UK INDUSTRY representatives have made a fresh appeal to the UK Government for direct aerospace-research funding, following the Labour Party's general election victory on 1 May. Similar approaches to the previous Conservative Administration had been repeatedly rejected.
Mike Turner, president of the Society of British Aerospace Companies (SBAC), says that the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) and Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) have been asked to support the SBAC's "Foresight Action" technology-demonstrator programme.
The aim of the scheme is for industry and government to provide cash for research on a 50:50 basis, starting with £80 million ($130 million) in 1997 and rising progressively to £200 million a year over a five-year period.
Turner, British Aerospace group managing director, says that industry already is guaranteeing its quota this year, and "-the MoD seems to be fully engaged" in meeting half the Government quota.
He says that he is encouraged that newly appointed Minister for Trade and Industry, Margaret Beckett, wants to build a partnership with industry.
Turner says that the UK aerospace industry will pay £500 million to the Government over the next five years as a result of sales levies and royalty payments due on the investments made in Airbus and Rolls-Royce in the 1960s.
The research projects being looked at include composite wing structures and systems, light-weight titanium landing gear and a new engine core and high-efficiency fan with fewer blades.
Apart from the research-funds issue, BAe and R-R are also negotiating large aid packages for development work associated initially with the expected launch by Airbus at the Paris air show in June of the new A340-500/600.
- The SBAC has switched the date of the Farnborough air show from early September to the last week in July, beginning in 2000.
Source: Flight International
