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2017-08-17

Innovation, Celebration And Bursting Order Books: Paris 2017

The 52nd International Paris Air Show took place at the Le Bourget Parc des Expositions from June 19 to 25, gathering global players and the latest technological innovations.

The first four days were reserved for trade visitors, followed by three days for the general public.

Traditional plane makers, space adventurers, software developers, and futuristic concepts were all battling for attention. The biennial Paris Air Show is one of the biggest events on the calendar of aviation events.

The Paris show, which alternates with a sister show in the UK’s Farnborough, is one of the largest aviation and defence industry events on the planet. The event is a must for aircraft-makers and other industry firms wishing to show off their latest planes and products.

French President Emmanuel Macron opened the Paris Air Show from the skies, landing at Le Bourget in an Airbus A400-M military transporter.

There were 290 official delegations from 98 countries, and seven international organisations. Bourget saw 160 official defence delegations from 86 countries and from NATO, the UN, OCCAR and the EU. Some 16 foreign ministers, 40 Chiefs of Staff, 20 deputy ministers or Secretaries of State graced the event.

Business deals worth US$150 billion were announced during the event, including 897 orders and purchasing commitments for a catalogue value of US$115 billion, for a total of 934 commercial aircraft.

This year’s event saw 2381 exhibitors and 322 000 visitors: 142 000 trade visitors and 180 000 general public.

Displays and attractions

The impressive demonstration flights of Dassault Aviation’s Falcon 8X by a French Air Force pilot, presentations of the A380 by Patrouille de France , the aerobatic demonstration team, the Airbus A350-1000 and A400M, and other aircraft all delighted visitors.

The Careers Plane exhibition, now amalgamated with GIFAS’ Job-Training Forum, enabled 55,000 young visitors to discover forty or so aeronautics and space sector careers through French aerospace group employees.

Paris Air Lab, a new attraction, puts the spotlight on research and innovation efforts of the major groups and institutions such as start-ups, attracted 50,000 visitors.

Pavilions

There were 27 national pavilions, and 140 static and flying display aircrafts, including the Airbus A321neo and A350-1000, Boeing B787-10 and B737 Max9, Kawasaki P1 maritime patrol aircraft, Mitsubishi MRJ90 and Lockheed Martin F-35 fighter plane at Le Bourget for the first time.

One of the show’s top sights remains aircraft performance flights, meant to highlight a plane’s capabilities. There are few things like seeing a giant Airbus A380 superjumbo being put through its paces as a crowd of industry insiders and aviation enthusiasts looks on from below.

Boeing vs Airbus

Boeing unveiled plans for a newer and bigger version of its 737 Max 10 aircraft as it intensifies its battle with Airbus in the market for narrow-body passenger jets.

Airbus clinched deals for its single-aisle A320neo planes, in its first big move at the Paris Air Show, where the European plane maker is competing with Boeing for orders amid burgeoning competition from China.

The A320neo, designed to use less fuel than the A320, have proven popular and are competing with Boeing’s 737 Max series.

US on Europe’s side

When the stealthy hi-tech F-35 fighter jet teared through Paris skies on its first ever acrobatic displays, the jet was also sending a message: “NATO allies, the US is always on your side.”

Thales and Inmarsat announced a successful series of trials demonstrating the System 21 satellite communications (SATCOM) ground segment.

System 21 includes a secure and reconfigurable multiple waveform military modem, which is in use with several military SATCOM programmes. The GX constellation comprises four Ka-band satellites with a combination of fixed narrow spot beams and steerable beams, which can be redirected in real time to provide additional capacity.

Tests, which took place in May 2017, used the steerable GX beams and achieved data rates of over 34 Mbit/s between two Thales terminals, a 1.5 m maritime SURFSAT-L, and a 0.75 m airborne LISA.

Koreans join training initiative

South Korea’s LIG Nex1 has signed an agreement with the Netherlands Aerospace Centre (NLR) to co-develop systems for military and commercial aircraft. LIG Nex1 signed an MOU at the show, which will initially focus on the joint development of an embedded training system for fighter aircraft pilots.

The two companies will look to develop a simulation-based training system for a range of fighter aircraft platforms. Kwon Hee-won, LIG Nex1 CEO said the company “will [look to] contribute to local fighter jet development projects and also find new business opportunities abroad.”

Vive le deals

Boeing enjoyed a flurry of orders thanks to the launch of its 737 MAX 10, with 361 orders and commitments booked. Add in a good 787 showing, and Boeing beat Airbus, booking 820 orders and commitments. Excluding the 208 737 MAX 10 conversions and the unidentified orders that transitioned to identified, Boeing puts its incremental orders and commitments at 571 aircraft.

Embraer booked 51 orders and commitments, the majority for its E2 jets, not legacy E jets. This bodes well for the E2, but means it still needs more orders for its older E jets to bridge the gap to the new E2.

Bombardier booked 60 Q400s - 50 from Indian carrier SpiceJet - but walked away with no firm C Series orders, noting that Ilyushin Finance, a Russian lessor, and an undisclosed airline signed a framework agreement to lease six CS300s.

MBDA’s new ground-based air defence (GBAD) command and control (C2) system, Network-Centric Engagement Solutions (NCES), was revealed at the event. The system provides a flexible network of sensors, effectors, and fire control centres (FCC) operating on a single network. It is scalable from battery to national level, and can interface with an air operations centre (AOC) providing upper-level C2.

Russia’s United Aircraft Corporation (UAC) is completing flight trials of its latest MiG-35 ‘Fulcrum-F’ combat aircraft soon, ahead of the launch of serial production in 2018. Speaking at the show, general director of MiG, Ilia Tarasenko, said the launch of serial production in 2018 will mark the adoption of the latest-variant Fulcrum by the Russian defence ministry.

A contract for the MiG-35 will be included in the next State Armament Program to be implemented in 2018. Russian Aerospace is planning to gradually replace all the current MiG-29 aircraft with the MiG-35 model.

Airbus Defense and Space (DS) is set to deliver its first armed intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) C295 aircraft to an undisclosed customer in September. The modified aircraft features a forward-looking infrared (FLIR) under the nose, a multimode search radar with maritime and ground surveillance modes, a palletised version of Airbus DS’ newest Fully Integrated Tactical System (FITS), (featuring additional screens for improved situation awareness), and a pair of 12.7mm manually operated heavy machine guns firing through the rear parachuting doors.

Bulgaria’s Light Armed Surveillance Aircraft (LASA) Engineering showcased its T-Bird intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) counter-insurgency (COIN) aircraft for the first time at Paris.

Based on the Thrush 510G agricultural aircraft airframe, the T-Bird is fitted with an ISR sensor suite developed and integrated by Airborne Technologies of Austria. The aircraft is a twin-seater with the pilot sitting in the front and a sensor operator sitting in the rear. The aircraft on display featured 3D printed replicas of 57 mm rocket launchers and twin 23 mm cannon pods.

Elbit revealed its SkEye wide-area persistent surveillance (WAPS) system, already in service with Brazil on a Hermes 900 unmanned air vehicle. SkEye is similar in concept to the US ‘Gorgon Stare’ payload and uses multiple visual and infrared detectors to provide a complete high-resolution ‘mosaic’ video picture of some 80 km2 from a platform flying at 25,000-30,000 ft, which can be accessed by up to 10 different users.

Ukraine/Saudi JV revealed

The Antonov An-132D made its international debut at the Paris Air Show, following the aircraft’s first flight in March in Ukraine. The aircraft – developed by Antonov and Saudi Arabia’s Taqnia and King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology (KACST) – has been developed as a modernised, westernised version of the Antonov An-32 ‘Curl’, featuring new Pratt & Whitney PW150 engines, Honeywell avionics, and Dowty R408 propellers.

Dr Alexander Los, Antonov VP and Design Head, said the new design has retained the cross-section and ramp of the original Antonov An-32. In addition to cargo missions, the aircraft can be equipped to carry 75 troops, 46 paratroopers, or 27 wounded patients on stretchers. It has a maximum payload of 9.2 tonnes, with the company trying to position it as an alternative to the Leonardo C-27J Spartan and Airbus C295W.

UK eyes naval exports

The UK government is expecting to see an increase in naval exports in the coming years, as major new projects begin to mature. Stephen Phipson, head of the UK government’s Defence and Security Organisation (DSO) within the Department for International Trade, said that as programmes such as the Type 26 Global Combat Ship being to mature, other countries are looking to join the group of operators. “We see a platform like Type 26 being seven years ahead of the competition like FREMM in terms of design, so as these things mature, we see customer requirements are also aligning.

The second flying prototype of Embraer’s KC-390 tanker-transport aircraft performed daily as part of the show’s flight schedule. Delivery of the first KC-390 for the Brazilian Air Force, which has 28 on order, will take place next year.

Textron Systems unveiled the new Nightwarden tactical unmanned aerial system (TUAS). The Group 3 system has a payload of up to 59kg, and a maximum take-off weight of 340kg.

Textron’s Unmanned Systems SVP and GM, Bill Irby, said the payload capability allows it to carry equipment such as communication relay, sense-and-avoid, electronic attack, signals intelligence, and communications intelligence, with up to 2,000 watts available for powering on-board subsystems.

Leonardo unveiled its M-345 High Efficiency Trainer (HET) jet trainer and M-346FA (Fighter Attack), a light attack version of the M-346 trainer.

The M-345 HET is touted as an affordable jet training aircraft by Leonardo, which has designed to compete with high-end turboprop training aircraft by offering comparable operating costs while providing better performances.

The M-346FA is the latest iteration in what is now billed the “M-346 family concept”, which also comprises the M-346AJT (Advanced Jet Trainer) and the M-346FT (Fighter Trainer).

Emanuele Merlo, VP programme and contract management, M-345, said the Italian Air Force and other undisclosed customers will acquire the M-345 HET.

Merlo said Leonardo sees strong potential for the aircraft in several regions, including Asia-Pacific, and the Philippines in particular, which still flies the S-211, on which the platform is based.

International F-35 programme

After much deliberation of ‘will it, won’t it?’ leading up to the event, Lockheed Martin’s F-35A Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) made its Le Bourget debut. Following the type’s debut at Farnborough Air Show last year, the US Air Force dispatched a pair of its conventional take-off and landing (CTOL)-variant F-35As, though service commitments meant they were flown by industry rather than military pilots.

The United Kingdom is the only Tier 1 partner in the international F-35 programme, so the aircraft’s eventual appearance at Farnborough was always assured. However, France is not a partner.

General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA-ASI) displayed an Advanced Cockpit GCS at Le Bourget. The company also produces a variety of ground control stations and sensor control/image analysis software, offers pilot training and support services, and develops meta-material antennas.

Elbit Systems revealed an innovative wide area persistent surveillance solution - SkEye WAPS. SkEye WAPS persistently observes and records a wider area than ever before and offers systems users the ability to select real-time or back-in-time video footage within the covered area without being limited to a single segment.

Developed to address requirements raised by defence and law enforcement agencies, responding to natural disaster recovery events, terrorism and homeland security threats, SkEye WAPS comprises advanced capabilities in the field of imagery intelligence gathering, providing a complete high-resolution picture and up to 80 square kilometer coverage of the Area of Interest (AOI) to a large number of users.

Check the new tech

France’s Nexter presented its Caesar 6x6 and 8x8. This howitzer, equipped with a Caesar artillery system, is the result of Nexter’s know-how in the artillery field. Currently deployed in Iraq, the Caesar has participated in almost all recent French Army overseas operations. It also equips the land forces of four other countries, including Indonesia, and soon Denmark.

A 155 mm / 52 calibre artillery system mounted on a standard truck, the CAESAR provides exceptional firepower and is easy to move and deploy in the theatre of operations thanks to tactical, operational and strategic mobility: It can drive on difficult terrain or on the road (including very winding roads) and can be transported by train, landing vessel, C-130 or A400M.

Leonardo introduced its new aerial target drone: the Mirach 40 (M-40) unmanned aircraft system (UAS), based on its Mirach 100/5 target drone, which earned a place as the standard threat simulator of international armed forces, including France, Italy, and the UK.

The M-40, a remotely-piloted aerial system (RPAS), supports Armed Forces training by simulating a range of airborne threat targets. Able to convincingly mimic a variety of aircraft and missiles, the target drone can simulate radar, infrared (IR) and visual threats. It enables Armed Forces to ‘shoot down’ the reusable M-40 in realistic scenarios, allowing them to train with and qualify a wide variety of weapon systems.

The 53rd International Paris - Le Bourget Air Show, the world’s biggest aerospace fair, organised by the SIAE, a subsidiary of GIFAS, the French Aerospace Industries Association, will be held from 17–23 June 2019.

Reference Text/Photo:

www.siae.fr

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