Air Power: Farnborough 2004 - Prizes Galore
15 Nov 2004
If it is possible to steal an air show from the ground, Thales was the defence ‘thief-in-chief’ at Farnborough 2004. The apogee of their week was the multiple whammy, which vindicated Chairman Denis Ranque’s multi-domestic strategy.
UK Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon came to praise them while announcing that they’d been downselected for the Watchkeeper unmanned aerial reconnaissance programme. Coincidently, overnight, they’d won another $295M chunk of the US Joint Tactical Radio System. ‘We don’t control our industry’s announcement timetable’, said Ranque, but he was clearly delighted with the coincidence.
A few hours later they added to their haul with an €85M demonstrator scanning radar order for the Rafale combat aircraft. The next day a further €130M started their way for three different contracts for A400M. While others were counting their losses in the defence capability review, Thales picked up a £180M order for Starstreak, which will keep their
Ranque was still grinning when he presided over the biggest of the Farnborough parties a few hours later. No wonder one wag quipped that the Watchkeeper must be amphibious because it was launched on a sea of champagne.
After their memorable
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The other company satisfied by the defence capability review must be AugustaWestland. The MoD review confirmed there’s a £3bn helicopter market in the UK
Apart from these defence industry high spots, it might be thought Farnborough was all sound and fury – especially when Super Hornet and Eurofighter hit the end of the runway – but with not much that was new or concrete.
For once this gave UK
Like 23-strong
Tubes bent by Unison machines are also used in A330, so the company has a small stake in the outcome of the negotiations for the future Strategic Tanker Aircraft programme too.
Another less glamorous announcement about improvements to manufacturing processes came from TT Electronica. Available in standard man-operated, robotic or customised variants, the company launched its Halosensor hole position locating system.
Like much technology, it solves problems mere mortals don’t even know exist. In this case it is the inaccuracy and waste resulting from drilling holes from inside an aircraft rather than from the outer surface of an aircraft’s skin. BAE Systems, Bombardier and Airbus beat a path to the West of England Aerospace Forum where this process was shown off for the first time.
The North West Aerospace Alliance hosted another product of European funded research on the holes issue. Unimerco has recently opened a new £8M UK plant near
Lockheed Martin’s Ian Stopps was quoted during the show as saying: ‘We will continue to bring technology into the
A small
Protectionism and Global Industries
Considerable concern has been expressed in the
So it was particularly welcome to hear the views of Lockheed Martin’s Bob Trice, senior vice president for business development. He pointed out clearly that the use of foreign sources has not negatively impacted
His thesis was that a multinational aerospace and defence industry provides a net positive to the
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Nimrod MR4A might only be half the number it once was, but the lessons learned will be applied elsewhere, although the benefits to
Having signed a contract for system development and demonstration of the 737-based Multi-mission Maritime Aurcraft (MMA), Boeing were in buoyant mood. Their point man, Tim Norgart, stressed their solution had ‘benefited from the team’s experience with the Nimrod mission system’.
Now Boeing is working with the US Navy to offer MMA to 15 countries who between them operate 225 P3 Orions. On the podium during the pitch was Captain Steve Eastburg in uniform. He described how the US Navy’s policy position would define ‘in the next couple of weeks, the extent to which we can partner with allies for co-development’. There seems to be a remarkably close relationship between contractor and customer, which should yield significant benefits to US Inc. in the future.
Represented on the programme is U.K’s Smiths Aerospace with both cockpit equipment and the digital stores management and flight management systems. As Smiths’ development programmes continue (some with US DARPA funding), the digital and solid state revolutions have opened up new markets for them with JSF, UCAVs and C-130J as well as numerous civil programmes.
Evidence that the
If all the systems are taken up, the work is worth around $50M, with development running through next year and the first of 1300 units being delivered in 2007. The production run should last six years.
This anti-jam system has developed and enhanced the company’s GPS anti-jamming system, which the USAF has been buying for the past six years. RSL suggests it has no problems with export compliance rules at either end of the process.
How did they win? 100 per cent on-time delivery over the last two-and-a-half years, on cost, with a technological edge backed up by 6-sigma quality control run by a close knit team. That’s what the company claims, and they have this new persuasive evidence to back it up.
Birds, Wind Farms and Intruders
During the summer, concerns were expressed in Parliament about the interference the growing number of wind farms can induce in radars. (A large wind turbine blade at maximum speed can mimic a light aircraft.)
Before the RSPB became involved there seemed to be a potential conflict between BAE Systems and the Eurofighters testing out of Warton on the one hand, and the potential for the windy assets of
AMS, from its
The capabilities underlying their “ toolkit “ can also be integrated with combat management systems, such as Type 45, so that military controllers have a full picture of civil airspace. The self funded technology could be available as an evaluation system post Farnborough.
Amongst the more esoteric technologies on show for the first time was Scarecrow Bio – Acoustic Systems Ltd. This “ humane and inoffensive” (!) system plays high fidelity distress calls to birds at naturally experienced sound levels.
More airfield management technology unveiled was Tarsier from QinetiQ, a runway debris detection, high-resolution millimetre wave radar. Following successful trials, scanning speeds have improved, and bolts, birds and ‘ bad boy’ intruders can be detected at two kilometres range. A system for military or civilian use could be market – ready within 9 months, either as supplied equipment or as a service provision.
Other ‘bad boy’ underwater intruders in ports, waterside airports and military installations can be detected by QinetiQ’s Cerberus. This sonar is undergoing trials with unnamed potential customers, and could be in production within 12 months.
And yes, it can tell the difference between a man, a dolphin and a big fish!
Search Techniques
Early entry to the show was a security nightmare, with half-hour long queues and manual bag searches. This was hardly a welcome to a high technology event, especially when exhibitors had solutions on offer.
QinetiQ’s ‘kerbside to airside’ approach tackles security, safety and passenger experience issues, and includes a millimetre wave imager that detects metallic and non-metallic threats concealed under clothing. A similar QinetiQ technology has already produced results – its Borderwatch product has detected thousands of illegals trying to enter
AMS are also starting to stake out territory in homeland security, particularly by linking legacy systems and over-the-horizon surveillance.
Centres of Excellence (CE) are in vogue at this year’s Farnborough. £30M is to be spent on a university-linked Aerospace Innovation Centre in
GKN Aerospace managed to avoid using the CE phrase about its new, advanced composites facility on the
UAVs
This is another interesting ‘world class’ capability – not just public/private funded, but with the trade union Amicus being involved too. The Watchkeeper announcement put UAVs front and centre. Despite the Northrop Grumman failure to impress with its unmanned helicopter Fire Scout, there seems to be mileage in the UAV market.
The US Coast Guard’s $17bn Deepwater project includes the Bell Helicopter-Textron Eagle Eye.
Somerset-based Claverham announced their first production contract in this market, £1M worth of its Deadlock vehicle-retaining systems for this shipborne UAV. So pleased was the customer that prototypes were shipped from Farnborough to an exhibition in
An emerging issue in UAVs is the need for routine non-segregation of operations. BAE Systems is thinking about what would be required to realise the vision of UAVs operating out of Heathrow.
They are working through the DTI’s Aerospace Industry Growth Team to tackle the infrastructure issues. This could see a five-year £75M programme, part-funded by industry, to come up with solutions. Regional development agencies – including
Dual Technology Centres
UAVs are one of the technologies that could come under the umbrella of the fourth Dual Technology Centre, whose launch is expected soon. It will cover systems engineering and systems integration for autonomous vehicles (reconnaissance assets to you and me).
Managed and matched funded by industry, this will be a £5m-a-year, six-year programme. Thales and BAE Systems are the competitors waiting for a result at ‘the end of the summer’.
DTCs seem to be a Good Thing, with industry reporting they’re working well. Academics and SMEs get fully funded contracts to tease out innovation, while
As someone close to the process remarked: ‘DTCs show that investing in research and technology doesn’t have to be anti-competitive’.
Growth and Change
Like Topsy, Farnborough just growed. There was a Space Pavilion, a Formula 1 car tearing down the runway again and a motor-sports area.
One interesting crossover was highlighted by Meggitt Defence Systems’ Voodoo aerial target system. Its engine is a ‘special’ from Mercedes Ilmoor in
Meggitt are undergoing another growth spurt at the moment. As a result their acquisition of Western Design Howden and Howden Air Dynamics, last year the US Department of Defense was their biggest customer. During Farnborough they secured shareholder agreement for a £400M purchase of parts of Dunlop Standard Aerospace Group. This should boost sales by 30per cent.
Another drone programme, Flight Refuelling Aviation’s Blackjack special mission airborne threat simulator, uses a newly announced UK-developed miniature radar altimeter from Roke Manor Research (now part of Siemans). It can simulate a sea-skimming missile attack against ships.
The jaundiced on the show bus from the station might ask themselves why they’re there – especially by Friday. But Farnborough first-timer, St. David’s Assemblies, had no doubts. After 50 years their high-volume, quick-changeover machining business is under threat from outsourcing to
Their search for new markets led them to Farnborough. Two walk-ons to the Aerospace Wales Forum stand they shared made the journey from
It might cost mega bucks. It might be overweight. It might (perish the thought) be late. But thanks to a component storage and control system developed from a supermarket peanut dispenser, 1650 fastenings used to build JSF will be traceable and its supply chain a little leaner. Hurst Green Plastics in
Despite the positive news for C-17 in the defence capability review, A400M continues on its way. The Doncasters Group announced a €7.5M order for titanium components for the TP450 turboprops engine. They put their win down to specialist casting technique, metals handling and rapid prototyping. The first flight of A400M is scheduled for 2007 with an ISD of 2008.
And finally … talk was that 2004 could be the last Farnborough Air Show in its present form. Certainly RIAT had a better military flying display programme to which the military and trade visitors brought their spouses for a splendid day out at Fairford. The trade show could be anywhere, anytime, and less interruption (as on the first VIP day) would be welcome to many trying to do business in the afternoon.
Despite the theme of this review, there was a huge and welcome
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