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REMOTE CONTROL HOW THE WORLD IS LEARNING TO LIVE WITH UAVS SPECIAL REPORT

ALL GEARED UP

Pratt & Whitney insists GTF engine for Mitsubishi regional jet will not delay programme further 15

TIGER UNLEASHED Spanish-built combat helicopter flies for first time as Eurocopter aims for year-end delivery 18

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flightglobal.com 6-12 AUGUST 2013

RESTRUCTURE

A BRAND NEW AIRBUS Why Enders had to call an end to EADS

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TIGER UNLEASHED Spanish-built combat helicopter flies for first time as Eurocopter aims for year-end delivery 18

PIC OF THE WEEK

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YOUR PHOTOGRAPH HERE

INTERNATIONAL

Airspace user andyxh558 posted this shot of World War II-vintage Lancaster bomber NX611 under very moody skies at East Kirby in, appropriately, Lancashire. Open a gallery in flightglobal. com’s AirSpace community for a chance to feature here.

6-12 AUGUST 2013

RESTRUCTURE

A BRAND NEW AIRBUS

£3.30

AirTeamImages

Why Enders had to call an end to EADS

COVER IMAGE The Airbus A380 is the biggest thing in the sky, and Airbus is the biggest thing in EADS – which has decided to name itself after its top brand P10-11 flightglobal.com/imageoftheday

NEWS 8 9

THIS WEEK Visual landings at SFO banned after Asiana 777 crash CS100 in-service remains ‘on track’.

SABR strikes Northrop blow in F-16 radar upgrade battle

AIR TRANSPORT 12 L-410 stalled after crew turned back.

Ruling queries Ryanair’s pilot employment model 13 Superjet inquiry shifts to climb riddle.

Go-around study reveals lack of basic monitoring 14 Firefly offers to light the way for high-capacity ATR. Passengers take virtual first flight in A350 cabin 15 P&W rebuffs MRJ engine delay fears DEFENCE 16 AgustaWestland calls time on VXX 17 Export interest spurs C-17 extension.

F-35 prices fall in effort to safeguard build rate 18 Eurocopter sets first Spanish Tiger loose.

Iraq looks to Bell for search and rescue helicopter deal

Eurocopter, Boeing

787-9 painted by numbers P14 Spanish Tiger loose P18

OSHKOSH SHOW REPORT 20 2015 target for Vision SF50.

Terrafugia Transition makes flying debut 21 FAA grants exemption for Icon’s heavy A5 amphibian.

Epic E1000 development gathers pace BUSINESS AVIATION 23 Gulfstream drives safety on G280 with avionics upgrade.

Reborn Beechcraft continues revival SPACEFLIGHT 24 ESA fired up for key technology trials.

Private crew transport moves a small step closer

FEATURES

28 FLEET FORECAST Appetite to grow Our latest outlook predicts a 20-year period of surging demand for the civil aerospace industry 32 UAV SPECIAL REPORT 34 Access denied A changing combat environment means a new kind of enemy 37 Ergonomic warfare Technology focus turns towards interoperability 39 Not in my sky UAVs in civil airspace 41 Building longevity RQ-7A maker looks for buyers for its latest M2 version 42 Aiming for acceptance UK and UAVs

BUSINESS 26 GKN gets in the M&A spirit

7 45 46 48 51 55

REGULARS Comment Straight & Level Letters Classified Jobs Working Week

COVER STORY

10 Enders’ Airbus coup EADS boss strikes again with new brand and restructure

Boeing

ALL GEARED UP

Pratt & Whitney insists GTF engine for Mitsubishi regional jet will not delay programme further 15

andyxh558 gallery on flightglobal.com/AirSpace

REMOTE CONTROL HOW THE WORLD IS LEARNING TO LIVE WITH UAVS SPECIAL REPORT

6-12 AUGUST 2013

NEXT WEEK AIRLINER CENSUS Our annual guide to the world’s airliners and who’s flying them, plus an analysis of Taiwan’s fighter fleet – and its struggle to keep it up to strength.

Download the new Commercial Engines Directory now with enhanced data and in-depth market analysis

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6-12 August 2013 | Flight International | 3

CONTENTS

IN THIS ISSUE Companies listed

AgustaWestland ...........................................16 Airbus ................................. 10, 11, 14, 26, 27 Airbus Military....................................9, 10, 11 Air France-KLM ......................................13, 27 Air New Zealand...........................................14 Air Plains Services .......................................20 Alenia Aermacchi .........................................14 AMR .............................................................. 8 Astrium ..................................................10, 11 ATR ..............................................................14 BAE Systems .....................................8, 10, 20 BASF ...........................................................27 Beechcraft ...............................................8, 23 Bell ..............................................................18 Boeing .......... 9, 10, 14, 15, 17, 23, 24, 26, 27 Bombardier .............................................9, 23 Brookfield Aviation International ..................12 Cassidian ....................................................11 Cessna ........................................................20 CFM International ........................................18 Cirrus Aircraft ...............................................20 Dassault ..........................................11, 23, 27 Continental Motors ......................................21 Delta Air Lines ..............................................27 Diamond Aircraft ..........................................21 EADS .........................................10, 11, 14, 27 Epic Aircraft .................................................21 Eurocopter .......................................10, 18, 23 Exova ...........................................................27 Finmeccanica ..............................................26 Firefly ..........................................................14 Flight Design ................................................21 FLIR Systems ...............................................18 GarminGeneral Electric ..........................12, 18 General Atomics Aeronautical Systems ........17 GKN Aerospace............................................26 Gulfstream .............................................23, 26 Hutterer Engineering ....................................20 Icon Aircraft .................................................21 Inmarsat ......................................................23 Let Aircraft Industries ...................................12 Lion Air ........................................................14 Lockheed Martin ......................8, 9, 16, 17, 18 Maleth-Aero .................................................23 Mitsubishi Aircraft ........................................15 Moog ...........................................................27 MTRI ............................................................18 Multiflight ....................................................23 Nextant Aerospace .......................................27 Nordic Aviation Capital.................................14 Northrop Grumman............................9, 10, 16 Norwegian ...................................................12 Pratt & Whitney ..........................15, 18, 21, 27 Premium Aerotec .........................................27 Rockwell Collins .....................................23, 27 Rolls-Royce..................................................27 Ryanair ........................................................12 Safran ...................................................11, 27 SAM Aircraft .................................................21 SaxonAir ......................................................23 Selex ES ......................................................16 Senior..........................................................27 Shandong Bin Ao .........................................21 Sierra Nevada ..............................................24 Sikorsky ...........................................16, 26, 27 SkyWest Airlines...........................................15 SpaceX ........................................................24 Spirit AeroSystems .......................................26 Sukhoi .........................................................13 Terrafugia .....................................................20 Thales ....................................................11, 24 Triumph..................................................17, 27 United Technologies .....................................27 Vertis Aviation ..............................................23 Williams International ..................................20

BEHIND THE HEADLINES Dave Majumdar (in the cockpit) seems to have got a flying lesson from somebody who knows while covering the annual AirVenture jamboree in Oshkosh (P20). Craig Hoyle got a behindthe-scenes look at UAV operations aboard BAE Systems’ Jetstream unmanned systems demonstrator at RIAT (P34).

THE WEEK ON THE WEB

flightglobal.com

The Dew Line offered this wonderful picture of an F-22 Raptor flying alongside a T-38 as part of a joint US Air Force and Navy exercise called Trident Warrior 2013 at Langley AFB, Virginia.

According to a USAF release, the goal of the exercise was to integrate fourth and fifth-generation fighters using an experimental version of the Joint Tactical Information Distribution System. Or, for Lockheed Martin F-35 fans, there is a picture of the 100th Joint Strike Fighter entering the last stage of final assembly; AF-41 will be the first F-35 to be based at the USAF’s second training site for the jet at Luke AFB, Arizona. Ariel View reports on Israel Military Industries’ unveiling of its MARS supersonic precision fire-and-forget rocket, billed as a low-cost solution for a variety of missions such as “destroying radar sites, communications centres, weapons storage facilities and airfields”.

Find all these items at flightglobal.com/wotw

QUESTION OF THE WEEK

Last week, we asked: Which will have delivered more by 2025?

You said:

39 52 9 A350

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Too close to call

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Total votes: 4,480 This week, we ask: What is your opinion of the rebranding by EADS? R It is a clever strategic revamp R It is merely window dressing R It’s an admission of defeat

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787

The top five stories for the week just gone: 1 United 757 retirements will outpace replacement 737 deliveries 2 PICTURES: Boeing rolls out first 787-9 in new livery 3 Crashed Superjet failed to climb after missed approach 4 Southwest 737 touched runway nose first: NTSB 5 A350 cabin simulator performs first virtual passenger flight Flightglobal reaches up to 1.3 million visitors from 220 countries viewing 7.1 million pages each month

Download the Military Simulator Census online now. www.flightglobal.com/milisim High-fidelity maritime patrol aircraft simulators and training systems.

4 | Flight International | 6-12 August 2013

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TUI Travel charts a new route to lower CO2 emissions.

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Industry leaders gather for strategic high-level conferences in Singapore As the organiser, Experia Events, gears up to host the biggest Airshow in Asia next year, top leaders of the aerospace and defence industry will once again be gathering at Singapore Airshow 2014 (11-16 February 2014) to attend the Singapore Airshow Aviation Leadership Summit and the Asia Pacific Security Conference, held concurrently on 10 February 2014.

SINGAPORE AIRSHOW AVIATION LEADERSHIP SUMMIT Going into its 4th edition, the upcoming Singapore Airshow Aviation Leadership Summit (SAALS) 2014 is a full-day forum that focuses on the key issues affecting commercial aviation. This is especially timely given that commercial aviation marks its first 100 years on 1 January 2014.

Governments, airlines and airports will convene at this C-Suite summit to examine the effects of counter-productive regulations on the industry and address the need to strike a new balance on how the industry is regulated; explore the various factors that could change global connectivity and the opportunities which are abound; as well as discuss the next steps for building a sustainable industry following the climate change discussions at the ICAO Assembly in September.

The Singapore Airshow Aviation Leadership Summit is a unique forum that brings together policy makers, regulators, airlines, airports, air navigation service providers and manufacturers for frank discussions on the issues affecting the industry and is jointly organised by the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS), Experia Events, IATA and the Singapore Ministry of Transport (MOT).

Some of the esteemed speakers at past Summits include: Mr Lee Kuan Yew, Singapore’s Former Minister

Mentor Mr Lui Tuck Yew, Singapore’s Transport Minister Mr Siim Kallas, European Commission Vice President and European Commissioner for Transport Mr Roberto Kobeh González, International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) Council President Mr Tony Tyler, International Air Transport Association (IATA) Director-General and CEO Tony Tyler

ASIA PACIFIC SECURITY CONFERENCE The security environment in Asia is characterised by several key trends – the emergence of China as a regional military power and the uncertainty that this development injects into the regional security calculus; the growing volatility in the East and South China Seas; the ongoing nuclear crisis on the Korean peninsula; and the as-yet unknown repercussions of the US rebalancing toward Asia. How these developments play out, and they interact with each other, will have an obvious impact on the future roles and requirements for airpower in the region. Additionally, the AsiaPacific’s strategic contours are defined significantly by modernised power projection capabilities, which are enabling most regional powers to overcome their traditional geographic limitations in meeting complex regional security challenges. While emerging strategic rivalries may not necessarily lead to instability and conflict, increasingly robust regional air and naval assets will certainly shape the prospects for friction over the next decade.

In this context the Asia Pacific Security Conference 2014 at the Singapore Airshow next year will explore the continuity and change in East Asia’s security environment, both

through the lens of US-China strategic ambitions, as well as through the impact of emerging fifth-generation airpower capabilities. Expert speakers from around the world will deliberate on the future roles and requirements for airpower in the region as a result of these developments and how they interact with each other.

The Asia Pacific Security Conference is a strategic platform for defense officials, military personnel, academics, analysts and industry leaders from around the world to exchange insights on security issues and to facilitate top-level discussions on shaping peace worldwide. The conference is co-organised by Experia Events and S Rajaratnam School of International Studies.

Ambassador Barry Desker, Dean, S Rajaratnam School of International Studies

Attendance for both conferences is strictly by invitation only. If you would like to request an invitation, please submit the online request form on www.singaporeairshow.com. Requests for invitations will be reviewed by the organising committee.

Flightglobal is proud to support Singapore Airshow 2014.

Find us at stand no. P103

For more information on the event, visit www.singaporeairshow.com or scan here:

COMMENT

A man with a mission

Tom Enders was rebuffed over BAE. But the former military man has bounced back with a bold proposal to rebrand EADS as Airbus and step back from defence. It is a move that shows guts

om Enders is getting his way at EADS. And of all the shake-ups the conglomerate has been through since it was set up in 2000, the latest is the most radical.

Buying BAE Systems’ 20% Airbus stake began to simplify the business. So too did the ending the dual chief executive structure and clumsy power-sharing of management jobs between French and Germans. Last year’s ownership change, which saw founding national shareholders divesting stakes, created a company with majority free-float shares for the first time.

But while these were to do with streamlining the organisation, the business is now transforming the way the world sees it. EADS is swapping an ugly acronym that smacks of compromise for the mantle of its bestknown brand. Airbus, a marque dreamed up in the 1960s for a new European “air bus”, will now be used to market helicopters, satellites and defence equipment.

Admitting you were wrong and taking steps to rectify it is a sign of visionary management While there is no denying the power of the Airbus name, the decision is a gamble. EADS is ditching established brands Astrium and Eurocopter. There is bound to be confusion over Airbus the group and Airbus the airframer, and grumbles from parts of the company that the latter has too much sway over the former. Similar ambiguities prompted Boeing in 2001 to move its corporate headquarters from Seattle to neutral Chicago.

The decision is also an admission of failure. For years, EADS has touted its 2020 vision of decreasing the company’s reliance on its biggest division and re-

Airbus Military

T

Action man

balancing revenues towards defence, helicopters and space. Military cuts in Europe and persistently strong Airbus sales put paid to that. So too did the failure of the merger with BAE Systems. Like joining depleted battlefield batallions, EADS/Airbus will now roll its taxpayer-dependent businesses into one grouping.

But having a decisive plan B is a sign of robust and visionary management. A lesser leader, recently jilted at the altar, might have compromised, letting a strong Airbus, Astrium and Eurocopter take the strain from defence, and avoiding offending many of the company’s internal and external stakeholders.

Enders is not that man. The one-time paratrooper is on a mission to boost shareholder return by shedding costs, speeding up decision-making and being more nimble than Boeing in emerging markets that hold the key to the industry’s fortunes. The name change is part of that mindset. He could not forge a global defence business. So instead he is going all out to create the world’s undisputed leader in commercial aviation. O See News Focus P10

The Dublin prizefighter P

David Learmount blogs on all matters operational, from safety to pilot training and employment issues at flightglobal.com/learmount

flightglobal.com

ronouncing a verdict in favour of a Ryanair pilot against his employer, a London judge described the airline’s pilot employment contract arrangements as “bizarre”, but notably did not say they were illegal. The issue was the way Ryanair’s crew agency Brookfield Aviation International interpreted specific contract details.

This verdict, on its own, will not make any difference to the big picture, although it will encourage Ryanair pilots to challenge other Brookfield interpretations of their contracts. Ryanair’s leader, Michael O’Leary, has an adversarial style with his pilots, cabin crew and even passengers. He squares up to them like a prizefighter, challenging them to get the better of him and his system. They very rarely do. Ryanair’s recent results show its impres-

sive profits come mainly from the “extras” passengers find themselves compelled to buy, which feel like a series of teasing left-hooks from O’Leary. But his pilots get paid, and he gets the passengers to their destinations cheaply and on time, so they resign themselves to the system.

The long-term question is whether the “bizarre” pilot employment model is sustainable. O’Leary admits the purpose of it is, above all, to prevent the pilots being able to form a negotiating unit. Meanwhile, the Ryanair Pilots Group – which O’Leary does not recognise – is a more canny manifestation of its predecessor. If it delivers enough left-hooks of its own it may wear him down, but this court case result is no knockout blow. O See Air Transport P12 6-12 August 2013 | Flight International | 7

THIS WEEK

For a round-up of our latest online news, feature and multimedia content visit flightglobal.com/wotw

BRIEFING SAFETY Commercial operations with unmanned air vehicles will soon commence in Alaska, after the US Federal Aviation Administration issued historic first certifications for the activity.

AeroVironment Puma and Boeing/Insitu ScanEagle UAVs will perform missions including scouting for icebergs and counting whales.

Only one aircraft of each type can be airborne at any one time, and flight will be banned in difficult weather. Congress has mandated opening of airspace over much of Alaska to small UAVs, but operations remain restricted in the rest of the USA. See Special Report P32

Rex Features

FAA OPENS ALASKA TO LIMITED CIVIL UAV FLIGHTS

The Asiana 777 that crashed in July came in on a low approach

USAF TO LOSE MORE FIGHTER SQUADRONS

SAFETY STEPHEN TRIMBLE WASHINGTON DC

BAE STILL WAITING FOR SAUDI TYPHOON PRICE DEAL

Foreign pilots must use alternate instrument approaches to runways 28 left and right following 6 July fatal mishap

BUDGETS The US Air Force could lose a further five tactical aircraft squadrons, along with some Lockheed Martin C-130 transports, should a long-term fiscal sequestration policy be implemented. To be made “at minimal risk”, the reductions would allow the Department of Defense to “protect investments to counter anti-access and air denial threats”, such as the Long Range Strike-Bomber and Lockheed Martin F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. The USAF has 54 combatcoded fighter squadrons, having lost seven units to earlier cuts.

DEFENCE BAE Systems posted a first-half revenue increase of 6% to £8.45 billion ($12.8 billion) but saw pre-tax profit slip 8% to £529 million, partly owing to deferred recognition of sales and profit relating to the formalisation of price escalation talks on the Salam sale of Eurofighter Typhoons to Saudi Arabia. However, BAE’s orderbook is up by nearly 8% on a year ago, to £43.1 billion, with £4.8bn of orders booked outside the UK and USA showing international “momentum”.

AA CREDITORS VOTE FOR US AIRWAYS MERGER

AIRLINES Creditors of American Airlines parent AMR have voted in favour of its proposed merger with US Airways. American entered Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in November 2011 but plans to emerge by linking with US Airways. US Airways shareholders have accepted the deal, which still needs US justice department approval.

ISRAEL, USA STAGE JOINT FIGHTER EXERCISE

TRAINING The Israeli and US air forces are staging a two-week joint drill designed to improve interoperability between the services.

Dubbed “Juniper Stallion” and being staged mainly from Nevatim air base in southern Israel from late July, the exercise involves Boeing F-15 and Lockheed Martin F-16 combat aircraft from both nations.

BEECHCRAFT SEALS ‘RECORD’ DEAL FOR KING AIRS

TURBOPROPS Less than six months after emerging from bankruptcy, Beechcraft has secured what it claims to be the largest-ever general aviation propeller aircraft order, a $1.4 billion deal with start-up US operator Wheels Up for up to 105 King Air 350is. Wheels Up, a private aviation membership programme, will take delivery of 35 of the twin-engined turboprops between now and mid-2015.

US NAVY INCREASES P-8A ORDER

MARITIME PATROL Boeing will build 13 more P-8A Poseidon aircraft under a $2.04 billion US Navy contract. Deliveries from the fourth lot of low-rate initial production will raise the USN’s total fleet to 37 aircraft by the end of fiscal year 2016. The service plans to buy 117 of the 737-800-based aircraft to replace Lockheed P-3C Orions.

8 | Flight International | 6-12 August 2013

Visual landings at SFO banned after Asiana 777 crash T

he US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has banned foreign pilots from making visual approaches to San Francisco airport runways 28 left and right.

The move follows the Asiana Airlines Boeing 777-200ER crash that killed three people on 6 July, a low approach by an Eva Air 777-300ER on 23 July that prompted a go-around command by the airport tower, and several missed approaches by pilots of foreign airlines since 1 June.

In all of the recent incidents, the foreign pilots were making visual approaches to Runway 28 left or right. The glideslope indicator that enables a stabilised approach to the runways has been deactivated since 1 June, forcing pilots making certain approaches to fly the aircraft visually.

“Until that [stabilised] approach is again available in late August, the FAA is assigning alternate instrument approaches to all foreign carriers,” the agency says. “The FAA took this action after noticing an increase in go-arounds at [San Francisco airport] by some foreign carriers that were flying visual approaches into the airport.”

The probable cause of the Asiana 777 crash remains under in-

vestigation by the National Transportation Safety Board. It is known that the crew failed to keep the aircraft on the proper glidepath, coming in too low and slow and clipping the main landing gear on the sea wall at the runway threshold.

The Eva 777 flightcrew also was flying a visual approach on 23 July when the tower directed the crew to fly a go-around. The air traffic controller alerted the pilots that they were approaching the runway at a “lower than normal altitude”, the FAA says.

“Go-arounds are important safety tools for both pilots and air traffic controllers”, the FAA says.

“They are routine, standardised procedures and can occur once a day or more at busy airports for various reasons.”

The glideslope indicator on the runway is deactivated until late August for the airport to complete a construction project at the other end of the runway.

The construction is part of the FAA’s runway safety area improvement programme. O See Air Transport P13 Read the latest aviation safety news and analysis online at flightglobal.com/safety

flightglobal.com

THIS WEEK Enders’ Airbus coup NEWS FOCUS P10 DEVELOPMENT STEPHEN TRIMBLE WASHINGTON DC

CS100 in-service remains ‘on track’ Bombardier set to review schedule, but still expects initial CSeries airline operations 12 months after first flight flight. “We’ll adjust if we need to adjust, but I’ve no reason this morning to say the 12-month (lead-time) is not realistic,” Beaudoin says.

The entry into service of the CS100 has already been delayed at least eight months from the original plan to deliver to launch customer Malmo Aviation in late 2013.

Last November, Bombardier said supplier delays caused the CSeries first flight to move to late June. It has since updated the schedule twice – first to the end of July and now to the “coming weeks”.

Beaudoin says the delays are not having an impact on the company’s orderbook. So far, the company has reported only cancellations for three CS100s in the first quarter from an undisclosed customer.

“The airlines are very supportive of the programme we have and where we are in our schedule,” Beaudoin says. O

The new radar will bring automatic target recognition to USAF F-16s FIGHTERS DAVE MAJUMDAR WASHINGTON DC

SABR strikes Northrop blow in F-16 radar battle L

Boeing

ombardier will re-open the schedule for entry into service for the CSeries CS100 after completing first flight of the aircraft in the coming weeks, but as of now the company emphasises it sees no reason to delay the operational debut of the small narrowbody further.

The Canadian manufacturer says in notes to second-quarter financial statements that it will provide an update on the entryinto-service schedule for the 110seat CS100 and 135-seat CS300 twin-engined jets. Bombardier has previously said that the entry into service would follow 12 months from the date of first flight for each variant of the CSeries aircraft family.

Chief executive Pierre Beaudoin re-affirmed that plan remains intact as the company continues to implement software upgrades into FTV-1 ahead of first

US Air Force

B

ockheed Martin has selected Northrop Grumman’s Scalable Agile Beam Radar (SABR) for the US Air Force’s F-16 upgrade programme over the rival Raytheon Advanced Combat Radar (RACR).

The new active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar will allow for much greater air-to-air detection ranges, high-resolution synthetic aperture radar mapping and automatic target recognition.

It will also allow pilots to simultaneously operate air-to-air and airto-ground modes and other functions. SABR will also be installed on upgraded F-16s for Taiwan, as

a result of the selection.

The SABR draws much of its technology from Northrop’s APG77 and APG-81 radars, found respectively on the Lockheed F-22 Raptor and F-35. As such, it shares much of the software and interfaces found on those systems.

South Korea earlier this year selected the RACR as part of an F-16 fleet modernisation effort being led

by BAE Systems, with the Lockheed decision for the USAF and Taiwan creating parallel upgrade paths for the type worldwide.

Raytheon has no option of protesting the selection. O

TRANSPORTS CRAIG HOYLE LONDON

A400M deliveries begin at last

A

ERGONOMICS

Boeing presents space Dreamliner As this mock-up of a CST-100 space capsule shows, astronauts heading to and from the International Space Station will enjoy a 787-inspired interior if NASA ultimately selects the Boeing concept for crew transportation, possibly from 2017. SpaceX’s Dragon and Sierra Nevada’s Dream Chaser also have development funding, but NASA is expected to narrow the field to two in the coming months.

flightglobal.com

fter development and production activities lasting just over 10 years, Airbus Military’s A400M transport is an in-service asset, following the delivery of lead aircraft MSN7 to the French air force.

France’s DGA defence procurement agency on 1 August authorised the aircraft’s acceptance, following several months of discussion with the manufacturer. An air force crew was due to transfer it to Orléans-Bricy air base the following day, where the company says the asset “will initially be used for the continuing training of aircrew, before becoming part of the French air force

operational transport fleet”.

The acceptance milestone was confirmed one day after partner nations Belgium, France, Germany, Luxembourg, Spain, Turkey and the UK had formally approved the A400M’s initial operational capability standard via Europe’s OCCAR defence procurement agency. Airbus Military, which had receved a military type certificate for the airlifter on 24 July, will deliver two more examples to France this year, plus a first aircraft for the Turkish air force.

The company had originally been due to hand over its first production aircraft in late 2009. O

6-12 August 2013 | Flight International | 9

COVER STORY

STRATEGY DAN THISDELL LONDON

Enders’ Airbus coup When a brand name comes to define a company it might be time to raise a new flag

A

“The renaming simply gathers the entire company under the best brand we have” TOM ENDERS Chief executive, EADS

EADS

fair label for EADS chief executive Tom Enders has to be change maker. Since moving up a slot on Louis Gallois’s retirement a year ago, the former head of Airbus has put three big shocks into the European aerospace group.

First, in Autumn 2012, he made a bold bid to merge the company with one-time key shareholder BAE Systems, which would have created the undisputed world’s largest aerospace company and, leveraging BAE’s strength in the defence business, particularly in the USA, may have given EADS’s own Cassidian defence unit the mass it needs to compete globally.

Thwarted by German government worries that an EADS-BAE combine would be structurally tilted towards French and UK industrial interests, Enders counterattacked – successfully – to overhaul EADS’s clumsy shareholding structure. As of the April 2013 annual general meeting, gone are the days of overwhelming shareholdings, directly or by proxy, for Paris and Berlin. Gone, too, are the days of politicians holding the final say over major management decisions.

Enders followed that momentum by ending a dual-headquarters structure designed on EADS’s

formation 13 years ago to maintain at least the illusion of Franco-German balance in a company created by merging their national aerospace champions. Enders’s desk, in as much as he spends much time sitting behind it, is firmly bolted to the floor in Toulouse.

But now, barely three months later, Enders has struck again – turning a coup literally at the top of the company.

EADS is itself going. Imminently, the company will be known simply as Airbus.

Details will be laid out in the fourth quarter, but the broad thrust is to shift from four divisions to three. The Airbus division will be responsible for all civil aircraft activities. Spacecraft and satellite services division Astrium will be combined with Cassidian to create a division called Airbus Defence & Space. Airbus Military, which used to sit under Airbus civil, will join Astrium and Cassidian.

Most challenging, from a branding perspective, is the apparent end of Eurocopter. The world’s undisputed civil market share leader – Eurocopter accounts for a heavy half of global civil rotorcraft sales – will be known as Airbus Helicopters, also taking in Eurocopter military activities.

Enders is thought to have long favoured the change of corporate name, but in any case it must be assumed that he wanted it to happen.

As he said in a statement outlining the shift: “What we are unveiling today is an evolution, not a revolution. It’s the next logical step in the development of our company. We affirm the predominance of commercial aeronautics in our group and we restructure and focus our defence and space activities to take costs out, increase profitability and improve our market position.

“The renaming simply gathers the entire company under the best brand we have, one that stands for internationalisation,

10 | Flight International | 6-12 August 2013

innovation and integration – and also for some two-thirds of our revenues. It reinforces the message that ‘we make things fly’.”

Whether there is much in a name remains to be seen. Notably, though, EADS’s – or Airbus’s – principal competitor is Boeing. The Chicago-based world number one by revenue has divisions for commercial aircraft, military aircraft and spacecraft, but in any shorthand, Boeing Commercial Airplanes and Boeing Defence, Space & Security go happily by Boeing. If Enders wants to ensure that no-one is unclear that EADS competes head to head with Boeing in every sector and every geographic market, bringing the whole thing under a single, successful and admired brand name makes sense.

AMERICAN DREAM Indeed, in the US market the shift may prove fruitful. When what is now EADS North America becomes Airbus North America, life will get at least a bit easier for the marketing team. When EADS shocked the USA in 2008 by beating (in partnership with Northrop Grumman) Boeing to the US Air Force’s $45 billion KC-X aerial refuelling tanker contract with an A330-based aircraft, it was no surprise that Boeing-friendly politicians found fault in the USAF’s selection process, or that Boeing won the second time around.

EADS’s response was gutsy. The KC-X plan had been to create an assembly line in Mobile, Alabama – very far from any Boeing heartland and very eager to have the jobs and the start of its own aerospace industry – and EADS has pressed ahead. Mobile will build A320s from the second half of 2015.

Expect the marketing people to make sure every American knows those aircraft are being assembled

by US workers in a domestic factory with a much larger US component count than most in the coun-

No doubt about who’s the boss try would assume. That job is going to be cleaner and easier if it is not necessary to explain the difference between EADS and Airbus.

Astrium is a good brand name, but it will not matter much if its customers, institutions and big companies, never get around to using a new name; they all know who they are talking to.

Eurocopter may be another matter. Changing such a strong brand risks confusion that “Airbus Helicopters” will likely spend years – and lots of money and marketing attention – trying to overcome.

And, all of Eurocopter’s wellknown type designations start with “EC”. Will EC225s stay that way, or become AH225s? The phrase that comes to mind is, “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”.

One brand no-one will be sorry to see the back of is Cassidian.

Until 2010 when EADS and its divisions were given new logos, it was simply EADS Defence & Security. Anything is better than Cassidian, so Airbus Defence & Space is just fine.

But step down from the heady world of marketing and advertising and reality on the ground remains prickly. Like Eurocopter, Astrium is a star. Whatever it is called, though, the EADS/Airbus flightglobal.com

EADS

NEWS FOCUS

defence business is an underperformer. Fundamentally, it is a German-centric business and Germany buys relatively little in the way of military hardware. France, a big buyer, already has Dassault Aviation to make its Rafale fighters, and industry heavyweights including Safran and Thales to make much of its equipment. BAE Systems is the UK’s home supplier, and even does good business in North America. Even Italy has its own home player in Finmeccanica.

All of those rivals – along with the US heavy hitters – are, of course, scrambling hard for sales in overseas markets. Cassidian,

even considering its 46% share in Eurofighter, struggles to compete. Whatever it may offer in technology, it does not share its rivals’ advantage in having a solid home market that supports product development.

The financial results do not suggest that Cassidian’s survival is threatened. But the unit is doing little better than surviving, while its siblings, Airbus, Astrium and Eurocopter are thriving.

Changing its name will not change the picture.

Thus, it is no secret – and certainly no surprise – that Enders remains interested in a tie-up

with BAE. A full merger as proposed last year may not pass muster with BAE shareholders any more now than it did then, but other forms of co-operation could be devised. BAE shareholders may even be more enthusiastic about a link if their company is also connected to one of the world’s top space hardware and services companies.

For now, what is still formally EADS is having a good run. In the first half to the end of June, revenue was up 6% to €26.3 billion ($34.9 billion) and operating profit (EBIT) surged by 40% to €1.48 billion. That EBIT margin of 5.6%

What’s in a name?

In the 1960s there was much industry talk of the need for an “air bus”, but apparently little agreement on what the term meant. Today we might think in terms of a regional jet, although a Royal Aircraft Establishment study into the Cheap Short Range Aircraft failed to define the concept.

However, as one 1965 Flight International leader noted, it had political appeal: “Because the

flightglobal.com

very words air bus connote the idea of cheap travel for the masses, it is the sort of aeroplane that appeals to politicians.”

At that, Flight International concluded that the UK Minister of Aviation, who was exploring the idea with the French, was “right to sound a note of restraint, for the doubts are considerable”.

By 1970 the term, however undefined, was at least linguistically acceptable in France. The

marketing consortium subsequently created to co-ordinate the joint venture between the aerospace industries of France, Germany, the UK and Spain was therefore called Airbus Industrie.

Whether the early result – the A300/310 – bore much relation to the RAE’s vague notion of a Cheap Short Range Aircraft matters little, but Airbus certainly offers cheap travel for the masses, and much appeal to politicians.

is up strongly from the 4.2% achieved in the same period a year ago, pointing to a solid, continuing improvement in profitability over the past several years, a push that began under Gallois.

Within that total, Astrium sales gained 6% to €2.81 billion, overtaking Eurocopter, which slipped 7% to €2.54 billion as deliveries fell by 8 units to 190 and grounding of the EC225 fleet took its toll.

Cassidian gained 5% to €2.29 billion as a restructuring announced late in 2012 began to bear fruit.

The defence unit’s order book fell by €500 million euros from yearend 2012, to €15.1 billion.

But as ever, the star of the show is Airbus Commercial. Sales rose 8% to €18.9 billion, EBIT nearly doubled to €1.09 billion and the order book gained 14% to nearly €576 billion.

Notably, Airbus commercial revenue accounted for more than 69% of the group total. A year ago, that figure was less than 68%. EADS’s longstanding “Vision 2020” drive to develop into a balanced business in which Airbus commercial revenue accounted for only about half is clearly off the rails and probably abandoned; Enders, after all, has just “affirm[ed] the predominance of commercial aeronautics”.

The Vision 2020 idea was that other parts of EADS would grow to match the Airbus commercial contribution. Astrium and Eurocopter have been going in the right direction, but even if the defence business were stronger it is doubtful that the situation would be much different. In theory, a better balanced portfolio is more attractive, but Vision 2020 architect Gallois was always sanguine about Airbus’s dominance. Who could argue with his oft-repeated remark that it is no bad thing to have such a successful business?

As Enders said earlier this year when presenting EADS’s 2012 full-year figures, in the current climate of budget cutting on both sides of the Atlantic, it may be no bad thing to have a relatively small exposure to defence aerospace. By that reasoning, it’s no bad thing to have a heavy exposure to a booming sector like civil airliners.

Airbus, after all, is a winner. O

6-12 August 2013 | Flight International | 11

AIR TRANSPORT

Check out our collection of online dynamic aircraft profiles for the latest news, images and information on civil and military programmes at flightglobal.com/profiles

Investigators suggest cockpit tension contributed to the crash SAFETY DAVID KAMINSKI-MORROW LONDON

L-410 stalled after crew turned back Pilots allowed airspeed to decline on overweight turboprop as they attempted return to Recife following engine failure

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razilian investigators have catalogued a series of problems that led a Let L-410 turboprop to stall and crash as its pilots tried to cope with engine failure after take-off.

Operated by Nordeste Aviacao Regional Linhas Aereas, the aircraft (PR-NOB) had departed Recife’s runway 18 when, at a height of 20ft (6m), its left-hand GE Aviation Czech M601E lost power.

Although the first officer suggested aborting the 13 July 2011 departure, the captain argued that there was not enough remaining runway to land the L-410.

Brazilian investigation authority CENIPA determined that the aircraft was 131kg heavier than the maximum take-off weight for the conditions, restricting its performance. But it states that, although a climb rate of 143ft/min should have been achievable, this “did not happen”.

It points out that rudder deflection is needed to maintain the attitude necessary to counter the yaw of asymmetric flight.

After crossing the coast, at a height of 400ft the crew began a right turn with the intention of returning to the airport, rather than continuing the engine-failure procedure, which instructed a climb to 1,500ft. The inquiry suggests that truncated training exercises might have contributed to this decision.

CENIPA says the aircraft’s pitch increased, resulting in its airspeed bleeding away, while its bank angle reached up to 20˚, exceeding recommended limits.

Just over 2min after take-off the captain abandoned the right turn – possibly realising the aircraft could not intercept the runway 36 approach – and turned left instead, against the practice of avoiding banking to the side of the failed engine. The left-hand engine is also the L-410’s critical powerplant.

The crew allowed an “excessive” sideslip of around 20˚ to develop, sapping the aircraft’s airspeed and height, says the inquiry.

Sink-rate warnings alerted the pilots to the loss of altitude, while the airspeed dropped below the 84kt minimum-control threshold.

CENIPA indicates friction in the L-410’s cockpit, indicating an “excess of confidence” from the captain and contrasting this with the first officer’s apparent awareness of the aircraft’s predicament – pointing out that he “repeatedly” tried to convince the captain to attempt a beach landing.

Investigators determined that the aircraft’s stall speed was around 75kt (140km/h). Although a stall warning sounded continuously for 19s, says the inquiry, there is “no evidence” that the aircraft changed its trajectory before it stalled and crashed. None of the 16 occupants survived. O

12 | Flight International | 6-12 August 2013

Ruling queries Ryanair’s pilot employment model O

ne of Ryanair’s pilots has won a test case in a London court that will have repercussions for other cockpit crew in dispute with the carrier, and possibly for the viability of the complex pilot employment model it uses.

The case was brought at the Mayor’s and City of London Court

by Brookfield Aviation International, the UK-based agency that recruits pilots for Ryanair and carries out much of the contractual and human resources work on behalf of the airline.

Brookfield alleged that the pilot owed it €5,000 ($6,600) for failing to work his full notice after he resigned. It claimed that he had no right to use 10 days’ remaining leave as part of the notice period.

But the judge ruled that the sum demanded bore no relationship to the cost of loss of business and was therefore a deterrent penalty, which is invalid under UK employment law.

London commercial law firm Bates Wells Braithwaite, which briefed the pilot’s case, explains that Brookfield requires would-be pilots to engage an accountancy firm, from an approved shortlist, to arrange for the pilot to become a director of a limited company based in Ireland.

This service company subsequently enters into a contract to provide the pilot’s services to Brookfield, which, in turn, provides them to Ryanair.

“The consequence of this arrangement is that Ryanair denies the pilot’s employment and other direct rights against it, even though it is the party to whom their services are ultimately and exclusively provided,” says the law firm.

“Despite this arrangement, the pilots do not enjoy the advantages of autonomy and control of their working arrangements that selfemployment usually entails.”

The judgement in the case makes reference to the “bizarre nature” of the agreement.

Brookfield has not filed for an appeal, says Bates Wells Braithwaite. Three similar cases have been awaiting the outcome of this one.

“This is an important decision because it fundamentally challenges the relationship that Ryanair has with many of its pilots,” claims William Garnett, the head of the firm’s employment team.

“The court has found that it is not lawful to penalise these pilots in the way that Ryanair’s agency has tried to do.”

Ryanair Pilot Group, which says that budget airline Norwegian has adopted a similar contracting model, notes: “The ruling serves to highlight flaws in the employment model that Ryanair imposes on the majority of its pilots.” O David Learmount writes about safety and operations issues: flightglobal.com/learmount

ryan412 gallery on flightglobal.com/AirSpace

Leandro Lorenzini gallery on flightglobal.com/AirSpace

OPERATIONS DAVID LEARMOUNT LONDON

Complex contractual arrangements were cited in the judgement flightglobal.com

AIR TRANSPORT

Firefly offers to light the way for high-capacity ATR

AIR TRANSPORT P14 INVESTIGATION DAVID KAMINSKI-MORROW LONDON

Superjet inquiry shifts to climb riddle I

nvestigators have determined that the undercarriage of a Sukhoi Superjet 100 was deployed, but then retracted, before the aircraft suffered a gear-up accident at Keflavik airport.

Icelandic authority RNF has yet to explain why the aircraft failed to climb away after carrying out a missed approach at low altitude. It lost height instead and struck the runway.

The twinjet’s crew had intended to perform the missed approach, under single-engine conditions, as part of a certification programme for Category IIIa landings.

Icelandic investigation authority RNF says the aircraft was “close” to its maximum operating

weight and flying in crosswinds as it performed the approach to Keflavik’s runway 11 on 21 July.

The purpose of the exercise was to conduct a “low pass”, it adds.

As the Superjet made its approach, and during the low pass, the landing-gear was extended, says the inquiry. The aircraft then executed a missed approach procedure and the landing-gear was retracted. But the Superjet then descended towards the runway and made contact with the landing-gear still raised.

It skidded along runway 11 and came to a halt off the far end, resting on the pods of its PowerJet SaM146 engines.

Sukhoi says the aircraft was per-

Global Ranger gallery on Flightglobal.com/AirSpace

Probe finds undercarriage was extended for missed approach, then retracted afterwards, but twinjet failed to gain height

Aircraft 95005 slid along the runway after touching down gear-up forming “touch-and-go procedures imitating missed approach”.

“According to the previouslyapproved plan of trials, when the

PRODUCTION

Sukhoi details extent of civil programme’s debt burden Sukhoi’s civil aircraft division has disclosed that the Superjet 100 programme is labouring under a debt of Rb70 billion ($2.1 billion) but insists measures are being discussed to ease the burden.

The airframer has produced 10 Superjet 100s so far this year, of which three have been delivered, and is expecting total production of 26 aircraft during 2013.

Sukhoi adds that it will produce 40 of the type next year.

But it notes that the company’s financial performance is being “dictated” by matters such as the “significant” discounting of aircraft sold to launch customers.

Loans to the company in US dollars and euros have resulted in a heavy exchange-rate impact of Rb3.3 billion over the first six months of the year, Sukhoi says.

Meanwhile, interest payments on loans amounted to Rb2.2 billion, the airframer adds.

Sukhoi says several measures are being put in place, with government co-operation, to “optimise” the airframer’s financial condition.

Vnesheconombank last year opened a $1 billion credit line to fund the Superjet programme.

It adds that it is analysing scenarios to restructure its debt and improve liquidity, and has been holding talks with various Russian ministries to explore possible options for developing the Superjet. O

aircraft [was] climbing its landing-gear had to be retracted,” the airframer states. “The crew followed this procedure.”

Video images of the aircraft being recovered – using cranes and inflatable lifting supports beneath the wings – show the landing-gear being extended without any obvious problem.

The apparent serviceability of the undercarriage is likely to turn the focus of the inquiry to the aircraft’s airspeed and thrust settings.

Surveillance tracks indicate that the aircraft had performed some 40 approaches to runways 11 and 20 overnight before the accident at 05:23.

Russia’s Interstate Aviation Committee is to assist the Icelandic authority in the investigation. O

TRAINING DAVID KAMINSKI-MORROW LONDON

Go-around study reveals lack of basic monitoring F

rench analysis of loss-of-control during go-around manoeuvres has shown up several areas of concern including a lack of basic monitoring of crucial flight parameters by pilots.

Investigation authority BEA carried out a series of tests in the wake of a number of incidents in which the crew had failed to keep an aircraft under control during a missed approach.

It concludes that pilots are vulnerable to “tunnelled” attention

flightglobal.com

and not keeping track of critical parameters such as attitude, thrust level and airspeed.

BEA is recommending that training regimes place more emphasis on the importance of these fundamentals.

As well as the pressures of time and workload, the study highlighted the difficulties of applying crew resource management principles, particularly when pilots were surprised by an unexpected go-around scenario.

Lack of adequate monitoring, or too much focus on specific instruments, by the designated nonflying pilot, and difficulty reading or understanding the flight-mode annunciator were also factors.

Simulations provide “inadequate representation”, the study found, adding that scenarios used were “predictable”. The BEA is also recommending that image recording be fitted to full-flight simulators to provide additional analysis capability during training.

Based on statistics gathered from Air France and major European airports, the study says, there are two to four go-arounds for every 1,000 flights. A medium-haul pilot will execute one missed approach per year, while the rate for long-haul pilots is once every five to 10 years.

Of 831 pilots surveyed for the study, drawn from 11 French and UK operators, more than half had performed fewer than nine goarounds during their career. O

6-12 August 2013 | Flight International | 13

AIR TRANSPORT

Check out our collection of online dynamic aircraft profiles for the latest news, images and information on civil and military programmes at flightglobal.com/profiles

TESTING DAVID KAMINSKI-MORROW LONDON

Passengers take virtual first flight in A350 cabin

Thirteen of the manufacturer’s aircraft are in the airline’s fleet AIRFRAMES MAVIS TOH SINGAPORE

Firefly offers to light the way for high-capacity ATR Asian carrier shows strong interest in becoming launch customer for larger version of European twin-turboprop

M

alaysian carrier Firefly has again re-affirmed its enthusiasm for the potential development of a 90- to 100-seat turboprop and has sent a letter to manufacturer ATR expressing its interest in being the launch customer should the latter decide to embark on such a programme.

“We sent the letter of interest partly to support ATR, to tell their shareholders that look, you should put resources into this project,” says Firefly chief executive Ignatius Ong. “We also said that if everything falls into place, we don’t mind being the launch customer.”

Besides having a longer range and being more fuel-efficient than ATR’s existing models, Ong also wants the larger turboprop to have fewer components and lower maintenance costs.

Ong adds that he has had “a couple of discussions” with ATR about the turboprop, and that even engine manufacturers vying for a presence on the potential project have approached him, asking for his preferred characteristics for a new engine.

“The 72-seat turboprop is good, but the 90-seat is great,” says Ong, adding that the larger aircraft

would be especially helpful in allowing the carrier to add capacity without adding frequency, which is ideal for services to destinations such as Singapore, where slots are limited.

“If the new-generation turboprops come on board, it will be a different game,” says Ong. “I can almost guarantee you that even airlines playing with jets could go into turboprops when they see the dynamics of it.”

Firefly, which already operates a fleet of 13 ATR 72s, is a long-time admirer of higher-capacity turboprops and expressed its interest in the concept this time last year.

Besides Firefly, other operators including Lion Air and Danish lessor Nordic Aviation Capital have also encouraged ATR “to come out with the 90-seat sooner rather than later”.

For its part, ATR is still waiting for approval from shareholders EADS and Alenia Aermacchi to formally launch the programme.

Alenia is thought to be the keener of the two parties, with engineering resources at its partner stretched by the higher-priority Airbus A320neo and A350 programmes. O

14 | Flight International | 6-12 August 2013

irbus has completed an initial five-hour simulated flight using its A350 cabin demonstrator, Cabin Zero, which is located in Hamburg.

Two pilots and eight flight attendants participated in the simulation, along with 129 passengers.

Airbus says it treated the virtual flight identically to a real service, right through from boarding to disembarkation.

Cabin Zero is designed to test interior systems and equipment in near-reality conditions, in order to ensure a sufficient maturity level ahead of service entry.

It comprises a section of A350 fuselage kitted with the same systems installed on a flying airframe. The virtual flight exercise included catering from the Cabin Zero galley.

“Use of such equipment allows this test to be performed before an

aircraft with a fully equipped cabin is completed and the first passengers can be transported,” says Airbus.

Two of the five A350s in the test fleet – MSN2 and MSN5 – will be fitted with cabin interiors.

These aircraft will be used for early long-flight, evacuation and route-proving tests.

The Cabin Zero exercise included operation of the lighting systems and crew communication equipment. “Having stowed their hand luggage, the passengers were able to try out different seats,” adds Airbus.

Airbus began flight tests with MSN1, the first flying prototype, in mid-June. The A350 is scheduled to enter service in the second half of 2014. O For all the latest developments in the A350 programme, visit flightglobal.com/a350

LIVERY

First 787-9 painted by numbers

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oeing rolled out the first 787-9 aircraft bearing its new Boeing Commercial Airplanes livery on 27 July.

The new colour scheme is similar to that found on the manufacturer’s flight-test 787-8s, but adds a prominent number on the tail to help distinguish models within the same product family, says Boeing.

Pictures of the 737 Max and 777X families have shown the aircraft bearing similar numerals on their tails.

The 787-9 is a 6m (20ft) stretch over its smaller sibling. Boeing says it is on track to perform first flight with the -9 later this year.

Launch customer Air New Zealand is set to receive the first aircraft in the middle of 2014. O

Boeing

AirTeamImages

A

Boeing says the twinjet is on track for first flight later this year flightglobal.com

AIR TRANSPORT

AgustaWestland calls time on VXX Presidential fleet DEFENCE P16 DEVELOPMENT MAVIS TOH SINGAPORE

P&W rebuffs MRJ engine delay fears New powerplant remains on track for delivery to support Japanese regional jet’s current schedule, insists manufacturer ratt & Whitney has reafďŹ rmed that its PW1200G geared turbofan for the Mitsubishi Aircraft MRJ is on track and will not affect the regional jet’s current schedule, quelling rumours that issues with the engine could further delay the programme. “We are continuing our work to integrate the PW1200G engine with the Mitsubishi regional jet and we are on track and on time to deliver the ďŹ rst engine as required by Mitsubishi’s schedule,â€? says the manufacturer.

Last month, Mitsubishi Aircraft said it was reviewing the MRJ’s schedule, the strongest indication yet the programme could again be delayed. Speculation had focused on Pratt & Whitney as the possible cause of any fresh slippage, not least

Pratt & Whitney

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The geared turbofan has accumulated 127h of flight testing on the back of a January disclosure by the engine maker that certiďŹ cation of the powerplant was expected in the “latter halfâ€? of 2014.

This would be well after the planned end-2013 maiden sortie for the jet, although at the time, Mitsubishi stressed that ďŹ rst ight

could take place prior to engine approval. Pratt & Whitney says that to date, the PW1200G has completed more than 1,600h of testing over 5,900 cycles, along with 23 ights totalling 127h aboard its Boeing 747SP ying testbed. It has also completed

some certiďŹ cation testing on the engine, with the full certiďŹ cation effort to begin later this year.

The airframer says it will make an announcement “in one month or soâ€? on its timetable for the MRJ. The new regional jet was originally expected to enter ight testing in late 2011, but this was initially delayed to the second quarter of 2012, before slipping once more to late 2013.

Mitsubishi has a backlog for 165 ďŹ rm orders with 160 options.

The programme received a major boost last year when US carrier SkyWest Airlines made an order for 100 MRJ90s with an option for an additional 100 of the type. O Follow the continuing development of the MRJ at ightglobal.com/MRJ

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DEFENCE

For free access to Flightglobal’s Defence e-newsletter visit flightglobal.com/ defencenewsletter

ROTORCRAFT ZACH ROSENBERG WASHINGTON DC

AgustaWestland calls time on VXX A

gustaWestland will not bid for the VXX programme to replace the US presidential helicopter fleet, despite having won a previous competition, the European company confirms.

“After a comprehensive analysis of the final RFP [request for proposal], dated 3 May, we determined that we were unable to compete effectively given the current requirements and the evaluation methodology defined,” says AgustaWestland, which had teamed with Northrop Grumman.

“There are fundamental proposal evaluation issues that we believe inhibit our ability to submit a competitive offering, and that provide a significant advantage to our likely competitor [Sikorsky].”

The Anglo-Italian company did not specify which changes to the RFP resulted in the no-bid decision, but requirements in the

2013 document generally called for a smaller, less-capable helicopter than the AW101-derived VH-71 Kestrel which won a 2005 contest to replace the US Marine Corps’ aged Sikorsky VH-3s. The Lockheed Martin-led programme was cancelled after skyrocketing costs led to the procurement becoming a political issue after the 2008 presidential election.

Potential bidders for the new VXX deal were allowed a comment or objection period after the release of a draft RFP in November 2012, but the US Navy says no objections were filed.

The withdrawal of the AW101 means Sikorsky appears set to be the only bidder for the new requirement, offering a variant of its S-92.

Meanwhile, AgustaWestland UK managing director Ray Edwards says he is hopeful the Finmeccanica company will eventu-

Rex Features

Company withdraws AW101 from presidential helicopter contest, saying new requirements favour the smaller S-92

An aged fleet of Sikorsky VH-3s is in need of replacement ally hand over the remaining VIP-roled AW101s ordered by India, despite New Delhi’s having halted deliveries because of an inquiry into alleged corruption.

The Indian air force is continuing to fly three examples from its 12-unit order, with a further three ready for delivery and the remainder in an advanced state of completion in Yeovil, Somerset.

“We are trying to negotiate a win-win situation through co-operation and dialogue,” Edwards says.

Asked if he thinks the remaining rotorcraft will be delivered, he says: “I would like to think so, yes. That’s what we are working to fulfil.”

India’s Central Bureau of Investigation opened a wide-ranging corruption probe in March, focusing on the 2010 deal, but some commentators say the inquiry is politically motivated and may disappear after the general election next year.

Ex-Finmeccanica chief executive Giuseppe Orsi and former AgustaWestland boss Bruno Spagnolini are currently on trial in Italy accused of fraud and corruption.

Both deny the charges. O Additional reporting by Dominic Perry in London Keep up to date with the latest deals in the rotorcraft sector: flightglobal.com/helicopters

EQUIPMENT LUCA PERUZZI LINCOLN

AGREEMENT

Jakarta to buy more Hercules

Selex reveals orders for new EW gear E

I

Selex ES

urope’s Selex ES has secured launch customers for its Seer and Sage electronic warfare (EW) products, as demand for related training activities is increasing.

“We are under contract through a US platform prime contractor to deliver Seer [radar warning receivers] for a Middle East customer,” says Peter Forrest, vicepresident marketing and sales for the company’s EW airborne and space systems division. “Flight trials continue to take place with customers from around the world, with varying platforms and requirements.”

Simon Cooper, head of strategic EW campaigns, reveals that an undisclosed buyer in southeast Asia has ordered the Sage electronic support measures system, “for a rotary-wing naval ap-

The Falco Evo can carry Sage electronic support measures kit plication”. Production is due to start in early 2014, with interest coming from other potential customers for use with types ranging from unmanned air vehicles to maritime patrol aircraft.

Selex provides EW operational

16 | Flight International | 6-12 August 2013

support training to nine nations, including Greece, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and the UK from its Lincoln site in England and the Middle East, with the number of training days to climb from 140 in 2012 to a projected 435 in 2014. O

ndonesia has signed a memorandum of understanding with Australia to acquire five more of its surplus Lockheed Martin C130H Hercules tactical transports, plus associated equipment.

“During my visit to Jakarta in April, I confirmed that the Australian government was willing to sell five C-130H aircraft, along with a simulator and spare parts, to Indonesia at a discounted rate,” says defence minister Stephen Smith.

The deal is worth A$15 million ($13.9 million), a source says.

“Australia is pleased to continue to assist the development of Indonesia’s airlift capability,” Smith says. The nation is already on track to receive four ex-Royal Australian Air Force C-130Hs by October 2014 under a previous arrangement. O flightglobal.com

DEFENCE

Eurocopter sets Spanish Tiger loose DEFENCE P18 AIRLIFTERS STEPHEN TRIMBLE WASHINGTON DC

Export interest spurs C-17 extension Production in California could run until late 2015, as positive discussions prompt Boeing to build up to 12 more aircraft oeing has started building as many as 12 more C-17 airlifters in anticipation of signing new orders with international customers, possibly extending work at its production line in Long Beach, California, by more than a year.

In an earnings report filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, the company says Boeing leadership decided in the second quarter to continue building C-17s beyond the aircraft already on contract for delivery through September 2014. As of 30 June, $620 million is obligated in inventory and potential termination liabilities for the next batch of aircraft, it adds.

“As in the past, Boeing is investing company funds on long-lead

Commonwealth of Australia

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Reports have suggested Australia could look to expand its fleet components to protect the continued affordable production of C-17 aircraft in anticipation of additional orders from international customers,” the company says.

BUDGET STEPHEN TRIMBLE WASHINGTON DC

Boeing has confirmed orders to continue building C-17s into the third quarter of 2014, and if it builds all 12 additional “white tails”, production could run into

the fourth quarter of 2015, based on a current output of 10 per year.

The company says it is in discussions with a range of new and existing customers. Previous reports linked the C-17 to additional orders from Australia and India, along with possible new sales to Saudi Arabia and Singapore.

Boeing’s C-17 supply chain is already starting to build the unsold additional hulls, as its production system requires an 18-month lead time for early parts and materials.

“They’re confident that the next [block of 10 aircraft] is going to get sold,” David Kornblatt, chief financial officer of Triumph Group, which owns equipment supplier Vought, said in a recent teleconference with analysts. O

UNMANNED SYSTEMS ZACH ROSENBERG WASHINGTON DC

F-35 prices fall in effort Improved Gray Eagle gets aloft to safeguard build rate G ockheed Martin has agreed to reduce prices on its next two low-rate initial production (LRIP) orders for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter by up to 8%, in order to avoid possible reductions linked to the US military’s planned budget cuts.

The deal, reached with the F-35 Joint Program Office after a sixmonth negotiating process, applies to a combined 71 aircraft contained within the LRIP-6 and LRIP-7 contracts. Lockheed says the price for the former of these is reduced by 4% compared to the fifth lot of production signed in December 2012, while it has also agreed to reduce the cost of the aircraft in the latter batch by another 4%.

The agreements do not cover the cost of the F-35’s Pratt & Whitney F135 engine, orders for which are negotiated separately.

Lt Gen Christopher Bogdan, F-35 programme executive officer, says the “cost arrow is moving in the right direction”, but adds that he wants prices to continue to fall flightglobal.com

in subsequent production lots.

Lockheed will begin delivering 36 F-35s to the USA and foreign customers under LRIP-6 in mid2014, followed by 35 LRIP-7 aircraft from mid-2015. The orders will include the first conventional take-off and landing F-35As for Australia, Italy and Norway, and a fourth short take-off and vertical landing F-35B for the UK. “We know how critical aircraft production is to meeting our services’ initial operational capability dates, beginning with the [US] Marine Corps in 2015, and we’re committed to making that happen,” says Lorraine Martin, Lockheed’s F-35 vice-president and general manager.

The company already has 95 F-35s on contract through the first five LRIP lots, with 28 of these yet to be delivered.

Separately, Lockheed handed over the first of two F-35A test aircraft destined for the Royal Netherlands Air Force at its Fort Worth site in Texas on 25 July. O

been replaced with a Lycoming DEL-120 powerplant.

The company says its enhancement to the MQ-1C – a type flown exclusively by the US Army – allows for “growth capability for an improved airworthiness design, with the potential of incorporating lightning protection, damage tolerance and traffic collision avoidance system features.” O See Feature P32

General Atomics Aeronautical Systems

L

eneral Atomics Aeronautical Systems has test-flown a new model of its MQ-1C Gray Eagle unmanned air vehicle, with the version equipped with a centerline belly attachment that can be occupied by either a pod-mounted payload or a 227kg (500lb) fuel tank, enabling a 50% increase in range.

The Gray Eagle’s original Thielert Centurion engine has also

The latest MQ-1C boasts a new centerline belly attachment 6-12 August 2013 | Flight International | 17

DEFENCE

For free access to Flightglobal’s Defence e-newsletter visit flightglobal.com/ defencenewsletter

PRODUCTION CRAIG HOYLE LONDON

Eurocopter sets Spanish Tiger loose First locally assembled attack helicopter, powered by MTRI MTR390E engines, undertakes maiden flight from Albacete

E

sembled variants”, the manufacturer says.

Key differences between the models include the new standard’s use of more powerful MTRI MTR390E engines. These have been involved in flight-test work with French-built HAD/E aircraft 5001 since 2010.

Flightglobal’s Ascend Online Fleets database lists 96 Tigers as being in service with the armies of Australia (22), France (42), Germany (26) and Spain (6). O

HELICOPTERS

TECHNOLOGY STEPHEN TRIMBLE WASHINGTON DC

Iraq looks for search and rescue deal

The HAD/E-standard aircraft is one of 24 ordered by Madrid

Commercial engine ideas prove a hot prospect for USA’s future fighter fleet I

B

Bell Helicopter

aghdad has requested the possible purchase of 12 Bell 412EP helicopters, with the type being eyed as a new search and rescue asset for the Iraqi air force.

Worth an estimated $300 million, including personnel training, spare parts and logistics support, the acquisition is being sought via the US government’s Foreign Military Sales funding mechanism.

The rotorcraft would carry mission equipment including a weather radar, FLIR Systems Star Safire III electro-optical/infrared sensor, and have a night vision goggle-compatible cockpit.

“This equipment will provide Iraq with a search and rescue capability critical to developing a mature air force,” the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency states in a 25 July notification to Congress. O

Iraq wants 12 Bell 412EPs

Eurocopter

urocopter has achieved the first flight of a Spanish-assembled Tiger attack helicopter, and says the HAD/E-standard aircraft will be delivered “by the end of 2013”.

Flown from Eurocopter Spain’s Albacete site on 29 July, aircraft 5002 is drawn from a 24-unit order for Madrid. Six Tigers are already in Spanish army use in an earlier HAP/E configuration, and the new type “will significantly reinforce the French-as-

f a new kind of engine technology proves successful for the USA’s next supersonic fighter, the military will have today’s booming commercial aircraft market partly to thank.

New analytical results show that several commercially-derived technologies inserted into the core of General Electric’s adaptive turbofan ground test engine (Advent) worked better than expected during tests performed last February.

Although the baseline figures are classified, GE says the highpressure turbine stage ran 10˚C (50˚F) hotter than the temperature goal set by the US Air Force Research Laboratory, and operated at that elevated state for 10min longer than required.

“We basically took GE’s commercially-developed technology and applied it and proved that it in fact met the military customer’s needs,” says Dan McCormick, its Advent programme manager.

To meet commercial requirements for ever-improving fuel efficiency, GE’s newest turbofan engines are operating at hotter temperatures than ever before.

The CFM International Leap engine family will be the first to use ceramic matrix composites to cope with the higher tempera-

18 | Flight International | 6-12 August 2013

tures in the hottest section of the engine aft of the combustor, and GE is now repurposing this material for the Advent programme.

Also embedded in the Advent core is a new die casting process that allows GE to insert more interior cooling passages in each turbine blade, allowing the metallic structures to survive in temperatures that would otherwise cause them to melt.

“We [proved] GE’s commerciallydeveloped technology … met the military customer’s needs” DAN MCCORMICK Advent programme manager, GE

With engine core testing complete, the next step is to assemble and run a full-scale engine with the adaptive fan technology, for further tests in the fourth quarter this year.

Most of the hardware for the first complete Advent engine test has already been delivered and is now in assembly, McCormick says.

An adaptive fan adds a third stream of airflow that bypasses the engine core. Opening the third

stream raises its bypass ratio, which improves fuel efficiency but limits maximum airspeed, while closing it allows the engine to run at top speed. Having the auxiliary airflow also helps with cooling the turbine section, as airflow can be extracted from the compressor and cooled in the third stream before being reinserted into the turbine section.

The Advent programme will be succeeded by the advanced engine technology development programme, for which both GE and Pratt & Whitney are designing a follow-on engine with a third-stream airflow and highly efficient core. The programme will conclude at the preliminary design review milestone of a production-ready engine with adaptive fan technology at the end of fiscal year 2016.

The military will then have to decide whether it needs a new engine technology. The adaptive fan has been considered for sixthgeneration fighters on the drawing boards for the US Air Force and US Navy, and also discussed as a possible mid-life update for the Lockheed Martin F-35. O Read our analysis of global defence news on The DEW Line blog: flightglobal.com/dewline

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SHOW REPORT

For a round-up of our latest online news, feature and multi-media content visit flightglobal.com/wotw

OSHKOSH 2013

EAA

Packed to the rafters with a breadth of aircraft ranging from antique warbirds to personal jets, this year’s EAA AirVenture show in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, held from 29 July to 4 August, was as vibrant as ever.

Retired jets including the North American F-86 Sabre and BAE Systems FA2 Sea Harrier put on impressive flying displays as did Terrafugia’s Transition flying car, which made its public flying debut at the show.

Innovation is the byword for general aviation and Oshkosh, with its eclectic mix of aircraft and aviation enthusiasts, is a breeding ground for fresh ideas. In recognition of this, show organisers unveiled their “innovations hall” – a platform for engineers to display their new and unconventional designs to the aviation world. Dave Majumdar reports

Hutterer offers efficiency with hybrid concept

A

mong the smaller companies at AirVenture was Hutterer Engineering, which is promoting a new unique hybrid aircraft.

Designed by company founder Joe Hutterer, the concept utilises a jet engine to provide thrust augmentation to a turboprop powerplant during the take-off and climb phases of flight.

Hutterer claims the “hybrid” configuration could result in a 40% reduction in fuel consumption and exhaust emissions. Since both engines are mounted near the centerline of the aircraft, dangers from asymmetric thrust in case of an engine failure are also reduced.

Hutterer has patented his design, which he says can be scaled up from installation on a six-passenger aircraft to a 50-passenger regional airliner.

The only limitation, he says, is the size and power of the turboprop engines currently available.

Hutterer has partnered with Air Plains Services to install the hybrid concept on a Cessna 421. He hopes to fly the modified aircraft for 200h to gather technical data.

But while he has the Cessna 421 and a fuselage assembly jig, he is yet to raise the funds to begin the 18-month-long modifications. O

TECHNOLOGY

Terrafugia Transition makes flying debut T

errafugia demonstrated the ground handling and airworthy capabilities of its Transition “flying car” for the first time at a

public event. The second-generation prototype is engaged in flight trials and will eventually be joined by a third flight-test article. “We

EAA

ENGINES

The second-generation prototype is engaged in flight trials

will tweak [the design] a little bit more before making a third-generation prototype,” says Terrafugia chief executive Carl Dietrich. The Transition will then undergo crash testing, leading to final airworthiness compliance trials, he adds. Deliveries of the $240,000, two-seat aircraft could begin “within two to three years,” he anticipates.

The third flight-test article will include a replaceable tail boom, which will make the machines easier to repair and lower the insurance costs, says Dietrich. O

MANUFACTURING

2015 target for Vision SF50 Cirrus announces production and delivery dates as it outlines flight test plan for personal jet

C

irrus Aircraft plans to launch serial production of its Vision SF50 personal jet in late 2015, leading to first deliveries later that year.

The Chinese-owned company is now focusing on the flight test programme of the five- to sevenseat, single-engined aircraft.

President and chief executive Pat Waddick says construction of the first production-conforming prototype will begin later this year. The aircraft – dubbed C-0 –

20 | Flight International | 6-12 August 2013

will be used for flight-performance verification. If all goes well, the aircraft could make its maiden sortie by February or March 2014.

An earlier configuration “technology demonstrator” has accumulated 632 flight hours on 594 test flights since first flight in 2008.

However, the new prototype is much more reflective of the production jet, Waddick says.

The second conforming prototype, C-1, will be used for system

development, and the third, C-2, for reliability trials, he adds.

As the company starts assembling these test articles, it will also gain the tooling required to support serial production, he adds.

Initially, Cirrus will deliver 50-75 Williams International FJ33powered jets per year, eventually rising to around 150 per year. The company has secured over 500 orders to date for the $1.96 million, Garmin G3000-equipped SF50. O flightglobal.com

OSHKOSH 2013

Reborn Beechcraft continues revival

SHOW REPORT

BUSINESS AVIATION P23 MODIFICATION

DELIVERY

Epic E1000 development gathers pace pic Aircraft hopes to deliver the first E1000 – the certificated version of its LT single engined turborop kit plane – by early 2016.

The six-seat aircraft will be virtually identical to the experimental category LT, says Mike Schrader, Epic’s head of sales and marketing, although the E1000 will feature a Garmin G1000 glass cockpit in place of the LT’s G900X flightdeck.

Dave Majumdar/Flightglobal

E

The turboprop was on display Epic began the certification process for the $2.75 million, Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6-67A-powered E1000 around 18 months ago,

says Schrader. “We’ve started to build some conforming parts for the empennage area,” he says.

“Structural testing should start in about a month.” The first prototype should be completed in early 2014, leading to first flight in February, but Schrader is keen to stress that this timeframe is an “educated guess”. He envisages the certification effort lasting around 15 months leading to first deliveries around six months later. O

CERTIFICATION

FAA grants exemption for Icon’s heavy A5 amphibian

Safety enhancement of spin-resistant airframe persuades regulators to give green light

I

con has been cleared to deliver the A5 amphibious light sport aircraft using a spin-resistant airframe after receiving a key exemption from regulators.

The technology that allows the A5 to resist loss of control scenarios due to stalls and spins also makes the aircraft heavier, to the point that it exceeds the 640kg (1,430lb) weight limit for light sport amphibians.

Icon submitted an application more than a year ago to the US Federal Aviation Administration

applying for an exemption from the limit, allowing the A5 to enter service with an S-LSA airworthiness certificate, despite a maximum take-off weight of 685kg.

The FAA replied to the California-based start-up in May saying it needed more time to consider the request, because of its potential to set a precedent.

Two months later, the FAA granted the exemption to Icon for the “specific safety enhancement” of the spin-resistant airframe on the A5.

The A5’s entry into service is due in the third quarter of 2014.

Icon launched production of the first A5 in January, ahead of the ruling, despite the lack of certainty.

“We had to make some tough engineering decisions in order to keep the programme moving forward,” says Icon vice-president of engineering Matthew Gionta.

The A5 also includes a bespoke angle of attack indicator. to help light sport pilots avoid stalls on climb-out and on a final turn during a runway approach. O

CO-OPERATION

Chinese Diamond

Dave Majumdar/Flightglobal

China’s Shandong Bin Ao marked its Oshkosh debut by showcasing a DA40, built in China in partnership with Austrian airframer Diamond Aircraft. The Binzhou City-based company is keen to increase co-operation with Western manufacturers and eventually hold air shows in its home province of Shandong, China, says Li Long, head of the company’s sale department. The company’s goal at Oshkosh was to showcase its manufacturing prowess.

flightglobal.com

SAM Aircraft sends out kits

C

anadian kit airframer SAM Aircraft has started delivering its first SAM LS kits to customers and is now hoping to broaden its client base by offering the twoseat model in the USA under the amateur-built and special light sport aircraft (S-LSA) categories, A prototype aircraft flying in Canada is showing impressive performance, says SAM Aircraft president Thierry Zibi. The 100hp (75kW) Rotax 912-powered aircraft shows benign flight characteristics and is very spin resistant, he adds.

Kits begin at $29,000 without firewall-forward components or an engine, while the S-LSA variant is priced at $131,800. The SAM LS has a maximum cruise speed of 110kt (200km/h), a rate of climb 900ft/min (4.57m/s), a range of 390nm (725km) and an empty weight of 375kg (830lb). O

PRODUCTION

Flight Design to assemble C4 in USA and Taiwan

G

erman manufacturer Flight Design plans to assemble its new C4 piston single in Germany, the USA and Taiwan.

Aircraft built in the USA will be sold domestically, while the Taiwanese-built machines will be sold in Asia, says Flight Design chief executive Matthias Betsch. The company is also teaming up with Garmin to offer the aircraft’s avionics suite, Betsch adds, but details will not be released until next year.

The four-seat C4, an all-carboncomposite, four-seat design, will undergo publicly funded crash testing in Germany, says Flight Design’s technical director, Oliver Reinhardt. That data will be shared with other manufacturers.

Another key feature is the aircraft’s Continental IO-360AF engine, which combined with the C4’s fuel capacity, should yield a range of 1,200nm (2,220km). O

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ESA fired up for key technology trials SPACEFLIGHT P24 TECHNOLOGY KRISTIN MAJCHER DALLAS

IN BRIEF

Gulfstream drives safety on G280 with avionics upgrade

FALCON RISES Dassault reported a slight hike in Falcon business jet orders for the first half of this year although deliveries fell during same period. Sales of Falcon 2000LXS/LX/S, 900LX and 7X business jets stood at 27 by the end of June – compared with 25 for the first six months of 2012. However only 29 Falcons were handed over to customers between January and June this year, six fewer than the comparable period in 2102. Dassault expects to deliver 70 Falcons this year – up from 66 in 2012 – and add a new jet to its line-up.

Super midsize business jet to receive several enhancements to flightdeck in coming years

G

ulfstream is gearing up to deliver the first G280 business jet retrofitted with a pair of upgraded safety systems having secured certification for the improvements in late July.

The enhancement of the super midsize business jet’s Planeview 280 flightdeck allows Gulfstream to install an enhanced vision system (EVS) II , coupled to its headup display (HUD) II. The move is part of a number of changes to the G280’s Rockwell Collins Pro Line Fusion avionics and its in-flight entertainment systems, designed to increase functionality, to be introduced over the next 18 months.

The EVS II infrared camera is installed above the nose of the aircraft to capture images of the outside environment. These pictures are then projected onto a digital LCD head-up display above the captain’s seat. The system combines this image with

information about the terrain and positions of runways and taxiways at airports, allowing pilots to perform low-visibility approaches with a decision height as low as 100ft (31m).

The EVS II/HUD II system is available as an option on new production G280 aircraft, or as a retrofit. More than half of the customers committing to the G280 have chosen to install the system so far, says Tim Pannell, executive at Gulfstream’s Dallas completions centre.

Gulfstream’s Synthetic VisionPrimary Flight Display will also be available as an option for the G280 after the airframer secures a supplemental type certificate for the technology, which it expects to receive by the third quarter of 2014.

Synthetic vision complements the EVS II and offers situational awareness capabilities when the vision of the infrared camera is

limited by bad weather or at night, says Gulfstream.

It also is hopes to secure an STC in the fourth quarter to connect G280 customers with the Future Air Navigation System 1/A, says Pannell. This provides a satellite data link between the pilot and air traffic controller to improve communication and the flow of air traffic. The avionics system is already equipped with the capability, but the approval would allow Gulfstream to connect and activate the system as a standard piece of the flightdeck.

Gulfstream will also apply for an STC to use Inmarsat’s SwiftBroadband L-band service in the cabin for in-cabin wi-fi in 2014, which would complement the Gogo Biz air-to-ground (ATG) connectivity available on the G280.

The airframer says it is developing a tail radome to house the antenna and expects to install the technology on aircraft in late 2014. O

SAXONAIR GROWTH Norwich, UK-based business aviation services provider SaxonAir’s recent campaign to promote aircraft chartering to the UK business community seems to have paid off, following a record increase in fixedwing and helicopter charter activity in the first six months of the year. Charter hours across its five-strong, fixedwing fleet climbed by over 65% between January and June compared with the same period last year. Helicopter charter hours on its Eurocopter EC120 and EC135 climbed by 41% during the same period.

SALES STEPHEN TRIMBLE WASHINGTON DC

Reborn Beechcraft continues revival B

flightglobal.com

VERTIS GOES GLOBAL

Beechcraft

eechcraft deliveries rebounded in the second quarter, but the certification schedule slipped slightly for a light jet upgrade programme.

Second-quarter aircraft deliveries totalled 56 aircraft – a 75% increase year on year, when the Wichita-based aircraft manufacturer was mired in a bankruptcy restructuring.

Deliveries of Beechcraft’s turboprop and piston-powered aircraft fell marginally from the first quarter, when the company reported 59 aircraft shipments.

The King Air 350i/ER types and the Baron G58 led the deliveries with 12 each, followed by 11 shipments of the T-6A/B/C. Beechcraft also delivered nine Bonanza G36s, seven King Air

Company strategy includes an upgrade for the Hawker 400XPR 250s and five King Air C90GTx aircraft. Beechcraft re-emerged from a nearly 10-month restructuring process in late February with a plan to shut down its Hawker-series business jets and focus on piston and turbopropdriven aircraft.

Its new strategy also includes developing upgrades for all Beechcraft and Hawker-series

aircraft, including the Hawker 400XPR. In May, Beechcraft revealed plans to certificate the Hawker 400XPR with a Rockwell Collins Pro Line 21 cockpit, Williams International FJ44 engines and winglets. Beechcraft says that certification is scheduled in the fourth quarter, and entry into service remains on track for the fourth quarter. O

Swiss air charter broker Vertis Aviation has added a Bombardier Global 6000 to its fleet. The ultra-long-range business jet will be positioned in Johannesburg, South Africa to satisfy growing demand for business jet travel from the African continent.

MULTIFLIGHT APPOINTS UK business aviation services provider Multiflight has appointed Malta-based company Maleth-Aero to manage and operate its VIP-configured Boeing 737-300.The narrowbody airliner – registration 9H-MTF – can seat up to 60 passengers.

6-12 August 2013 | Flight International | 23

SPACEFLIGHT

Check out our collection of online dynamic aircraft profiles for the latest news, information and images on civil and military programmes at flightglobal.com/profiles

DEVELOPMENT DAN THISDELL LONDON

ESA fired up for key technology trials Agency confident that thermal protection system developed for experimental vehicle can withstand next round of testing European Space Agency bid to develop a small, reusable spaceplane in the 2017-2018 timeframe is on track for a summer 2014 launch to test key re-entry technologies, after a successful helicopter-drop splashdown trial.

That June 2013 test, off the east coast of Sardinia, Italy, of a fullscale prototype of the Intermediate eXperimental Vehicle (IXV) left ESA confident that the vehicle will survive splashdown and recovery following its planned suborbital launch on a Vega rocket from Kourou, French Guiana in summer 2014.

The Vega test launch was originally set for 2013, but contract negotiations between industrial partners forced a delay. However, programme head Giorgio Tumino says the recovery test success coincided with a “consolidation” of plans, and integration of the live vehicle is now underway at Thales Alenia Space in Turin.

Pre-launch testing will be carried out by ESA in the Netherlands.

ESA, says Tumino, has great confidence in the thermal protection system to be used on the 2t lifting body IXV. The system – consisting of large panels rather than the small tiles that were so problematic on NASA’s Space Shuttle – has been extensively

ESA

A

Europe envisages cargo or manned flights using Pride tested in the hypersonic Scirocco wind tunnel near Naples. But the real excitement comes in IXV’s follow-on programme, Pride – Programme for Reusable In-orbit Demonstrator in Europe.

AFFORDABILITY The runway landing Pride vehicle will be fully orbital and designed to orbit small satellites, conduct microgravity or high-altitude research or be deployed for disaster monitoring or to refuel satellites in orbit. Pride is being designed for affordability, stresses

Tumino. It is being sized to fit the available Vega rocket, and its small size reduces cost and turnaround time. The concept carries the legacy of the Hermes spaceplane studied by France’s CNES space agency and ESA in the 1980s, and the NASA-ESA-DLR X-38 crew return vehicle concept, which was abandoned in 2002.

Ultimately, says Tumino, IXV is “fundamental for any European ambition to return from orbit”.

Whether that means cargo or ultimately astronauts, the key lies in lessons being learned in thermal

protection and aerodynamics from IXV, he adds. Another thread in the ESA re-entry technology programme remains on hold, pending price negotiations with Orbital Sciences for a launch. The Expert (European eXPErimental Re-entry Testbed) has been waiting, ready to fly, in a clean room at Thales Alenia Space in Turin since its original Spring 2012 suborbital ride on a Volna rocket was withdrawn, after Russia removed the vehicle from civilian launch duties.

Project leader Jose Gavira says a launch by Dnepr – the Ukrainian vehicle derived from the SS-18 ballistic missile – may be possible, but it is not certain that the rocket’s capability is sufficient.

He says Orbital’s air-launched Pegasus is first choice, but unlike Volna, it is expensive. If price negotiations can be concluded by November-December, there is some chance for a budget goahead and launch in 2014.

Expert is a ballistic capsule fitted with a system of ceramic steering flaps, intended to validate some basic aerodynamic science and on-ground analysis tools. Lessons from its flight test should inform ESA work on reentry technology, but no specific programme is being held up by delays to Expert, says Gavira. O

MANNED SPACEFLIGHT ZACH ROSENBERG WASHINGTON DC

Private crew transport moves a small step closer N

ASA has launched the latest stage of its plans to involve private spaceflight companies in crew transport missions to the International Space Station, with the release of a draft request for proposals under the initiative.

The Commercial Crew Transportation Capability (CCtCap) programme builds on an ongoing project, Commercial Crew Integrated Capability (CCiCap) – a series of achievement-based awards going to Boeing, SpaceX and

Sierra Nevada. CCtCap contracts will, like their predecessor, release designated funds only when the contractor demonstrates it has passed a series of milestones.

While previous rounds matured designs – CCiCap is intended to take proposed vehicles to the point of critical design review, the last major stage before assembly – CCtCap will involve construction and flight testing, leading to full NASA certification and at least one flight to the ISS

24 | Flight International | 6-12 August 2013

with cargo. SpaceX has flown an uncrewed version of its Dragon capsule to the ISS, but certification to carry crews requires significant additional work. Currently, Russia’s Soyuz launch vehicle transports all crews to the ISS. Contrary to previous rounds of commercial crew funding – CCiCap and Commercial Crew Development – CCtCap contracts will be based on Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR), in which the government is able to set

specific requirements and define approaches, with certain exceptions allowing contractors to retain intellectual property.

Several of the companies involved have spoken out against the shift to FAR-based contracts, and the change was subject to contentious negotiations between NASA, the White House and members of Congress. O Space Station special report, exclusive for FG Club members at flightglobal.com/hyperbola

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TIER 1 DAN THISDELL LONDON

GKN gets in the M&A spirit

Good week

Talk of a major acquisition may be speculation, but the supplier clearly knows how to deal

FINMECCANICA The

G

Finmeccanica

Finmeccanica

Italian industrial group’s drive to restore its fortunes after a calamitous 2011 that included a €750 million write-down against its Boeing 787 activity looks to be on track. First-half aerospace and defence sales edged up to €6.76 billion ($8.95 billion) and operating profit gained 6% to hit €460 million. Orders were down by 11.5% and the backlog slipped 5% to €32.6 billion, but intake bettered expectations, reflecting a very strong start to 2012.

FINMECCANICA As in 2011, rail and energy divisions are a financial deadweight, with firsthalf sales and operating profit sinking by 7% and 70%, wiping out gains in aerospace. Negative cash flow boosted group debt by 46% to €4.93 billion compared to this time last year; revenue decreased by 1% to €7.95 billion, operating profit plunged by 26% to €279 million – a margin of just 3.5% – and a firsthalf 2012 net profit of €67 million reversed to a €62 million loss.

KN made the news just ahead of its first-half results announcement, with a report in British newspaper the Daily Mail that it was lining up a $5 million cash and shares bid for Wichitabased aerostructures maker Spirit AeroSystems. The Mail was specific enough to have raised some no-smoke-without-fire eyebrows, but GKN’s “no comment” put the matter to rest until it was raised again by analysts quizzing top brass on the half year.

Group chief executive Nigel Stein brushed aside talk of a move on Spirit by noting that the group never comments on merger and acquisition plans.

“We look at a lot of things in GKN, some we do and some we don’t do,” he said, before adding: “Our strategy is clear. We’re keen to expand aerospace.”

The numbers show that expansion is happening. GKN posted a first-half sales and profit surge on the back of its £633 million ($969 million) acquisition in October 2012 of the Volvo Aero engine systems business. That deal lifted first-half sales by some 43% to £1.12 billion, dwarfing 3% organic growth.

Trading profit was up by 37% to £118 million, an increase of £32 million and enough to edge out GKN’s larger automotive driveline division as the group’s top profit contributor. Volvo Aero, now trading as GKN Aerospace Engine Systems, contributed £37 million profit, wiping out a £7 million decrease in existing busiGKN AEROSPACE H1 2013 SALES BY MARKET AND REGION Commercial (£802m) Military (£321m) Europe 51%

Bad week

Europe 10% SOURCE: GKN

26 | Flight International | 6-12 August 2013

Americas 20%

Americas 19%

GKN AEROSPACE H1 TRADING PROFIT

GKN AEROSPACE H1 REVENUE

£ millions

£ millions

120

1,200

100

Base business Engine Systems

1,000

80

800

60

600

40

400

20

200

0

2012

2013

SOURCE: GKN

nesses that were hit by lower military spares sales on mature programmes and some decline in new programmes.

For the aerospace division – which now accounts for 29% of GKN group sales, second only to automotive driveline – commercial sales now account for 71% of the business. Commercial sales, driven by contributions to the Airbus A320, A330 and A380 and Boeing 787 programmes, were up 8% in the half.

Second-half sales, excluding Engine Systems, are expected to be on a par with last year, but profit should be boosted as new programmes ramp up. GKN ships some $3 million worth of material to every 787, and just shy of that to the Airbus A350.

INTEGRATION GAME So far, says Stein, integration of Volvo Aero is going “extremely well” and the company is “delighted with the capability and talent we’ve acquired”.

Aerospace division chief executive Marcus Bryson adds that savings are already coming through in procurement, through GKN’s greater buying power and cutting out “duplicated costs”.

Since the acquisition, some 300 jobs have been trimmed and another 70 will go by year-end, split between Sweden and Norway.

It has not, he admits, been entirely smooth sailing. First-half

Base business Engine Systems

0

2012

2013

SOURCE: GKN

engine spares sales came in low, on softer-than-expected demand.

Bryson recognises that, in its Engine Systems unit, GKN is learning a new market: “Clearly there are some dynamics feeding back from our customers that we don’t fully understand yet. We need to do more investigation.”

NEXT DEAL? With 2012 sales of $5.4 billion Spirit is bigger than GKN Aerospace, but it is vulnerable to takeover. Its shares have finally returned in New York trading to about the $24 level from which they plunged – to the mid-teens – in late October 2012 after it spelled out $590 million in charges it was to take as it struggled to meet development and production schedule demands for several key programmes.

Andrew Porteous, an equities analyst at Agency Partners in London, doubts the logic of a bid for Spirit, as GKN is only beginning to integrate Volvo Aero.

There would be more logic, he reckons, “in GKN waiting to pick up further business as the major airframers look to dispose of inhouse operations”.

Porteous adds: “GKN has a strong track record of this in its [2001] St Louis [defence components plant] deal with Boeing and in acquiring [the] Filton [wing components factory] from Airbus [in 2009].” O flightglobal.com

BUSINESS Appetite to grow

FLEET FORECAST P28

BUSINESS BRIEFS

PEOPLE MOVES

Hoppe: Premium structures At Premium Aerotec, the EADSowned structures maker, Christoph Hoppe will take over as chief executive in September.

Hoppe joined Airbus in 1999 and has been head of human resources at EADS’s Cassidian defence division since 2009.

Energy industry veteran Graeme Burnett has joined Delta Air Lines as senior VP for fuel optimisation. He will be responsible for maximising benefits from Delta’s fuel programme, including those from its Monroe Energy subsidiary, which owns the refinery in Trainer, Pennsylvania.

Natalia Becerra has joined testing

PROPULSION IS THRUSTY AT SAFRAN

group Exova as global technical director for composites, from Rolls-Royce, where she was most recently programme manager for new product introduction and repair services capability.

Nextant Aerospace, which turns Beechjet 400A/XP business jets into Nextant 400STis with Williams FJ44-3AP engines and Rockwell Collins Pro Line 21 avionics, has promoted James Immke to VP quality and safety.

Pratt & Whitney and Sikorsky parent United Technologies has appointed equity researcher Nicole Parent Haughey as VP corporate strategy and development.

MANUFACTURING At Safran, first-half aerospace propulsion revenue grew by 15.5% to €3.77 billion ($5 billion), while segment profit gained 23% to €634 million. This was primarily driven by strong growth in civil original equipment and spare parts for CFM56 and high-thrust engines, with help from increased Turbomeca helicopter engine deliveries. Military engines and spares revenue was strongly up compared to a soft first-half 2012 for sales to the Dassault Rafale programme, also helped by initial A400M engine deliveries.

Aircraft equipment segment revenue gained 9.7% to €1.96 billion, and profit rose by 29% to €175 million. First-half defence segment revenue was down by 6.6 to €598 million; although avionics showed “solid” revenue growth, segment profit was flat at €45 million.

COMMERCIAL PROGRAMMES LIFT SENIOR SALES

SUPPLIERS Sales to Airbus, Boeing and related engine programmes were up by 10% in the first half of 2013 at structures maker Senior. The company’s aerospace division posted a 3% rise in sales to £254.2 million ($337.2 million). These commercial programmes accounted for 54% of divisional revenue. However, profit edged down by 0.8% to £36.8 million, owing to reduced military and non-aerospace revenue, higher investment and relocation costs.

BOEING A BIG PULL FOR MOOG

Exova

Premium Aerotec

Delta, Exova, Nextant, Premium Aerotec, UTC

ACQUISITIONS PROPEL TRIUMPH GROWTH

Becerra: testing composites

AEROSTRUCTURES Structures and systems maker Triumph opened its 2013-2014 fiscal year with a 6% sales rise to $943.7 million in the three months to end-June, but saw pre-tax profit fall by 2% to $121.6 million. In the largest business segment, aerostructures, sales fell 27% to $651.8 million, and profit fell 16% to $100.4 million, reflecting in part a net unfavourable cumulative catch-up adjustment on long-term contracts of $4.7 million. Aerospace systems segment sales leapt 56% to $219.5 million, while profit was up 81% to $42.6 million, owing to the Triumph Processing - Embee Division and Triumph Engine Control Systems acquisitions. Segment organic growth was 6%. Aftermarket sales were down 7% to $11.3 million.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

“Results are improving; unfortunately, we still have significant losses”

flightglobal.com

THYSSENKRUPP CUTS INTO UK SUPPLY CHAIN

ACQUISITION Materials supplier ThyssenKrupp Aerospace has acquired for an undisclosed sum The Waterjet Group, in Leeds, UK, adding to its waterjet cutting operations in the USA, Canada, Australia and Finland. Waterjet Group’s focus is on near net shape cutting, to improve metal utilisation.

RECORD QUARTER BOOSTS WESCO

Air France

Cost-cutting, restructuring and marketing helped Air France-KLM reduce H1 2013 pre-tax losses to €784 million, but chief executive ALEXANDRE DE JUNIAC warns of “further measures” to restore growth

CONTROLS In its third quarter to end-June, Moog’s aircraft controls business posted a 13% rise in sales to $272.9 million, lifting operating profit nearly 12% to $27.8 million. For the fiscal year to date, segment sales were up by 11% to just shy of $784 million, but profit improved by 24% to $93.7 million. Military market gains included a 42% lift in F-35 sales, to $29 million, and a 16% rise in commercial aircraft sales, including a 46% increase to Boeing and 14% to Airbus.

Commercial aftermarket revenue, at $28 million, was 8% lower in the quarter due to lower initial provisioning of 787 spares.

SERVICES Record revenue for its third-quarter to end-June propelled California-based supply chain services Wesco Aircraft lifted nine-month sales by 18% to $667.3 million and pre-tax profit by 14% to $112.3 million. The quarter’s 22% sales increase to $230.2 million included 20% growth in North America and 27% abroad.

6-12 August 2013 | Flight International | 27

FLEET FORECAST

APPETITE TO GROW

Our latest Fleet Forecast predicts a 20-year period of surging demand for the civil aerospace industry ROB MORRIS LONDON

A

total of 35,450 new commercial jet and turboprops will be put into passenger and freighter airline service in the next 20 years. In addition to the new deliveries, a further 1,720 passenger aircraft are expected to be converted to freighter use by the end of 2032.

That is the conclusion of the latest Flightglobal Fleet Forecast, now available from our sister consultancy service Ascend Advisory.

The demand-based model estimates future fleet, retirements and deliveries of commercial turboprop and jet aircraft in the passenger and cargo sectors, based on a detailed analysis of historical trends and developments across the whole market.

The total value of the forecast new deliveries is estimated at $2.5 trillion, in reference to Ascend’s 2013 Base Values that deliver a more pragmatic estimation of actual business value than the inflated manufacturer list prices used in most other forecasts.

About 14,650 jets and 1,580 turboprops are expected to be permanently removed from passenger service, with around 1,460 of the former and 260 of the latter converted to freighter service. A small minority of the remaining aircraft may be converted to other non-commercial roles but most are expected to be dismantled for spare parts to support the in-service fleet.

The global in-service commercial aircraft fleet is expected to increase by more than 180% by 2032, when 36,050 passenger jets, 4,110 passenger turboprops and 2,820 commercial freighter aircraft are predicted to be in service.

More than 40% of the jets are expected to be operating in the Asia-Pacific and China, where continued higher-than-average growth rates are expected to ensure those regions remain the key drivers for growth and new aircraft demand in the next 20 years.

Airbus and Boeing are expected to remain the two largest commercial aircraft OEMs, delivering an estimated 87% by value of the world’s commercial jet aircraft between them until the end of 2032.

However, Bombardier, Comac, Embraer,

28 | Flight International | 6-12 August 2013

Irkut and Mitsubishi are all expected to capture increasingly significant volumes of jet demand, collectively accounting for more than $272 billion of delivery value in the forecast period.

One or more of these manufacturers could further increase their market share in the latter years of the forecast if they can make inroads in the twin-aisle market, which remains the last duopoly in the commercial aircraft sector.

The turboprop niche is expected to be worth $53 billion in the next 20 years. The majority of this value is concentrated in the larger aircraft segments. As the 90-seat sector, in which there are no current launched products, is expected to account for almost 50% of this opportunity, manufacturers are expected to launch a product in this market segment in the near future.

The forecast is the product of a model developed by the Ascend Advisory team, leveraging more than 60 years of combined industry experience and expertise, allied with Flightglobal’s unrivalled commercial aircraft database resource, to deliver deep insight into the outlook for the commercial aviation industry. O

180% Increase in global commercial fleet by 2032

Bombardier, Comac, Embraer, Irkut and Mitsubishi are expected to collectively deliver $272 billion-worth of jets in the next 20 years

To buy a copy of Flightglobal’s Fleet Forecast visit fleets@ascendworldwide.com

flightglobal.com

FLEET FORECAST

AIRLINER DELIVERIES TO 2032 Twin-aisle 18%

Regional jet 12%

Turboprop 7%

35,450

Freighter 2%

Total deliveries Single-aisle 61%

87%

Airbus and Boeing combined share of commercial jet market by value in 2032

Source: Flightglobal’s Ascend

???

VALUE OF DELIVERIES

Twin-aisle 43%

Freighter 5% Regional jet 5%

$2,450bn

Turboprop 2%

Total value

40%

Percentage of global fleet operating in the Asia-Pacific in 20 years’ time

flightglobal.com

Single-aisle 45%

Source: Flightglobal’s Ascend

6-12 August 2013 | Flight International | 29

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UAVS

SPECIAL REPORT

UNMANNED SKIES

Our annual report on the unmanned air vehicle sector – ahead of the AUVSI convention in Washington next week – looks at some of the major challenges facing the industry, from the need for the USA to adapt its unmanned assets to face new types of military threat to the continuing quest for an air management regime that allows UAVs to fly freely in civil airspace. We also examine how the focus of UAV technology is changing to allow more interoperability with manned equipment.

Plus we find out how the UK is tackling UAVs’ image problem after a raft of negative headlines from Afghanistan and other combat areas CONTENTS

34 37 39 41 42

Access denied A new kind of enemy Ergonomic warfare Interoperability Not in my sky UAVs in civil airspace Building longevity RQ-7A update Aiming for acceptance UK and UAVs

NASA is conducting sense and avoid tests using the GAAS Reaper 32 | Flight International | 6-12 August 2013

flightglobal.com

UAVS

SPECIAL REPORT

Lockheed Martin, US Army

(Left to right): Lockheed Martin’s Sea Ghost is competing for the US Navy’s UCLASS programme; interoperability with manned assets is a growing priority for military planners; the US Army’s GAAS MQ-1C Gray Eagle is its version of the Predator

flightglobal.com

6-12 August 2013 | Flight International | 33

UAVS

SPECIAL REPORT A2/AD

Access denied

A changing combat environment may mean many UAVs face a question of viability, as they take on an enemy who shoots back DAVE MAJUMDAR WASHINGTON DC

F

halfway competent enemy that has the means to shoot them down. Only the handful of highly secretive Lockheed Martin RQ-170 Sentinel stealth UAVs are capable of operating inside contested airspace to any degree.

ADJUSTING PERSPECTIVE No less an authority than Gen Mike Hostage, commander of the USAF’s Air Combat Command, has questioned the relevance of the current unmanned aircraft fleet in the Western Pacific. “We are now shifting to a theatre where there is an adversary out there who is going to have a vote on whether I have that staring eye over the battlefield 24 [hours], seven [days a week], 365 [days a year], and pretty certain they are not going to allow that to happen,” Hostage said, speaking at the

Center for Strategic and International Studies in late 2012. “The fleet I’ve built up – and I’m still being prodded to build up too – is not relevant in that new theatre.”

Hostage adds that the USAF will have to adjust its perspective on “what’s realistic in this new theatre”. However, despite senior USAF leaders acknowledging that the vast majority of their unmanned aircraft are unable to penetrate into contested airspace, there is no plan to develop one.

“We continue to monitor the efforts of the US Navy and their UCLASS [unmanned carrier-launched surveillance and strike] development to potentially leverage the applicable ICD [initial capabilities document] work when needed for a follow-on medium altitude RPA [remotely piloted aircraft],” says a senior

US Air Force, General Atomics Aeronautical Systems

or more than a decade, unmanned aircraft have plied the skies over Iraq and Afghanistan conducting intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) missions and raining down fire when needed, but those days are coming to a close as US involvement in those conflicts winds down.

Now, as the Pentagon shifts its strategic focus to dealing with the so-called anti-access/ area denial (A2/AD) challenges that are proliferating around the world, the future viability of these machines is being questioned. And while there is no dispute that the overwhelming majority of the US Department of Defense’s arsenal of UAVs will be unable to operate inside such highly contested environments, the Pentagon does not appear to have a plan for developing next-generation unmanned aircraft that would be able to fly into the teeth of enemy air defences and survive.

Indeed, there is significant institutional resistance in the US Air Force and US Navy to any such development, even if a next-generation UAV was so capable.

The majority of the USAF’s UAV fleet is made up of propeller-driven General Atomics Aeronautical Systems MQ-1 Predators and MQ-9 Reapers. But the service also has a smaller fleet of unarmed jet-powered Northrop Grumman RQ-4 Global Hawks, which are dedicated high-altitude reconnaissance assets. While all three aircraft types provide excellent capability in a permissive environment, none are able to survive against any

The USAF’s current MQ-9 Reaper (left) lacks the stealth capabilities of General Atomics’ jet-powered Predator C ‘Avenger’ 34 | Flight International | 6-12 August 2013

flightglobal.com

UAVS

SPECIAL REPORT

USAF official. But, he notes, the timeframe for any such project has yet to be determined.

However, the UCLASS project is turning out to be far less ambitious than initially expected. Rather than an ultra-long-range, stealthy, unmanned carrier-based bomber with a hefty payload, final navy requirements call for the UCLASS to be little more than a modestly stealthy jet-powered Predator.

It will not be a penetrating strike aircraft in any real sense, as the requirements primarily call for the UCLASS to operate in lightly contested airspace. Furthermore, the aircraft is primarily geared towards the ISR role, with a light secondary strike mission. Northrop’s X-47B demonstrators recently completed a flight test campaign in support of the effort.

As currently envisioned, the UCLASS will have a total payload of 1,360kg (3,000lb), of which only 454kg would consist of air-toground weapons.

“The UCLASS system will support missions in permissive and low-end contested environments and provide enabling capabilities for high-end denied operations,” says the USN’s office of the Chief of Naval Operations.

“The requirements were written to fill a longstanding gap in persistent, sea-based ISR and a review of the overall UAS portfolio.”

In that ISR role, an aircraft carrier is expected to deploy enough UCLASS aircraft to maintain two orbits about 600nm (1,110km) distance from the ship, or maintain a single orbit at a range of 1,200nm. If the UCLASS flightglobal.com

were called on to conduct a light strike mission, it could attack lightly defended targets at a distance of 2,000nm. For contested environments, the UCLASS will be expected to provide ISR data and targeting of potential threats to carrier strike groups from the enemy’s coast for “high-end” operations.

Mark Gunzinger, a noted airpower analyst at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments in Washington DC, questions why the USN is not pursuing a more ambitious stealthy unmanned long-range strike aircraft: “It’s going be more of a Predator off a deck capability and not something that’s significantly going to extend the reach of the carrier air wing. That doesn’t really make sense.”

The Pentagon has a lot of unmanned aircraft that can operate in permissive airspace, Gunzinger says. He questions why the navy needs to duplicate that capability: “It has an opportunity to build a multimission UCAS [unmanned combat air system].”

A number of current and retired senior officials say the true reason the Pentagon is resisting development of a genuine UCAS that could operate inside an A2/AD environment is because such a machine could pose a threat to manned aircraft programmes. However, cost in a time of fiscal austerity is more likely to be the reason why the USN chose to pursue a more modest programme. “With regard to UCLASS, if it was a stealthy, penetrating bomber it would certainly call the [Lockheed] F-35 into question,” one Congressional source says. “However, I think they are going with a lower-end approach to save money, not out of some convoluted F-35 protection racket.”

However, even if a UAV cost as much as an F-35, if it had two-and-a-half times the range of the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF), it would be well worth the price, Gunzinger claims. New enemy anti-ship ballistic and cruise missiles may force the USN’s carriers to operate further

“The fleet I’ve built – and I’m still prodded to build – is not relevant in that new theatre” GEN MIKE HOSTAGE Commander, USAF Air Combat Command

out to sea than would otherwise be preferred; as far out as 1,200nm. While he is not advocating against the JSF, Gunzinger says that given the threats faced by the USN’s carrier strike groups, the stand-off range afforded by such a long-range platform would help keep the carrier relevant well into the future.

The same general characteristics would also be useful for the USAF. Gunzinger says any next-generation, land-based UAV should also have extended range, so it can operate from outside the reach of enemy attacks.

PROTECTING BASES In many areas of the world, one example being the Western Pacific theatre, US bases are well within the reach of enemy ballistic and cruise missile attacks. That means those bases may not be fully usable during any sort of conflict. “We might need to operate our UAS over longer ranges from what we call access insensitive areas,” he says.

USAF officials generally agree with Gunzinger’s assessments. “Hard to get into any specifics at the unclassified level,” a senior USAF official says. “Suffice to say, minimised radar cross-section – either actual, or as a result of active measures – would be important, as well as the ability to navigate, command/control, communicate, and ‘exfil’ [exfiltrate] any relevant data in near-real-time [preferred] or at least when conditions permit without compromising the stealthiness attributes.” But command and control of unmanned aircraft will be a serious problem gg

US Navy

Lockheed Martin

Lockheed’s Sea Ghost is the company’s UCLASS entry

An X-74B demonstrator made two successful landings aboard a US Navy aircraft carrier 6-12 August 2013 | Flight International | 35

UAVS

SPECIAL REPORT

A next-generation type could team up pilot and UAV via tethered-control systems

PUNCHING THROUGH JAMMING The UAV would have a set of tailored preprogrammed commands which could be executed with even a degraded signal from the command platform. “Even with having them jamming the tactical datalink, one of the things about comm jamming – and I’ve been comm jammed – is that you can almost always punch a message through to your wingman,” says Pietrucha, a combat-experienced electronic warfare officer with extensive experience of flying the McDonnell Douglas F-4G “Wild Weasel” and Boeing F-15E Strike Eagle, “because the range is short and the signal to noise ratio works in your favour.”

As long as the friendly communications network has not completely unravelled, there are alternative ways to transmit data, he adds.

Longer term, Gunzinger says unmanned aircraft have to become more autonomous if they are to be able to operate over the horizon inside contested airspace. It will take time to develop certain higher order functions, such as co-ordinating multiple air vehicles without a man-in-the-loop or avoiding pop-up threats, but Gunzinger believes more autonomous UAVs are technically feasible: “That’s within the realm of emerging technology. We can have a more autonomous UAS today, for ex-

ample, UAS capable of autonomous air refuelling that could greatly extend their range and endurance.” But Pietrucha says true autonomy is not technically feasible: “I had this discussion a couple of months ago with a bunch of the artificial intelligence guys from MIT [Massachusetts Institute of Technology]. Their answer on the true autonomy piece is ‘no way in any type of foreseeable future’, because you need something like the transistor to come along: the unpredictable breakthrough in cybernetics or robotics.”

However, if the Pentagon was content to operate a UAV inside an A2/AD environment against fixed targets only, limited autonomy is adequate, says one senior USAF pilot with experience operating unmanned aircraft. The RQ-170, for example, is very stealthy and can survive deep inside hostile airspace, and he says it would be easy enough to build a similar airframe armed to hit fixed targets.

In fact, such technology already exists and saves pilots of manned aircraft from having to perform many dangerous missions. “Cruise missiles are a form of unmanned airpower,” the pilot says. “Cruise missiles aim to attack our most difficult problems.”

The benefit of building an unmanned combat aircraft, perhaps similar to an armed ver-

Lockheed Martin

gg inside heavily contested airspace. “One of the things you absolutely cannot afford is the kind of long-range SATCOM [satellite communication] link, that is how the MQ-1 and MQ-9 operate,” says USAF Reserve Col Michael Pietrucha, who recently authored an influential paper on unmanned aircraft in the service’s Air and Space Power Journal. “Any credible adversary is going to attack that link.” Even a temporary disruption of satellite communications will result in the aircraft executing its lost link protocols, Pietrucha says.

The solution to that problem, he says, is a tethered control concept, where the UAV acts as an artificial wingman to a manned combat aircraft. A semi-autonomous UAV could be controlled via short-range “ship-to-ship” tactical datalinks such as Link 16, he says.

Boeing

sion of the RQ-170, would be that it could be reused, the pilot says. Cruise missiles are expensive and have limitations when used against hardened targets. Instead, a reusable UAV could utilise a wide variety of precisionguided munitions against a wider variety of targets at far lower cost, he adds.

“You only need to have a link when there are mobile targets. If you know where a fixed target is, we have the capability now.”

Gunzinger, who served in the USAF as a Boeing B-52 bomber pilot, says that while it is true a stealthy UAV can hit fixed targets inside an A2/AD environment, if the aircraft cannot communicate via satellite, it will have limitations since it will be unable to perform a bomb damage assessment (BDA) or provide immediate strike results to its controllers.

The Phantom Ray has advanced Boeing’s understanding of flying-wing fuselage design 36 | Flight International | 6-12 August 2013

DAMAGE ASSESSMENT While such a UAV would be unable to immediately relay data back to headquarters, Pietrucha says it should be able to conduct a BDA in a similar manner to a fighter: “If the aircraft returns, it can carry the BDA back. Fighters and bombers do exactly that – fighters don’t get on SATCOM and send images back.”

But the UAV pilot says he believes the communications jamming issue is overblown.

“There are very few countries that have that capability,” he says, adding that while the USA routinely prepares for high-end conventional warfare, it rarely engages in those types of conflicts.

More often than not, the US military faces enemies far less sophisticated. The pilot stresses that the USAF, in particular, must take a balanced approach towards investing in both manned and unmanned aircraft: “I would invest in a reusable, returnable cruise missile. It would supplement some of these high-end conventional manned forces.”

Pietrucha agrees the reusable cruise missile concept would be useful, but advocates a semiflightglobal.com

UAVS

SPECIAL REPORT autonomous unmanned wingman approach.

The unmanned wingman would be armed with extra weapons and could carry out preprogrammed tactics, but the pilot in the manned command aircraft would make the tactical decisions. “He’s a very literal wingman who isn’t going to do certain things,” Pietrucha says. “It’s like having a lieutenant, but one who doesn’t ever misunderstand you.”

As with the unmanned cruise missile concept, the wingman could venture into particularly dangerous areas where it would be too risky to send a manned aircraft. It could also do things an unmanned cruise missile could not do.

“I also think that the tethered UCAV could hit mobile targets, and possibly even moving ones, that have been located by the parent aircraft or other aircraft in the link,” Pietrucha says. “That makes it smarter and more capable than a reusable cruise missile.”

The US Army’s AH-64E Apache has built-in UAV control functions

“It’s like having a lieutenant, but one who doesn’t ever misunderstand you”

Additionally, it could act as a flying missile magazine for an air-to-air fighter, perhaps supplementing carrier air defences against enemy bomber raids as directed by a manned aircraft. However, Pietrucha admits his concept has limitations: being a small, fightersized machine, it would not have the legs to be based outside the range of enemy land attack missiles.

A third concept, and one already starting to take shape, is an optionally manned aircraft.

The USAF is already planning to design its new Long Range Strike-Bomber, which is expected to fly and fight inside the most heavily defended airspace on Earth, with the capability to operate with a human crew or without.

Conceivably, in those situations where the aircraft has to penetrate an A2/AD environment, it would carry a human crew who could react to threats and provide the on-the-spot judgement that might be required during the mission.

If the situation was found to be more benign but requiring better endurance, the aircraft might be sent into battle with its crew operating the bomber remotely. Indeed, many industry studies for next-generation fighters are focusing on examining optional manning or teaming manned and unmanned aircraft together to get the best results. Ultimately, though, unmanned aircraft are still in their infancy. “We are still on the threshold of the robotic warfare revolution,” Gunzinger says.

“What may be needed now is a clear roadmap for their future development.” O flightglobal.com

US Army

COL MICHAEL PIETRUCHA USAF Reserve

NETWORKING

Ergonomic warfare

The focus of UAV technology is turning towards interoperability between human and unmanned system intelligence ZACH ROSENBERG WASHINGTON DC

W

hile unmanned air vehicles have a large and increasing number of capabilities, sometimes able to substitute for crewed aircraft, an increasing focus is being placed on using them as an adjunct, working together with piloted aircraft to combine and enhance capabilities. Although planners have long foreseen some possibilities, manned-unmanned teaming is only now starting to enter

widespread, practical service. The current world leader in manned-unmanned teaming – on a numerical basis – is the US Army, which is adding significant interoperability to its huge fleet of scout and attack helicopters.

For the army, with more than a decade of UAV-heavy warfare under its belt, seamlessly combining helicopters and UAVs is the designated way forward.

“We’re about to climb a very steep curve to reach a new plateau in our capability of manned-unmanned teaming,” says Col Grant Webb, who sets requirements for army UAV capabilities at the Training and Doctrine Command.

The army has long been involved with manned-unmanned teaming of a limited nature, often requiring a helicopter crew to relay instructions vocally to the UAV pilot sitting at a ground control station. The introduction of new sensors and protocols has brought about the direct control of UAV payloads, and even gg the vehicles themselves.

6-12 August 2013 | Flight International | 37

UAVS

SPECIAL REPORT

US Army

detected and located by a ground-based radar.

Cameras mounted to an aerostatic balloon immediately slewed to provide a picture, which was received and controlled by an Apache quick-reaction force while it was still conducting pre-flight inspections.

The MQ-1C’s payload or entire platform can be controlled from an attack helicopter

‘FULL SPECTRUM COMBAT AVIATION’ The first LoI-2-equipped D-model battalion, attached to the 101st airborne division at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, has recently returned from deployment to Afghanistan. It is the army’s only “full-spectrum combat aviation brigade”, which differs from the average in that it has more MQ-1C Gray Eagles and AAI RQ-7 Shadows embedded into the unit. Once considered the future of US Army aviation, a plan to convert more brigades to full spectrum has been moving forward in fits and starts.

“They absolutely used their LoI capability 38 | Flight International | 6-12 August 2013

in both Apaches and Kiowa, working with their own unmanned systems, Shadow and Gray Eagle,” says Webb. “We’re recommending expanding the [full-spectrum combat aviation brigade to] make more of these with manned and unmanned systems, and that’s because of the feedback we received from leaders and soldiers in theatre, and our own observations, how well they performed together and the increase in capability that they experienced.”

The army declined to release specifics, citing an ongoing after-action review, but Webb provided one example: insurgents launched mortars at a forward operating base, subsequently

“All the things we’ve been wanting to do for years, that tech is allowing us to do now” JEFF CRABB US Army Gray Eagle deputy project manager

US Army

gg “One of the things that’s made it unique recently is we’re doing it all digitally now,” says Jeff Crabb, the US Army’s deputy project manager for the General Atomics Aeronautical Systems MQ-1C Gray Eagle, which is essentially an army-specific version of the ubiquitous MQ-1B Predator.

“It’s really the first time we’ve been able to operationally demonstrate all-digital, without even having to talk to one another, sending digital messages back and forth that auto-populate, and being able to engage and lase [laser designate] targets, all the things we’ve been wanting to do for years that tech is allowing us to do now.”

The technology uses internet protocol-based language to communicate directly between helicopter and UAV, the same technology that applies for sending data via the internet.

The US Army is modifying 10 battalions of Boeing AH-64D Longbow attack helicopters, each controlling about 24 helicopters, to receive level of interoperability (LoI) 2 capability, allowing them to control UAV payloads.

Seven battalions have been modified so far.

New – or in most cases remanufactured – helicopters, the Bell OH-58D Kiowa Warrior and AH-64E Apache, roll out of factories with LoI-4 capabilities, allowing the aircraft to determine the UAV’s flightpath as well as directing the payload.

TAKING AN INTEREST The army’s experience with manned-unmanned teaming has provoked great interest from the other services, notably the US Navy, which has adopted the army’s system wholesale for its own use. The navy is purchasing Northrop Grumman MQ-4C Tritons, which will work directly with new anti-submarine warfare aircraft, while the US Air Force uses its own systems, but with some overlap.

“Coming from an interoperability background, it’s kind of an amazing thing to see because you don’t see the same level of pushback on interoperability when it works across the services, as we saw maybe 15 or 20 years ago,” says Lt Col James Kennedy, common systems integration product manager.

While the army is at the forefront, few doubt the future includes greater capabilities and larger aircraft. “The intent is to create a location, likely out at the army’s National Training Center, where we will specifically focus on manned-unmanned teaming,” says Webb. “We’re going through this drill right now, we have a briefing with the commanding general down here.”

In Europe, Saab chief executive Håkan Buskhe has floated the idea of building unmanned Gripens for joint operations with manned versions. Several countries – notably those with advanced UAV capabilities – have experimented with manned-unmanned teaming, although none have publicly revealed any operational uses. O

RQ-7 Shadows have proven highly effective additions to the 101st airborne division flightglobal.com

UAVS

SPECIAL REPORT

NASA

NASA is using the Reaper for sense and avoid tests

SAFETY

Not in my sky

While UAVs have served with distinction in war, the path to acceptance in civil airspace is paved with difficulties ZACH ROSENBERG WASHINGTON DC

I

n 2012, the noisy debate over European and US unmanned air vehicles centred around privacy and warfare, while in Japan a significant milestone passed almost unnoticed – more acres of agricultural land were sprayed with pesticides by UAVs than traditional methods.

The Japanese example is merely one of many potential sectors where UAVs could be used to carry out the dull, dirty and dangerous jobs performed by small aircraft – from searchand-rescue to freight transportation and weather forecasting. One entrepreneur has even proposed a taco delivery service.

The potential economic impacts are profound: a report sponsored by the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI) found that introducing UAVs would result in a $13.6 billion impact in the first three years of use.

In the USA, potential UAV users are chomping at the bit, as are manufacturers faced with falling military budgets.

“It’s absolutely imperative the integration of unmanned systems does not get in the way of the efficiency and reliability of the national

flightglobal.com

airspace [NAS],” says Jim Williams, manager of the US Federal Aviation Administration’s Unmanned Systems Integration Office. “But it also has to be timely. Because this is a huge growth potential for the USA and the world in aviation, and it really is the most important change to aviation to come along since the jet engine, and it’s about as disruptive to the status quo as the jet engine was.”

THE PROBLEM UAVs are largely prohibited within the loosely-regulated US NAS, being deemed a threat to public safety. The basic reason is simple – laws and regulations have been written with pilots in mind, with UAVs only recently considered. In the NAS, aircraft flying below 10,000ft (3,050m) and some distance from a major airport are generally uncontrolled – although many pilots broadcast their position and intents via radio, in most cases this is optional. This makes visual awareness and contact vital.

Williams says the most fundamental of FAA regulations simply says “you need to maintain your vigilance and not run into anybody”. “An unmanned aircraft can’t really comply with this. Previous interpretations of the many rules that use the word ‘see’ have resulted in a definition from the FAA which says that ‘see’ means ‘eyeballs of the pilot.’”

Other baseline FAA rules require positive aircraft control. A basic assumption of safety rules and emergency procedures is the presence of a pilot doing their best to control the aircraft via a direct connection to the flight controls. For UAVs, pilots are on the ground communicating by datalink – a lost datalink means no pilot input is possible, and the aircraft is left to the whims of the onboard

computer. For this reason, operating UAVs requires individual Certificates of Authorisation (COA) from the FAA. Conditions for receiving a COA are heavily restricted – generally UAVs are followed by spotters in a trailing aircraft or wholly segregated from public airspace.

Such COAs have failed to prevent civil government institutions from using the aircraft heavily, notably the Customs and Border Patrol, but use is tightly restricted regarding geography and weather conditions. NASA, meanwhile, is using the General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Reaper for tests involving sense and avoid systems.

ONGOING EXPERIMENTS In addition to the economic imperative, the US Congress created a legal one: the FAA is required to integrate small UAVs into the NAS

by September 2015. How to do that is up in the air but, for better or worse, Congress mandated some areas for testing.

The Arctic Ocean north of Alaska is a major site for oil exploration, where four companies have placed massive floating rigs. Huge chunks of ice frequently break off the main icecap. Moving the drilling platforms out of the path of an oncoming iceberg costs a small fortune, and the oil companies carry out constant surveillance to track free-floating ice.

The companies currently use manned aircraft to spot icebergs and warn platforms, but it is a perfect job for UAVs and Congress has opened a huge chunk of Alaskan airspace for experimentation. The FAA has signed a cooperative agreement with oil company ConocoPhillips to conduct pathfinding tests in the region, relying on airspace segregation gg for safety.

6-12 August 2013 | Flight International | 39

UAVS

SPECIAL REPORT gg “They’re going to take a ship and put a [Boeing Insitu] ScanEagle on it. The ScanEagle will receive an actual commercial certification in a restricted category to allow them to operate commercially in that part of the ocean,” says Williams. “We’re pretty excited about that. We’ve overcome a whole bunch of obstacles to essentially segregate it from manned airspace operations.”

Airspace segregation is the current standard. While flight in the NAS requires COAs, UAVs are free to fly in airspace where normal traffic is restricted. The presence of UAVs ranging from the hand-launched AeroVironment RQ-11 Raven to the airliner-sized wingspan of the Northrop Grumman RQ-4 Global Hawk has become routine in the skies above Afghanistan and surrounding busy US bases at Bagram, Jalalabad and Kandahar.

UAVs have essentially become fully integrated into the airport traffic patterns.

US Air Force chief of ranges and airspace Edward Chupein says in a combat environment the service can “manage the airspace in such a way that we can segregate aircraft that are incapable of seeing and avoiding from those that can”. He adds that “everybody is co-operative for the most part”, but it is the “non-cooperative nature” of the NAS that presents the greatest challenge. “Downrange [in Afghanistan], everybody’s squawking and talking so it’s essentially positive-controlled airspace from the surface to infinity.”

JIM WILLIAMS FAA Unmanned Systems Integration Office manager

were received. All sites will require senseand-avoid capability. Most UAVs are likely to be required to broadcast transponder and automatic dependent surveillance – broadcast signals to allow ground controllers and airborne traffic to see them. However, true UAVcarried sense-and-avoid capabilities require sensors – radars, sonars or cameras – too large for most to carry. And as not all aircraft are required to report their positions, simply broadcasting signals is not a complete solution.

So the US military is working on a groundbased, sense-and-avoid system, employing unused radar channels to provide a threedimensional airspace picture.

“The US Air Force has invested heavily in digital airport surveillance radars [DASR] at its airports [and] we’re exploring modifying these already FAA-certified radars to give it a quasi-3D capability with a high degree of probability of detection, both vertically and laterally with the intent of leveraging existing infrastructure,” says Chupein. “So far we’ve had pretty positive results.”

The radars, called ASR-11 by the military, have filters coded into the software to remove false-positives and transients such as birds, wind turbine blades and small aircraft flying outside controlled zones. Removing the filters allows the controller to view all radar signals – including those of unresponsive UAVs. A clever technology – concurrent beam processing – allows radar processors to take

NASA

THE SOLUTION? Also included in the Congressional reauthorisation was the establishment of six test sites, where UAVs will be fully integrated into the NAS and operate concurrently with manned aircraft. The site selection process is ongoing, but the FAA says 25 applications

unused weather channels and turn what is normally a 2D radar picture into a 3D one. “If you look at a map of the United States and you look at all the ASR-11s in the Department of Defense and all the DASRs in the FAA, you begin to see that it starts to cover the country pretty quickly, particularly on the coasts, with overlapping rings of capability,” says Chupein. “We’re talking a 60-mile radius around the radar that reaches the fidelity needed.

“We’re essentially tapping into the processors on a separate feed and repurposing it to provide sense-and-avoid rather than air traffic control. That’s all conditional on certification, any wider use of this capability would have to go through the full FAA safety review certification process… [but] we see some great potential here.”

“It is the most important change to aviation to come along since the jet engine”

Current FAA regulations require that a pilot maintains direct control with an air vehicle 40 | Flight International | 6-12 August 2013

MARKET DEMAND It is the FAA’s job to move slowly and carefully when incorporating new technologies, and despite the pending integration of small UAVs, few predict large commercial types in the near future.

It is just as well small UAVs are likely to be the most in-demand. If US agriculture adopts UAVs at the same rate as Japan per acre of farmland, the first year of legal flights will see nearly 40,000 small UAVs sold, according to the AUVSI report, with more than 100,000 after 10 years.

There are non-regulatory factors holding certification back as well. Much of the public, at least in the USA, has grown deeply suspicious of UAV use, citing potential threats to privacy and safety.

Those issues are largely dismissed by the UAV industry, which argues that the aircraft will comply with existing laws – but there is merit to their concerns. UAVs potentially lower the cost barriers for all who wish the capability, regardless of intent.

Although still illegal, several UAVs have been used by citizens to spy on or take pictures of people without permission. At least one, belonging to an anti-hunting activist, was shot down by hunters.

Airline pilots occasionally complain of seeing UAVs or model aircraft in approach patterns at major airports, threatening collisions.

Many people simply do not trust the government to use the technology responsibly; several states have passed or are considering their own tight restrictions on UAVs, barring the use of UAV-gathered evidence in trials and other measures.

The town of Deer Trail, Colorado, is considering an ordinance permitting residents to shoot down UAVs. Unfortunately, the UAV industry and privacy advocates largely dismiss one another’s concerns, so near-term agreement is a distant possibility. O flightglobal.com

UAVS

A datalink-equipped Shadow launches on a test flight DEVELOPMENT

Building longevity

The maker of the RQ-7A Shadow is aiming for international buyers to maintain its pipeline via the latest version, the M2 STEPHEN TRIMBLE WASHINGTON DC

I

f there are no second acts in American lives, there certainly are in American aviation. Boeing, in particular, translated a budget death sentence – as far as the Pentagon is concerned – for the C-17 Globemaster III airlifter and F-15E and F/A-18E/F fighters at the end of the last decade into a prolonged production run for a suddenly expanded international market.

Textron Systems subsidiary AAI is also now having a go at a second act of its own. Fifteen years after the US Army selected the RQ-7A Shadow for a tactical unmanned aircraft system programme, a fleet that now numbers 468 vehicles has amassed nearly 900,000h of flying time in two wars. It is also in service with Australia and Sweden and on back order for Italy.

But the production pipeline is nearly extinguished. Over that period, AAI has developed three new generations of the baseline Shadow 200 vehicle, including the latest iteration, called the M2. Neither the US Army nor the US Marine Corps, however, are in the procurement market for a tactical UAS. That leaves a launch order for the M2 entirely in the hands of an uncertain and often fickle international market.

As AAI enters the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI) North America convention, it has

flightglobal.com

some reason to be encouraged. The M2, which trebles the power capacity and quintuples the payload weight of the RQ-7B, first flew about a year ago. It has since accumulated 60h in flight tests, including a flight demonstration for an international customer.

“We believe that customer is very, very interested and we’re still engaged in conversation with them,” says Bill Leonard, AAI’s director of development for tactical UASs. AAI declines to name the interested country, and says only that it is targeting sales for the Shadow M2 in Asia, Europe and the Middle East. With little prospect of domestic sales in the short term, AAI has no choice but to attempt to attract foreign buyers. But the export market for UASs in the large, tactical class of the RQ-7 is highly competitive and sales are difficult to secure, says Ron Stearns, a research director and partner at the G2 Solutions consultancy.

“The smaller you go in terms of maximum take-off weight, the more competition you are going to see,” Stearns says.

The other complication on the foreign market is finding customers in the short term with a rare combination of a stated need, confirmed budget and a relevant operational and threat envelope.

“There are multiple litmus tests,” says Stearns.

PROVEN TRACK RECORD AAI emphasises the 15-year track record and flight-hour total of the Shadow 200 product family. “The Shadow, with its over 850,000 flight hours with over 90% of those being in combat is really attractive,” Leonard says. “It’s not a new start-up. It’s a proven entity that has been in combat for years.”

Ultimately, AAI’s goal is to attract orders from the US Army and USMC to upgrade a portion or all of the 117 existing RQ-7 Shadow systems, which each include four air vehicles, a catapult launcher, a ground station and a re-

US Army

SPECIAL REPORT

mote video terminal. Although current budget plans contain no funding for new production, AAI still hopes the army’s or marines’ attitude could change once the M2’s capabilities are demonstrated to be mature.

“It plays very well into the retrofit capability,” Leonard says, pointing to the 90% commonality between the M2 and the RQ-7B. “There’s a great return on investment to upgrade the fuselage and make a few of the finer or smaller modifications. They could recoup their investment and get a significant amount of capability.”

Although the M2 will carry more sensors and other payloads, it will now be powered by the UAV Engines (UEL) 801 engine in place of the originally planned heavy-fuel engine

“It’s not a new start-up. It’s a proven entity that has been in combat for years” BILL LEONARD Director of development, AAI

supplied by Textron subsidiary Lycoming Engines. The 801 uses the same Wankel architecture as the RQ-7B Shadow’s existing 38hpclass UEL 741 engine, but adds 12hp and a liquid-cooling system.

“The water cooling allows you to control the engine better from a reliability standpoint,” he says. “It really brings in a high reliability and delivers more horsepower.”

One of the challenges in the weight class of UAVs such as the RQ-7 Shadow is that few aviation-rated engines exist, since there is a very small market. Similar engines are available in the same power class for lawnmowers, but they lack the reliability of an engine qualified for the extreme environments of gg aviation applications.

6-12 August 2013 | Flight International | 41

UAVS

SPECIAL REPORT INTEGRATION

US Army

Aiming for acceptance The UK has honed its unmanned systems skills in combat, but now must overcome the challenges of airspace and societal adoption

The RQ-7B is now integral to the US Army

CRAIG HOYLE LONDON

gg The army’s budget documents include a $38.9 million allocation for a high-reliability engine upgrade for the RQ-7B, beginning in the fiscal year 2015 and completing three years later.

The same documents contain no plans to buy new vehicles in the tactical unmanned air vehicle class occupied by the Shadow through the five-year planning cycle that ends in the financial year 2018.

While AAI continues to try to sell the new M2, its business is now based on sustaining and upgrading the existing fleet in service.

In fact, the last two Shadow systems delivered to the US Army were based on the RQ7B(V)2 design, previously called the RQ-7C. The (V)2 model adds a tactical common data link to increase bandwidth capacity for download as payloads on board the aircraft become more sophisticated.

F

UPGRADE PLANS The US Army plans to qualify the RQ-7B(V)2 for operational service in May 2014, Leonard says. It has also awarded a contract to AAI to upgrade 74 of the 117 operational systems to the RQ-7B(V)2 configuration. The balance of the systems not yet funded are in discussions.

There is no question that the RQ-7B is now engrained in the army’s “full-spectrum combat aviation brigade”, with each such unit allocated two platoons of four vehicles each.

The RQ-7B is expected to relieve the longdwell surveillance missions now assigned to Bell OH-58D Kiowa Warrior helicopters in the aviation brigades.

Working in AAI’s favour are the natural consequences of miniaturisation and ever-increasing processing power. That allows the vehicle to carry more sophisticated pieces of equipment. The M2 configuration is designed to capitalise on those advances. By including an internal weapons bay, the wing-mounted stores on the RQ-7B can be removed, which reduces drag and increases endurance.

“Some of the things you see on the larger type of unmanned aircraft or even some of the surrogate ISR [intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance] manned aircraft, technology has now shrunk so now they fit on our platform,” Leonard says. O 42 | Flight International | 6-12 August 2013

ew topics have the ability to divide public opinion such as suggesting an expanded use of unmanned air vehicles and increasing the level of autonomous operation that they will be capable of performing.

In the UK, more than a decade of combat experience over Iraq and Afghanistan has seen the nation’s armed forces’ understanding and use of unmanned technologies advance rapidly. Indeed, by late 2012, more than 335 individual UAVs were deployed in support of British troops involved in the latter conflict.

These included five armed General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Reapers and nine leased Elbit Systems Hermes 450s, while hand-launched Lockheed Martin Desert Hawk IIIs accounted for 70% of the deployed total.

According to data released by the Ministry of Defence in mid-July, more than 2,900 flights have also been conducted in UK airspace using military UAVs since the start of 2009. Of these, 2,600 were made with Desert Hawk IIIs over its Otterburn, Salisbury Plain and Stanford training ranges.

Developmental test flights and personnel training activities involving the British Army’s yet-to-be-deployed Thales/Elbit Watchkeeper tactical unmanned air system have totalled

over 300 sorties since 2010, the MoD says, all from West Wales Airport in Aberporth.

The Royal Air Force’s Reaper air vehicles have never been flown in the UK, despite the type having been in operational use for almost six years. During this time, more than 380 Raytheon GBU-12 226kg (500lb) laser-guided bombs and Lockheed Martin AGM-114 Hellfire missiles have been released, during flights launched from Kandahar airfield in Afghanistan. Mission control and weapons usage decisions are performed by service personnel from a ground control station (GCS) at the US Air Force’s Creech AFB site in Nevada, and also from UK soil since earlier this year.

More than 47,000 flying hours have been accumulated with the RAF’s aircraft, but the MoD remains tight-lipped about their day-today activities. “The balance of public interest lies decisively in favour of witholding the number of Reapers in operation at any one time,” it said in response to a recent Freedom of Information Act request from Chris Cole of Drone Wars UK. However, it confirms that of five additional airframes ordered in 2010, two were undergoing acceptance testing by midJuly, with the other three “to be accepted into service over the coming months”.

VOCAL OPPOSITION For those who oppose the military’s use of UAVs, the Reaper’s lethal capability has become a focal point. On 27 April, a “Ground the drones” demonstration was staged outside RAF Waddington in Lincolnshire, where the UK’s new ground control capability has been established. Having included groups like Campaign Against Arms Trade, the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament and Drone Wars UK, the action was followed days later by the first confirmed strike on a target in Afghanistan to have been controlled from the site.

The UK has flown armed Reaper remotely piloted air systems in Afghanistan since 2007 flightglobal.com

UAVS

BAE Systems

SPECIAL REPORT

A Jetstream on the outside, BAE’s testbed is packed with sensors and technologies that enable it to fly as if unmanned For some, the drive towards an increased level of machine automation is a threatening element of a “Big Brother” society, under which personal freedoms will be restricted, and governments will be free to perform remote and targeted killings without threat of recourse.

“The UK government should make a clear and unambiguous commitment not to develop autonomous weapon systems, and to take part in efforts to build an international treaty to ban the use of these weapons,” Cole wrote in a recent Defence Committee submission.

Proponents of the underlying technology, however, are convinced that so-called robotic and autonomous systems (RAS) will play a major part in the future of aviation, along with other sectors ranging from agriculture and

road travel to the provision of surgical and even social care.

The UK government has included the development of the RAS sector as one of its eight main technology focus areas, and a special interest group formed in January 2013 has already attracted the involvement of 300 businesses, keen to secure a place in what could become a serious economic niche.

Speaking at a Global Intelligent Systems (GIS) conference in London on 17 July, minister for universities and science David Willetts said state funding to support research into driverless cars is part of a gradual process towards the population accepting such technology. Noting that the emphasis of such work must be on demonstrating increased safety, he notes: “It’s going to build incrementally, and that will build confidence and acceptance.”

Crown Copyright, Rex Features

Senior RAF officers bristle at the use of the phrase “drone”, saying it ignores the humanin-the-loop emphasis contained within the service’s deliberately-chosen term “remotely piloted air system”. After viewing a mission managed from Waddington, one high-ranking officer described the GCS as representing “the most professional, informed and measured combat ‘cockpit’ I have ever witnessed.”

While seemingly trivial, the nomenclature issue will be among the threads investigated during a parliamentary Defence Committee inquiry into the use of such equipment “by the UK military and intelligence communities” from later this year. Another aspect will look into the related “ethical and legal issues” that could arise from their use.

RAF Waddington has been a focal point for public opposition to the use of UAVs flightglobal.com

AUTONOMOUS ADVANCE “Autonomy is not about taking the man out of the loop – it’s about putting the man in the loop at the appropriate time,” Chris Clarkson, BAE’s engineering director for future combat air systems, said at the same event.

Ray Mann, managing director of the West Wales airport site, which has played host to UAV test activities since 2004, has a stronger view about the “anti-drone” lobby. “We haven’t created another atom bomb: we’ve just taken the pilot out of an aeroplane,” he says.

For the aerospace sector, this process poses the challenge of equivalence to manned flight.

Speaking at a meeting of the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International’s UK chapter in May, Andrew Badham from the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) safety regulation group summed up the body’s require- gg 6-12 August 2013 | Flight International | 43

UAVS

SPECIAL REPORT gg ments for allowing UAVs to fly with other traffic in non-segregated airspace. “What we are trying to see is compliance with a manned aircraft,” he said. “They [UAVs] are aircraft, and will be treated as such.” As of March 2013, the CAA was aware of around 190 companies, universities and individuals operating unmanned aircraft, Badham says. Of these, 90% were below a weight threshold of 20kg (44lb), and 75% rotary designs. Current uses for these systems, which rely on non-aided visual lineof-sight control, include supporting agricultural and construction activities and tasks such as land surveying.

While such modest systems can be used today, flying a large unmanned aircraft can still only be done within segregated airspace, such as that found over Salisbury Plain and over land and sea from West Wales airport.

CAPABILITY DEMONSTRATION One long-running effort that is intended to demonstrate the routine and safe use of UAVs recently completed its second phase, with a BAE Systems-operated Jetstream testbed using technologies from the ASTRAEA project. Involving a return journey between the company’s Warton site in Lancashire and Inverness in Scotland, the bulk of the flight was conducted with the aircraft acting as a surrogate UAV. The sortie was flown with a ground-based controller in contact with air

navigation service provider NATS, and with safety pilots and engineers on board.

While in his own words the Jetstream is in one form a “Geek’s plaything”, BAE’s lead engineer on the project, Rod Buchanan, believes many aspects of the equipment flown on the aged platform – such as detect and avoid and adverse weather detection systems, as well as an automated diversion landing assessment tool – are directly applicable not only to UAVs, but also to other sectors of aerospace.

To resume flying in September, after a period of maintenance, the aircraft carries only commercial off-the-shelf equipment, bar its autopilot, processors and communications fit.

While BAE’s demonstration grabbed the headlines, ASTRAEA steering board chairman Simon Jewell notes that the £62 million ($94 million) programme has involved over 80 flights with 11 aircraft, plus more than 100 companies, academic institutions and other parties over a seven-year period.

Jewell says the current regulations around autonomous and intelligent aircraft systems are rightly akin to the caution used with early automobiles, which were kept at walking pace and with a flag carrier in front of the vehicle to warn pedestrians. The key challenge, he says, is to go through the process of regulation to “integrate, not separate” UAVs. Further research activities are expected to occur under the ASTRAEA brand, with fresh fund-

“We haven’t created another atom bomb: we’ve just taken the pilot out of an aeroplane” RAY MANN Managing director, West Wales airport

ing currently being sought from industry and state alike.

Future work will add an enhanced vision system, which will broaden the detect and avoid capability to well beyond the coverage possible with the human eye, Buchanan says.

BAE also believes that an optionally-manned aircraft could be employed, to be flown as a UAV, but with a safety pilot on board.

The UK’s Taranis unmanned combat air system demonstrator will soon be flown for the first time, above the Woomera test range in South Australia. While BAE has backtracked on a 2012 suggestion to fly its twin-engined Mantis technology demonstrator in the UK, the gap to making such a leap into integrated airspace operations is closing all the time.

As Iain Gray, chief executive of the UK’s Technology Strategy Board, told the recent GIS conference: “If we can’t do this with the CAA and NATS, then shame on us.” O Follow the hot topics at the AUVSI convention, and access our three Unmanned Daily News publications by visiting flightglobal.com/auvsi

OPERATIONS CRAIG HOYLE LONDON

TEST CENTRE PROVIDERS WAIT FOR UNMANNED MARKET TO TAKE OFF Watchkeeper air vehicles are typically flown once or twice a day, with between 10 and 20 other sorties now being made per month using smaller systems, says Mann.

“We’ve built it, and they’re coming,” he says. “West Wales airport is delivering £2 million [$3 million] a year into the local economy, and is already demonstrating its worth.”

However, nine years after hosting its first UAS flights, Mann is still

waiting for the wider UK aerospace industry to commit to a potentially multibillion-pound growth sector.

“We have the companies that can build systems, but they are so far lacking the will or the money,” he argues. “It’s a significant advancement of aviation, and it’s important to look at that and see what’s in it for us as a nation.”

In southwest England, the prospect for unmanned technologies to

West Wales airport

COMPANIES LOOKING to test large unmanned air systems in the UK have limited choice in where such activities can occur because of the lack of current airspace integration.

This situation is good news for Ray Mann, who bought the former military airfield at Aberporth in 2001, for redevelopment as a UAS test centre. Eyeing the sector as a potential driver of economic growth, the Welsh Assembly government also pumped major funds into the ParcAberporth technology hub.

Now with an extended 1,200m (3,940ft) runway, the rebranded West Wales airport has played host to development work by companies like Selex ES and Thales UK, with more than 300 flights made with the latter’s Watchkeeper tactical UAS for the British Army. In total, roughly 2,500 miles2 (6,500km2) of segregated airspace is available, including a restricted overland area of 500 miles2 approved by the UK Civil Aviation Authority in 2011.

West Wales airport gives access to ranges over land and sea

44 | Flight International | 6-12 August 2013

be embraced more widely, including by commercial operators, has not been lost on the owners of Newquay Cornwall airport. Last year they began a dialogue with Mann, and a partnership is expected to be advanced later this year, with the formal launch of a planned National Aeronautical Centre, which could in time link their major testing areas.

With a 2,700m runway, available operating capacity and located just 0.5nm (1km) away from the sea, Newquay would be able to offer ready access to 3,000 miles2 of segregated airspace.

“We think we’ve got a pretty good package,” says Miles Carden, manager of the Aerohub Enterprise Zone at the Newquay site. Interest in the proposed new activity has been “very positive” from recent discussions with potential investors, he adds.

“Between us we have the capabilities the market needs,” says Mann. “Now we need players.” O

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STRAIGHT&LEVEL From yuckspeak to tales of yore, send your offcuts to murdo.morrison@flightglobal.com

“Sorry, darling, flight’s been cancelled. Expecting to be home in about 86 years.”

That might have been the phone conversation passengers travelling on a cancelled departure on EasyJet from Geneva to London Gatwick faced having when they were sent a text by the low-cost airline saying the next flight would “depart on 29 July 2099”.

The inevitable computer “glitch” was blamed, although, for some, knowing they wouldn’t have to take a SqueezyJet flight until the end of the century would be a bonus.

Inverted truth Our pulses were sent racing by a 27 July Times article, complete with thrilling graphic, showing the desperate, last-moment manoeuvre made by a Tornado pilot to avoid hitting a glider over northern Scotland, and sent to us by Peter Martin.

The GR4 was “tearing along the course of the River Spey at 500mph only 250ft above the ground when he spotted the glider ‘at the very last moment’ only 500 yards away”, reports the “Thunderer”.

Then the story, which takes its “facts” from a UK Airprox Board report, makes a lurch towards the ridiculous.

To avoid flying over the light aircraft and sending it “spiralling to the ground” with the force of its jet engines, the

Pilatus

Your flight will depart... in 2099

“How intriguing that Pilatus’s PC-24 doesn’t sport any form of winglets, sharklets – not even Swiss cheeselets! Do its canny designers know something about induced drag that we don’t?” asks Mike Savage of this artist’s impression of its in-development jet. “I notice that, in a take-off impression, some quite fearsome wing tip vortices are in evidence. But, as Julie Andrews discovered, Alpine air is that much purer and less viscous than the other stuff!”

A3-nifty This graphic in July’s British Airways’ in-flight mag suggests more optimism about the delivery schedule for its A350s than even Airbus believes.

Not such a long haul after all Tornado pilot flew “downwards and into a loop before speeding away upside down”.

Martin is unimpressed. “The daftest piece of air reporting I can recall,” is how he describes the laws-of-dynamics-defying description.

“We had a good laugh,” he says, enclosing the original clipping “as I thought otherwise you would not believe me”.

Worlds apart

An Embraer press release informs us that it was to display its Phenoms and Super Tucano at Oshkosk [sic]. Sounds like a grim Siberian outpost untouched by the 21st century. Not at all like the home of EAA AirVenture, which is...oh, wait a minute.

Thanks to AC McLauchlan for the rumour that FedEx and UPS are merging their airlines into a new entity...FEDUPS.

Morpho Detection, a division of Safran that makes explosives detection technology, has a new boss. Her name: Karen Bomba.

A wind-up, surely

flightglobal.com

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100/75/50/25 are tostyle play for important an the text forpart each in of thethe naval four historical arreas. manoeuvres The year which arelogo to be sits at thefrom held beginning July of thetothird 14th August line of mainIttext.

8th. is understood The texts do that not have to attention special be the same will be length paid each to theweek. question of the efficiency of the aeroplane as a weapon of defence against submarine attack.

100/75... heading Mercury rising 100/75/50/25 - text. style

Withthe for Mercury’s text for each recordof the four breaking flight historical from Foynes arreas.

The year Ireland Harbour, logo sitsto at the beginning Montreal and New of theImperial York, third line of main text. The Airways texts –doinnot have to be the conjunction with same the Air length each week.

Ministry (not forgetting the makers of the machine and engines) – have achieved a second and most interesting step towards making 100/75... heading 100/75/50/25 transatlantic aviation - text.astyle for the text for commercial proposition. each of the four historical arreas.

Titanic thrust The year logo sits The first static at the firing beginning of the world’s largest of the solid-propellant third line of main text. The motor texts took do place not have to be the at Coyote, same length each week. California, on 20 July. Two such motors will produce more than 2,000,000lb-thrust as the first stage of the US Air Force Titan III-C space booster.

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Finally, Eric Jackson sends this “sneaked” photo of Boeing’s fix for the 787’s battery problems.

A massive effort-by 100/75/50/25 text. style for the the Royal textAir forForce, each HM of the four historical arreas.

Coastguard, The yearhelicopter civilian logo sits at the beginning operators and a of the naval NATO third line taskof main text. force rescued The some texts do 65not oil have to be workers when the the same Occidental length each week.production Petroleum platform Piper Alpha caught fire after an explosion.

100-YEAR ARCHIVE

Every issue of Flight from 1909 onwards can be viewed online at flightglobal.com/archive

6-12 August 2013 | Flight International | 45

LETTERS

flight.international@flightglobal.com

FLIGHT

SAFETY

We welcome your letters on any aspect of the aerospace industry.

Please write to: The Editor, Flight International, Quadrant House, The Quadrant, Sutton, Surrey SM2 5AS, UK. Or email flight.international@ flightglobal.com

There have been several airline incidents and accidents involving professional pilots not realising, for whatever reason, that a parameter such as speed is dangerously incorrect. While Stephen Trimble’s article (“Wake-Up Call For Cockpits”, Flight International 30 July) highWorth the investment? lights an emphasis on better monitoring techniques, which would be no bad thing, there is also an observation that putting emphasis on [pilot] monitoring may, on its own, be insufficient.

Nowadays, the modern airliner flight-crew manuals specify many aural warnings that at least one of the pilots should call out during take-off, approach, go-around or landing when a particular parameter such as speed, pitch, rate of descent etc. are outside prescribed limits. Many airlines have introduced “Stable Approach” criteria reflecting that. Most modern airliners have some form of voice warning system capability, but when close to the ground the traditional stall warning or GPWS alone may not provide enough time to react successfully, even if the reaction is correctly applied.

How difficult would it be for the airplane manufacturers to add aural warnings to their “talking” cockpits for speed, pitch, rate of descent etc when beyond laid down acceptable windows, using information inputs that computers are already being assessing many times a second, such that digressions can (a) be immediately brought to the attention of the pilots and (b) are not wholly reliant on pilot(s) spotting them?

Whilst the Turkish 737-800 and Asiana 777-200 accidents may spring to mind, the inclusion of automatic voice warnings could, for example, help avoid incidents such as tail-scrapes on take-off and landing, if excessive pitch produced such a warning. Judging by the number of hull losses and expensive repairs it may be worth the industry investing in such an upgrade on financial returns alone?

Amelie Cook By email

The opinions on this page do not necessarily represent those of the editor.

Flight International Letters without a full cannot postalpublish address letters supwithout plied may name not be andpublished. address. Letters must may be nobemore also published than 250 on flightglobal.com words in length.and must be no longer than 250 words.

No substitute for attentiveness On my first solo flight, the swiftly shrinking figure of my instructor standing by the threshold was one of the most exalted moments in my life, instantly followed by the sickening realisation that I must return both aircraft and myself to the ground, ideally in our original condition. It was the loneliest moment of my life.

A visual approach is just that, simply a matter of looking ahead at the approaching runway and assessing whether the slope is right. Under good conditions it is perhaps one of the simplest tasks a pilot must carry out.

Today’s air traffic often necessitates approaches that start before the runway is in sight.

Assuming the distance from the threshold, altitude and optimum approach speed are all known, a simple calculation determines the rate of descent required. It is then simply a matter of reducing power and adjusting speed and thereafter monitoring air speed, altitude and rate of descent.

It seems therefore unbelieva-

The need for aural warnings

ble that a professional aircrew undertaking a visual approach under ideal conditions could end up in a heap of smoking wreckage, but that is just what happened at San Francisco.

Perhaps it is really too soon to pass judgement but it seems as though yet again over-reliance on automatic systems and the

Turkish Airlines

INTERNATIONAL

Lost for words

consequent inattention to the ongoing situation may be the root of the problem. The same instructor drummed into me that one cannot turn a bad approach into a good landing so the approach must be right. Otherwise start again!

Richard Chandless Vovray en Bornes, France

Why has Mr Williams got his knickers so twisted about your use of the word airframer?

During 40 years as an engine guy, I rarely heard the builders of aircraft referred to as anything else, and the expression was standard throughout the aviation industry.

You are correct to use the terminology used in the real world.

I expect to see many more interesting articles about the successes of airframers and difficulties and the difficulties they face.

Malcolm Forrest Paris, France

Under-equipped To have had to close Heathrow airport for 90min for a minor fire on an empty aircraft, parked in a remote part of the airport because all fire engines were involved just shows to me a lack of investment in equipment (Flight International, 23-29 July). Does anyone agree?

J McDermott Kington, UK

Caption error The photo on pages 30 and 31 of the Flight International, 6 March-1 April, with the caption “Montreal is the capital of Canada’s aerospace industry” does not depict Montreal, but the city of Gatineau, about 200km (124 miles) from Montreal and with no aerospace industry whatsoever.

Paul Storm By email Editor’s reply: Thanks to the several readers who have pointed this out.

The original photo was wrongly captioned by a photo agency.

Contribute to the debate on Flightglobal’s AirSpace forum: flightglobal.com/airspace

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HEAD OFFICE, BALAKA, KURMITOLA, DHAKA-1229, BANGLADESH, PHONE: 8901600-14, 8901680-94, FAX: 88-02-8901558,www.biman-airlines.com Ref: DACAW/Delivery Financing/2013/577 Date: 22 July 2013

HEAD OFFICE, BALAKA, KURMITOLA, DHAKA-1229, BANGLADESH, PHONE: 8901600-14, 8901680-94, FAX: 88-02-8901558,www.biman-airlines.com Ref: DACAW/Delivery Financing/2013/578 Date: 22 July 2013

Request for Proposal (RFP) Senior Loan for Delivery Financing of 2 (two) Boeing 777­300ER aircraft

Request for Proposal (RFP) Commercial Loan for Delivery Financing of 2 (two) Boeing 777­300ER aircraft Biman Bangladesh Airlines seeks offers from reputed financial institutions for delivery payment financing under a commercial loan for the purchase of two Boeing 777­300ER aircraft. Basic requirements are mentioned below: Purpose of Financing Term loan to finance part of the net aircraft delivery price Estimated Amount of Financing Aggregate amount of financing will be a maximum of USD 66 Million Term of Guaranteed Loan Up to 12 years from respective aircraft delivery dates Currency of Financing US Dollars Offer validity 05 September 2013 Proposals/Offers should be submitted to Controller of Accounts, Biman Bangladesh Airlines Ltd, Head Office, Balaka, Kurmitola, Dhaka­1229, Bangladesh latest by 1000 hours BST (0400 hours UTC) on 05 September 2013 through Courier Service or e­mail to: finan­777­commercial@bdbiman.com For more details, please visit Biman website (www.biman­airlines.com).

(C. M. Khairul Alam) Controller of Accounts (Acting)

Biman seeks offers from reputed financial institutions for Delivery Financing for the Aircraft in either of the following form (a) Invitation – Senior Commercial Loan (“the Senior Loan”) Financing The financing shall be in US Dollars for a 12 years term for up to USD 290 Million. The loan will be supported by a guarantee from the Government of Bangladesh. or

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(b) Invitation – Ex­Im Bank Guaranteed Loan Financing Biman has obtained a Preliminary Commitment from the U.S. Export­Import Bank (“Ex­Im Bank”) for this Guarantee support Basic requirements are mentioned below: Purpose of Financing

Term loan to finance the senior portion of the net delivery price of aircraft plus 100% of Ex­Im Bank Exposure Fee

Estimated Amount of Financing

Aggregate amount of Ex­Im Bank guaranteed financing including the exposure fee will be a maximum of USD 290 Million

Term of Guaranteed Loan

12 years from respective aircraft delivery dates

Currency of Financing

US Dollars 05 September 2013

For more details, please visit Biman website (www.biman­airlines.com) (C. M. Khairul Alam) Controller of Accounts (Acting)

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ExecuJet Australasia are currently seeking, on behalf of our Singapore based client, suitably qualified

Bombardier Challenger 605 Captains

PROCUREMENT MANAGER FB Heliservices are seeking a Procurement Manager to operate from their Head OďŹ&#x192;ce in Basingstoke to support the ďŹ&#x201A;eet of aircra operated worldwide. This posi on is key to the con nued success of the company and an opportunity for the successful applicant to join a company with growth plans for the future.

The successful applicants should be highly motivated, aviation service oriented, professional, dedicated to delivering excellent service, and represent the high standards of our client.

The successful candidate will have extensive experience working in an avia on environment, speciďŹ cally associated to an EASA Part 145 opera on, with strong communica on skills and demonstrable commercial astuteness. They will be required to demonstrate a track record in nego a ng and monitoring contracts, such as Power By the Hour, and Service Level Agreements in excess of ÂŁ1 million.

Minimum 4000 hours Total Flying Time, with 2000 hours on jet aircraft, 1000 hours in command, current ATPL, class one medical and command instrument rating.

The Procurement Manager will be expected to con nually review, bench mark and refresh the approved Supplier base to ensure con nued value for money is being achieved.

Previous experience on Challenger 605 type aircraft, as well as recent experience in Asia would hold an advantage.

All applications will remain confidential and should be made in writing and submitted by close of business on Friday, 16th August 2013 to: Human Resources Manager PO Box 205 Mascot NSW 1460 Email: jobs@execujet.com.au 52 | Flight International | 6-12 August 2013

You must have strong communica on and leadership skills with a logical and process driven mindset to Procurement and will be expected to work with a ďŹ&#x201A;exible and hard working ethos.

The posi on will be expected to create and analyse monthly reports and be expected to brief up to Director level. You will report to the Head of Supply Chain and will have a number of directs carrying out buying, expedi ng and shipping func ons.

If you believe you have the necessary skills, drive and enthusiasm required for this role then please send your CV and a covering le er to sue.denny@ heliservices.com.

Closing Date: 13th August 2013

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RECRUITMENT

A senior role shaping the future of aerospace at Cranfield

Professor of Aerospace Engineering £ Competitive Cranfield is a globally respected centre of excellence in the aerospace sector.

With strategic relationships with the world’s major aerospace organisations, we are well positioned for even greater success at a time of exciting opportunities. We are seeking a senior professional from this sector to make a major contribution to our future.

If you have the vision, professional standing, strong management and technical skills to help shape our future at a senior level we want to hear from you.

For an informal and confidential discussion please contact Professor Philip John (Head of the School of Engineering) on T: +44 (0)1234 754769 or E: p.john@cranfield.ac.uk Apply online at www.cranfield.ac.uk/hr or contact us for further details at E: vchr@cranfield.ac.uk or on T: +44 (0)1234 754050/4195.

Please quote reference number: 1448 Closing date for receipt of applications: Friday 6 September 2013

www.cranfield.ac.uk

Contract and Permanent recruitment for the Aviation industry Tel: +353 1 669 8224 Fax: +353 1 669 8201 Email:recruitment@sigmaaviationservices.com recruitment@sigmaaviationservices.com Email: www.sigmaaviationservices.com www.sigmaaviationservices.com

David Rowe, Alastair Millar, Jodie Green, Ian Chapman

Tel: +44 (0)1737 821011 Email: aero@cbsbutler.com www.cbsbutler.com

The preferred company for Stress (Fatigue & DT), GFEM, Composites), Aeronautical Research. Business units: Contract staff, Workpackages, Innovation and New Concepts, Aeronautical Research. www.bishop-gmbh.com Contact bishop.peter@bishop-gmbh.com Tel 0049-(0)40-866-258-10 Fax 0049-(0)40-866-258-20

Recruitment Support to the Aviation Industry GCT Group Worldwide specialist for Aerospace Engineering, Certification & Management Services e: yourcv@garner.de t: +49 (0) 8153 93130 w: www.garner.de

aviation recruitment

T: +44 (0)1483 332000 recruitment@zenon.aero

CTC FlexiCrew High flyers, on demand

Seeks Type Rated Pilots Locations UK & Worldwide Flexible & Permanent Positions

www.ctcaviation.com/ctcflexicrew

54 | Flight International | 6-12 August 2013

Flight International To advertise in this Employment Services Index

call +44 (0) 20 8652 4900 fax +44 (0) 20 8261 8434 email recruitment.services@rbi.co.uk Please note that calls may be monitored for training purposes

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WORKING WEEK WORK EXPERIENCE ROBERT DAVIS

The pleasure of flying by Proxy When did you start working in aerospace? How has your career developed?

My start in the aerospace industry was working for Lockheed Martin and developing software under subcontract to Hughes Aerospace in the mid-1990s for an upgrade to NASA’s Tracking and Data Relay Satellite (TDRS) system in support of adding satellites to the existing constellation. By 2006, I was a Lockheed Martin vice-president and the programme executive running Lockheed Martin’s US Coast Guard contracts as part of the Integrated Coast Guard Systems (ICGS) joint venture. This job included acquiring new mediumrange surveillance aircraft from EADS and modifying C130J aircraft with additional communications capability for delivery to the US Coast Guard. In addition, my team acquired new engines and partnered with the US Coast Guard in retrofitting these engines into the Coast Guard’s fleet of HH-65 helicopters.

What has been the highlight of your career to date?

Definitely running Proxy Technologies, an aerospace firm, has been the highlight. Proxy has industry-leading software and hardware solutions, and leading it – as we continue to add capabilities to these products while pursuing present and new adjacent markets.

Proxy Technologies

Robert Davis is chief executive and president of Proxy Technologies, a developer of software for unmanned and optionally-manned air vehicles, which is exhibiting at next week’s AUVSI event in Washington DC

Davis: looking for partners for Proxy’s technology How does your typical working week pan out?

It is a balance between spending time with customers, keeping investors up to date, working with our employees and advancing the capabilities of our products.

What do you enjoy most about your role?

I have a great team, and I enjoy developing new solutions with them and adapting our products to new applications. For example, we are discussing with companies the ability of our products to provide plans to all ground vehicles and aircraft at an airport,

with the goal of eliminating runway incursions and excursions.

What’s your biggest challenge?

The biggest challenge in a given week is striking the right balance between the priorities that I described above.

What sets Proxy apart from other companies offering UAV and OPV solutions for land, sea and air applications?

What sets Proxy apart from other firms is The Power Of Cooperative Solutions. Our system solution provides for the cooperative control of autonomous vehicles. The system provides

each vehicle with a plan. As each vehicle is executing its plan, it generates its planned path and shares this path and its future path with the other vehicles in the network using a powerful mesh communications protocol.

So a customer will have an intelligent network of autonomous vehicles carrying out given missions. The Proxy Autonomous Control System (PACS) product sets us apart from the competition in that it enables a pilot to be flying an aircraft and to press a button and instantaneously the aircraft is operating autonomously as an optionally-piloted vehicle (OPV). Press the button again and the pilot is back in control.

What do the next 12 months hold for Proxy Technologies?

Although the SkyRaider OPV is a phenomenal platform, my goal is to partner with large aerospace firms and aircraft leasing companies to begin converting existing fleets of commercial aircraft to optionally piloted vehicles using the PACS product. ■ For more employee work experiences, pay a visit to flightglobal.com/workingweek

If you would like to feature in Working Week, or you know someone who does, email your pitch to murdo.morrison@ flightglobal.com

CHALLENGING PERSPECTIVES

Opportunities in Airworthiness & Certification www.jobs.eads.com

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6-12 August 2013 | Flight International | 55