The UK government is to encourage "joined-up" aerospace research aimed at producing a handful of technology demonstrators, but calls for more funding have been turned down. In a breakfast meeting with industry heads last week, Prime Minister Tony Blair agreed to set up an aerospace research committee, headed by science minister Lord Sainsbury, to oversee the UK's planned National Aerospace Technology Programme.
The move follows the publication last year of the Aerospace Innovation and Growth Team report, backed by both the government and the Society of British Aerospace Companies (SBAC), which called for the UK industry to specialise in a few key areas such as propulsion systems, electric actuators, materials science and aerodynamics. Team leader and BAE Systems chairman Sir Richard Evans said after the meeting that "Britain's future at the heart of the aerospace world is dependent on an effective and joined-up plan".
But, although the team's report called for state spending on civil aerospace research to more than double from £20 million ($29 million) to at least £50 million, there will be no additional funds for the committee to distribute. "The attention is on how to better align the existing funding," SBAC says.
As a result, SBAC director-general Sally Howes says "there will be some difficult decisions in the months ahead" on which projects should take priority. Among the technology areas under consideration are the "powered wing" project to improve wing design and engine efficiency, and a possible demonstrator of a "more-electric" aircraft in which hydraulic components would be replaced with lighter electric actuators.
Source: Flight International
