FLUG REVUE update: Week ending June 23, 2002

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UPDATE
Week ending June 23, 2002

+++ Bombardier declines 728 +++ IRIS-T qualification firings completed +++ New Boeing 747-400ER rolls out +++ Shuttle forced to land at Edwards AFB +++ SAA bestätigt Airbus-Auftrag +++ Lufthansa anticipates profits +++ News in brief +++

Bombardier declines 728
Fairchild Dornier 728 vor dem Ende

On June 18, Bombardier announced that its technical, commercial and financial review of Fairchild Dornier's 728/928 aircraft programs is now completed. Bombardier's conclusion is not to proceed any further. In addition to its technical analysis, Bombardier undertook detailed discussions with customers, suppliers and related stakeholders over a five-week period. However, these discussions did not achieve the results required for these programs to meet Bombardier's investments standards.the company said.
After this surprising and disappointing news, insolvency administrator Dr. Eberhard Braun is now forced to go on with legal proceedings. He will lay off a lot of the employees from about July 1. Nethertheless, there seems still to be some glimmer of hope. Talks with another interest party on the 728/928 programme continue, but even Braun says that many hurdles needed to be overcome.
Regarding other parts of the Fairchild Dornier business, Braun said that 328JET productin is secure until September, even after failure to win important new orders. In the meantime, intensive negotiations are under way with the same US investor group which bought Piper some years ago. The Airbus component production and the customer support operations as well as maintenance will be included in a separate company, for which there are interested parties. An inbestment bank has been contracted to sell these pieces off within the next weeks or months.
Meanwhile, the European Commission has approved a state guarantee granted by Germany to a bank loan of around Euro94 million given to insolvent aircraft manufacturer Fairchild Dornier GmbH (Dornier). After examining the information available, the Commission considered that the 50% guarantee constitutes State aid in the sense of Article 87(1) EC Treaty and assessed it under the 'Community Guidelines on aid for rescuing and restructuring firms in difficulty'. Under these Guidelines, the Commission can approve rescue aid as one-off support to an ailing firm during the period needed to devise a restructuring or a liquidation plan. The Commission believes that the state guarantee at stake fulfils the conditions set out in these Guidelines and can, therefore, be approved for the period requested by Germany, i.e. three months.

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IRIS-T qualification firings completed
Abschluss der Schussversuche mit IRIS-T

In early June, the validation test firing campaign with the short range air-to-air missile IRIS-T was successfully completed. It was the last step in fulfilling the prerequisites for series preparation and pilot lot production. The IRIS-T missile has proven its outstanding performance capabilities and will guarantee the European fighter pilots Close-in-Combat superiority for decades to come. The development of the five nations program IRIS-T will be completed on schedule end of this year, leading to series production deliveries in 2004. MoU negotiations for series preparations and production between the governments and the industrial prime contractor BGT are in the final phase. Industrial offers are given to the customers. For the very first time after World War II an ambitious multinational industrial team under the leadership of the German company BGT has proven its system capability in the air-to-air missile business. The efficient team work is strongly supported by the governments of the participating nations. The decisions of the respective partners to integrate the IRIS-T missile into the Eurofighter, F-16 and JAS 39 Gripen is a clear evidence.

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New Boeing 747-400ER rolls out
Neue Jumbo-Version vorgestellt

On June 17, Thousands of Boeing employees celebrated the debut of the new 747-400ER (extended range) airplane at a ceremonial rollout in the largest building in the world. The airplane, the 1,308th 747 to be assembled in the Everett Boeing factory, is the newest derivative in the 747 family of jets. It now begins final preparations for its first flight. The gleaming red, white and blue 747-400ER will soon be towed across a bridge over Washington state highway 526 to the Everett flight line, where it will undergo a series of scheduled tests before the engines run for the first time. The airplane will be one of two 747-400ERs tested over the next three months to certify that it meets all regulatory and customer requirements. These airplanes will rack up more than 230 hours of flight-testing and 380 hours of ground tests. Before the airplane takes off for the first time, it will have accumulated nearly 200 test hours, validating data gained by engineering analysis and in the laboratory. First flight is expected in July. The longer-range 747-400ERs -- available as both passenger and freighter airplanes -- are the same size as today's 747-400s, but they allow airlines and cargo carriers to fly longer routes, or carry more cargo or passengers on existing routes. To support this enhanced capability, the new 747-400ER Freighter and passenger versions have increased their gross takeoff weight by 35,000 pounds (15,870 kilograms) to 910,000 pounds (412,770 kilograms). Both airplanes offer an unbeatable combination of payload, range and speed; the 747-400 is the world's fastest subsonic jetliner.

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Shuttle forced to land at Edwards AFB Space Shuttle: Landung in Kalifornien

After adverse weather forced waveoffs of landing attempts for two consecutive days at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, Commander Ken Cockrell guided the Space Shuttle Endeavour to a smooth landing on Runway 22 at Edwards Air Force Base in California's Mojave Desert.
Endeavour was launched June 5 from KSC. It's main landing gear touched down on Edwards' main runway at 10:57.41 a.m. and it rolled to a stop 64 seconds later, for a total mission elapsed time of 13 days, 20 hours, 35 minutes, 56 seconds. Today's landing was the 49th to conclude at Edwards AFB, while another 59 shuttle missions have landed at the KSC in Florida, and one at White Sands in New Mexico. Endeavour's primary mission on STS-111 was to deliver and install the Mobile Base System for the station's Canadarm-2 robotic arm and transport the Expedition Five crew to the space station, and return the Expedition Four crew to Earth. In addition, astronauts replaced a faulty wrist-roll joint on the station's robotic arm, and delivered some 5,600 pounds of equipment and supplies to the space station.

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SAA bestätigt Airbus-Auftrag
Rekordaufrag von South African

South African Airways placed Africa's largest single jetliner order when it formalised its acquisition of 41 new Airbus aircraft which will be used to modernise its entire fleet. South Africa's Minister of Public Enterprises, Jeff Radebe, SAA President and CEO, André Viljoen and Airbus President and CEO, Noël Forgeard, signed the purchase agreement at Airbus headquarters in Toulouse, France. The transaction is the biggest civil commercial procurement order to be undertaken in the history of South Africa. It is also part of SAA's strategy to provide unrivalled service to South Africa, Africa and global markets.
Deliveries of the 41 new aircraft will commence later this year and continue until 2010. Of the 41 new aircraft, 38 are orders placed on Airbus and three will be acquired through international lease finance corporations. Airbus will provide pilot, cabin crew and technical staff training. "This purchase sends a clear message that SAA is a key player in the South African economy. It also demonstrates SAA's support for the principles of the New Partnership of African Development (NEPAD), which has a broader economic and ideological dimension to SAA's growth in Africa. Through our new fleet, SAA will be able to provide reliable and affordable access to other parts of Africa where rail and road infrastructure has proved to be lacking,” said Viljoen. SAA's future fleet will comprise the following: 9 x A340-600, ultra-long-haul routes, 6 x A340-300E long-haul and peak domestic services, 11 x A319 domestic and regional routes, 15 x A320 domestic and regional routes.

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Lufthansa anticipates profits
Aufschwung für Lufthansa in Sicht

An operating result of about 400 million euros in the current fiscal year after 28 million euros in the year 2001 was forecast by Lufthansa CEO Jürgen Weber at the 49th Annual General Meeting in Cologne today. "This forecast takes predictable risks into account and is therefore resilient. It depends, of course, on continued recovery in demand for air transport services and that there are no renewed geopolitical events that might counteract the current upturn ," Weber pleaded for caution. Given those prerequisites Lufthansa also assumes that it will again be in a position to pay a dividend once more for 2002.
In its most difficult fiscal year yet, Lufthansa had mastered the dual crisis of the economic downturn and the repercussions of the terrorist attacks flexibly, professionally and with sound judgment. As a result of rapid capacity cuts , comprehensive cost cutting measures and the efficiency improvement programme "D-Check", it had been possible to avoid an operating loss in 2001 and to more than double the operating result of the first quarter 2002 in comparison with the same period last year. It increased by seven million to twelve million euros.
That trend had continued. "Encouraged by high load factors we are beginning to cautiously reactivate capacity previously taken out of service. The booking figures also suggest a further recovery," said Weber. In the course of the summer schedule Lufthansa will put into service again 18 of the 43 grounded aircraft, five of them on intercontinental routes. That capacity increase mainly on the North Atlantic routes and in the Asia/Pacific traffic region reflects the optimistic belief in a further recovery even though the total offering still lagged significantly behind that of pre-September 11, emphasized Weber. The Group's success is the result of flexible response to the air transport markets. The objective is not to gain market share for the sake of market share. "We want to grow profitably and average yields must remain stable," reconfirmed Weber. After all, the company had not succumbed to the temptation of generating volume by means of dumping prices. That strategy had paid off and would be maintained.

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NEWS IN BRIEF / KURZMELDUNGEN

The new organization of the satellite activities of Astrium is now set up. "With this major step in the on-going reorganization of EADS space activities, our efficiency and competitiveness on the global market will be improved. The reorganization of the overall EADS space business will be completed soon," said Philippe Camus and Rainer Hertrich, the CEOs of EADS. "We appreciate the constructive and long-lasting partnership between EADS and BAE Systems in space activities." With revenues of Euro 30.8 billion in 2001 and more than 100,000 employees, EADS is Europe's largest aerospace company and the Number 2 worldwide. EADS has a number of holding interests, including 80 percent in Airbus, 75 percent in the space company Astrium, 100 percent in the helicopter manufacturer Eurocopter, 43 percent in the Eurofighter program and 37.5 percent in the guided missile producer MBDA.
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Two American telecoms satellites were launched into low earth orbit on board a Rockot launcher on June 20 from the Plesetsk space center in northern Russia, the second successful launch operation within three months. The Rockot launcher, based on the former SS19 medium-range missile, is marketed worldwide by Eurockot Launch Services GmbH (Eurockot), based in Bremen, a joint venture between Astrium (51 per cent) and the Russian Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center (49 per cent). The pair of satellites is destined to join the Iridium global satellite communications network, which will ultimately comprise a total of 66 satellites. Speaking in Bremen on the occasion of the launch, Josef Kind, President Astrium Space Infrastructure, emphasized that "This second successful launch by Rockot proves the value of our strategic investment in this project as major shareholder of Eurockot.”
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Future mission profiles will differ quite significantly from familiar scenarios: modern anti-armor missile systems have to be effective not only against armored targets but also against secondary targets like e.g. helicopters, hardened shelters, mortar and artillery posts, camouflaged combat stations or command centers. The Eurospike family of missiles provides the very best prerequisites to meet exactly these requirements, as demonstrated during recent tests in Norway. Having booked orders for the light anti-tank missile system Eurospike from the Dutch Army in 2001 and the Finish Army in 2000, the Rheinmetall DeTec subsidiary STN ATLAS Elektronik GmbH and its cooperation partners Diehl and Rafael now plan to Europeanize the Eurospike missiles. The aim is to transfer as much of production and related know-how to Europe as possible. The involvement of additional subcontractors in Finland and the Netherlands shows that this aim is being achieved.
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The 200th Rolls-Royce BR715 engine, installed on the 100th Boeing 717, was delivered on 18 June 2002 to launch customer AirTran Airways in a ceremony at Boeing facilities in Long Beach, California. The milestone delivery is a measure of the success of the combination of the BR715 turbofan and the Boeing 717 twinjet -- the only modern 100-seat aircraft in service today.
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During a working visit to the USA the Dutch State Secretary for Defence Mr. H. van Hoof today, formally confirmed to his US counterpart Aldridge the agreements for the Dutch participation in the Joint Strike Fighter project. This latest step now finally opens the way for the possibly largest order in the 175 year history of Stork, which will lead to a possible turnover of some $ 5 billion spread over a period of several decades.Stork is involved in the USA with the final negotiations with Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman and Pratt & Whitney for the finalisation of its participation in the further development of the US Joint Strike Fighter. With around 50% Stork has the largest share of the Dutch participation in the JSF. The 'level 2' qualification is the highest partnership status achievable for the Netherlands in what is one of the most extensive aircraft programmes ever developed. If the Netherlands decides to purchase the JSF, the turnover for Dutch industry is expected to be more than $ 10 billion over a period of 25 years, based on the building of 6,000 aircraft. Stork expects to account for half of this turnover (up to approximately $ 5 billion). If the Netherlands does not purchase the JSF, the turnover for the companies in the Dutch aerospace cluster will be approximately $ 2.5 billion for development and partial production. Stork will in this case also handle half of this turnover, totalling approximately $ 1.25 billion.
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Airbus officially opened its first U.S. engineering and design facility, Airbus North America Engineering, in Wichita, Kansas, USA. Currently, the new office houses some 50 design and stress engineers working on wing design for the A380, the all-new superjumbo scheduled to enter service in 2006. The office is linked in real time via on-line communications to the main A380 wing design office in Filton, United Kingdom. "Airbus selected Wichita for two reasons,” said Allan McArtor, chairman of Airbus North America. "First was the fact that the talent pool of aerospace and aviation experts in this city is among the richest in the world. The second reason is that because of time zones, this office allows nearly 24-hour development work on the A380, in concert with Airbus engineering headquarters in Europe. The A380 programme is on-track at high speed, and we are working round-the-clock to bring the superjumbo to a runway near you.” The 12,600-square-foot office is located in "Old Town” Wichita, a historical industrial neighborhood transforming itself into a top-notch business and technical community.
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Boeing's 702 spacecraft, the highest capacity satellite in the world, has returned to flight. Galaxy IIIC, a Boeing-built satellite for PanAmSat Corporation, launched June 15 at 3:39 p.m. PDT (6:39 p.m. EDT, 10:39 p.m. GMT) from the Sea Launch Odyssey Launch Platform on the equator, becoming the seventh Boeing-built satellite to be lofted by Sea Launch. Within 67 minutes after launch, Boeing spacecraft controllers in El Segundo, Calif. received the satellite's first signals, confirming normal operations. Galaxy IIIC was built by Boeing Satellite Systems, part of Boeing Space and Communications (S&C), a unit of The Boeing Company [NYSE: BA]. This newest Boeing 702 carries the latest solar cell technology and a newly configured solar array that will ensure that Galaxy IIIC will meet its requirement of at least 15 kW of power for 15 years of service life.
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Boeing has been awarded a $61.8 million contract by the U.S. Air Force for five re-engining kits for the RC-135 aircraft and two re-engining kits for the KC-135 aircraft. The contract is with the Oklahoma City Air Logistics Center at Tinker Air Force Base. The re-engine kits contract includes efforts associated with fabrication of new engine struts and nacelles, structural fittings, wiring harnesses and hardware necessary to replace the existing aircraft engines with quieter, more fuel efficient CFM-56 engines.
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Boeing Wichita has signed an agreement with Boeing Commercial Aviation Services (CAS) to establish a Service Center here for the repair and overhaul of aircraft nacelles and composite structures. The Boeing Wichita Service Center expands to nine the number of Boeing centers in its worldwide network. Wichita, which designs and builds nacelles for 737, 747, 757, 767 and 777 airplanes, has performed a number of nacelle and composite repairs since 2000. It currently has proposals to airline operators pending for such repairs.
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On June 14, Boeing delivered the 100th F/A-18E/F Super Hornet to the U.S. Navy. The airplane, a two-seat"F" model Super Hornet, was delivered during a ceremony at Boeing in St. Louis. The first production model Super Hornet was delivered in December 1998, more than a month ahead of schedule. After completing the most thorough operational evaluation in naval history, the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet entered operational service in November 1999. The Super Hornet is scheduled to deploy with the U.S. Navy later this year.
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TRW announced that it has reached a definitive agreement under which Goodrich Corporation will acquire TRW's Aeronautical Systems business (formerly Lucas Aerospace) for $1.5 billion in cash. It is expected that the sale of TRW's Aeronautical Systems business, which is subject to customary U.S. and European regulatory approvals, will close by the early fourth quarter of 2002. Proceeds will be used to reduce debt. During the transition period prior to closing, TRW will remain fully committed to meeting its customers' needs.TRW reiterated that in addition to pursuing its value enhancement plan, the Company continues to explore other strategic alternatives to enhance shareholder value. At present, the company is in the process of sharing confidential information with several interested parties. Ultimately, TRW's Board of Directors will choose the path that it believes is in the best interest of TRW shareholders.
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System qualification of MBDA's long-range conventionally armed stand-off cruise missile STORM SHADOW / SCALP EG has reached the final phase after a further successful guided firing of the missile on 4th June. The guided firing, from a Mirage 2000D experimental aircraft, paves the way for service evaluation trials by the UK's Royal Air Force ahead of the missile's entry into service later this year. Following launch at an altitude of 500 feet, the production standard missile, equipped with a telemetry warhead, flew more than 250km at a speed of 0.8 Mach before hitting the target with pinpoint accuracy at the Vidsel RFN test range in Sweden. The test firing successfully demonstrated all aspects of the missile's functionality and navigation system performance.
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As part of the Austrian Airlines Group's wider effort to continue to prepare itself for intense competition in civil aviation and to implement production specialisation on the internal and external levels, the Group is to bundle together its personnel and operational units working in the regional flight segment. With its fleet of three 50-seater Embraer jets, Rheintalflug will be integrated into Tyrolean Airways in the course of the coming year. This will enable the Austrian Airlines Group to enter the market with a newly constituted regional airline from 01.01.2003 onwards. The legal, operational and marketing dimensions of this integration are currently being developed and defined within a number of internal projects. The Austrian Airlines Group will publish further detailed information about developments in the course of autumn 2002. Vagn Soerensen, Chief Executive Officer of the Austrian Airlines Group, made the following statement on the strategic background to the new measures: "If we are to act faster and more flexibly in future and want to furthermore exploit synergies, we need to reduce complexity within the Group. The handling of all regional traffic by a single, specialised production company is an important step in this direction. This structural adaption will be conducted with social consciousness. Our decision does not in any way alter the fact that the Austrian Airlines Group views Vorarlberg and the Lake Constance region as an important market. It is for this reason that Altenrhein will retain its core position within our network.” Addressing himself to the colleagues of Rheintalflug, he states: "The Rheintalflug-Team has done an excellent job so far. This spirit will also be preserved within the new constellation
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The U.S. Army's sixth AH-64D Apache Longbow attack helicopter battalion has been certified combat-ready after completing extensive training at Fort Hood, Texas. The battalion will return to Germany this summer as the first Apache Longbow unit to be stationed in Europe.
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A revised programme for the Future Strategic Tanker Aircraft (FSTA) was announced by the UK Ministry of Defence. FSTA is planned to replace the MoD's existing fleet of ageing VC10 and TriStar air to air refuelling aircraft. MoD has been considering progress of the negotiations with both consortia bidding for this innovative PFI programme and has been decided to delay introduction of the PFI service by 12 months from early 2007 to 2008. Commenting on the revised programme, Lord Bach, the Minister for Defence Procurement said: "While we have received substantial responses from both consortia progress in contract discussions has been slower than we had hoped. Coupled with our experience in the length of time taken to close a PFI deal after the preferred contractor announcement we have concluded that we should delay the entry into service of the new arrangements by 12 months from early 2007 to early 2008.
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Embraer announced the acceptance, by Alitalia, of a commercial proposal regarding the acquisition of six 70-seat Embraer 170 jet aircraft, with options for a further six, which are convertible to the Embraer 190 model. Deliveries are expected to begin in 2003. Also included in the commercial proposal is the conversion of six options for the 50-seat ERJ 145 regional jet. This additional order brings the total number of the type to 14 aircraft in Alitalia's fleet. Deliveries will take place in 2002 and 2003. Final contract negotiations are expected to take place in the coming weeks. The order is valued at approximately US$ 250 million, and may reach US$ 400 million if all options are converted.
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Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co., a business area of Lockheed Martin Corp. reached a major milestone last week as the first C-5B aircraft was inducted into the C-5 Avionics Modernization Program (AMP). The AMP is a low-risk, cost-effective upgrade effort that will modernize the Air Force's most-capable airlifter. The acceptance flight for the C-5B (Air Force serial number 85-0004 based at Travis AFB, Calif.) was completed on June 12, and installation of the AMP hardware and software began June 13. Prior to being inducted into the AMP, this C-5B underwent a separate emergency power-generating system modification, which now establishes a new baseline configuration.
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The Boeing Company delivered its 100th 717 jetliner during a special ceremony at the company's final assembly facility at Long Beach, Calif. The 100th production airplane went to launch customer AirTran Airways, bringing the carrier's 717 fleet to 37 airplanes, with 13 additional deliveries scheduled this year.
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Two pieces of 'retired' hardware retrieved from the Hubble Space Telescope provide scientists and engineers with unique knowledge of how long-term exposure to the harsh space environment affects hardware. In March 2002, during a Space Shuttle servicing mission, the European-built Faint Object Camera (FOC) and a set of solar arrays were retrieved from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope and brought back to Earth. Since most of the hardware sent into space never reaches the ground again in one piece, engineers and scientists were eager to examine everything as soon after the landing as possible. Samples of the FOC and the solar arrays were taken directly from the cargo bay of the Space Shuttle after only a few hours - before they were 'contaminated' by our atmosphere. Samples should be as unspoilt as possible for the laboratory investigations that will take place over the coming months.
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The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program added a new international partner today when Norway officially joined the JSF's System Development and Demonstration (SDD) phase. Becoming a part of the SDD phase qualifies Norwegian industry to bid for work on the program, and enables Norway to influence the F-35's design and mission.
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BAE Systems Customer Solutions & Support has been awarded an eight year 'power by the hour' contract for the F3 Foxhunter Radar System worth approximately £75 million. The contract, signed on 14 June 2002, is the first to support a major Tornado system until its out of service date. It involves providing partnered support from all technical support and supply chain aspects. The contract is a result of the partnering approach developed between the Tornado Integrated Project Team (IPT) within the Defence Logistics Organisation (DLO), RAF Strike Command, BAE Systems Customer Solutions & Support team at Warton and BAE Systems Avionics team at Milton Keynes.
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At CommunicAsia in Singapore, Arianespace announced the signing of a launch contract for two SES Americom satellites, AMC-13 and AMC-15. With this latest business win, Arianespace confirms its world leadership in the launch services market. Arianespace has taken 8 of the 11 contracts open to competition so far this year, further demonstrating the competitiveness of the Ariane launch system. By choosing Ariane, SES Americom, a SES Global company, a pioneer in telecom services for the United States, has renewed its confidence in the quality of Arianespace services. AMC-13 and AMC-15, new-generation satellites weighing over 4,000 kilograms at liftoff, will be launched by an Ariane 5 booster from the European Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana.
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SES AMERICOM, an SES GLOBAL company, announced that it has signed two launch services contracts, one with International Launch Services (ILS) for AMC-10 and AMC-11, and the other with Arianespace for AMC-13 and AMC-15. On the occasion of the contract signings, Dean Olmstead, President and CEO of SES AMERICOM, said "We are demonstrating great confidence in our business potential by planning to launch four best-in-class spacecraft into strategic orbital positions giving us the capacity to offer our customers superior service throughout the Americas and beyond." He continued, "When combined with our existing fleet and the other satellites we will launch during this same time (AMC-9, a hybrid C- and Ku-band satellite, expected to be operational over North America in early 2003; and AMC-12, a C-band satellite providing transatlantic and regional services planned for service 1st Half 2003) the AMERICOM fleet will have unparalleled diversity, redundancy and reach throughout the Americas, across the oceans and into Europe, Asia and Africa."
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The first production model A340-600 performed its first flight in Toulouse, painted in Virgin Atlantic Airways colours, on 11 June 2002. The new aircraft, which obtained certification from the European Joint Aviation Authorities on 29 May 2002, is undergoing final preparations before delivery to launch customer Virgin Atlantic Airways in July.
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The largest Airbus wing produced to date has successfully completed its structural test programme at the Airbus site of Filton, UK. This is the first time an Airbus wing has undergone testing of this type in the UK. Since January 2001, a 21m/70ft test section representing part of a production standard A340-500/-600 wing has been subjected to increasingly rigorous testing. This culminated in the final test when nearly twice the limit load was applied to the wing and its tip deflected almost five metres (16 feet). The tests confirm performance calculations and ensure the safety and structural integrity of the new wing design. The test programme involved attaching around 1,000 sensors to the wing structure to measure strain, deflection and the distribution of loads. Some 25 servo-controlled hydraulic jigs were also fitted to flex and move the wing, and simulate the complex aerodynamic loads experienced during flight. At the height of the test programme, some 100 engineers from the Airbus sites of Filton and Broughton, UK, were involved in the design, build and testing activity.
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ScanEagle, a Boeing long-endurance unmanned aerial vehicle or UAV, successfully made its first autonomous flight Wednesday at the company's Boardman test facility in eastern Oregon. The UAV, built by The Insitu Group, took off via a pneumatic catapult and flew a pre-programmed course at a maximum altitude of 1,500 feet. During the 45-minute flight, ScanEagle completed a number of test points using the Global Positioning System. The test team also demonstrated the ability to make real-time updates to the flight plan from the ground station. The UAV was retrieved using the patented SkyHook technique, in which the ScanEagle catches a rope hanging from a 30-foot-high pole.
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Following the increases in the months of March and April, the month of May 2002 witnessed another rise in the total number of passengers carried by the Austrian Airlines Group. With 771,000 passengers, the result for May 2001 was exceeded by 1.1 %, while at the same time the production of seat kilometres was reduced by 5.3 %. As revenue passenger kilometres were just 1.6 % below the previous year's figure, the overall passenger load factor for the reporting month increased by 2.7 percentage points to 70.5 %.
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