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Aviation History
1991
1991 - 3159.PDF
BUSINESS Israel Military Industries eyes risk sharing The board of Israel Military Industries is to seek more military and civil risk-sharing programmes as a way of over coming problems caused by a downturn in defence spending. Chairman Lt Gen (res) Dan Shomron says that risk-sharing programmes pose one solution to adjusting to the changing market. Shomron, former chief of staff of the Israeli Defence Forces, says that the failure of the first risk-sharing programme with McDonnell Douglas has not caused any changes in direction. Israel Military Industries had joined the US aircraft manufac turer to develop and manufac ture the engine pylons for Rolls- Royce Trent-powered MD-1 Is. The British engine maker pulled out of the programme after Air Europe, the only customer for the airframe/engine combina tion, went bankrupt. "The money we put into this unsuccessful programme ena bled us to prove our capability in a civil project. This was a useful investment," says Shomron. Israel Military Indus tries should increase the civil share of its activity from the current 5% to 30%. "The plan is to double the civil activity each year," he says. The company is supplying floor beams for the Boeing 747s converted from passenger to cargo configuration by Israel Aircraft Industries. The Israel Military Industries chairman says that, in the current situa tion in the Middle East where risk of another war seems small, it is time for the Israeli Defence Forces to "...fill its stores and, at the same time, to invest in more advanced weapons". • Tough times' forecast for Spain BY JOHN PARRY IN MADRID eight European conglomerates" damage Inisel's business seri- Spain's Industry Minister, Al-varo Espina, has forecast tough times ahead for Europe's aerospace manufacturers. "There's a huge consolidation going on," he said at conference in Madrid on the role of Spain's economy in Europe. "Of the leading seven or eight aerospace companies in Europe, ultimately only three or four will remain," he warned. Nevertheless, Espina is optimistic on the out look for some of Spain's aerospace manufactur ers, placing emphasis on the future of two state- owned Instituto Nacional de Industria (INI) subsidiaries, de fence electronics-makers Inisel and Ceselsa, which are merging. The merged company "...could become one of | the leading seven or and seek more Spanish partners. Espina rejects the idea of for eign control, saying that he sees "...a clear need to maintain a majority Spanish shareholding" in Inisel-Ceselsa. Paradoxically, the Govern ment's decision to withdraw from the European Future Sur- face-to-Air Family (FSAF) mis sile programme, confirmed officially in Parliament, will Minister applauds CN-235 maker's research spending ously (Flight International, 27 November-3 December). The company has already sunk Ptas 100 million (SI mil lion) of investment into the FSAF and would have stood to gain an 8% share of worldwide missile sales. Espian did not specify whether he thinks CASA, the largest aerospace subsidiary of INI, will survive as an independ ent European player. In stead, he chooses to defend CASA's research and development (R&D) record. "CASA plays a most important and responsible role in Spain," he says. According to Espina, CASA spent Ptas 20 bil lion on R&D in 1990, amounting to 50% of the INI group's research budget and 10% of the combined R&D expen diture of all Spanish companies. • Taiwan Aerospace negotiating for start-up financing Taiwan Aerospace (TAC) is negotiating with new Gov ernment-owned and private- sector investors to raise capital to fund its start-up activities. State-owned China Steel (CSC) is discussing the acquisi tion of about 10% of TAC's stock for up to NTS1 billion ($40 million), although any deal would be subject to approval by the Government and by the leg islative Yuan (Parliament). TAC is now 29% Government-owned; the remaining stock is shared among a consortium of leading Taiwanese industrial companies. TAC chairman David Huang says that the proposed invest ment is separate from the efforts to raise up to $2 billion for the planned 40% stake in a new civil aircraft consortium with McDonnell Douglas (MDC). He says: "This is nothing to do with our present detailed negotiations with MDC. Of course, MDC is an overwhelming part of our plan, but we are not just talking about one business venture." If CSC does invest in TAC, the Government's holding will be increased to slightly under 40%, although this may be di luted by other private-sector in vestors. Huang points out that the Government plans a phased privatisation of CSC. CSC is a major supplier of steel, aluminium alloys and composite materials, which Huang says would make it an ideal partner for TAC. Together they provided S200 million of start-up capital to buy a manufacturing centre at Tai- chung, along with the equip ment for undertaking commer cial sub-contracting, offset and co-production work. TAC has not yet revealed how it will raise the $2 billion for the MDC venture, although its president Dr Denny Ko says that the ma jority will come from Govern ment sources. • See Newsmakers, P 18. iroc LOW-COST VISUAL SYSTEMS FOR SIMULATION FAA PHASE-CERTIFIED TEL USA (404) 564-1148 FAX USA (404) 381-0622 TEL UK 0625-859439 FAX UK 0625-859441 FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 4 - 10 December, 1991 17
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