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Aviation History
2000
2000 - 1767.PDF
BERLIN SHOW REPORT Alliance unveils 30-50-seat jet ALLIANCE AIRCRAFT claims to be close to securing $250 million in funding from "two of the world's leading investment banks" and is targeting July's Farnborough air show for the delayed launch of its proposed 70- and 90-seat regional jets, dubbed "StarLiner"200and300. Meanwhile, the US start-up's already highly ambitious product development plans have been expanded to include studies of a four-member family of 30-50-pas- senger aircraft with a three-abreast cabin cross-section. Alliance chief executive Earl Robinson believes the "StarLiner 100" range could be launched just a year after the larger products and developed at a total cost of only $320 million. Robinson also says he has opened talks with Russia's Sukhoi design bureau, which could take responsibility for a major share of the engineering work on the vari ous projects. Alliance says it needs $660 mil lion to produce the StarLiner NEWS IN BRIEF m SNIPER SNIPING RSK MiG general director, Nikolai Nikitin has criticised Romania's Aerostar and its partners for not including the Russian manufacturer in its MiG-29 Sniper upgrade. Nikitin says: "I am against such work being done with out die aircraft manufactur er." Aerostar's Sniper partners are Israel's Elbit Systems and Daimler- Chrysler Aerospace. • ARIANE BOOST The European Space Agency has placed orders with Arianespace for the launch of nine Automated Transfer Vehicles for die International Space Station (ISS) on Ariane 5s. They are being designed by an Aerospatiale-Matra- led consortium and will be launched from 2003. 2 00/3 00 and claims to have secured $150 million of this from two pri vate placements. The rest would be made up from bank funding and risk-sharing partners. Robinson says a request for pro posals (RFP) was issued to poten tial wing suppliers two months ago and responses were received last week. An RFP covering fuselage work expires on 2 6 June, he adds. A possible new Rolls-Royce Deutschland BR700 derivative (Flight International, 6-12 June) is being studied as the baseline pow- erplant for the two models. The five-abreast 70- and 90- seaters could eventually be joined by 55- and 110-seat versions, according to Robinson, with the smallest member using a scaled- down wing. Robinson claims that develop ment costs can be pegged at an unprecendentedly low level by compressing the development timetable compared with projects such as the Embraer ERJ-170/190 and Fairchild Dornier 728JET. This would be achieved by using the latest CATIA design software, and advanced avionics and fly-by- wire technology to reduce the complexity of the aircraft design. In addition, "industry overca pacity" means suppliers such as empennage and nacelle manufac turers are being forced to dramati cally reduce prices to win business, Robinson believes. Alliance is targeting certification of the StarLiner 200 and 300 in mid-2003. Robinson claims to already hold letters-of-intent from two airlines for a total of 30 aircraft. As currently envisioned the StarLiner 100 family would com prise 30, 35, 44 and 50-seat ver sions, sharing a common 21.6m (71ft) span wing and powered by two of the new AJliedSignal AS900 turbofans. • Alliance's 10-seat regional jet could be launched at Farnborough in July Raytheon offers renovated P-3s for Italian/German requirement RAYTHEONIS offering refur bished and re-engined Lock heed Martin P-3 Orions to Germany and Italy to meet a joint maritime patrol aircraft (MPA) requirement. The US company has held talks with Alenia and DaimlerChrysler Aerospace (Dasa), which are teamed as Europatrol Aircraft for the competition, says James Burkhardt, Raytheon Aircraft Integration Systems' manager, aircraft remanufactured pro grammes, navy and maritime programmes. At the heart of Raytheon's bid is the IDHS-2000 tactical system, selected by New Zealand for its Project Sirius P-3 upgrade. Burkhardt says Raytheon is hold ing talks on sensors with German, Italian and other companies. Powerplant choice is between the Rolls-Royce AE2100 fitted with a Dowty propeller and the Pratt & Whitney Canada PW150 driving a Hamilton Sundstrand eight-bladed propeller, says Burkhardt. The AE2100/Dowty combina tion is attractive, he adds, because of commonality with the Lockheed Martin C-130J Hercules and the LMATTS C-2 7J - Italy has orders for both. Electric and hydraulic systems would also be upgraded. Under the proposal, the first four aircraft will be modified at Raytheon's Greenville, Texas, pl ant, with the rest converted in Eur ope. If selected, the first upgraded P-3 would fly by early 2006. Burkhardt says the company is also offering the upgrade to the US Navy for its Multi-mission Mari time Aircraft (MMA) competition which aims to upgrade or replace the USN's P-3 fleet. Germany is leading the pro gramme and requires 10 aircraft and two options, while Italy needs 14. Both countries need to replace ageing Dassault/Dornier Atlantic Is. A selection is set for the fourth quarter of next year with contract signing in the third quarter of 2 002. Other competitors include Lockheed Martin, which is offering a number of P-3 options including new-build P-3Cs, the re-engined P-3C Plus and the re-engined, two- crew cockpit, Orion 2000. Dassault Aviation is offering the Atlantic 3, re-engined with R-R AE2100s and a two-man cockpit. • 16 FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 13 - 19 June 2000
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