May 12, 2021 | Local, Clean technologies, Big data and Artifical Intelligence, Advanced manufacturing 4.0, Autonomous systems (Drones / E-VTOL), Virtual design and testing, Additive manufacturing
BDC Capital has launched the “Deep Tech Venture Fund” with an initial $200 million. BDC Capital has said that the fund is interested in space technology. BDC said the fund will “accelerate the development of transformational technologies in a number of sectors including quantum, electronics, photonics, foundational AI and related fields.” In addition to providing access to various funding options, BDC Capital will provide technical experts and facilitate market entry.
Dans le cadre de son projet ZEROe, Airbus étudie trois concepts différents pour les nouveaux avions de ligne qui pourraient entrer en service autour de 2035. Le plus récent d'entre eux concerne une cellule à fuselage intégrée qui serait capable de transporter jusqu'à 200 passagers sur des vols d'environ 3 700 kilomètres. La conception s'appuie sur le modèle Maveric sur lequel Airbus travaille depuis juin 2019. La propulsion repose sur une paire de moteurs à turbine à gaz modifiés alimentés par de l'hydrogène liquide qui serait stocké et distribué via des réservoirs situés derrière la cloison arrière sous pression. Le troisième concept est un double turbopropulseur de 100 places qui comporterait des turbines à gaz modifiées alimentées à l'hydrogène et volerait sur des distances d'environ 1 852 kilomètres. Un démonstrateur d'hydrogène au sol devrait être prêt d'ici la fin de l'année.
Two Canadian university rocketry teams, Space Concordia and UBC Rocket, are achieving remarkable results in U.S. competitions. They are competing in the Base 11 Space Challenge, to design, build and launch a liquid-propelled, single-stage rocket to an altitude of 100 km by the end of this year. The prize for reaching this goal is a US$1 million. In the recently completed Preliminary Design Review, Space Concordia took first place and UBC Rocket third.
The Canadian Space Agency has awarded Bishops University a $1 million contract for the development of technology suitable for a microsatellite mission to explore new exoplanets. This contract is for one of seven priority technologies entitled “Enabling Technologies for the Exploration of New Worlds – microsatellite opportunity”.
Transport Canada (TC) has announced the formation of CanaDAC, a “Drone Advisory Committee”. It will serve “as a national forum for industry stakeholders to inform priority policy and regulatory areas of focus for TC.”
Wisk Aero, a start-up backed by Boeing and Kitty Hawk, will supply and operate up to 30 of its eVTOLs for Blade Urban Air Mobility's passenger transportation network. Wisk was formed in 2019 when Boeing agreed to combine some of its development work on eVTOLs with a division of Kitty Hawk, the firm started by Google co-founder Larry Page and Sebastian Thrun.
Directional Aviation's OneSky Flight has acquired UK-based Halo Aviation, just months after buying New York City-based Sikorsky S-76 operator Associated Aircraft Group. Directional's longer-term goal is to jump into advanced air mobility, with these acquisitions providing “a platform for the entry into service of electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) technology”.
Textron appears to have ruled out the imminent launch of an urban air mobility (UAM) vehicle, stressing that propulsion systems, and in particular battery technology, have not advanced sufficiently. Earlier this year Textron formed a new division, eAircraft, which brings together relevant expertise from its Textron Aviation, Bell and Textron Systems businesses.
Volatus Aerospace is to begin the manufacture of up to 1,200 units of the innovative FIXAR VTOL drone per year at its new facility at the Lake Simcoe Regional Airport in Oro, Ontario. Volatus' contribution to the venture, including in-Canada production site set-up, business development and technical support is estimated to total approximately $1 million. FIXAR is a Latvian company.
L'entreprise québécoise Héroux-Devtek va concevoir, développer et construire le système de train d'atterrissage du nouveau jet d'affaires Dassault Falcon 10X et aussi fournir des pièces de rechange et des services après-vente à Dassault Aviation.
Thales confirme ses perspectives annuelles de chiffre d'affaires. L'entreprise indique que « la quasi-totalité des lignes de produit enregistre une croissance organique sur le trimestre ». Le chiffre d'affaires trimestriel a augmenté de 1,9% à périmètre constant, à 3,9 milliards d'euros, et les commandes de 31% à 3,4 milliards d'euros.
The Pearl 10X that will power the Falcon 10X is based on the Advance2 engine core, combined with a “high-performance low-pressure system”. Its take-off thrust rating will be 18,000lb. It is designed to operate on 100 per cent Sustainable Aviation Fuels. The engine includes combustor tiles, manufactured using an Additive Layer Manufacturing (ALM) process.
Lancé en juillet 2008, entré en service commercial en août 2016, le programme Leap a équipé 1 400 appareils avec trois modèles de moteurs, le Leap-1A, pour l'A320neo, le Leap-1B pour le Boeing 737 MAX et le Leap-1C pour le Comac C919.
Boeing will open two 737-800BCF conversion lines with COOPESA in Costa Rica. Boeing forecasts 1,500 freighter conversions will be needed over the next 20 years. 1,080 will be narrowbody conversions, with nearly 30% of that demand coming from North America and Latin America.
Spirit delivered components for 269 commercial aircraft in the first quarter, 17% fewer than in 2020. This included 29 B737 fuselages, up from 18 in the first quarter of 2020. Spirit is increasing 737 Max production rates in line with Boeing's objective of 31 aircraft per month in 2022. Spirit also increased B767 deliveries to 10 shipsets. Other commercial programmes declined; B787 shipments fell to 14 from 40 in 2020 and Airbus A350 shipments to 12, down from 26.
Safran Electrical & Power and Pyroalliance will develop a fire-protection system for aircraft electric propulsion systems. They intend to introduce technology that could protect against the threat of an electric arc. Their goal is to have it ready for commercial use in 2023. France's DGAC is providing 50% of the undisclosed budget under the government's Recovery Plan.
2
Airbus is introducing autonomous features to its helicopter Flightlab through a project codenamed
Vertex. The objectives include simplifying mission preparation and management,
reducing helicopter pilot workload, and increasing safety. Technologies to be explored include
vision based sensors and algorithms for situational awareness and obstacle detection; fly-bywire
for enhanced auto-pilot; and an advanced human-machine-interface in the form of a
touchscreen and head worn display for inflight monitoring and control.
In the first quarter orders fell by 26 percent to 40 net orders, compared with 54 in 2020.
Deliveries reduced by eight to 39 helicopters. The total order backlog dropped 5 percent, to 664
helicopters. EBIT increased 17 percent to $75 million due to increased service revenues and
reductions in program and research and development spending.
March 18, 2022
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April 22, 2022
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May 19, 2021
Industrie Aérospatiale Rolls-Royce (13 mai) Rolls-Royce has said that “large (commercial) engine” flying hours in January-April were 40% of their 2019 level. It attributes this to cargo flights and continuation of key international routes and says that it is “broadly unchanged from the end of 2020”. The company also said that its planned sale of ITP Aero is “progressing well... with an encouraging range of interested parties”. Airbus (12 mai) Airbus relance le projet de ligne d'assemblage final (FAL) A320/A321 modernisée et numérisée qui remplacera l'une des FAL A320 originales de Toulouse et sera installée dans l'ancien site A380. Il devrait être opérationnelle d'ici fin 2022. Hambourg et Mobile sont actuellement les seuls sites de production d'Airbus configurés pour assembler des A321. Le A321neo représente maintenant plus de la moitié du carnet de commande de la famille A320 (5,650 avions). CAE (12 mai) CAE has been selected by Jaunt Air Mobility to lead the design and development of the Jaunt Aircraft Systems Integration Lab (JASIL) for its all-electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft. Certification planning is set to begin in 2023 with entry-in-service (EIS) expected in early 2027. The JASIL is designed to de-risk the aircraft program's schedule and manage development costs by identifying integration issues and proving failure modes early in the program. Airbus A320 family rate increases (11 mai) Airbus suppliers are saying that they are being asked to prepare for a possible further 18% increase in A320-family jet output by the end of 2022 to 53 per month. So far Airbus has only committed to raising the rate in two steps to 45 a month by the end of 2021, from 40 now. Boeing orders and deliveries (11 mai) During April, Boeing logged orders for 25 airliners and cancellations for 17. The orders included five 777 Freighters, and 20 737 MAX. The 17 cancellations were all for 737 MAX including three from Air Lease whose offsetting orders and cancellations were “re-contracts for earlier delivery positions”. Deliveries totalled 17 aircraft including nine 787s. Boeing aims to deliver the majority of roughly 100 completed but not delivered 787s by year-end. April deliveries also included one 767F, one KC-46, two 777Fs and four 737 MAX. Aircraft Electronics Association (11 mai) AEA has stated that worldwide business and general aviation avionics sales in the first quarter fell 13.9 percent year-over-year, to $568.8 million. While almost $100 million less than a year ago, AEA said this represented a marginal increase from the fourth quarter sales. North America market accounted for 76 percent of sales. Moody's (11 mai) Moody's has upgraded its outlook for the global airlines industry to "positive" from "negative", as the ratings agency expects steady vaccine rollouts across geographies to drive a rebound in commercial air travel. It expects the industry to sustain operating losses and negative operating margins in 2021, although to a lesser degree than in 2020. Safran Landing Systems (10 mai) Safran Landing Systems (SLS) a signé avec Bell Textron un accord portant sur les trains d'atterrissage du Valor V-280, un aéronef à rotors basculants de nouvelle génération proposé à l'armée américaine pour son programme d'hélicoptères de combat d'assaut de longue portée de demain (FLRAA). SLS développera et fabriquera un système d'atterrissage entièrement intégré. Les activités seront réalisées sur quatre sites de SLS en Amérique du Nord et en Europe. Le pilotage sera effectué depuis Ajax, ON, l'un de ses sites canadiens. GKN Aerospace (10 mai) GKN Aerospace has produced an intermediate compressor case (ICC) for Rolls-Royce that includes additive manufacturing. It was mainly manufactured using traditional casting techniques, but several of the attaching parts were fabricated using additive manufacturing. The production process also included a novel welding method. The ICC will be used in a demonstrator program for the UltraFan engine. It was developed as part of Clean Sky 2 which is part of the EU's Horizon 2020 program. Qarbon Aerospace (10 mai) Triumph Group has completed the divestment of three aerostructures composites manufacturing facilities in Red Oak, TX, Milledgeville, GA and Rayong, Thailand to Arlington Capital Partners which has renamed the businesses Qarbon Aerospace. The site in Red Oak produces large, complex composite and metallic structures. These operations employ 900 staff. MHI (10 mai) Mitsubishi Heavy Industries' aircraft, defence and space unit narrowed its full-year losses, but the SpaceJet programme will remain frozen in the near term. The unit reported an operating loss of Y94.8 billion for the year ended 31 March. The SpaceJet programme cut its full-year losses to Y116 billion, down from the previous year's Y263 billion. MHI will “continue type certification documentation activities and assess [a] possible programme restart” of the Spacejet during the fiscal year ending 31 March 2022. Airbus Canada (8 mai) Philippe Balducchi quitte ses fonctions de PDG d'Airbus Canada. Il a dirigé la transition du C Series de Bombardier à l'A220 d'Airbus. Il était avec l'entreprise depuis 2001 et avait veillé entre autres au démarrage de la FAL A220 de Mobile. C'est M. Benoît Schultz qui prendra la relève le 1er septembre 2021. Il avait été nommé Vice-président principal Approvisionnement, systèmes, équipements et services en 2016. Puis en 2018, sa responsabilité a été étendue pour inclure l'approvisionnement stratégique et commercial des systèmes de l'A220. Enjet Aero (3 mai) Kansas City-based aerospace company, Enjet Aero, announced today the acquisition of Birken Manufacturing. Birken Manufacturing, based in Hartford, Connecticut, is a high performing supplier of complex aeroengine components to Pratt & Whitney, GE Aviation, and Rolls Royce. Drones- Advanced Air Mobility ASSURED-UAM (10 mai) Companies and research laboratories from Poland, Italy, Portugal, and the Netherlands have teamed up to launch ASSURED – UAM to develop implementation, acceptance safety and sustainability recommendations for efficient deployment of Urban Air Mobility. The project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 programme. Japon -Ministère du transport (9 mai) Japan's transport ministry has begun discussions on safety standards and other key issues regarding commercial and private use of flying cars. It plans to establish standards for performance, safety, and a licensing system, by the end of 2023. It also intends to establish related infrastructure by 2023 and for initial operations in “safe areas” away from people. Jaunt Air Mobility (6 mai) Jaunt Air Mobility plans to open design and manufacturing operations in Canada and has appointed Eric Côté to head its Canadian operations. Martin Peryea, CEO of Jaunt Air Mobility, said "Canada and Québec offer a wide range of opportunities stemming from a long history in the aerospace industry, including an experienced workforce and global suppliers”. Spatial Arqit (12 mai) British quantum technology encryption startup Arqit is raising $400 million in the space industry's latest SPAC deal, supporting the launch and construction of two satellites in 2023 to protect against growing hacking threats. C6 Launch Services (10 mai) C6 Launch Services has signed an agreement with the government of Brazil to be a tenant at the Alc'ntara Space Centerl for future launches. The company previously announced that it had selected the UK based Shetland Space Centre as its primary launch site. It has also completed construction of an engine test stand at Spaceport America and begun tests. C6 Launch Services has taken important steps towards launching a new rocket designed for small payloads which may be Canada's first orbital rocket. C-Core (6 mai) The Canadian Space Agency (CSA) has awarded C-CORE a contract for the development of blockchain technology to be used with earth observation big data. The contract is an award from the CSA's procurement notice for seven priority technologies (PT) and covers PT 7, “Blockchaining on Service of Earth Observation Big Data”. The contract is valued at $500,000. Innovation Neste (12 mai) Neste has approved an expansion project at its Rotterdam refinery. Requiring an outlay of approximately $231 million, it will add 500,000 tons of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) a year to the current 100,000 tons. This, combined with upgrades at its Singapore production facility, is expected to increase total annual output to 1.5 million tons by 2023. SAF accounted for just 0.01 percent of all fuel used by the aviation industry in 2019. Thales, Drones-Center et ZenT (12 mai) Thales, Drones-Center et ZenT annoncent avoir expérimenté en vol un drone équipé d'une pile à combustible hydrogène. « Les essais ont démontré la capacité à voler au moins deux heures avec un temps de rechargement en hydrogène ne dépassant pas une minute ». Les essais ont utilisé la solution ScaleFlyt Geocaging de Thales, développée avec le soutien de la DGAC. NASA (10 mai) NASA's all-electric X-57 Maxwell is undergoing high-voltage ground testing at NASA's Armstrong Flight Research Center in California. The principal goals of the X-57 Project are to share the design and airworthiness process with regulators and standards organizations and to establish the X-57 as a reference platform for integrated distributed electric propulsion technologies.