w w w . a t l a s a e r o s p a c e . a e
Atlas Aerospace w w w . a t l a s a e r o s p a c e . a e
Strong player participating in a local industry
take off www.essentialbusinessmag.com
2
Atlas Aerospace Solutions is a young company with a fresh vision to bring aircraft systems integration to the heart of the UAE’s economy. spoke with managing director, prof. Imad Victor Lahoud, about the company’s commitment to remaining local while having a global outlook.
Aviation
A
t only 18 months old, Atlas Aerospace is the newest addition to the Abu Dhabibased Atlas Group family. It may be young, but it’s anything but naive. This company, the brainchild of Imad Lahoud, has an ambitious plan to draw on thirty-three years of experience to become a beacon of the regional aerospace market.
After joining Atlas Group, it was the company’s unique business model and his own wide-ranging experience that inspired Lahoud to found the aircraft systems integrator arm. “Our CEO always looks for added value ” he says of Rashid Al Mutawaa, Atlas Aerospace and Defense CEO. “I have a background in aerospace, I’m a former Airbus employee, I’m a pilot myself, I’m a professor in Mathematics … I saw an opportunity to copy the model that actually made Atlas successful, which is the added value integration and installation company.”
“At only 18 months old, [Atlas] may be young but it’s anything but naive
Local priorities
According to Lahoud, Atlas’ main priority is to make UAE a regional hub for aerospace by capitalising on the country’s exciting and daring attitude to technology. “I think that if you want to work in the aerospace industry, the UAE is the place to be,” he asserts. “I’ve never seen a country as daring as UAE. We’re doing modifications that honestly, no Western country would dare do.” Through its commitment to the local economy, Atlas sees itself as being an active participant behind the Abu Dhabi Economic Vision 2030, a longterm plan for the transformation of the emirate’s economy, which involves a reduced reliance on the oil sector as a source of economic activity and a greater focus on knowledge-based industries, such as aerospace, in the future. “It’s extremely straightforward for us,” says Lahoud. “By building a local capability, doing everything in-house, avoiding going to subcontractors outside the UAE, we are actually contributing to the building of a local knowledge. Money that would normally go out of the UAE to subcontractors will actually remain in the UAE and be recycled in the local economy.”
International partners
But this focus on building on the local workforce and industry doesn’t prevent Atlas from looking outwards and partnering with global superpowers. The company works with some of the biggest original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) in the world, from Leonardo, to Honeywell, CarteNav Solutions and more. “They are absolutely essential,” affirms Lahoud. “They can actually dictate your success or your failure, not because of the price or equipment, but because of the ground support they give you to install their equipment.” Lahoud goes as far to likening the closeness of these partnerships to an extended family of collaborators who mutually ensure one another’s success. “All of these partners are like big brothers,” he says. “They’re around us to help us succeed in the installation, so it’s a mutual partnership.”
3
www.essentialbusinessmag.com
A t l a s
A e r o s p a c e
S o l u t i o n s
CarteNav Solutions Inc...
Atlas is striking a delicate balance between building a local knowledge while drawing on international expertise. Lahoud considers himself fortunate to have access to Western knowhow in his senior management team, in the shape of his chief engineer, head of operations, head of installations and head of program management. “They know what they’re talking about and they’ve been doing this for a number of years,” he says. “To be cost-effective and competitive, my top management are all people who have more than 30 years’ experience in the business and we’re training this team of young, local engineers.”
Future growth
In the 18 months since its inception, Atlas has already grown from the two founders to a team of fifty, with full engineering, program management, airworthiness, quality and installation teams. In February, the company solidified its presence in the industry by showcasing its aviation universal training simulator at the 2018 Abu Dhabi Air Expo. “It was fantastic because although we are today focusing on the military, we have a plan to move into civil aircraft,” says Lahoud. “What we wanted to show is the capabilities of Atlas Aerospace, the power and the modifications of the private jets and smaller aircraft.”
www.essentialbusinessmag.com
4
“If you want to work in the aerospace industry, the UAE is the place to be
To this end, Atlas is currently working on a project in Egypt to upgrade civil aircraft to the country’s new regulation, the Safe Flight 2020. The Abu Dhabi Air Expo, says Lahoud, was an opportunity to show off these successes. “It was a case of going to the show and demonstrating how the equipment installed on the aircraft would react and inform the pilot and the crew to a safer flight.” The expansion of the company also inevitably comes with the expansion of the workforce. In line with its commitment to the local economy, Atlas is hiring engineers right out of Abu Dhabi’s universities. It has signed a threeyear agreement with Khalifa University to take on 6-10 interns in their third year of study for 8 weeks training at Atlas’ facilities, including a week in Europe to meet with the company’s OEM partners, before hiring them at the end of their studies.
..is an ISO9001:2015 certified company headquartered in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. From its founding in August 2002, CarteNav has become a recognised leader in mission system software that enhances situational awareness and improves mission effectiveness on airborne, landbased and maritime platforms. ?Its initial line of business was research and development contract work for defence laboratories in Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. A contract with the Royal Australian Air Force to provide an advanced software solution combining moving map and video technology with EO/IR turret control soon led to the launch of the company’s first mission system software product, AIMS-ISR®. To satisfy a broader range of mission profiles, the product range now includes two COTS software products, AIMS-HD and AIMS-GS+. The software is Windows®-based, ITAR free and operational on civil, government, military and paramilitary deployments in over 35 countries around the world. Following its acquisition in 2016, CarteNav is now a subsidiary of PAL Aerospace and is part of the Exchange Income Corporation (EIC) group of companies.
www.cartenav.com
“We’re a local company,” reemphasises Lahoud. “We’re hiring local talent and local engineers to help us in this growth.” Having already begun to establish itself by capitalising on home-grown talent while nurturing its international partnerships, Atlas is hoping that as its fresh-faced engineers rise through the ranks, they can bring the local economy and aerospace industry with them.
CarteNav’s market-leading AIMS Mission System Software is enhancing situational awareness and improving mission effectiveness on airborne, land-based, and maritime platforms. By processing and managing imagery and data from a variety of sensors, AIMS provides the operator with a real-time, geo-referenced operating picture for mission planning, delivery, recording, and review. Deployed and proven in over 40 countries worldwide.
info@cartenav.com | cartenav.com
Al Bateen Executive Airport Building 49, Ground Floor P.O Box 30888 Abu Dhabi, UAE E: info@atlasaerospace.ae T: +971 22 585 544 F: +971 25 202 8142
w w w . a t l a s a e r o s p a c e . a e
www.essentialbusinessmag.com ŠEssential Business Magazine 2018