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Aviation History
2003
2003 - 2331.PDF
HEADLINES DEFENCE RAINER UPHOFF / MADRID EADS Casa raises helicopter hopes Company aims to use Spanish Tiger order as springboard EADS Casa wants to use Spain's decision to buy 24 Eurocopter Tigers to break into helicopter manufactur ing. The Spanish arm of the Euro pean aerospace group is to be a 40% stakeholder with the Franco-Ger man helicopter manufacturer in a new entity - Eurocopter Espana. It will cany out final assembly of the Tiger HAPs for the Spanish army and become sole-source manufac turer of the aircraft's rear fuselage. It wants to use this as a platform to create a full-scale manufacturing base and become a major player in the European helicopter sector. "This partnership is a first step to establishing a permanent centre of competence for making complete helicopter structures in Spain," says EADS Casa president Francisco Fern andez Sainz. The partnership will benefit local companies, he adds, including engine developer ITP, avi onics and missile controls systems provider Amper Programas, com posites manufacturer Gamesa and infrared and electro-optical systems builder Tecnobit. Fernandez told an aerospace sem inar earlier this month organised by the Spanish state holding SEPI, which owns a 5.5% stake in the European consortium: "We have accumulated a technological exper tise which allows us to grow by our selves into new areas." The com pany is targeting the space market and has set up EADS Espacio Casa. Fernandez says Spain's decision to acquire 24 Eurocopter Tigers means EADS Casa can "start con verting the Spanish industry into an integral part of Eurocopter. This goes far beyond a standard indus trial offset for the Tiger acquisition." SEPI's vice-president Pablo Olivera says SEPI's 5.5% stake in the European EADS consortium is fun damental to Spain's strategy for building its aerospace sector. "The initiation of a Spanish helicopter industry is an important step into that direction," he says. Olivera suggests integrating Spain into Europe's helicopter industry is another important step towards a common European defence policy. "SEPI's contribution to the industry is also a contribution to a Common European Defence Policy, which has a strategic need for developing its own air-to-air refuelling, airlift, com bat helicopter and missile capaci ties," he says. EADS Casa hopes benefits will stem from Spain's Tiger purchase BUSINESS AVIATION Bombardier plans consolidation Bombardier is to consolidate final assembly and completion of its Learjet and Challenger business jets at Wichita, Kansas, and Dorval, Montreal, respectively. It will cut 350 jobs in Wichita over the next 12-15 months as Challenger 300 final assembly moves to Montreal; and 800 jobs in Tucson, Arizona, as Learjet com pletions move to Wichita and Challenger 300 and 604 completions to Montreal. The consolidation will entail $8 million in severance costs, but save $25 million a year once the Challenger and Learjet manufacturing centres are fully opera tional in the first quarter of 2005. Tucson will become a service centre for Bombar dier's business and regional aircraft; Wichita will be responsible for Learjet 40/45/60 final assembly and completion; Dorval will perform Challenger 300/604/800 final assembly and completion, Global Express/5000 completion and CRJ200 final assembly. There will be no change at Toronto; Mirabel, Montreal; or at Belfast, Northern Ireland. Briefing 'Buy America' for military equipment looms TRADE LAW US lawmakers face gridlock on "buy America" provisions in the 2004 defence authorisation bill. Critics are bracing for a battle against the resurgent movement, even if the measure is defeated. The bill is now behind the closed doors of a House-Senate conference committee. The "buy Amer ica" provision, sponsored by Representative Duncan Hunter, chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, is only one of several controversial issues stalling the debate. Critics believe Hunter's proposal could endanger dozens of weapons programmes that rely on foreign suppliers or customers, such as the Lockheed Martin F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. Hunter proposes to strengthen "buy America" by raising the minimum US content in weapons from 50% to 65% and banning foreign machine tools. Belgium approves A380 production loan FINANCE Belgium has granted another €90 million ($106 million) loan to help the Belgian aerospace industry tool up for A380 production, bringing the total approved earlier to €285 million. Often decried by the US industry as "subsidy", under present World Trade Organisation agreements national governments are allowed to grant reimbursable loans to their national industries covering 33% of risk for the production of 600 aircraft over 17 years. Aerojet cleared to buy ARC - maybe TAKEOVERThe purchase of rocket-motor specialist Atlantic Research (ARC) by Gencorp's Aerojet subsidiary can proceed provided ARC'S in- space liquid-propulsion business is sold within six months of the deal closing, the US Federal Trade Commission has ruled. Armament and rocket-motor manufacturer Aerojet agreed in May to buy ARC from Sequa for $133 million in cash. ARC has liquid-propulsion facilities in New York and the UK. Qantas divided into sectors REORGANISATION Qantas's restructuring has split the company into 10 businesses to gain increased accountability and improved return on assets, the airline has announced at its annual general meeting. There will be four flying businesses - Qantas Airlines, QantasLink, Australian Airlines and the new low-cost operator. There will be two services businesses - engineering technical operations and maintenance services, and airports and catering. Freight, Qantas Holidays, Qantas Defence Services and Qantas Consulting will be associated businesses, supported by a corporate centre and a shared services organisation. Each business will have its own balance sheet. Lufthansa cites safety in callsign change OPERATIONS Lufthansa is adopting a new alphanumeric callsign system that it hopes will reduce confusion by making callsigns easier to differentiate phonetically. Many airlines and air traffic control units have experienced confusion when two subsequent flight numbers like 7566 and 7567 are in the same sector, so Lufthansa says it intends to use a wider variety of three unit callsigns mixing letters and numerals, for example 5CX (five Charlie x-ray). EADS opens Russian technology office CO-OPERATION EADS has opened its Russian technology office in Moscow as part of its corporate scientific research centre. It will be supervised by EADS vice-president Marc Strechinsky. The move will help EADS expand its co-operation with Russian scientific and research establishments in applied and fundamental sciences, as well as new industrial technologies. TacSat-1 heads for orbit LAUNCH The first flight of Space Exploration Technologies' (SpaceX) Falcon private-venture launch vehicle will carry the TacSat-1 satellite into low-Earth orbit for the US Department of Defense's Office of Force Transformation. The TacSat-1 data communications micro-satellite, being built by the US Naval Research Laboratory, will be launched from Vandenberg AFB, California, early next year. www.fliqhtinternational.com FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 21-27 OCTOBER 2003 5
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