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Aviation History
1989
1989 - 2113.PDF
TECHNICAL: INDUSTRY Aerospatiale venture faces China crisis China's political crisis threat-en's Aerospatiale's plans for a new light helicopter. The com pany has been planning to work with China on the development of a new 2-tonne helicopter in an effort to reduce its share of the cost, put at around FFrl billion ($150 million), and to tap a Chinese market for up to 400 helicopters over ten years. The Beijing massacre could prompt the French Government to curtail new industrial ventures with China, and leave France without an important partner in the four-nation programme. In this event, Aerospatiale and its partners in Australia and Singapore would redesign the machine. The resulting helicop ter would be heavier than the present design, which is desig nated P. 120. "The political situation is very volatile. We have worked with China for 20 years. The French Government will adopt a posi tion and we will fall into line," says Jean-Francois Bigay, direc tor of Aerospatiale's helicopter division. Present estimates predict total sales of 2,000 P. 120 helicopters over ten years. Bigay hopes that, despite the setback, the project will go ahead, with China on board, by the end of the year. The P. 120 is likely to have five seats, a composite airframe, a Fenestron tailrotor, and a glass cockpit, Bigay says. A single turboshaft, either a Turbomeca or Pratt & Whitney Canada unit, has yet to be chosen. Given a go-ahead this year, the prototype could be flying in 1993, and in service by 1996, Bigay says. Performance would exceed that of the present Ecureuil, but the smaller helicop ter would be cheaper. Workshares have not been decided, but assembly would be in France. Additional assembly lines could be established sub sequently, Bigay explains. A joint company would "commercialise" the product. • China wants its helicopter link with France to continue Thomson/Ferranti radar "deal" Ferrand and Thomson-CSF have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) agreeing to co-operate on the next gener ation of active-array electronic scanning radars. Flight under stands that the deal was not publicised to avoid political embarrassment for the parties involved in the European Fighter Aircraft (EFA) radar contest. Active-array electronic scan ning radar is the next-generation technology after the present EFA/Rafale solutions. The tech nology uses multiple solid-state transmitter and receiver modules to give beam-steering without moving parts. Active-array elec tronic scanning also provides better system reliability through "graceful degredation". • Egypt builds F-16 parts General Dynamics has placed orders worth $500,000 with Egypt's Arab' Organisation for Industrialisation (AOI) for the manufacture of spare parts, including aluminium panels, for the F-16C/D. The parts will be made at AOI's Sakr and Aircraft factories. At the contract signing with General Dynamics, AOI's chair man, General Ibrahim al Orabi, said that the group . had won export orders totalling $60 million in the past eight months. He said that an agreement had been reached with Chrysler of the USA to continue Jeep production at the factory of AOI affiliate Arab American Vehicles, and that General Electric had agreed to establish an engine plant. AOI was founded in 1976 by Egypt, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates to develop an integrated Arab defence industry. In 1979, however, Cairo was ostracised by the Arab world as the result of President Sadat's peace treaty with Israel. • FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 8 July 1989 19
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