Paris Airshow News 06-16-15

Paris

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Tuesday 6.16.15

Airshow News

TM

www.ainonline.com

DAVID McINTOSH

RAMP CANDY There’s nothing tastier than Paris in June. And when the biennial Paris Air Show comes to town, Le Bourget Airport is at its sweetest.

Airbus A330-300 Regional Lockheed Martin encourages springs to life with Saudi deal ‘block buy’ option for F-35

by Bill Carey

by Charles Alcock Saudi Arabian Airlines has signed up to be the launch customer for Airbus’s A330300 Regional twinjet. In a deal announced at the Paris Air Show on Monday, the carrier ordered 30 of the new model, plus

30 examples of the A320ceo narrowbody. The new business is worth approximately $8 billion based on list prices, and represented the lion’s share of orders

Continued on page 4 u

The U.S. government is pressing F-35 international partners to make a firmer commitment to the $391 billion program by signing on to a “block buy” of some 450 fighters over three years, Lockheed

Martin said Monday at the Paris Air Show. That would lend certainty to a program that has thus far delivered only a handful of fighters to its eight partners.

Continued on page 4 u

Manufacturers

New Aircraft

People

Electric Flight

Systems Testing

Boeing’s New PAL Boosts Output

Russia, China Co-op on New Widebody

Paraplegic Pilot Makes Paris Debut

Airbus Projects E-Fan First Delivery

‘Fighting Fokker’ Mimics a Rafale

In Renton, Washington, Boeing’s new Panel Assembly Line (PAL) is reaping huge benefits in productivity. By 2018, production should expand to 52 aircraft per month. Page 18

Russia’s United Aircraft Corp. and China’s Comac and Avic are responding to influence from their corresponding countries’ leaders to ensure the co-development of a nextgeneration widebody jetliner. Page 26

Dorine Bourneton lost the use of her legs in a 1991 airplane accident. She has nevertheless pressed on to not only learn to fly, but to perfect an aerobatic routine. She will perform here at Le Bourget on Friday. Page 46

The year is 2017. That’s when Airbus expects to begin deliveries of its E-Fan 1.0 electric airplane. Production of the two-seat trainer will be at a new factory in Pau, southwest France. Page 60

How does a retired airliner live the life of a jet fighter? The French ministry of defense chose a Fokker 100 as its combat systems testbed. Add-ons include the extended nose radome of a Rafale fighter. Page 66

What is today’s best aircraft investment that ensures profitability?

airbus.com Š AIRBUS, 2015. All rights reserved. Airbus, its logo and the product names are registered trademarks.

Airbus Widebody aircraft.

Offering standard 18 inch wide seats in economy. Unrivalled low operating costs of the A330, 25% less fuel burn with the A350 XWB, up to 65% more profit per flight with the A380.

Airbus is the answer.

Al Baker roasts critics, toasts Boeing with order

DAVID McINTOSH

PRESIDENTIAL PARADE French President François Hollande toured the Paris Air Show yesterday, here accompanied by Airbus CEO Tom Enders. During his address, Hollande said aerospace created 10,000 new jobs in the past year, and “we expect as much” through 2017. He also cited the recent success of Dassault’s Rafale, saying, “I have great hopes that the Rafale will know further success. We will have a very good announcement during the airshow.”

Airbus A330 Regional uContinued from page 1

announced so far at Paris by the European airframer, which have a combined value of around $15.2 billion.

Later the same day, GE Capital Aviation Services placed an order for 60 A320neos.

The contract, worth approximately $6.4 billion, will include some of the larger A321neo versions of the new narrowbody. GE has chosen CFM International’s Leap 1A engine as the powerplant for the aircraft. The leasing group’s portfolio of A320 family aircraft is set to top 465, with 120 of these being A320neos.

Airbus also now has a launch customer for its ACJ319neo. Saudi operator Alpha Star will operate the VIP-configured aircraft for charter operations, with delivery to its Riyadh headquarters anticipated in the second quarter of 2019. It placed the order on Monday, but will confirm engine selection and the precise cabin configuration later.

A $4.8 billion firm order for 10 Boeing 777-8Xs and four 777 Freighters gave Qatar Airways CEO Akbar Al Baker yet another chance to take a swipe at American critics who say that it, along with other Middle East carriers, benefits unfairly from government subsidies.

And, during a Paris Air Show press conference, he repeated his threat to leave the Oneworld ­ Alliance in protest at the role of fellow member American Airlines in demanding that Gulf carriers are excluded from the Open Skies route access policy.

Singling out Delta Airlines, Al Baker inferred that Qatar is doing more for the American aerospace sector than its own carriers.

“Of course, no announcement is without controversy with Qatar Airways, so I would like to make a statement,” he told reporters. “I hope that the gentleman at Delta knows that we are creating even more jobs in the United States by ordering more airplanes.”

Meanwhile, Air Lease Corp. placed a firm order worth around $706 million covering an A350-900, an A321ceo and three A320ceos. The deal will take the U.S.based group’s Airbus fleet to a total of 262 airliners.

Airbus launched the A330-300 Regional in September 2013 as a lower-weight version of the twinjet that would be optimized to carry up to around 400 passengers on regional and domestic routes. The original A330-300 was developed for long-haul routes of up to 6,100 nm.

“The A330-300 Regional’s unique flexibility, high capacity and operational capabilities will enable us to expand our domestic and regional network and better absorb growing passenger traffic,” said Saudi Arabian Airlines director general Saleh bin Nasser. “Introducing the A330-300 Regional in our current fleet is an ideal choice and follows our previous commitment to a family of aircraft, which already successfully helped us to achieve our ambitions.” o

DAVID McINTOSH

Airbus’s A320 series, represented by this Qatar aircraft, received a boost when GE Capital Aviation Services placed an order for $6.4 billion worth of A320neos and A321neos.

4 Paris Airshow News • June 16, 2015 • www.ainonline.com

In fact, just last week Delta announced plans to buy 40 Boeing 737-900ERs. However, in its previous most significant fleet renewal move, back in November 2014, the U.S. carrier dealt a blow to the airframer by choosing Airbus A350-900 and A330-900 aircraft in preference to the 787-9.

On his recent comments about the apparently precarious nature of his airline’s membership in the Oneworld alliance, the outspoken Al Baker again made his intentions clear.

“We are only committed to Oneworld provided the spirit in which we joined Oneworld exists,” he said. “If we are being cornered by an airline that invited us to be part of the alliance [American Airlines] and is now acting against our interests… blocking inventory, blocking gates at JFK [Airport], of course we have no [reason] to be in the alliance…If we find that we cannot have a settlement to this very contentious issue, then we will exit from Oneworld.”

F-35 ‘block buy’ urged uContinued from page 1

“Each of the countries associated with the program is being asked right now if they’d like to participate in that, and this would be to make a commitment for the aircraft purchase,” said Lorraine Martin, Lockheed Martin’s F-35 program executive vice president and general manager.

“A block buy enables us…to lock down three years of the program,” she added.

According to Martin, a multinational commitment could comprise 460 to 500 U.S. and partner nation orders from 2018 to 2020–somewhat more fighters than earlier indicated. In a separate briefing on Monday, Mark Buongiorno, vice president of Pratt & Whitney’s F135 engine ­program, said the engine supplier is providing information to the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) for an estimated buy of 150 fighters per year over that period.

“Right now, we’re supporting the DOD with studies to estimate what type of cost reduction will come from this higher production rate procurement,” Buongiorno said. “We’re looking at a three-year procurement [in the] roughly 150-range of aircraft, and engines and spares to go along with that.”

Frank Kendall, DOD undersecretary of defense for acquisition, technology and logistics, announced the “block buy” approach last month while attending the F-35 CEO Conference in Oslo, Norway. This is an annual meeting of partner nations and industry participants

GREGORY POLEK

by Gregory Polek

Qatar Airways CEO Akbar Al Baker reminded his opponents that his orders for Boeing airliners support American jobs.

According to Al Baker, the new 777Xs will be deployed on “ultralong-haul” routes after deliveries start in 2022. For Boeing, yesterday’s order from Qatar means its 777X orderbook now shows orders and commitments for 320 airplanes, the first of which it plans to deliver in 2020.

Separately, Taiwan’s EVA Airways announced its intention to purchase five 777 Freighters.

The commitment is valued at $1.5 billion and covers what will be the first of the aircraft type to join the Asian carrier’s fleet.

Meanwhile, Air Lease Corporation announced new longterm lease agreements with Vietnam Airlines under which eight 787-9 widebodies previously under order will be upgauged to the larger -10 models. o

to discuss the status of the F-35 program.

Lockheed Martin expects the concept will “play into [the] decision making” of partner nations as they go through their various procurement processes, Martin said.

Thus far, Lockheed Martin has delivered two F-35s to the UK, two to Australia, and one to the Netherlands, though all remain temporarily based in the U.S. The company expects to deliver a third F-35 for the UK later this year.

If all partner nations keep to their original procurement plans, the manufacturer expects that by 2020 half of production at its Forth Worth, Texas, facility will be for international F-35s.

Following Martin’s briefing, Lockheed Martin offered an indication of the pressure that is being applied as the F-35 program emerges from its system development and demonstration phase, which is expected to be completed in 2017. The manufacturer and Terma, of Denmark, signed a memorandum of understanding that would secure Terma as a supplier for the F-35 over the life of the program–but only if Denmark selects the F-35 for its fighter replacement program.

Lockheed Martin is offering Danish industry $5.5 billion in industrial participation over a production run of some 3,000 F-35s, said executive vice president Orlando Carvalho. If the Danish government does not select the F-35 “we would respect that decision,” he said. But the long-term participation of Danish industry on the program “would be something that we would have to revisit.” o

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Paris

Airshow News

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FOUNDED IN 1972

DAVID McINTOSH

JAMES HOLAHAN, FOUNDING EDITOR WILSON S. LEACH, MANAGING DIRECTOR

by Bill Carey Taking advantage of the aircraft’s presence in Europe, Honeywell hosted reporters on a rare public flight aboard its Boeing 757-225 test aircraft on Saturday here at Le Bourget Airport, before the Paris Air Show. The avionics manufacturer demonstrated technologies such as its “SmartRunway” and “SmartLanding” (SR/SL) situational awareness aids during the hour-long flight from Le Bourget.

Honeywell (Chalet 106) uses the aircraft, the fifth 757 that Boeing produced, primarily as an engine testbed for its HTF7000 and TFE731 business aviation engines. The starboard side of the jet’s forward fuselage sports a distinctive pylon on which an engine undergoing testing attaches.

Inside, the cabin is configured with several seats in the forward section and several test stations aft. Like Honeywell’s five other aircraft in its flight-test fleet,

the 757 is based at Deer Valley Airport north of Phoenix.

The aircraft also serves as a “flying technology lab” for the variety of flight deck avionics, weather radar and cabin connectivity systems Honeywell produces. The manufacturer recently used it to correlate readings of the RDR4000 IntuVue weather radar system in ice crystal detection trials sponsored by the 16-nation High Altitude Ice Crystals Consortium in Cayenne, French Guiana.

Before arriving in Paris on June 13, the 757 conducted testing in Birmingham, UK, of the satcom hardware Honeywell is supplying for Inmarsat’s Global Xpress Ka-band service, which promises data speeds of up to 50 Mb/s. “It was in the neighborhood, so we stopped by,” said Carl Esposito, Honeywell vice president of marketing and product management.

Grand Caravan EX serving as new special mission demonstrator

by Thierry Dubois Cessna is here in Paris exhibiting a newly configured Grand Caravan EX demonstrator that aims at promoting the aircraft’s special mission applications. These include aerial survey, air ambulance, paratrooper, amphibious

operations, surveillance and training.

Cessna even suggests customers might choose a weaponized variant, as the turboprop single can be manufactured with structural provisions for up to four hard points under the wings. Orbital ATK,

MARK WAGNER

Benefitting from the special mission expertise of its Textron stablemate Beechcraft, Cessna has developed this fully equipped Caravan EX as a demonstrator.

6 Paris Airshow News • June 16, 2015 • www.ainonline.com

BILL CAREY

Honeywell is here to show off its Boeing 757 flying tech lab Honeywell lead test pilot Scott Nyberg, in the left seat, was assisted by pilot Brian Williams during a demonstration here at Le Bourget of the company’s Boeing 757 testbed aircraft.

With Honeywell lead test pilot Scott Nyberg in the left seat, the 757 departed Le Bourget for Châlons Vatry, an airport 100 miles to the east. Before takeoff, the SR/SL system, a software upgrade of Honeywell’s enhanced ground proximity warning system, called out the approaching Runway 25 and issued an “excessive runway time” alert when Nyberg deliberately held back at the threshold.

In high and low passes over Châlons Vatry Airport, Nyberg and copilot Brian Williams prompted the system to issue aural alerts warning that the aircraft was too high, too low or in danger of landing long, all to prevent against the danger of runway excursions. o for example, offers the AC-208 Combat Caravan with Hellfire missiles.

“Having a fully equipped special missions Grand Caravan EX demonstrator in the market allows our customers to experience firsthand the extensive range of capabilities available on this aircraft,” said Dan Keady, vice president of special missions.

The aircraft on display thus features a surveillance console, a medical stretcher, new lightweight seats and a stowable utility seat.

Powered by the 867-shp Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A-140 engine, the Grand Caravan EX boasts a 38-percent improvement over the rate of climb of the Grand Caravan, a 350-foot reduction in takeoff roll and a 10 to 12-knot cruise speed improvement on average. It can therefore takeoff in 1,400 feet and climb at 1,275 feet per minute, reaching cruise speeds of 185 knots and traveling distances of up to 904 nm.

The Caravan sports a Garmin G1000 avionics suite with optional synthetic vision technology. It is based on two primary flight displays and a center multifunction display. Pilots have the ability to upload IFR flight plans on the G1000 to exactly match the intended route.

Magenta rectangular pathways provide a visual window to help pilots follow the intended flight route. o

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Spreading the Thunder, JF-17 goes international which could be a passive or electronically scanned antenna type. Another likely feature of Block 3 is the addition of a chin-station to allow the carriage of a targeting pod without having to give up a weapon station under the wing.

Pakistan has formal plans to acquire 50 Block 3 JF-17s, although that figure could rise.

Aircraft from earlier blocks are likely to be upgraded to the later standard.

The JF-17s being displayed at Paris come from No. 26 Squadron “Black Spiders” of the Pakistan Air Force.

Two-seat Version Forthcoming

Another line of development for PAC and Chengdu is that of the two-seat JF-17B, driven partly by the needs of the export market. A model was displayed at the 2013 Paris show and again this year, while the formal goahead for the project was given around six months ago.

The two-seater is scheduled to fly at Chengdu’s plant in China in December 2016. The JF-17B retains full combat capability, and as much of the existing airframe is being kept as possible.

The design features a humped dorsal spine to restore the fuel capacity displaced by the second seat, in turn requiring a dorsal fin to restore keel area.

In terms of JF-17 powerplant, Air Commodore Mahmood told AIN that, “We’re satisfied with the [Russian Klimov] RD-93, but some customers may want another engine. We have done

A model of the two-seat JF-17B is on show at the CATIC stand.

preliminary studies on the [Eurojet] EJ200 and [Snecma] M88. They are doable.”

One area in which the JF-17 team is expanding options is that of ordnance. Currently, the aircraft is integrated with three Chinese weapons–the PL-5 and SD-10 air-to-air missiles and the C-802AK longrange anti-ship missile. Other ordnance used by the aircraft is produced in Pakistan by the Air Weapons Complex.

Recognizing that potential

customers may wish to use older weapons in their inventories or those from other sources, a dedicated air force flight-test group has been established at Kamra to conduct weapons integration and other trials. The unit is currently involved in testing a GPS-guided kit of Pakistani origin that converts Mk 80-series bombs into precision weapons.

The air force has also implemented an integrated logistics support system for the JF-17, and full support is part of the

export offering being made by Chengdu and PAC. The two companies are both marketing the JF-17 (also known as FC-1), either jointly or independently, focusing particularly on the low cost of acquisition compared with other fighters, as well as the low operating costs that accompany a new aircraft as opposed to the purchase of second-hand fighters. Regardless of which nation secures a sale, the work share for any export deal is similar. o

MYSTERY SOLVED

DAVID McINTOSH

The A400M performing here at Le Bourget is one of the three development aircraft that are still flying. Production A400Ms already delivered are only just returning to active status after the fatal crash at Seville, Spain, on May 9. That accident was caused by incorrect installation of the engine control software, according to Airbus Defense & Security. No similar faults have been found on other production aircraft, the company added.

–C.P.

www.ainonline.com • June 16, 2015 • Paris Airshow News 7

MARK WAGNER

Exhibiting at the Paris Air Show for the first time, the PAC/ Chengdu JF-17 Thunder has secured a first export customer, according to the program office.

Details of the customer, or the number of aircraft involved, remain undisclosed, but the first delivery is due in 2017.

Furthermore, Air Commodore Khalid Mahmood, chief executive for JF-17 sales and marketing, told AIN that there were “12 interested countries at different stages.”

Located at Kamra, Pakistan Aeronautical Complex (PAC) has completed the Block 1 production of 50 aircraft for the Pakistan Air Force, the first eight of which were built as a pre-production batch but which have subsequently been raised to full operational capability. Another 50 aircraft in Block 2 are now in production, of which the air force has taken delivery of four.

The build rate is currently running at 25 aircraft per year, but PAC is investigating increases that might be required in the future. The Block 2 aircraft feature inflight refueling capability and improvements to avionics, electronic warfare equipment and other areas.

Now PAC and Chengdu are working on two major developments for the JF-17.

Pakistan’s planned Block 3 aircraft is still to be defined, but a key area under study is a new radar, of Chinese origin,

DAVID McINTOSH

by David Donald

by Charles Alcock Piaggio Aerospace (Static­ A6) is back at the Paris Air Show with new management determined to get its new Avanti Evo business aircraft back on track and stepping up efforts for its P.1HH Hammerhead medium-altitude long-endurance (MALE) unmanned air system to enter service.

CEO Carlo Logli, appointed last year when Abu Dhabi’s Mubadala Aerospace took over as main shareholder of what had been a family-owned business, freely admitted in an interview with AIN last week that he has been pushing hard for a cultural change needed to make the Italian company more innovative and accountable to customers.

The airframer has invested

around $153 million to consolidate its previously scattered production facilities at a new factory in Villanova d’Albenga.

According to Logli, parts that previously had to move multiple times between Piaggio’s sites in Genoa and Finale Ligure are now moving through assembly much more efficiently on the consolidated assembly line.

This year, Piaggio aims to deliver six Avanti Evo twin pusherprops, and by 2017 aims to ramp up to at least two per month as it approaches an eventual production peak of between 30 and 35 units. A big sticking point, Logli explained, was that even after the Evo achieved initial European certification in December 2014, Piaggio was

forced to make a late change to its landing gear supplier. It imminently expects to complete final approval for the main and nose gear, which now features new steering and anti-skid systems.

“One problem last year was that we had plenty of programs, but no production,” said Logli.

“Our challenge is to achieve a cultural change in the way the company is run with more accountability and a clear sharing of mission and objectives now that we are part of a big international group,” he said. “Before, the [relationship] between the management and shareholders was quite confused. Piaggio was close to collapse a few years ago, but now we are healthy and I hope to have the new culture implemented by the end of this year.”

The upgraded Avanti also features new Hartzell propellers that have reduced noise levels both externally and inside the cabin. “The Evo flies at more than 400 knots and at 40,000 feet, so it is comparable to a

Turkish stand-off missile targets JSF role

by David Donald

Turkish missile house Roketsan expects to conduct the preliminary design review (PDR) of its SOM-J weapon this September, with subsystem design and test activities to commence in November. SOM-J is a version of the company’s SOM (standoff missile) adapted for internal carriage in the Lockheed Martin F-35, but also available for external carriage by other aircraft.

Roketsan (Hall 2a Stand B272) received the first production contract for the original SOM version in mid-2013, having developed the weapon in conjunction with Tubitak-SAGE. The 155-mile-range stealthy cruise missile is already in service with the Turkish air force’s F-4E-2020 upgraded Phantoms and F-16C Block 40 aircraft, while Roketsan has a cooperation agreement with Airbus Defence

and Space to study integration with the Eurofighter Typhoon.

In 2014, the company signed a deal with Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control to collaborate on the development and marketing of the SOM-J derivative. Compared with the original SOM, the F-35 weapon has kinked rear fins, an additional set of small rear fins, revised main wings of shorter span, reprofiled nose section and the engine intake moved from underneath the missile body to the side.

Many of these changes were driven by the necessity to fit the missile into the F-35’s weapons bay. It sports a combination of guidance systems, including GPS, inertial, terrain reference and imaging infrared seeker.

Phases I (feasibility) and IIA (risk reduction) have been completed, and the Phase IIB studies have begun this month, building up to PDR. The first flight tests are due to begin in the second quarter of 2017, initially conducted from the F-16 Block 40.

Roketsan’s newest stand-off missile (SOM) is adapted for internal use on Lockheed Martin’s F-35, but is also available as an external-mount system for other fighters.

8 Paris Airshow News • June 16, 2015 • www.ainonline.com

and an improved online portal.”

Meanwhile, flight testing of the Hammerhead UAS is in progress with the Italian air force. The aircraft, which is based on the Avanti, can conduct missions of up to 16 hours in duration at up to 45,000 feet.

“No other aircraft in serial production can achieve this and it is the only one [in its MALE category] to have two engines and be able to operate in any weather conditions,” claimed Logli. “This is a big advantage for both civil and military applications.”

Last month, Piaggio announced further changes to its management structure led by chief financial officer Giulio Di Negro, chief technical officer Giovanni Bertolone, chief operating officer Eligio Trombetta and chief commercial officer Francescomaria Tuccillo. o

DAVID McINTOSH

‘Cultural change’ brings Piaggio back on track

DAVID McINTOSH

MARK WAGNER

Long recognized as one of the most versatile, efficient business aircraft, Piaggio’s Avanti Evo appears poised for a market comeback.

jet,” said Logli. “Our target customer is someone who wants a very comfortable cabin, not the usual cigar shape, and our cross section is definitely more comfortable [than rival aircraft in the same price range].”

A year ago at Farnborough International Air Show, Hong Kong-based Bravia Capital placed firm orders for 10 Avantis and options for up to 40 more. The first of these aircraft was due to be delivered in the first quarter of 2015.

Customer support has been another area requiring improvement at Piaggio. “We’ve put a lot of effort into this, for example by implementing a power-by-thehour support plan and increasing our spare parts supplies and appointing new repair stations,” explained Logli. “We now have an on-call 24/7 support center

Piaggio’s unmanned Hammerhead medium-altitude, long-endurance (MALE) platform is based on the Avanti airframe. It has an endurance of up to 16 hours.

Development and integration with the F-35 are due to be completed in 2018.

In addition to showcasing SOM-J, Roketsan is displaying a range of its capabilities here at Le Bourget. Among them is the new Teber laser-guided bomb kit, which was publicly unveiled at last month’s IDEF show in Istanbul.

This kit modifies 250-pound Mk 81 and 500-pound Mk 82 bombs into guided weapons that can be aimed with an accuracy of less than 10-foot/3-m circular error probable (CEP), and with capability against targets traveling at up to 60 mph/90 kmh. The Teber kit adds a body strake section, laser seeker on the nose and a tail guidance kit with inertial navigation and GPS/GNSS receivers.

Roketsan has developed the UMTAS weapon that is intended primarily for anti-armour duties, with lock-on before and after launch capabilities over a range of up to five miles. The initial version has a laser seeker (L-UMTAS),

but an imaging infrared version is also being developed.

The missile can be fired from a variety of air, sea and land platforms but the initial application of L-UMTAS is the Turkish army’s new TAI T-129 Atak helicopter. Successful firing tests from the T-129 against land targets have been undertaken, followed recently by firings from SH-60 Seahawk helicopters against maritime targets. Deliveries to the Turkish armed forces are expected to start later this year.

Also forming part of the T-129’s armoury is the Cirit laser-guided rocket, which has also been selected by the UAE for use on its Iomax Archangel border patrol aircraft. Currently in use with the Turkish army’s Bell AH-1W Cobras and on Airbus Helicopters EC635s, Cirit is a contender for the German army’s laser rocket requirement to equip the EC665 Tiger attack helicopter. Roketsan has teamed with MBDA Deutschland to bid for this requirement. o

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French aerospace is thriving, but the work force is dwindling

by Thierry Dubois The French aerospace industry is expecting 2015 to be another very good year, but it is still struggling with finding young production workers. That was the message from officials of Gifas, the industry’s lobbying group, during the association’s annual press conference in Paris in April.

Last year was a record one, as combined revenues amounted to €50.7 billion ($54 billion)–a 2.9 percent increase. The proportion of civil sales has grown to 77 percent and the industry received orders for €73 billion ($78 billion), on a par with the previous record. Gifas president Marwan Lahoud emphasized that aerospace has been the top contributor to France’s net exports.

There were 180,000 people employed in aerospace in France at the end of 2014. “We hired 10,000 people, a net 2,000 of which were new positions,” Lahoud said. The forecast for 2015 is 8,000, but Lahoud warned that these new hires will mainly be replacing retiring workers.

The need for design engineers is on a downward curve. This contrasts with the ever-stronger

need for production workers– sheet-metal workers and welders, for example. This is where human resource managers will have the most headaches.

“We need these workers to help us ramp up,” said Lahoud, who emphasized how tricky such recruitment can be. For instance, a major equipment manufacturer, he said, had to hire Tunisian and Polish machinists for its factory in France because “French youngsters have little appetite for these jobs, although numerically controlled machine tools now look like video games,” he went on.

In another striking example, a supplier of forgings was offering 50 jobs in an area where the rate of unemployment is relatively high. The local employment center contacted 3,000 people and received answers from 300 people, only 100 of whom actually showed up for interviews. Fifty were selected and were trained for three months. This translated into 47 fixed-term contracts.

After one year, 37 were converted into permanent contracts–well below the initial expectation, Lahoud lamented.

DANIEL LINARES / SAGEM / SAFRAN

French aerospace plants, such as Snecma’s CFM56 factory, are ramping up. But finding young workers in sufficient numbers is a growing challenge.

12 Paris Airshow News • June 16, 2015 • www.ainonline.com

This is why Gifas is again betting on its “L’avion des métiers” (literal translation “Find your profession in this aircraft”) demonstrator here at the show.

Visitors can see real, skilled professionals demonstrating their jobs in manufacturing, logistics, design and other areas. This year, the focus on production has been strengthened.

Splitting Time

Gifas members have been satisfied with a program of alternating training–when a young trainee splits time between the company and a specialized school every other week. The number of young employees in such schemes has increased by 50 percent since 2010. However, small enterprises often cannot afford to join. Therefore, Gifas has created a “shared apprenticeship program,” where a large company pays for the time an apprentice spends with one of its smaller suppliers. The number of participants in the program is expected to double this year, from 100 to 200.

Gifas also would like to have its members creating more

partnerships with professional high schools, as Airbus has done in Toulouse and Stelia in Méaulte.

To further help small and medium enterprises (SMEs) improve their performance, Gifas last year launched a program called “Industrial performance.”

Spread over three years, it is about enhancing on-time delivery and quality. Some 400 SMEs are being provided with external consultants, essentially paid for by large corporations and the French state. The consultants come from an association called Space (Supply chain Progress towards Aeronautical Community Excellence, in French), which itself gathers a number of France-based aerospace groups.

The €22.9 million ($24.5 million) program has so far provided 6,600 days of consultancy.

“Twelve months in, we can already see improvements,” Emmanuel Viellard, head of Gifas’s equipment manufacturer division, told AIN. The automotive sector is a distant leader and is expected to remain so, notably because it produces less complex parts. However, Viellard found it worth noting the scrap rate in automotive is one or two per million, while it is around 100 per million in aerospace. Viellard is the CEO of Lisi Group, a supplier of fasteners in both sectors. “Poor on-time delivery is the disease of our industry… we are lagging behind other sectors,” Lahoud added.

Lahoud also expressed worry about France’s military spending planning law. For the 20142019 period, he believes it is at a strict minimum. As of April 9, Gifas estimated that the promised €2.4 billion ($2.6 billion) was late already. Should the situation drag on, the very existence of 100 or so SMEs is at stake, Lahoud asserted. “If you are a large firm, you know how to shift work from military to civil, but if you are a small company this is only theory,” he said.

Lahoud anticipated this year’s order value to be greater than in 2014. Answering skepticism that the industry might not meet Airbus’s goal of 50 A320-family narrowbodies per month, he pointed out that increasing the production rate to 30 had been accomplished in an even less favorable environment. “Some were saying we would never be able to do it,” he said.

Rotorcraft Industry

Speaking specifically about helicopters, Lahoud (who is also chief strategy and marketing officer for the Airbus Group) expressed hope that 2015 will be better for sales.

Since late 2014, the rotorcraft industry has seen improved prospects for military helicopter sales and some recovery in civil activity, he said. Lahoud acknowledged that for the past three years the European rotorcraft maker has faced difficult market conditions. He highlighted declining demand for private/corporate helicopters, adding that even as this sector began to recover, the industry was faced with the fall-out from reduced activity from the energy industry, a condition sparked by depressed oil prices.

As a consequence, the bookto-bill ratio for Airbus Helicopters, which is based in France and Germany, has been smaller than 1:1, said Lahoud. The result for suppliers working for Airbus and other manufacturers was a 20-percent cut in output for 2014, compared with 2013, according to Viellard. Earlier this year, Airbus reported that in 2014 it delivered 471 aircraft and received 402 orders–both representing 5 percent drops compared with 2013. o

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Boeing programs benefit from corporate revamp

by Gregory Polek The stark difference between Boeing’s difficult experience with the 787-8 and the smooth progress it has experienced with its three new airplane programs would seem to be no accident.

It comes after a fundamental reorganization that saw airplane development segregated from production.

In fact, Scott Fancher, Boeing Commercial Airplanes head of airplane development, conceded during a pre-Paris Air Show briefing in Seattle that the company had underestimated the “power” of the decision two and a half years ago. The subsequent application of design and development processes under a

Scott Fancher, Boeing Commercial Airplanes head of airplane development

single model reaped more of a dividend than expected.

“It created an environment where we could flow resources seamlessly from development program to development program and engineers wouldn’t have to re-learn a slightly different way of doing things,” explained Fancher. “The other thing it facilitated for us is learning…so when we learn a lesson on the Max, literally within a week, all of our other development programs know about that lesson.”

At the same time Boeing has sharpened the focus on a design philosophy that better accommodates what Fancher called “produceability, maintainability, supportability and performance.” The resulting simplicity allows for re-use and a greater degree of multi-model commonality. For example, the 737 Max, the 787, the 777 and the 767 Tanker all use the same cockpit displays. “That might sound like a small thing, but now I don’t have design teams all re-thinking what kind of display I’m going to get and how I’m going to architect it into the system,” he said. “And think about the ability for

Boeing’s 777X series is “dead on” schedule, with “watch items” including its developmental GE9X engines and the new composite wing design. Still, the 777X wing draws much of its technology from the 787 Dreamliner, so unplowed ground is minimized.

Boeing to truly speak with one voice to one display supplier, and for that supplier to know that they’ve got a very stable environment with Boeing to work with.”

Engine Exceeds Expectation

Such stability has already manifested itself in the 7879, which entered service on time last August after minimal development and production disruption. Meanwhile, the 737 Max 8 team has just passed 90 percent of its design tasks, ahead of schedule.

The Max 8’s CFM Leap-1B engines, the first of which flew for the first time April 29 on GE’s 747-8 test bed, have performed as advertised, Fancher

insisted (in a rebuke of reports to the contrary).

“The airplane is actually performing better than the expectations we set for it, on the engine side and on the airplane side,” he said. Boeing has set an efficiency improvement target for the Max 8 of 14 percent over the 737-800NG, and 8 percent over the A320neo. Schedules call for factory roll out in the fourth quarter, first flight in the first quarter of next year and delivery in mid-2017.

Fancher added that the program retains a three-month schedule buffer, following its announcement at the last Paris Air Show that development had moved ahead of schedule. “We still have three months of float against our customer commitments and we’ll decide whether we’ll release that to the marketplace or not,” he said.

New Factory

10 to the Max: Boeing’s lessons learned include a new organization of sharing resources between programs, such as the 787-10, above, and the 737 Max development effort, below. Common flight decks among programs are another benefit for end users.

14 Paris Airshow News • June 16, 2015 • www.ainonline.com

On the 777X, schedule and performance remain “dead on,” according to the Boeing aircraft development boss.

So-called watch items include the airplane’s GE9X engines and the composite wing, for which Boeing is building a new 1.3 million sq-ft factory at Everett, Washington.

Despite its extreme length and folding wing tips, the 777X wing traces its design directly from the 787’s composite span, which, according to Fancher, means minimal risk. Since Boeing started designing the airplane it has “refined” certain elements such as the wing fold, with engineers having reduced the parts-count by some 40 percent over the past 18 months.

“The key here is that the design of the airplane has been very stable,” said Fancher. “We haven’t been chasing range, we haven’t been chasing weight,

we haven’t been chasing SFC or aero. So since we’ve had such a stable design, our engineers have had the opportunity to refine their thinking about the design to make it more produceable, more maintainable.”

Fancher said the 777X program team will reach firm configuration, or the point at which it starts detailed design, “later this year.” The company plans to deliver the first production airplane in 2020. By then Boeing expects to have seen the 78710–the stretched, shorter-range variant of the 787-9–in service for some two years.

Carrying some 15 percent more seats than the 787-9 at the same maximum takeoff weight, the -10 will fly up to about 7,000 nm, meaning it will cover 90 percent of all current widebody route structures around the world, by Boeing’s reckoning.

The company’s decision to maintain the 787-9’s maximum takeoff weight in the 787-10 aided its effort to apply commonality traits endemic to the 737 family to a widebody airplane. The resulting 95-percent parts commonality between the two largest Dreamliners means minimal differences in the production of the airplanes, easing the burden on suppliers and “unlocking” productivity and quality in the manufacturing system, explained Fancher.

Now conducting detailed design, the program team will reach 90 percent completion “later this year,” which will be ahead of schedule, said Fancher. “From a performance standpoint, the airplane’s weight, aerodynamics [and] engine performance are all exactly where we need them to be,” he concluded. “We’re seeing no pressure on any of those dimensions either.” o

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With help of a new PAL, Boeing boosts production

Boeing’s new panel assembly line (PAL) cuts flow time by 33 percent.

GREGORY POLEK

Boeing’s 737NG production line in Renton, Washington, now benefits from a new automated panel-assembly process, as the company continues its efforts to prepare for a throughput increase from 42 to 47 aircraft a month by 2017, then to 52 by 2018. The increase will start next year at roughly the same time as Boeing transitions from current-generation 737s to the new 737 Max. The so-called Panel Assembly Line, or PAL, fastens stringers to wing-skin panels at twice the rate Boeing could manage using traditional processes. Mukilteo, Washington-based Electroimpact designed a machine that “normalizes” the panel with an array of lasers that “see” the surface without touching it, allowing it to follow the panel curvature or

contour. The process improves accuracy, consistency and “repeatability,” said Boeing.

Speaking in Renton just before the start of the Paris Air Show, Boeing’s director of Renton factory operations, Marty Chamberlin, noted that the PAL represents yet another major advance in automation as the company prepares to begin running the new 737 Max through the production line by the end of the year.

Chamberlin also stressed the importance of ensuring the introduction of the Max into production does not disrupt what he called the very efficient system Boeing has developed for the NG. “It is going through, I’ll say, validation on NG,” said Chamberlin of the PAL. “But we

GREGORY POLEK

by Gregory Polek

will be using it to produce Max.” Plans call for the Max line– the central line of the three final assembly lines in Renton– to incorporate three positions, where Boeing would build the initial examples as well as perform flight-test installations and other miscellaneous items.

With the new Panel Assembly Line (PAL), Boeing calls its Renton, Washington facility the most efficient aircraft production plant in the world.

The PAL replaces a “legacy” system for skin-to-stringer fastening in which mechanics install some 40,000 fasteners a day, about half of which are done manually. Boeing estimates the PAL will cut flow time by 33 percent, defects by 66 percent, factory “footprint” by 50 percent and injuries by 50 percent.

In Renton, Boeing has also begun the process of building a new “systems installation tool,” which will help to insert blankets, wiring and other systems into fuselage sections before they go to the wing-to-body join area, adjacent to the west line.

Since last year Boeing has restructured the factory floor in Renton yet again and installed the wing-to-body join tool that the two current production lines use, ensuring its production readiness for the Max. Meanwhile, the company has consolidated fuselage systems installation (SI) from two parts, each serving one assembly line, into a single, new three-level moving design tool, allowing the company to more efficiently use the available volume at Renton.

“You can put the fuselage in one section of the tool and it will

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move in a pulsing fashion, much like our moving lines do, but they will pulse, so that the work moves to the mechanic rather than the mechanic continuing to move to the product in our old [process],” said Chamberlin, who described Renton as the most efficient aircraft production plant in the world.

Boeing has commissioned two thirds of the SI tool, where fuselages occupy six of what will become nine positions, and three sets of three airplanes feeding three production lines.

Chamberlin said it takes roughly four days for a fuselage to run through the systems installation tool, immediately before it proceeds to wing-to-body join, gets its landing gear and then down the assembly line.

He said the company expects to fully commission the tool by the end of this quarter. o

UAE’s ISR fleet gets CMC avionics

by Charles Alcock This summer, Iomax USA will start taking deliveries of the Cockpit 4000 avionics suite developed by Esterline CMC Electronics for the Archangel intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) aircraft it is supplying for the United Arab Emirates Air Force and Air Defence. The airframer is already using CMC’s integrated avionics package on the Thrush S2R-660 agricultural aircraft, on which the Archangel is based.

“CMC’s Cockpit 4000 provides a powerful, yet flexible avionics suite that is perfectly suited for the Archangel’s requirements,” said Iomax president and CEO Ron Howard.

“The CMC solution was developed rapidly and cost-effectively, enabling us to offer a premium, tailored capability to our customer, while meeting an aggressive schedule.”

The Cockpit 4000 package for the Archangel supports the two-crew, dual-control aircraft’s front and rear cockpits. The front cockpit consists of three 5- by 7-inch multi-function displays (MFDs), the SparrowHawk head-up display and an Up Front Control Panel (UFCP). The rear cockpit is also equipped with a pair of MFDs and a UFCP.

well as our reputation as a premier cockpit integrator,” commented CMC president Greg Yeldon. “Cockpit 4000 is already flying on numerous military trainers and light attack aircraft.

Expanding our expertise to ISR is extremely rewarding.”

The Iomax Archangel developed for the UAE is being exhibited on the Paris Air Show static display. o

Esterline CMC Electronics is providing its Cockpit 4000 avionics suite for the Iomax USA Archangel multi-role aircraft selected by the United Arab Emirates.

Mature Program

The system runs off a pair of mission computers, which drive the MFDs and UFCPs, providing control and display functions for the high-resolution graphics associated with the navigation and mission data. The mission computers have been integrated with a tactical system computer developed by Iomax that controls the aircraft’s weapons, connects with the electro-optical/ infrared sensor and provides additional functionality.

According to CMC, Cockpit 4000 features a mature and proven operational flight program that integrates an aircraft’s dynamic sensors, and its navigation and communications radios. The Canada-based company maintains that using standardized avionics solutions reduces the amount of integration effort for installation on aircraft, and allows for flexible applications between civil and military roles.

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www.ainonline.com • June 16, 2015 • Paris Airshow News 19

U.S. okays foreign sales of missile defense radar

by Chris Pocock The U.S. government has cleared Raytheon’s AN/TPY-2 ballistic missile defense radar for sale to several allies in its forward-based mode. The large but mobile and air-transportable X-band radar is already cleared for export as part of the Lockheed Martin Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missile system. But when it can be positioned near to hostile territory, the TPY-2 can acquire ballistic missiles in the boost (ascent) phase of flight. That gives more time for air defense command and control systems to react.

Additionally, it allows the radar to cue three-stage SM-3 missiles–another Raytheon product–that can perform an early or mid-course intercept of ballistic

missiles. Only software changes are required to convert the radar for forward-basing.

Aegis Ashore Is In Play

The U.S. Missile Defense Agency has already forwarddeployed five of the 10 TPY-2 radars that it has acquired–to Guam, Israel, Japan, Turkey and “a country in the US CENTCOM region,” which is reported to be Qatar. Four more of the radars are under contract, two for the U.S. and two for the international customers of the THAAD system–Qatar and the UAE. Meanwhile, SM-3 Block IB missiles will be deployed on European soil for the first time by the end of this year. They form part of the Aegis Ashore

The TPY-2 is a large and powerful X-band radar that can still be moved to forward areas for early detection of ballistic missile launches.

Honeywell weather app taps Internet feedback

by Matt Thurber To provide improved strategic weather information to pilots, Honeywell is tapping into the data stream that is available now that most aircraft are connected to the Internet. The new Weather Information Service is accessed via a tablet mobile app, which is continuously updated with the latest weather, with a strong focus on hazardous conditions.

“The idea is to provide something for airline pilots,” said Honeywell Aerospace chief test pilot Joe Duval, who helped develop and test the new Weather Information Service app. The current method of sending weather information to airliners uses the bandwidthlimited ACARS communication network, in a less user-friendly manner. “People expect an easier interface,” he said, and thus

Honeywell opted for the mobile device app approach.

While pilots can use the Weather Information app to view hazardous weather conditions on a map display, another function is to help optimize the flight path.

In addition to updated weather information, the app also offers a 3-D winds-aloft display so pilots can choose the most efficient altitude for their route. Dispatchers can also use the app so that they are looking at the same weather information as the pilots they are working with.

The graphically displayed weather products available on the app are shown in relation to the flight path, although the app doesn’t display own-ship position of the aircraft. The radar and observed precipitation views aid strategic planning, enabling

20 Paris Airshow News • June 16, 2015 • www.ainonline.com

system that is being installed in Romania, part of the second phase of the European Phased Adaptive Approach (EPAA) to ballistic missile defense. Phase one comprised the basing of U.S. Navy warships equipped with the Aegis air defense system (including SM-3 Block 1A missiles) in the Mediterranean theatre. Lockheed Martin is the prime contractor for Aegis.

“SM-3 is the only uppertier missile, and it can intercept ballistic missiles at long range,” noted Dean Gehr, Raytheon’s director for the land-based SM-3 program.

Such exo-atmospheric interceptions can defend an entire region. Gehr told AIN last month that the first test flight of the upgraded Block IIA version was “imminent.” This new version has been codeveloped with Japan, and has a larger rocket motor that provides even more range. It is the version that will be deployed to Poland, as well as on Aegis warships starting in 2018.

Back in 2011, Raytheon campaigned to sell SM-3 missiles to Denmark, Germany and the Netherlands for integration with 10 warships. That initiative failed, but Gehr noted that the U.S. is still seeking more input from European countries to the EPAA. Those countries have deployed homegrown or American missile systems such as the Patriot that provide terminal defense.

But Raytheon believes that pilots to view thunderstorms anywhere in the world and begin planning how they might affect the flight. The app also displays cumulonimbus clouds with forecasted vertical convection and cloud tops, satellite-derived cloud heights and forecasted clear-air turbulence. These features are designed to work in concert with Honeywell’s IntuVue 3-D weather radar, which can help pilots with tactical decision-making closer to an area of thunderstorms. “This is complementary to onboard radar,” said Duval.

The turbulence forecast shows both potential areas of turbulence overlaid on the flight path as well as a vertical profile with altitudes where the turbulence may exist. The user can adjust these views with an altitude selector and a time slider to see how the forecast changes.

Other weather products are available on the app, such as Sigmets, METARS, TAFs, icing forecasts and ATIS broadcasts.

METARS are color-coded on the map and show a sky-cover depiction so pilots can quickly see

The fiery launch of a Raytheon SM-3 Block 1B missile, of the type that will soon be installed in Poland as part of the Aegis Ashore system.

they should develop longer-range defenses. For instance, the use of a TPY-2 radar to cue the Patriot system would provide a “significant” increase in range, Tom Laliberty, the U.S. company’s vice president missile defense, told AIN. The TPY-2 has demonstrated high availability and

the “ability to discriminate,” he added, meaning distinguishing decoys from actual missiles.

Raytheon is still optimistic about selling SM-3 missiles abroad.

Best of all, says Raytheon, teaming the TPY-2 radar and SM-3 missiles would offer allied customers a “game-changer.” o

Honeywell’s Internet-based app shows both potential areas of turbulence overlaid on the flight path and a vertical profile with altitudes where the turbulence may exist.

conditions at airports. Or the user can search for any airport to pull up its weather conditions.

The Weather Information Service app works with any available airborne connectivity service. Because data charges can be expensive, the user can set the auto update time for downloading fresh weather data to a longer interval,

or shorten that interval when more frequent updates are warranted.

Honeywell tested the app on its Boeing 757 with Inmarsat SwiftBroadband satcom and is now flight-testing the app with its JetWave satcom, to run on the new high-speed GX Ka-band service that Inmarsat begins offering this year. o

The fourth MRJ flight-test airplane undergoes wing mating inside MHI’s Komaki South Plant in Aichi Prefecture.

Mitsubishi plays catch up with MRJ program

by Gregory Polek Despite the announcement in April that Mitsubishi would delay the first flight of its MRJ regional jet from this spring to September or October, the company continues to cite a secondquarter 2017 first delivery target.

The first two flight-test airplanes. are fully assembled. Plans call for the first flying prototype to perform envelope expansion and systems tests; the second to carry out performance and function tests; the third to evaluate detailed flight characteristics and avionics tests; the fourth to perform interior, community noise and icing tests; and the fifth to assess autopilot function.

Pratt & Whitney has so far built 13 PW1200G “geared turbofans” for the flight-test fleet, including spares, in Mirabel, Canada, where it plans serial production of the PW1500G for the Bombardier CSeries. For the MRJ, however, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries will assume

responsibility for assembling all PW1200G production examples in Japan.

Mitsubishi Aircraft vice president of sales and marketing Yugo Fukuhara expressed general satisfaction with the performance of the MRJ’s supply chain, but he noted that some second-tier suppliers will likely change. “Also, in the future, we will select second or third options,” he added.

“For example, for seats or other interior systems we need multiple suppliers.”

Speaking with AIN just prior to the Paris show, Fukuhara explained that “feedback on the airplane and subsequent ground testing” prompted the latest delay to first flight. Specifically, he noted a need to review the structural strength of the ram air turbine (RAT) and address certain software bugs.

“According to the progress of the ground test, we found several areas that needed improvement,”

Crews position the first MRJ flight-test article on an apron at Nagoya Airfield, adjacent to MHI’s Komaki South Plant.

22 Paris Airshow News • June 16, 2015 • www.ainonline.com

Fukuhara told AIN. He added that Mitsubishi could have flown the airplane in March as previously planned and ground tested the software and RAT improvements afterward. However, the company decided it would rather wait to fly the airplane until after it implements the fixes, in the interest of efficiency.

The company plans to carry out much of its flight-testing at Grant County Airport in Moses Lake, Washington, in the U.S., to take advantage of its long runways and lack of regular scheduled airline service. Other testing sites in the U.S. include Gunnison-Crested Butte Regional Airport in Colorado, where the company plans to conduct high-altitude takeoff and landing tests. Meanwhile, it has chosen Roswell International Air Center in New Mexico for special runway tests and McKinley Climatic Laboratory in Florida for extreme environment testing.

Mitsubishi Aircraft vice president of sales and marketing Yugo Fukuhara

It also plans to employ 150 engineers at a new engineering center in Seattle to support all the testing activity in the U.S. U.S. Airline Orders

Mitsubishi sees North America as the biggest and most important market for the MRJ, even though pilot union scope clauses at mainline U.S. airlines continue to restrict regional partners from flying airplanes that hold more than 76 seats and carry a maximum takeoff weight of more than 86,000 pounds. Holding firm orders for 170 airplanes from three airlines in the U.S., Mitsubishi traces well over three quarters of its order intake from the country’s regional airlines.

While one might consider such an imbalance risky, Fukuhara expressed confidence that, in fact, scope clauses would loosen to allow for the larger of the two

MRJs, the MRJ90, to fly with the likes of St. George, Utahbased Skywest and St. Louisbased Trans States Airlines. If the major partners don’t manage to negotiate scope clause revisions, said Fukuhara, Mitsubishi fully expects to deliver MRJ70s instead, likely in a dual-class, 70-seat configuration.

“We understood scope clauses at the beginning of the program,” he explained. “This is why we offered the MRJ70 and MRJ90…a maximum weight of 86,000 pounds will not limit the range of the MRJ70. So it will be a marketable airplane under the current scope clause. Without any relaxation of scope clauses, no regional carrier in the U.S. can enjoy next generation aircraft, including the [Embraer] E-Jet E2… so we are very confident in the future [scope clause relief] will come.”

Fukuhara said SkyWest’s schedules call for first deliveries in 2018, by which time Mitsubishi expects to gain certification of the MRJ70, one year after the MRJ90. For Trans States, which plans to take its first airplanes soon after the MRJ90 gains certification in 2017, a delivery delay would seem likely if no scope clause movement happens by then. “If they need MRJ70s because the scope clause is not relaxed, we will discuss with them [the possibility of] an adjustment,” he said.

Apart from SkyWest and Trans States, U.S. startup carrier Eastern Airways, Myanmar’s Air Mandalay, Japan’s All Nippon Airways and Japan Airlines account for the rest of Mitsubishi’s MRJ firm order total of 223 airplanes. Launch customer ANA, which holds a firm order for 15 and options on another 10, now expects to launch service with single-class, 88-seat MRJ90s in mid-2017. The airline plans to use the MRJs to replace at least some of the Bombardier Q400s and Boeing 737-500s now flown by subsidiary ANA Wings.

JAL, meanwhile, has decided to wait until 2021 to concentrate its resources on first introducing Airbus A350s into its network, said Fukuhara. JAL’s plans call for replacing all the Bombardier CRJ200s flown by regional subsidiary J-Air first with Embraer E-Jets, then replacing the E-Jets with MRJs starting in 2021.

The regional network will likely center on a hub at Osaka Itami Airport, from where the airline plans to connect various secondary Japanese destinations. o

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Nearing a milestone, GE9X engine is on track

by Gregory Polek Development of the GE9X “I would say we are working turbofan for Boeing’s new 777X on scale now.” A new plant widebody has shown no sign GE opened last October in of slowing, as engineers at GE Asheville, North Carolina, for Aviation (Chalet 142) prepare mass production of the CMCs the all-new 100,000-pound- in the Leap engine will also serve thrust-class behemoth for what as the supplier for 9X CMCs. the company calls Toll Gate 6.

Big 16-Blade Fan Speaking with AIN recently, GE Aviation’s general manager In the fan, GE has reduced the of the GE9X and GE90 pro- number of blades from 22 in the grams, Bill Millhaem, described GE90-115B to 16 in the 9X while the milestone as the point at increasing the fan diameter from which the company defines the 128 inches to 134 inches, thereby configuration it will use in the improving bypass ratio and the certification program. overall propulsive effiScheduled for certificiency of the engine. cation by the end of To allow for fewer fan the third quarter of blades, GE developed 2018, the engine has a next-generation shown “no issues” composite material that might threaten to and a stainless steel, derail its progress, said rather than titanium, Millhaem, thanks in leading edge. Both large part to the long changes increase blade lead times GE has strength, allowing GE given itself for refinto make them wider, GE Aviation’s general ing the various techlonger and thinner to nologies and design manager of the GE9X and improve airfoil effiGE90 programs, elements needed to ciency. GE plans to Bill Millhaem deliver its promised run its first fan blade10-percent fuel-burn advantage out test in the first half of 2016. over the Boeing 777-300ER’s “This is really our fourth-genGE90-115B. eration composite fan blade,” Part of the fuel-burn improve- said Millhaem. “We just passed ment will come from what GE 50 million hours of operatadvertises as the highest pres- ing experience on the GE90, so sure ratios among any commer- we’re well over 50 million hours cial engine in production; the when you throw in the GEnx 9X design calls for a 60:1 over- blades as well.” all pressure ratio and a 27:1 Over the past year GE compressure ratio in the high-pres- pleted trials on a one-fifth-scale sure compressor. Of course, fan at Boeing’s universal prohigher pressure ratio means a pulsion simulator (UPS) cell in higher operating temperature Seattle, where the engine comin the back of the compres- pany tested performance, acoussor and high-pressure turbine, tics and crosswind operation. necessitating the development “That’s part of our whole stratof new nickel-based disc alloys egy on the engine, which was to and ceramic matrix composites really mature the technologies (CMCs) for the inner and outer well in advance of the certificacombustion liner, the Stage 1 tion program,” noted Millhaem. high-pressure turbine shroud “Basically, every one of the and the Stage 1 and 2 high-pres- technologies that we’ve either sure turbine nozzles. improved on or are introduc“[The CMCs] are in an engine ing on the GE9X will have gone running right now–a GEnx through a maturation and demengine–sized for a GEnx but onstration program…they basiin a configuration designed for cally have to win their way onto the GE9X,” said Millhaem. The the final design.” design of the 9X calls for the One of the other key charactermost extensive use of CMCs ever istics of that design centers on the

by GE Aviation, which also uses high-pressure compressor (HPC), the material in the high-pres- a 90-percent-scale test version sure turbine shroud on the Leap of which ran at GE’s Avio Aero engines under development with subsidiary in Massa, Italy, where its CFM partner, Snecma. engineers completely mapped “CMCs are now ready for the operating envelope and idenprime time,” said Millhaem. tified stage-to-stage loading, for

24 Paris Airshow News • June 16, 2015 • www.ainonline.com

Promising a 10-percent improvement in fuel burn for its GE9X turbofan, right, GE is currently testing its ceramic matrix composites (CMC) technology in GEnxsize engine, above. The test engine’s configuration is set up like that of the 100,000-pound-thrust GE9X.

example. It has since taken apart the compressor for inspection, put it back together with “some enhancements” in the front end and returned it to Italy for more testing. The HPC has now accumulated more than 350 hours of testing, said Millhaem. “So far the data has exceeded our expectations and we’re well on our way to finalizing the design,” he reported.

Changes in the compressor from the GE90 include an increase in the number of stages from nine to 11, leading to the boost in pressure ratio. “I think the big advance is we have improved tools to develop the high-pressure compressor airfoils; [and] we’ve introduced the concept of super-polishing the airfoils, which improves the surface finish and gives us better performance at the individual airfoil level,” explained Millhaem.

The increase in pressure ratio from 19:1 to 27:1 has raised the HPC’s operating temperature by around 100 degrees C, requiring a new powdered metal disc alloy to be used both on the back of the HPC rotor and on the front of the highpressure turbine.

The 9X’s higher temperatures, pressures and flow rates have also led to new advances in GE’s TAPS combustor, on which the company has run single-cup tests with the new higher operating parameters in a new $100 million facility in Cincinnati.

Having now almost finished commissioning the facility, GE plans to perform similar testing on what Millhaem described as a one-quarter or 90-degree sector of the GE9X combustor. “[This will] allow us not only to understand how the individual burner operates, but also to look at the dynamics and the transience as you change fuel flow and power requirements, and how the cups interact with each other,” he explained.

GE is not expecting to run the CMC trials on its GEnx test article until some time in early summer, and plans to run a core engine that is currently under assembly in the second half of this year, before running its first full turbofan engine in the first half of 2016. Testing of that engine will represent the final phase of GE’s technology maturation program, said Millhaem, allowing the company to finalize certification configuration before flying the first testbedmounted engine in the middle of 2017. o

E-JETS

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Initial computer renderings of the proposed Russian-Chinese airliner family appear similar to Boeing’s 787, but the final product could incorporate a more innovative configuration, such as a blended wing-fuselage.

Russia and China co-op on next-gen widebody

by Vladimir Karnozov China and Russia are pressing ahead with plans to jointly develop a next-generation widebody jetliner. The project is led by Russia’s United Aircraft Corp.

(UAC), along with Chinese airframers Comac and Avic.

The plans calls for development of a family of three models. The baseline version of the proposed twinjet would be able to transport 250 to 280 passengers up to 6,476 nm. This would be followed by smaller and stretched versions of the same airframe.

Under the terms of a recently concluded agreement, first flight would be achieved around the middle of 2021, followed by certification in 2024 and initial deliveries. The basis for the agreement forged between UAC, Comac and Avic was an accord reached between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, at their summit meeting in Shanghai last year.

The business plan for the as-yetunnamed program was agreed to last fall. The initial design phase is supposed to be concluded in July, with tasks accomplished by working groups established by the three airframers.

These include groups focusing on technical issues, supply chain, marketing and aftersales support. “Our colleagues from Comac have been enthusiastic about this project, and applying every effort to its development,” commented UAC president Yuri Slyusar, who said that China is “a powerful, reliable and resourceful partner with its own

competencies, growing market and a vision of the way ahead.”

The partners will be splitting development costs estimated at around $13 billion. “This is going to be an international project with a big industrial cooperation,” said Slyusar. “Russia will contribute a substantial number of components.”

UAC’s engineering team is responsible for design of the new aircraft’s wing, empennage and aerodynamic surfaces, which will be made of composite materials. The wingspan is expected to be some 360 feet, with the first example due to be ready sometime around 2019-2020. Overall, the airframe is expected to be composed around 50 percent of composite materials and 15 percent titanium.

An as-yet-unspecified turbofan for the airliner is expected to have thrust in the 77,000- to 88,000-pound range. The engine supplier is yet to be selected, but Russia’s Aviadvigatel is viewed as a likely candidate that could offer a more powerful version of the PD-14 turbofan now being developed for UAC’s Irkut narrowbody MC-21.

According to Aviadvigatel general designer Alexander Inozemtsev, the PD-14’s core would be scaled up by 50 percent. The design house says it can complete the documentation package in three years, beginning after PD-14 certification in 2017.

That said, as has been the case with recent new Russian airliners, early prototypes and production examples of the proposed Russian-Chinese widebody

Spurred by their respective national leaders, officials from China’s Comac and Avic and Russia’s UAC reached and signed an agreement to pursue a common program to design a family of jetliners. The partners will split development costs and expect the first baseline model to be certified around 2024.

26 Paris Airshow News • June 16, 2015 • www.ainonline.com

may rely on a Western powerplant. But UAC and its partners apparently view this as a stopgap solution until they can develop their own next-generation high-bypass-ratio engines. “Our colleagues from Comac and Avic have expressed support of that vision,” insisted Slyusar.

Dreamliner Look-a-like

In a computer-generated image AIN received from UAC, the new aircraft looks similar to the Boeing 787 Dreamliner. But this may not be the final version of the design, with Russian engineers reportedly exploring other aerodynamic options.

For instance, Russian scientific institutions have been studying a configuration based on a highly blended wing-fuselage, with an oval cross section designed for higher lift. This work is being developed by former Tupolev designers under a project called Frigate Ecojet.

Before receiving the command from the top political leaders, Comac and UAC had been working on their own visions of a next-gen widebody. Chinese designers had been working on a project called C929 that would follow on after the C919 narrowbody, using experience achieved on this and the earlier initiated ARJ-21 regional jet. For reference, they considered the Boeing 787.

UAC’s current view of the design is based on extensive research initiated by its Tupolev subsidiary under a project called ShFS (the Russian acronym for widebody airplane). This involves the mating of an Airbus A300-style fuselage to the wing of a Tu-214. It has been conceived to carry up to 300 passengers on flights of up to 2,700 nm.

During initial negotiations with its prospective Chinese partners, UAC offered Ilyushin’s Il-86 and Il-96 as the starting point for the new design. A small number of the four-engine Il-86s flew with Chinese airlines in the late 1980s-early 1990s and earned a reputation for being able to operate out of airports with limited infrastructure, in places such as Urumqi. But, along with other Russian aircraft of the same era, they were also noted for being inefficient in terms of fuel consumption, and this prompted Ilyushin to develop the twin-engine Il-96, powered by a pair of Kuztetsov NK-93 propfans with an extremely high bypass ratio of 16:6.

Negotiations with the Chinese companies appeared to be going nowhere until Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping took a personal interest. For the Russian industry, the alliance with China provides an alternative to partnerships with Western companies that may increasingly be compromised by economic sanctions and concerns over the stability of Russia’s economy. o

TAGBIN RFID SYSTEMS NOW INCLUDES LIVE DATA FEED Supply chain specialist Spectech France has modernized its TagBin radio frequency identification (RFID) tag/Kanban inventory control system to include a live data feed.

The new TagBin Live product is being unveiled here at the Paris Air Show (Hall 2b G140) five years after the original product was launched back in 2010.

Kanban is a scheduling system developed in Japan to support lean or “just-intime” production processes.

According to the Stag Group subsidiary, adding TagBin Live’s real-time data feed removes the need for manufacturers to have supplier personnel located on customer sites and allows them to operate the updated Kanban system themselves.

The system can be combined with Spectech’s advanced supply forecasting tool and Kanban data management software to achieve real-time production tracking and maximize the efficiency of component storage. This approach also does away with the manual processes normally associated with

Kanban systems that are run by company purchasing departments.

The combination of real-time information from RFID tags on production line component bins, and the improved Kanban software, allows companies to forecast demand for up to around 100,000 components. This improves their ability to generate accurate purchasing schedules on a daily or weekly basis.

The Stag Group, with annual revenues of around $38 million and sites in the UK, France and the U.S., has two divisions. Spectech Supply Chain Services helps aerospace and defense firms manage parts supplies, while Aircraft Interiors focuses on design solutions for the aerospace interiors market. –C.A.

Come ‘fly’ Pro Line Fusion at the Rockwell Collins stand

by Matt Thurber For a bit of fun between chalet meetings or a break during a rainstorm, consider a visit to the Rockwell Collins stand (Hall 2b D108) to fly the Pro Line Fusion flight deck in a helicopter simulator.

Rockwell Collins brought the helicopter demonstrator to the Paris Air Show for the first time to highlight the advanced flight deck’s graphical interfaces, intuitive icons and reconfigurable multifunction display windows, including the large displays’ touchscreen technology.

Pro Line Fusion touchscreens are already in operation on Beechcraft King Air turboprops and are the default avionics package for new versions of the King Air 350, 250 and C90GTx. Retrofit versions for the King Airs are also available.

In the helicopter market, Rockwell Collins is offering Pro Line Fusion primarily for civil applications for both light and heavier twin-engine helicopters, with features designed for two-pilot cockpits.

The demonstrator is equipped with normal helicopter collective and cyclic controls, and the copilot position is designed to fulfill a mission-assistant-type role.

This would include manipulating the touchscreens, modifying flight plans, pulling up charts, checking system synoptics and other functions while the pilot maintains both hands on the controls and focuses on flying the helicopter.

Avionics Interface Design

The demonstrator, first unveiled earlier this year at the Heli-Expo show, illustrates Rockwell Collins’s approach to avionics interface design. Pilots can choose either to manipulate the touchscreen displays or use buttons and knobs to make the same changes.

The touchscreen philosophy is simple: touch what you want to change, and the screen shows exactly what can be done to the touched item. Touching a waypoint, for example, shows as one option the ability to select a hold at that waypoint.

The hold can either be a published hold, if one exists, or customizable. “Since Heli-Expo, we’ve had interest from every major helicopter OEM in learning more about the Pro Line Fusion system and what it brings to a helicopter,” said

In the helicopter simulator at Rockwell Collins’s stand, you can sample its Pro Line Fusion synthetic-vision feature. Fusion has attracted interest from “every major helicopter OEM,” according to the company.

Andrew Jetton, Rockwell Collins manager of global strategic marketing for civil rotary wing.

A distinct difference between traditional flight decks and Pro Line Fusion with touchscreens is that the flight management system (FMS) control-display unit (CDU) can be eliminated. All of the FMS functions are hosted in the touchscreen displays, making the interface far more intuitive for pilots. The Pro Line Fusion FMS for helicopter applications also contains helicopter weight-and-balance, performance, transition-to-hover and other rotorcraft-specific functions.

To further accommodate pilots’ needs, especially in helicopters, a cursor control device can be added. For helicopters, this could be mounted on the cyclic or collective so the pilot always has full access to all of the avionics functionality, without having to reach forward to touch a display or down between the seats to press buttons or turn knobs. This also has the

added benefit of allowing the pilot to fly heads-up and not having to look down to manipulate the avionics.

There are other functions that can easily be added to Pro Line Fusion, such as search-and-rescue missions and airborne radar approaches, which are ideal for oil-rig operations. “We’ve continued our strategy of engaging with pilots and operators to make sure we get the design of the Pro Line Fusion [human-machine interface] right for the helicopter operator,” he said, “optimizing for the mission needs of the helicopter and not just adapting a fixed-wing system.”

While Rockwell Collins is working with helicopter manufacturers on forward-fit applications for Pro Line Fusion and touchscreens, AgustaWestland’s AW609 tiltrotor is already equipped with a Pro Line Fusion flight deck with touchscreen features. AgustaWestland’s AW169 also has a touchscreen control, which replaces the FMS CDU. o

www.ainonline.com • June 16, 2015 • Paris Airshow News 27

AIRBUS HELICOPTERS INTRODUCES A NEW NAMING PROTOCOL All in-production Airbus Helicopters are being renamed with an H as the prefix, replacing Eurocopter’s EC acronym.

However, models bearing Aerospatiale’s legacy AS initials will keep them. (One exception is the AS350 B3e Ecureuil/ AStar, renamed H125.)

In the future, single- and twin-engine models will no longer be distinguished by a 0 or 5 at the end of their name.

Also, an M at the end of the name, such as H225M (instead of EC725), denotes a military version.

–T.D.

Old Name

The new Airbus Helicopters H160 will be easily recognizable by its Blue Edge blades (for quieter operations), canted Fenestron and biplane stabilizer.

Airbus Helicopters gears up for flight testing its H160

by Thierry Dubois Airbus Helicopters is here exhibiting a full-scale mockup of its H160 medium twin, a long-awaited successor to the Dauphin family designed to compete with the AgustaWestland AW139 on the 12-passenger market. Previously codenamed X4, the clean-sheet design features Blue Edge main rotor blades for quieter operation, a canted Fenestron tail rotor for increased payload and the Helionix avionics suite, developed in-house, that can also be found on the EC145 T2 (now renamed H145) and the EC175 (now H175). Other innovations include a fully composite airframe, a biplane stabilizer–for improved main rotor efficiency–and an electrically actuated retractable landing gear.

The first flight of a prototype is planned for this year with entry into service in 2018. The H160 was unveiled at the

U.S. Heli-Expo show in Orlando, Florida, in March.

For an offshore oil-and-gas mission, the H160 will offer Class 1 takeoff performance for 12 passengers and a 120-nm radius of action. In search-and-rescue, hover out of ground effect can be maintained at up to 5,000 feet, and range reaches 450 nm with a 20-minute reserve.

The “smooth cruise speed” will be 160 knots, without a counter-vibration system.

Same Payload At One Ton Less

Airbus Helicopters’ marketing people see this as equivalent to the AW139’s performance, “for one metric ton less.” The H160 is said to be in the 5.5- to 6-ton category (12,000 to 13,000 pounds), while the AW139’s optional mtow has been raised to seven tons (15,400 pounds).

Airbus estimates the H160 will have a

REVOLUTIONARY X4 HAS EVOLVED SINCE 2011 In its definitive form, the Airbus Helicopters (née Eurocopter) X4 is far from the early design unveiled in June 2011. At the time, a radically new man-machine interface was envisioned, including touchscreens, other advanced displays and fly-by-wire (FBW) controls. Former Eurocopter CEO Lutz Bertling used to stress that pilots would benefit from a more harmonious flight experience. In 2011, he was quoted as saying that someone sitting in one of the front seats would miss something: the cockpit.

According to Airbus Helicopters officials, the company is now focusing on innovations that “bring real value to the customer.” FBW controls, for instance, were eventually deemed unsuitable for a medium civil helicopter, and more suited to heavy civil models or military versions. The weight saving achieved by adopting FBW would have been marginal, and the cost very expensive, the officials said. “The autopilot already does a lot of things FBW controls would do,” H160 designers told AIN. –T.D.

28 Paris Airshow News • June 16, 2015 • www.ainonline.com

fuel-burn advantage of 15 to 20 percent over the AW139.

The five Blue Edge blades, already seen on an EC155 demonstrator, will bring a 3-dB improvement over the noise level of a production EC155. The shape also helps lift–the enhancement is expected to yield an increase in maximum gross weight of up to 220 pounds. The 12-degree-canted tail rotor is the first such design with a shrouded Fenestron. It combines its antitorque role with a vertical-lift component, which is said to increase payload by some 90 pounds.

The third major aerodynamic feature is the biplane stabilizer. It keeps its function in forward flight and increases stability in approach, according to its designers.

It also reduces the masking effect such a surface has on main rotor thrust–the ­bottom line is another 110 pounds of payload improvement.

In systems, the electric landing gear is seen as lighter and safer than its hydraulic equivalent. For safety, the key is to eliminate high-pressure hydraulic fluid lines below the cabin floor.

The Helionix suite is very close to that of the EC175, based on four 6-inch by 8-inch displays. A major difference is the return of the overhead panel for engine controls. Cursor-control devices and a touchscreen will be optional.

The airframe is all-composite, most materials on the H160 being similar to those found on the military NH90.

Airbus expects a reduction in maintenance needs and “maximized occupant safety.” An innovation on the bearingless Spheriflex rotor hub is the use of thermoplastics for lower-cost manufacturing, reduced weight and, above all, damage tolerance–any cracks would propagate very slowly.

Due to an increased need for power, the

New

EC120 Colibri

H120

AS350 B3e Ecureuil/AStar

H125

AS355 Ecureuil/TwinStar

AS355

EC130

H130

EC135

H135

EC145

EC145

EC145 T2

H145

AS365 N3+ Dauphin

AS365

EC155 Dauphin

H155

X4

H160

EC175

H175

AS332 C1e/L1e Super Puma

AS332 C1e/L1e

EC225 Super Puma

H225

1,100- to 1,300-shp Turbomeca Arrano 1A is now the sole-source engine for the H160. However, the Pratt & Whitney Canada PW210E, which was previously an option, will still be installed on the first H160 prototype.

A Matter of Style

The design of the H160 has not been about only technical details, as the designers have also paid close attention to styling. One strong motivator in the design was the history of the company, but even stronger was the style bureau’s desire to show that this is a brand-new aircraft and to give it a strong identity, “which could make it as recognizable as a Dauphin.”

Three prototypes–PT1, PT2 and PT3–are to participate in the flight-test program. They will be joined by a preproduction aircraft (PS01) in flight tests.

An EC155 demonstrator has been used in helping refine the Blue Edge blades, the stabilizer and the canted tail rotor and it will continue to support the H160’s development.

Airbus plans to begin taking orders next year. o

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PurePower Geared Turbofan Engines Paris Air Show: C2

Embraer E175s fly in the colors of all three U.S. legacy carriers, including United Airlines.

Embraer’s sales strategy supports residual values

by Gregory Polek offer a clue to at least the level of confidence shown by the financial community in the products and the companies that stand behind them.

While appearing at the International Society of Transport Aircraft Traders (ISTAT) conference in Phoenix in March, Bombardier Commercial Aircraft vice president of business acquisition Ross Mitchell insisted that “a lot of people are interested in financing the CSeries,” notwithstanding criticism from analysts over the company’s historically heavy reliance on export credit agency backing. Of course, Embraer turns to its own credit agency as well for a bit less than 20 percent of its sales, but Slattery warned of overreliance on ECA financing.

“They play a very important role, and I would also say that Embraer is grateful for the support that we get from the Brazilian government, specifically through BNDES in their support of our program,” Slattery told AIN at the conference. “I do believe that...there is a positive correlation...of poor residual values when you have programs that have an overreliance on ECA financing.”

The reason, said Slattery, lies in the benefits inherent in the

EUROPE APPROVES ARCHANGEL’S LOW-COST ADAHRS SOLUTIONS The European Aviation Safety Agency recently issued a technical standard order covering C4c, C5e, C6e, C88a and C106-A1 approvals for the AHR150A and AHR300A air data attitude heading reference systems (ADAHRS) developed by Archangel Systems. This means the equipment is now cleared for installation on aircraft operating under Part 23, 25, 27 and 29 rules, and it is already approved in the U.S. by the Federal Aviation Administration.

Scandinavian Avionics recently secured the first supplemental type certificate for the systems. This covers installation on Textron’s Beechcraft King Air family of twin turboprops.

According to Bill Dillard, Archangel’s director of emerging technology, the two systems are suitable for retrofit on a wide variety of fixedwing aircraft and helicopters that do not yet have ADAHRS. “The price point is moving down for this equipment,” he told AIN, adding that both ADAHRS units can be exported worldwide without any restrictions under U.S. ITARS rules.

The AHR150A and AHR300A units use micro-electromechanical sensors and sophisticated blending algorithms to give performance normally associated with fiberoptic gyro systems, but with less costly equipment that is significantly smaller and lighter, as well as requiring less power. The software for both ADAHRS systems is qualified to DO-178A mission-critical standards. The AHR150A unit is already in use on both fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters operated by the UK military’s special forces and by Airbus Military.

U.S.-based Archangel Systems is exhibiting at the Paris Air Show as part of the state of Alabama delegation (Hall 3 Stand E128).

–C.A.

30 Paris Airshow News • June 16, 2015 • www.ainonline.com

financial community’s familiarity and commitment with the asset. If an export credit agency accounts for the asset’s primary source of financing, a crisis in confidence develops. “The investor community gets nervous if the only form of debt financing is the sovereign ECA, [and] that probably doesn’t bode well for long-term residual values, and that becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy,” noted Slattery.

Still, for Embraer, the most important driver of residual values lies with a broad operator base and, according to Slattery, the company has set a “hardwired plan” to increase the number of E-Jet operators from 68 today to at least 100 by the fourth quarter of 2017. Already, customer diversity does not appear to present a problem. “We have airlines operating in 48 countries, operating as LCCs [low-cost carriers], operating as network carriers or legacy carriers, operating as regional airlines...so there’s a diversity of business plans...airlines with a diversity of business plans operating in all five continents,” said Slattery.

Targeting Asia-Pacific

But while E-Jets account for 80 percent of the in-service jets carrying fewer than 130 seats in China, for example, Embraer’s penetration of the Asia-Pacific market remains relatively shallow, prompting management to recently commit substantial attention and resources toward that region. “I’m very confident of our ability to open up new customers in Asia-Pacific over the course of the next 24 months outside of the Chinese market,” said Slattery. “We have significantly beefed up our human resources in our Singapore office to address that market, and I’m very excited about what’s in the works out there.”

Embraer Commercial Aviation chief commercial officer John Slattery addresses delegates at the ISTAT Americas conference in Phoenix.

GREGORY POLEK

Embraer’s incremental and considered approach to all its product placement endeavors appears to have served it well, not only in the number of orders its E-Jet line of narrowbody jets has collected over the years, but in the company’s ability to support the residual values of the airplanes already in service. Now as it prepares its new E2 line for entry into service starting in the first half of 2018, Embraer (Chalet 393) thinks it has positioned itself for a long production run without satiating the market’s appetite for the current line of E-Jets.

Embraer Commercial Aviation chief commercial officer John Slattery attributes the strong start to the E2 program to Embraer’s strategy of avoiding direct competition with Boeing and Airbus and its decision to adapt the E-Jet airframe rather than introducing a “clean sheet” design. In contrast, Embraer’s main competitor, Canada’s Bombardier, promotes its CSeries jet as just the kind of clean-sheet exercise it believes the market needs. While the question of which approach ultimately proves the more prudent remains open for now, the range and ready availability of financing instruments to customers could

Embraer recently secured its first sale in Indonesia, a market Slattery calls “custom-built” for E-Jets due to the country’s geography and demographics. The new customer, Kalstar Aviation, also launched the ATR turboprop in the Indonesian market, where airlines such as Garuda and Lion Air have given the Franco-Italian airframer some of its biggest sales to date.

Of course, ATR can trace the success of its ATR 72-600 largely to operators’ familiarity and positive experience with the not dissimilar ATR 72-500, and systems commonality between the E1s and E2s accounts for yet another important factor in ensuring residual values of Embraer’s installed base, added Slattery. In the cockpit, similar Honeywell Primus Epic avionics systems promise a relatively seamless pilot transition from one model to the other. Pilots moving from the E1 to the E2 will not need extra simulator training, for example. “That’s actually got a positive impact on residual values of the E1s, because airlines can continue to operate the E1s with great confidence, knowing that even as they introduce the E2, they can [deploy] their pilots comfortably, moving between the E1 and E2, in the exact same way Airbus will experience with the

[A320] Ceo and the Neo and Boeing with the [737] NG and the Max,” explained Slattery.

Finally, by the time the Pratt & Whitney PW1000G “geared turbofan” finds its way into service with the first E190-E2 in the first half of 2018, variants of it will already have flown many hours on the Bombardier CSeries and Airbus A320. Although not a GTF pioneer, Embraer can reasonably claim that the experience of earlier operators will help alleviate “teething pains,” instilling still more confidence in the airplanes’ reliability within the airline market and on the part of financiers.

“By the time Pratt & Whitney’s geared turbofan gets to us, it will have roughly two and a half million hours on other platforms,” said Slattery. “That engine is well tested by the time we get to it.”

On the question of on-time certification of the E190-E2 in the first half of 2018, Slattery compared Embraer’s prospects with that of Boeing and Airbus, both of whose re-engined narrowbodies appear firmly on or ahead of their original schedules. “We’re very confident that Embraer will enjoy the same discipline with our entry into service,” he said. “And our customers are voting with their checkbooks.” o

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Specialist ATE has four paint shops at Chateauroux Airport, each capable of accommodating up to a widebody airliner.

More maintenance business is Chateauroux Airport’s goal

by Thierry Dubois Châteauroux Marcel Dassault Air­ port (Hall 4, G106), in central France, is striving to expand maintenance, repair and overhaul activities, in addition to boosting cargo flights and training. The construction of a new 100,000-sq-ft maintenance hangar was to begin this spring, which involves replacing the existing air traffic control tower. The goal is to create a one-stop shop for aircraft maintenance and modifica­ tion–“Châteauroux Air Center.” As for freight operations, Châteauroux air­ port executives hope to eventually dou­ ble the current throughput of 4,500 metric tons per year.

Dismantling and recycling aircraft and parts, once touted as a major activ­ ity there, are still offered, but airport managing director Mark Bottemine no longer wants to emphasize it. “This used to be fashionable, but now we don’t like the image of a graveyard,” he said. Bottemine would rather focus on expanding the cabin modification busi­ ness. A total of 98 acres is available south of the runway.

Châteauroux already has a strong player in aircraft painting. Specialist ATE (part of Air Works group) operates four paint shops that can accommodate aircraft ranging in size from a light busi­ ness jet to a widebody airliner. ATE has capacity to paint 100 aircraft per year– either from “green” condition or repaint­ ing jobs, including stripping and prep.

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Yanking and Banking

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The FAI World Aerobatics Championships 2015 will take place at Châteauroux from August 20 to 29 this year. It will see the world’s best 60 aerobatic pilots competing. FFA, the association for light aviation in France, is the organizer and intends to attract a large audience. n

w w w. n h i n d u s t r i e s . c o m

NHI_Corpo_mili_124x318_AIN_0515.indd 1

32 Paris Airshow News • June 16, 2015 • www.ainonline.com

21/05/2015 16:37

This year, ATE is planning on paint­ ing 90 aircraft in Châteauroux. The aver­ age lead time is 12 days for an entire new livery. This depends less on the size of the aircraft and more on the complexity of the paint scheme, ATE CEO Christian Lalane explained.

For pilot training, Châteauroux air­ port offers a friendly operating environ­ ment. The runway is more than 11,000 feet long, with no significant obstacles or ter­ rain in the vicinity, and there is little traf­ fic. A number of airlines use the runway, and Airbus has found it suitable for some flight-test operations, Bottemine said.

A training center for airport firemen, C2FPA, can be found on site, too. It is equipped with two full-size mockups–one Airbus A320 and one Boeing 747–to sim­ ulate airframe and engine fires, for exam­ ple. The technical content of the courses is constantly updated based on close con­ tact with manufacturers. “We’d better know the diameter of the engine’s com­ pressor if we don’t want to waste water by only hosing the fan,” C2FPA CEO JeanMichel Azémar said. The training pro­ grams are also ecologically friendly, he said. “We use rain water only.”

Also, C2FPA maintains complete training records of firefighting personnel, an important consideration. Sometimes accident investigators ask for documents that substantiate the proficiency of fire­ men at an airport where a crash took place, Azémar added. C2FPA, which trains some 1,200 firemen every year, also offers training in wildlife hazards on air­ ports. In April, it received “full member” status in ICAO’s Trainair Plus program– a network of training organizations and industry partners. o

INDUSTRY LEADER IN AVIONICS INNOVATION See us at Paris Airshow #3B158

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The Airlander 10 was previously the Long-Endurance Multipurpose Vehicle (LEMV), seen here emerging from its hangar at NAS Lakehurst prior to its one and only flight in 2012.

Britain’s Hybrid Air Vehicles buoyed by crowdfunding site

by Chris Pocock A return to flight in the UK for a huge hybrid airship now seems assured, following a fundraising exercise by its maker.

Hybrid Air Vehicles (HAV) is receiving more than $3 million from nearly 900 investors via CrowdCube, a crowdfunding website. The company had hoped to fly the Airlander 10 this year, but now says that won’t happen until the end of the first quarter of next year. The 300-foot long airship flew just once in the U.S. in 2012 as the long endurance multipurpose vehicle (LEMV), a project sponsored by the U.S. Army and subsequently cancelled after nearly $300 million had been spent.

Fundraising documents reveal that HAV received $90 million from the U.S. for providing the LEMV platform. The British company was a subcontractor to Northrop Grumman, which briefed the ambitious project here at Paris back in 2011.

Historic Site

HAV, which retained the intellectual property of the hybrid design, paid the U.S. government $301,000 for the LEMV hardware, minus the surveillance sensor payloads that Northrop Grumman was integrating. The Airlander 10 currently rests within one of two giant hangars at Cardington near Bedford. It was built in 1915, helping launch the golden age of airships.

Until the latest fundraising, HAV had been financed by $14 million worth of private investment, supplemented by recent technology and regional growth grants worth $7.5 million from the British government. The development

of airships in the UK and elsewhere has been littered with failures, so the recent public and private investment is a vote of confidence in HAV’s ability to bring an innovative technology to market.

Hybrid airships combine aerostatic lift from inert helium gas with aerodynamic lift and vectored thrust. On the prototype Airlander 10, the thrust comes from four Thielert 325-hp turbocharged V8 diesel engines mounted fore and aft each side of the 1.34 millioncubic-feet envelope. They drive threebladed ducted propellers and were run again for the first time last February.

The envelope of the Airlander 10 is made from a multi-layered weave of modern materials inflated to just above atmospheric pressure. The 150-foot long flight deck and payload module is carried beneath the envelope and made from composite materials.

HAV said that the market for this innovative technology over the next 20 years has been independently valued at more than $50 billion, of which two-thirds is commercial rather than military.

After the return to flight, including a 200-hour test program, the company plans to demonstrate the Airlander 10’s utility in two key roles: point-to-point heavy lift into remote areas; and persistent and low-cost flight for search, survey and surveillance. Communications relay is another possible application.

Potential civilian, military and parapublic agency customers would fund the demonstration flights, according to

The Airlander 50 would be a scaled-up version of the hybrid airship, capable of carrying up to 60 metric tons.

HAV, allowing production to start in late 2016. The company formally submitted a type certification application to EASA two months ago.

Last year, Selex ES agreed to partner with HAV to provide sensors for a proposed demonstration to the UK Ministry of Defence. HAV also expects to run a trial with Ocean Sky, a Swedish company with some government backing that is investigating how awkward loads such as wind turbine blades could be delivered to remote locations.

In the unmanned surveillance role, the Airlander 10 could fly for up to 21 days

carrying a one-metric-ton payload. In the cargo-carrying role, it could carry a payload of 10 metric tons at a cruise speed of up to 80 knots. A passenger module could be substituted, with seats for 48.

HAV is quoting a price of $40- to $50 million for the bi-hulled Airlander 10, depending on role fit. But one of the great benefits of the hybrid airship concept is scaleability. HAV is designing a tri-hulled and turboprop-powered version designated Airlander 50 that is 2.7 times larger by envelope volume that could carry up to 60 metric tons at a cruise speed of 105 knots. o

MARK WAGNER

DELIGHTFUL DOGWHISTLE

The massive Royal Airship Works sheds at Cardington, UK, where HAV is based, date back to the early days of lighter-than-air flight. HAV’s Airlander is stored in the structure to the left, which once housed the R101.

A member of the four-ship Pattrouille Trenchant aerobatic jet team taxis in here at Le Bourget. Their Fouga Magister jets, veterans of the French air force training command, are known for their distinctive V-tail configuration, and also for the high-pitch whine of their Turbomeca Marboré engines. Note the canopy-top periscope for the rear seat occupant.

The Lockheed Martin Skunk Works has been working on hybrid airship designs since the early 1990s. In 2006, it flew a one-third-scale demonstrator designated the P791 at Palmdale, California.

LM competed for the U.S. Army’s LEMV requirement, but lost to Northrop Grumman.

Since then, behind the scenes the Skunk Works has kept a small team working on refinements to the design, including the flight control system; the air cushion landing system; vectored thrust control; and manufacturing technology for the envelope materials. The team has also prompted the FAA to develop hybrid certification criteria (HCC).

Like HAV, Lockheed Martin believes there is a big potential for hybrid airships to serve the remote transport market. At a briefing here this morning, entitled “The Road Not Needed,” the company will introduce Hybrid Enterprises, the company it has created to drive commercial sales and advise future operators. It may also confirm the first sale to Global Hybrid, a California-based startup. –C.P.

34 Paris Airshow News • June 16, 2015 • www.ainonline.com

DAVID McINTOSH

Lockheed Martin To Launch Hybrid Sales Drive Here

Aerospace is leading the charge in leveraging 3-D printing tech

by Charles Alcock Aerospace and defense firms are at the forefront in the adoption of 3-D printing processes that promise significant improvements in production flexibility and reductions in overall manufacturing costs. According to John Schmidt, managing director for the North American arm of consulting group Accenture, the technology, also known as additive manufacturing, will be a major theme of this year’s Paris Air Show, with companies gaining a clearer understanding of what it will take to reap the full benefits.

“3-D printing enables airplane parts to be made in various locations, and this simplifies supply chains and creates more economical warehousing of parts,” Schmidt told AIN. “Using this customizable technology, manufacturers can be more innovative in designing products. If you currently have a supply chain measured in 14 to 18 months, this can go down to weeks and that gives you real benefits in terms of saving working capital. And manufacturers can produce a part where they need it, when they need it.”

Companies are having to make significant investments in 3-D printing equipment and processes, resulting in higher direct costs than many traditional manufacturing techniques, countered by the promise of eventually reducing total costs resulting from the increased flexibility they are already delivering. For instance, supply chains stand to be rationalized significantly through the ability to produce parts in multiple locations closer to customers. In some cases, parts can be made lighter, contributing to aircraft fuel savings, while not being compromised in terms of strength.

At the same time, the potential applications for additive manufacturing are set to increase as technology improvements allow more materials to be “printable.”

In addition to the plastics and photosensitive resins that have been used to date, ceramics, glass, metals and metal alloys are now being introduced to the mix, as

3-D Printing To Be Highlighted at Dubai 2015 The Dubai Airshow plans to showcase 3-D printing technology this year with the addition of the 3-D Printshow exhibit. Scheduled to take place in a dedicated pavilion at the Dubai Airshow from November 8 to 12, 3-D Printshow Dubai will feature exhibitors such as Stratasys, Ultimaker, BigRep and D2M demonstrating their technologies in the hall alongside a total of some 1,100 exhibitors expected by organizer F&E Aerospace.

Also known as additive manufacturing, 3-D printing has emerged as an increasingly prevalent tool for companies such as Airbus, RollsRoyce and Boeing, all of whom have cited its importance within their supply chains and for final manufacturing of components. –G.P.

are thermoplastic composites infused with carbon nanotubes and filters.

GE Aviation has made a strong commitment to additive manufacturing and the progress it has made was highlighted by the recent first flight of a GE90 engine fitted with additive manufactured housing for the T25 temperature/pressure sensor (located in the inlet to the high pressure compressor, it is being retrofitted into more than 400 GE90-94B engines).

However, the U.S.-based group is implementing the technology one step at a time and takes the view that the full benefits might take some time to materialize.

According to Greg Morris, GE Aviation’s general manager for additive technologies, additive manufacturing is reducing the weight, number of parts and overall complexity of assemblies, as well as delivering improvements in their durability. “As we move forward, we continue to explore where additive manufacturing makes sense and cost plays a central role,” he told AIN. “We trying not to look at this purely in terms of want we can achieve today, but what we might be able to leverage in five, 10 or 20 years from now.”

Engineers Must Think Differently

A lot of work is going into improving the 3-D printing machines so that they can deliver increased output rates. But Morris explained that companies have to retrain engineers to more effectively design products using additives. “It can be very difficult for engineers to think in terms of the layered additive approach [to producing parts], rather the traditional subtractive technologies [involving materials being removed from an existing block of material], and the best guide is to look at how nature does it,” he explained.

“It’s a moving target, but for now it mainly makes sense to use additives for fairly small components,” he said. “The limiting factors are the size of the part that we can make in our powder-bed system, and also the complexity of developing the right materials to use. We’ve had to develop a detailed database of materials and how they can be used to design components, taking account of factors such as their tensile strength.”

This year, GE began operations at its new high-volume additive manufacturing facility in Auburn, Alabama, and eventually this facility will be filled with banks of machines “printing” parts around the clock. For now, the engine maker intends to keep additive manufacturing in-house, but eventually it expects to help its vendors to produce parts remotely.

Additive manufacturing is by no means a flawless process and human intervention and monitoring is still essential for quality control. “For some time to come, we will have to have a very strict inspection regime,” said Morris. “Additives are

A fuel injector made by UTC Aerospace Systems, right, and a housing for the T25 sensor in the GE90 engine are prime examples of additive manufactured parts.

great in terms of the geometric freedom they give, but their surface finish can be a drawback and we’ve had to come up with techniques to deal with rough surfaces.”

Relatively slow production rates are another limitation. “With the limited throughput of today’s machines, we have to focus on components that have fairly high value propositions, but the rate of production could be five to 10 times faster in the future,” said Morris.

Eventually, GE expects to be able to use 3-D printing to produce around 45,000 examples of the same part annually. Ultimately, it estimates that this may reduce the cost of producing an item such as a fuel nozzle by as much as threequarters, partly because it will be made in one piece, rather than by having to assemble as many as two dozen pieces.

UTC Aerospace Systems recently opened a new materials research laboratory in Windsor Locks, Connecticut, and this is a focal point for the aerostructures and systems manufacturer’s efforts to advance additive manufacturing. “There is a lot of hype around this and there are some significant limitations,” cautioned Dave Carter, the company’s senior vice president for engineering and quality.

The U.S-based group has defined a list of around 100 part numbers that it could produce with 3-D printing, including items such as brackets, impellers, rotors, fuel injectors and heat exchangers. In its view, advanced metals, such as nickel and titanium, offer greater potential with the manufacturing process than plastics. For instance, some parts can be built up from titanium wire, rather than having to machine it out from a larger block of titanium.

Size Matters

“As we look at the capability of the machines, the main limiting factor is their size [typically around one cubic foot],” said Carter. “The production rate still seems pretty slow and what we really need are multiple laser and optical systems in a single machine. We need second- or third-generation equipment.

The long-term benefit will be in taking a design-for-additive approach, using tailor-made materials and we could be starting this later this year or in early 2016.”

According to Accenture’s Schmidt, 3-D printing should bring significant benefits to spares and service provision by optimizing supply chain. But for now this might have limited impact in that most of the existing fleet of aircraft do not have parts made from additive manufacturing.

He also flagged up the challenges posed by

having to ensure that exactly the right 3-D model is used for additive manufacturing, meeting airworthiness requirements and protecting intellectual property.

“Where the industry is making progress today is in the materials technology and the fact that the cost [of additive manufacturing has come to the point that leveraging it finally makes sense, and there is now the ability to print somewhat larger parts,” said Schmidt. “We expect 3-D printing to take the same route [in aerospace manufacturing] that robotics did, and with that the first concerns were safety issues.”

In his view, for Western manufacturers the technology “will change the equation in terms of whether to build or buy [a part] because there won’t be a labor rate issue and so it changes the calculus in terms of time and money.” Accenture has extensive experience of helping companies to manage many aspects of digital design, production and support of products through their full life cycle.

Lockheed Martin is now working with the U.S. defense department, Cincinnati Tool Steel and Oak Ridge National Laboratory on plans to 3-D print the endo- and exto-skeletons for F-35 fighters, including bodies, wings, internal structural panels, embedded wiring and antennas. Making larger parts like these will involve big gantries with computerized controls to move the printers.

As of last month, additive manufacturing specialist Stratasys had produced more than 1,000 3-D printed parts for the Airbus A350XWB. The airframer started working with Stratasys back in 2013 as part of a strategy to maximize flexibility in the program’s supply chain and avoid delays. o

www.ainonline.com • June 16, 2015 • Paris Airshow News 35

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MORE TO BELIEVE IN

Trent 1000 track record makes R-R ‘very proud’

With operational reliability numbers of 99.9 percent, Rolls-Royce is pursuing further advances in efficiency for the Trent 1000 series of turbofans.

by Ian Goold Orders, follow-on business and service entry with two more operators have provided the “best start” in 2015 for the Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 (T1000) engine, according to project director Gary Moore.

The powerplant has been chosen to power more than 470 Boeing 787 twin-aisle twinjets– covered by orders and options from 20 operators, 11 lessors and two private or government owners. Moore said that when customers have a choice, there is “no greater testament” than that they buy engines, live with them in service and then come back for more.

He hopes the powerplant’s latest Trent 1000-TEN variant (TEN standing for Thrust, Efficiency and New technology), which is said to be on target for scheduled certification by year-end, will be the first engine to power the 787-10, thus maintaining the design’s record as first choice on the aircraft.

After powering the 787’s maiden flight in December 2009 and first commercial service in October 2011, it was the initial engine certified on the 787-8 and -9, first 787 powerplant to receive 330-minute extended-range twinengine operational performance standards (ETOPS) clearance, and the first engine in service for the 787 family.

The Rolls-Royce official is “very proud” of the T1000’s continued operational reliability, which is subject to no performance constraints. Basic statistics

for the powerplant’s in-service experience, which is growing month-by-month under “an increased delivery schedule,” cover 88 aircraft flying with 11 operators. As of May 2015, the data shows an impeccable record for in-flight shutdowns (IFSDs) and high-speed aborted takeoffs (stan­dard measures of engine reliability) during 224,000 engine cycles, 112,000 flights and 872,000 hours of operation (forecast to reach one million, long before August).

Moore reports an engine dispatch reliability of 99.9 percent, explaining that after “full forensic investigation” of a single IFSD all parties agreed that the event had been a consequence of a bird strike four months previously and that the manufacturer was not accountable for any resulting damage.

The T1000 fleet leaders have logged more than 10,850 flighthours and over 4,000 power cycles; Rolls-Royce has removed the first sampling engine after accumulation of 1.5 million revenue-earning miles.

3 Percent SFC Advantage

Moore said that on sectors of up to 3,000 miles the T1000-TEN variant is expected to offer a specific fuel consumption advantage of some 3 percent. The differential is confirmed by results of a Boeing technical audit of the variant early last year, according to Moore, who expects more fuel saving to become available “as development continues across

the whole [T1000] range.”

For flights in excess of average 787 range, the T1000 delivers a fuel-burn advantage well ahead of the competing powerplant at shorter ranges, according to Moore. Claimed superior performance retention through the life of the engine is said to be worth “an additional 1 percent.”

With test engine assembly being completed in nonnumerical order, engine serial number (ESN) 11006–the fourth powerplant in the T1000-TEN development program–is midway through 150 hours of type test, according to Moore. With 67 hours’ work completed before the end of May, he expects completion “in the near future.”

ESN 11007 is scheduled to be used for in-flight testing aboard Rolls-Royce’s Boeing 747 flying

With a half century of history, Twin Otter prospering worldwide

testbed at Tucson, Arizona. This unit will take part in an operability survey and also be used for 787 integration work at Boeing.

Test Engines

Assembly of test powerplants ESNs 11004 and 11005 will be completed later for use in the T1000 maturity program; ESN 11005 is understood to be earmarked for 2,000 engine runs in connection with ETOPS approval and both units will be built to full production status with standard part numbers.

The manufacturer was expecting to complete icing tests with ESN 11003 by mid-June; that unit is also being used for altitude-performance and other operability work. Altitude performance has been “slightly better than pre-test predictions,” said Moore.

The T1000 is now finding wide global favor with “significant” operators after an preponderance of European and North American buyers among initial customers, said Moore, who also said he is encouraged by recent market momentum.

The greatest encouragement has come from Rolls-Royce’s victory in 12 of the past 19 sales campaigns: “This is testament to [airlines’ service experience] with more data available to inform [market] choices.” He pointed to a 42-percent share of 787 firm orders and 47-percent share of 787 operators.

This year Air China selected the T1000 for its 15 Boeing ­787-9s, while Japan’s All Nippon Airways placed a fourth order for the engine, which will power 87 ANA 787s. Another follow-on customer is Spanish carrier Air Europa, which has selected it for the 14 787-9s that will complement eight T1000-powered 787-8s scheduled to enter service in 2016.

New customers beginning T1000 commercial service this year are Latin American airline group Avianca and Singapore Airlines’ low-cost subsidiary Scoot, which will use 787s to expand its long-haul fleet. (In early 2015, the first Singapore-assembled Trent 1000 was unveiled at the manufacturer’s Seletar facility.)

Finally, Moore confirmed that, to stay ahead of the inservice fleet, Rolls-Royce is still running Trent 1000 “maturity engines” to confirm behavior of Pack B and Pack C performance improvement measures. o

Operated by Loganair of the UK, this Twin Otter Series 400 will serve as Viking Air’s display aircraft here at Le Bourget.

Celebrating the 50th anniversary of the type’s first flight, Viking is expanding its worldwide sales and marketing effort.

Fifty years after the DHC-6 Twin Otter turboprop made its first flight, Canada’s Viking Air (Static B6) is displaying the modernized Twin Otter Series 400 here at the Paris Air Show, where it is also announcing new sales representatives.

Viking said UK-based aviation sales and marketing firm Liftec will serve as the Twin Otter Series 400 sales representative for eastern Europe, the Commonwealth of Independent States excluding Russia, and the Baltic states.

It has assigned Hanbaek Aerospace of Seoul, South Korea, as sales representative for that country.

Founded in 2012, Hanbaek Aerospace is focused on improving South Korea’s military capabilities. The consulting company “is perfectly positioned to assist

Viking with bidding the Twin Otter Guardian 400 military variant for force improvement projects,” Viking said. It will also support sales of the aircraft to the regional commuter segment.

“With the help of Hanbaek, we are excited to be tapping into the Series 400 Twin Otter’s market potential in Korea,” said Peter Walker, Viking regional sales director for the Asia Pacific. “We feel the Twin Otter Guardian 400 in particular will be an asset for the Korean military for special missions and maritime surveillance.”

Viking also announced that it will conduct a two-plane tour of 11 communities in Canada’s north, as well as the Canadian Forces bases at Eureka and Alert, to mark the 50th anniversary of the first flight of the DHC-6 Twin Otter on May 20, 1965. It

38 Paris Airshow News • June 16, 2015 • www.ainonline.com

DAVID McINTOSH

by Bill Carey

will also recognize the first time Canada’s official flag was raised over the Houses of Parliament in 1965.

The tour begins on July 1 as part of the city of Victoria’s Canada Day festivities and extends through July 17.

Residents of communities on the tour will have an opportunity to sign a wing rib for the 100th Viking production aircraft, which will be built in 2016.

“The 50th Anniversary Celebration

Tour is a way for us to pay tribute to the Canadian north and thank the valued pilots, passengers, owners, operators, mechanics and engineers who have contributed to the Twin Otter’s success,” said Sherry Brydson, chairman of the board of Westerkirk Capital, which owns Viking.

“We hope to hear and document some of the unique and historic stories of residents who have been served by the Twin Otter since its first flight in 1965.” o

The Martin-Baker legacy: saving lives, and loved ones

Martin-Baker’s US16E seat for the F-35 stealth fighter has just been fully qualified, after more than 100 ejection tests.

by Chris Pocock change that status, according to Andrew Martin. The company has been operating from the same rural site at Higher Denham, just outside London, since 1929, originally as Martin’s Aircraft Works building prototype fighters.

When his friend and test pilot Capt.

Valentine Baker was killed flying one of the company’s aircraft in 1942, Sir James renamed the company Martin-Baker and resolved to develop an aircrew survival system. The Mk1 ejection seat was tested in 1946. Here at Paris, MBA is showing its latest seat, the Mk17.

The company employs 650 people in the UK, and another 140 in a U.S. subsidiary at Johnstown, Pennsylvania.

There are also joint ventures in France and Italy.

MARTIN-BAKER

A custom-made window blind in Andrew Martin’s office displays testimonies from 12 pilots who owe their lives to Martin-Baker ejection seats.

Significantly, their photos include family members, whose grateful comments are also included.

It’s a good motivator for the company’s director of business development and marketing, although he hardly needs it. Martin-Baker has been in the business of saving lives for 68 years, and 7,477 aircrew have safely ejected on one of their seats. Today, there are 16,836 MartinBaker seats installed in 53 different aircraft operated by 88 countries.

Andrew Martin is a grandson of company founder Sir James Martin. His cousin Robert is the engineering director. They are two of 12 directors or heads of department who report to the joint managing directors of the company, in what Andrew describes as a very flat management structure, designed to be responsive. Those joint managing directors are his father James and his uncle John, 72-year old twin brothers who are still actively leading the company.

Martin-Baker Aircraft (MBA, Hall 2b E158) is indeed a family firm, still privately held and with no plans to

Retaining Intellectual Property

“We are a very conservative management team,” Andrew Martin told AIN. “We reinvest in R&D to make sure that we retain control and ownership of all our intellectual property.” If some other companies making ejection seats had done the same, rather than rely on government-funded investment, they might have prospered more, he believes.

Bang! Another successful canopy-smashing test of a Martin-Baker ejection seat. This one will be installed on the Textron AirLand Scorpion fighter-trainer.

At the Langkawi airshow in Malaysia last March, Martin Baker ejection seats saved the lives of four Indonesian air force aircrew from the Jupiters formation display team, when two of their KT-1 turboprop trainers collided during an opposition pass.

PAUL JACKSON

PAUL JACKSON

As things stand, Martin-Baker has a 53-percent share of the worldwide ejection seat market. UTC Aerospace Systems (formerly Goodrich) has 15 percent, and Russia’s Zvezda has 14 percent, according to the British company’s calculations. No other company has more than 5-percent market share.

Martin-Baker is providing the ejection seat for all three variants of the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II. The US16E seat for the stealth fighter is a development of the Mk16 that MBA provides for the Dassault Rafale, Eurofighter Typhoon, Beechcraft T-6 Texan II and other aircraft.

In its US16T guise, the Mk16 was also retrofitted to the U.S. Air Force Northrop T-38C Talon fleet when it was upgraded, another American major contract for the British company. In India, the Mk16 has displaced the Zvezda K-36 ejection seat that was fitted to the prototypes of the HAL Tejas Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) and HAL Sitara Intermediate Jet Trainer (IJT).

A unique feature of the US16E is the trio of airbags that inflate in a two-stage process to protect the head and neck of the F-35 pilot, wearing the large helmetmounted display, upon ejection. Also of note, the F-35B version of the Lightning II has an auto-eject mode. This is designed to function in the specific instance where the STOVL aircraft is in the hover, and the shaft-driven lift fan fails.

In that case, the jet is likely to pitch down sharply, quicker than the pilot can react to fire the seat manually. It will therefore fire automatically while the possibility of escape remains.

Earlier this month, the US16E achieved a significant milestone, when it received the Release Authorization Notice (RAN) Level VI flight clearance from Lockheed Martin. Thus, the F-35 seat is now fully qualified for unrestricted flight operations.

“We have been testing this seat and all its components progressively from 2004, with more than 100 ejection tests to demonstrate the exacting F-35

Continued on next page u

www.ainonline.com • June 16, 2015 • Paris Airshow News 39

physiological, accommodation, mass, environmental, integration, schedule and cost requirements,” Steve Roberts, the F-35 Lead for MBA, told AIN. For the moment, US16E seats are still assembled at Higher Denham, but the work will eventually move across the Atlantic to Johnstown. The US16T seats for the T-38 retrofit were assembled at MBA’s 38,000-sq-ft American facility.

Dogfighting with UTC

Martin-Baker is currently in a dogfight with UTC Aerospace Systems over a possible very large retrofit program for USAF A-10s, B-1s, F-15s and F-16s. The ACES II seat produced by the American company is currently fitted to all of these aircraft. It is also fitted to the B-2, where it causes a big problem for maintainers because, unlike the MBA US16E, the seats are not modular, requiring the stealth bomber’s entire upper cockpit to be removed for servicing.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Congress added funding to last year’s defense budget for sustainment and safety improvements to the ACES II. At issue is whether these

Crashworthy Seats Making crashworthy aircraft seats is a little-known sideline for Martin-Baker that accounts for about 10 percent of the turnover. The company has designed about 40 different seats that attenuate and/or absorb high-energy impacts. They cater for aircrew, rear crew and troops and include armored versions.

The current product line includes seven designs for helicopters, and two for fixedwing aircraft. Applications include the CH-53E, UH-60M, S-92, and EC145 helicopters, and the CN-235, C-295 and P-8 fixed-wing aircraft. –C.P.

improvements effectively create a new ejection seat–at U.S. taxpayers’ expense.

UTC Aerospace Systems has designated the improved seat the ACES 5, but says that it is 70-percent common with the ACES II. If the improvements make the ACES seat modular, and also enable the American product to challenge the US16E’s status as the only current seat that fully protects a pilot who ejects while wearing a helmet-mounted display, then Martin-Baker contends that a competition should be held.

“It would be a retrofit, rather than an upgrade,” Martin believes. The Air Force is committed to changing the B-2’s seats, but if it extends the program to the other fleets, that’s a lot of business.

“We’re used to competing and winning,” Andrew Martin told AIN. This is not mere bravado. Whereas there was no competition for those large USAF fleets when they were being built, the U.S. Navy did compete the Navy Aircrew Common Ejection Seat (NACES) for the F-14D Tomcat, F/A18 Hornet and T-45 Goshawk in 1985.

MBA won with a version of the Mk14, and is still building the NACES for new Super Hornets. The British company also beat its American rival in a competition to provide the ejection seat for the Korean T-50 supersonic jet trainer.

Recently, both teams competing for the secret U.S. Long-Range Strike Bomber (LRS-B) requirement have proposed Martin-Baker seats. And, adds Martin, “All the primes who will bid for the U.S. T-X requirement have selected us.”

In fact, Martin-Baker’s own design philosophy is “evolutionary, not revolutionary,” according to Martin. “An ejection seat is a highly-tuned piece of equipment.

To change one part might require a requalification,” he added. That limits the potential for local suppliers. For instance, even when F-35 seat production moves to the

40 Paris Airshow News • June 16, 2015 • www.ainonline.com

tCrashworthy seats are the less glamorous side of the business. This is a troop and gunner seat for a helicopter.

MARTIN-BAKER

uContinued from preceding page

U.S., the parachute will still be provided

by Airborne Systems of the UK. The F-35 notwithstanding, the growth market for MBA over the past 15 years has been primary trainers. The Mk10 and Mk 11 seats can be found in more than 50 countries on such aircraft as the Pilatus PC-7/PC-9/PC-21, the Korean KT-1 and newcomers such as the HAL HTT-40 and TAI Hurkus.

Then there is a new generation of counter-insurgency (COIN) aircraft being developed that need ejection seats. The Textron AirLand Scorpion on display here at Paris has an MBA seat, and so too does South Africa’s new ARLAC venture. Andrew Martin

pThe Mk17 is a lightweight, low-cost design for small trainers and utility airplanes, where the operator may specify an ejection seat.

is also tracking the progress of Aero Vodochody’s L-39NG trainer/sport jet.

“Previous L-39s had a Czech seat, but now they want the Mk16,” he said.

Martin is keen to get his company involved with these smaller, geographically diverse OEMs at an early stage of their developments. “That way, they can design-in an off-the-shelf seat solution to achieve the lowest cost,” he explained.

The Mk17 seat on display here in Paris is aimed squarely at such manufacturers. It is compact, weighs 38 kg (only half that of a Mk16) and costs in the region of $150,000. It can cater for pilots weighing from 56 kg to 123 kg, flying at between 60 and 300 knots.

Possible applications include the Grob G120TP basic trainer; the Air Tractor, another COIN aircraft; and the Blackshape series of Italian primary trainers. Then there are the fighters being designed by new entrants: the ATD-X in Japan; the KF-X in Korea; and the TFX I Turkey. They are all prospects for the Mk16, according to Martin.

And what of the future? MartinBaker is keeping abreast of developments in wearable health-monitoring technology. Having already participated in development of a seat that can autoeject, the company is mindful of the possibilities for saving the lives of pilots who have fallen unconscious.

In the shorter-term, however, it is looking forward to the next milestone: the 7,500th life saved. Martin hopes to mark that occasion with a ceremony that will bring together the latest escapee with the very first.

Remarkably, Jo Lancaster is still alive.

He made the first-ever live ejection with an MBA seat in 1949, from the long-forgotten Armstrong Whitworth AW52 flying wing research aircraft. In those days, the elapsed time from pulling the seat handle to the parachute deploying was 30 seconds.

Today, it’s less than one second. o

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For new UAC president, civil game is the best bet

by Charles Alcock Russia’s United Aircraft Corporation (UAC) is back at the Paris Air Show, primarily in pursuit of its goal of doubling annual revenues largely through increased deliveries on the civil side of its business. In this respect, the group is highlighting the appearance of the Sukhoi Superjet 100 here at Le Bourget, but it will also be seeking to convince the market that Irkut’s indevelopment MC-21 twinjet will soon be a viable challenger to rivals such as the Boeing 737 Max, the Airbus A320neo, the Bombardier CSeries and China’s Comac C919 (see story on page 44).

UAC also comes to Paris with a new president, Yuri Slyusar, who replaced long-serving Mikhail Pogosyan in January. Addressing the Council of Russia’s Aircraft Manufacturers in Ulianovsk on April 16, Slyusar said the statebacked group, which now encompasses just about all the country’s aerospace interests, is determined to become more efficient and competitive over the next decade.

He indicated that further financial support from the Russian government is assured now that UAC’s new long-term development program has been approved by the company’s main shareholder.

However, in a pre-Paris show interview with AIN, Slyusar insisted that the change of leadership at UAC has not marked any radical change in strategic direction and that he is determined to continue an on-going process of modernization and growth for the group.

“Our strategic goals have not been changed much as we are planning for faster civil aviation growth and development as our first priority, and further development of the military and transport aviation segments,” said Slyusar. He indicated that the domestic markets of Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States are the main sales priority for the Superjet SSJ100 and the MC-21, with the Asia-Pacific region, Middle East and Latin America viewed as the best export prospects.

According to Slyusar, even in the face of budgetary pressure, the Russian government still views development of the country’s aviation industry as a top priority. Pointing out that government representatives are in

the majority on UAC’s board of directors, he said no strategic changes have been demanded of the company’s senior management. He added that the state’s aviation development plan, running from 2013 through the end of 2015, will continue beyond the end of this year, while acknowledging that “the existing program should and can be adjusted once economic circumstances change.”

Slyusar explained that the aircraft industry is one of just a few in Russia to be assured a minimum level of government financial support, which he indicated protects it from the potential impact of reduced public spending. “On the contrary, a number

UAC president Yuri Slyusar says the Russian government remains firmly committed to the group’s role in driving progress in the country’s aviation industry.

of decisions have been made on extra funding to further stabilize the industry,” he said. “Moreover, the government decided to support financial leasing and create a mechanism for residual value guarantees. All these measures allow us to propose a competitive financial package that we have been testing on the SSJ100 and will later offer with the MC-21.”

This year, UAC has begun the formation of a new transport aviation division, following on from the 2014 move to Sukhoi T-50 fighter jet

42 Paris Airshow News • June 16, 2015 • www.ainonline.com

Sukhoi’s Superjet SSJ100 airliner is at the forefront of UAC’s efforts to boost civil aviation sales

merge its Tupolev subsidiary with the Kazan Aviation Plant (KAPO). “The production facilities’ restructuring, or I would say modernization, is also well under way,” Slyusar said. “We are even more focused on our plants and design bureaus’ re-equipment, which should go hand-in-hand with restructuring to meet the demands of modern technology.

For example, we are going to invest around $2 billion in modern technologies and equipment in just three years, starting with this one.”

Slyusar played down the impact of economic sanctions imposed by Western powers in response to the military conflict in Ukraine. “We can’t say the sanctions have affected our sales strongly,” he stated. “This statement should be applied for both military and commercial aircraft.”

Earlier this year, UAC signed a memorandum of understanding with China’s New Century International Leasing and Xixian New Area Administrative Committee to establish a leasing group to market the Superjet to carriers in China. It believes this could generate as many as 100 more aircraft over the next three years. Slyusar implied that this initiative is, in part, a reaction to obstacles to SSJ100 sales in the

West, concluding that there may have been “some change in the direction of our work, but not a decline in its speed and results.”

Superjet Status

According to UAC, the Superjet orders total stands at 190 aircraft, some of which have already been delivered. During the course of 2015, the company expects to deliver around another 30 of the twinjets, including those expected to go to Gazprom Avia, Aeroflot and Interjet, as well as several VIP versions of the aircraft set to enter government service. This is fewer than the 36-unit production rate that Slyusar set as a revised annual output rate (down from the previous level of 44 or 45).

Pressed as to the status of aircraft delivered, or due to be delivered, to lease customers PT Sky Aviation in Indonesia and LAO Central in Laos, the UAC president said these may end up being transferred to other operators.

Meanwhile, the Thai government has ordered two extendedrange versions to be used for VIP transportation, with deliveries expected in 2016.

UAC subsidiary Sukhoi Commercial Aircraft is now working to amend the Superjet’s

type certificate for approval to operate in temperatures of up to 50-deg C (122-deg F). Other planned improvements include the possibility of extending the operational envelope to airfields as high as 3,300 meters (10,827 feet) above sea level and the company is also seeking approval from the European Aviation Safety Agency to certify the extended-range version of the basic SSJ100 model.

Slyusar explained that engineering work is still in progress to reduce the overall weight of the Superjet. Also planned are new winglets that could result in another 3- to 4-perceznt reduction in fuel consumption. The manufacturer is evaluating the case for a larger 130-seat version of the aircraft, as well as a business jet configuration that would offer maximum range of more than 7,000 km (3,780 nm).

Next-Gen Fighter

On the military side of its business, UAC expects to add three more prototypes of its fifth-generation T-50 fighter to the test fleet this year, joining four aircraft already being used for development work, in addition to a ground test rig. Slyusar reported that during government trials conducted last year, “We succeeded in obtaining reliable results at sub- and supersonic speeds, low and high altitudes, and at critical angles of attack.” He added that in-flight refueling tests and a variety of aircraft performance evaluations also have been completed. The development team is now engaged in avionics testing and combatmode performance tests, including weaponry integration and use.

“In comparison with the previous generation fighters, the PAK FA [the T-50] enjoys a number of unique features to combine functions of both a fighter and a strike aircraft,” commented Slyusar. o

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MC-21 is shaping up; 2016 first flight planned

by Vladimir Karnozov Russia’s United Aircraft Corporation (UAC) believes that the MC-21airliner being developed by its Irkut subsidiary will prove to be a worthy challenger to other new-generation narrowbodies, such as the Airbus A320neo, the Boeing 737 Max, Bombardier’s CSeries and Comac’s C919. According to Irkut, the first example of the twinjet will roll out at the end of this year, with a first flight now anticipated in June 2016.

The MC-21-300 model, which can seat between 160 and 212 passengers depending on cabin configuration, is due to be the first member of the planned family to complete certification in 2017. This variant will be powered by Pratt & Whitney’s PW1400G Geared Turbofan.

Customers also will be able to opt for Russian-made Aviadvigatel PD-14 turbofans.

That version, which would include Russian avionics from Kret and other locally made systems, is expected to complete the certification process a year later.

According to Pratt & Whitney, its first two PW1400G turbofans are now in production. These engines are due to be delivered to Irkut this summer in order to be ready for the start of flight tests in 2016, and with a view to completing powerplant certification later this year.

Later this summer, flight testing of the PD-14 engines is due to begin on an Ilyushin Il-76 flying test bed at the Ramenskoye airfield near Moscow. With a thrust rating of 30,864 pounds, the PD-14 is billed as offering comparable performance to Pratt & Whitney’s PurePower family of engines (of which the PW1400G is a member) and to the rival CFM International Leap family. Aviadvigatel is leading a program that also includes Russian aero-engine companies Perm, UMPO, NPO Saturn and Salyut.

In development terms, the PW1400G is further advanced, since the PurePower family has already logged 33,000 cycles and 18,000 hours of testing (including 4,600 hours of flight testing). Aviadvigatel is expecting to provide as many as 22 engines for its test program, and has already assembled six of these, with more now being made by

Perm. PD-14 certification is slated for 2017.

New UAC president Yuri Slyusar visited the MC-21 assembly line at the Irkutsk Aviation Plant (IAZ) within days of his appointment back in January.

IAZ makes the aircraft’s fuselage and performs final assembly using modern laser equipment.

“The MC-21 promises to be competitive,” said Slyusar.

“From a technological point of view, this airplane compares well with rivals such as the Airbus A320neo and Boeing 737Max with their new engines. I hope that the airlines will show interest in our new jetliner.”

Composite Parts

About half the MC-21’s structure will consist of composite materials, mainly used for the wings and empennage. AeroComposite supplies most of the composite parts, including wing spars and the central wing section. In the middle of April, the first central wing section arrived at IAZ. It was manufactured by AeroComposite’s Ulyanovsk

The airframe, engines and systems for United Aircraft Corporation’s MC-21 airliner are coming together in preparation for first flight in 2016.

facility using polymeric composites, among other advanced materials. Earlier, the same supplier manufactured rear and front spars for the MC-21 wing consoles. Another branch of AeroComposite, based in Kazan, supplies IAZ with wing trailing edges made of composite materials.

Some of the metal fuselage parts are supplied by Aviastar-SP in Ulyanovsk, which also makes the aircraft’s doors.

It also supplies the empennage,

complete with rudder and elevator. Another big factory in UAC’s corporate structure is VASO in Voronezh, which makes engine pylons, various fairings (including those for wing-to-fuselage attachment points), hatches and panels. Many of these parts, such as flaps, are made of composites.

As of last month, various elements for the first four MC-21s were being manufactured. Mating the fuselage sections of the first complete aircraft is planned for August, and UAC intends to

Irkut brought a nonmotion MC-21 simulator to the MAKS airshow in 2013, and it is being used as a research tool in the ongoing development program. A version of the airliner is planned with avionics from Russia’s Kret and other in-country suppliers.

44 Paris Airshow News • June 16, 2015 • www.ainonline.com

broadcast this event live during Moscow’s MAKS 2015 airshow.

So far UAC has logged 175 orders and commitments for the MC-21. Rostec, through its leasing branch AviaCapitalService, has ordered 50 aircraft, which it hopes to place with Aeroflot. Three leasing companies–Ilyushin Finance (IFC), VEB-Leasing and SberbankLeasing–have signed for 50, 30 and 20 aircraft, respectively.

Transaero, UTair, S7 and Red Wings are potential users of these aircraft. Various government bodies have committed to taking 35 aircraft among them.

At the last MAKS show in 2013, IrAero, a small airline operating out of Irkutsk, signed a direct contract with the manufacturer for 10 MC-21s.

It has never previously operated an aircraft of this size, having built its fleet previously around the Antonov An-24 and Bombardier’s CRJ200.

So far, all orders have been for the MC-21-300 model. If the planned family of aircraft materializes, it might also include the MC-21-200 with a shorter fuselage and the MC-21-400 with a longer fuselage and an enlarged wing. A decision on these other two models is expected after the baseline version obtains type certification.

The MC-21 assembly line is planned for a comparatively small capacity of only 70 aircraft annually. By comparison, Airbus and Boeing together made around 975 deliveries of narrowbody jetliners in 2014. o

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Fulfilling a dream, pilot Dorine Bourneton is slated to fly her aerobatic routine in a modified Mudry CAP 10 here at Le Bourget.

Paraplegic pilot a first for Paris flying display

by Thierry Dubois The wheelchair will stay on the ground. Dorine Bourneton, a long-time champion of the rights of disabled people and a paraplegic herself, expects to be at the controls of a modified Mudry CAP 10 light aerobatic aircraft as part of the flying display here from Friday to Sunday–at the time of writing the performance was subject to the usual show display approval, but if she gets the green light, it will be a first for the Paris Air Show. After having successfully pushed for persons with lower limb disabilities to be able to become commercial pilots, Bourneton’s dream has been to fly at Le Bourget.

In 1991, when Bourneton was a teenager and a member of a flying club, she was a passenger in a light single airplane that crashed in a mountainous area.

She survived in dramatic circumstances and was seriously injured; the other three occupants died. She had to wait for hours, in cold weather, until rescuers found her. She had lost the use of her legs.

When she was at the hospital, visitors often came with gifts, including books about aviation pioneers. “I found new strength in reading them,” she told AIN. All these aviators–including

women–had accidents, but flew again. Bourneton decided she would live for aviation, too. “My pilot life began with a crash, so I wanted to make progress during the rest of my life,” she said.

Like her heroes, she broke new ground. The latest advancement was expected to happen last week, with airshow flight director Stéphane Pichené approving her aerobatics routine after having grilled her about aircraft performance, watched her flying and checking her flightpath against the authorized airspace, also known as the “box.”

“I know the box because I flew here in 2011, but not performing aerobatics,” she said. She believes a critical factor will be any crosswind. “The CAP 10 is tricky in a crosswind landing and my condition makes it even more difficult,” she said. The stronger the crosswind, the greater the force required to keep the aircraft in the right attitude and on the centerline. Despite dedicated practice, Bourneton does not expect to be able to counter crosswind greater than 12 knots.

Her left hand will operate the control stick, while her right hand will be very busy with the throttle and flaps–and an extra control replacing the rudder pedals. Other

46 Paris Airshow News • June 16, 2015 • www.ainonline.com

special arrangements include fastening her legs with Velcro and attaching her waist to the back of the seat with a lumbar belt. “I find it difficult to maintain a balance because I can’t exert pressure at the seat-cushion level,” she explained. Finally, she has to wear support socks.

Bourneton obtained a sixmonth medical exemption on April 9. It relates not only to motionless legs, but physiology. “A paraplegic has a lower blood pressure,” she explained; therefore, the test involved flying upside-down, quickly followed by a positive-g pull-out.

Training was mainly at Montluçon-Guéret airport in central France, with the Amicale de Voltige Aérienne club. Her instructor is Romain Vienne, world champion glider aerobatic pilot. “He is very demanding but also admits he had irrational fears when he was a student aerobatic pilot. Hearing this was comforting,” she said.

A major step in Bourneton’s fight for the paraplegics’ rights occurred in 2003, when the French minister of transport signed a decree allowing them to become commercial pilots on single-engine aircraft. This victory came after years of lobbying efforts. The tasks the disabled pilots may perform are limited, though, to surveillance, freight transport, instruction, aerobatics and mountain flying.

Since 2003, seven disabled pilots have obtained commercial licenses; two were pilots who had kept flying after an accident.

But Bourneton has not become a commercial pilot herself, yet.

After 2003, she found herself at a crossroad in life, her interest for aviation “collapsed”–in her own words–and she pursued other interests. But she stayed away only temporarily, and first soloed in her modified CAP 10 on April 11, 20 years after having obtained her first pilot license.

Despite obstacles and hard work, Bourneton loves the sensation of aerobatics, “I feel like I’m dancing,” she said. o

RECOVERED AIRCRAFT PARTS COULD SOLVE EARHART MYSTERY The disappearance of famed aviatrix Amelia Earhart has been one of aviation’s most enduring mysteries for more than three quarters of a century, and several expeditions by various groups to locate the remains of her aircraft have failed so far to provide concrete evidence of its resting place. In January, one such expedition, sponsored by aerospace motion and control system specialist Parker Hannifin, to tiny Endriken Island, part of the central Pacific’s Marshall Islands, turned up some tantalizing clues in the form of aircraft parts. The aluminum parts (one of which still carried remnants of red paint similar to that worn by Earhart’s Lockheed Electra 10E) are currently undergoing examination in one of the U.S. company’s labs to determine if they are consistent with those on the airplane.

According to Jon Jeffery, director of technology and business development for Parker Aerospace (Hall 5 C210), and a member of the expedition, those tests should be completed in late summer.

“Obviously, this was an exhilarating expedition and the analysis that we’re doing now is proving to be just as enlightening,” he said. “It’s exciting and important work that underscores Parker’s passion for tackling engineering challenges and solving them.” Back in the 1930s, Parker provided some components for the Lockheed Electra, which further explains its connection with the project.

Once the results are released, officials of the non-profit Amelia Research Inc. and others will better determine whether they have indeed found Earhart’s final landing spot.

–C.E.

Parker Aerospace is sponsoring a team seeking to solve the mystery of what happened to Amelia Earhart’s aircraft. They have been testing aluminum parts to ascertain whether they could have come from the famous U.S. aviator’s Lockheed Electra.

U.S. aerospace industry tops PwC study’s index

by Gregory Polek Size and high productivity help make the U.S. the country with the most favorable environment

for aerospace manufacturing in the world, according to a new research paper published by

accountancy group PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC). The U.S. aerospace industry (U.S. Pavilion, Hall 3) has seven times the number of suppliers as the number-two ranked country in the report, the UK. This helps it overcome what PwC called moderate rankings in the categories of cost, infrastructure, stability and talent, where it placed 21st in the world.

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Liebherr-Aerospace is a leading supplier of systems for the aviation industry and has more than five decades of experience in this field.

The range of aviation equipment produced by Liebherr for the civil and military sectors includes flight control/actuation systems, landing gear and air management systems as well as gearboxes. These systems are deployed in wide-bodied aircraft, single aisle and regional aircraft, business jets, combat aircraft, military transporters, military training aircraft, civil helicopters and combat helicopters. Liebherr’s aerospace Liebherr-Aerospace & Transportation SAS 408 avenue des Etats-Unis 31016 Toulouse Cedex 2, France Tel.: +33 5 61 35 28 28 E-Mail: info.aer@liebherr.com www.liebherr.com

AER_008_Sammel_Service_AIN_USA-GB_03.indd 482017-502_009 Paris Airshow News • June 16, 2015 •1www.ainonline.com

and transportation systems division employs around 4,900 people. It has four aviation equipment production plants at Lindenberg (Germany), Toulouse (France), Guaratinguetá (Brazil) and Nizhny Novgorod (Russia). These production sites offer a worldwide service with additional customer service centers in Saline (Michigan/USA), Seattle (Washington/USA), Montreal (Canada), São José dos Campos (Brazil), Hamburg (Germany), Moscow (Russia), Dubai (UAE), Singapore and Shanghai (People’s Republic of China).

The Group 13.05.15 11:58

Boeing does most of its manufacturing in the U.S., with this factory in Everett, Washington, being one of its key sites.

In the overall cost category, the U.S. stood at 51st, the lowest among the top 10 countries in the report. Meanwhile, the report characterized the U.S. as “competitive” in terms of pay and productivity, ranking it tenth in that category. However, the U.S. remains one of the costliest countries in terms of tax cost, ranking 101st in the world. Finally, the U.S. ranked number 47 in STEM education (science, technology, engineering and math), making it the second weakest among the top 10 countries on the list.

The other countries and territories in the top 10 in PwC’s aerospace manufacturing attractiveness index include, in order of rank, Singapore, Hong Kong, Switzerland (Hall 4), the UK, Canada (Hall 3), Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Luxembourg (Hall 2b) and Ireland. Changes from PwC’s previous analysis saw the addition of Hong Kong, Switzerland, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Luxembourg (Hall 2) and Ireland to the top-10 list, while the Netherlands (Hall 2b), Germany (Hall 2), Spain (Hall 1), Poland and Belgium (Hall 2b) all fell out of the top 10 due largely to higher-than-average costs. The report highlighted the addition of the UAE and Qatar, both of which recently have placed more emphasis on their aerospace industries and boast “very low” operating costs and taxes as well as solid infrastructure and educational systems.

Switzerland placed second in the infrastructure, stability and talent category, including a number-one ranking in STEM education. Singapore ranked third in infrastructure, stability and workforce. o

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Servicemen view a system display of the F-35 Autonomic Logistics Information System, designed to make maintenance easier.

F-35 software upgrades target bogus fault reports

by Bill Carey Lockheed Martin has introduced the second of three major software releases it will deliver for the maintenance support system of the F-35 Lightning II fighter. The false reporting codes maintainers experienced using the Autonomic Logistics Information System (ALIS) on earlier blocks of the F-35 should be resolved as the air vehicle matures, the manufacturer said.

But the system will be fielded without a radio frequency downlink that would enable the F-35 to send reports while in flight, a feature that has been deferred for later development.

Lockheed Martin (Chalet 316) describes ALIS as the “operations management backbone” of the F-35, an information technology infrastructure that captures and analyzes health and maintenance data for individual airframes as well as for the larger fleet. The system is designed to support F-35 operations, maintenance, fault-prediction and parts deliveries over the lifecycle of the fighter, providing maintainers with timely information over a distributed network.

As of this spring, ALIS Version 2.0, the second of three planned releases, was installed at nine military bases in the continental U.S. and at the F-35 Final Assembly and Check-Out facility Lockheed Martin operates with Alenia Aermacchi at Cameri Air Base in Italy. A version of the system was installed on the amphibious assault ship USS Wasp, where testers validated the system’s performance

for F-35 shipboard operations.

“ALIS is progressing per its development plan,” said Jeff Streznetcky, ALIS program director with Lockheed Martin Mission Systems and Training in Orlando. “In terms of major releases, I’d say we’re two thirds of the way there to getting ALIS fully developed and fielded to our customers.” The third release is planned in 2017 with the conclusion of the F-35 system development and demonstration phase.

Testing Ongoing

Lockheed Martin was testing ALIS version 2.0.1 before releasing it into the field. This version supports a deployable version of ALIS contained in ruggedized transport cases that can be moved on and off aircraft carriers or amphibious ships and deployed to remote operating locations. Before it declares initial operational capability (IOC) of the F-35B short takeoff and landing variant as expected this summer, the U.S. Marine Corps will have verified the functionality of ALIS software as well as the “deployability” of system hardware, Streznetcky said.

An ALIS version 2.0.2 system is in development. This will support the Air Force’s planned IOC declaration for the F-35A in mid-2016. The final release– ALIS 3.X–is in an earlier phase of development, and will support IOC of the F-35C by the U.S. Navy as well as international partner operations.

The Marine Corps F-35B will begin operations with air vehicle

50 Paris Airshow News • June 16, 2015 • www.ainonline.com

Block 2B software. Fighters that Lockheed Martin delivered to Eglin Air Force Base in Florida, which is home to an integrated training center for F-35 pilots and maintainers, came with earlier versions of the aircraft software, designated Blocks 1B and 2A. An ALIS predictive, or “prognostic,” health monitoring application that resides with the aircraft software has generated a high percentage of falsepositive health reporting codes (HRCs) in F-35s with earlier versions of that software. In a report accompanying the Fiscal Year 2016 defense authorization act this spring, the U.S. House Armed Services Committee said that it received “numerous complaints and concerns by F-35 maintenance and operational personnel regarding the limitations, poor performance, poor design and overall unsuitability of the ALIS software in its current form.” Department of Defense (DOD) officials who testified before the committee’s subcommittee on tactical air and land forces in mid-April confirmed those reports.

Unnecessary Workload

With the health monitoring application, the F-35 generates HRCs that are recorded on a data storage device. The data is later downloaded into the ALIS, which generates work orders for maintenance actions and administrative tasks for pilots and maintainers to close. Lockheed Martin acknowledged that maintainers at Eglin AFB experienced a high degree of false-positive HRCs on F-35s with Block 1B and 2A software–reports that did not require any corrective action. The false reports served to induce unnecessary workload into the system.

The manufacturer described the problem of false-positive reports as a developmental issue that will be resolved as the F-35 air vehicle software matures.

Fighters delivered to Luke AFB and Marine Corps Air Station Yuma–F-35 bases in Arizona that were activated after Eglin AFB–came with Block 2B software. Block 2B software “shows a 50-percent diagnostic improvement of false positives” versus the earlier software versions, Lockheed Martin said.

“As the air vehicle system has matured and the software that runs on the air vehicle has matured, the system has been able to fine-tune its diagnostic capabilities,” Streznetcky said.

“We’ve seen that from Block 1B to Block 2A and from Block 2A to 2B a continuing reduction in the number of false health reporting codes have been generated by the aircraft. I’m certain that what is being observed at Eglin is due in part to the fact that the jets they are operating with are of the 1B and 2A variety, and therefore an earlier product that came out of the development lifecycle.

We do have objective data that indicates there’s a continual maturation of the prognostics capability on the aircraft.”

The problem should be resolved with later versions of F-35 air vehicle software, Lockheed Martin claimed. “We expect to reach negligible false HRCs with the delivery of Block

3i/3F and new ALIS software currently in development,” the manufacturer said.

Downlink Deferred

One of the more compelling features system designers envisioned for ALIS–an RF downlink that would enable the F-35 to send health-monitoring data to the ground while the fighter is airborne–has been deferred for later development in order to better secure the data stream.

In the meantime, such data will be extracted from a storage device when the jet lands.

While the deferral was “a joint decision” of Lockheed Martin and the DOD’s F-35 Joint Program Office (JPO), Streznetcky referred questions on that issue to the JPO. Responding to an inquiry from AIN, the JPO issued the following statement: “The Prognostics and Health Management data downlink provides F-35 maintainers with an advanced look into aircraft diagnostics, consumables and weapons status prior to landing. Testing of the downlink revealed the need to upgrade it with enhanced security measures.

“Those improvements will be completed in follow-on development; specific timelines for all Block 4 capabilities are under program review. The downlink has no bearing on the aircraft’s diagnostics performance. The same information can be obtained once the F-35 lands.” o

Criticism spurs Pratt to drive down F135 cost

by Bill Carey While the F-35 fighter’s prime contractor Lockheed Martin touts the “blueprint for affordability” that since last year has helped it shave costs from its manufacturing processes, engine supplier Pratt & Whitney has waged its own “war on cost” since 2009. From the time it built the sixth flight-test powerplant to those it is producing today, the engine manufacturer claims to have reduced the cost of the F135 turbofan by 55 percent.

In April, the F135 incurred strong criticism from two U.S. government entities over quality control and reliability issues.

A “quality assurance inspection” released by the Department of Defense (DOD) Inspector General (IG) on April 27 identified 61 “nonconformities,” or

violations, of quality management regulations and requirements. Two week earlier, on April 14, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a report on F-35 “affordability challenges” that described F135 reliability as “very poor” and dragging against the fighter’s overall reliability progress. Both Pratt & Whitney and the Pentagon’s F-35 Joint Program Office (JPO) challenged some of the findings and defended the program (see page 52).

The manufacturer tracks its progress on a cost curve that starts with the sixth flight-test engine, or FTE-6, as the baseline. “We have a curve that defines how our price will change unit by unit up through

Continues on page 52 u

Fresh from celebrating the first flight of its first prototype An-178 airlifter, Antonov has a second under construction in Ukraine.

Follow-on An-178 fulfills airlifter role

by Vladimir Karnozov wider cross section and a large rear ramp, plus a structurally beefed-up wing. It retains the D-436 high-bypass three-shaft turbofan engines developed by Ukraine’s Ivchenko-Progress and built by Motor-Sich. However, the thrust settings for the An-178 have been increased to handle higher maximum takeoff weights.

Previously known as the An-148T, the An-178 is said by Antonov to share 90 percent commonality with the baseline

Criticism spurs lower F135 costs

a contract covering the LRIP 9 batch of 60 engines and the LRIP 10 batch of 100 engines.

The F-35 program selected acquisition report (SAR) the DOD released in March estimates the overall cost of the F135 engine subprogram will decline by $1.6 billion–or 2.3 percent–to $67 billion. The Pentagon attributed this to revised inflation estimates, reductions in initial spares requirements due to the maturation of the engine and revised estimates based on actual costs of early LRIP lots.

uContinued from page 50

the 300th unit. It’s a prescribed cost reduction,” said Mark Buongiorno, Pratt & Whitney F135 program vice president, during a recent press briefing.

“We identify specific tasks, we work those tasks to closure and validate the changes to make sure they meet the engineering intent of the product.”

As of March 31, Pratt & Whitney had delivered 217 F135 engines to Lockheed Martin in Fort Worth and to the Cameri Final Assembly and CheckOut facility west of Milan, Italy, which is assembling F-35s for that country and the Netherlands. While it has committed to the JPO to deliver the F135 based on the cost curve, the manufacturer is not currently tracking exactly to the curve in building the engine, acknowledged Buongiorno, who was appointed program vice president in February.

Pratt & Whitney’s goal by the 300th engine is to match the price of the F119-PW-100 turbofan that powers the F-22 Raptor, from which the F135 engine is derived. It notes that the F135 is 20 percent larger than the F119. Around October, the company hopes to sign

Correction Action

The IG in April recommended that the JPO coordinate with the Defense Contract Management Agency to implement corrective actions for those violations, and called for tighter program management overall.

According to the IG report, the JPO did not ensure that Pratt & Whitney “proactively identified, elevated, tracked and managed” F135 program risks; did not ensure that its supplier selection and management of underperforming suppliers were sufficient; and did not ensure that its software quality management practices were adequate, the IG found.

In a statement, the JPO acknowledged that the IG’s report was “factually accurate.”

An-148 on the powerplant; 80 percent on core avionics and systems (whose functionality, nonetheless, is expanded through software, various addons and enhancements); 85 percent on wing and empennage; 75 percent on forward fuselage section (the middle and tail sections are new); and 90 percent on nose gear (the main gear are new).

The An-178’s advertised performance includes a payload of 39,682 pounds carrying cargo,

PHOTO COURTESY OF PRATT & WHITNEY

Ukraine’s Antonov comes to the Paris Air Show just over a month after achieving the first flight of its new An-178 airlifter in May. A second example of the aircraft is now under construction and is set to join the flight test program.

The An-178 is the third member of Antonov’s new family of twinjets, following on from the original 75-seat An-148 and 99-seat An-158 regional airliners. The airlifter version has a redesigned fuselage with a

52 Paris Airshow News • June 16, 2015 • www.ainonline.com

or up to 70 paratroopers; a completely pressurized cabin; cruise speed of 445 knots and cruise altitude of 39,600 feet. Range is given as about 3,000 nm, and fuel-burn in long-haul cruise flight is roughly 4,410 lb/hr.

Antonov sees the An-178 as a potential civilian freighter as well as a military airlifter. It claims that “the airplane had been shaped with airline partners from 15 countries around the world,” most of them probably current operators of the popular An-12 four-turboprop freighter.

The manufacturer claims to have collected soft orders and letters of intent for 100 aircraft, including from “Persian Gulf

countries, among them Saudi Arabia.” Taqnia Aeronautics has been named Antonov’s partner in Saudi Arabia. According to a recent agreement, Antonov will perform development work to cater to specific Saudi requirements.

Following the first flight, Antonov announced that Silk Way Airlines, a cargo airline from Azerbaijan, and a customer in China “signed contracts” for ten and two An-178 aircraft, respectively. The manufacturer said it is in agreement with China on coproduction, although final assembly will take place at Antonov’s factory in Kiev. A list price of $40 million is quoted.

The Antonov design bureau and its associated series production plants were one of the largest prizes left to Ukraine, when that nation became independent in 1991 with the fall of the Soviet Union. The An-178 could be critical to the future of a company that produced on two aircraft in 2014, three in 2013 and eight in 2012. Net revenues in 203 were around $130 million and profits stood at $1.5 million. o

Pratt & Whitney is under pressure to reduce the cost of the F-35 fighter’s F135 engine.

But it disagreed with three of six findings relating to the need for additional F135 program management oversight, risk management practices and software quality management practices.

“In these three cases, the JPO believes the DOD IG findings and recommendations for corrective action are unnecessary, and, if implemented, would add cost and schedule growth to the program for items that are already well understood and carefully managed,” the JPO said.

Pratt & Whitney said that it has worked aggressively to implement corrective actions since the IG’s audit. As of early

April, it had implemented 60 percent of identified corrective actions, with the balance scheduled for completion by July.

Data Pratt & Whitney provided the GAO indicated that the mean flight hours between failure of the engine used in the F-35A conventional takeoff and landing (CTOL) variant was at 21 percent of where it was expected to be at this point in the program; the engine for F-35B short takeoff and landing (STOVL) variant was at 52 percent.

“While overall reliability has increased, engine reliability over the last year has remained well below expected levels.

Improving the F-35 engine reliability to achieve established goals will likely require more time and resources than originally planned,” the GAO stated.

Pratt & Whitney contested the GAO’s conclusions relating to reliability. “The report incorrectly assessed engine reliability, as it did not account for new designs that have been validated and are being incorporated into production and fleet engines,” the manufacturer said. The F135 CTOL engine exceeds its specification at 147 percent of requirements; the STOVL engine meets 119 percent of current requirements, it said. o

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Techspace Aero (Hall 2a Stand A228/A252, Hall 2b Stand G32) is here exhibiting the low-pressure compressor (booster) of a GEnx engine. The Milmort, Belgium-based Safran subsidiary specializes in these modules of turbofans and is preparing technologies for lighter, speedier boosters. It is simultaneously gearing up for a massive production ramp-up.

Techspace’s bladed drum, dubbed a “blum,” integrates disks and blades into a single part.

One goal is saving weight.

For those engines that may enter into service in 2020-2022, or possibly for a CFM Leap mid-life update, Techspace Aero is working on a booster featuring a carbon-fiber case and a bladed drum.

The latter, so-called “blum,” integrates three stages of disks and blades into one part. Combined with the composite material of the case, this will yield a 15-percent weight saving, said Jacques Smal, senior v-p for strategy, commerce and programs.

The composite case, whose manufacture uses resin-transfer moulding, is seen at technology readiness level 6–meaning having completed research and ready to enter full product development. Recent, successful blade-out testing took place on a CF34 at a GE facility, Smal said.

Techspace Aero design engineers are also anticipating radically new engine

54 Paris Airshow News • June 16, 2015 • www.ainonline.com

architectures starting in 2025. Open rotors and ultra-high-bypass-ratio turbofans will require higher rotation speeds for the booster, Smal said. This means doubling today’s speeds, to between 8,000 and 10,000 rpm. A faster booster will also use the aforementioned technologies for lighter weight. However, composites should be carefully looked at and possibly adapted to ensure they can withstand the higher temperatures.

Looking further into the future, Smal suggested blades and vanes could be made of composites. He mentioned additivelayer manufacturing as a lead for production but warned these parts should demonstrate that they meet vibration and fatigue requirements.

Techspace Aero’s annual booster output, now numbering 500, is planned to jump to 2,300 by 2020. New programs, such as the CFM Leap, are to be in production as early as 2017 and the company is investing €110 million ($123 million) in machine tools, workshop expansion and more.

The company, which counts 1,400 employees, is a risk- and revenue-sharing partner for boosters in a number of programs, the most recent being the in-development CFM Leap, Snecma Silvercrest, GE 9X and GE Passport. A booster accounts for 5 to 10 percent of the development cost of an engine, which ranges between $1 billion and $2 billion, according to Smal. On a current-technology engine that weighs 6,000 pounds, it represents 300 pounds–mainly composed of titanium.

The company’s turnover last year was €599 million ($671 million). Snecma, the main shareholder (with 67 percent) is also the main customer, with an almost equivalent share in sales. By 2025, this is expected to evolve to a balance between Snecma and GE, each of which will account for about 45 percent of sales.

GE’s share is expected to grow as a result of the GE9X and Passport programs. o

Venyo set to announce FTD launch customers

by Thierry Dubois has plans to deliver 50 FTDs in the half decade between 2015 and 2020, said Streel. o

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Venyo, the Belgium-based designer of flight simulation training devices (FTD) and services, is developing a highly immersive FTD for the Boeing 737NG and is hoping to obtain EASA FTD level 2 certification this year. A prototype was exhibited here at the 2013 Paris Air Show, when certification was expected in 2014.

The development schedule has slipped, but Jean-Claude Streel, business development manager, is confident that certification will happen this year.

Streel is at the show (Hall 2B Stand G61) to announce two launch customers–one airline and one flight training school– who will help secure the green light from EASA. Streel believes his company’s fixed-base FTD is very close to a full-motion simulator because of an innovative feature. It tricks the brain, providing the illusion of motion. Usually, in such an FTD, the brain has a hard time discerning between inputs from sight and the inner ear (the latter helps with perceiving motion, or the absence of it). This often causes sickness until the body gets used to the conflicting feelings.

Venyo’s FTD format favors sight. “To do this, we meet two criteria–the projected image has to be wider than the human field of vision and the refresh rate should be at least 60 Hz,” Streel said. In Venyo’s case, the image is 220 degrees wide. Fast computers need only nine seconds to reposition the virtual aircraft and yield a resolution of 1.4 feet for details on the ground.

Another feature, Streel said, is mobility. The FTD weighs just two metric tons, can travel by road and can be installed in one day. This opens the door to a “pay-per-use” business model, he said. The direct operating cost is estimated at €150 ($165) per hour, which halves today’s typical costs, he said.

Production of the first two FTDs has started at Venyo’s Charleroi Airport headquarters near Brussels, using forward fuselage sections from dismantled 737s. The company

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www.ainonline.com • June 16, 2015 • Paris Airshow News 55

Qatar’s five-strong fleet a spectacle on static display

The Airbus A380 is one of five aircraft being shown on the Paris Air Show static display this week by Qatar Airways.

by Gregory Polek Qatar Airways is a dominant presence on the Paris Air Show static display this week.

The Gulf carrier is displaying a Boeing 787 along with four of its Airbus types, namely an A320, A319, A380 and an A350 XWB. In January, Qatar became the first airline in the world to fly the A350 in scheduled service, launching so-called double daily service to Frankfurt. In late May, the airline announced plans to extend A350 service in the German market in October, when it begins flying the mainly composite-body Airbus widebody to Munich alongside a Boeing 787. On May 11, it launched service to Singapore with its third A350, and plans to roll out three-times-daily service to the island nation by August 1 with its fourth and fifth A350s.

The cabin of Qatar’s A350 has 283 seats, including 36 seats in business class in a 1-2-1

configuration, featuring 80-inch fully flat horizontal beds The 247 seats in economy are in a 3-3-3 layout. Qatar’s 517-seat A380 superjumbo carries first-, business- and economy-class seats over two decks. It currently flies to Bangkok, Paris and London from Doha. The new first-class A380 seat features a 90-inch pitch, transforms into a fully flat bed and offers up to 2,000 entertainment options displayed on individual 26-inch television screens.

The A320 on display carries 12 business-class seats, 120 economyclass seats and on-demand audiovideo at every seat. Qatar Airways has launched a major investment program to upgrade its A320s to include 180-degree lie-flat beds, new 15.4-inch smart monitors and touch-screen remote control handsets as well as power, USB ports and connectivity for smart devices in business class.

The Airbus A319 Qatar has on display now flies from Doha to

London Heathrow in an all-business-class cabin configuration.

The aircraft features single-aisle, 2-by-2 seating, including 40 premium business-class seats that recline into fully flat beds.

The airline’s Boeing 787 features a two-cabin configuration, carrying 22 seats in business class

and 232 in economy. All economy seats include 10.6-inch television screens.

Now in its 18th year of operation, Qatar Airways flies a fleet of 157 aircraft to 146 destinations across Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia Pacific, North America and South America. Along

with other Middle East carriers, it is engaged in a lobbying battle with U.S. rivals who are arguing that they should not enjoy unrestricted access to U.S. routes on the grounds that they allegedly receive anti-competitive government subsidies–a charge the Gulf carriers fiercely deny. o

president for airlines in the Americas John Ashton added that the system brings significant weight savings–as much as 20 pounds– by reducing the number of LRUs (line replaceable units) they need.

“That’s good for a number of reasons for the airline,” noted Ashton.

Now only available for the 737, the IMMR will eventually find its way onto other aircraft types. The Honeywell executives would not identify which these could be, but Luken said efforts now center on narrowbodies.

Another new Honeywell product destined for Southwest’s 737s under the terms of the contract, the Aspire Iridium-based satellite communications system, offers benefits such as a much smaller size than conventional units, making it better suited to narrowbody cockpit applications, said Luken. Again, Honeywell designed the unit to provide “significant” weight savings and potentially to replace high-frequency radio communications in the future.

The front-window office of Boeing’s developmental 737 Max features Honeywell’s Integrated Multi-Mode Receiver, IntuVue RDR-4000 3-D weather radar, Aspire satellite communications system and several other 21st-century-tech elements.

Meanwhile, Southwest Airlines has already begun fielding another element in the suite destined for the Max–Honeywell’s IntuVue RDR-4000 3-D weather radar–on its present fleet of 737NGs, said Luken.

Honeywell promotes the system as the first and only automatic commercial radar to accurately depict weather in the flight path of an aircraft, while also providing turbulence detection up to 60 nm ahead. This is 50 percent farther than any other product.

It also has hail and lightning prediction capabilities and can differentiate on-path and off-path weather on the display. “Safety, passenger comfort and cost–it hits all of them,” said Ashton. –G.P.

Honeywell equips Boeing 737 Max with a bountiful menu of high tech Honeywell’s new Integrated Multi-Mode Receiver (IMMR) has found its first application as part of a full suite of cockpit technologies chosen by Southwest Airlines for its current fleet of Boeing 737s and future fleet of 737 Max narrowbodies. Along with the IMMR, the suite includes the IntuVue RDR-4000 3-D weather radar, Aspire satellite communications systems, Quantum Line communication and navigation sensors, SmartTraffic traffic collision avoidance system and flight data and voice recorders.

The all-digital IMMR, which features satellite- and groundbased augmentation landing systems, integrates responses to multiple regulatory requirements in a single receiver while cutting size and weight.

The contract, the value of which Honeywell declined to specify, involves a firm order for 200 of the 737 Max airplanes and options on another 190, the first of which Boeing expects to deliver to Southwest in the third quarter of 2017. The contract also calls for retrofit onto Southwest’s

current-generation 737NGs after first Max deliveries.

The new IMMR integrates ILS, GPS, GLS and VOR functionality, explained Honeywell Aerospace vice president for airlines Dave Luken. “So it’s integrating more of these radios

into one integrated multi-mode radio, and so, specifically, bringing in the GLS approaches in the IMMR as well as integrating a VOR, which was its own separate component in today’s NG aircraft.”

Honeywell Aerospace vice

IntuVue’s Weather Eye

56 Paris Airshow News • June 16, 2015 • www.ainonline.com

Robotic automation is key to 777X production transition

Designed and built by Kuka Robotics, the FAUB automated machinery on Boeing’s 777 assembly line drills and fills some 60,000 fasteners per aircraft.

by Gregory Polek

Boeing Commercial Airplanes vice president of 777 manufacturing Jason Clark.

“We’re putting the automation in areas where there is high-volume, repetitive type work–drilling, filling, sealant application– those type of applications that are hard on the human body, that we tend to have a lot of quality constraints on.”

While the FAUB underwent testing over the last year in Anacortes, in Everett the company built a new facility to run in parallel with the current production line, allowing for a slow transition from today’s processes to the new technology. To ensure that it works as expected, Boeing has also implemented a fatigue program for which it built a test barrel with the automation. Situated on the north side of the Everett campus, the barrel neared completion late last month, in time for the planned conclusion of testing in August. “[It] allows us to start onboarding later this year the new technology and the parallel production I was mentioning,” said Clark.

DAVID McINTOSH

A new set of drilling and riveting body-structures tools in favor of a promachines recently transferred to Boeing’s cess using cradles and AGVs that “pulse” massive plant in Everett, Washington, throughout the production system. At from a high-bay space the company rented the same time, the company plans to in nearby Anacortes marked the latest remove all the tooling associated with the milestone in its continuing effort to auto- wing-to-body join, also in favor of a cramate 777 production. Called the FAUB dle-AGV-based production system.

“We will really be transforming the (fuselage automated upright build), the machinery employs automated guided production system in the next two to robots designed by Kuka Robotics. It three years to a monument-free envidrills and fills some 60,000 fasteners that ronment,” said 777 program vice presattach the panels that comprise the 777’s ident and general manager Elizabeth forward and aft body sections. Today, Lund. “That means it’s flexible; it’s easy to reconfigure; you can take Boeing mechanics positioned advantage of design changes.” on both sides of the fuselage Correspondingly, as Boeing perform the task by hand, a designs the new 777X–due to repetitive and tiring job that enter service around the turn places a lot of stress on their of the decade–it does so with shoulders and hands. automation in mind, resulting The new process will use in a transformation of the way automated guided vehicles it delivers parts and develops (AGVs) to move the compoproduction standards for the nents of FAUB into position, airplane, added Lund. including work stands, fuseOnce the 777X enters prolages and the robotic arms that will drill and insert fasteners. Jason Clark is Boeing’s v-p duction, its composite wing will travel through the same The robots, positioned inside of 777 manufacturing. main final assembly line as the and outside the fuselage, not only drill the holes, but also act as a buck- metal wing now used on the current generation airplanes, thanks largely to the ing bar and perform dynamic riveting.

A 325,000-sq-ft factory extension in flexibility the new monument-free system Everett houses the FAUB. Boeing expects affords. Boeing expects to continue buildto start using the system by the end of ing metal wings for the 777 freighter for roughly another 10 years, said Lund, or the year.

The FAUB serves as something of until the company decides to develop a a centerpiece for Boeing’s continuing 777X cargo variant with a composite wing.

“We’re also looking at where you put the evolution toward automotive-industry style automation. For example, it will technology, that it isn’t just putting autoallow the company to remove all of the mation in for automation’s sake,” added

One important element in the upcoming transition to 777X production is Boeing’s ability to plan using the same assembly area for the new airliner’s composite wing as it does for the current aluminum wing. And metal wings for current-design 777 freighters could remain in production for another decade.

58 Paris Airshow News • June 16, 2015 • www.ainonline.com

For the empennage, Boeing has established yet another automated assembly process, using many of the same technologies introduced with the FAUB. The new system will perform roughly 80 percent of the drilling and light fastening, eliminating roughly 58,000 manual drills.

Now building 777s at a rate of 8.3 airplanes per month, Boeing continues to express confidence that it will manage a smooth production transition to the 777X as long as it collects orders for between 50 and 60 current-generation airplanes a month through 2018.

Continuous product improvement, said 777 integration leader Doug Ackerman, will ensure a steady flow of orders for the current airplane, plans for which call for capacity addition of some 14 extra seats along with engine, cabin and aerodynamic changes designed to improve fuel efficiency per seat by 5 percent.

Changes include a reduction in empty weight of some 1,200 pounds, elevator trim bias modifications, window drag reduction, flap fairing “optimization” and the removal of the tailskid device through improvements in the software that controls tail strike correction.

Boeing expects to gain the 14 extra seats by shrinking the exterior dimensions of the lavatories and switching from a canted seat track pattern in the rear of the cabin to a straight, staggered configuration, allowing for better use of now wasted space where the fuselage narrows in the rear of the airplane. So far, two customers have agreed to take the option and Boeing expects to begin delivering that modification in the first half of 2016.

Other improvements coming in the second quarter of 2016 include engine mods by GE expected to result in a half-percent improvement in fuel burn.

Other fuel burn enhancements come from a software modification that will allow for a so-called flaps 25 autoland setting, resulting in more efficient approach speeds. o

Airbus projecting 2017 for first E-Fan delivery

by Thierry Dubois Participating in the flying display here at the Paris Air Show is Airbus’s E-Fan 1.0 electric aircraft, which has benefited from a number of improvements since it was on the static display here in 2013. Production of the two-seat trainer type is planned to begin in a new factory to be built in Pau, southwest France, starting in 2016.

Airbus Group, through its Voltair subsidiary, is thus the first major manufacturer to join the growing number of companies that aspire to create a new, more environmentally friendly way of flying.

Extensive Test Program Is Well Under Way

Since March 2014, the E-Fan 1.0 demonstrator has performed 78 test flights, logging 38 flight hours.

Leading up to this year’s show, the aircraft has been heavily modified. “We have reduced the structural weight and made the front landing gear retractable,” Detlef Müller-Wiesner, who is responsible for Airbus Group’s E-Aircraft program directorate, told AIN. He said battery capacity has been increased by 30 percent, but would not identify a percentage on resulting increase in endurance. As of mid-May, developers were evaluating

possible ways to counter potential thrust asymmetries (in case of a motor failure, for instance), Müller-Wiesner explained.

The production version, the E-Fan 2.0, will offer two seats in a side-by-side configuration (the demonstrator had an aft seat but the space was filled with data transmission equipment).

The E-Fan 2.0 will weigh less than 600 kg (1,323 pounds), as Airbus is planning to certify it in the light sport airplane category and that is the upper weight limit. It will be powered by two 30- 40-kW motors, up from 30 kW on each of the demonstrator’s motors. The current official estimate on endurance is 75 minutes (including reserve).

Neither the demonstrator nor the E-Fan 2.0 will be able to charge batteries during descent.

“It would complicate the design of the control unit and the costbenefit ratio would be unfavorable,” Müller-Wiesner explained.

Another Airbus Group source told AIN that the issue is with the heat such charging activity would generate in a confined space.

[Czech Republic-based Pipistrel has a competing program–the WattsUp–in which the propeller would act as a ram-air turbine to recharge the battery. Thirteen

Hexcel invests in Europe with new French factory

by Caroline Bruneau U.S. composite-parts supplier Hexcel has announced that it is building a new facility in Roussillon, near Lyon, in the southeast of France–an important commitment to its European customers. When Hexcel (Chalet 113, Hall 2B F80) began looking for a new location in Europe, it had plenty of choices but very strict specifications. “We want to have reliable production lines on both sides of the Atlantic,” vice president and European general manager Thierry Merlot explained to AIN. “We want to get closer to our customers,” he said.

Now based in Lyon, the French engineer has been employed by Hexcel in France since 1988. He saw the composite market take off in Europe, due

to big changes in aircraft design and production over the past 10 years. Hexcel took three and half years to find the perfect location for its new plant.

Despite high labor costs in Europe, especially in France, the choice at the end was logical.

Because the EU Seveso Directive regulates the safety of hazardous substances, Merlot said, “We were looking for a location classified as a ‘Seveso high threshold site’ able to deal with the chemical installation and water treatment, and one that offers low energy costs. We got offers from all over Europe, about 60 applicants.”

Before the final decision, Hexcel had limited the choices to two sites in France and one

60 Paris Airshow News • June 16, 2015 • www.ainonline.com

The Airbus E-Fan electric aircraft will be built in a new factory located in Pau, southwest France.

percent of the battery charge would be recouped on every approach, according to Pipistrel.]

On the E-Fan 2.0, a full charge takes one hour on the ground. This is good news for flying clubs or schools, as the aircraft should be able to fly five hours per day. Another positive part of the equation is the much lower noise level (thanks to the electric motor and ducted fans), which should expand operating

hours at noise-sensitive airports.

“The direct operating cost will be 30 percent lower than that of existing, comparable aircraft,” Müller-Wiesner added.

Total development cost is on the order of €50 million, shared between Airbus (€20 million) and partners, including Safran, Zodiac and Siemens. Part of the cost is covered by launch aid from state and local authorities.

Daher is a subcontractor and is in charge of “operating the design office” in Tarbes, Müller-Wiesner

said. The location of Daher’s design and manufacturing facility in Tarbes was a factor in choosing Pau (a 40-minute drive) for the E-Fan’s final-assembly site. Construction on the factory is planned to begin in the middle of next year.

The first delivery of an E-Fan 2.0 is scheduled for the end of 2017, according to Müller-Wiesner.

Airbus Group sees the E-Fan program as a first step toward larger electric or hybrid aircraft; the company has already run a 700-kW motor on a test rig. o

in the UK. “We chose the site at Roussillon in Rhônes-Alpes, 80 km away from our own installation near Lyon,” said Merlot.

“The energy price is lower in France than in the UK and it’s also closer to our customers Airbus and Safran.”

Municipal leaders in Roussillon have pledged to help recruiting and training the new employees. No infrastructure will have to be built at the site, because other chemical companies already operate there.

The new facility represents a $250 million investment and will generate 130 direct jobs, plus 130 indirect positions, said Merlot.

Hexcel, which already employs some 1,000 people in France, will start the recruitment process at the end of 2015. The new employees–mostly operators for the production line–will then be trained in the U.S. and Spain in order to start operations at the beginning of 2018. If it works properly, “We could then double production by 2018/2019,”

Merlot explained. Hexcel is building two factories at the new site. The first will produce polyacrylonitrile (PAN), the basic material used in many composite materials. The second will manufacture carbon fiber.

Hexcel products can also be found in cars, skis and wind turbines, but by far, its largest market in Europe is aerospace, at around 90 percent. The company produces carbon-based material for all types of aircraft: helicopters, the Ariane rocket launcher and for Dassault’s Falcon and Rafale military aircraft.

Another big customer is Safran, which is starting production of its new Leap engine, part of the CFM joint-venture with GE. More than 7,500 engines with carbon-fiber blades have already been ordered and it is important for Safran to have a reliable supplier that can help ramp up the program.

Hexcel is also able to invest because of excellent business forecasts. The company is

looking to boost revenues by more than 66 percent over the next decade, growing from the $1.8 billion it achieved in 2014 (10 percent growth from 2013) to $3 billion in 2020.

At the JEC trade show in Paris back in March, the U.S. group’s president and CEO, Nick Stanage, told reporters that growth will be driven by acquisitions as well as the expanded use of new aerostructures manufacturing technology. Merlot confirmed, “Our revenues will grow by 10 percent a year as we are able to invest capital in our development.” More and more aircraft are using composites, with the Airbus A350XWB consisting of up to 53 percent carbon-fiber material. The composite components are worth about $5 million per plane.

Here at the Paris Air Show Hexcel is unveiling new materials to help reduce engine noise and offer better heat-resistance, preparing the way for the A320neo, Boeing 777X and a possible A380neo. o

An Hour to Top Off a Charge

The Sagem Patroller executes an approach to Toulouse-Blagnac Airport under the Europeansupported ODREA project.

Europe takes some giant steps in RPAS airspace integration

by Bill Carey Last November, a consortium representing French industry, government and academia completed a series of 20 flight tests that demonstrated the ability of the one-metric-ton Patroller remotely piloted air system (RPAS) to perform approaches to a mid-sized commercial airfield, Toulouse-Blagnac Airport.

The Patroller flight tests capped the Operational Demonstration of RPAS in European Airspace (ODREA) project, one of nine projects the Single European Sky ATM Research

(SESAR) Joint Undertaking, or SJU, selected in 2013 to study the feasibility of introducing RPAS into nonsegregated airspace alongside manned aircraft. Those projects, supported by the SJU with €4 million ($4.48 million) in cofinancing, conclude this year.

ODREA’s objectives were to define and validate RPAS procedures for standard instrument departure and standard arrival routes (SIDs and STARs), demonstrate the capability to integrate an unmanned aircraft

into managed air traffic, and refine its capability to conduct missions in the event of a lost communications link or detect-and-avoid awareness. Through simulations and actual flight tests of the Patroller with a safety pilot aboard and “intruder” aircraft from Muret-Lherm Airport in southern France, and involving traffic patterns there and at ToulouseBlagnac Airport, testers proved the feasibility of manned and unmanned aircraft operating together.

Rockwell Collins France coordinated the ODREA project. Sagem (Hall 2a A228/A252), which developed the optionally piloted Patroller from the German Stemme S15 motor glider, provided the RPAS. Sagem said it demonstrated “a complete anticollision function” on the Patroller using a combination of sensors, including an infrared optronic device, automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast receiver, “and an automatic risk collision estimation and avoidance flightpath generation” algorithm running in an onboard computer.

Also participating in ODREA were France’s DGAC civil aviation authority, air navigation service provider DSNA and the National Civil Aviation School (ENAC). The group conducted

SIKORSKY MATRIX AUTONOMY PROGRAM LOOKS AHEAD Sikorsky is proceeding with flight-testing more unmanned “autonomous” helicopters, and is planning to add a Black Hawk to its Autonomy Program next year.

The U.S. rotorcraft manufacturer’s Matrix Technology program launched in mid-2013, giving helicopters various degrees of automation. To

date, the only Sikorsky Autonomy Research Aircraft (SARA) to fly is a modified S-76. It features fly-bywire controls and a number of sensors and has completed autonomous takeoffs and landings. It has also performed flights where it avoided obstacles and autonomously selected a landing zone.

“SARA has, to date, flown more than 75

Sikorsky’s autonomy program, which so far has involved a modified S-76, is about to also have a Black Hawk participating.

62 Paris Airshow News • June 16, 2015 • www.ainonline.com

hours of engaged, unmanned time with Matrix technology, and we have a robust schedule to continue to expand the flight-test envelope,” said Igor Cherepinsky, chief engineer for Sikorsky’s Autonomy Program, in mid-May. In 2014, Sikorsky acquired a Black Hawk military helicopter, which it is now inducting into the program. The idea is to “further our efforts to demonstrate the optionally piloted capabilities in a military platform,” Cherepinsky went on. Reconfiguration of the aircraft is in process, and the Black Hawk is scheduled to fly “sometime in late 2016.”

Sikorsky has been involved in related programs with the U.S. Army and Darpa (Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency). The former effort involves UAV-UGV (unmanned air vehicle-unmanned ground vehicle) collaboration. Darpa, meanwhile, awarded Sikorsky a contract in the Aircrew Labor In-Cockpit Automation System (Alias) program, which envisions a “tailorable, drop-in, removable kit” that would incorporate high levels of automation in existing aircraft, enabling a smaller crew.

–T.D.

a final workshop in Toulouse on March 31.

Other SJU-sponsored RPAS demonstration projects involved industry and government partners from Czech Republic, Germany, Italy, Malta, the Netherlands, Spain and the UK. The DSNA coordinated a second project in France–Testing Emergency Procedures in Approach and En Route Integration Simulation (TEMPAERIS)–which also involved Airbus Defense and Space, Airbus ProSky (Hall Concorde 17), Cassidian, Sopra Steria (Static B2) and ENAC (Hall Concorde 02). That effort evaluated the use of an Airbus-developed DynAero MCR4S lightplane, serving as an RPAS surrogate, with air traffic to and from Bordeaux-Mérignac Airport. The consortium announced on February 15 that it had successfully completed its flight program.

Confidence Builders

Prominent among the accomplishments of the projects was to “demystify” the use of RPAS, according to organizers. “These demo projects are very useful and key to increasing awareness and stakeholder familiarization, and (they) give confidence to aviation authorities,” to conduct more complex trials, Célia Alves Rodrigues, the SESAR JU’s environment officer, stated in a presentation to the ODREA final workshop.

RPAS will be further incorporated in the Single European Sky vision under the SESAR 2020 research effort, which is due to begin this year and extend through 2024. The SJU published the first call for proposals for 11 air traffic management (ATM) projects in March, for which €20.6 million in cofinancing is available. While the effort focuses more broadly on ATM, unmanned aircraft figure to play a significant role.

“Research may address any part of the ATM system from strategic planning through airport operations to tactical air traffic control and collision avoidance,” reads the call for tenders. “Research is also needed to support the integration of new and diverse aircraft types, including remotely piloted vehicles. The integration of RPAS or highly autonomous aerial vehicles provides a number of automation challenges requiring new supervision and control paradigms, which could extend to such developments as multiple simultaneous control and swarm dynamics.” o

After record ramp-up, Boeing fine-tunes 787

by Gregory Polek Despite all their well-publicized problems, the two assembly plants that churn out Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner have managed to accelerate production faster than any other widebody program in history. Now building ten 787s per month, Boeing has already put in place all the factory equipment it needs to increase rates to 12 per month next year, reported 787 vice president and general manager Larry Loftis. Plans call for an increase in rate at the plant in Charleston, South Carolina,

Boeing 787 vice president and general manager Larry Loftis

from three to five, while, in Everett, Washington, the company consolidates the production of seven airplanes into a single line.

Just last month, Boeing announced it would close the so-called surge line in Everett, established in 2011 to “de-risk” production rate increases and introduction of the 787-9, said Loftis. By October the company expects to start assembly of the last 787 scheduled to roll down the surge line, deliver the airplane by the end of the year and begin to convert the space into a production line for early copies of the 777X. In the meantime, Boeing will need to transfer three 787s from the surge line, resulting in a rate of seven per month at the main line in Everett by the end of the year.

“I think it’s a strong testament to the production health and maturity, both at Everett and at Charleston, and it allows Charleston to accelerate the rate increase to get to 12 a little bit earlier,” said Loftis. “So the timing is really good for us because it allows us to take the personnel off the temporary surge line, move a number of them over to

the main line, get the training in place, get them used to the jobs they’re going to be working to really de-risk the ramp-up on the main line.”

Charleston Goes It Alone

Meanwhile, program leaders have begun to prepare to introduce into production exclusively at Charleston the 787-10–the largest of the three Dreamliners destined to enter service–by the end of next year. By then production of the 787-9, some 20 of which Boeing had delivered by mid-May, should predominate, said Loftis. By the end of this year Boeing expects the -9 to account for half of all the Dreamliners it builds.

Ultimately, by the turn of the decade, Boeing plans to split production evenly between Everett and Charleston, each of which build seven airplanes a month.

“Believe it or not, some of the preparatory work is already in place for that as well,” said Loftis. “[There’s] not a whole lot required to go from 12 to 14 because we’ll gain most of that capacity through productivity gains. But we are making sure that there’s enough capital as far as building facilities; those things are being put in place to make sure when we go to those rates we’ll be ready for it.”

As Boeing raises production rates, it goes through what Loftis called a rate readiness review with its suppliers, where the company conducts audits to ensure that they have secured the needed capital equipment, tooling, staffing, training processes and plans in place to order longlead-time items such as forgings. “In areas that have bit us in the past we’ve learned a lot over the number of rate breaks we’ve done, explained Loftis, who named insufficient raw materials such as aluminum and titanium as common “failure modes.”

“You can think of all the things we’ve stumbled over in the past,” he said. “I’m kind of excited about a new process.

Instead of letting each one of our major suppliers go out and say, ‘Here’s how many fasteners I need,’ we started to aggregate at the airplane level.”

The method allows much more clarity to the process houses, explained Loftis. “So they know what’s coming, versus getting a

64 Paris Airshow News • June 16, 2015 • www.ainonline.com

Above: Boeing has delivered more than twenty 787-9s since Air New Zealand took its first copy last July. Below: Boeing expects the main 787 assembly line in Everett, Washington, to produce seven airplanes a month after it closes the surge line later this year.

big order from one supplier and a flowtime, reduction of which big order from another and they must accompany any rate in­ aren’t timed right.” creases, explained Loftis. “That’s The importance of tim- a real enabler,” he said. “The ing, and perhaps more pre- crews get to cycle faster, so they cisely, sequence, also applies to get more repetitive on the jobs.

Boeing’s own assembly lines. For example, if you’re going to For example, the company now spend five days, at a position, installs many of the 787’s inte- a crew has to know five days’ rior components, such as gal- worth of work. If you’re going leys and lavatories, on the line’s to do it in three days, they have last two positions, which tends to know only three days worth of to place a heavy work burden work and they can get better at it. at the end of the build process. So you tend to come down a proRecently, Loftis and company ductivity curve a lot faster.” decided to rebalance its work Of course, the amount of sostatement to move those items called rework in the factory also to positions earlier in the build, affects productivity. Loftis said allowing technicians to install the company has effected signifa fully assembled galley before icant reductions in such “nonthey join the body sections. The value-added” activity and that change will avoid the need to the pace of those reductions has take apart the galley to move accelerated in the second quarter. the parts through the passenger “The airplane did not perform in doors and reassemble it inside service from a reliability standthe airplane. point to our expectations,” he Boeing institutes such­ conceded. “So we put a lot of time changes in the interest of and effort into fixing components

that were malfunctioning or breaking.” Consequently, Boeing aggressively addressed the issues “mainly because we had to,” said Loftis, improving reliability rates from roughly between 96.5 and 97 percent in the spring of 2013, following the grounding of the worldwide fleet due to battery overheating, to close to 99 ­percent today.

“The number of fixes that we’ve put in place over the past two and a half years have [resulted in] a lot of improvement,” he stressed. “It’s really showing itself here, as well, in [less need for predelivery test flying] to make sure it’s meeting all of our standards and our customers’ standards.

So that’s also really helping to drive more predictability into our delivery schedules and plans.” o

MARK WAGNER

Airbus’s market survey calls for a trend toward highcapacity aircraft, such as this A350 and A380 tag team, for long-haul operations. Over the next 20 years, the airframer sees a need for some 9,600 passenger and freighter versions of this class.

by Gregory Polek Global passenger traffic will grow at an average 4.6 percent a year, driving a need for some 32,600 new mainline aircraft worth $4.9 trillion, according to Airbus’s latest global market forecast, issued at the Paris Air Show on Monday.

By 2034, passenger and freighter fleets will more than double from today’s 19,000 aircraft to 38,500. More fuel efficient types will replace some 13,100 passenger and freighter aircraft, Airbus said.

Emerging economies will account

With its fighter-like performance, the M346 is being touted as an aggressor aircraft and companion trainer.

M346 now taking on a new, aggressive role

by David Donald Over the past few weeks, the Italian air force has been testing the Alenia Aermacchi M346 advanced trainer in a new role, mimicking a threat target as a “Red Air” aggressor in dissimilar air combat training (DACT) with front-line Eurofighter Typhoon fighters. Aermacchi has received considerable interest from a number of customers regarding this new capability, which highlights the versatility of the M346 and its ability to provide cost-effective, high-quality training that reduces the burden on the front line.

During the trials, the M346 flew as an aggressor against the Typhoons of the 4° Stormo (4th wing) at Grosseto, which parents both a front-line squadron and the Typhoon operational conversion unit (OCU). The datalink capability of both aircraft types allowed them to be fully interoperable, with no changes required. Trials were highly successful, and currently the Italian air force is writing the standard operating procedures necessary to introduce the aggressor capability into service.

for the fastest growth, expanding at some 5.8 percent a year compared with more advanced economies, like those in Western Europe or North America, which forecasts indicate will grow collectively at 3.8 percent. Now accounting for 31 percent of worldwide private consumption, emerging economies will represent 43 percent of consumption by 2034.

According to the Airbus data, in today’s emerging economies, 25 percent of the population take one trip per year. Airbus projects that number will increase to 74 percent by 2034. In advanced economies, such as

Alenia Aermacchi claims that the M346 has much to offer in this role, notably its ability to fly for extended periods at sustained G-forces. For instance, the aircraft can sustain a 5g turn for 20 minutes. Current aggressor types in use are either older trainers and fighters that do not represent a modern threat, or front-line fighters that are very expensive to operate and do not have the endurance when maneuvering hard because of the need to use afterburner.

In addition to the aggressor role, Alenia Aermacchi is highlighting the related function of companion trainer. The company is seeing an increasing need for post-OCU training to maintain proficiency and to bring pilots up to higher states of combat readiness.

With its high maneuvering and climb performance–as well as embedded virtual training systems that allow the replication of threats, weapons and radar in the cockpit–the M346 could find a place alongside front-line aircraft to offset flying hours from the operational fleet, in addition to its more traditional Phase 3/4 advanced/tactical training duties. In a companion trainer concept, front-line pilots could accomplish some of their training requirements in the M346, especially those who are newly qualified in the operational type.

Italy’s air force was the first customer for the M346 (designated T-346A in air force service), with a stated aim of acquiring 15. Nine have been ordered so far, serving with the 61° Stormo (61st wing) at Lecce-Galatina. Last month it was announced that some Dutch pilots will train with the Italian unit, particularly those

destined to fly the F-35 JSF. Alenia Aermacchi has also delivered M346s to Singapore and Israel (the type is known as the Lavi in Israel) and has begun construction of eight aircraft for Poland, with the first set due for delivery in November. The type is also in the running for the U.S. Air Force’s T-X advanced trainer requirement. o

MARK WAGNER

Airbus sees 20-year demand for 32,600 modern-build jets

North America, the tendency to travel will exceed two trips per year, it added.

“Asia Pacific will lead in world traffic by 2034 and China will be the world’s biggest aviation market within 10 years, and clearly Asia and emerging markets are the catalyst for strong air traffic growth,” said Airbus COO for customers John Leahy.

“Today, we are ramping up production of the A350 XWB and we are studying further production rate increases beyond rate 50 for single aisle aircraft to meet the increasing demand for air transportation.”

In the widebody market, Airbus forecasts a trend towards higher-capacity aircraft on long haul, and an increasingly wide range of regional and domestic sectors. As a result, Airbus forecasts a requirement for some 9,600 widebody passenger and freighter aircraft over the next 20 years, valued at some $2.7 trillion and representing 30 percent of all new aircraft deliveries.

In the single-aisle market, the latest Airbus forecast sees a requirement for nearly 23,000 new aircraft worth $2.2 trillion over the next 20 years, an increase of nearly 1,000 aircraft compared with the estimate in the previous forecast. o

WHEELS FOR WINGS It takes a lot of punishment getting an extra-widebody back to terra firma. Messier-Bugatti-Dowty’s main landing gear for the Airbus A350800/900 consists of an impressive four-wheel bogie.

www.ainonline.com • June 16, 2015 • Paris Airshow News 65

MARK WAGNER

DGA-EV’s new Rafale testbed is a Fokker 100 airliner that can carry missiles and sensor pods, as well as combat radar.

‘Fighting’ Fokker goes on show

by David Donald One of the more eye-catching exhibits in the Paris Air Show static park is the DGA-EV’s new Fokker 100 ABE-NG test­ bed, equipped with a range of combat systems that are more normally seen on the Dassault Rafale multi-role warplane.

The retired airliner–on display at the French Ministère de la Défense’s static area (B3)–

has undergone a series of modifications to make it an ideal platform for testing advanced systems for the Dassault fighter.

For many years the DGAEV (Direction Générale de l’Armement-Essais en Vol) and its immediate predecessor, Centre d’Essais en Vol (CEV), has used a fleet of aircraft to perform systems trials duties, notably the

Dassault Falcon 20. Although the Falcon performed well in the role, the increasing difficulty in keeping the aircraft airworthy and the limitations of the aircraft’s cabin and power supply was leading to it being less useful in the test role.

Accordingly, in 2009 the CEV began a search for a new platform.

Aircraft such as the A320 with digital flight control were ruled

out, while the Boeing 737 did not offer sufficient ground clearance and the Falcon 2000 business jet was considered too small. In 2010 the answer was found in the form of the Fokker 100, and an airliner recently retired by Régional (Air France) was purchased.

Sabena Technics at DinardPleurtuit was contracted to perform the modification work, as well as to provide 20 years of inservice support. Changes to the airframe involved a new nose section that mounted the RBE2 radar and front-sector optronics

of the Rafale, as well as structural changes to allow the carriage of sensor pods. Hardpoints were added under the wings to allow the carriage of MICA air-toair missiles and under the fuselage to carry systems such as the Reco NG reconnaissance pod.

Internally, the flight deck was left largely unchanged, apart from the addition of a sidestick and screen console on the copilot’s side. The main cabin was stripped of seats and replaced by four operator consoles and modular electronic racks for test equipment.

The former hold now accommodates a sensor system interface with the test instruments, as well as also cooling systems.

Known as the ABE-NG (Avion Banc d’Essais-Nouvelle Génération), DGA-EV’s new testbed took to the air again after modification in December 2013, before engaging on a test campaign to gain EASA certification.

In testing and developing new systems for the Rafale and other tactical air systems, DGA-EV hopes to fly around 150 times annually, operating mainly from the DGA-EV’s test centers in Istres and Cazaux. o

New airshow to be launched in China Officials from the Sichuan province in China will announce plans today for a new international airshow, to be held every two years from September 2017 at Deyang-Guanghan Airport near Chengdu, one of the major hubs of China’s aerospace industry and home to one of China’s fastest-growing economic regions.

Working with Sichuan province to make the show a reality are the E ­ uropean Union Project Innovation ­ Centre and Farnborough Airshow organizer Farnborough International Ltd. Under current plans the show will comprise three trade days, targeting 30,000 visitors, and two public days during which a crowd of 100,000 is targeted. Between 300 and 400 exhibitors are expected, with around 60 static display aircraft and a similar number in the flying display. The former military airfield at Guanghan is now home to the Chinese civil aviation flight university, and more than 90 percent of China’s airline aircrew train there.

The Sichuan show will focus on civil and commercial aerospace, including MRO and support services. Chinese

conglomerates AVIC, CATIC and Comac will be represented in force, and the show is being promoted as a forum where overseas companies can explore means of getting involved in the growing Chinese market.

China’s aviation base is expanding apace, with 56 new airports being planned and 91 others slated for significant renovation and expansion.

Chinese airlines are expected to need around 4,000 new aircraft over the next 20 years, according to Airbus, while Boeing’s outlook suggests nearly 6,000 might be required.

Establishing an airshow in the Chengdu region represents an important departure for China, where existing events are all located in the eastern part of the country. Chengdu is the nation’s western-most major city, with excellent transport links, including a newly opened rail freight hub that provides direct access into China from Europe.

The city boasts more than 30 aerospace enterprises and research centers, with more than 50,000 employees working in the aerospace sector. o

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DAVID McINTOSH

by David Donald

VARIETY SHOW The Paris Air Show has a unique mix of aircraft types and missions. Standing on the ramp, you might see Textron Beechcraft's fully armed AT-6 attack turboprop being towed by, foreground. Or perhaps Honeywell's Boeing 757 testbed (with an extra engine pylon and lots of added antennas), left, and a Citation business jet. It's all here at Le Bourget.

UTC confirms its plan to divest Sikorsky unit UTC on Monday announced that it will pursue the separation of its Sikorsky helicopter business, subject to final board approval. “Our strategic review has confirmed that exiting the helicopter business is the best path forward for United Technologies,” said UTC president and CEO Gregory Hayes.

According to the U.S.-based group, removing Sikorsky from the portfolio will “better position UTC to focus on providing high-technology systems and services to the aerospace and building industries.”

However, the parent company still has to decide whether the move will be in the shape of a sale or a spinoff and that choice will be probably announced by the end of July, according to Hayes.

Excluding Sikorsky, UTC continues to expect organic sales growth of 3 to 5 percent annually.

In March, the company released a

comparative chart where Sikorsky appeared to be lagging rival helicopter manufacturers, with a margin slightly greater than 10 percent in 2014 and a projected annual growth of about 3 percent through 2023.

More recently, a decline in Sikorsky’s operational expectations for the year–due to weakness in the oil-and-gas market–negatively impacted earnings per share by $0.10. A plan for 1,400 job cuts was announced earlier in June.

Commercial sales have been much slower than hoped and total Sikorsky sales in 2015 will therefore be down by a single-digit percentage, according to a revised outlook. For the longer term the outlook remains positive as the target revenue is $10 billion by 2015, compared to $7.5 billion in 2014.

Speaking at an investor meeting on Monday, Hayes said Sikorsky is “still a great company.” o

MARK WAGNER

by Thierry Dubois

SILVERCREST SHINING Snecma's developmental Silvercrest turbofan is slated to power Dassault's Falcon 5X, due for certification in 2017. Thanks, in part, to the Silvercrest’s fuel efficiency, Falcon 5X range is projected to be 5,200 nautical miles.

Textron awaiting key UAV decisions

by David Donald is teamed with prime contractor Airbus Defence & Space to offer the Shadow M2, a secondgeneration TUAS. The vehicle was developed with a range of improvements over the existing RQ-7 Shadow 200, including better performance and reliability.

Trials This Week

It has dual-payload capability in its basic form, but can also carry wing-mounted payload pods to enhance multi-sensor capability. The M2 also introduces a satellite communications link that “provides more of a strategic capability in a Group 3 platform,” according to Textron

MARK WAGNER

Textron Systems subsidiary Unmanned Systems is showing off its range of UAVs at the Paris Air Show as the company awaits decisions on two major contracts expected later this year. In November, the French DGA is expected to down-select a contractor to meet its tactical unmanned air system (TUAS) requirement, although the decision process may be accelerated.

Before then, Textron expects to find out if its bid for a U.S. Special Operations Command (SOCOM) service provision contract is successful.

For the French requirement, Textron Systems (Static A4)

Textron is showing a wide array of unmanned aerial vehicles here at the Paris Air Show. Meanwhile, some vital decisions on its products are in the works.

Unmanned Systems senior vice president and general manager Bill Irby. Some further modifications have been incorporated to accommodate French needs.

This week the Shadow M2 is being demonstrated in the U.S. to DGA officials.

Textron’s current Shadow 200 isn’t being ignored either–it was recently given full digital datalink capability. In addition, the air vehicle is now weaponized with a number of munitions options, including Textron’s own Fury laser/GPSguided precision weapon.

Aerosonde is the third of Textron’s UAS offerings, a smaller Group 2 (SUAS) vehicle that has been employed, as the MQ-19,

by U.S. Naval Air Systems Command and SOCOM under service provision contracts. Special Operations Command is currently evaluating a third iteration of its mid-endurance UAS contract (MEUAS III) and is expected to make a decision in the late summer/early fall.

Also the object of interest from the Netherlands, the Aerosonde is a catapult-launched air vehicle that is recovered by net. A typical system comprises four air vehicles and two ground control stations that are usually accommodated in tents, although it can

be tailored to fit in most vehicles.

In the latest configuration, the system ­also includes remote video terminals that allow individual users to uplink new navigation waypoints and sensor commands to the vehicle from a ruggedized tablet-sized device, as well as receive sensor imagery and video.

Aerosonde was selected for the current MEUAS II contract, but it suffered from engine-reliability issues. Textron Unmanned Systems has worked hard with its Lycoming engine division to successfully rectify the issues.

“We’ve earned our way back into ­SOCOM,” ­remarked Irby. “We’re now a model for reliability.”

Key features of the Aerosonde are its long-endurance capability, and its proven multi-mission capability to undertake up to five tasks simultaneously, including communications relay. Sensors are housed in a nose-mounted turret that is retractable to avoid damage during recovery, and in a fuselage payload bay. A quick-change payload pod can be carried conformally under the fuselage.

Besides military applications, Aerosonde is being promoted for commercial uses, and Textron already has one customer for the system in the oil/gas sector. According to Irby, this area of unmanned applications is expected to provide rapidly expanding opportunities as reliability of the systems increases yet further. o

BOMBARDIER SEES A $650B FUTURE Bombardier released a market forecast on Sunday that predicts 12,700 aircraft in the 60- to 150-seat segment worth $650 billion will be delivered between 2015 and 2034. Bombardier vice president for business acquisition Ross Mitchell talked about “robust growth” over the next 20 years due to factors such as changes in airline pilot scope clauses and technology improvements.

North America will lead, with 3,600 predicted new aircraft deliveries, followed by greater China (2,450) and Europe (2,100). China’s share will grow in the 100- to 150-seat sub-segment, but North America will still be first here, at 1,900 aircraft, followed by China at 1,500.

“The Chinese market continues to develop–regional airports are being added and, as GDP increases, traf­ fic is increasing,” said Bombardier senior vice president of sales and asset management Colin Bole.

According to the forecast, the 100- to 150-seat segment will total 7,000 aircraft in the 2015 to 2034 period. The Bombardier CSeries’ maximum capacity is 160 seats.

–T.D.

www.ainonline.com • June 16, 2015 • Paris Airshow News 67

Pilatus’ long awaited jet gets off to a flying start

by David Donald Pilatus has brought both its PC-12 turboprop single business/utility aircraft and PC-21 trainer to the Paris Air Show, but the prototype of the company’s latest product, the PC-24 business jet, is not here– being now fully engaged in its flight test campaign, which began last month.

Prototype P01 undertook its maiden flight from Buochs in Switzerland on May 11, taking off for a 55-minute flight, during which the landing gear was left extended. Pilot in command Paul Mulcahy and test pilot Reto Aeschlimann reported “beautiful handling.” Registered HB-VXA, the prototype had flown six times as of this week, and had chalked up 14 hours in the air as part of what is planned as a 2,300-hour trials campaign.

Pilatus initiated the PC-24 program in 2007. “After eight years’ wait it was very exciting to see it fly,” Pilatus chairman Oscar Schwenk told AIN. The company is building two further prototypes to complete the test and certification process. While P01 is undertaking initial envelope expansion tests, P02 is being prepared for a first flight around the end of October. This machine is expected to spend much of the campaign with Honeywell in the U.S., trialling the avionics and autopilot systems.

P03 is the third test airframe, and will be completed to production-representative standards, with a full cabin. It will be the compliance item for certification, and will also be used for customer demonstrations, which are scheduled to start at the end of 2016.

Under current planning Pilatus expects to fly P03 in the middle of next year, although Schwenk noted that its completion may be delayed to incorporate improvements that may arise from the tests with P01 and P02.

Hot and Cold

Part of the campaign involves hot- and cold-weather trials, the former likely to be undertaken in southern Spain. Icing trials are perhaps the most difficult to plan. Tests can be performed using molded foam to simulate icing, but certification requires demonstration in real heavy icing conditions.

The test crew cannot predict where and when this will occur, so it inevitably involves some waiting around and rapid deployments to find the right conditions.

Rough-field testing will start in early 2017 as one of the last elements to be cleared.

Certification is planned for mid2017, with initial deliveries commencing a month after.

The Pilatus PC-24 first flew from the company’s Buochs plant on May 11.

Serial production will commence at least 10 months prior to that, initially with a 10-aircraft pre-production batch.

Production will ramp up with increasing batch sizes, and Pilatus has a maximum capacity planned for producing 50 aircraft per year.

Pilatus opened the order book for its PC-24 “super versatile jet” at the 2014 EBACE show in Geneva, and in just 36 hours had notched up 84 orders. Pilatus is expecting to deliver those aircraft by the end of 2019. For now the order book is temporarily closed so that Pilatus can concentrate on the flight tests and finalizing production details to fulfil the initial batch of orders. Schwenk expects Pilatus to be in a position to begin accepting new orders in mid-2016.

The Swiss company has designed the baseline PC-24 to a high specification, but also is examining a range of options, including special missions. “We see this aircraft as being excellent for government use,” said Schwenk.

One mission fit that will be available from the start is a full medevac configuration. The Royal Flying Doctor Service of Australia–a major operator of the Pilatus PC-12 single-engine turboprop–is one of the launch customers for the PC-24, having ordered six aircraft. Pilatus will work closely with the RFDS to introduce the aircraft, especially as it will be used regularly for rough-field operations. “It’s good to have customers who fly a lot under extreme conditions,” said Schwenk. “We can learn a lot about operating the aircraft from them.” o

PILATUS PC-24 BUSINESS JET Price

$8.9M (2017 $)

Powerplant Williams FJ44-4A

2 @ 3,400 lbf

External Dimensions Wingspan

55.75 ft/17 m

Length

55.17 ft/16.82 m

Height

17.33 ft/5.3 m

Cabin Max passengers

6

Volume

501 cubic feet/14.2 cubic m

Length

23 ft/7 m

Width

5.58 ft/1.69 m

Height

5.08 ft/1.55 m

Performance Max cruise speed @FL300

425 ktas

NBAA IFR range w/4 Pax

1,950 nm/3,610 km

Ceiling

45,000 ft/13,716 m

Takeoff balanced field length

2,690 ft/820 m

Landing distance

2,525 ft/770 m

Stall speed (MLW, ISA, sea level)

81 kias

Weights Max takeoff

17,650 lb/8,005 kg

Max landing

16,250 lb/7,370 kg

Max zero fuel

13,450 lb/6,100 kg

Usable fuel

5,965 lb/2,705 kg

Max payload

2,500 lb/1,135 kg

Max payload with full fuel

915 lb /415 kg

Source: Pilatus Aircraft

FLIR WINS AIRBUS DEAL

Qatar Airways brought five aircraft to the Paris Air Show (see story on page 56). Now in its 18th year of operation, the Gulf carrier flies 157 aircraft to destinations around the world, including Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia-Pacific and North and South America.

FLIR Systems (Chalet 373) and Airbus Helicopters Deutschland announced the selection of FLIR’s Star Safire 380-HD as the preferred electro-optical system for the H145 T2 medium helicopter and the compact 380HDc system for the H135 P3/T3 Meghas.

The Star Safire 380-HD will be the standard mission system available from Airbus Helicopters for H145 T2 operators until at least Dec. 31, 2017, the companies said. The 380-HDc system will be available for H135 P3/ T3 light helicopters for the same period.

“The selection of the Star Safire 380HDc provides a major technical advancement to the global airborne law enforcement market,” said Kevin Tucker, FLIR surveillance vice president and general manager.

“Traditionally, it has been split between large-turreted systems and much less-capable lightweight systems. Airbus Helicopters has recognized that the Star Safire 380-HDc provides large-system capability, but at little more than half the weight and cost.” –B.C.

MARK WAGNER

THE LONG GRAY LINE

68 Paris Airshow News • June 16, 2015 • www.ainonline.com

NEWS CLIPS z Embraer Predicts 6,350 Narrowbody Deliveries

DAVID McINTOSH

A new 20-year forecast released by Embraer for the 70- to 130-seat airliner segment projects deliveries of 6,350 jets worth $300 billion. The company sees a demand for 2,250 units in the 70- to 90-seat segment and 4,100 in the 90- to 130-seat category.

The forecast’s regional breakdown shows North America accounting for a 32-percent share of demand, followed by Europe at 18 percent, China at 16 percent and Latin America at 11 percent. Embraer attributes the growth in the U.S. to a capacity discipline that has proven “very effective” in generating higher profits. As airlines become more attractive to investors, a shift in the main business goals from unit cost and market share to unit profit and return on investment will result, it concluded.

“Right-sized aircraft can regularly generate higher profit per seat since they have fewer available seats allocated for low-fare passengers,” explained Embraer Commercial Aviation CEO Paulo Cesar Silva. “High efficiency of assets is essential to sound financial performance. Those attributes– combined with hub-and-spoke efficiency, narrowbody aircraft complement and new market development–will generate significant demand for new aircraft in the segment.”

z GATE To Focus On Human Factors PATRIOTIC PRECISION

The French military jet team Patrouille de France overflew the grounds of the Paris Air Show during President Hollande’s visit yesterday. Flying their classic Alphajets, the team left its signature banner of red, white and blue smoke in the skies of Le Bourget. Look for them to fly again on the show's public days this weekend.

ATR expects to log $1.98B in new business at Le Bourget

by Caroline Bruneau ATR this week expects to announce another 46 orders for its family to twin turboprop regional airliners, plus options for another 35. Collectively, the announcements to be made here at the Paris Air Show will be valued at $1.98 billion.

On Monday morning, Japan Air Commuter signed an order for eight ATR 42-600s, plus options for 1 more and purchase rights for another 14, in a deal worth $496 million.

This is the first business ATR has won in Japan, and the aircraft are due to enter service in 2017. It also means that ATR has passed the 1,500 mark for total orders.

“We are proud to be able to introduce the ATR aircraft to the skies of Japan,” Japan Air Commuter president Arata Yasujima told reporters.

“The ATR 42-600 is a perfect match for the regional routes of the JAL Group [due to its]

economical, environmental and operational specifications. Also we believe that the high level of ATR’s reliability and our quality of operation will satisfy our passengers’ needs. The brand-new aircraft will take our passengers to many beautiful destinations, especially the islands of Kagoshima, in the southern part of Japan.”

Also on Monday at the airshow, it was announced that Spain’s Binter Canarias had agreed to buy another six of the larger ATR 72-600 model.

Deliveries of these aircraft will start later this year and be completed by 2017, joining the 16 ATRs already operated by the Canary Islands-based carrier. o

ELBIT LAUNCHES AIR KEEPER SIGINT/EW FOR CIVIL AIRCRAFT Elbit Systems (Chalet 200 and Static A8) has chosen the 2015 Paris Air Show to launch its “Air Keeper” ­ irborne Sigint/EW (signals intelligence and electronic warfare) offering which enables civil aircraft to assist in a dealing more efficiently with targets of opportunity when encountered in a hostile environment.

Already operational, Air Keeper has been designed for quick and easy integration on cargo, transport and passenger aircraft. In addition to its ability to be installed without interfering with the aircraft’s platform functionality and mission, the main advantage of Air Keeper is that it combines soft-kill EW with traditional Sigint capabilities in one system.

Air Keeper comprises seven subsystems, mostly from Elbit’s Elisra subsidiary, that can be tailored to meet individual customer requirements. An electronic support measures/intelligence subsystem provides full-spectrum coverage, from 0.5 to 40 GHz, enabling the interception of all radar signals across air, sea and land domains.

In addition, Air Keeper has electronic countermeasures functions to jam hostile emissions. Similar capabilities, for both direction-finding/interception and jamming are provided for communications in the spectrum from high frequency (HF) to 6 GHz. A fifth subsystem for command and control provides the means by which operators can manage the system and exploit the intelligence gathered by the Comint/direction-finding and ESM/Elint subsystems. A self-protection subsystem can interface Air Keeper with the platform’s defensive systems, while a satellite communications subsystem is provided for a two-way link with ground stations for both communication and the relay of intelligence data. –D.D.

Held during the Dubai Airshow, this year’s Gulf Aviation Training Event (GATE) will take place on November 10 and 11. Bringing together industry players and with an accent on Middle East training issues, GATE will cover several timely topics such as the issue of human factors versus automation. This will address the issue of whether airlines should revise their training standards and operating procedures in the light of recent accidents such as Air France 447, Asiana OZ214 and Germanwings 4U9525.

Flight-tracking systems will also come under scrutiny, another current topic following the Malaysia Airlines MH370 and MH17 tragedies, with discussion regarding how crews might require additional training in their use. Other sessions include topics such as multi-crew pilot licence ab initio training, and how the Middle East/North Africa can meet the challenges posed by the increasing numbers of experienced airline pilots that are retiring.

z Starburst Provides Startup Acceleration Starburst Accelerator (Static B4) is at the Paris Air Show this week to highlight its ability to provide assistance to innovative startup companies in the aerospace sector. Twenty of the 30 startups that have benefited from the Paris office’s business acceleration services are represented at the show, and a further 12 successful applicants have been selected this week.

Impulse Partners created Starburst Accelerator last year to provide a full set of services to startups as they strive to achieve growth status. Assistance includes establishing contacts with major aerospace companies, liaison with investors, city-center accommodation and themed workshops.

The remit of the accelerator is to promote innovation within all areas of the aerospace sector.

Following on from the success of the Paris-based operation, a new accelerator has been established in Los Angeles and third is planned to launch in Germany this fall.

z Crane’s Transformers Win New Contracts Crane Aerospace & Electronics (Hall 4 A178) transformer rectifier units (TRUs) have been selected for the Comac C919 narrowbody and for Gulfstream’s new G500 and G600.

For the C919’s horizontal stabilizer motor control electronics, Parker has chosen the Eldec auto TRU. Gulfstream has picked Crane’s Eldec TRU, five of which will provide DC bus power throughout the G500/G600. The 250 Amp TRU offers a 115-volt AC three-phase current at 400-Hz input, with 28-volt DC output power. The airframer uses the same TRU on the G650.

www.ainonline.com • June 16, 2015 • Paris Airshow News 69

Good news continues to roll in for the CSeries program. Swiss upgraded its order for 10 CS100s to the larger CS300 model here at the show.

Swiss boosts Bombardier with CSeries order upgrade

by Charles Alcock & Chris Pocock on the final batch still to be determined).

At a Paris press conference on Monday, Bombardier (Chalet 284) also gave more details about the CSeries certification program, reporting that this is now around 70-percent complete. “All flight test risks are now behind us,” said CSeries vice president and general manager Rob Dewar. As of June 15, the Canadian airframer had logged 1,881 flight test hours and more than 30,000 cycles in structural testing.

Bombardier claims that the CSeries jets will be 20-percent more fuel efficient than current in-production narrowbodies and deliver a 10 percent advantage over its re-engined rivals­–the Boeing 737 Max and the Airbus A320neo.

Meanwhile, Canada’s WestJet an­ nounced its has signed a firm order for five Bombardier Q400 twin turboprops.

These are converted options and deliveries will be made in 2016 and 2017. The carrier previously placed one firm Q400 order in March 2015. o

DAVID McINTOSH

CSeries launch operator Swiss gave Bombardier a further boost on Monday when it upgraded 10 of its 30 firm orders for the CS100 model to the larger CS300.

The change adds about $90 million to the value of the deal, as the CS300 is priced at around $72 million, compared to $63 million for the CS100.

“With its size and its low operating costs, the CS300 ideally complements the CS100 and the rest of our European fleet,” said Swiss CEO Harry Hohmeister.

“With both versions of the new CSeries family of aircraft in our ranks, we can be highly flexible in tailoring capacity to demand on our European routes.”

The first of the CS100 aircraft set to be delivered to Swiss, after certification is achieved at the end of this year, is on display here in Paris. At the end of the show, it will be flown to Zurich to be shown off at the airline’s base airport.

Swiss is due to get 10 CS100s in 2016, followed by 10 CS300s in 2017 and then 10 of either type in 2018 (with a decision

AT-6 BECOMES WOLVERINE Eager to differentiate the armed AT-6 from the T-6 Texan II trainer, Textron Beechcraft has named the light attack/ISR platform as the Wolverine. To some the name may conjure up the Marvel Comics character, whereas to others it may apply to the muscular animal that is the largest land-based member of the weasel family. Either way, the Wolverine is renowned for resilience and strength, which has seen the animal take on much larger wolves and bears in the wild.

–D.D.

70 Paris Airshow News • June 16, 2015 • www.ainonline.com

Selex ES has taken the wraps off its latest infrared technology with a new detector named Superhawk. At the heart of this system are thermal pixels measuring just eight microns in size, less than one-twelfth the thickness of a human hair. The Superhawk detector employs more than a million of them to create a detector that can produce a 1280 x 1024-resolution, blur-free image in total darkness.

Development of the eight-micron pixel is the outcome of Selex ES’s three-decade program of refining the metal organic vapour phase epitaxial (MOVPE) process by which infrared-detecting crystals are grown. Each pixel has the capability to discriminate heat differences of down to one-fiftieth of a degree. The advantages of small pixels is that more can be packed into a given detector field, resulting in improved performance with no penalty in size, weight or price.

However, systems packing in ever more pixels can actually decrease image sharpness.

As the pixels get smaller, the tendency for signals to “leak” into the neighbouring pixels increases, with the result that imagery can become blurred. Selex ES’s detector employs a unique solution in which the individual pixels are physically separated from each other, with no signal leakages between them.

The Superhawk detector is now ready for use in a variety of infrared thermal imaging camera systems, including those produced by Selex ES itself. The ability to produce eversharper images further aids the decision-making process, particularly when subject to the strict rules of engagement under which many forces operate in policing and peace-keeping missions. A blurred image may show a suspect holding a long object, for instance, but a sharp image can reveal whether it is a weapon or an innocent everyday object. –D.D.

DAVID McINTOSH

DAVID McINTOSH

SELEX ES UNVEILS SMALLEST EVER THERMAL PIXELS

Representing Embraer’s regional jet family at the Paris Air Show is this ERJ135 in the static display area. The Brazilian manufacturer has announced a string of new business deals for its E-Jet family here at Le Bourget.

Embraer stacks up Paris orders

by Ian Sheppard Yesterday, Embraer underlined why it believes there is a rosy future for its regional jets when it notched orders from several customers for its E-Jet family.

Having earlier this week announced that it has started to assemble the first E190-E2 jet, the Brazilian manufacturer revealed orders from SkyWest Airlines (eight E175s to fly with Alaska ­Airlines), Colorful Guizhou Airlines (up to 17 E190s), United Airlines (10 E175s for United Express) and lessor Aircastle (up to 50 E2s).

The SkyWest aircraft will be flown

by Alaska Airlines under a Capacity Purchase Agreement (CPA) with Alaska Airlines. The contract is worth an estimated $355 million, said Embraer. It follows a similar order under a CPA for seven aircraft last November, with the first of those aircraft being due to enter service with Alaska Airlines next month.

Both represent the firming of orders from an initial SkyWest order consisting of 40 firm and 60 “reconfirmable” orders placed in May 2013.

Colorful Guizhou Airlines is the

first locally-owned airline in Guizhou Province, China. Its order consists of seven firm plus options for a further 10 aircraft, with estimated potential value of $834 million. The first aircraft is scheduled for delivery this year. Guizhou is Embraer’s fifth E-Jet customer in China.

The United Airlines order is a firm order for 10 aircraft worth around $444 million. Embraer said that United’s latest acquisition was on top of a 2013 order for 30 E175s.

The order from Aircastle Holding Corporation consists of 15 E190-E2s and 10 E195-E2s plus an additional 25 purchase rights, for a total potential order of 50 aircraft. Deliveries to the lessor are due to start in 2018 with it receiving “roughly seven” aircraft a year through to 2021.

Embraer said that the new orders brought the E-Jets E2 order backlog to 267 firm plus 373 options and purchase rights.

The E2 jets represent the new generation of E-Jets, being powered by Pratt & Whitney Geared Turbofan engines, which have replaced the General Electric CF34 used on the existing line of E-Jets. o

An-178 arrives here at Paris, Antonov discusses new projects Ukrainian airframer Antonov brought the new twinjet An-178 airlifter to Le Bourget, and yesterday provided details on its proposed four-engine An-188 airlifter at a press conference here. Dmytro Kiva, president and general designer, also talked of the company’s problematic relationship with Russian partners.

“We do no work with Russian companies on military programs, but we continue to work with them on commercial support,” Kiva said. “But the direction given by Ukrainian President Petro Porochenko is to reduce our dependence on the Russian Federation.”

Porochenko has also challenged Antonov to increase production from the current target of 50 aircraft per year to 200. Left unsaid was exactly how the state-owned company can fund new developments, given Ukraine’s precarious financial position.

The An-178 is in the same family as the An-148 and An-158 passenger twinjets.

However, it has a redesigned fuselage with a wider cross-section with an overhead crane, and a rear-loading ramp, plus a stronger wing. The home-made Ivchenko Progress D-436 turbofans are modified to cater for higher maximum takeoff weights. The An-178 only flew for the first time on May 7, and is aimed squarely at the An-12 replacement market.

Presenting the An-188 for the first time outside Ukraine, Antonov officials said that this jet-powered An-70 lookalike is designed to fill the gap between the C-130J and the C-17 (neglecting to mention the A400M). Maximum takeoff weight would be 140 metric tons and the payload 40 metric tons.

Antonov also presented details of the An-132, a proposed replacement for the An-26/An-32 tactical airlifters. The

Modularity is the key to tomorrow’s weapons

by David Donald European missile house MBDA (Chalet 173, Static A10) unveiled the latest of its annual Concept Visions that explore technologies and concepts for future weapons programs.

Known as CVW102 Flexis, this year’s concept is for a completely modular approach to the delivery and sustainability of airpower that could be available in the 2035 timeframe.

Flexis takes a buildingblock approach that assembles weapons to match operational requirements just before the point of mission launch. A series of interchangeable modules provide for different guidance methods, warheads/effectors

and propulsion systems. An automated assembly system draws the various modules from stock and puts them together to form a missile that is ideally suited to the operational requirement of the day.

To enable this connectivity, MBDA envisions a common bus and contactless interfaces between the modules themselves and the carrier platform. A common chassis made of composites has the bus and interfaces embedded. The common airframe approach significantly reduces integration requirements, while the weapons would include a mass-management system that moved

QATAR ORDERS FOUR MORE C-17s FROM BOEING Boeing confirmed here yesterday that the Qatar Armed Forces (QAF) has signed for four more C-17 Globemaster IIIs. The big airlifters will join an existing fleet of four, and reduce Boeing’s backlog of unsold aircraft to just one.

When the U.S. Air Force decided to end production a few years ago, after buying 223, Boeing opted to build 10 more before closing the line at Long Beach, California, in the expectation of further export orders. The Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) took two of them; the Royal Canadian Air Force, one; and one has been sold to an undisclosed customer.

“The additional C-17s will significantly increase the QAF’s ability to [perform] transport, airdrop and humanitarian missions,” said Tommy Dunehew, Boeing Military Aircraft vice president of international customer service and sales. Boeing said that Qatar would also benefit from the company’s “world-class” sustainment package for the C-17. –C.P.

MARK WAGNER

by Caroline Bruneau & Chris Pocock

Ukraine-based Antonov spoke here about its complicated relationship with Russian partners. There is no cooperation on military projects, such as the An-178 on display here. Civil projects are acceptable, for now.

An-132 would be powered by two Pratt & Whitney Canada turboprops, and would also be “Westernized” with content from General Electric, Honeywell, Liebherr and Hamilton Sundstrand.

Antonov claims that the An-132 engineout performance beats that of the competing Airbus C-295 and Alenia C-27J, and that the world market for such an aircraft

ballast around to maintain a common center of gravity.

A weapon configuration and control unit would interface with the platform’s mission computer to allow the platform to instantly recognize the configuration of a particular weapon, allowing it to adjust its acquisition/ launch software accordingly.

Another feature of Flexis is the ability of multiple missiles to collaborate and share resources after launch to enhance mission effect.

Three principal drivers lie behind the Flexis concept: address sustainability issues over prolonged conflicts; provide the flexibility required by increasingly uncertain types of threats; and provide a means of inserting emerging technology at much greater speed than is possible today.

Among the technologies being studied to enhance sustainability and reduce cost is the use of health and usage monitoring systems within each module. This would allow the life management of individual modules, rather than of a whole missile as is currently the case.

As part of the Flexis concept vision, MBDA has identified three separate body diameters as being able to cover all current and forecast requirements.

For its initial detailed concept, the company has concentrated on the smallest diameter, which is envisioned as offering two body lengths to satisfy perceived mission demands. o

exceeds 900. Antonov is working in partnership with the King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology (KCAST) to develop the An-132.

Antonov recently held discussions with various aviation companies in neighboring Poland about substituting Western content on the An-148/158/178 series as well. o

Garuda splits its big orders between Boeing and Airbus

by Gregory Polek Garuda Indonesia opened this year’s Paris Air Show by signing contracts worth up to around $20 billion with both Boeing and Airbus.

In a purchase agreement with Boeing worth up to $10.9 billion, the Asian carrier committed to 30 787-9s and 30 737 Max 8s. Projected delivery for the 787s is between 2020 and 2024, and for the 737s between 2022 and 2025.

Later on Monday morning, Garuda signed a letter of intent (LOI) with Airbus for 30 A350XWB widebodies. The carrier has yet to specify which of the A350 variants it will take.

At a $304.8 million list price for the -900 version, the deal would be worth $9.1 billion.

Appearing with Boeing Commercial Airplanes CEO Ray Conner and BCA senior vice president of sales for Asia Pacific and India, Dinesh Keskar, Garuda Indonesia president and CEO Arif Wibowo talked of using the Dreamliners to open new services to Europe and even possibly to the U.S., where it currently cannot fly due to its Federal Aviation Administration Category 2 status.

Last serving the U.S. some 17 years ago, when it flew between Jakarta and Los Angeles, Garuda plans to work

with Boeing to regain its FAA Category 1 status in the near future, said Wibowo. Conner added that helping to secure its rights to fly into the U.S. as a “top priority” for Boeing.

Along with the new Boeing LOI, the Indonesian flag carrier also reconfirmed its intent to buy another fifty 737 Max 8s, a deal originally announced in October. It plans to use the Max narrowbodies to replace aging 737NGs now serving its domestic market.

According to Wibowo, Garuda had selected the A350XWB on the basis of its reduced fuel consumption, range capability and extra wide cabin. “The A350XWB will be one of the options for us to reposition ourselves as a leading premium carrier in the competitive long haul market out of Asia,” he said.

The airline now flies more than 90 Boeing airplanes, including 737NGs, 777-300ERs and 747-400s. Its fleet also includes A330-200s. o

www.ainonline.com • June 16, 2015 • Paris Airshow News 71

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