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Aviation History
1995
1995 - 2105.PDF
HEADLINES NEWS IN BRIEF • ATACMS CONTRACT Loral Vought Systems has won a $180 million US Army contract to modify the Army Tactical Missiles System (ATACMS) to carry the North rop Grumman Brilliant Anti- armour Technology (BAT) submunition. The Block II ATACMS surface-to-surface missile will carry will carry 13 BATs 140km (75nm). • MENASCO GEAR DEAL Bombardier has selected Canada's Menasco Aerospace to supply the main and nose landing-gear systems — including nosewheel-steering and braking systems, electrics and hydraulics, and controls — for the de Havilland Dash 8-400 high-speed, 70-seat, regional turboprop. 747X studies go on as VLCT plans are frozen GUY NORRIS/LOS ANGELES BOEING IS CONTINUING studies of 747 stretch designs, despite the suspension of joint studies with the Airbus partners of a very large commercial transport (VLCT) on the basis of insufficient market potential. The company is concentrating on two design options — the largest able to carry up to 800 people. The two-and-a-half-year joint study was frozen at a meeting in Long Island, New York, on 7 July- Boeing says mat the study "...is not completely over and done with, and Lear 45 first flight is scheduled for 22 September, just ahead ofNBAA Learjet sets pre-NBAA date for first flight of Lear 45 THE FIRST FLIGHT OF the Learjet Lear 45 light business jet has been scheduled for 22 September, only days before the US National Business Aircraft Association (NBAA) convention in Las Vegas, where it is hoped the aircraft will have its public debut. Production aircraft number 45- 001 (pictured here in a preview viewing for production staff at Learjet's Wichita, Kansas, factory earlier this year) was transferred in June from the manufacturer's final- assembly building to the Bombardier flight-test centre, also in Wichita. The wing mating of the second and third Lear 45 production air craft has been completed, and they will shortly join the test pro gramme, which will eventually in clude five aircraft. First deliveries are expected by January 1997. Meanwhile, the fuselage mock- up of the Lear 45 has undergone a 15-city, seven-country promotion al tour of Europe with a four-day appearance at North Weald air field, north of London, scene of the Flight International-sponsored business and general aviation show, North Weald 95, which runs from 5-8 September. • another meeting is planned for sometime in 1996 to review the marketplace". It adds that "...the decision over the VLCT doesn't change the status of the New Large Airplane [NLA] studies, which will continue". The VLCT study, with Aerospatiale, British Aerospace, CASA and Daimler-Benz Aero space (DASA), had identified a potential initial market of up to 1,000 aircraft by 2020 (Flight International, 4-10 January). Since these early findings, however, the continued trend towards "fragmen tation" of long-range markets by twin and tri-jets led to fears that this figure may be substantially over- optimistic. The next phase of the VLCT study would have entailed evaluation of a common configura tion and the establishment of a joint-venture company. Most of the airlines within Boeing's informal NLA advisory group are now believed to be push ing the manufacturer towards two main 747 derivatives, rather than an all-new design. All the group members are 747 users and repre sent more than half of the 20 carri ers identified by Boeing as the main target market for the NLA. British Airways believes that a stretch for the 747-400 is "inevitable", says chairman Sir Colin Marshall, who says that it could be in service by 1999. Although he admits that Boeing has given no official launch to the new aircraft, Marshall says that BA is anticipating the availability of an aircraft with a three-class capacity of up to 523 seats. He adds that BA still believes that a new high-capac ity aircraft is also likely to be launched. The launch of the stretched air craft is crucial to BA's plans to expand at London's slot-con strained Heathrow Airport. Over the next 15 years, the aim is to raise passenger numbers through the airport by more than 50%, to around 36 million, while increasing the fleet by only 12 aircraft. The two designs, dubbed the 747-500X and -600X, would have new wings and fuselage cross-sec tions, offering cockpit commonali ty with the 747-400. There could be a market for up to 500 aircraft by 2010. The 747-500X would be a mod est 6m stretch of the -400, offering seating for around 530 in a tri-class arrangement, with a range poten tial of more than 12,950km (7,000nm). The 747-600X would be up to 18m longer than the -400, with a wingspan of around 79m — the largest span possible for an air craft using 747 gates without a folding wing. The -600X would seat more than 600 in a tri-class configuration, but up to 800 in a high-density arrangement. Boeing comments officially that it "...is examining 747 derivatives that would provide greater range, performance and economic value. Current 747 studies are focusing on wing and fuselage modifications necessary to satisfy future air-travel growth demands." The European companies have little to say officially about the ces sation of the study, but the decision to suspend the talks leaves them with a dilemma. Most seem pes simistic about the likelihood of a resumption of negotiations in six months' time, given that Airbus' own studies into its A3XX, which would be smaller than the VLCT, appear to be gathering some momentum. There are, however, differences between the partners on the priori ty for investment. Aerospatiale's president, Louis Gallois, has repeatedly made the case for increased research into a superson ic transport to support what the company believes is a potential market for 500 aircraft by the year 2025. DASA, the other main Airbus partner, is thought to favour an A3XX-type solution. • 4 FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 19 - 25 July 1995
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