Ian Sheppard/LONDON

The UK aerospace industry is stepping up pressure on its Government to match Germany in funding future wing research, warning that failure to do so would mean losing strategic wing development work for the Airbus A3XX 600-seater airliner to German industry.

British Aerospace Airbus is waiting for a UK Government decision on whether to match a move by Germany to direct DM300 million ($164 million) to support a future-wing research and demonstration programme.

British Aerospace, along with Shorts, Dowty Aerospace and Rolls-Royce among others, has requested £230 million ($380 million) over the next five years to fund development of a next generation wing with integrated engine and landing gear capable of being used on large aircraft such as the A3XX.

Wing design is one of the few areas in which the UK is a world leader. German industry, led by Daimler-Benz Aerospace (Dasa), has been looking to break BAe's monopoly on wing design for Airbus in recent years. A bid by Dasa to lead wing design on the Airbus Future Large Aircraft military transport caused a serious row between the two companies in 1995, before it was resolved in the UK's favour.

The Powered Wing programme is one of several research projects which the Society of British Aerospace Companies (SBAC) is looking to the Government to help fund to maintain the industry's competitiveness.

Peter Perry, manager of the SBAC scheme, known as Foresight Action, says that if a decision is not forthcoming "very soon", work on the wing project will be "too late for the A3XX".

This view is reinforced by recent Government reluctance to provide £123 million in repayable launch aid for BAe's development of the A340-500/600 wing, although the deal was finally agreed after months of haggling.

UK Government provision of research funds for civil aerospace is virtually non-existent. With the Labour Government maintaining a tight rein on spending, there appears little prospect of the funding being made available.

In contrast, the SBAC says that the level of German funding directed to its wing programme is equivalent to half the DM600 million ($327 million) earmarked for A3XX-focused research by Bonn in 1996 under a four-year. Sources at Airbus in Toulouse confirm that Dasa has made no secret of its intention to make a bid to lead development of the next-generation wing.

Source: Flight International