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Aviation History
1990
1990 - 3597.PDF
HEADLINES has now been delivered to the UK, with the ultimate recipients believed to be RAF Jaguars in the Gulf. These rockets will be used to familiarise aircrew with the system. The current order is consid ered too small to go to war with and that a further purchase will be needed if the rockets are to be used in hostilities. The CRV7 rockets bought from Bristol Aerospace include the rocket motors and launchers but not the warheads. The MoD is approaching manufacturers in Scandinavia and possibly the USA to acquire warheads. The 70mm-diameter CRV7 has a very high impact velocity of around l,250m/s and can carry a number of different war head types. The threat posed by Iraqi, and captured Kuwaiti, missile boats is likely to be one reason behind the rocket purchase. Some of the seven captured Kuwaiti fast-patrol boats are armed with the 70km-range MM40 Exocet anti-ship mis siles, while two Iraqi vessels are armed with the 46km-range SS- N-2 Styx. Both missile types could threaten amphibious opertations to liberate Ku wait. • European MoU will curb competition BY JULIAN MOXON IN BRUSSELS Deutsche Aerospace (DASA), Aerospatiale and Aeritalia are negotiating a memorandum of understanding (MoU) cover ing a "general co-operation agreement" prohibiting compe tition between the three compa nies in 19- to 350-seat civil- aircraft projects. A specific deal covering de velopment of a family of re gional jets in the 80- to 130-seat range is expected to follow. According to DASA, the MoU could be signed before the end of the year. If the agreement goes through, it will mean that DASA, which produces the 19- seat Dornier 228 and 30-seat 328, will not expand into the market occupied by the ATR consortium of Aerospatiale and Aeritalia, who build the ATR42 and ATR72, with 42 and 72 seats respectively. Aerospatiale and DASA are already the major shareholders in the Airbus family, which begins with the A320 at 120 Co-operation agreement would leave 19-seat market to Dornier 228 seats and currently ends with the 350-seat A330. Talks between the three com panies on a deal to develop a family of regional jets in the 80-to 130-seat range are continuing. The partners will seek Gov ernment funding to help get the programme off the ground. De velopment costs are estimated BAe staff pay price of 'peace dividend' British Aerospace Military Aircraft is to reduce its 27,000-strong workforce to 22,000 and close two factories as a result of military orders. The Kingston-upon-Thames factory, which makes Harrier sub-assemblies, will close by the end of 1992 with the loss of 2,000 jobs. Harrier production will transfer to Dunsfold in Surrey, which currently assem bles and test flies the Harriers. The three factories of BAe's Warton unit — Preston, Salm- esbury and Warton — will lose a total of 3,000 jobs, most, but not all, from the closure of Preston by the end of 1993. Preston is a Tornado subassem blies factory. The Warton unit produces mainly Hawks and Tornados and is slated to build the European Fighter Aircraft. BAe's trade unions had been told by management that the Ministry of Defence (MoD) Tor nado procurement cutbacks will impact the Warton factory. The end of multi-year procurement of the Harrier will affect the Kingston/Dunsfold duplex to such an extent that, although BAe has reviewed diversification of its military sector into the John Watson, BAe Military Aircraft's managing director, claims cuts were required to protect company's future civil field, cuts were inevitable. In the last few months, the UK MoD and Malaysia have cancelled plans to buy Tornados and a mid-life update pro gramme for RAF Tornado F.3s has also been cut. Also, slow progress on devel opment of the Harrier II Plus for'the Italian and Spanish na vies as part of a memorandum of understanding with the US Government has resulted in BAe expenditure on the project "...being limited to design as pects of the project to protect the programme". Kingston had planned to build one static-test airframe and components for 15 profmc- tion Harrier II Plus in 1992. 9 UK simulator manufacturer Link-Miles has announced that 325 of its 1,330 employees are to be made redundant. The company was acquired by Th- omson-CSF earlier this year. • to be at least $2.3 billion up to certification at the end of the decade — a move that will irritate the USA, which has em barked on a campaign to prove that Airbus Industrie competes unfairly because of its substan tial Government backing for launching new programmes. DASA, the driving force be hind the trinational plan, has also taken its first shot at re gional-jet rival Fokker, claiming that its aircraft will be "substan tially" more advanced than the competing Fokker 100. Fokker responded by saying it would update its technology "...as and when systems become available and economically viable". It is likely that the DASA-led aircraft development will draw on several Airbus technologies, including fly-by-wire flight con trol. New engines will come from the Rolls-Royce/BMW partnership, or from Allison. Fokker recently announced its intention to proceed with 70-seat and 130-seat derivatives of its 100, putting it into head- on competition with the new consortium. The market for re gional jets in this category has been estimated at up to 4,000 aircraft — but this could easily change if the airline-industry recession begins to bite. The Dutch company's advan tage is that it has already built up a strong customer base with the Fokker 100 — some of it with major US airlines. • FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 5-11 December, 1990 ">
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