Farnborough Show News - July 14, 2008 - (Page 4)

FA R N B O R O U G H 2 0 0 8 Signing Up for Another 30 Years: CFM Partners Renew Their Vows General Electric and Snecma, parent companies of CFM International, have signed an agreement that extends the 50/50 partnership until 2040. The move, announced at Farnborough on July 12, positions CFM for development of the new LEAP-X short haul fan, while clarifying how the companies will share future maintenance, repair and overhaul work. “This is a sign to the market that we’ve been together and will be together for at least 30 more years,” says Marc Venter, executive vice president, SAFRAN Group. “We’ve also taken the opportunity to correct something awkward in our corporation. We’ve decided that for the next generation engine, MRO will be shared, with CFM having its own MRO organization.” The new structure does not affect the in-service fleet of CFM56 engines. For these, the company has launched TRUEngine, a program designed to help the industry to “We are in a turbulent more accurately appraise the value of used CFM56 engines. environment, but are in Olivier Savin, director of the CFM56 program, describes a very strong position. TRUEngine as a free web database offering that tracks CFMapproved engine configurations on an engine-by-engine basis. We are happy.” “It’s a status granted to particular engines maintained —CFM president & CEO Eric Bachelet. with CFM-approved parts and maintenance practices,” he says. “Some airline fleets will be granted ‘true engine’ status, but not every engine will qualify.” CFM has delivered more than 18,500 CFM56 engines since the partnership’s 1974 inception. Around 16,000 are in service today; the most common applications are the Boeing 737 and Airbus A320 narrowbody airliners. AVIATION WEEK President Tom Henricks Publisher Greg Hamilton Editor-In-Chief John Morris Morrisoff@aol.com Senior Editors Rich Piellisch Mike Jerram News Editor Scot Greenan Copy Editor Andrea Ader Writers Tamir Eshel, Fred George, Robert Hewson, David Hughes, Paul Jackson, Reuben F. Johnson, Paul Richfield, Adrian Schofield Senior Art Director & IT Manager Kirk Fetzer Art Directors Maureen Spuhler, Ariel de Man Photographer Mike Vines Digital Photo Fran Vines Photo Assistant Nick Vines Digital Data Manager Jill Loveless Newsroom Manager Mara Morris VP Sales Mark A. Flinn mark_flinn@aviationnow.com MD Europe, Middle East, Africa Iain Blackhall Pratt’s GTF, port inboard, promises a 12% efficiency gain. Europe Romaine Meyer romaine_meyer@mcgraw-hill.com Germany/Switzerland Robert Rottmeier rottm@mcgraw-hill.com E. Europe/CIS/India/Italy Vittorio Rossi Prudente prudente@mcgraw-hill.com UK Mike Elmes mike.elmes@aerospacemedia.co.uk Business Manager Sean Beers Pratt & Whitney Flies the Fuel-Frugal Fan Pratt & Whitney’s vaunted Geared Turbofan demonstrator engine made its first flight last Friday from Plattsburg, New York, on the company’s Boeing 747SP flying testbed. The GTF made a second flight later, and will be airborne again today in an aggressive flight test program that calls for logging 40 hours in eight flights by this coming Sunday. The engine will then be sent to Airbus in Toulouse for up to 75 hours of flight testing on an A340 by the end of November. “The engine ran really well—we’re very pleased,” Bob Saia, P&W’s vp for the Next Generation Product Family, told Show News. “There were no vibrations, and it sounded really, really quiet.” The first two flights of the demo engine, which utilizes a modified PW6000 core to drive the geared fan, used full takeoff thrust of 24,000 pounds, with full acceleration. The following six flights of up to six hours in duration will validate operability, in flight starts and finally high angle of attack and aggressive maneuvers. “That’s because it will be doing some pretty aggressive maneuvers at Airbus,” Saia said. “We plan to be flying almost every day,” he said. The GTF is expected to reduce fuel burn by better than 12%. —John Morris Operations Manager Erving Dockery AVIATION WEEK B/CA Show News is published at Farnborough by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., 2 Penn Plaza, New York, NY 10121 AVIATION WEEK also publishes Aviation Week & Space Technology, Aviation Daily, Aerospace Daily & Defense Report, Business and Commercial Aviation, Overhaul & Maintenance, The Weekly of Business Aviation, Defense Technology International, and the World Aerospace Database including World Aviation Directory. Material in this publication may not be reproduced in any form without permission. Printing & Distribution Managed by: Mike and Rachel Meadows Communisis © Copyright 2008 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Library of Congress ISSN 1092-6151 Show News at Farnborough On site Newsroom: Chalet A20 Tel: +44 (0)1252 417798 4 July 14, 2008 www.aviationweek.com/shownews http://www.aviationweek.com/shownews

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Farnborough Show News - July 14, 2008

Farnborough Show News - July 14, 2008 Contents Thirty More Years CFM Reveals New Engine Boeing Reduces Forecast UAVs’ Quiet Revolution Finmeccanica: U.S. Success A Plethora of AESAs BAE North America Plus L-3 Becomes a Prime Better Late Than Never A Peek Behind the Curtain China’s J-10 Revealed Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner Breaking LM’s Hegemony

Farnborough Show News - July 14, 2008

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