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Aviation History
1996
1996 - 0006.PDF
J*J\L>LJjxJ*Z NEWS IN BRIEF • AIRBUS BOOST Airbus Industrie waited until the last few days of December to land its first major order of 1995, announcing a deal with Philippine Airlines for 24 air craft. Boeing was also includ ed, with eight 747-400s included in the order. The Airbus share of the $3 billion deal includes four A340-300s, eight A330-300s and 12 A320s. Deliveries of the Airbus widebodies are to start in 1997's first quarter, with the A320s following in the third quarter. The deal will help ease the recent disap pointment of losing to Boeing in a $12 billion contract to supply Singapore Airlines. Malaysian Airlines had been expected on 22 December to name the winner of a $4 bil lion contest between Boeing and Airbus to supply wide- bodies, but postponed the an nouncement. A decision is expected this month. • PENTAGON TUAV MOVE The Pentagon has approved the acquisition-decision mem orandum for development of the long-delayed tactical un manned aerial vehicle (TUAV) for the US Army, US Marine Corps and US Navy. The request for proposals is due this month. The go- ahead was delayed by dis agreement between the services over performance re quirements. Its range was originally to have been 50km (27nm), but the operating radius has been stretched to 200km for ship application. • NEW ZEALAND LIST The New Zealand Ministry of Defence has shortlisted the Kaman SH-2G Super Sea Sprite and Westland Super Lynx for its maritime-heli copter requirement. The Sikorsky S-76N and the Euro- copter Panther were rejected because they "...failed to meet critical requirements in operational and technical areas", says the MoD. DASA and Aerospatiale missile deal on target JULIAN MOXON/PARIS AEROSPATIALE AND Daim ler-Benz Aerospace (DASA) have formally signed up for the twin merger which will create Europe's biggest satellite and mis sile businesses. "The deal brings together the satellite and missile components of the two companies to form European Satellite Industries [ESI] and European Missile Systems [EMS]. ESI will be based in Mun ich, with a German chairman and French co-chairman, while EMS will be headquartered in France, with a French chairman and Ger man co-chairman. Each company is expected to be founded in the third quarter of 1996. ESI will control a German subsidiary in Friedrichshafen and Ottobrunn — taking advantage particularly of DASA's radar activi ties in its Dornier Satellite Systems subsidiary — as well as a French subsidiary in Cannes. EMS will have its headquarters in the Paris region, and will also control subsidiaries in both partner countries, with sites in Bourges, Chatillon, Munich, Nabern and Schrobenhausen. "What we are creating are inno- Bischoff: pulling fragments together vative organisational structures, which overcome the existing frag mentation of our industrial capaci ties and do justice to the intended political integration of Europe," says DASA president Manfred Bischoff. "This is an essential pre requisite to keeping up our s com petitiveness in the future." The deal took two years to forge, not least because of German diffi culties over funding a large enough share in the French Helios 2 and Horus observation satellite pro grammes. These were resolved at the recent Franco-German sum mit, which followed the successful European Space Agency ministeri al meeting in November. Aerospatiale president Louis Gallois puts the likely turnover of the combined satellites business at "around Fr6 billion" ($1.2 billion) for 1996/7, while the turnover of the missiles alliance will be worth some Fr8 billion, he says, adding: "This makes them both the num ber one in Europe." The agreement still faces a series of hurdles, including final authori sation from the French Gov ernment, due diligence studies of each company's current obligations, and approval by the European Commission. Gallois has no doubts about the outcome, however. Further rationalisation of Euro pe's satellite and missile businesses is now likely, Aerospatiale having already made it clear that it would like payload supplier Alcatel to join the FSI alliance. Gallois adds that he also hopes for a positive out come to the current talks on a mis siles merger between Matra and British Aerospace, suggesting that it may then be possible to bring the two groups together. • Additional reporting by Andrzej Jeziorski in London See Newsmakers, P22 Czechs exchange Fulcrums for Sokols THE CZECH Air force is swapping ten "mothballed" Mikoyan MiG-29 Fulcrum fight ers for 11 Polish PZL-Swidnik W-3 Sokol helicopters. The barter arrangement was approved by the Czech Gov ernment on 13 December, and deliveries of the MiG-29s to the Polish air force were due to be completed by the end of 1995. Deliveries of W-3 medium-utility helicopters to the Czech air force were to take place simultaneously. The Czech air force needs the W-3s to replace its obsolete Mil Mi-2 Hoplite helicopters, which it acquired in 1978, for the search and rescue and medical-evacua tion roles. The Polish air force already operates 20 MiG-29s. The Czech defence ministry has not disclosed the value of the trade, but confirms that the Polish Government will have to provide additional goods and services as part of the deal. "It is a pure barter arrange ment. There are no arrangements for cash transfers. However, what form the remaining payment will take remains to be determined when the two governments offi cially sign the barter deal before Christmas," the ministry says. The Czech Republic had been in negotiations with other coun tries interested in buying the MiG-29s, including the USA and Syria. Negotiations with the USA broke down because it only want ed to buy four aircraft, for testing purposes, while the Czech Government decided that selling the aircraft to Syria would damage its relations with the West. The Czech MiG-29s have been in storage for over two years. • FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 3 - 9 January 1996
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