INDUSTRY TEAMINGS
29 Sep 08. Russia offered its former Cold War ally India the chance Sept. 29 to
jointly develop weapon systems in a bid to remain New Delhi’s main provider of
arms. With India increasingly looking elsewhere for its armament needs, visiting
Russian Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov presented a deal in which India would
develop military hardware alongside Russia, rather than buying it. “Particular attention in this new program will be paid to scientific research and joint development and construction,” Serdyukov told reporters after talks with his Indian counterpart A.K. Antony. “In this agreement, concrete steps will be undertaken to achieve transition relations from vendor and buyer to partnership,” Serdyukov said. Russia accounts for 70 percent of Indian military equipment, but late deliveries and commercial disagreements have pushed New Delhi toward other suppliers, including the U.S., France, Britain and Israel.
In 2005, India signed a 10-year defense pact with the U.S. in “a clear indication that New Delhi is planning to broaden the base of its defence procurements,” said analyst C. Uday Bhaskar. In March, New Delhi said it planned to buy six Hercules transport planes from Lockheed Martin for nearly $1bn, marking the country’s biggest military aircraft deal with the U.S. (Source: Defense News)
26 Sep 08. GE and SAFRAN expanding aerospace collaboration. The leaders of GE Aviation and France’s SAFRAN met Friday in Evendale to review their 34-year-old, highly successful collaboration in CFM International, a 50-50 joint venture that they extended earlier this summer until 2040. CFM produces the CFM56 family of jet engines for single-aisle airplanes such as Boeing’s 737 and the Airbus A320 family. It’s the most successful commercial engine ever. The CFM venture had been scheduled to expire in 2013. “The importance of this collaboration is greater than the products we put into service,” said David Joyce, GE Aviation’s president and CEO. He cited breakthrough technological advances such as composite fan blades that they have developed through CFM. Jean-Paul Hertemann, SAFRAN’s chairman, and other French executives had earlier visited the company’s Messier-Bugatti subsidiary in Walton, which recently expanded its plant that makes carbon brake systems and other aircraft components. Hertemann and Marc Ventre, SAFRAN’s executive vice president for propulsion, credited CFM’s success in part to the way the venture is structured. Each partner is responsible for half of the engine, half of the final assembly operations and sales in their respective territories, along with the costs related to those activities. But all revenues are split 50-50. That gives each partner a strong incentive to control costs to maximize its profits. GE and SAFRAN established a new joint venture in July to produce nacelles, the outer housings in which jet engines are mounted, and thrust reversers. It will be modeled on CFM and integrate the two companies’ existing operations at GE’s Middle River Aircraft Systems in Baltimore and SAFRAN’s Aircelle in France, the United Kingdom and Morocco. Joyce said the companies are also looking at a possible collaboration on engines for the fast-growing regional jet market. (Source: Google)
30 Sep 08. On the occasion of Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s visit to France, Astrium has signed a Long Term Agreement with Antrix Corporation, the commercial arm of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), on utilisation of the Indian Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) launch services. This Agreement, which was signed by Dr. G. Madhavan Nair, Chairman ISRO/Antrix & Secretary Department Of Space and Mr. François Auque, C.E.O of Astrium, enables Astrium to offer attractive solutions in the international markets for in-orbit delivery of its earth observation satellites, using the PSLV launch services from Antrix/ISRO. Along the past 5 years, both companies have been successfully cooperat