Les brèves de l'actualité | 12 juillet 2021

Industrie Aérospatiale

Supplier opinions on Airbus and Boeing single aisle production rates

Airbus (8 juillet)

Durant les six premiers mois de l'année, Airbus a livré 297 avions à 67 clients soit 100 avions de plus qu'au premier semestre 2020. Cette hausse concerne surtout les moyen-courriers avec 258 livraisons contre 170 au premier semestre de 2020. Pour les gros porteurs, les livraisons sont de 39 appareils (2 A380, 30 A350, 7 A330) contre 26 au premier semestre 2019. Au 30 juin 2021, le carnet de commandes d'Airbus est de 6 295 avions.

Bell/Transport Canada (7 juillet)

Transport Canada has grounded Bell 204B, 205 and 212 helicopters. Investigation of a fatal crash in Alberta last month revealed detachment of main rotor hub strap pins. Affected pins must be replaced before further flight. This Airworthiness Directive affects 200 Canadian-registered helicopters.

CAE (5 juillet)

CAE has completed the acquisition of L3Harris Technologies' military simulation and training assets almost doubling CAE's domestic business in the US. The $1.05 billion transaction adds Link Simulation & Training, Doss Aviation and AMI to CAE USA's portfolio.

Japan F-X engine (4 juillet)

Japanese media has reported that Japan and the UK are in talks concerning joint development of the engine for the F-X fighter. The media claim that Rolls-Royce will partner with Japan's IHI Corporation and that they will also offer the engine for the export market.

CFM international (2 juillet)

CFM International détenue à parts égales par Safran Aircraft Engines et GE fournira un total de plus de 760 réacteurs LEAP-1B à United Airlines pour sa commande de Boeing 737 MAX (150 MAX 10 et 50 Max 8) ; son choix pour la motorisation de ses A321XLR n'a pas été annoncé.

Latécoere (2 juillet)

Latécoère a obtenu des prêts garantis par l'Etat de 130 millions d'euros et le rééchelonnement des anciens prêts et prévoit une augmentation de capital d'un montant minimum de 162,5 millions. Latécoère a vu son chiffre d'affaires baisser de 42 % en 2020 et prévoit pour 2021, une baisse de 25 % par rapport à 2020. L'acquisition de l'activité de c'blage de Bombardier, finalisée en février, limitera la baisse du chiffre d'affaires à environ 10 %.

Eaton/ Cobham Mission Systems (28 juin)

Eaton has acquired Cobham Mission Systems, a manufacturer of air-to-air refueling systems, environmental systems, and actuation, primarily for defense markets. It has 2,000 employees and manufacturing facilities in the United States and United Kingdom.

Défense

Boeing Defense UK (8 juillet)

Boeing Defense UK has received a $322 million five-year contract to maintain and support the RAF fleet of nine Poseidon P-8A maritime patrol aircraft (MPA). Reports suggest that Boeing will select CAE for the training portion of the contract.

Maritime Airborne Warfare System (MAWS) (8 juillet)

French media are reporting that the purchase by Germany of five P-8A Poseidon aircraft to replace its P3-A Orion fleet could cause the French government to withdraw from its participation in the Franco-German Maritime Airborne Warfare System (MAWS) program and develop a France-only solution.

F-35 forecast production (7 juillet)

Cormorant Mid-Life Upgrade (6 juillet)

DND has stated that “Extensive discussion and planning determined that upgrading the CH-149 fully to the Norwegian variant of the AW-101 was not a cost-effective solution to effectively meet the RCAF's needs. After a year of consultation, it was determined that Leonardo couldn't do the work at a cost that would respect the project's overall budget.” It has been reported that as a result the negotiations with Leonardo have been “paused”.

UK Royal Navy (5 juillet)

The British Royal Navy's new autonomy and lethality accelerator ‘NavyX' is testing UAVs that can be used to locate and rescue sailors. In one trial a UAV located a dummy in the water and deployed a test package. Participants in this effort included Malloy Aeronautics, Planck Aerosystem and the Defence Equipment and Support (DE&S).

Raytheon Technologies (2 juillet)

Raytheon Technologies will build three NGJ advanced electronic jammers to equip U.S. Navy EA-18G Growlers under a $171.6 million contract. In the future NGJ may also be fitted to the F-35, UAVs, and other manned aircraft.

Drones- Advanced Air Mobility

CAE /Volocopter(8 juillet)

CAE and Volocopter are partnering to develop, certify, and deploy a pilot training program to support the launch of commercial eVTOL operations in 2024. CAE will invest up to $40 million to meet Volocopter's projected demand for eVTOL pilots in the early years of operations. Volocopter will purchase a simulator from CAE for its pilot training program certification.

Volocopter (8 juillet)

Volocopter is close to attaining EASA's Part 21G Production Organization Approval (POA) by the acquisition of German company DG Flugzeugbau. DG Flugzeugbau has supported Volocopter by helping to construct prototypes for its VC200, 2X, VoloDrone, and VoloCity aircraft.

Thales (7 juillet)

Thales a développé un drone capable de voler au-delà d'un rayon d'action de 100 kilomètres à basse altitude. La réglementation européenne (CS-LUAS) permettant désormais d'opérer de façon plus industrielle les drones et le lancement du marché est attendu en 2023. Thales prévoit le développement d'un drone de moins de 100 kg et ayant un rayon d'action de 300 km.

Spatial

UK Space

• 40% of all small satellites currently in orbit were manufactured in the UK 
• UK space accounts for 5.1% of the global space economy

Planet (7 juillet)

La société californienne Planet a annoncé son introduction prochaine à la Bourse de New York, après sa fusion avec le SPAC (société d'acquisition à vocation spécifique) dMY Technology Group IV. Planet, qui a lancé il y a dix ans la première constellation d'observation spatiale privée low-cost, est valorisée à 2,8 milliards de dollars.

OneWeb (2 juillet)

OneWeb has announced the successful launch of 36 more LEO satellites to cover regions north of 50 degrees Latitude including UK, Canada, Alaska and the Arctic region. OneWeb now has 254 satellites in orbit, 40% of its planned fleet of 648 satellites that will deliver high-speed, low-latency global connectivity. OneWeb intends to make global service available in 2022.

Thales Alenia Space (2 juillet)

Dans le cadre de la mission EnVision de l'Agence spatiale européenne (ESA) sur Vénus, Thales Alenia Space poursuivra la phase d'étude B1 de l'orbiteur. Cette nouvelle phase débutera en juillet 2021 pour une durée d'une trentaine de mois et permettra de consolider le design de la mission et du satellite, ainsi que de préparer la phase d'implémentation.

Innovation

Safran (7 juillet)

Safran is working with customers to test sustainable aviation fuels with plans to deploy SAF blends this year and gain 100% SAF certifications for its engines by 2023.

Deutsche Aircraft (7 juillet)

Germany-based startup Deutsche Aircraft and hydrogen fuel cell developer H2FLY have signed an MoU to develop and test a hydrogen fuel cell commercial regional aircraft. The first test flight of the Dornier 328 aircraft is planned for 2025. H2FLY follows an R&D project called HY4 which was led by German research agency DLR, and involve the companies Hydrogenics, Pipistrel, H2FLY, the University of Ulm and Stuttgart Airport.

GHGSat (7 juillet)

GHGSat has announced a research project to assess the feasibility of using its space-based methane monitoring technology to measure emissions from offshore oil and gas platforms. Chevron, Shell, and TotalEnergies are supporting the 12-month project.

Bell Textron (6 juillet)

Bell Textron has announced plans for a Systems Integration Lab (SIL) facility at the Bell Flight Research Center (FRC) in Arlington, TX. It will support testing and verification for the Future Long-Range Assault Aircraft (FLRAA) and Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft (FARA).

Britten Norman (5 juillet)

Britten Norman is participating in two technology initiatives supported by the UK government. In “Project Fresson”, it is a member of a consortium led by Cranfield Aerospace Solutions to develop a hydrogen fuel cell powered passenger aircraft. Project HEART (Hydrogen Electric and Automated Regional Transportation) will demonstrate an autonomously-controlled and hydrogen-powered Islander aircraft on thinly-populated routes in the UK.

Yamaha (4 juillet)

Yamaha is entering the aviation engine market in a partnership with a Japanese manufacturer. It will modify one of its existing small engine designs for installation in a conventionally configured light aircraft prototype to be built by ShinMaywa Industries.

Shell/Rolls-Royce (1 juillet)

Shell and Rolls-Royce have signed an MoU to support the decarbonisation of the aviation industry. It will expand and accelerate several existing areas of cooperation between the companies. This includes Rolls-Royce's new SAFinity service, for which Shell is the exclusive SAF supplier, and demonstration of the use of 100% SAF as a full “drop-in” solution.