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Aviation History
1984
1984 - 0879.PDF
GERMANY'S AEROSPACE INDUSTRY Research is the key Apart from coal, West Germany has prac tically no raw materials of its own with which to feed its industry. Yet the country prospers because it has become expert at processing the raw materials it imports into high quality goods for export. In no field is the expertise better applied than in aerospace where, after years of post-war uncertainty, financial con straints, and commercial mistakes there is now a healthy industry. West Germany has won itself a much respected niche in a large number of front-line international aerospace programmes, becoming in recent years a master in the art of collaboration. The success can be largely attributed to a comprehensive Government-backed research base. West Germany spent DM290 million (£78-6 million) on aero nautical research in 1983, the lion's share of which went to DFVLR, the German Aerospace Research Establishment. The DFVLR operates five centres, employs 3,200, and absorbed DM211 million last year. It combines three pre-war aero nautical establishments, one of which dates back to 1907, when the country's first aerodynamics test centre was set up by Ludwig Prandtl, often referred to as the father of the modern windtunnel. The link-up was completed in 1969. The body is 90 per cent Federal Government funded, via the research ministry, the rest being supplied by the provincial governments in which the DFVLR has its research centres. A small amount of cash is also generated by money from outside contracts. This amounted to DM40m in 1983. Money given to the DFVLR is spent on long-term fundamental research, much as it is in Britain's Royal Aircraft Establish ment, projects being expected to yield benefits to the industry within an average of 20 years. Six fields of research are covered: • Transport and communications sys tems, including the local problem of air traffic control in congested airspace, the technology of advanced flight control systems, and research in long-haul trans port. • Aircraft technology, covering a long list of civil, military, rotorcraft and basic aero dynamics programmes. • Space Technology, DFVLR supports research for the European Space Agency (ESA), is deeply involved in data manage ment during Spacelab missions, and was responsible for selecting the German astronauts which flew in Spacelab last year. DFVLR also conducted the tests for the Ariane second stage. • Remote Sensing. Man-made impact on the environment from cooling tower plumes are measured, thematic data from Landsat is processed to produce local maps. Air pollution is measured by equip ment flying aboard the DFVLR's converted Falcon business jet. 0 Engetics and Propulsion, covering the FLIGHT International, 19 May 1984 aero- and use of solar energy, reduction of engine noise and pollution, improvements in fuel consumption. • Supplementary Research & Develop ment. While the largest slice of aeronautical research money goes to DFVLR, the Federal Government also funds long-term industry and university research. The standard contribution to industry for a particular project is 50 per cent, which in 1983 equated to DM79 million. Higher grants must be justified. Research and development for space absorbed DM800 million in 1983, and is about the same this year, representing 11-4 per cent of the ministry of research and technology (BMFT) total budget. Half of this money goes to the European Space Agency for Ariane, Spacelab, and development and construction of satellites. The other half is spent on pure German programmes, and is divided into three main sections: 9 Preparation of experiments in space science through universities and the Max Planck Institute. This encompasses such projects as Rosat, the X-ray telescope due for Shuttle launch in 1987, and Ampte, an ambitious trinational plan to measure plasma fields around the earth. Ampte is being launched in August. 0 Applications programmes, covering Earth observation satellites, microgravity research and the development of experi ments. This money also covers the first Spacelab mission dedicated to West Germany, set for orbit in 1985. Prepara tion of payloads, experiments, and launch costs account for DM400m. This also covers the follow-up mission later this decade. 9 Communications, the budget for which is gradually decreasing as development of the new technology needed for satellites winds down. BMFT's policy is to make the users pay, so the telecommunications ministry (PTT) is having to increase its funding for TV-Sat, the West German/ French communications satellite being launched in late 1985. In future projects PTT will pay all costs except those incurred for advanced development. BMFT also spends money on funding for the Max Planck Institute, which allo cates about ten per cent of its annual budget to space research. Extra funding for Max Planck supports projects that are too expensive for the Institute alone. Rosat, for example, was proposed and designed by the Institute using its own money, but funding for construction of the satellite comes from the BMFT's non- ESA space budget. West German industry benefits from another important organisation, IABG, (Industrieanlagen - Betriebsgesellschaft mbH). IABG is not, like the DFVLR, a pure research body, its brief being mainly to take on contract research for industry, and large-scale testing. It undertakes, for example, long-term testing of complete airframes — work which industry cannot afford to carry out on its own. IABG was formed in 1961 by a joint agreement between the Ministry of Defence and the aerospace industry. The MoD owns 74 per cent of its shares, the other 26 per cent belonging to BMFT. Running costs are supplied by the Government, but the rest, including equipment purchase, must come from income earned through contract work. Commercial independance is central to IABG's constitution. The body engages in no development or manufacture of its own, being concerned entirely with testing and analysis of components built outside. MBB has completed whirl testing of a BO 105 bearingless main rotor. DFVLR is developing aerofoils for MBB's PAH-2 rotor, with whirl testing to begin late this year 1329
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