LOCATIONS
LAND
21 Dec 11. Williamtown’s $485m aerospace hub is a step closer with development earmarked for as early as next year. The draft development control plan for the site is complete and was set to go before councillors on Tuesday night. The plan gives detailed guidance for stage one developments with a concentration on defence and airport-based employment. The 89 hectare aerospace site is situated next to Newcastle Airport and is broken up into precincts including commercial, aerospace and support areas. Stage one concentrates on commercial development and is expected to draw the attention of engineers and Defence contractors among other aviation-based business. The plan regulates building design, height, landscaping, drainage and advertising signage. (Source: Defense News)
09 Dec 11. UK army enacts changes in its command structure. UK army chiefs have launched an accelerated effort to enact the changes in its command structure that were demanded by the June 2011 Levene Review for the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD). According to a briefing document on the new Army Command layout seen by Jane’s , these plans, which include a new budget structure and the relocation of most of the service’s requirements and capability planning staff from the ministry’s main building in London to the newly formed Army Command headquarters in Andover, Hampshire, will be in place by April 2012. (Source: Jane’s, JDW)
20 Dec 11. The first buildings on the new ILA grounds are now taking shape on what were uncultivated fields only last summer. The new Berlin ExpoCenter Airport is currently under construction immediately adjacent to BER, the capital’s new airport, and the ILA Berlin Air Show is one of the events it will be hosting, from 11 to 16 September 2012. The size of the first of three permanent exhibition halls is already apparent, with some 80 reinforced concrete pillars surrounding an area of around 6,500 square metres. Trusses will be attached to these pillars to support the roof structure. The concrete foundations for the other halls have almost all been laid, well before the winter frost period begins, enabling erection of the reinforced concrete pillars to go ahead without being affected by the weather. The aim is to install the hall cladding before the end of the year, so that internal fitting out can proceed despite ice, frost and snow. And the recycled asphalt strips that will eventually guide people around the exhibition grounds have already been laid too. They are currently serving as roadways for vehicles going to and from the planned halls. The new northerly detour came into use on 14 December, enabling vehicles to avoid the site. Climbing plants are already growing on the noise barrier that protects the village of Selchow. And the final underground supply lines have now been installed on the south-western section of the exhibition site.
19 Dec 11. AgustaWestland, a Finmeccanica company announceD that its new NH90 Final Assembly Line, located at Venice Tessera in Italy, has successfully completed its first year of operations and celebrated the joint delivery of an NH90 TTH to the Italian Army and an NH90 NFH to the Italian Navy on December 16th. The facility has completed nine aircraft this year and is set to assemble and deliver up to18 aircraft in 2012. AgustaWestland’s Venice Tessera plant, covering 24,000 m2, is the new Italian final assembly line for the 160 NH90s ordered so far by Italy (Army and Navy, 60 and 56 helicopters respectively), the Netherlands (20), Norway (14) and Portugal (10). The new plant started assembly of NH90s one year ago and delivered its first aircraft in June 2011. The Venice Tessera plant will progressively expand to become the NH90 programme hub for all AgustaWestland customers, including the provision of maintenance, spare parts, engineering services, upgrades and modifications as well as future developments of new product configurations.
120 Dec 11. CPI Aerostructures,