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UPDATE 
Week ending May 30, 1999
+++ Airtruck promotes An-70 in Germany +++ Airbus delivers its 2000th aircraft +++ German research satellite launched with Indian rocket +++ Bischoff: German chances for A3XX assembly slim +++ Space Shuttle Discovery lfits off for 10-day ISS mission +++ Airbus offers Beluga for RAF +++ France floats Aerospatiale Matra +++ News in brief +++

Airtruck promotes An-70 in Germany
An-70-Angebot erhält Unterstütung von Airtruck

Airtruck, a newly formed German company based at Lemwerder, aims to boost the chances of the Antonov An-70 to win a NATO military transport order. It will act as the western focal point to modify and support the aircraft according to the demands of the request for proposals issued by Germany and other NATO nations. Airtruck shareholders include ASL Aircraft Services Lemwerder, engine-maker BMW Rolls-Royce and suppliers Aerodata, Autoflug, Bodenseewerk Gerätetechnik, ESG, Liebherr Aerospace and VDO. There is interest by other companies to join. Dr. Nicolas von Mende is the first managing director. Airtruck is partnered with the Medium Transport Aircrat consortium, which includes Antonov of the Ukraine and important suppliers from Ukraine and Russia.

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Airbus delivers its 2000th aircraft
2000. Airbus an Lufthansa ausgeliefert

Airbus Industrie has deliverd its 2,000th aircraft since the establishment of the European jetliner manufacturer 30 years ago. The aircraft, an A340-300, was delivered to German flag carrier Lufthansa at Airbus Industrie's headquarters in Toulouse, France. Airbus Industrie boasts a customer base of 163 airlines and 168 operators, with a product line that has grown from one aircraft type, the A300, in 1974 to 12 types today, including the standard-setting A300/A310 Family and fly-by-wire A320 and A330/A340 Families. Lufthansa has been a loyal Airbus Industrie operator since February 1976 when it took delivery of its first A300. This aircraft represents Lufthansa's 150th Airbus delivery. Lufthansa currently operates 20 A319s, 33 A320s, 20 A321s, 13 A300s, seven A310s and now 20 A340s and has placed firm orders for a total of 164 Airbus Industrie aircraft, making it both the largest Airbus Industrie airline customer and operator.
With a backlog of almost 1400 aircraft on firm order, Airbus Industrie has been increasing production over the past years in order to meet the demand of satisfied customers. It took Airbus Industrie 23 years to deliver its 1000th aircraft - an A320 to Northwest Airlines - in March 1993; the second thousand units took only six years. In 1999, Airbus Industrie will deliver more aircraft than it did in its first nine years of production. At current production rates, the 3,000th aircraft will be delivered in less than three years.

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German research satellite launched with Indian rocket
Deutscher Froschungs-Satellit mit indischer Rakete ins All befördert

The German research satellite DLR-TUBSAT was launched on 26 May with a Russian rocket, such being India's entry into the commercial launch market. The launch rocket was a PSLV-C2 and lifted off from the Sriharikota space center which is located at the Southeastern coast of India. Also on board were an Indian and a South Korean satellite. India first launched a satellite in 1980 with its own rocket. The German DLR-TUBSAT satellite, which was launched on Wednesday, weighs 45 kg and is equipped with three video cameras. Out of the 724-kilometer altitude orbit, TUBSAT is supposed to supply surface images to the control center in Berlin. The satellite is able to compensate for some of its own position variations for short periods of time, such stabilizing the image even with longer aperture times. This feature allows to take images of the respective night side of the Earth. DLR-TUBSAT was built by the German Research Center in Berlin together with the Technical University Berlin's aerospace institute. The Indian PSLV rocket is 44 meters long and weighs 294 tons. It has four stages which are burning solid and liquid fuels. The rocket was developed by the Indian space agency ISRO which now plans to develope a rocket for payloads up to 2.5 tons.

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Bischoff: German chances for A3XX assembly slim
Dasa-Chef kritisiert mangelnde Forschungsförderung

Dasa chief executive Manfred Bischoff has criticised the German government for its lack of aerospace industry support, stating: "without the continuation of the aerospace research programme, our chances to bring the A3XX final assembly line to Germany are probably zero". Bischoff was talking to the Vorwärts newspaper of the SPD party. "Our partners have got this signal already clearly", he added, referring to Government plans to restrict support to 20 per cent of programme costs. Bischoff also confirmed that there are no more chances to build a unified European aerospace concern.
Meanwhile, Airbus has completed studies to transport A3XX wings atop suitably modified A340s. Costs for the modificaton of two needed airplanes would be "some hundred million US-Dollars" and could be contained by using at least one used A340 now employed in the Airbus test fleet. The A340 would also be used to ferry A340-500/600 wings between the BAe factory in Chester and Toulouse. Speeds would be limited to Mach 0.6 and height to 25000 feet. Reinforcements needed for the mounts atop the fuselag are calculated at six tons, leaving a payload of 37 tons, which would be enough.

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Space Shuttle Discovery lfits off for 10-day ISS mission
Space Shutte Discovery auf dem Weg zur Raumstation

With an international crew of seven, the Shuttle took off from the launch pad at Florida's Kennedy Space Center at 6:49 a.m. EST, ending a six-month drought in shuttle launches, the longest since the Challenger disaster. The flight, the first of four assembly missions scheduled to visit the space station in 1999, sets the stage for the arrival of the space station's first living quarters, the Russian-provided service module, scheduled to be launched by Russia later this year. The ship's docking with the space station will take place on the third day of flight, the NASA said. The seven-member crew - five Americans, one Canadian and one Russian - will become the first visitors to the space station since its launch and assembly last year. Discovery's mission is to transfer almost 2 tons of logistical supplies to the space station, NASA said. The supplies range from laptop computers, a printer and cameras to maintenance tools, space parts and clothing for future station crews, it said. The space station is now orbiting with two modules, the Russian-built Zarya power station and the U.S.-built connecting node named Unity.

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Airbus offers Beluga for RAF
Beluga als RAF-Militärtransporter?

Airbus Industrie has formally revealed that it is offering four new Airbus A300-600 civilian freighters and one of its A300-600ST Beluga heavy lift aircraft worth around $500 million to the Royal Air Force, in a seven-year leasing package from 2001. Britain's Ministry of Defence announced last year it wanted to lease some large transporters as a stopgap to give strategic support for the creation of rapid reaction forces. A decision is due in the first quarter of next year, with the C-17 Globemaster bid supported by British Aerospace heavily fafoureed so far. In addition Air Foyle has joined with the Russian-Ukrainian Antonov Design Bureau to offer four Antonov 124-210s, featuring British-made Rolls-Royce RB211 engines and Honeywell avionics. But Airbus said it was confident it could persuade the MOD that it could offer a better mix of range and capacity so that equipment could be deployed faster. In particular they boasted that the Beluga would make it possible to carry a pair of large helicopters such as Chinooks without having to dismantle them. "We have the widest, highest, largest, cargo aircraft currently flying," said Arnaud Martin, Airbus director of transport operations.

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France floats Aerospatiale Matra
Aerospatiale Matra geht an die Börse

French finance Minister Dominique Strauss-Kahn has announced the the flotation price of Aerospatiale Matra at 19.6 euros per share for institutions, valuing the aerospace group at 7.9 billion euros. The government is partially privatising Aerospatiale through a merger with the Lagardere conglomerate's Matra subsidiary and floating a 17 percent stake in the new group, which will make its stock market debut on June 4. The institutional tranche was oversubscribed 30 times and the small investor portion 4.4 times. Small investors will be offered stock at 19.2 euros, Strauss-Kahn told journalists Some 1.5 million individuals have registered for shares so far, the ministry said.

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News in brief / Kurzmeldungen

The latest plan to keep Russia's Mir space station aloft fell apart when officials finally admitted that a British businessman wasn't going to come up with the necessary funds. After the Russian government said it would abandon Mir in August unless private investors could be found, space officials said Peter Llewellyn had agreed to pay $100 million for a weeklong ride on the 13-year-old station. Llewellyn said he never planned to pay for the Mir ride, claiming instead that his flight would be a fund-raising effort to help build a children's hospital. Space officials announced Wednesday that they had finally given up on their latest plan to fund the Mir.
+++
Northrop Grumman has announced that it has agreed to acquire Ryan Aeronautical, an operating company of Allegheny Teledyne Incorporated, for $140 million in cash. Ryan Aeronautical's current business is primarily in the unmanned air vehicle (UAV) area. "The acquisition of Ryan Aeronautical is an excellent strategic fit with many of Northrop Grumman's business areas and strengthens our surveillance and precision strike capabilities," said Kent Kresa, Northrop Grumman chairman, president and chief executive officer. "Ryan is recognized by its customers as an innovative, agile engineering company that is highly competitive in the unmanned air vehicle business." Ryan's facilities are not included in the transaction, however it is anticipated that its current operations will remain in the San Diego area and move to another facility within a year.
+++
Japan's aerospace industry posted its first-ever annual sales above 1 trillion yen in fiscal 1998 at 1.04 trillion yen, the Society of Japanese Aerospace Companies Inc. has reported. The sales figure, based on the production of aircraft and aircraft parts and repairs to aircraft, is up 5.5% from the previous year, and marks a third straight record-high year. A breakdown of the total shows that exports rose 35.8% from a year earlier to 363.8 billion yen, as sales to the Boeing Co. surged. The higher exports more than offset an 8.6% fall in defense-related domestic sales to 539 billion yen. The share of defense-related sales dropped 8.3 percentage points to account for a record-low 53.7% of overall sales.
+++
On May 21, the U.S. Air Force accepted its 50th Boeing C-17 Globemaster III cargo aircraft in a brief ceremony at Long Beach. Lt. Gen. Gregory ("Speedy") Martin, principal deputy, Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Acquisition, Headquarters, U.S. Air Force, was at the controls as the aircraft took off for Charleston Air Force Base, S.C. The event marked the 38th consecutive C-17 delivered ahead of schedule by Boeing Airlift & Tanker Programs.
+++
British Aerospace Asset Management (BAeAM), the jet sales and leasing arm of British Aerospace, has announced a range of new initiatives to support the sale of pre-owned BAe 146s into the business jet market. Although BAe 146s are in high demand, BAeAM is anticipating the release of a small number of Series100/200 aircraft over the next two/three years as airlines progress to the larger capacity models and new-build Avro RJs. Capitalising on its recent sales success of aircraft to corporate customers Formula One Administration Limited of the UK and Mr W A Moncrief Jnr. of Texas, BAeAM is currently offering a BAe 146-100 to the business jet market for delivery later this year. BAeAM has identified Completion Centres in North America and Europe that have expressed interest in undertaking future design and conversions of airliner BAe 146s to corporate interiors.
+++
The Boeing Sikorsky RAH-66 Comanche Joint Program Office and the U.S. Army have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that defines the Comanche program's engineering and manufacturing development (EMD) phase and establishes an innovative working partnership between the Army and the contracting team. The agreement reflects maximum focus on acquisition streamlining, maintaining the innovative Integrated Product Team process used throughout the program, facilitate communication processes, and promote increased teamwork between Boeing Sikorsky and its government customers. The Comanche team has agreed to complete the PPP program in fiscal year 2006 at a total cost of $3.6 billion. Features of the Comanche PPP program are: Design and fabrication of 13 Comanche helicopters with production mission equipment package capability from FY 2003 through FY 2005 for Army experiments and further operational test and evaluation; Accelerated Comanche fire control radar development from RAH-66 production Lot 6 in FY 2010 to initial operational capability aircraft, fielded in FY 2006; A Defense Department Milestone II EMD decision accelerated 19 months to March 2000; Simulation tools suitable for analysis of the Comanche's full capabilities for development of operational tactics, techniques and procedures based on full functionality; and Risk reduction in such developmental areas as the aircraft's helmet, software and Electro-Optical Sensor System to optimize program efforts within available funding levels.
+++
According to present plans, Lufthansa CityLine will recruit some 900 new flight attendants in the coming four years. The staffing additions are required for new aircraft which Germany's second largest scheduled passenger airline will be putting into service in the future. Lufthansa CityLine currently employs almost 700 flight attendants. CityLine is the only European regional airline which itself fully trains its cabin staff at its own special training centre.
+++
Eurofighter has now staged demonstration flights for top military officers and important ministry of defence executives in all four partner nations. After three missions from the Warton base of BAe, culminating in a flight for UK defence secretary George Robertson at the end of April, two-seat prototype DA4 went on to Mancing in Germany anf finally to Caselle in Italy. There Chief of Defence Staff General Arpino and Chief of Air Staff General Fornaserio were airborne. Meanwhile, Eurofighter is submitting its offer to Norway by the deadline of June 1.
+++
Despite tentative moves on the diplomatic front, NATO continued its air campaign against Jugoslavia unabated. Good weather and the arrival of more aircraft has pushed sortie rates up to nearly 1000 a day on occasion. The force buildup is still continuing, with F-18s of the US Marines now in Hungary and F-15s of the USAF to deploy to Turkey. The air armade has topped 1000 planes now. Latest counts now speak of 6950 stike sorties and 20300 support missions since operation Allied Force began in late March.
+++
On May 27, the new Intercity high-speed rail station at Frankfurt airport has been officially opened, though it is still not fully complete. Especially the bridge to the terminal ends between the hotel and airport center, so that travellers need to use some stairs to get along. For the time being, not all trains will use the new station, but the old one nearer to the terminals, which also serves the metro links to Frankfurt and the region.
+++
The planned recuperation of a Focke Wulf 200 Condor bomber of World War II from a Norwegian fjord ended in failure when the aircraft crashed from its crane onto a platfom and was broken. The salvage attempt was initiated by the Technik Museum at Berlin.
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Previous updates are still available:
Die News der letzten Wochen sind weiter abrufbar:

*May 23, 1999 *May 16, 1999 *May 9, 1999 *May 2, 1999

*April 25, 1999 *April 18, 1999 *April 11, 1999 *April 4, 1999

*March 28, 1999 *March 21, 1999 *March 14, 1999 *March 7, 1999

*February 21, 1999 *February 14, 1999 *February 7, 1999

*January 31, 1999 *January 24, 1999 *January 17, 1999 *January 10, 1999

*January to December 1998 *January to December 1997 *September to December 1996

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Last updated May 30, 1999
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