Farnborough 2008 Show News - July 16, 2008 - (Page 77)

FA R N B O R O U G H 2 0 0 8 BAE’s Science Aircraft Studies Skies A BAe 146 aircraft, specially adapted to perform atmospheric research, has been deployed to Malaysia to help determine how equatorial rain forests influence climate change. The scientific mission consists of a team of scientists from seven UK universities and one research laboratory, working alongside other Malaysian, U.S. and European researchers. During its month-long mission, the BAE aircraft will be flown at altitudes ranging from treetop level to 8 km high. Its suite of onboard equipment will measure the photochemical composition of reactive trace gases and particles. The research aircraft is owned by BAE Systems and was converted by its Regional Aircraft unit. This aircraft flies about 500 hours of science missions a year. It is operated under subcontract by Directflight, while the Facility for Airborne Atmospheric Measurements (FAAM) manages the scientific tasking. The missions are decided on the basis of bids by universities or the UK Met Office. FAAM arranges with BAE Systems Regional Aircraft to add new equipment in the aircraft as needed for each mission. BAE also works with the scientific community to determine how to install these instruments. The next to be introduced after the Malaysian mission will be a Buck Hygrometer for measuring atmospheric dew and frost points. —Adrian Schofield QuEST co-founders: CEO Ajit Prabhu (left) and chairman Aravind Melligeri. The U.S.-India Connection Is Working Well for QuEST QuEST thinks it has a unique business strategy for outsourcing aerospace engineering and manufacturing to India by keeping one foot firmly planted in the West, and so far its 40% per year sales growth seems to confirm that it is on to something. In its first decade of operation, U.S.-based QuEST has been using teams of engineers in India led by experienced leaders in the U.S. and Europe to provide engineering services to large aerospace companies. Two years ago it added manufacturing in India. Now it aims to provide design through manufacturing there to the big Western companies. QuEST says it has just been approved by EADS to offer end-toend solutions with offset fulfillment. The EADS E2S preferred supplier status for engineering services comes after a stringent two-year evaluation as the European manufacturer consolidates its supplier base. CEO Ajit Prabhu says that the U.S.-based firm now has 1,500 employees, with 1,000 of them in India and most of the rest in the U.S. and Europe. Its sales are 50% in the U.S., 40% in Europe and 10% in Asia. QuEST’s rapid growth in engineering services with customers including EADS, GE, Pratt & Whitney and Rolls-Royce is due to the QuEST business model, he says. QuEST has team leaders in the U.S., Europe and Asia working with customers and directing engineers in India. The key, Prabhu explains, is to make sure that there is no breakdown in communication between what customers want and what the Indian teams are doing for them. This, he says, is what is often missing in aerospace outsourcing in India. It is also why QuEST’s sales are growing at the pace they are. In the past 24 months QuEST has added the capability to manufacture aerospace components such as those for landing gears in India. QuEST has a 10-year pact with Ontariobased Magellan Aerospace Corp. of Canada to supply landing gear parts for Boeing 747s, 777s and 787s. This is a $5 million order. Later this year, QuEST plans to open a new special economic zone for manufacturing aerospace components by itself and other companies in Belgaum, a small city near the port of Goa. This economic zone, being approved with the government of India, will give QuEST the capability to manufacture export parts in a tax-free zone. In addition to meeting all Western manufacturing standards such as AS 9100 for aerospace and the National Aerospace & Defense Contractors Accreditation Program, the facility will provide surface treatment capability for parts such as shot peening. Prabhu says that this sort of capability is hard to find in India now. “Everyone knows about the cost advantage of outsourcing to India, but it is difficult to execute well there. “It is not easy to operationalize manufacturing and to put all the needed systems in place,” Prabhu says. QuEst’s first, 60,000- sq ft manufacturing building is nearing completion now. —David Hughes This BAe 146 is the platform for research into the equatorial rain forests and their influence on climate change. Scientists from seven UK universities and their Malaysian and Western colleagues are logging some 500 hours aloft per year. www.aviationweek.com/shownews July 16, 2008 77 http://www.aviationweek.com/shownews

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Bombardier, Shenyang $5 Billion for Composites 787 and Seven V-22s for Export Sale? Saving Fuel at SFO Raytheon Roars Into UAVs Bell Eyes ARH-70A Costs All According to Plan We Fly the PC-12NG Russia’s T-50 PAK-FA Optimistic in Israel ICAO Sim Classifications Pratt to Power New Drone Russian Conglomerate

Farnborough 2008 Show News - July 16, 2008

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