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Aviation History
1990
1990 - 3598.PDF
HEADLINES Aerospatiale ponders Piper purchase BY KIERAN DALY IN WASHINGTON Aerospatiale is negotiating the possible purchase of cash-strapped Piper Aircraft. The companies have signed a letter of intent giving them selves until 15 January, 1991 to investigate the deal's feasibility. Piper president Raymond Johnson says: "We are encour aged by the tone and pace of our discussions and look for ward to its successful comple tion". The US company desper ately needs a cash injection to break a vicious circle generated by vendors who are reluctant to supply components without guarantees about Piper's future. It is consequently harder for Piper to pay them. Piper Vice-president market ing Kevin Tracey says: "Our vendor position has improved somewhat as we have pro gressed during the year. We are current with most of our ven dors but many of them have taken us out of their schedules so we have to order in ad vance...so there is a delay and that affects our cash flow." An Aerospatiale investment would allow Piper buy the com- Europeans lack stealth features The most advanced European fighter aircraft are "a gener ation behind" in terms of stealth technology, according to Lock heed Skunk Works president Ben Rich. "It is too late now" for the European Fighter Aircraft (EFA), Rafale or Gripen to catch up, says Rich, who retires shortly; "You've got to start with a clean sheet of paper". Rich says that the USA might have shared its stealth technol ogy with NATO colleagues "...if we were sure these nations would have kept the secret", but the risk was too great except in the case of the UK. Rich says he tried to persuade Britain of the need to change but "...they were committed to EFA — it is hard to change roads and cancel the programme once it is started". • EFA's future has been thrown into further doubt in the last week by several statements from German politicians in the coali tion Government of Chancellor Kohl that they were withdraw ing their support from the pro gramme. In the run-up to last weekend's elections, Karl-Heinz Hornhues, deputy chairman of the Christian Democratic Union, speaking to the Wall Street Journal, summed up the feeling of many, saying: "The Eurofighter no longer belongs to this landscape". Germany's partners in the the UK, Italy and Spain now wait to see whether the declarations for a pull-out were merely pre-election pos turing. • Canadian NSA options submitted EH Industries (Canada) (EHIC) has completed its project definition recommenda tions for the New Shipborne Aircraft EH101 helicopter, due to replace the Canadian Navy's CH-124 Sea Kings. The proposals were submitted to the project office on 20 November, The company's offer contains the results and recom mendations of seven design and trade-off studies for the number of aircraft (28, 40, or 45), the engines (General Electric CT7-6 or the Rolls-Royce/Turbomeca RTM322) and the mission avi onics. The project office will submit the offer to the Interdepartmen tal Senior Review Board on 12 December. The Board will ex amine EHIC's recommendations and either accept them or, within 25 days, suggest alterna tives. The project office will then undertake a formal design review. An implementation con tract is expected to be awarded by late 1991/ early 1992. • ponents needed to complete air craft, thus generating the cash flow needed to restore suppliers' confidence. Tracey says customers have been "extremely loyal" to Piper and only 'a very few people' have cancelled their orders, re sulting in a backlog worth more than $176 million. During 1990, Piper lowered its produc tion target from 900 to 600 aircraft but now expects to pro duce only 166. Of those, only 24 are the top-of-line Malibu Mirages. The factory was closed at'one time due partly to short age of components.. Piper has laid off about 1,000 staff over 12 months, including more than 60 managers, al though Tracey says the forced attrition is now over. The Vero Beach, Florida- based company has begun fiercely, and successfully, resist ing what it regards as unjusti fied product liability lawsuits, the root of its troubles. The cash crisis, however, has forced it to put its planned PT6 turboshaft-powered Phoenix twin on ice and to abandon the possibility of opening a second plant at the old Piper factory in Lockhaven. Work on the LoPresti Piper SwiftFury, in which Piper owner Stuart Millar has a 75% share, has almost ground to a halt and Tracey says there is insufficient money to proceed with certification. Tracey says Aerospatiale is considering the LoPresti Piper subsidiary as well but that it might be sold separately to an other buyer. Aerospatiale general-aviation subsidiary Socata confirms that the talks are under way. • Boeing lifts Chinook update programme for RAF Boeing revamps Chinooks The RAF's fleet of Chinook HC.ls is to be modernised to a new HC.2 standard, similar to the US Army's CH-47D, fol lowing the award last week of a contract by the UK Ministry of Defence, worth more than $250 million, to the helicopter divi sion of Boeing Defense and Space Group. The mid-life update pro gramme will last 47 months, with the first Chinook HC.l due to enter Boeing's Philadel phia site in February 1991 and returning to the UK as an HC.2 by late November 1992. Seven further HC.ls will be on the modernisation produc tion line by the end of 1992, and final HC.2 delivery is set for December 1994. More than 30 HC.ls are due to be upgraded. The Chinook mid-life update "...will significantly enhance the RAF's ability to provide air mo bility and logistics support for British forces over the next 25 years", says Boeing. CH-47D features to be incor porated into the HC.2 include the improved T-62T-2B auxil iary power unit, a modular hy draulic system, an improved drive system and an uprated electrical system. • FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 5-11 December, 1990
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