

“As a company, we have the complete capability not only to design components, but also to do the complete manufactur-ing of the components through to certification–for example, through the FAA if it’s in the commercial arena,” said Howard. “Chromalloy’s value chain in that regard is unique because even the OEMs don’t have, typically, that value chain. They have to go outside to other companies.”

Further expanding in Flor-ida, Chromalloy this February broke ground on a $5 million, 40,000-sq-ft ceramic core facil-ity adjacent to the casting

foundry in Tampa. Ceramic cores are used in the casting process to form cooling cavi-ties within engine components, which is needed for components to operate effectively in hot and highly stressed sections of gas turbines. The ceramic core facil-ity is expected to open early next year. Chromalloy’s BELAC joint venture with Lufthansa Technik and United Airlines, which designs and manufactures turbine engine components, is located nearby in Oldsmar.

In still another venture, Chromalloy is partnered with Rolls-Royce as one of several founding industry members developing the Commonwealth Center for Advanced Manu-facturing in Crosspointe, Vir-ginia. The research center, a public/private effort involv-ing the University of Virginia, Virginia State University and Virginia Tech, is intended to advance propulsion design and bridge the gap between univer-sity research and industry prod-uct development.

Crosspointe is the site of a new Rolls-Royce engine compo-nent manufacturing, assembly and test facility now under devel-opment. The 50,000-sq-ft Com-monwealth research center will be built on a 20-acre site adjacent to the Rolls-Royce plant. Con-struction will begin in 2013.

“We are driving the coating technology agenda through that venture with Rolls-Royce, and we continue to work with the other OEMs in that advanced coating category,” said Howard. o


Chromalloy produces its most recent advanced coating, RT-35 Low K, at its Electron Beam Physical Vapor Disposition (EBPVD) center. The company lays claim to developing the first Deposition EBPVD coatings with ceramic materials in the 1980s.

Powered glider explores electric flightLooking more like a glider

than a single-engine airplane, the two-seat, battery-powered eGe-nius made its first flight on May 25, from Mindelheim airfield in Bavaria, Germany. Designed by the Institute of Aircraft Design at the University of Stuttgart, the concept aircraft flew for 20 min-utes powered by a 60kW electric motor.

The design parameters of the eGenius airplane include a max

takeoff weight of 1,874 pounds, a cruise speed of up to 127 knots, and a range of 216 nm. Its wing-span is just over 55 feet. The airplane consumes 4.75kW of power (the equivalent of about 0.6 liters of gasoline) per 100 km.

“Our most important goal was to demonstrate the effi-ciency of a modern electric aircraft without making any compromises and not being will-ing to accept economizing with

the flight performance in terms of today’s state-of-the-art tech-nology,” said Professor Rudolf Voit-Nitschmann of the Univer-sity of Stuttgart. Further flight testing of eGenius will serve to verify its performance and the reliability of electric propulsion.

The composite airplane’s vari-able-pitch propeller is mounted on the vertical stabilizer. The landing gear is retractable, the batteries are stored behind the pilots’ seats and the pilots have an unobstructed view forward and to the sides.

Airbus, the main sponsor of the eGenius project, is examining the long-term potential of elec-tricity as a major source of energy onboard aircraft. The compa-ny’s Future Projects teams will analyze data from the aircraft to further develop technology and better understand opportunities.

The public debut of the air-plane took place Aero-Expo in

The University of Stuttgart’s Institute of Aircraft Design is flying the two-seat, battery-operated eGenius to test the efficiency of electric aircraft.

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Embraer awaits Boeing move as it mulls narrowbody optionsby Gregory Polek

Embraer will wait as late as year-end for Boeing to decide on a plan for a 737 replace-ment before the Brazilian com-pany commits to a successor for its own E-Jet family of aircraft, Embraer executive vice presi-dent for the airline market Paulo Cesar de Souza e Silva told AIN in an interview ahead of the Paris Air Show. Still, Embraer already knows what it will not do: follow Bombardier into a size and range category that, in Silva’s esti-mation, the Airbus A320neo also occupies.

“We believe the C Series proposition, in terms of range, is too much,” said Silva. “Airlines won’t pay for something they will not use.”

At 3,400 nm, the range of the Bom-bardier CS300 also places it in a weight category that too closely approaches that of the A320neo, said Silva. Now study-ing an airplane in the 130- to 150-seat capacity category, Embraer would dis-tinguish its product largely by offering a less range-capable but lighter airplane. “I think the sweet spot is about 2,400 nau-tical miles,” said the Embraer executive.

Silva said Embraer’s options have now boiled down to whether it introduces

a relatively lightweight 130- to 150-seat jet or re-engines the current 70- to 120-seat E-Jet line. The company now appears “unmotivated” by the prospect of a new turboprop given the relatively small size of the market and the foot-hold ATR and Bombardier have achieved in the segment. However, Embraer CEO Fred-erico Curado on several occa-sions has expressed distaste for

a re-engining the E-Jets, repeatedly refer-ring to them as modern, state-of-the-art aircraft that continue to draw respect-able sales interest. Furthermore, as Silva noted, Embraer’s growth in the commer-cial airliner segment won’t come from the segment of the market it already serves.

“If we want to grow the company, we definitely will have to move upward,” he said. “By changing the E-Jets we’re not changing the size of this market…And we continue to have the view that the E-Jet is a modern product with up-to-date [sys-tems]…But, of course, we have to look ahead. I’m not saying that we would nec-essarily re-engine the E-Jets now, but we are looking into that.”

Embraer appears to favor waiting until

the end of the decade to re-engine the E-Jets, after it introduces an all-new prod-uct in the 130- to 150-seat category.

However, if Boeing doesn’t decide to concentrate its efforts on a slightly larger replacement for the current 737, Embraer’s case for entering the main-line narrowbody market could weaken. “If Boeing does decide and make an announcement this year that they will develop a larger narrowbody [above 150 seats], this is very important information to us,” said Silva. “Because in this sce-nario, Boeing will not develop a brand-new aircraft in the category of, let’s say, 130, 140 or 150 seats,” leaving more room for Embraer to enter that segment.

Although Boeing continues to entertain

the option of re-engining the 737, that company’s CEO, Jim McNerney, has signaled that “the bias” remains on an all-new airplane by 2019 or 2020 and, Embraer executives appear prepared to believe the Boeing boss. Said Silva of a 737 re-engining project, “This is an unlikely scenario, I think.”

Of course, the availability of resources could play a key part in any decision Embraer makes. From a financial per-spective, Embraer simply cannot afford a colossal misjudgment; hence, the rea-son for what some might consider signs of reticence.

“This is a major project for us given our size,” said Silva. “So we can’t afford to make a mistake here.” o

The successor for Embraer’s E-Jet series could be either a new 130-

to 150-seat model or a re-engined version of the current 70- to 120-seat line. The Brazilian airframer

is waiting for Boeing to commit to a plan for re-engining or

developing a new airplane before announcing its own plans.Paulo Cesar de

Souza e Silva, Embraer executive v-p for the airline market

Alcoa pits its alloys against composites by Thierry Dubois

Aluminum giant Alcoa (H5 F220) is here exhibiting a fuselage section manu-factured with advanced aluminum-lith-ium alloy sheet that was stretch-formed on existing tooling by Spirit Aerosystems’ fac-tory in Wichita, Kansas. U.S.-based Alcoa is targeting the next generation of single-aisle aircraft (with a clear focus on Boeing’s expected decision this year) as the potential first applications. It is touting the merits of new-technology metals against composites–lower weight, better fuel efficiency, reduced cost and less risks in production–promised for aircraft entering service before 2020.

“We learned the hard way that we did not innovate enough,” Kevin Low-ery, communications director for Alcoa’s global rolled products, told AIN. He was referring to the decisions by Boeing and then Airbus to dramatically increase the proportion of composite materials on their new widebody programs–respec-tively, the 787 and the A350 XWB. After this wake-up call, research and develop-ment in aluminum has accelerated over the past decade, notably at Alcoa’s research center in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

According to Tony Morales, global marketing director for aerospace alumi-num, the empty weight of rolled products, with Alcoa’s new alloys, will be cut by six to

10 percent. The starting point for this is the new material’s lower density, 3 to 7 percent below that of today’s metals. On top of that, Alcoa engineers have devised ways to add structural reinforcements only where they are really needed. Also, thanks to better crack propagation resistance, some parts can be made thinner and lighter.

Other improvements have further helped to reduce fuel consumption of air-craft. First, applying these new design approaches (including the more precisely located reinforcements) allows Alcoa to achieve more aerodynamic geometries, such as a higher wing aspect ratio.

Alcoa also is working on longer term wing skin technologies, targeting lower drag. Reduced skin friction holds a poten-tial 3- to 6-percent enhancement. All told, the company predicts that fuel burn in the next generation of narrowbodies could be 7 to 12 percent better than current perfor-mance, thanks to the new metallic materi-als and advanced structural technologies.

Boeing has said that composites allow for larger windows on the 787. Thanks to the more precisely located reinforcements on the fuselage, Alcoa offers equivalent improvements using metal, according to Lowery. In terms of cabin pressurization and moisture levels, Alcoa claims to be on

an equal footing with compos-ites. For example, the new alloys could handle a 6,000-foot cabin pressure at cruise altitude.

In the area of maintenance, a third-generation, more corro-sion-resistant aluminum-lith-ium alloy can be inspected at intervals twice as long as before. Another factor is greater fatigue performance. Separately, a self-cleaning metal sheet is in early development. Thanks to milli-meter-scale geometry features and coatings, the metal sheet essentially repels dirt.

In production terms, Alcoa claims its solutions to be up to 30 percent cheaper, and much less risky, than compos-ites. The company says it can ensure more timely deliveries as a result of having “established high-volume sup-ply chains and reduced investment needs via existing infrastructure.” It also stresses the ability to recycle aluminum.

So how successful will Alcoa be in con-vincing manufacturers to adopt its new solutions? Time will tell. To begin with, the firm conducted a survey to assess alu-minum perception. It showed that nearly

three out of four of the technical respon-dents surveyed had a favorable percep-tion of aluminum as a primary structure material, as opposed to 54 percent for composites. Among management and commercial constituencies, the results showed the opposite. “The better the survey interviewees understand alumi-num, the more they are favorable to it,” reported Alcoa. o

Alcoa is displaying a fuselage section made of new aluminum alloys that ambition to beat composites.

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Airbus Neo ups the ante in narrowbody stakesby Ian Goold

The Airbus A320neo (for “new engine option”) is “the fastest selling aircraft in his-tory” and the manufacturer set itself the target of accruing “over 500” commitments by this week’s Paris Air Show, accord-ing to chief operating officer (customers) John Leahy. By early April, the company had booked more than 330 orders and “commitments” and this prompted it to accelerate the program by six months.

The European airframer now plans to deliver the new model, which was formally launched last December, for service entry in October 2015 and has confirmed the lead development powerplant as the Pratt & Whitney PW1100G geared turbofan (GTF). The alternative CFM International Leap-X engine is running about six months behind it. Re-engined variants of the A319 and A321 sibling designs each will account initially for a quarter share of deliveries, although Airbus has acknowledged that this split might evolve as the program matures.

The date for delivery effec-tively increased the variant’s lead over U.S. competitor Boeing,

which has yet to announce its own response to the perceived market for a re-engined–rather than replacement–design. Last year, Leahy famously suggested that if the A320neo had the go-ahead by the end of 2010, Boeing would in turn launch a clean-sheet product for 2020.

In the mid-years of the past decade, the two companies saw an emerging market for A320- or 737-repacement capacity in the early years of the 2010s, but subsequently all best-guesses have moved to the right. Early last year, Leahy forecast that the timing for a new aircraft had moved back to at least 2022, if not later. The suggested require-ment for a new single-aisle Airbus, dubbed “A30X” and incorporating advanced engine, materials and systems develop-ments, has now moved even fur-ther into the future.

Two months ago, Leahy’s perception of progress had per-suaded him to look beyond 2025 to 2030–or perhaps 2035–as the moment for convergence of requisite new technologies. A major part of his consider-ations is that by the 2030s there

should be a new, much more efficient generation of open-rotor engines.

No Replacement OrdersDespite the stated aspirations

of carriers such as Air Asia, the manufacturer said custom-ers may not replace their A320 orders with bookings for the re-engined model. Perhaps think-ing it could stimulate Airbus through media headlines, earlier this year the fast-growing low-cost operator voiced its ambi-tion to swap some outstanding requirements for A320neos.

According to Leahy, provid-ing such flexibility in its order book would “create too much

confusion.” He said that to be able to plan for the future, the manufacturer “needs to know” the likely division of production between the two models. Leahy claims that allowing customers to switch orders between the two variants is tantamount to allow-ing an airline to take a second slot, “and we’re not going to do that,” he said.

For programs executive vice president Tom Williams, Air-bus has a story to tell and must get the message across: the A320neo represents “min-imum change with maximum benefit.” He claims the latest variant in the established sin-gle-aisle family will “fulfill a rising demand from the market for ‘green’ and innovative prod-ucts” by providing 15-percent better fuel efficiency, reduced noise, reduced NOx and CO2 emissions, and lower operating and maintenance costs.

Minimum ChangesThe official is at pains to

emphasize the manufacturer’s commitment to minimum change. In reviewing available oppor-tunities to modify the existing specification, Williams acknowl-edged that Airbus “clearly could end up with an all-new aircraft, but we have to be realistic.” The A320neo will include minimum change from and maximum com-monality with the current design and will be covered by the exist-ing type certificate and pilots’ type ratings, he said. He added that the aircraft will not require “a lot of new design and manage-ment tools [or] processes.”

The Airbus A320neo will sport new engines, nacelles and pylons; modified wing and wing-box structures; and adapted electronic systems, Williams said. The only A320 part subject to “significant difference” is the engine pylon on which Airbus

will hang alternative Pratt & Whitney PW100G geared tur-bofans or CFM International Leap-X powerplants, he said. In his view, both CFM and P&W have been “extremely aggres-sive” in addressing requirements. “P&W is very well advanced and [CFM partner] General Electric is also working hard,” he said. The new engines will be housed in 81-inch-diameter nacelles that will provide some 18.1 inches ground clearance.

Williams said the pylons will not be an issue because the A320 wing structure will be modi-fied to accept the loads from the new engine and nacelle pro-pulsion system and the center wingbox will be reinforced. The flight deck will not be new, with changes being confined to soft-ware adjustments to take into account the new powerplant.

Development of the A320neo has involved detailed assessments of resource planning and suppliers’ capabilities, lessons learned from recent research (including that for A320 “sharklet” wingtips and the upcoming twin-aisle A350), selec-tion of any required new risk-shar-ing partners and integration of all manufacturing and design disci-plines. Williams explained that a “quite manageable” group of about 900 people have been involved in the exercise, but the project has not required “a whole bunch of new suppliers.”

Introducing the SharkletsWilliams acknowledged that

a key question for the manufac-turer is how to manage the intro-duction both of the sharklets and the A320neo in the next few years. A very simplistic graph illustrating the new model’s ramp-up over a 30-month period from mid-2015 to the beginning of 2018 shows A320 production rising slightly–perhaps driven by current order backlog–as


Airbus has brought forward the re-engined A320neo program by six months, to October 2015.

Long Live the A320…

Alongside preparations for the re-engined A320neo, Airbus is continuing A320 product development, according to A320 family chief engineer Wolfgang Engler. Some 23 years after A320 MSN0005 pioneered the type’s airline service with Air France, the manufacturer claims a 99.7-percent “operational reliability” for the most recently delivered 250 aircraft. Middle East low-cost carrier Air Arabia’s A320s are said to be achieving almost 14.4 hours of daily utilization with other airlines, including Air Asia, EasyJet, JetBlue Airways and Tiger Airways, logging more than 10 hours per day on individual aircraft.

Maximum takeoff weight for the standard A320-200 has been progressively increased from the initial 162,000 pounds to 172,000 pounds, accompanied by improved engines and aerodynamics. Sharklet-equipped A320s being delivered next year will have higher weights.

With an A320 reaching the 48,000-flight-cycle design service goal for the first time during 2011, Airbus is working to establish extended service goals (ESGs). Other original “life” parameters were 60,000 flight hours, reached by the lead aircraft in October 2007, and 25 years, which the original Air France aircraft will reach in February 2013.

In an initial move dubbed ESG1, intended to permit 60,000 cycles and 120,000 hours, Airbus conducted 120,000 simulated flights on four major fatigue specimens–forward fuselage, center fuselage and wings, rear fuselage and engine pylon–in Toulouse and Munich. The new limits are likely to be attained by lead aircraft in 2017 and

2022, respectively. Testing has been continued through a further 60,000 simulated flights necessary to establish the 90,000-cycle/180,000-hour ESG2 goal.

An interim service goal for high-time aircraft that reduced the cycle limit to 37,500, while extending accumulated flight time to 80,000 hours (with an attendant inspection of the tailplane) was approved in 2007. The ESG program excludes A320-100s and the 30 A320-200s fitted with four-wheel landing-gear bogies.

Engler said that full-scale fatigue tests are complete, related structural analysis is “on schedule” and a service-bulletin package has been defined. Airbus is establishing dossiers to support justification for life extensions to critical aircraft systems, with 85 percent of work completed with suppliers. ESG1 is expected to become available next year.

Also by June, Airbus expects to have certified an A320 electronic flight bag option that permits the flight crew to plug a large variety of laptop computers into a docking station via Arinc 828-compliant wiring. Future plans call for the following goals to be addressed: to increase flight-crew situational awareness through an on-board airport-navigation system that displays an airport moving map with aircraft position information; to improve go-around decision-making using an A380-derived runway overrun prevention system equipment; and to enhance pilots’ reactions to traffic-alert and collision-avoidance system warnings. –I.G.

production of sharkletted aircraft begins. Manufacturing rates for the current

A320 aircraft then begins to decline, the trend line eventually crossing that indicat-ing initial ramp-up of the A320neo, with completion of sharklet-equipped air-craft bridging the valley above the A320/A320neo crossover point. The build rate for sharkletted A320s will start to fall as “old” A320 manufacturing ends (over a “relatively long period”) and as A320neo manufacturing becomes increasingly well established, the manufacturer said.

As it prepares to introduce the first examples of the A320neo in October 2015, Airbus has been investing in pro-duction flexibility that will permit an easy move from the current aircraft to the new variant, or simultaneous produc-tion of both–which Williams said can be “built back-to-back” (or perhaps more accurately nose to tail). The manufac-turer has been trying to consider the crit-ical path: for example, A320neo wings will be made in essentially the A320 jigs, with tooling adapted to accommodate changes. There will not be a family of new jigs for the A320neo.

Accordingly, Airbus tooling will remain in use until the prospective new technolo-gies converge to enable development of an all-new aircraft in perhaps 25 years’ time. If that happens, the A320 family will have been endowed with a potential manufac-turing life of more than 40 years. o


Sharklets Are “Go”

Airbus has already started to produce the first elements of the “sharklet” wingtips for incorporation on wings for standard A320 aircraft that are expected to enter service in about 18 months’ time, during the fourth quarter of 2012. It also has begun to convert the original A320 (MSN 0001), including installation of flight-test instruments, to act as a test bed. Sharklets will then be introduced progressively during 2013 on other members of the single-aisle family in the following order: A319, A321, A318.

Introduction of sharklets will improve A320 takeoff performance in terms of payload by approximately 6,600 pounds, according to Airbus customer chief operating officer John Leahy. This enhancement is seen as especially

valuable when operating from runways with obstacle-clearance and second-ary-segment climb limitations. Leahy cited airports such as Canberra, Chica-go (Midway), Kathmandu and Quito as having such considerations for A320 operators.

Alternatively, carriers might wish to use the new aerodynamic equipment to increase their range of operations through the sharklets’ claimed high-er fuel efficiency. Leahy said block fuel usage could improve by more than 3.5 percent when compared with a current A320 fitted with standard wingtip fences. By April this year, Airbus had announced eight sharklet customers:

Air Arabia, Air New Zealand, lessors Air Lease and Avalon, Finnair, LanChile, Thomas Cook and Virgin America.

The new wingtips are said to provide lower fuel burn and emissions; improved payload/range capability, takeoff, climb and cruise performance; and enhanced aircraft value. Flight testing of the units on A320 MSN001 are scheduled to begin in late 2011 followed in the first quarter of next year by delivery of the first new wing for final assembly on the production line. Airbus programs executive vice president Tom Williams said 2012 will see produc-tion of a significant number of sharklet-ready A320 wings. “It will be a very quick ramp-up,” he said.

A320 wing changes to accommodate sharklets include a rebuilding of Rib 27, a move Williams characterized as a “very neat solution” that will allow the new tip to be plugged into the end of the wing. Sharklets can be fitted in a one-day shop visit and will be removable.

Williams also said there is no requirement for fundamental redesign of the structure or the low-speed flight controls. There will be no change to materials and the wing spars will “look very much like they do now.” Because sharkletted A320s will operate at increased maximum takeoff weights, skin panels will be re-gauged over the entire wing span for a 1.3-percent higher static load. The

panel gauge also will be changed to accommodate a 3-percent higher fatigue load over most of the wing outboard of the engine.

Higher maximum takeoff and landing weights will require local gear-rib and spar reinforcement, alongside local reinforcement of engine-pylon attachments with adapted pylon-system interfaces. The outer wing will be reinforced to take onto account higher bending yaw and torque forces; the center wingbox also will be reinforced. A weight-reduction program is being conducted in an effort to ensure that it will not be possible to differentiate between a 2010 A320 and a 2012 example with the modified wing. –I.G.

Finnair is one of eight customers for “sharklet” wingtips on the A320.

Eurocopter’s X3 brings X-Factor to Paris showby Thierry Dubois

Eurocopter has delivered what it hopes will prove to be the X-Factor to this year’s Paris Air Show. The daily flying dis-play this week features its new its X3 (“x cubed”) compound helicopter demonstrator, a mod-ified AS 365 Dauphin with a conventional main rotor, two propellers on wingstubs and a conventional empennage.

While helicopters usually cruise at 140 to 150 knots, the X3 concept is aimed at proving that 220 knots is a sweet spot where speed is profitable, and last month the demonstrator reached 232 ktas. The X3 was unveiled in September 2010 at Istres’ military flight-test center in France, near the manufactur-er’s Marignane factory.

According to Jean-Michel Billig, the company’s execu-tive vice president for research and development, the X3 will impress show-goers with its maneuverability, just as the mil-itary Tiger wowed them back in the 1990s, when it began per-forming loops. “In Le Bourget,

you will see a flying display no other helicopter can offer–I am talking not only about high speeds,” he told AIN.

During the second flight-test campaign, which started in May, the X3 demonstrated a rate of climb greater than 5,000 feet per minute. The crew flew pitch-up attitudes in the 30- to 50-degree range. It performed rolls at 80-degree bank angles.

“After the Paris Air Show, we’ll go even faster than 232 knots,” Billig said. That speed was sustained during approx-imately five minutes at 8,200 feet on May 12. Further flights this year will dig deeper into vibration phenomena and wingstub aerodynamics.

Mods Allow Speed IncreaseDuring the first test cam-

paign, between September and December 2010, the first goal had been 180 knots. That speed was attained in less than 12 flight hours and it required less power than expected, Billig told AIN. He claimed that the aircraft is so

stable it can be flown “hands off” at 180 knots. “It is as stable as a jet,” he said. A vibration prob-lem on the empennage, visible on the video of the first flight, was solved immediately after that flight, according to Billig.

Last winter, Eurocopter engi-neers disassembled the aircraft, thoroughly examined critical parts and analyzed the flight test data. “Our objective was to understand how parts behaved,” Billig said.

Modifications were lighter than expected. To allow a speed increase from 180 to 220 knots, Billig and his team had planned to strengthen the main gearbox by installing the unit developed for the new EC175 medium twin. “However, [the original gearbox] behaved well, a change was no longer needed,” he said. The X3 is powered by a pair of the RTM322 engines developed by Rolls-Royce and Turbomeca for the NH90 military trans-port. They are so powerful (2,300 shp each) that their full power wasn’t even fully used to reach the higher speeds.

Between the first and sec-ond test campaigns, the fuel sys-tem was modified. The engines now can be fed even at very high pitch-up attitudes. In the cock-pit, the information displayed to pilots has been adapted. “At high speeds, some bits of infor-mation relating to hover are inappropriate, while the crew needs more explicit speed and slip indication,” Billig said.

The second test phase will end after about 12 to 15 flight hours (not counting the hours flown here at the Le Bourget show). This means the demonstration program, at some 20 to 30 hours, will have been shorter than expected; an X3 crewmember

had previously talked about a need for up to 100 hours.

“We want to go directly where we want to be in terms of under-standing high-speed flight,” Bil-lig said, explaining the relatively small number of sorties required. “Our preparation for phase one was very good, which explains our success. I want phase two to be as successful,” he added. The crew had previously tested “99 percent of what they saw in flight” on a simulator.

Not a New ConceptThe idea to add propellers to

a helicopter is not new. Several compound rotorcraft have flown

since the 1950s but none of them made it to the market. So why try again now? “Today’s computa-tion and simulation capabilities are helping us a lot,” said Billig, explaining why he believes the X3 will have a more positive out-come. Eurocopter’s design engi-neers can predict the aircraft’s behavior and adjust parameters such as attitude, rotor rotation and speed, and so forth.

Moreover, having propellers driven by shafts connected to the main gearbox is a new con-figuration. Previous compound models had dedicated engines for the side-mounted propellers.



Comparing the Eurocopter X3 and Sikorsky X2

Both the Sikorsky X2 and the Eurocopter X3 have propellers and both are targeting higher cruise speeds; however, their respective designers have not been working to the same principles.

The X2 is effectively a semi-compound helicopter, having contra-rotat-ing main rotors and one aft propeller, while the X3 is a true compound with a single main rotor, wing stubs and two side-mounted propellers.

Moreover, they are aimed at different markets. After having hit the X2’s 250-knot cruise speed target last year, Sikorsky is now applying the technology to the military X2 Raider, an armed reconnaissance prototype. Eurocopter prefers to limit the speed to around 220 knots, for economical reasons, as it focuses on commercial uses.

Also, the X2 has fly-by-wire controls, while the X3 has conventional controls. This may be one of the reasons why Eurocopter reached 180 knots in three months last year, whereas Sikorsky reached that speed, in 2010, after 21 months of developing a more complex rotorcraft. Despite the difference in development schedules, it took about the same number of flight hours– between 11 and 12–for the two aircraft to reach 180 knots. –T.D.

With its X3 demonstrator, Eurocopter reached 232 knots but is targeting 220 knots as an economical sweet spot. As a result of the flight tests so far, engineers have modified the information available in the cockpit.

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Sikorsky’s X2 reached 250 ktas

in level flight last year.

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These days, the compact design of cur-rent turboshafts allows airframers to build a compound that behaves very much like a conventional helicopter. The

architecture is relatively simple, with two outputs from the main gearbox (to the propeller’s gearboxes) instead of one (for a tailrotor).

At low speed, anti-torque and yaw are controlled through conventional pedals. Instead of acting on the tailrotor, they

differentiate the power supplied by each pro-peller. In cruise, the vertical empennage suf-fices to control yaw.

The pilot can fly the X3 like a conven-tional helicopter up to 80 knots. Beyond that point an additional control is needed. A trim button, located on the main rotor col-lective pitch lever, increases the propellers’ pitch and power out-put. At the same time, the pilot has to reduce the collective pitch. X3

test pilot Hervé Jam-mayrac told AIN that it would just take no more than 15 min-utes for a helicopter test pilot to convert to flying the new compound.

In cruise, the wings take over from the main rotor to provide 40 percent of the lift. The main rotor adopts a “flat” profile in which drag is minimal and rotor speed is reduced. Power is then transferred to the propellers.

Flying the X3 does not require fly-by-wire controls, the crew said, and the air-craft is stable at high speeds, even without an autopilot. However, Eurocopter is con-sidering adding fly-by-wire controls when the compound concept is turned into a product. Such a decision should be made next year, Billig said. When the X3 gets to market, the price premium is expected to be about 25 percent higher than the cost of a conventional helicopter.

Multiple ApplicationsHoped-for applications for this

high-speed, long-range concept include search and rescue (with a rear door

for the hoist), border patrol and com-mercial passenger transport. In six to eight years, Eurocopter’s first com-pound product may be in the EC 225 category –20 passenger seats–for oil-and-gas offshore operations.

In military service, applications include combat search and rescue, medi-cal evacuation and troop transport, pos-sibly with in-flight refueling. The concept is relevant to those operations where hover is a marginal part of the flight.

So how did Eurocopter’s engineering team determine the optimal speed? At 220 knots, the aircraft is about 50 percent faster than its conventional equivalent. The additional operating cost per hour should be about 25 percent more in terms of fuel burn.

Balancing this is the assumption that for a given distance, the aircraft will spend fewer hours in the air and thus have lower maintenance costs. Accord-ing to Eurocopter, the bottom line is a 20-percent cut in costs, measured per passenger-mile. Moreover, by going faster, the aircraft can perform more missions in a given period.

The operating cost of the X3 at 250 knots (if attained) was calculated to be much too high. Further testing will also help determine the long- range cruise speed–probably close to 200 knots. Jammayrac said the X3’s fuel burn (measured per nautical mile) at that setting will be lower than that of a conventional helicopter at much lower speeds.

Billig did not ignore the conjecture that a purpose-designed compound might deliver more performance than the X3. For example, airframe weight was not an issue with the RTM322 engines. Also, the propellers (a standard set that Eurocopter bought from MT Propel-lers) might be better profiled if used with a clean-sheet design, resulting in lower noise and more efficient operations. He also was tight-lipped on the X3’s actual fuel consumption. o


Eurocopter’s X-FactoruContinued from page 68

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Test pilot Hervé Jammayrac (left) and flight-test engineer Daniel Semioli were at the controls when the X3 demonstrator surpassed its speed goals.




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Rafale’s omnirole comes of ageby David Donald

In the coming weeks, Dassault Aviation will deliver the 30th Rafale C to the French air force–the 100th production aircraft to come from its Bor-deaux-Mérignac assembly line. At the same time, the type is heavily involved in Operation Harmattan, the French contri-bution to NATO-led air oper-ations over Libya, in which the Rafale is flying true swing-role missions. Moreover, the development program contin-ues apace to add greater capa-bility in the short term, while Dassault examines options for

a major mid-life update planned for the 2025 time frame.

By 2015 the French armed forces will be down to two com-bat types: the Rafale and the Mirage 2000D. The out-of-ser-vice date for the latter has yet to be decided, but by at least 2030 the French air force and navy are expecting the Rafale to meet all of their combat needs.

Rafale production deliveries currently stand at 98, including four instrumented aircraft for trials. The French armed forces have a total requirement for 286 aircraft –228 for the air force

and 58 for the navy, which will take the Rafale production line to 2025. To date, 180 have been ordered in four tranches, secur-ing production until 2019.

Tranche 1 comprised 10 Rafale Ms for the navy, and one Rafale C single-seater and two Rafale B two-seaters for the air force. Subsequent orders cov-ered Tranche 2 (16 Ms, seven Cs,

25 Bs), Tranche 3 (12 Ms, 36 Cs, 11 Bs) and Tranche 4 (10 Ms, 25 Bs, 25 Cs).

Production is currently run-ning at a rate of around one air-craft per month. The Navy has now taken delivery of 32 of its planned 58, sufficient for a sec-ond squadron to form, thus Flottille 11F stands up at Landi-visiau this month to serve along-side the existing 12F.

Equipment StandardsFrance’s Rafales have been

delivered in various equipment fits. The initial Standard F1 was an interim air-to-air-only ver-sion with Magic 2 and MICA

EM radar-guided missiles. F2 added SCALP and AASM (also known as SBU-38 Hammer) air-to-ground missiles, the infrared version of MICA, front-sector optronics (FSO) and Link 16 datalink. The current production version, to which earlier aircraft have been (F2) or can be (F1) upgraded, is Standard F3, which adds ASMP-A nuclear missile, AASM infrared version, AM39 Exocet anti-ship weapon and GBU-12 laser-guided bomb. F3 was qualified in July 2008.

Standard F3 Rafales continue to receive additional capabilities as they are developed and qual-ified. They include the GBU-24 2,000-pound laser-guided bomb (qualified late 2010), Damoclès targeting pod, air-to-ground gun capability and the Rover downlink. The latter was certi-fied for use last year and is ini-tially being fitted to a batch of 30 aircraft. The Rover provides target imagery downlinked to ground forces.

In the coming weeks, the first MBDA AM39 Block 2 Mod 2 Exocets will be delivered to the Navy for use with the Rafale. This variant of the well-proven anti-ship missile is fully digi-tized to adapt it to the Rafale’s weapon system.



Engine Improvements Extend Life and Cut Costs

From November this year, production Rafales will be fitted with a new engine. The M88-4E has been developed by Snecma to extend service life and time between inspections for key parts of the engine, with the aim of reducing total cost of ownership (TCO).

The TCO program has its roots in the M88 ECO program that ran between 2004 and 2007, during which Snecma demonstrated several new technolo-gies and showed that a nine-metric-ton-thrust engine was feasible. Elements from the ECO project were incorporated into the TCO program, which was launched in January 2008. The TCO pack replaces the aft three stages of the high-pressure compressor, and has a new HP turbine with new nozzle inner casing and outer ring. HP turbine life is increased by 30 percent.

FETT (first engine to test) was achieved in September 2009, and the new engine first flew in a Rafale on March 22 last year. After a 70-flight test campaign, the M88-4E engine was cleared for use last November and endurance testing is to be completed this month. Qualification is due in October, with first deliveries slated for November. It will become the stan-dard production engine at that point, although TCO packs will be retrofitted to existing M88-3 engines as they are serviced.

The ECO/TCO programs have laid the foundation for an uprated nine-metric-ton engine, seen to be an integral part of ongoing export campaigns. Although France has not decided on any re-engining plans for its Rafales, Snecma claims that such an engine could be quickly developed once a contract has been awarded. –D.D.

This near-hemispherical infrared image was captured by the staring array of the DDM-NG missile warning system.

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Rafale on the prowl: Equipped with a Damoclès targeting pod, an Armée de l’Air aircraft on a swing-role mission over Libya with a load of AASM and MICA missiles.

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Snecma is introducing the M88-4E engine to improve service life and reduce ownership costs. It could form the basis of an uprated engine that is likely to be required by export customers.

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Rafale M1, one of four instrumented production aircraft, undertakes carriage

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Another important role recently added to the Rafale’s repertoire is reconnaissance, with the qualification of the Thales Reco NG pod, also known as Areos. The air force declared the pod operational in November last year, and it has been used by navy Rafales fly-ing over Afghanistan. Air force Rafales began using the Reco NG over Libya.

French RoadmapTeam Rafale is now engaged

in further work that will see a sig-nificant change to the Rafale’s

capability. Known as Stan-dard F3-O4T, or the “French roadmap” aircraft, the new con-figuration is due for qualifica-tion next year and service entry in 2013. It will feature important new systems such as the Thales RBE2 AA AESA radar, MBDA’s DDM-NG missile warning sys-tem and the Thales FSO-IT improved technology optron-ics that adds a TV channel to the existing infrared capability.

The AESA RBE2 radar is the centerpiece of the “French roadmap” improvements, and in February was validated in production form on the Rafale. Thales is preparing to deliver radars for the Tranche 4 Rafale production batch, the first of which is scheduled

for delivery in 2013.At present, the series AESA

radar is in the final evalua-tion campaign at the Direc-tion Générale de l’Armement’s Essais en Vol (DGA EV) facil-ity (formerly CEV) at Cazaux in southwest France. The task of these trials is to evaluate the radar as a stand-alone sensor

against its predicted perfor-mance and requirements.

The DGA EV is using Falcon 20 No. 104 and Mirage 2000B No. 501 as the testbeds for the radar, and has a pair of Mirage 2000Cs (Nos. 2 and 64) to act as instrumented, RCS-character-ized target aircraft. The last of three phases of the evaluation comprises around 25 flights, during which around 140 radar runs are being performed. All operating modes of the active-scan radar are being cleared. From this month, the DGA EV is conducting AESA/Link 16 integration trials.

The DDM-NG missile warn-ing system is another important development program for the Rafale. Imaging infrared sensors on either side of the Rafale’s fin provide a near-spherical view around the aircraft, able to detect missile plumes at great distance and with the angular precision required for the future application of directional infra-red countermeasures.

In February, the DGA EV completed a second campaign of data-gathering in a real environ-ment, including the presence of real firings, and the DDM-NG is due for qualification next year.

It will replace the current DDM sensors as a “form, fit and func-tion” subsystem of the Rafale’s Spectra EW suite.

Near-term DevelopmentThe DGA EV is engaged in

ongoing test work associated with various aspects of the Rafale, including improvement of the Sagem SLPRM mission planning system, Reco NG and Damoclès pods, and new weapons. Included are the laser/GPS version of the Sagem AASM for the F3-O4T Rafale, and the use of GPS/IR AASM in the anti-tank role, the latter being seen as an urgent operational requirement stem-ming from the Libya campaign.

Another topic that has arisen from Libya operations is the need for a low-collateral-dam-age-effect weapon. The RAF’s MBDA dual-mode Brimstone has impressed in Libya and is under evaluation for integra-tion with the Rafale, although alternatives such as laser-guided rockets have been mooted.

Further areas that are being studied are improvements to the radar, electronic warfare suite and human-machine inter-face, and a Link 16 upgrade is planned. Later this year, a new laser designation pod program is to be launched with addi-tional TV channel.

Meteor and Beyond F3-O4TDuring next year, MBDA is

scheduled to deliver the first pro-duction examples of the Meteor beyond-visual-range missile. An initial 200 missiles was ordered by the DGA last December to equip the Rafale from 2018, or 2016 if demanded. Early field-ing is largely associated with the export campaigns currently run-ning in Brazil, India (for which the Rafale has been short-listed alongside the Typhoon), the UAE and others.

Around 2025 it is expected that the Rafale will undergo a major mid-life update. Although the specifications for the MLU are far from defined, several areas are already under review, including radar cross-section reduction, greater data fusion, provision of satellite communications and software-driven radio, and more powerful engines. Topics such as thrust-vectoring and UCAV control will also be considered, as well as making changes to the flight control system cheaper and quicker to undertake. o

Rafales take shape at Dassault’s Mérignac plant. Rather than move down a traditional line, the aircraft remain in their bays while components are brought to them. Dassault uses a mobile facility known as Osiris to run system tests throughout the assembly process.

A naval Rafale M launches from the French aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle with

a Reco NG pod. This system was first used operationally last year over Afghanistan, and is a highly important tool over Libya.

With the Thales RBE2 AA AESA radar set to enter service in 2013, the Rafale will become the first European fighter with an active electronically scanned radar.

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Rafale’s omnirole comes of ageuContinued from page 72

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Since the first day of the U.N.-backed Operation Unified Protector over Libya (March 19) the Dassault Rafale has been in the forefront of air operations. Although the first few missions were flown from the Rafale’s home base at Saint-Dizier, the focus of operations soon shifted to Solenzara in Corsica, which was rapidly dubbed “Rafale-town,” especially after the French Mirage 2000 component moved

out to Souda Bay in Crete. By the start of June, the

French air force Rafale detach-ment was awaiting approval from Italian authorities to move to Sigonella, to cut flying time for each sortie by one to two hours. Meanwhile, the navy’s Rafales have been operating from the aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle.

Over Libya, the Rafale has been demonstrating its omnirole

capabilities by being dual-tasked on each mission. “We’re flying strike missions while policing the air,” observed Lt. Col. P [iden-tity security-protected], “and we are doing time-sensitive tar-geting.” The same is true for the aircraft launching with the Reco NG reconnaissance pod, which are also undertaking simultane-ous air-to-air missions.

For the air force, it is the first time Reco NG has been used operationally and it has proven to be a major advance in intel-ligence-gathering capabilities compared with the film-based Presto pod used by the three Mirage F1CR aircraft allo-cated to the Libyan operation. Both systems share a deploy-able air intelligence cell (DAIC) at Solenzara that processes and analyzes imagery.

The air force Rafale detach-ment, which typically numbers seven aircraft, normally flies two waves of two to four aircraft daily. A typical mission begins

with a meal three hours before takeoff and an intelligence brief with around 90 minutes to go. For missions from Solenzara, the Rafales refuel south of Sicily after about 1 hour 45 minutes in the air, and then enter the opera-tional area. They refuel midway through their time on station and return to base after about six hours flying. Some missions have lasted as long as eight hours.

Missions are planned around the master air ops plan, which is received 48 hours before-hand, and the detailed air task-ing order that is received the day before, complete with call signs, IFF codes, tanker plans and anchor points. The Rafales work closely with AWACS and they can often be retasked in flight.

In the early days of the campaign, the primary attack weapon was the SBU-38 Ham-mer (AASM), but as the weather has improved, the cheaper GBU-12 laser-guided bomb has been increasingly employed, although often a flight of aircraft carries both weapons. More than 100 of these two types of precision weapon had been dropped by the end of May.

The Libya campaign has seen the combat debut of the SCALP missile, a few of which have been launched. On March

24, SCALPs were fired by two air force Rafales (which can each carry two) flying from Saint-Dizier and two Rafale Ms (which can carry one) from the aircraft-carrier, as well as by Mirage 2000Ds.

As with other Unified Pro-tector aircrew, Rafale crews face threats from SA-2 SAMs and ground fire. “You see lots of fire at night,” said pilot Lt. Col. P. “It has decreased since the beginning [of the operation] but you never drop your guard. Any anti-aircraft targets we detect become priorities, and are fed into a very quick decision loop for attack.”

One constant concern is avoiding civilian casualties, made difficult by the tactics of Col. Muammar Gaddafi’s forces. “I’ve seen lots of evidence of anti-air-craft guns and tanks being moved to near civilian buildings, and you cannot shoot,” said Lt. Col. P. “With the Rafale system, though, you can clearly see the distance between the target and the no-go areas in the display. There’s no estimation anymore, which is very reassuring.” o


Rafale: leading the way over Libyaby David Donald

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A mix of Rafale Bs and Cs lines up at Solenzara during missions over Libya. The aircraft in the

foreground has Damoclès pod and AASM missiles. The Rafales also carry two MICA EMs on the fuselage and two MICA IRs on the wingtips for air-to-air duties.

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A Rafale M prepares for a dusk launch from the French aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle,

sailing off the Libyan coast. The aircraft is equipped with a buddy refueling pod to support other Rafales.

Operation Harmattan, the French participation in the Libya operations, has seen the first use of the Reco NG pod by air force Rafales.

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Rafales have fired the MBDA SCALP missile for the first time over Libya and the weapon remains available to both air force and navy. This example (above) is seen at Solenzara, Corsica, next to the heavily protected canisters that are used to transport the missiles.

Hammer time: (below) an armourer moves GPS/INS-guided, 250-kilogram SBU-38 Hammer (AASM) missiles along the Rafale flightline at Solenzara.

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TE Connectivity touts ‘intelligent’ electronicsby Gregory Polek

One of the newest names in aerospace is also one of the biggest, but even before Tyco Electronics became TE Connectiv-ity this past March, few in the industry would have guessed that the company provides more aircraft part numbers to the OEMs than any other company in the world. Now, in the age of the “more electric” aircraft, TE Connectivity might also claim the mantle as one of the most technologically dynamic, if not by design, by necessity.

No longer simply a supplier of electronic parts, TE Con-nectivity has become what the company’s aerospace business development manager, Russ Graves, called a provider of integrated “solutions.” For example, the company offers more “smart” electronics, in which it embeds “intelligence” into the elec-trical components to aid functional-ity. Such multifunction capacity means components not only conduct electricity, they also monitor currents, for instance, explained Graves.

Here at the Paris Air Show, TE Con-nectivity’s Harrisburg, Pennsylvania-based aerospace, defense and marine group represents the company’s inter-ests in “backbone” wiring and electrical interconnect for both power and signal distribution in aircraft. The major sup-plier of such systems to aircraft OEMs such as Boeing and Airbus as well as sub-tier suppliers such as Honeywell and Rockwell Collins, TE builds the primary means by which virtually all of an air-craft’s electronic components integrate and work in harmony.

“Basically we’re playing to the

technical trends that the whole industry is evolving to,” said Graves. “So, [I’m refer-ring to] better use of power consumption on the aircraft, more reliable power. As fuel costs increase, everybody’s looking for weight and size reduction. As they put more electronics on and as they’re

putting more sophisticated sys-tems in every area–like sensors or monitoring what’s going on in the aircraft and IFE systems–they’re looking at higher speeds and more bandwidth in terms of the electronics. All that has to happen with improved reli-ability because aircraft are stay-ing in flight longer that they were designed to do years ago.”

The imperative for more effective power management is further driven by the fact while aircraft may have been designed for a 20-year life, they are increasingly being required to put in 30 years of service.

Such trends and the 1996 crash of TWA Flight 800 have led to more over-sight of electrical “interconnects” by aviation authorities, explained Graves, leading to an entirely new certification regime dedicated to an aircraft’s EWIS (electrical wire interconnection system). In effect since late 2007, the new EWIS requirements mean OEMs must certify their electrical interconnect system the same way they would an avionics system, for example. TE Connectivity special-izes in the supply and integration of the vast range of components that comprise an EWIS–from connectors, to wires, to terminations, said Graves. “We’re actu-ally the company that is probably best positioned to address the EWIS require-ments,” he stressed. Although the new regulations don’t apply to the Boeing 787 because the manufacturer applied for the type certificate before the effective date, they do apply to the Airbus A350 and Bombardier C Series.

EWIS aftermarket repair products on display here in Paris accompany a range of what Graves called solution sets that address technology trends such as advanced power management systems, lightning strike protection for aircraft with composite skins, high-speed electri-cal interconnects and fiber-optics.

“We’ve got a couple of demonstra-tions on fiber-optics; one would be fiber-optic and electrical conversions,” said Graves. “And then we’re also going to be doing inside-the-box applications. So for the avionics manufacturers, if they are now processing a lot of informa-tion, they’re going to higher and higher speeds. We’ve been working with various industry committees and have created some solutions around very high-speed ‘backplane’ solutions that we’re also demonstrating.” o


Russ Graves

Designed to meet the rising need of small aircraft for automated power, TE’s advanced power load management system combines software, embedded microcontrollers, an intuitive GUI, CAN bus technology, hall effect current monitoring and Hartman contactors.




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Airbus braces for struggle to keep A350XWB on trackby Ian Goold

As Airbus prepares to put together the first A350XWB, the European manufac-turer acknowledges the stiff task it faces to open the final assembly line (FAL) by the end of this year and to fly the aircraft within 12 months thereafter. It says sig-nificant challenges remain to start the FAL by year’s end with “an appropriate level of quality to prepare the ramp-up.”

Here at the Paris Air Show, Airbus will confirm that first delivery of the new A350 twin-aisle twinjet–which broadly addresses the same airline requirements as the much-delayed Boeing 787, and some of those at which the 777 is aimed–will be made before 2014. This week’s show also could see first official news of a more powerful engine for the largest A350 model, the -1000.

Louis Gallois, head of Airbus parent company European Aeronautic Defence and Space (EADS), told shareholders in mid-May that the A350 first deliv-ery is still scheduled for the second half of 2013, although the timetable remains “challenging.” At the beginning of June, Airbus chief operating officer Fabrice Brégier conceded that some A350 suppli-ers had suffered problems with quality in preparing for full production of carbon-fiber-reinforced plastic (CFRP) compos-ites parts to an unfamiliar high standard (see related story on page 42).

“This is the moment of truth, where everything that’s been designed has to be produced,” said Brégier. Airbus has learned from the A380 that assembly should not begin too early: “It’s more important to get everything right, so we’re not taking any shortcuts.”

Next steps in the program include the start of what Airbus terms pre-final assembly, where major component assembly (MCA) takes place before com-pleted structures are shipped to the FAL. These pre-FALs at the Airbus factories in Broughton (UK), St. Nazaire (France) and Hamburg (Germany) are to start

their work on the first A350 before Octo-ber, followed by the beginning of system installation and equipping in the fourth quarter. Airbus told AIN this month that large parts for the A350 (MSN 001) have been made and that new CFRP technol-ogy is ready for manufacturing.

Before this week, Airbus had taken orders for 574 aircraft of all three vari-ants–the A350-800, -900 (the first to enter service) and -1000. Last year the OEM enjoyed a net increase of 63 orders, the business comprising new or further orders from Air China, Cathay Pacific, TAM and United Airlines.

Despite calls for higher capacity in recent months, the manufacturer has been adamant it would not stretch the A350-1000, for which definition freeze is expected by year-end. Nor has it con-firmed there would be no change to this 350-passenger model, which competes against the 370-seat Boeing 777-300ER.

Airbus does acknowledge that the -1000 would benefit from higher thrust from its Rolls-Royce Trent XWB engines, albeit with consequent increased fuel consumption, larger-diameter fan (or re-worked core) and a stronger pylon. Two weeks ago, Airbus and Rolls-Royce declined to comment on an airline-sourced report that a bigger engine vari-ant was to be developed.

In April, the manufacturer had said it would consider offering a Pratt & Whitney geared turbofan (GTF)-pow-ered version should the U.S. engine com-pany suggest it. Airbus chief commercial officer customers John Leahy was quoted by aviation commentator AirInsight as saying: “We certainly could consider the GTF for the A350 if Pratt & Whitney propose it. They haven’t yet [but] I know they have looked at airplanes in that cat-egory. If [P&W] wants to propose an engine, we’d certainly look at it. If [Rolls-Royce] wants to give us reasons to go exclusively with them, we’d certainly take

a look at that, too.” He confirmed that the A350-1000 might require more power to increase range or payload and that he was against an increase in size.

Also in April, Thales announced it is working with Airbus to equip the A350 with its TopConnect Ka-Band communi-cations equipment, which is designed to provide global broadband connectivity at “an affordable and consistent price,” including the potential for Internet pro-tocol-based broadcast.

Early Maturity for A350A major consideration for the Euro-

pean manufacturer from the beginning has been to ensure early A350 maturity once it enters service, which Airbus said is “developing well” through major bench tests now under way. “Large systems inte-gration benches, such as ‘Iron Bird [0] and High Lift 0’ [are] already in place 18 months before first flight,” said Air-bus. “Commissioning of other benches–‘Landing Gear 0’ and ‘Cabin 0’–will follow this year.”

According to Airbus, some early matu-rity has been achieved through a new sys-tems strategy deployed at A350 suppliers. “We have adopted a new approach based on risk-sharing partners working in the extended enterprise environment,” said Airbus, which reports that new tools and work methods have been deployed in the past two years. It claims the strategy has been proved by the “finalization of the detail design in a collaborative envi-ronment, such as full three-dimensional [design of electrical wiring] harnesses.”

The airframer has said that current challenges for partners are focused on managing “the volume of tasks, such as assembly drawings, and on their own sup-ply-chain management.” Risk-sharing suppliers are coached “through business operational support and resident teams.”

A valuable contribution to the A350 development has come through adoption of a “realistic human experiment analysis [RHEA] platform.” Developed by EADS Innovation Works, RHEA is said to offer “a virtual-reality space for ergonomics studies on future products and their man-ufacturing process.” It permits assem-bly and maintenance workers to train on products to which access is normally dif-ficult and has been deployed in the Ham-burg, St. Nazaire and Toulouse factories.

Airbus claims to have established

“robust” foundations for the compos-ites-based A350, with many program risks having been mitigated. Such mitiga-tion has occasionally been at the expense of more time having been spent on, for example, the wing-root joint, damage tol-erance on stringers, and electrical systems installation–but always to the benefit of maturity. The manufacturer claims that lessons drawn from previous programs have led to the following:• A new development process and ways

of working, based on “application of strict maturity gates;

• Configuration-control processes being driven by digital mock-up (DMU) management;

• Common tools and processes enabling optimized design work in areas such as interfaces between systems and structures;

• Comprehensive demonstrator program to train teams in CFRP technology;

• Catalog-based customization to ease “head of version” development and enable ramp-up; and

• Production control through launch teams and “rigorous” alert processes.Technical challenges with the A350

have included commissioning of very large tooling, development of optimized composites lay-up and curing processes, and nondestructive testing of complex CFRP parts. “The challenge in the com-ing months will be the release of [DMU] manufacturing data [50,000 assem-bly drawings] to enable manufacturing, structure assembly, systems installation and ‘attestation’ with the right level of quality,” reported Airbus.

Suppliers Come On LineAchievements this year include the

delivery of A350-900 main- and nose-wheel undercarriage units by Mess-ier-Dowty and Liebherr Aerospace, respectively, and their installation for integrated systems testing in the Land-ing Gear 0 rig at Filton (UK). A prime testing focus is enhanced operational performance to provide improved main-tenance economics. According to Mess-ier-Dowty, increased use of titanium and use of corrosion-resistant materials and more environmentally responsible pro-cesses have contributed to weight sav-ing and improved maintainability. Full integration testing involving all three


Continued on next page u

Production of major component assemblies for the Airbus A350 are under way at EADS aerostructures

subsidiary Aerolia in Méaulte, France.

Assemblies for the Airbus A350 include the structure around the flightdeck windscreen.

Typhoon helmet nears front lineby David Donald

Typhoon pilots with Brit-ain’s Royal Air Force will soon be flying with a helmet-mounted system that will significantly increase their situational aware-ness (SA), particularly in the air-to-air role.

Known as the helmet-mounted symbology system (HMSS), the helmet is built by the BAE Sys-tems Platform Solutions facility at Rochester in the southeast of England. The HMSS is currently undergoing operational evalu-ation and tactical development with the RAF’s No. 17 Test and Evaluation Squadron at Con-ingsby, with the aim of fielding it later this year.

Other Typhoon operators will follow and are modifying air-craft for use with the HMSS, but different clearance procedures

means it is the RAF that is tak-ing the lead.

Weighing in at just over four pounds with the mask, the HMSS comprises an outer hel-met covered with an array of pulsing LEDs. Three fixed track-ing sensors are mounted in the cockpit (one on each side and one behind the seat) that mea-sure the angles of three of the LEDs to establish a highly accu-rate position of the pilot’s head. The tracking system automati-cally selects which three LEDs are measured in order to provide the most accurate information, in turn allowing precise head-tracking across the entire range of possible head movement.

The HMSS is fully inte-grated with the aircraft’s weapon system so that fuzed sensor

information–from both onboard and offboard sources–is pre-sented along with crucial flight data on the helmet visor. Tar-gets that are outside the cockpit’s visual limits can still be “seen” through the skin of the aircraft. Voice command allows targets to be locked and prioritized

Weapons Systems CuesIn the air-to-air role, in which

it is usually the weapon system telling the pilot where targets are, the HMSS combines with advanced weapons to provide a clear advantage in air combat at shorter ranges.

“With the HMSS, the ‘knife fight in a phone box’ is a thing of the past,” said Mark Bowman, chief test pilot of BAE Systems MAI. “Combining this big SA

with the digital ASRAAM gives a very high kill rate.” For air-to-ground work, the HMSS can be used to cue the weapons system to look at particular areas of interest, slewing the radar and other sensors to where the pilot is looking.

Currently, the HMSS can be used to steer the Captor radar, Pirate IRST and missiles. It does not yet have a full night-vision capability so that, for the time being, night-vision goggles are used, with some limits on maneuvering imposed by aero-medical concerns.

Development work is under way to provide night-vision

functionality and to increase the amount of imagery that can be displayed. Other efforts are aimed at preparing the HMSS for use with the Meteor air-to-air missile and e-scan radar, for which new symbology sets are being devised.

BAE Systems is working toward greater customization of the human-machine interface to tailor displays and informa-tion to both operational require-ments and personal preferences. The concept of a helmet system that can be set up to a pilot’s display preferences, and then individually refined and used throughout their career is one avenue being explored. o


Ton-up for Warton Line

In late May the final assembly line at BAE Systems’ Military Air & Informa-tion plant at Warton delivered its 100th Typhoon (BS074), becoming the first of the partner companies to achieve this milestone. Over 260 aircraft have now been delivered by the four assembly lines.

Warton’s total includes the first 24 aircraft for the Royal Saudi Air Force. It was planned to move final assembly of the remaining 48 Saudi aircraft to the Kingdom itself, but the final decision on this has yet to be taken, and it is likely that they will be completed at Warton. Adding these aircraft to those under contract for the RAF will see the Warton assembly line in business at the current rate of 25 aircraft per year until the end of 2017. –D.D.

The outer shell of the BAE Systems HMSS helmet is covered with LED pimples. The tracking systems selects the three optimum LEDs to precisely plot the pilot’s head position.

undercarriage units is scheduled to begin in about six months’ time.

Another milestone earlier this year was opening of the Harbin Hafei Airbus Composite Manufacturing Centre joint venture in Harbin, China, to make A350 rudders and elevators, fuselage fairings and Section 19 (rear fuselage) main-tenance-access doors, many of which comprise more than 50 percent compos-ites materials.

Last month saw the cabin-systems test platform in Hamburg powered for “ver-ification and validation” of components. Airbus claims the rig is unique: “ATA chapters such as water/waste, communi-cations and air supply [can] be examined individually [for proper working and] can be tested for smooth interplay in a real aircraft for the first time.”

Production of the A350’s Section 11-12 structure around the flightdeck windscreen is under way at EADS’s

aerostructures subsidiary Aerolia in Méaulte, France. Since May, an Airbus working party has been preparing A380 MSN-001 to act as a flying test bed for the Trent XWB later this year.

Airbus said that manufacturing of large CFRP components for A350 MSN-001 is under way at all plants and that production of parts can proceed. “Only [the] very last few open tasks will have to be completed in the [coming] weeks.”

Fuselage Assembly Under WayIn March, A350 partners Premium

Aerotec and Spirit AeroSystems reported curing of the largest A350 fuselage panel, which had been made at their respective Nordenham (Germany) and Kinston (U.S.) sites. The 1,000-sq-ft panel, which is part of the starboard forward fuselage (Section 13-14), includes cutouts for the second right-hand passenger and lower-deck cargo doors.

Large panels were chosen because their thicknesses can be tailored locally to absorb different loads, according to Pre-mium, which also produces A350 for-ward-crown panels. “This enables Airbus

to optimize the airframe [for] enhanced performance, greater robustness and less weight,” said Premium. After ultrasonic inspection, trimming and drilling, the panel was joined to other forward-fuse-lage components. Spirit AeroSystems manufactures the center fuselage crown.

Manufacturing of lower wing cov-ers and rear-fuselage barrels has begun at Illescas, Spain, and upper wing covers in Stade, Germany. The center wing box and keel beam are being constructed at Nantes, France.

Another element of the A350 early-maturity program involves the first “vir-tual” flights scheduled to begin later this year on the “Iron Bird” test rig in Tou-louse. Next year the rig will be used for extensive integration testing of the elec-tric, hydraulic and flight control sys-tems. “Starting well ahead of the [real] first flight and entry into service is the key to delivering full in-service maturity from Day 1,” said Airbus. High-lift sys-tem tests are being conducted in Bremen, Germany. Airbus said the A350-900 flap-assembly full-scale mock-up measures 111.5 feet long by 23 feet wide.

Currently, the manufacturer is prepar-ing for the start of pre-FALs at Brough-ton, Hamburg, St. Nazaire and Getafe (Spain). It plans to start all major-com-ponent assembly during mid-2011 so that the first units can be delivered to the FAL at the end of the year. The pre-FALs assemble structures such as the vertical tailfin and horizontal tailplane, wing, fuselage Sections 11/14, 16/19, and 15/21, and install systems, includ-ing ducts, electrical harnesses, pipes and tubes. The A350 FAL building has been completed and installation of jigs and tools is under way.

Airbus is determined to meet its A350 schedule by starting final assembly of the first aircraft “at the end of this year,” but remains acutely aware of the need to manage the program well. As Gallois said in mid-May, “This program continues to require our closest attention.” o

BS074, a single-seat Typhoon for the Royal Air Force, was the 100th aircraft to be delivered from the Warton assembly line. So far 260 Typhoons have been delivered.

Airbus A350XWB on track for ramp upuContinued from preceding page

Sikorsky debuts Canadian multi-role CH-148 Cycloneby Bill Carey

Sikorsky Aircraft Corp. is displaying the Canadian Forces CH-148 Cyclone multi-mission helicopter at this year’s Paris Air Show. The aircraft on show (Static Display F210) was built under Sikorsky’s Canadian Maritime Helicop-ter Project (CMHP) and is one of 28 CH-148s that will be produced for the Canadian Forces to replace CH-124 Sea King helicopters, in service since 1963.

Sikorsky, headquartered in Stratford, Connecticut (Hall 3 D108), was awarded the CMHP contract from the Canadian government in November 2004. The first “fully compliant” helicopter is scheduled for delivery in July 2012, with delivery of all 28 by December 2013, according to the Canadian Forces.

Primary subcontractor General Dynam-ics Canada, Ottawa, Ontario (Hall 3 E63), is providing the aircraft’s integrated mission system (IMS) software and hardware. The Cyclone’s IMS integrates acoustic, radar,

electro-optical and self-defense sensors. The first aircraft with complete mission sys-tem hardware installed–No. 802–made its maiden flight in July 2009.

Powered by twin GE Aviation CT7-8 turboshafts, the Cyclone is a derivative of Sikorsky’s S-92A commercial search-and-rescue helicopter, designed for shipboard operations with folding main and tail rotors and a deck haul-down and han-dling system. It will operate from Hali-fax-class frigates for missions including anti-submarine warfare, anti-surface war-fare and search and rescue.

The Cyclone has a Rockwell Collins glass cockpit and digital fly-by-wire flight control system. Among other suppliers, Flir Systems provides the Star Safire III electro-optical/infrared sensor; Lockheed Martin, AN/ALQ-210 passive electronic support measures; BAE Systems, ALQ-144 infrared jammer; and Symetrics, ALE-47 flare and chaff dispensers.

Sikorsky said the CH-148 recent-ly completed ship/helicopter operating limits testing, verifying flight and deck operations, as well as demonstrating on-board maintenance.

The company is proposing a helicop-ter based on the Canadian CH-148 to the German navy as a “low-risk solution” to that service’s helicopter requirements. Partners in that effort include Rhein-metall Defence Group, Ruag, MTU Aero Engines and ZFL.

“We believe the Cyclone helicopter represents the ‘aircraft of the future’ for

maritime forces around the globe,” said Carey Bond, Sikorsky Global Helicop-ters president. “This is a helicopter that offers significant advancements in tech-nology. It is clearing a path for delivery of an extremely sophisticated, flexible air-craft that will be among the most capable maritime helicopters in its class.” o


Crane raises global profile with four new contracts

Crane Aerospace (Hall 4 A188) has just signed several new international agreements as part of its strategy to raise its global profile.

First, the U.S. company is to be a channel partner with Aero Precision (Hall 3 Stand

C132) providing carbon brake control sys-tems to international Lockheed Martin C-130 operators. Aero Precision will provide sales and distribution services for the Crane’s Mark IV antiskid brake control system.

Lynwood, Washington-based Crane has also signed a representation agree-ment with Brazil’s Jetstar Aviation to

provide support in the local marketplace. “Since 2009 we have increased our sup-port presence by four. We have put people in Asia, Europe and Brazil to support Air-bus, Comac and Embraer, and are signing partnership agreements to provide local

support,” said Gregg Herman, Crane’s Aerospace Group director, OEM Sales and Customer Management. He pointed to new aircraft production programs that offer new opportuni-ties, such as the Embraer 450/500, as well as the Comac C919 and the Air-bus A350XWB.

Crane will also provide transformer rectifier units (TRUs) on the electri-cal power distribution systems (EDPS) for the Airbus A350XWB. There are seven TRUs in the EDPS, which con-trol and monitor the electrical DC power distribution to the loads on the aircraft.

In a separate agreement, another Crane division will provide the fuel-flow transmitter for the Rolls Royce Trent XWB engine. Esterline Advanced Sensors (Hall 5 B242) will integrate the transmitter with a suite of sensing products. Herman added that Crane’s MRO

division is also expanding its capabilities internationally and said that his appoint-ment book for Paris is completely full. “The Airbus A320neo is likely to be a big show story, and we are already provid-ing the landing gear control and interface unit for the A320,” he said. –L.M.

Gregg Herman, Crane Aerospace Group director, displays one of his company’s antiskid brake controls. Crane recently agreed to provide antiskid control systems for international C-130 operators.

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Stealthy F-35 stalked by cost, technical issues by Chris Pocock

The Lockheed Martin F-35 development program has met or exceeded the revised flight-test schedule that was written following a technical baseline restructuring (TBR) last August, according to Lockheed Martin officials. But some significant technical issues remain, and affordability continues to be a key concern for the new-gener-ation combat aircraft.

The Pentagon is expected to make further adjustments to the F-35 development and produc-tion plan shortly. Since around this time last year:

• the fourth low-rate initial production batch was contracted, comprising 31 aircraft costing from $127 million to $158 million each, depending on version;

• Israel confirmed that it would receive 19 F-35As worth $2.75 billion;

• after a defense review, the UK switched its order from F-35B STOVL versions to

F-35C carrier landing versions;• the Pentagon ordered a fur-

ther stretchout in production, added 13 months and $4.6 bil-lion to the development phase, and put the F-35B STOVL ver-sion on a “two-year probation.” Lockheed Martin and Pratt & Whitney admitted four F-35B development problems, but described solutions for each one;

• the new head of the F-35 Joint Program Office (JPO) said the projected costs to produce and sustain the F-35 were “simply unacceptable.” He also said that initial operating capability cannot be achieved in 2016, as planned;

• night-vision problems with the Israeli-designed helmet emerged. The F-35 has no head-up display (HUD), so this helmet is the pilot’s primary flight display;

• work on the alternative F136 engine stopped when Congressional funding lapsed, although the GE/Rolls-Royce team pledged to continue the

program on its own dollar;• the last four of 13 develop-

ment aircraft made their first flights, and the first two F-35A production aircraft (AF6 and AF7) were delivered;

• static testing was com-pleted five months ahead of schedule with no failures (but a bulkhead on the F-35B fatigue test article cracked).

In a recent briefing, Steve O’Bryan, Lockheed Martin vice president F-35 customer engagement, talked up prog-ress. “We’re seeing very reliable flight-test airplanes. We are 20 percent ahead of the TBR on flight tests, and 30 percent ahead on test points,” he said.

The development fleet has already flown more than 350 times this year, and more than 800 times in total. Another 500-plus test flights are scheduled this calendar year. (O’Bryan did not mention the in-flight gener-ator failure last March, which was attributed to excess lubri-cation, but did not materially affect flight-test progress).

“Software stability is good compared to legacy platforms,” O’Bryan said. The Block 1 soft-ware, which provides an initial training capability, is now fly-ing on the next two production F-35As (AF8 and AF9). They are due for delivery to Eglin AFB, the F-35 training base, shortly. The pace of mission sys-tem software development will be accelerated by the addition of another test line manned by 190 people this summer, as man-dated by the TBR.

The Block 2 software is now being loaded into the CATbird flying test bed. This adds about one million lines of code (LOC) to the six million already writ-ten for Blocks 0.5 and 1. Block 2 provides the F-35 with net-working capability and there-fore “an initial war-fighting capability.” It will be on the low-rate initial production (LRIP) Lot 3 and 4 jets.

Eventually, another two mil-lion LOC must be written and tested for the definitive Block

3 with full data fusion, which should be flying by 2015 in time for initial operational test and evaluation the following year. To speed the process, the TBR re-allocated three of the early LRIP jets to mission sys-tems software development (and another three to other develop-ment tasks).

The first flight tests of the F-35’s low observability have pro-duced “very, very good results,” according to JPO chief vice admi-ral David Venlet. Development aircraft AF3 flew against radars and signature measurement devices on the Nevada Test Range and validated the results previ-ously achieved in ground tests.

Now the challenge is to replicate the same degree of

stealth on each aircraft off the production line. And, for sure, the first two production aircraft–AF6 and AF7–did recently pass the stealth test in the anechoic chamber and in pole testing.

The F-35 pilot’s helmet is sup-plied by Vision Systems Interna-tional (VSI), a U.S.-based joint venture between Rockwell Col-lins and Elbit Systems. O’Bryan said it is flying successfully in daytime flight, although there have been reports of jitter in the projected symbology.

In addition, the challenge of providing night vision by importing medium-wave infra-red imagery (MWIR) from the aircraft’s distributed aper-ture system has proved difficult


Two conventional takeoff and landing (CTOL) F-35A versions for the U.S. Air Force fly in formation. The first two production aircraft are now at Edwards Air Force Base, California, and two more will be delivered to Eglin AFB, Florida, shortly.

The F-35B short-takeoff and vertical landing (STOVL) version is in some technical trouble. Lockheed Martin says fixes are in hand, but weight concerns persist. The U.S. Marine Corps and Italy are still counting on the F-35B, but the UK switched to the F-35C version last year.

What Will the F-35 Cost?

After the preliminary design review was completed on schedule in April 2003, every subsequent milestone in the F-35 program was missed by at least one year. Yet Lockheed Martin continued to exude optimism, reject-ing criticism that production was being ramped up before development and producibility issues were solved. The company’s credibility having been dented, its predictions that the ultimate unit cost of the first stealthy international fighter jet could still be $60 million (F-35A CTOL version, 2010 dollars) are raising eyebrows –especially when the cost has been contradicted by various U.S. government reports.

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) talks of a “near doubling” in average unit prices since the program began. When the F-35 program breached the Nunn-McCurdy Act 12 months ago, the Pentagon predicted to Congress an average unit production cost of $133 million in current dollars.

But the unit cost of an F-35 will vary greatly depending on sub-type, and whether it is contracted within the low-rate initial production (LRIP) Lots or the supposedly much more efficient multi-year buys (MYBs) that will follow. As things stand, however, the MYBs will not begin until fiscal year 2018, two years later than previously planned. So there will now be 11 LRIP buys.

Lockheed Martin said the ramp-up rate is the key to affordability. It is still planning for a peak production rate of 20 aircraft per month. But as the GAO noted, the F-35 program places unprecedented demands for funding–an average $11 billion per year for the next two decades–on a shrinking defense budget. The implication is that the U.S. will not be able to afford anything like the 2,443 aircraft that it currently plans to buy.

The 30 LRIP Lot 4 jets are the first to be contracted on a fixed-price-in-centive-fee basis. When the separately contracted cost of the F135 engine is added ($15 million for the F-35A CTOL and F-35C CV engine, and $32 mil-lion for the F-35B STOVL engine), the unit cost comes to $126.6 million each for the 11 F-35As, S141.4 million each for the 17 F-35Bs and $157.9 million for the four F-35Cs.

Lockheed Martin will receive another $511 million for the logistics and sustainment of these aircraft, on a cost-reimbursable, not-to-exceed basis. The F-35 Joint Program Office (JPO) said it cannot yet adequately identify and price risk to negotiate fixed-price contracts for support. Further, Lockheed Martin received a contract worth $820 million to prepare for increased produc-tion rates in future years, again on a cost-reimbursable, not-to-exceed basis.

Negotiations on logistics and sustainment packages continue and are a major focus for the JPO this year. The GAO now says “current F-35 life-cycle cost estimates are considerably higher than the legacy aircraft it will replace.”

Last year, the U.S. Navy predicted that total life-cycle costs for the F-35 program would exceed one trillion dollars.

How does Lockheed Martin react to that startling statistic? “That figure is based on all 2,443 planned aircraft for the U.S. flying for 52 years from more than 50 bases, using cost data derived from legacy aircraft in then-year dol-lars,” O’Bryan said.

“The F-35 is subject to more key performance parameters (KPPs) relat-ing to sustainment than any other fighter jet,” he said. “For instance, after 200,000 fleet hours it must be twice as reliable as an F-16 or an F-18.” –C.P.

so far. Therefore, Lockheed Martin has recently issued an RFP for “traditional” night-vision goggles hoping that this unanticipated add-on would require only a minimal modification of the aircraft’s cockpit displays.

An alternative view of F-35 devel-opment progress was offered by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) in its latest audit of the program two months ago. “As of December 2010, about four percent of F-35 capabilities have been completely verified by flight tests, lab results, or both. Only three of the extensive network of 32 ground test labs and simulation models are fully accredited to ensure the fidelity of results,” the GAO reported.

“Engineering changes continue at higher than expected rates...and more changes are expected as test-ing accelerates,” it added. Software development is a moving target, it noted; the total lines of code predicted to be needed for the F-35 is already 40 percent greater than originally anticipated.

What of the troubled F-35B pro-gram? Was U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates being unduly pessimis-tic when he spoke of the possible need to “redesign the aircraft’s structure and propulsion...changes that could add yet more weight and more cost to an air-craft that has little capacity to absorb more of either.”

According to O’Bryan, reliability problems with the STOVL version’s lift-fan actuators and rudder pedals that limited flight test sorties last year have been overcome. A design to strengthen the auxiliary inlet doors so that they can be opened at high speed (250 knots) has passed preliminary design review, and will be flight tested early next year. Driveshaft spacers that solve a thermal expansion problem have already been

fitted to the five development aircraft. The problem of unexpected heating at the wingtip roll-post actuators will be solved by adding extra insulation. Addi-tional cooling air may be supplied to the lift-fan clutch, which has also been over-heating slightly.

A steel patch has been designed to strengthen the F-35B rear fuselage bulkhead, which cracked during ground durability tests. But this adds a bit more weight to an aircraft that may already be uncomfortably close to the maxi-mum for vertical landings with a full weapons load.

The weight that was saved in the big redesign of the F-35 structure in 2005 was driven by the F-35B’s power/weight ratio, but was evidently not enough to address this problem. The contractor and the prime customer (the U.S. Marine Corps) are still discussing what the final margin should be.

Could Pratt & Whitney provide some increased thrust in the F135? Possibly, but this might further raise engine oper-ating temperatures and possibly negate the fixes to the driveshaft, clutch and roll post actuators described above. The F-35B may need all of the two years “pro-bation” that has been directed by the pro-gram office.

A total of 63 aircraft have now been ordered in four LRIP lots. At Fort Worth, a further two final assembly stations are being added this summer, making seven and thus supporting a rate of four aircraft per month. o


The helmet-mounted display (HMD) on the F-35 replaces the head-up display, and is thus essential to the pilot’s situational awareness. Problems in projecting the night-vision scene provided by the aircraft’s sensors onto the HMD may not be overcome, forcing a second-best solution of night-vision goggles.

F-35’s Unit Cost Not the Whole Story

According to some observers, there is unquantifiable value in some of the avionics advances in the Lockheed Martin F-35.

In a presentation at the Mitchell Centre for Airpower Studies last year, Barry Watts, Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessment, said, “If you look at F-117 and B-2 missions, low observabil-

ity doesn’t give you [total] invisibility to air defenses, particularly to radar-guided SAMs.

“Those routes [to the target], relative to the defenses that we were aware of, had to be care-fully planned prior to the mission,” Watts con-tinued. “This airplane’s going to be able to do that in real time [thanks to] the huge amount of computational power that’s available.”

In another presentation given at the same event, Lt. Gen. David Deptula, former U.S. Air Force Deputy Chief of Staff, A-2, stated, “With the ability to rapidly collect, analyze, trans-mit, display and share decision-quality infor-mation across a wide battlespace rapidly...we

create...a value that becomes more important than individual unit cost. “The F-35 can take a SAR [synthetic aperture radar] map down to a very fine degree, add that SAR

image to its ground moving target indicator and display the difference between fixed and moving, land or maritime,” said Deptula. –C.P.

According to some commentators, even if the F-35 costs more than expected, the much-expanded avionics capabilities are worth the money. This slide compares the synthetic aperture radar-mapping mode, offered by the aircraft’s Northrop Grumman APG-81 radar, with legacy systems.

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747-8 production line returns to ‘balance’ by Gregory Polek

The so-called “pause” or “rebalance” of the Boeing 747-8 production line officially ended on June 7 as the company pre-pared to bring both new versions of its venerable jumbo jet–the Freighter and the Intercontinen-tal–to Paris for this year’s salon.

Although it never stopped work on the line, Boeing insti-tuted the “rebalancing” to pre-pare for an eventual rate increase from one-and-a-half airplanes to two per month, starting this Sep-tember or October with “on the job training.” According to Eliz-abeth Lund, 747-8 vice president and general manager, the actual rate break will happen in Decem-ber, and the first delivery at the new rate will occur next May.

“We called it a rebalance–a pause–and there’s reason we called it a rebalance,” said Lund. “I think some people have asked, ‘Is it a shutdown?’ A shutdown has a connotation that we’ve had to shut down the line because we don’t have enough parts and things, and that’s absolutely not where we’re at right now.

“This is an established supply chain; it’s really the traditional 747 supply chain, and the sup-ply chain is healthy. And we’ve just taken this chance to really work through all of our engi-neering issues, get them all back in sequence, get in position so we can go into rate break healthy.”

Although Boeing said it did not expect the measure to affect the schedule for first delivery of the 747-8F Freighter to Cargolux when it announced the pause in line movement in early May, Lund told reporters during an early June briefing in Everett, Washington, that first delivery would happen some time this summer.

The program has now

produced twenty-one 747-8s, five of which participated in Freighter flight testing and two of which have flown tests for the certification of the Inter-continental (the 787-8 passen-ger version), due by the end of the year. By June 2 Boeing had finished some 87 percent of the test items needed for certifica-tion, said Lund, and the first test airplane had finished all its flight test duties. With four airplanes remaining in the Freighter flight-test program, Boeing has “retired” all of its high-risk test-ing, she added.

Earlier this month, Freighter airplane number-one needed to accomplish about a week-and-a-half of stability and control testing; airplane number-two was finishing propulsion certi-fication testing; airplane num-ber-three performed what Lund called some miscellaneous test-ing and the Freighter program’s last airplane, airplane number-five, began flying functionality and reliability testing on June 1.

Meanwhile, the two flight-test articles used to test the 747-8 Intercontinental had already fin-ished some 25 percent of their required flying since the first example took to the air in March and the second in April.

The first airplane has com-pleted the first phase of the sta-bility and control program, during which Boeing gains an understanding of its handling and performance characteris-tics and runs through “tuning cycles” for software programs related to items such as autoland and autoflight. The second Inter-continental, a Lufthansa aircraft equipped with a full interior, has begun testing changes made to the environmental control system

(ECS) to accommodate the new, larger interior, said Lund.

“We also just finished our NAMS [nautical air mileage sur-vey] testing for the Interconti-nental,” she said. “And we are understanding exactly what the fuel performance and fuel burn will be on the aircraft.”

An early problem involved buffeting at flaps setting 30 on the Freighter, forcing an adjust-ment to the detents to make them identical to those on the Intercontinental.

Another problem centered on a 2.3-hertz vibration at the tip of the wing. Although Lund said the one-inch of move-ment didn’t amount to a safety issue, test pilots could feel it and it didn’t dampen itself on its own, technically signaling flut-ter. Boeing solved that problem with an outboard aileron modal suppression system dampens pitch, counteracting the oscilla-tion in the wing tips and effec-tively removing the vibration.

“So the big [problems] that you’ve been hearing us talk about that delayed the program are behind us,” said Lund, who added that Boeing has applied all the fixes to the Intercontinen-tal as well.

Featuring new General Elec-tric GENx-2B engines, a rede-signed wing, new alloys in the fuselage and a new interior in the Intercontinental that can hold 51 more passengers and 26 percent more cargo in the lower

lobe than the 747-400 can carry, the 747-8 also uses a completely new flight management com-puter that Lund admitted “abso-lutely” presented “challenges.

“What’s made this a difficult development program is just the complexity of the FMC [flight management computer] and the brand-new architecture,” said Lund. Although Honeywell’s

FMC will not immediately deliver all the functionality its designers had initially planned, it will do everything the com-puter on the 747-400 can do, and more, she insisted. In fact, by the time the Intercontinental enters service, Boeing expects the FMC to prove itself even more capa-ble after some further software development. o

Now having accumulated some 300 hours of flight testing, the 747-8I has traveled along a far smoother track toward certification than its freighter

sibling, although engineering changes associated with the Intercontinental had contributed to a monthlong production line “rebalancing.”

Left to right, Boeing Company CEO Jim McNerney, 747 chief test pilot Mark Feuerstein, Boeing Business Jets president Steve Taylor, 747-8 program manager Elizabeth Lund, Boeing Commercial Airplanes CEO James Albaugh and BCA v-p and general manager of airplane programs Pat Shanahan celebrate the arrival of the 747-8I here in Paris.

India selects Pilatus PC-7 for urgent trainer needs by David Donald

India has selected the Pilatus PC-7 Mk II to answer its require-ment for a basic trainer. The pro-curement of the new aircraft was hastened by the grounding of the piston-powered HAL HPT-32 Deepak fleet in July 2009, fol-lowing 17 crashes. While waiting for the new trainer to enter ser-vice, India’s pilots have begun their instruction in the jet-pow-ered HAL Kiran Mk II or BAE Systems Hawk advanced trainers.

Seven companies responded to India’s urgent request for information, including Aer-macchi (M311) and Embraer (Super Tucano). Five were invited to trials and were issued with a request for proposals.

Last October, the Pilatus PC-7 Mk II, EADS PZL-130 Orlik TC-II, Grob G-120TP, Hawker Beechcraft T-6C and Korean Aerospace Industries KT-1B were put through their paces in a five-day evaluation at Jamnagar air base, with trials being conducted by test pilots and Indian Air Force instructors.

Following the evaluations a shortlist of the PC-7, T-6 and

KT-1 was reportedly drawn up, after which acquisition pro-posals were examined, lead-ing to the selection of Pilatus, announced last week, as report-edly the lowest bidder. The deal is in the final stages of negotia-tion and a contract is expected to be signed soon.

The initial requirement cov-ers 75 aircraft, procured off the shelf as dictated by the pro-gram’s urgency. However, the vast training requirement of the IAF could lead to up to 200 being acquired. The first air-craft are expected to be delivered within six months of the con-tract award.

The Indian selection repre-sents potentially the biggest sin-gle deal in Switzerland-based Pilatus’s history, and is believed to be worth about $1 billion. The company is thought to have ini-tially offered proposals based on all three of its turboprop trainer designs: PC-7 Mk II, PC-9 and PC-21. The selection is the PC-7 Mk II’s second success of the year, Botswana having ordered five in April to replace its first-generation PC-7s. o

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USAF extends life of U-2 as Global Hawk fails OT&Eby Chris Pocock

The U.S. Air Force is adding new sen-sors to the Lockheed Martin U-2 Dragon Lady and postponing retirement of the veteran spyplane after the Northrop Grumman Global Hawk UAV failed an operational test and evaluation (OT&E). Meanwhile, Northrop Grumman has mounted a stout defense of its high-alti-tude reconnaissance drone, and Penta-gon acquisition czar Ashton Carter said the Global Hawk is still “essential to national security.”

The planned out-of-service-date for the U-2 has been changed from Fiscal Year 2013 to FY 2016, therefore justify-ing some new investment. It still flies daily reconnaissance missions from bases in the Mediterranean, the Gulf and Korea.

The BAE Systems spectral infrared remote imaging transit testbed (SPIR-ITT) sensor will be added to the U-2 by mid-2012. This hyperspectral system can detect, classify and identify camouflaged and concealed targets, according to BAE Systems. It was originally designed for the U-2 and Global Hawk, but to date has instead found limited application on the Raytheon shared reconnaissance pod (Sharp) for U.S. Navy F/A-18s, C-130s and two testbed aircraft.

26-strong U-2S FleetThe U-2 can already carry the seven-

band multispectral SYERS-2A imaging system, and an additional two of these long-range oblique sensors have been ordered from Goodrich, making eight available for the 26-strong fleet of oper-ational U-2S models. The USAF is also buying an additional four extended tether pods (ETPs, also known as Spur pods) from L-3 Communications, making 12. This pod is mounted on top of the U-2 fuselage, and provides a wideband satel-lite datalink of the aircraft’s imaging and signals intelligence payloads.

In his report released last month, the Pentagon’s director of OT&E declared that the Global Hawk “is not opera-tionally effective for conducting near-continuous, persistent ISR [intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance].”

During the 41-day evaluation last year, four Block 30 Global Hawks were evalu-ated in 19 missions over North America that took off from Beale and Edwards Air Force Bases. Because of low air-vehicle reliability,

exacerbated by shortages of spare parts, the Global Hawk could “provide only about 40 percent of requested coverage when used at planned peacetime or non-crisis opera-tional tempos,” the report concluded.

At a media briefing today at the Paris Air Show, Ed Walby, Northrop Grumman business development direc-tor, will try to put the OT&E report in context. Some of the faults were already identified and fixes were in hand, when the evaluation began, he told AIN last week. These included an unreliable oil pump on the main electrical generator. The system has been underfunded for spare parts, he added. Further, airspace integration issues that contributed to the poor rating affect all unmanned aircraft systems, and won’t be solved

“until FAA regulations or policies are changed,” he said.

And since the evaluation, Walby con-tinued, Global Hawks deployed to the European and Pacific theaters had flown 114 “real-world” missions in 45 days sup-porting NATO operations over Libya and monitoring the Japanese nuclear reactor failure. “The average mission effectiveness rate was 92 percent,” he noted. But some of the issues identified by the evaluation are puzzling, given that Global Hawks from low-rate initial production have already been deployed for most of the past decade.

Global Hawk MiscuesAmong other items, the report identi-

fied “incomplete maintenance technical data, inadequate training and an inef-fective integrated diagnostic system.” It also tagged the lack of anti-icing sys-tems, which could restrict operations from cold locations, or during climb and descent. And it stated that it still takes over 100 hours to fully program a mis-sion plan for a new operating area, plus an optional four weeks “to verify flight

plan accuracy and preclude program-ming errors that could result in the loss of the air vehicle.”

Regarding sensors, the report noted that two modes of the UAV’s enhanced imagery sensor suite (EISS) supplied by Raytheon do not meet operational requirements: wide area search and ground moving target indication (GMTI). Moreover, although the high-resolution spot modes of the EISS got good marks, they “cannot provide target-quality coor-dinates,” according to the report.

Deficiencies identified with the other key sensor are more understandable. Only one Block 30 Global Hawk had been equipped with Northrop Grumman’s own airborne signals intelligence payload (ASIP) by the time of the evaluation. The company expressed confidence that three forthcoming software releases will resolve most of the issues, and noted that ASIP has already been “proven with over 300 opera-tional missions on another platform.”

Ironically, that platform is the U-2, for which an additional two ASIP sensors are being ordered, making five. o


biofuel blend, but burning it in all four engines on a nonstop flight from Seattle to Paris. Of course, neither of these two can trump the solar-powered Solar Impulse aircraft also debuting here in Le Bourget–although this isn’t even close to being ready for an intercontinental hop, having taken 16 hours to arrive here from Brussels.

According to James Rekoske, v-p and general manager of renewable energy and chemicals for Honeywell UOP, which has led the two-and-a-half-year biofuel development program, the flight accom-plished two goals. First, it demonstrates the willingness of the aviation industry to participate in the search for more envi-ronmentally friendly fuel sources, and second, it advances approval by the U.S. FAA of the 50/50 Green Jet Fuel blend, which Honeywell expects to receive in mid-July. American Society of Testing Materials (ASTM) approval was granted early this month.

The fuel is produced for UOP under license by a Houston, Texas refinery. It was developed under a grant from the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Proj-ects Agency (DARPA) and is based on hydro-processing technology commonly used in today’s refineries to produce transportation fuels.

The process works by adding hydro-gen to remove oxygen from natural

plant oils. It is further refined to pro-duce a bio-synthetic kerosene, which is then blended with standard jet fuel for use in flight.

A half-dozen sources–ranging from algae to the jatropha plant common Brazil–are typically employed in producing biofu-els. UOP used the camelina plant–a hardy, inedible species with high oil content–to create Green Jet Fuel, but according to Rekoske, the technology is feedstock-flex-ible, meaning it can work with any natural oil. Camelina is indigenous to both North American and Europe and provides up to 150 gallons of oil per acre.

“It will be four or five years before Green Jet Fuel will be available on a com-mercial scale at parity with jet fuel,” said Rekoske. And even then, the use of a pure, unblended biofuel is unlikely in the fore-seeable future. It may be 30 years before 50/50 blend is in common use across the aviation industry worldwide.

As for sustainable biofuel blends becoming the main aviation fuel of the future, Honeywell sees it as unlikely. “The larger issues of economics and sustainability will be the predominate forces surrounding the overall future of biofuels and their penetration into the avi-ation market,” according to Phoenix, Ari-zona-based Honeywell Aerospace. “We believe there is no single magic bullet.”

There are other hurdles as well. Approximately 85 to 90 percent of the cost of producing any transportation biofuel

is determined by the cost of the feed-stock. The actual conversion makes up the remaining 10 to 15 percent. The cost of conversion of biofuel is competitive with petroleum-based technology, so that the cost of the feedstock is the determin-ing factor. Today, the cost of the resources remains higher than the cost of crude oil, so there is still technological development needed to drive down the cost of harvest-ing, gathering and processing.

“As production increases and more fuel is available, we believe that Green Jet Fuel will be cost competitive,” said Reko-ske. In the long term, he expects the price of biofuels to run about 10 to 15 cents more per gallon than jet-A, assuming a global price for petroleum crude of about $100 a gallon.

Not only do sustainable biofuels reduce carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, when compared with petroleum-based Jet-A, they also emit less particulate matter and less than one part per million of sulfur.

Despite its work in the initial devel-opment of its Green Jet Fuel, Honeywell says it does not plan to go into the biofuel business, but will license the process and allow others to continue further develop-ment and distribution. o

Honeywell goes greenuContinued from page 1

The U.S. Air Force fleets of U-2S, above, and Global Hawk UAV, right, high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft are both operated by the 9th Reconnaissance Wing and home-based at Beale AFB, California.

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CFM promises orders blitz in A320neo battle with Prattby Julian Moxon

Major orders for the new CFM Inter-national Leap-X turbofan engine are due to be announced during the first four days of the Paris show, intensifying the battle with Pratt & Whitney to power the Air-bus A320neo. “We’re set for this to be one of our best shows ever,” said the company.

Pratt & Whitney won all but one of the early engine competitions with its PW1100G geared turbofan, securing firm orders for 480 engines from Lufthansa, ILFC and IndiGo. Just before the show opened, however, CFM launched the Leap-X orderbook with a deal for 60 engines from Virgin America for its 30 A320neos. The airline was an existing CFM customer, but is understood to have selected the Leap-X only after the engine manufacturer met tough performance guarantees.

With Airbus predicting that A320neo orders would top 500 aircraft by the end of the show and 1,000 by the end of the year, the engine competition is being par-ticularly hard-fought.

Speaking just before the show began, CFM vice president Chaker Chahrour attacked Pratt & Whitney for spreading “myths and propaganda” about the Leap-X that claimed it would run hotter than the PW1100G because its direct-drive fan system would require higher turbine entry temperatures. “We absolutely dis-pute this,” he told AIN. “The Leap X-1A will run at exactly the same temperature as today’s CFM56, which remains on-wing for 40,000 hours, the equivalent to around ten years of operations.”

Olivier Savin, also CFM v-p, admitted that the recent critical decision to increase the fan diameter of the Leap engine by two inches, to 78 inches (to meet Airbus’s demand for an equivalent fuel burn to the PW1100G), has driven changes to the rest of the engine. “But we weren’t yet at design freeze,” he said. “This is part of a normal design process. The fan is now at its optimum diameter.”

Although the change has added some weight to the Leap engine, the bigger fan increases bypass ratio from 10:1 to 11:1, bringing a corresponding 2 percent reduc-tion in fuel burn. Both engines now offer a 15-percent improvement in fuel burn over existing A320 powerplants, enabling Air-bus to offer them with fuel-burn parity.

“Customers are putting reliability at entry into service as their highest pri-ority,” said Savin. He insisted the Leap-X, although a new engine, benefits from mature technologies developed in the GE90 and GEnx programs. “We’ll also have 800 million hours of highly reliable CFM experience by service entry,” he said.

On the question of what Boeing will do to compete with the A320neo, Chah-rour said CFM is in constant discus-sions with the airframer. “We have a new engine if they want to go with a new

aircraft, and we can re-engine the exist-ing 737. Boeing knows it will eventually have to come out with a new aircraft, probably by 2019. We want to do what-ever is right for them.”

If Boeing elects to re-engine the 737, CFM could either offer a smaller version

of the Leap-X or apply Leap-X tech-nology to the existing CFM56-7BE, the latest development of the engine now powering the 737, due for entry into ser-vice this month.

Despite the global recession, CFM president and CEO Jean-Paul Ebanga predicted that the global single-aisle fleet will double by 2030, to 23,550 air-craft, equivalent to $400 billion worth of engine business. The manufacturer currently holds a backlog of around 5,600 engines and this year has sold 680 engines worth $6.8 billion.

Ebanga said that even in a year of

“headwinds” caused by the rise in oil prices, the tsunami in Japan and Mid-dle East unrest, demand remains strong. “The next 20 years look very positive,” he added.

The Leap-X program is ahead of sched-ule with testing of the second development core having begun in May, a month ear-lier than scheduled. “So far we’ve had out-standing results,” Savin said.

Testing of the third and final versions is planned to begin in early 2013, with the first engine test later in the year. Certifi-cation is set for 2015 and service entry a year later. o


Honeywell and Safran link on electrically powered taxiing

Airline fuel savings of 4 percent and quieter, cleaner airports are predicted for an electrically powered “green” taxiing system for airplanes being developed by Safran and Honeywell. The two companies signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on Sunday to form a joint-venture company to develop the system.

In operation, electric motors mounted on each of the main landing gear bogies would power the wheels from the ramp to a point near to the runway, eliminat-ing the need to taxi with the main aircraft engines at idle, running inefficiently and often for a considerable time.

Power for the electric motors would come from the aircraft’s existing auxiliary power unit, which is also a jet-fuel-burn-ing turbine engine. But APUs are much smaller than the main aircraft engines and therefore burn much less fuel. Nev-ertheless, while the proposed system is described as “electric” and “green,” it will

not be completely either one.Pilots would operate the system using

cockpit controls, which have not yet been defined. “We’re working with the manu-facturers on cockpit philosophy,” said a Honeywell spokesman. “Pilots will feel no difference in the way the aircraft behaves.”

Short-haul airlines would reap the maximum benefit, as taxiing accounts for a larger proportion of the total engine running time, consuming up to five mil-lion tons of fuel a year. While single-aisle airliners, such as the A320neo, would be the first application, the taxi sys-tem would eventually be available for all major airliner types.

The two companies say the MOU will enable them to get it to market as rapidly as possible. Initial development began in January, and prototypes will be fitted to an Airbus A320 testbed by mid-2013, with service entry set for 2016.

The taxi system (which has yet to be

named) will be available for both new and retrofit aircraft, but Honeywell and Safran were unable to confirm what likely costs would be, or how long it would take to achieve payback on the initial invest-ment. They said only that it would save airlines “several hundred thousand dol-lars a year per aircraft.”

Other advantages of the system include no requirement for tow trucks, reducing time, less use of brakes during taxing, noise and pollution reduction at the ramp, improved safety for ground per-sonnel and reduced ingestion of foreign objects while taxiing.

Both companies told AIN they think the deal will pave the way for further joint enterprises. “We’ve found we get on really well together,” said Safran chairman and CEO Jean-Paul Hertemann. The compa-nies are perfectly matched for the enterprise, he said, explaining that Honeywell brings its APU experience and Safran its know-how on landing gear, wheels and brakes.

Together the “companies will bring their expertise in electric power, mechan-ical systems and system integration, as well as their combined credibility for innovation,” Hertemann added. –J.M.

follow me, little buddyone of the Patrouille de france Alpha Jets flies in trail with the

Airbus A400m cargo lifter over lebourget. the french aerobatic team will perform in the daily aerial demonstration. the A400m also was scheduled

to fly at the show, but it has been grounded by an engine problem.

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