The 'not for sale' signs were up unequivocally at Sikorsky yesterday following the publication of an industry forecast with whose sentiments the venerable helicopter company may well agree, but with whose details it certainly would not.
The Teal Group's first world rotorcraft forecast target Sikorsky as the most likely candidate for absorption, and Boeing the likely candidate to buy, in an industry scenario which would see the four big rotorcraft prime contractors - Bell, Boeing, Eurocopter and Sikorsky - reduced to three by the end of 2006.
Highlighting
Teal lead analyst Richard Aboulafia spared readers the effort of ploughing through a lengthy global report by highlighting key findings, which include the prediction of a Sikorsky acquisition in the face of falling market share, which the report predicted to be 14% by the end of its forecast period.
Sikorsky and acquisition were not two mutually exclusive subjects for discussion at the company's chalet, but not in quite the same way the Teal report suggested.
Communications Director Gina McAllister cited a recent statement by George David, CEO and chairman of parent company United Technologies Corporation, as a firm rebuttal of the forecast.
Asked by one of the leading newspapers in UTC's home town of Connecticut about the acquisition speculations, David highlighted the company's pioneering role in the rotary wing business in no uncertain terms.
Sikorsky invented the industry, and as a leader would be expected to be an acquirer not an acquired, David is reported to have replied.
McAllister points out that Sikorsky's corporate objective of making strategic acquisitions in core markets is public knowledge as a further indicator of the company's go-it-alone stand.
As a caveat however, the Teal report indicates that with or without further consolidation, the big primes will increasingly need to cooperate with each other. They should start now to identify programmes which can be internationalised, preserving scarce development money, says the report.
Despite problematic efforts to broaden the product line with the S-92 Helibus, to which the Teal report alludes, Sikorsky has announced assembly of the first of five S-92 prototypes at its main facility in Stratford, where parts from four continents are being joined to form the world's newest medium-lift helicopter.
The main cabin section is the largest subassembly.
It arrived this spring from Mitsubishi Heavy Industries in Japan, and was mounted on special tooling in Sikorsky's Development Manufacturing Centre.
Bayonet
It was followed closely by the first vertical tail fin from Jingdezhen Helicopter Group/CATIC of the People's Republic of China. From Gamesa in Spain came the aft transition tailcone and strongback composite structure, complete with supporting hardware and titanium and aluminium supporting structure.
Teal's rotorcraft overview predictes a total of 8,190 aircraft with a value of $51.7 billion are expected to be built throughout the world between now and 2006.
Source: Flight Daily News
