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Aviation History
1994
1994 - 0126.PDF
HEADLINES Boeing to finalise Japan's 737-X work Boeing is expected to con firm Japanese supplier participation in the 737-X programme within the next month, but it is unclear if this will extend to some form of partnership in the airliner programme. "We have been talking with them, but nothing has been agreed yet," says Boeing, which receives parts for the current 737 family from Japa nese suppliers. Boeing has already agreed 737-X work packages with Chinese and South Korean manufacturers. The company's agreements with Xian Aircraft Industrial and Korean Aero space are restricted solely to the supply of components, and not to any form of risk and revenue partnerships. Japanese sources confirm that the country's three main aerospace companies, Mitsub ishi Heavy Industries, Ka wasaki Heavy Industries and Fuji Heavy Industries, will hear within one month about what parts of the 737-X they will supply. Parts allocated to Korean Aerospace include under-wing "canoe" fairings for flap and slat tracks and the inboard fairing outboard track. Xian and Boeing signed a memo randum of agreement late in 1993 covering the production of the 737-X section 48. Japanese aerospace compa nies are anxious for involve ment in the 737-X, having seen the Japanese-led YXX project, in which Boeing was a partner, effectively shelved in favour of the redesigned twinjet. Japan's Ministry of International Trade and In dustry (MITI) is, meanwhile, pressing ahead with plans for development of the 75-80 seat YSX with foreign partners. Japan is expected to begin the selection of YSX partners and sub-contractors later in 1994, MITI says. • SI picked to upgrade Argentine Skyhawks BY GRAHAM WARWICK IN ATLANTA In a move certain to ignite controversy, Argentina has selected the US arm of the UK's Smiths Industries (SI) to up grade up to 36 ex-US Marine Corps McDonnell Douglas A- 4M Skyhawks which it has been offered by the US Government. The upgrade of the aircraft has been strongly opposed by the UK Government. Smiths Industries Aerospace & Defense Systems has beaten a clutch of rival compa nies to the upgrade contract, but it is unclear whether the company can arrange financing for the programme — or win approval to supply the equip ment Argentina wants. The UK Government has sought to restrict arms supplies to Argentina ever since the two countries fought a war over the Falklands in 1982. A nationally imposed arms embargo by the UK remains in place. The proposal selected by Ar gentina is based on the US company's upgrade for Royal New Zealand Air Force A-4Ks, which included equipment supplied by UK companies. GEC-Ferranti supplied head-up and head-down displays for the A-4K upgrade. The USA is offering the A-4s in an "as-is, where-is" condi tion. The aircraft are currently A-4 update fired Argentine enthusiasm for Smiths in desert storage. The US Gov ernment has agreed, under pressure from London, to bar the export of certain US ele ments of the A-4 upgrade sought by Argentina. This in cludes the multi-mode radar, thought to be the Westing- house APG-66 used in the A- 4K upgrade. Although it has selected Smiths Industries, Argentina has not excluded other bidders as it needs to arrange financing for the A-4M programme. The air force originally invited bids from all companies with A-4 upgrade experience. Among those companies known to have responded is Lockheed Aircraft Service, which had teamed with avionics supplier AlliedSignal and Pratt & Whit ney, manufacturer of the A-4's J52 turbojet engine. In addition to seeking financing, Argentina is also looking for offset work and appears to have tied the A-4 programme to plans to privatise a de fence ministry- owned aircraft-main tenance centre in province. Lockheed, Cordoba AlliedSignal and P&W officials toured the plant on 11 January to assess its suitability for the A-4 upgrade programme. Sources suggest that Argen tina, facing difficulties funding the A-4 programme, may be trying to force Lockheed and Smiths Industries to work to gether on the project to in crease financing chances. US industry is concerned that Ar gentina will turn to Israel at least for the radar, if not for the entire A-4M upgrade. • Dassault expects a steady two years With Dassault's annual re port still to be pub lished, the French manufac turer says that it expects a "stagnant" orderbook for 1994 and 1995. Sales over the two years will remain at the 1993 level of around Frll billion ($1.9 bil lion), while Dassault's profits are expected to be slightly more than Frl77 million in 1992. Dassault says that its share of the world military-aircraft mar ket remains around 12%, while its share of civil-aircraft orders has increased to 16%. "We had a good second half of the year on the civil side," says Dassault executive vice-president of fi nancial and economic affairs, Charles Edelstenne. "There seems to be an acceleration in the US civil market, and we're following the trend". During 1993, Dassault re duced its workforce by almost 10%, from just over 10,500 to 9,800. Since 1987, the manu facturer has lost 4,800 staff, with just 350 redundancies, the rest through natural wastage. Edelstenne says that the company is now in a much better position to respond to the market; "We have to push those programmes that are going well, and maintain our performance on quality." Sales performance will in crease significantly in 1996, with the first deliveries of 60 Mirage 2000-5 fighters to Tai wan. This will carry the com pany through to later in the decade, when deliveries of Ra fale combat aircraft to the French air force begin. • 4 FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 19 - 25 January, 1994
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