ENDERS SPELLS OUT DOLLAR THREAT TO STAFF
COST-CUTTING Airbus chief executive Tom Enders has told workers radical measures may be needed to further cut its costs sufficiently, after describing the continuing weak US dollar as having gone through the "pain barrier". The manufacturer had already this month said the weak US dollar rate - now pushing $1.50 against the euro - would require further measures beyond its Power8 restructuring programme as the savings envisaged from the latter were based on dollar exchange rate of around $1.35. The manufacturer has previously indicated it needs to find additional savings of €1 billion for every 10¢ decline in the dollar.
BOEING SETS ORDER RECORD
MILESTONE Boeing last week surpassed the 1,044 net-order sales record it set in 2006, having secured 1,057 gross orders this year to date. Boeing's latest orders and deliveries listing includes an additional 72 orders - almost all for unidentified customers, putting gross orders for the year to date at 1,057 and net orders at 1,047. Buoyed by a series of aircraft announcements during the recent Dubai air show, Airbus has already said it would exceed its record sales year - the 1,111 orders it secured in 2005 - this year.
PLANETSPACE JOINS RACE FOR NASA CONTRACT
TRANSPORT Chicago based-commercial space technology company PlanetSpace has submitted a proposal for NASA's second Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) demonstration programme's phase one selection process. COTS phase one requires demonstrations of a cargo and potentially crew transport capability. PlanetSpace's team members, Lockheed Martin and Alliant Techsystems, are developing the Orbital Transfer Vehicle and its launcher, respectively. Other team members include United Launch Alliance, Paragon Space and Wyle Laboratories. The deadline for this second COTS phase one selection was 21 November. NASA will select a company in the first quarter of 2008 for a $175 million funded Space Act agreement. The second selection was caused by the departure of Rocketplane Kistler from COTS in October.
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FIRST MULTI-PURPOSE DA42 HANDED OVER
DELIVERY Diamond Airborne Sensing, a subsidiary of Austrian general aviation aircraft manufacturer Diamond Aircraft, has delivered the first DA42 Multi-Purpose Platform (MPP) to Riegl Laser Measurement Systems. Horn, Austria-based Riegl which has co-developed an integrated on-board laser scanner for the MPP will use the aircraft as a company demonstrator for laser aerial surveying. Both companies expect worldwide sales of surveying aircraft to reach up around 100 a year.
TURBINE ENGINE TO REPLACE GE'S T700 TURBOSHAFT
ROTORCRAFT Honeywell/Pratt & Whitney and General Electric have won contracts under the US Army's Advanced Affordable Turbine Engine (AATE) programme to demonstrate technology for a future 3,000shp (2,240kW)-class turboshaft. Honeywell and P&W teamed to propose the HPW3000, with the former responsible for the high-pressure spool and the latter the low-pressure spool. GE says it will "continue to collaborate with the army" under its contract. AATE is intended to develop a drop-in replacement for GE's widely used T700 turboshaft, which powers the Boeing AH-64 and Sikorsky UH-60 family.
ALGERIA CHOOSES HELICOPTERS
CONTRACT Algeria is believed to have signed a deal with AgustaWestland for six AW101 utilities and four Super Lynx 300 light helicopters. Sources say deliveries are expected to be made to the air force between 2009 and 2010, for roles including transport, search and rescue, medical evacuation, surveillance and economic exclusion zone protection. AgustaWestland has declined to comment on the reported sale, which sources say will replace an abandoned deal with Eurocopter for four EC725s and four AS565s.
Germany-Italy space deal could save Galileo
SATELLITE NAVIGATION The European Union's impasse over the financing of its troubled Galileo satellite navigation programme could be broken by a new German-Italian framework agreement for co-operation in space that commits them to seek European independence in communications, satellite navigation and Earth observation while maintaining co-operation with Russia and the USA. Critically, it is hoped the German-Italian pact will open the way for a new EU financial agreement to plug a €2.4 billion hole in the €3 billion-plus Galileo budget left when squabbling over workshare between participating EU member states killed a public-private partnership arrangement. Full deployment of the 30-satellite constellation had been scheduled for 2008 but now looks unlikely before 2011. The EU has given itself a December deadline for finding a solution. See flightglobal.com/galileoimpasse
Source: Flight International
