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GERMAN AEROSPACE RESEARCH FUNDING STILL LIMITED

"The Federal Government supports the international competitiveness of the aerospace industry in Germany in the fields of research and technology. An appropriate program in accordance with the ministry of education and research will be funded with up to DM240mio by the State. The industry's financing shares are not to be below 60 percent. The federal states have agreed to examine their possibilities of supporting those projects of the applications for the research and technology program to the same amount as the Federal Government if they are in the interest of the respective country. The aim is to reach a total volume of DM480mio between the years 1999 and 2002 with state and federal funds combined." So much of the new edition of the commentaries to the national aviation research and support program issued at November 4 of last year by the ministry of finances.

Therefore the current status sees LuFo II running again, but fact is that it is running only by half.

The federal government has so far promised funds to the amount of DM96,7mio for the final three years of the program. Schröder's government will also commit itself to the remaining project investments of DM143,3mio.

However, the federal states, first of all Hesse, do not want to join the federal government's envisioned form of support. The original mutual relation between the federal state and federal government support connected with each other created a tight feeling in the Federal Council. In other words, the federal states are still not willing to follow the federal government's funding obligations even after the mutual relation was dropped. This appears understandable against the backdrop of their own responsibility, but practically leads to the fact that the inter-linked support shrivels to a rather low level beyond the predominant regional tasks of the federal states' politics.

This means that academic and institutional support as well as infrastructural measures are first, and only after them LuFo II is emerging on list. How much of these funds will find their way to the aerospace equipment industry? Definitely not too much.

Yet there is still the fifth EEC frame program which is to support aviation on the European level with DM1,4bn. To receive part of this subsidies at least two companies have to co-operate with each other beyond their borders. The long-term thinking of adjusting living standards in Europe which looming behind this plan has to be welcomed without doubt. Nevertheless the companies of the leading aviation nations will suffer from the side effect of involuntary technology transfer.

Therefore this only leaves the so-called "research billion". Within the time span between 2000 and 2003 the ministry of education and research as well as the ministry of economy and technology will share an annual fund of DM1bn between them. The German aerospace industry has quickly announced its wish to gain additional funds out of this pool. "One hundred million Marks might be in it", insiders claim. This would be the task of the federal government's co-ordinator for German aerospace matters, Siegmar Mosdorf. One can anxiously look forward to how he will fulfil this duty.

In the meantime the recent session of the aviation research and support program's advisory council on December 20, 1999 has shown that the "self-confidence of the federal states regarding the support program has not been run over at all", as an observer noted.

Stated in rather optimistic terms, a coherent proceeding of federal government and states together concerning the assistance of the German aerospace industry remains a task of the future.

On the other hand, if the mutual and precise protection of the nation's competence in technology is not achieved, the tasks of the future will turn into the abandonment of the future.

From page 6 of FLUG REVUE 2/2000