JUSTIN WASTNAGE / KIRKBYMOORSIDE & TUSSENHAUSEN-MATTSIES
Manufacturers of elementary trainers are being forced to diversify to stay in business during the lean periods between major competitions
Despite a record 2002, Slingsby Aviation is unconcerned by the prospect of one of its aircraft not being produced this year - its T67 Firefly piston single accounts for only around 10% of the UK company's revenues following its gradual diversification into composite structures.
For Slingsby and rival manufacturers of robust, aerobatic aircraft, the problem is that the market for elementary, screening or ab initio, military trainers is highly cyclical. Suppliers have been forced to devise strategies to stay in business. These include branching out into civil products and becoming more closely involved with flying schools.
Germany's Grob Werke, which temporarily closed its aerospace division in 1998, recently flew the G160TP Ranger high-speed turboprop, which is targeted at the business aviation market. Grob chief operating officer Andreas Strohmayer says: "We have a clear strategy to continue with the trainers, but the problem is that the orders come in gluts, so we need a backlog of other types to be able to keep our workers." Similarly, the Czech Republic's Moravan, which took over the Eastern Bloc's principal ab initio trainer line Zlin, is pursuing the general aviation market, whereas Italy's Aermacchi balances sales of its SF260 with other trainers.
All these measures are designed to maintain revenue flow during lean periods between major competitions, which are fought largely between Aermacchi, Grob, Moravan and Slingsby, with a few regional manufacturers such as Chile's Enaerand New Zealand's Pacific Aerospace performing well locally. In Russia, another contender has emerged, with the selection last year of the Sukhoi Su-49 as the initial trainer for the air force, which needs 300 aircraft, while the ROSTO air force support organisation has a requirement for around 1,000 aircraft.
Competition is also expected from an unlikely source: basic trainers. Air forces are increasingly re-examining the logic of the three- or four-phase training process before operational conversion, which is expensive in terms of acquisition, maintenance and transition costs. Slingsby recently supplied Fireflys to Bahrain, which will use them alongside BAE Systems Hawks in a two-stage training process, with instrument training conducted on Fireflys and full-flight simulators filling the gap. Switzerland's Pilatus is promoting the PC-21's ease of handling and low stall speed as important ingredients in a trainer able to meet the first three phases of training.
Grob sales director Hans Dollbelieves such marketing misses the point, which is that, as armed forces worldwide increasingly turn to private companies to conduct basic training, operational costs are coming to the fore. The PC-21 turboprop, he estimates, is around seven times as expensive per hour to operate than a piston-engined aircraft. With sophisticated avionics now available for elementary trainers, he predicts traditional basic trainer tasks will shift downwards, with high-speed basic turboprops taking over some of the advanced syllabus.
Private finance initiatives (PFI) and power-by-the-hour contracts are becoming increasingly popular. "PFIs have changed the nature of competitions," says Doll. "Before, it was only a matter of the budget and how many aircraft were required. Now banks are involved, so they need guarantees of life cycles, maintenance requirements and hourly costs," he adds.
Private contractors are more focused on cost. In an effort to control expenses, Grob has brought the seat manufacture back in-house at its Tussenhausen-Mattsies factory near Mindelheim, Germany, a decision necessitated by its supplier being unable to reduce its costs as Grob renegotiated the final price for 20 G120A-1 Snunits ordered by Elbit Systems for Israel. This process could lead to other components being brought back in-house, as air forces increasingly push elementary training contract values down, says Strohmayer.
Air forces have also identified other missions for basic aircraft during downtime, such as personnel transport, which has led to manufacturers developing four-seat variants. The G140, which is set for certification by year-end, has a full aerobatic capability, but has four seats, and has received "serious interest" from three NATO air forces as well as potential private owners, says Grob. Slingsby, too, has considered a four-seater and Aermacchi is pushing its M290TP for a variety of non-training roles.
School options
Another option, being explored by Moravan and Serbia-Montenegro's Utva Aircraft, is to strip the two-seat aircraft of the military equipment and sell it to civilian flying schools. Slingsby says it has discounted this avenue, chiefly because an aircraft designed to withstand repeated rough landings while maintaining full aerobatic capabilities will never be able to compete on price with the proliferation of all-composite light aircraft and pre-assembled kitplanes entering the market to replace ageing Cessna 172s. Slingsby has insider knowledge: it builds the fuselage kits for Europa Aircraft, which is also situated in Kirkbymoorside, near York, UK.
Slingsby has studied a faster, upgraded T67 to extend the Firefly's capabilities as air forces reconsider the syllabus boundaries. The third-generation Firefly is likely to have a 180kt (330km/h) cruising speed, compared with 150kt, to cover some of the traditional turboprop syllabus (Flight International, 24-30 June). Slingsby believes that the aircraft could be successful in the Middle East, where air forces are looking at the two-stage approach adopted by Bahrain to see whether it is viable. The country's air force took delivery of three standard Fireflys last year and is expected to order additional aircraft this year, which could include the new variant. "We expect to sell around 20-30 aircraft in the region over the next couple of years," says Steven Boyd, Slingsby sales manager.
Similarly, the Enaer T-35 Pillan, like Aermacchi's SF260, has been re-engined with a 250hp (310kW) Rolls-Royce 250 turboprop in an attempt to find new customers, and a glass cockpit has been developed.
There is another model being explored by several nations, however, which could threaten all the manufacturers' business. Diamond Aircraft is hoping to place its DA20-C1 Katana into air force flying schools following their use by US Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University for US Air Force Academy flight training. The lease of the 35 Katanas followed the grounding of the USAF Slingsby T-3 following three fatal crashes. Although subsequently dispelled, the cloud of doubt "seriously damaged" sales of the Firefly, not least since it proved that civil light aircraft can be used for elementary "circuits and bumps" airmanship.
Manufacturers, therefore, are stressing the sophisticated nature of their products, and constantly refining them. Avionics is one area where military ab initio trainers lead the way. "Usually, the aircraft are crammed full of military kit, which requires re-engineering each time to fit in each new box," says Lovering. Slingsby's intention is to follow Grob and move to all-glass cockpits, based on fellow Cobham Group member Chelton Flight Systems' electronic flight instrument system. The system is likely to include night-vision goggle compatibility and hands-on-throttle-and-stick inceptors.
This is the result of a shift in thinking, says Slingsby, with several nations expressing an interest in their pilots using digital systems from day one. "You take your raw recruit, who is likely to be used to flight simulator games already, and you teach him how to use counter-intuitive dials and knobs, and then you put him back on to Nintendo-style displays after one year. A lot of people are asking 'why put him on analogue at all?' and espousing a philosophy of one-system training instead," says Lovering.
Several manufacturers are working together to develop end-to-end training packages, mimicking Aermacchi's complete suite. Grob has been approached, along with Pilatus, by EADS to offer jointly a three-stage training package built around the Mako advanced jet trainer. Similarly, Slingsby is working with BAE Systems to develop a syllabus for the UK's Military Flying Training System programme and Moravan has offered to neighbouring countries training on the Czech air force's Zlin 142 and the Aero Vodochody L-39 Albatros.
Despite some resource-sharing, most air forces prefer to define their own programmes, and requirements often differ substantially, leaving manufacturers to respond to each tender with a modified aircraft, which is expensive. Thus, squeezed between budgetary constraints at one end and shifting syllabuses at the other, military ab initio trainers are being forced to compete in new ways. They also have to find other income sources, preparing for the worst-case scenario of the Lockheed Martin F-35 Joint Strike Fighter being the last manned fighter ever.
Source: Flight International
