Page 7 - Flight International (January 2020)

THIS WEEK

Airbus currently has a 50.06%
stake in the programme
BRIEFING

SAAB STARTS T-7A AFT FUSELAGE WORK
PRODUCTION Saab has started work in support of the US
Air Force’s Boeing T-7A advanced jet trainer programme, with
seven aft fuselage sections in progress at its Linkoping site in
Sweden. Future production will move to a new facility in West
Lafayette, Indiana, with Boeing to perform final assembly in St
Louis, Missouri. Boeing won a $9.2 billion contract in
September 2018 to supply the USAF with 351 of the type. Airbus

PARTNERSHIP JON HEMMERDINGER BOSTON
BAE TO BUY COLLINS, RAYTHEON UNITS
ACQUISITIONS BAE Systems intends to acquire Collins
Aerospace’s military GPS business and Raytheon’s airborne Bombardier looks
tactical radios unit: divestments that were mandated as part of
the US companies’ ongoing merger process. Worth a
employees in Florida, Indiana and Iowa, with the interests to be towards A220 exit
combined $2.2 billion, the purchase affects around 775
integrated within BAE’s US-based Electronic Systems business.
Risk of rising costs and declining returns leads Canadian
airframer to ‘reassess’ its involvement with former CSeries
FAA EXTENDS GE90 SEAL WARNING
SAFETY Operators of Boeing 777-300ERs are being ordered
urgently to remove another batch of interstage seals from GE ombardier is “reassessing” its Bombardier had struggled for
Aviation GE90 engines, following an uncontained failure last Binvolvement in the Airbus-led years under financial strain
October involving a Thai Airways International-operated partnership that owns the A220, caused by designing, developing
example. The US Federal Aviation Administration had already citing the need for additional cash and certifying what was then
issued such a directive, but this second emergency order investment and lower-than-ex- called the CSeries, subsequently
expands the serial numbers of the seals involved. pected long-term profits. handing majority ownership of
The Montreal-based airframer the programme, for free, to Airbus.
holds 33.6% of Airbus Canada The programme has since re-
MA700 TRACKS TOWARDS LATE 2020 FLIGHT
PROGRAMME AVIC seems likely to fly its developmental Limited Partnership (ACLP), sided under the ACLP venture:
MA700 turboprop in late 2020, after an initial aircraft entered which owns the A220 business. Airbus has a majority stake of
the final stages of production. A report by Chinese state news Divesting that stake would align 50.06%, Bombardier 33.6%, and
agency Xinhua indicates the first MA700 is expected to roll off with Bombardier’s strategy in re- Investissement Quebec 16.34%.
the assembly line by the middle of the year. AVIC had cent years of moving away from As part of the divestment,
previously been targeting an end-2019 maiden sortie. commercial aviation. Bombardier agreed to “fund the
“With its exit from commercial cash shortfalls” of the programme,
aerospace, Bombardier is reassess- up to $350 million in 2019 and
BRAHMOS READY FOR INDIAN AIR FORCE
INDUCTION The Indian air force has resurrected its 222 Sqn ing its participation in ACLP,” the another $350 million during the
“Tigersharks” unit as the first Sukhoi Su-30MKI squadron to be company said on 16 January. 2020-2021 period. In exchange,
equipped with the Mach 2.8 BrahMos air-launched cruise It notes that ACLP’s latest Bombardier receives shares pay-
missile. Based at Thanjavur air base, the aircraft will be able to financial plan “calls for addition- ing a 2% annual dividend.
carry the 8.5m (28ft)-long 2.5t anti-ship and land-attack al cash investments to support The three partners are also on
weapon, which has a range of up to 162nm (300km). production ramp-up, pushes out the hook for any additional cash
the break-even timeline and gen- that the programme may need
erates a lower return over the life during the period.
AFRL PREPARES HYPERSONIC X-60A
TESTING The US Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) of the programme”. As of 30 September 2019, Bom-
test-fired the Hadley rocket engine for its X-60A hypersonic “This may significantly impact bardier had invested $575 million
demonstrator at Cecil Spaceport in Jacksonville, Florida, on 15 the joint venture’s value. Bombar- in ACLP, documents reveal.
January. Designed to test air-breathing propulsion, advanced dier will disclose the amount of Bombardier’s CSeries sale
materials and vehicle subsystem technologies above Mach 5, any write-down when we sparked a broader exit by the
the X-60A will be launched from a NASA C-20A (Gulfstream III) complete our analysis and report company from commercial
platform for the first time later this year. our fourth-quarter and 2019 fi- aviation: it has or is in the
nancial results [on 13 February],” process of divesting its Q400 tur-
says the airframer. boprop line, CRJ regional jet
COULSON C-130 LOST IN AUSTRALIA
ACCIDENT Canadian fire-fighting operator Coulson Bombardier’s original agreement family and aerostructures manu-
Aviation has confirmed the loss of a Lockheed Martin C-130 with Airbus gives the Canadian air- facturing operations.
water bomber that was being used to combat bush fires in framer the right to require that the The company says it intends to
New South Wales, Australia. All three occupants were killed. European firm acquire its shares in focus on business jets and its
The Hercules (N134CG), which Cirium fleets data records as a ACLP after seven and a half years transportation business, which
1981-built airframe, was acquired by Coulson in 2017. of the deal closing, which occurred manufactures trains. ■
in July 2018. See Air Transport P15

8 | Flight International | 28 January-3 February 2020 flightglobal.com