BAE, EADS in merger talks to create aerospace giant

By Paul Sandle and Rhys Jones – Britain’s BAE Systems and Airbus-owner EADS are in advanced merger talks to create a combined group worth US$48-billion, overtaking Boeing as the world’s biggest aerospace and defence company in terms of sales.

“On the face of it this will create one of the largest aerospace and defense organizations on the planet, depending on how much they have to spin out to get this past regulators,” said Guy Anderson, Senior Principal Analyst, IHS Jane’s Defence Industry.

“It could change the European defence market beyond recognition.” more> http://tinyurl.com/9lnwfun

Related articles

• BAE-EADS merger could create Europe giant to take on Boeing (theweek.co.uk)
• BAE Systems in talks with EADS over merger (standard.co.uk)
• EADS and BAE: A Giant in the Making (businessweek.com)
• EADS and BAE propose EU-based merger to rival US defense giants (rt.com)
• BAE Systems and EADS Say They Are in Merger Talks (dealbook.nytimes.com)
• BAE, EADS in merger talks to create aerospace giant (business.financialpost.com)
• BAE And EADS Shares Plunge Amid Merger Talks (news.sky.com)
• Germans talks with EADS over BAE merger plans (thelocal.de)
• BAE and EADS in merger talks as Woodford site closes (leaderswedeserve.wordpress.com)
• Daimler could exit EADS if BAE merger succeeds, Reuters

How plane giants descended into global “price war”

By Tim Hepher – From Australia to Indonesia, the United States to Norway – and most recently, Reuters has learned, Turkey – the marauding plane giants have spent months taking or defending market share, with world No.1 Airbus aiming deep inside Boeing’s territory and its rival publicly vowing to defend a traditional 50-50 split.

One thing is for sure: if there is a price war, nobody can agree who started it. Each accuses the other of dragging down prices but acknowledges being hurt in the process.

“Airbus and Boeing are a duopoly and can’t collude, but they can signal to each other. And Boeing is sending a clear signal to Airbus that ‘if you price down to get market share we are not getting to let it happen so we both get hurt’,” said Nick Cunningham, managing partner of London-based researchers Agency Partners. more> http://tinyurl.com/c549rjl

Related articles

• Boeing lands first blow at airshow (news.yahoo.com)
• Boeing unfazed by Airbus’ plans in Alabama (al.com)
• Boeing Said to Win GE Jet Order as Aeromexico Nears Deal (bloomberg.com)

Commercial space race gets crowded behind SpaceX

English: Artist rendering of SpaceX Dragon spacecraft delivering cargo to the International Space Station. Credit NASA (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

By Seth Borenstein – A privately built space capsule that’s zipping its way to the International Space Station has also launched something else: A new for-profit space race.

The capsule called Dragon was due to arrive near the space station for tests early Thursday and dock on Friday with its load of supplies. Space Exploration Technologies Corp.—run by PayPal co-founder Elon Musk—was hired by NASA to deliver cargo and eventually astronauts to the orbital outpost.

And the space agency is hiring others, too. more> http://tinyurl.com/co9ljp8

related>

• SpaceX Selects Siemens’ Fibersim for Designing and Manufacturing, Siemens PLM Software, Product Design & Development

S.C. plant builds jet from start to finish

By Dominic Gates – The first 787 Dreamliner assembled in South Carolina waited Friday (Apr 27, 2012) to roll out into the hot sunshine, “Made with pride in South Carolina” stenciled on its fuselage.

Boeing South Carolina, which employs around 6,000 people, has until now built 787 rear fuselages and mid-fuselages, then shipped them to Everett, Wash., for final assembly.

Now it can boast that it also assembles complete airplanes, one of just three elite widebody jet assembly sites in the world: Everett, Wash.; Toulouse, France; and now North Charleston, S.C. more> http://is.gd/7azKbk

Related articles

• Boeing rolls out first 787 manufactured in SC (sacbee.com)
• Boeing rolls out first SC-made plane (charlotteobserver.com)
• Boeing Charleston rolls out 787 Dreamliner (examiner.com)
• Boeing rolls out first 787 manufactured in SC (seattlepi.com)
• Boeing rolls out first 787 manufactured in SC (sfgate.com)
• First South Carolina-built 787 rolls out Friday (bizjournals.com)
• Boeing rolls out first 787 manufactured in SC (news.yahoo.com)
• Boeing to Ship Four South Carolina-Built 787s to Air India, Tim Catts, Bloomberg
• Used Airbus for sale, one careful owner: contact Boeing, Tim Hepher and Donny Kwok, Reuters

NASA technology

→
Spray Bars to Help Test Engine Icing
NASA – Ron Colantonio (left), manager of the Atmospheric Environment Safety Technologies Project at NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, discussed with NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden the latest testing and research on airplane engine icing during the administrator’s February 2012 visit to the center. Colantonio showed Bolden how a large horizontal array of spray bars, such as those pictured, would emit a cloud of ice crystals in high-altitude, low pressure conditions that match those an airliner might experience in flight.

NASA scientists are mounting a research campaign using flight and ground tests to solve this aviation mystery, in which ice crystals associated with warm-weather storms can be ingested into the core of a hot jet engine, melt and then re-freeze. As larger amounts of ice build up, some of the ice can break off and cause damage inside the engine, or melt and cause the engine to lose power or shut down altogether in a flameout.

Part of the research effort involves using the spray bars to simulate the icing conditions in engines on the ground at the Propulsion Systems Laboratory at Glenn. Eventually, a full-scale engine will be mounted opposite the bar array Image Credit: NASA/Marvin Smith

Related articles

• NASA Memory Lane (5) (theneteconomy.wordpress.com)
• NASA Memory Lane (4) (theneteconomy.wordpress.com)