Aviation Week's Le Bourget Update

The Le Bourget Blog Has A New Home

Attention Fans: We're now operating in a new environment, called SiteLife, that integrates us directly into AviationWeek.com. Check out the site, and here's a link to the new Le Bourget blog.

No room left

Paris air show organizers are giving the first indication of exactly how this year's event -- to start in about three weeks time -- stacks up against prior gatherings at Le Bourget. The exhibitor levels is slated to top 2,000 and exceed the 1,926 of 2005. A total of 42 countries will be represented, one more than at the prior Paris air show. In terms of aircraft numbers on site, that will actually go down. Right now, orgnizers expected about 180 of those, compared with 200 last time. But that's not actually bad news, organizers point out. Space that was being used by aircraft is now available to move some companies from a chalet, to having their own pavilion. Goodrich is one of the firms having taken advantage. In terms of total size, that hasn't changed -- it can't. Organizers point out that the existing geographical constraints leave no room for expansion. Nevertheless, there's a good workout to be had. Le Bourget has about 3 km of chalet lines. Those looking for a nice long walk, start out at the Catic chalet, representing Chinese companies at one end of Le Bourget, and stroll down to the Northrop Grumman location at the other end of the chalet line.

Down to Business

You might think this week's European Business Aviation Convention and Exhibition in Geneva would have sucked up about all the news, leaving little of interest to be announced at the upcoming Le Bourget air show, but that may not be quite true. For instance, Airbus is hoping to unveil the first A380 in a VVIP configuration. A letter of intent has already been signed, according to Airbus. The A380 will offer unprecedented space for designers of interior cabins, but doing the completion is also going to take up a lot of capacity wherever the work is done (more on the bottlenecks in aircraft completion in Monday's Aviation Week & Space Technology). The outfitting process, depending on just how lavish it will be, can take around two years.

Also looming is an important engine announcement. Dassault Aviation suggests it will pick the engine supplier for its new business jet, the twin-engined Falcon 50 replacement. Honeywell, Rolls-Royce, Snecma, General Electric, and Pratt & Whitney are in the running for the nominal, 10,000 lb. thrust engine. Rumor had it at Ebace that Honeywell and Rolls may be the front runners, but then again, who knows who was spreading that rumor.

GWI to stress U.S. Presence for European Companies

U.S. Air Force Secretary Michale Wynne and Aviation Week's Ed Hazelwood (your's truly) will take part in a seminar at the GIFAS Pavilion at the Paris Air Show that will focus on the importance to European companies of having a presence in the United States. Also taking part will be the C-level officers of Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Thales, BAE Systems and Auroa Flight Sciences among others. The event is sponsored by the Greater Washington Initiative and takes place Tuesday June 19, beginning at 10 am. We will all discuss transatlantic aerospace, defense business and procurement opportunities. GWI will also had out copies of its just completed Greater Washington Aerospace and Defense Assets publication. Link here for more details http://www.greaterwashington.org/news/events/paris_0607.htm Seating is limited and you need to register by June 1st.

Ed Hazelwood, Editorial Director, Aviation Week Conferences

Red, White & Blue (pt 3)

With only about a month to go, getting a clear radar track on the F-22's presence at Le Bourget is becoming increasingly difficult. French industry officials say there could be as many as three of the stealth fighters in Paris. That's not the U.S. storyline, for now, though. After U.S. officials first indicated the F-22 would fly at the Paris air show, but not be based here due to security fears, now the aircraft is not even on the tentative deployment list. The Pentagon is still figuring out exactly what the final list of aircraft will be to grace the show. For now, both F-16s and F/A-18s will be in the flying display, with one of each type also in the static area. There, they will likely be accompanied by an F-15E, a C-17, C-130J, and a training Predator unmanned aircraft. Two helicopters are expected to show up, a HH-60 and an AH-64, although the high operational tempo for Apaches makes finding one for air show duty not that easy. In terms of senior Pentagon representatives, Michael Wynne will be back, this time as Air Force Secretary. He was at Le Bourget two years ago when he served as Pentagon acquisition czar.

Droning On

There's no let up in sight for new unmanned aircraft to make their showing at major aerospace trade events, and this year's Le Bourget will be no different. For instance, EADS plans to showcase its new Advanced UAV System concept, which has just been unveiled. There's a local link for Le Bourget, the French part of EADS is now on-board, too -- the German arm of the company has been behind the program longer. Additionally, with the effective demise of the EuroMale program, which the French government had long been promoting, there's a chance of larger French involvement. So far, governments aren't, yet, financially behind the concept, but there's a move afoot to get multi-national funding. The Advanced UAV System embraces a modular build approach, with different wings and payloads depending on the mission operators want to undertake. Others, also, are looking to showcase new UAVs at Le Bourget, notably the Israeli contingent, which has a long track record in this field. Israeli firms plan to show several smaller systems, but there are rumors the largest unmanned vehicle the country has ever built could be in Paris, too. No doubt, several other  concepts will see first light in the various halls and pavilions. No UAVs will be flying, though, that's still not something authorities will agree to.

Powering Down

Airbus is going to have two A380s at the Le Bourget air show this summer. But don't be fooled, the aircraft maker actually will have a much smaller presence at the event than usual -- largely thanks to the A380. The financial crisis created at Airbus parent EADS last year by A380 delays, leading to reduced cash flow, delay penalties, and contract cancellations, has caused to some serious belt tightening. And, with the Power8 program underway to restructure Airbus and shed 10,000 positions, there was a feeling a large airshow presence would be both fiscally unsound and politically foolish. So EADS has cut the space it will be renting at the air show, and it and Airbus will share real-estate, which they historically have not done. By then way, if anyone is wondering if the first A380 to go to a customer will be there, the answer is no. That Singapore Airlines-bound aircraft will be too busy getting ready for the handover several months after Le Bourget.

Red, White & Blue (pt 2)

Making its Le Bourget debut this year will be the Lockheed Martin F-22A Raptor. But plans right now foresee the F-22 only in the air, not on the ground. The U.S. Air Force will likely base the stealth fighter in the U.K., eshewing French hospitality for good security -- the moves comes just after U.S. Air Force sent the stealth fighter to Japan, for its first serious overseas deployment.

The Pentagon has a long track record of bringing its best and finest aircraft to Le Bourget. Unfortunately, it’s the memory of some of those experiences that has them looking to base the F-22 somewhere else.

U.S. sources tell us they believe the French may have shown a bit too much interest in the F-117, when it was first brought to Le Bourget. The customs inspection was exceedingly thorough, and they were probably not looking for contraband, but secrets, the U.S. officials suspect. They also believe French air traffic control deliberately routed the aircraft past French military electronic collection posts, to see what data they can gather.

Also part of U.S. Le Bourget lore is the B-1B’s first appearance. The French are accused of having played games with timely supply of fuel to the bomber, thereby delaying its aerial performance. Ce n'est pas possible, the french will probably argue.

With the F-22, nobody is willing to play those games. So, an aerial display will be all the crowd can look forward too.

To read more on the F-22's overseas exploits, check out the April 23 issue of Aviation Week & Space Tehnology.

All Politics Is Local

There’s always much buzz about what’s new at Le Bourget. Last time it was the A380, but since then it has had numerous worldwide appearances -- even if not in customer hands -- that make the aircraft old news by now.

   What is certain, though, is that the ceremonial event on Monday, which is called presidents day, will see a new face. With presidential elections in France slated to play out in the coming weeks (it’s a two-phase process and the first round is set for April 22) and the incumbent not in the running for reelection, the Paris Air Show will get a new host. It will not just be the president that changes, though.

   One French industry official points out that it may just be a day or two before the show starts, that the names and faces of the new cabinet will be known. With the defense and industry ministers historically visiting the site, this could be their first public appearance. Their pronouncement are sure to be closely watched for any hint on future government spending plans or industrial policy or -- for those World Trade Organization watchers -- subsidies.

   The stakes are important not just to French industry. The highest profile project hanging in the balance is the French-U.K. cooperation on a future carrier. Socialist presidential candidate Segolene Royale has suggested she’d terminate the program and divert the funds to bolster education spending. She's also saying Airbus should scrap its Power8 restructuring scheme.

   BTW, look closely at the picture and you'll notice that it's not just Jacques Chirac (center) that'll be out of a job, Noel Forgeard on his right has since been sent packing, too, and former EADS co-CEO Rainer Hertrich (on Chirac's left) also is no longer in that post. 

Red, White & Blue

The U.S. industry and government presence is at the heart of each Le Bourget, not least because the American contingent is the largest from outside France and dwarfs all the other foreign representations. That’s why Le Bourget suffered four years ago, when political disagreements over Iraq kept the U.S. delegation small, and it recovered two years ago when the U.S. was back. And with one of the architects of the transatlantic rift, French president Jacques Chirac, firmly gone by then, the “freedom fries” affair now seems largely closed. U.S. firms will take more than 22% of the available space at the show this year. That’s despite persistent efforts at the large companies to keep delegations small. Le Bourget, of course, is the one time in the aerospace industry the current euro-dollar imbalance doesn’t play in the U.S. favor. Anyone Americans checking, buying a euro will cost you $1.34, check the current rate here, and the trend lines mean that could get worse by June.