A round-up of some of what's happening at the Farnborough International Air Show.
Dunlop Aircraft Tyres celebrates centenary
Birmingham-based Dunlop Aircraft Tyres yesterday celebrated its centenary at the Farnborough International Airshow. The world’s only specialist aircraft tyre manufacturer published a book telling the story of the company and showed a specially-commissioned short film to celebrate 100 years in the business.
Dunlop has recently opened its first retreading and distribution facility in China to cater specifically for the needs of aircraft operators in the Asia-Pacific region. It is also working on technology for the tires of the new Airbus A400M military transport aircraft.
Chemring Group and NADI partner to bid for ASEAN military contracts
Manufacturer of military material the Chemring Group today committed to a partnership with SME Ordnance, a corporation owned by the National Aerospace and Defence Industries Sdn Bhd (NADI) group. This will enable SME Ordnance to offer technical capabilities and products such as military pyrotechnics and demolition stores. The group hopes that this will help the company compete for military contracts with the Malaysian Armed Forces and other militaries in the region.
The Chief Executive of the Chemring Group, David Price, said: “Signing this agreement with SME Ordnance is an important component of our strategy and provides a long-term partnership with transfer of advanced technology to develop an important part of the ASEAN region.”
UK Space Agency’s Space 4 Careers event encourages kids to reach for the stars
The UK Space Agency today held a careers fair at Farnborough International Airshow to give careers advisors and teachers the information and resources they need to encourage young people into the sector.
They heard speakers including Professor Sir Martin Sweeting OBE, Director of the Surrey Space Centre and Executive Chairman of Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd; Peter Hulrsroj, Director of Legal Affairs and External Relations, European Space Agency; and Jeremy Curtis, Head of Education at UK Space Agency. Mr Curtis said: “The space sector offers many exciting careers for young people – it’s not just about astronauts and rockets, but includes science, communications engineering, design, project management, satellite data applications, software development and much more.”
The UK Space Agency funds the UK’s participation in Europe’s space agency programme and involves researchers and technologists in universities, laboratories and industry across the nation.
Euro Hawk on show
Representatives from Northrop Grumman are hosting discussions throughout the week at Farnborough on a range of different projects the company is involved in.
Highlights include Gene Fraser, vice president of the Aerospace Systems division, talking on Monday about the company’s portfolio of unmanned programs; a delegation discussing the company’s Worldwide Sustainment Team for F-5 planes on Tuesday; and, on Wednesday, Jim Kohn, Euro Hawk program director, providing details of the first flight and testing of the Euro Hawk plane before it is released to the German armed forces to provide high altitude, long endurance signal intelligence.
Michelin brings NZG technology to Farnborough
Michelin is featuring at Farnborough, demonstrating how its tires help towards environmentally friendly cost-effective air transport.
The company has introduced Near Zero Growth technology (NZG) to its radial aircraft tires. This virtually eliminates casing growth when the tire is inflated. This means its weight is reduced considerably and it can make twice as many landings as a conventional tire which in turn means less fuel consumption and less maintenance costs.
The company says it has been given contracts to supply to a number of different aircraft recently including the Bombardier CSeries and Air France’s and KLM’s commercial aircraft.
Its annual R&D budget of almost €500m is unrivalled in the tire industry, Michelin claims.
