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2014-08-01

Record $201bn sales at Farnborough

The Farnborough International Airshow, for years a yardstick for the aerospace industry, has seen orders and commitments reach a staggering US$201bn, beating all previous records set at the event.

Analysts point out that this year’s figure represents an extremely positive note for the sector.

Across the course of the five days, orders and commitments for civil jet engines reached 1,600 units with a total value or US$34.5bn and over 1100 aircraft totalling US$152bn. A further US$14.5 was also achieved in service contracts all reflecting the buoyancy of the aerospace industry internationally and in the UK.

UK Prime Minister David Cameron announced 1.1 bn pounds in spending on defense projects as he officially opened last month’s Farnborough International Airshow.

During his visit to the show, the Prime Minister announced a £1.1bn investment in capabilities for the armed forces and set out the action plan taken by the Defence Growth Partnership of industry and Government. It is part of the long-term economic plan to improve competitiveness, boost the UK defense sector which is vital to economic growth, and make sure our Armed Forces have the best equipment in the world.

Overall, the event has been well received with visitors numbering 100,000 and strong government attendance with the Prime Minister Cameron opening the show and a powerful contingent of other politicians and other government figures including Deputy Prime Minister, Nick Clegg, Vince Cable, Philip Dunne, Michael Fallon and Philip Hammond.

A Meet the Buyer event has proved incredibly successful this year with over 1200 meetings taking place with 30 delegate companies and UK Trade and Industry commercial officers. It as more than doubled in size compared to 2012 with over 300 companies taking part.

An official delegations programme was also well attended with over 77 military delegations in attendance from over 59 countries including 10 delegations from the US. The civil delegations programme has also seen strong participation with senior management from 12 organisations including HAL, Augusta Westland, Italy, Airbus and Sukhoi.

Amanda Stainer, commercial director for show organisers, Farnborough International, said: “We are delighted by the orders and commitments at the show, however, it’s the networking outside of those deals that are just as important. We are very pleased.”

Captor-E radar for Eurofighter Typhoon

Significant news includes a commitment to develop the Captor-E radar for the Eurofighter Typhoon fighter aircraft and the expected announcement to maintain the Royal Air Force’s (RAF) Beechcraft King Air 350-derived Shadow R.1 electronic intelligence (ELINT) and Raytheon Sentinel R.1 Airborne Stand-Off Radar (ASTOR) surveillance aircraft in service until 2018.

Putting an active electronically scanned array radar (AESA) capability on the Typhoon has long been a goal for the UK and the other Eurofighter Typhoon partners, with AESA seen as a key selling point for export orders.

The Captor-E announcement sits with a 300 million pound spending package that also includes new spending on the Future Combat Air System.

The flying display for the airshow celebrated 100 years of aviation featuring aircraft from every decade of the last century. Show highlights included the AV-8B Harrier, the Red Arrows and the regular favourite the Airbus A380.

Commercial planes, advanced defense capabilities

Boeing marked 40 years as an exhibitor at the Farnborough event by highlighting its innovative, efficient commercial airplanes and its advanced defense capabilities. Boeing reported orders for 201 aircraft worth $40.2bn at the show.

Boeing announced a new 200-seat 737 MAX 8 option that will give airlines up to 11 more seats of revenue. This latest addition to Boeing’s comprehensive product and services line-up will deliver 20 per cent fuel-consumption savings compared to today’s next-generation 737.

Boeing also announced new details about the interior of the 777X. The new model will build on the award-winning interior of today’s 777 and apply 787 Dreamliner cabin innovations: higher cabin humidity, windows more than 15 percent larger and a cabin that is 40.6 cm wider than the competition, allowing airlines a variety of economy class seat widths.

Boeing also unveiled its new Maritime Surveillance Aircraft. The aircraft, based on a Bombardier Challenger 605 business jet, will provide customers with maritime and overland surveillance, anti-piracy, coastal security and search-and-rescue capabilities.

Boeing signed a memorandum of collaboration with Paramount Group to jointly develop defence and security opportunities in key international markets. Paramount Group is Africa’s largest privately-ownedned defense and aerospace business.

Boeing products in the air at the show included the new 787-9 Dreamliner, the P-8A Poseidon - a military derivative of the company’s Next-Generation 737-800 - and the multi-role F/A-18E/F Super Hornet strike fighter.

The first day of FIA 2014 saw the launch of the Airbus A330-800neo and the A330-900neo as well as the reveal of the Trent 7000 which will be the exclusive engine on the A330neo.

Airbus reported total orders for 496 aircraft worth a combined $75.3 billion at Farnborough. Airbus signed firm orders for a total of 358 aircraft and memoranda of understanding for a further 138. As the last deal of the show, Russian carrier Transaero signed up for a total of 20 Airbus A330s. Among the aircraft are 12 A330neos. Together with an order for 50 A330neos from Air Asia X and lessors including Air Lease Corp., Avolon and CIT, Airbus managed to secure orders and commitments for 121 A330neos planned to enter service at the end of 2017.

“This was the best Farnborough Air Show in Airbus history,” Airbus CEO Fabrice Bregier said.

Big spending in regional segment

There was some serious spending in the regional aircraft segment between Embraer and Bombardier. Embraer finished ahead of Bombardier, with orders and commitments for 156 aircraft worth $7.11 billion, compared to 68 aircraft worth $5.81 billion for Bombardier. Bombardier’s next generation CSeries family of aircraft is garnering significant interest internationally. Chinese regional carrier Zheijian Loong Airlines placed a $1.28 billion order for 20 CS100s and U.K.-based aircraft lessor Falko Regional placed an order for 24 CS100s.

Raytheon Company will serve as weapons integrator for Italian aircraft manufacturer Alenia Aermacchi, providing 31 months of engineering services support for integration of MK 54 and MK 46 torpedoes onto the Alenia Aermacchi ATR-72-600ASW maritime patrol aircraft.

Raytheon received a $5.7 million contract to support Alenia Aermacchi’s test, integration and qualification for the external carriage and tactical employment of the lightweight torpedoes. Alenia Aermacchi is the prime contractor on the Meltem III contract under which it is obligated to provide ATR-72-600ASW aircraft to the Turkish Navy.

The MK 54 and MK 46 can be deployed from a surface ship, helicopter or fixed wing aircraft to track, classify and attack underwater targets. The ATR-72-600ASW is designed for patrolling, rescue, sea and coastline protection from security and environmental threats.

BAE-Rockwell wins 777X deal

Boeing selected a BAE Systems-led team to provide the fly-by-wire (FBW) flight control system for the 777X, marking a new phase of system and supplier decisions for its ultra-long range, larger capacity 777 derivative family.

BAE, together with Rockwell Collins, already provides the primary flight-control electronics and autoland system on the current 777, but will take their role to a new level to control the more complex flight surfaces of the 777X. BAE will develop the integrated flight-control electronics and air-data function, which will manage the overall FBW system. Rockwell will develop the flight control module which forms part of the IFCE.

Textron-Scorpion flies in

The Scorpion fighter jet, which was on display at Farnborough, has been built by US firm Textron Air Land. Designed from the outset as a platform that can accommodate a number of ISR sensor and weapon options, the Scorpion has a straight-wing, twin-tail composite airframe with a tandem cockpit. Its twin Honeywell TF731 powerplants produce about 4,000lb of thrust each, to give the aircraft a maximum speed of about 450kts.

Ccrucially, however, the Scorpion will cost less than US$20 million to procure and around US$3,000 per hour to operate, according to Textron.

Emphasising the Scorpion’s reliability, Textron AirLand president Bill Anderson said: “We have not lost one scheduled flight for unscheduled maintenance, and the only thing we needed to get to the United Kingdom was good weather and fuel, and we got here right on schedule.”

ASL Aviation Group, owner of Safair, the South African-based C-130 operator, signed a letter of intent with Lockheed Martin for up to 10 LM-100Js, the commercial variant of the C-130J military airlifter. First deliveries are expected in late 2018 pending the completion of FAA certification.

“We started the FAA certification process at the beginning of this year and we expect it to go through the end of 2017,” said Orlando Carvalho, Lockheed Martin Aeronautics executive vice president. “At which point we will enter the test period for validation, which will extend through 2018, so we are looking at first deliveries towards the end of that year.”

BAE Systems says it is negotiating with the UK defense ministry on the potential of a third round of test flights for its Taranis unmanned combat air vehicle (UCAV) demonstrator.

“The ground-based and flight trials that have continued to meet all test objectives,” said Chris Garside, BAE Systems’s chief Future Combat Air Systems engineer, speaking at the F air show.

Testing of sensors “was taken to a certain level” in the first two flight phases, Garside said. “Sensors were part of the original evaluation criteria and we are currently discussing options for further trials with the defense ministry.”

It is hoped that further trials will now feed into the joint UK and France UCAV feasibility study, announced by defense ministers of the two countries during talks at Brize Norton airbase at the end of January and also signed at Farnborough. It is hoped that this deal will lay the foundations for a future system, and possibly lead to the joint development of an Anglo-French UCAV.

Saab’s super order book

Four years after taking on the job, Saab’s CEO is optimistic about the company’s outlook.

Boeing picked Saab last year as its design and development partner for the T-X trainer replacement program. Most recently, Saab and ThyssenKrupp reached final agreement on Saab’s purchase of the former Kockums shipyard, which will make Saab the prime contractor on Sweden’s new A26 submarine class.

“Our order backlog is the highest ever,” Bukshe said, “and it does not yet count the submarines or the Brazilian order. He added that “75 per cent of our backlog is for export and 50 per cent of it is outside Europe.”

“I’m very hopeful,” said Bukshe of the company’s T-X partnership with Boeing. “The leadership of Chris Chadwick (Boeing’s defense, space and security CEO) is amazing. He’s not a guy who will back off over some obstacle. He’ll make that happen.”

L-3 Communications, Selex ES and Ultra Electronics have partnered to offer Bombardier’s Q400 turboprop airliner as the platform to meet an expected requirement for a multi-mission aircraft for the U.K.

The aircraft would be highly modified, with extended-range fuel tanks and an under-fuselage canoe fairing that could be configured to carry a wide-area surveillance sensor or even weaponry to meet a range of tasks such as maritime patrol, overland surveillance or anti-submarine warfare.

The move comes as UK defense officials plan to deliver the results of a study on the country’s future intelligence-gathering capability this summer and there is a widely expected push to resurrect a maritime patrol capability in next year’s Strategic Defense and Security Review.

The three companies believe the multi-mission Q400 aircraft would be capable of delivering 80 per cent of the capability of an established type such as Boeing’s P-8 Poseidon but at less than half to a third of the purchase price and direct operating costs.

“Countries are looking for more flexible capabilities, so it is a case of finding the optimum aircraft for the capabilities desired,” said Nicholas Gordon, director of international programs at L-3.

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