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Aviation History
1995
1995 - 1090.PDF
EDITORIAL UK Editorial Enquiries Editorial Fax Editor Allan Winn Editor's PA Lisa Jenkins Deputy Editor Forbes Mutch News Editor Andrew Chuter Operations/Safety Editor David Learmount Business Editor Kevin OToole Commercial Aviation Editor Kieran Daly Defence Aviation Editor Douglas Barrie Aviation Research Editor Jennifer Pite Editorial Assistant Kate Sarsfield Production Editor Chris Thornton Design Editor Layout Sub-Editor Annabel Wells Technical Artist Tim Hall Technical Artist David Hatchard Technical Artist Giuseppe Picarella Spaceflight Correspondent Tim Furniss Photographer (Europe) Mark Wagner EUROPE/MIDDLE EAST European Editor Julian Moxon +44(181)652 3842 +44(181)6523840 +44(1181)652 3882 +44(181)652 3882 +44(181)652 3852 +44(181)652 3843 +44(181)652 3845 +44(181)652 3835 +44(181)652 3837 +44(181)652 3834 +44(181)6523847 +44(181)652 3842 +44(181)652 3850 +44(181)652 3828 +44(181)652 3848 +44(181)6528047 +44(181)6528047 +44(181)6528054 +44(1237)471960 +44(181)944 5225 COMMENT +33(1)46 2947 61 [Fax+33 (1)46 29 47 49) Munich Correspondent Andrzej Jeziorski +49 (89) 6891041 (Fax+49 (89) 6891045) Paris Correspondent Gilbert Sedbon +33 (1) 48 25 52 61 Israel Correspondent Arie Egozi +972 (3) 9671155 Moscow Correspondent +7(095)3934717 Alexander Velovich (Fax +7 (095) 393 4717) AMERICAS American Editor Graham Warwick +1 (404) 587 2927 [Fax+1(404) 5941534] Washington Correspondent Ramon Lopez +1 (703) 836 7443 [Fax+1(703) 836 8344) West Coast Correspondent Guy Norris +1 (714) 252 8971 [Fax+1(714) 252 8972) ASM PACIFIC Asian Editor (Singapore) Paul Lewis Australian Correspondent Paul Phelan +65 226 3188 [Fax+65 2271769] +61(70)532 791 [Fax+61 (70) 533 003) DISPLAY ADVERTISEMENT SALES UK and EUROPE Display Advertising Enquiries +44 (181) 652 3315 Display Advertising Fax +44 (181) 652 8981 Group Advertisement Director +44 (181) 652 3319 Trevor Parker IRELAND, ISRAEL, UK Deputy Advertisement Manager +44 (181) 652 3892 Nick Wilcox EAST EUROPE, GERMANY, SCANDINAVIA, UK Senior Area Manager Robin Gordon +44 (181) 652 4998 NETHERLANDS, PORTUGAL, SPAIN, UK Area Manager Janice Lowe +44 (181) 652 3316 Secretary Lisa Devlin +44(181)6523315 Advertisement Production Display/Classified+44 (181) 652 3267 Howard Mason FRANCE Sales Director France Pierre Mussard +33 (1) 46 29 46 29 [Fax+33 (1)40 93 93 37) ITALY Representative Romano Ferrario NORTH AMERICA Vice-president US Sales John Tidy Fax Sales Director East Coast Robert Hancock Sales Director Mid-West & Canada Gene Glendinning Traffic Manager Debbie Kolb AFRICA Nick Wilcox MIDDLE EAST Robin Gordon JAPAN Representative Shoichi Maruyama ASM, AUSTRALIA Singapore Account Manager Karen Kwan CLASSIFIED & RECRUITMENT +39(2)66034435 [Fax+39 (2) 6603 4367) +1(714)7561057 [Fax+1(714) 756 2514) +1(703)836 7444 [Fax+1(703) 836 7446) +1 (708) 304 5588 [Fax+1(708) 304 9559] +1 (212) 545 5376 [Fax+1(212) 679 9455) +44(181)652 3892 +44(181)6524998 +81 (3) 3234 2161 [Fax+81 (3) 32341143) +65 226 3188 [Fax+65 223 6960) Advertisement Manager Gareth Pask International Sales Executives Mo Buttivant Judith Slann Classified Sales Executives Valerie Hall Liz Houghton Colin Hampden Simon Lees Enquiries Classified USA Gail Tavelman Classified Asia/Pacific Karen Kwan Publisher Gavin Howe +44(181)6524814 +44(181)7703032 +44(181)7703011 +44(181)770 3010 +44(181)7703002 +44(181)7703030 +44 (181) 770 3027 +44(181)6616373 +1(212)5455403 +65 2263188 +44(181)652 3675 CATCHING THE BATTLEBUS T he Future Large Aircraft (FLA) project is, according to all the assurances, going to be revolution among co-operative European military projects in that it is going to be run on commercial lines. The aircraft is to be built by Airbus Industrie, and work- shares for the partici pating nations are to be established on eco nomic, rather than political, grounds. The trouble is, the FLA programme at the moment seems to be all assurances and no action — and that is not the mark of a commercially run programme. The participants in Euroflag (the multi national consortium which devised the FLA programme) have said that industrial responsibility for the FLA will be transferred to Airbus, but, so far, little progress has been made. Airbus Chief Jean Pierson said months ago that he was frustrated by this lack of progress, yet nothing has changed. A view was recently expressed from within Aerospatiale that the vital question of work- share on the programme will be decided on commercial, rather than political, grounds, but that says very little. In the end, the con cern is that the country which orders (or says it will order) the biggest number of FLAs will gain for its national aerospace industry the biggest share of the work. Judging on current evidence, however, there is going to be precious little work to share out unless something is done shortly. The question remains, though: what is to be done, and who is to do it, to break the logjam? The question of bringing the FLA project inside Airbus should be relatively uncompli cated if it is, indeed, intended that the FLA be produced on a commercial basis. All Airbus need do in the first instance is announce that it will build the aircraft subject to satisfactory finance being supplied. Those countries which want the FLA would then have a stark choice: fund it or lose it. Given sufficient funding, Airbus could then start placing contracts with the aerospace "There is going to be precious little work to shre out unless something is done shortly." industries of those funding countries to begin design and development of the aircraft. A. precursor to that process would inevitably be the setting of the physical and performance require ments of the aircraft. If this were to be done by Airbus rather than by a committee of eight nations, some decisions might actu ally be reached on the size of the aircraft, its payload and range capabilities, and its powerplant. Airbus has shown itself per fectly capable of doing what the Euroflag consortium has so far patently failed to achieve: talk ing to the potential customers and deriv ing the compromise which will most near ly satisfy the require ments of the largest possible spread of those customers. Given the diverse requirements of the vari ous European governments involved, it is almost impossible that any FLA design will represent the perfect solution. (For instance there is a difference between the French mis sion profile and that required by the UK and there is still a rumbling discontent among some customers over the choice of turboprop power rather than turbofans.) If the design process produced an aircraft which did not satisfy every requirement of every potential customer (as it would not), it would then be the choice of the individual customer country to decide whether to buy the FLA compromise instead of a Lockheed Martin compromise, or an Antonov com promise. While that may dilute some of the dream of the universal European airlifter, it might make the reality of a successful European airlifter a little more likely. Judging on previous evidence, things will not, of course, work out like that. Airbus — which is the only organisation in Europe now capable of managing a project like this — will be left trying to manage the political muddle instead. If that ends up being the case, all the assur ances in the world will not make the FLA a commercial project — or a project at all. • FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 19 - 25 April 1995 3
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