Lockheed Martin successfully delivered Sweden’s first Patriot Advanced Capability-3 (PAC-3) Missile Segment Enhancement (MSE) interceptors in April, providing the country with the world’s most advanced air defense missile that uses Hit-to-Kill technology to defend against incoming threats.
U.S. and Swedish officials formalized an agreement for Sweden to purchase PAC-3 MSE interceptors and related support equipment in August 2018.
The PAC-3 MSE’s revolutionary two-pulse solid rocket motor provides increased performance in both altitude and range while employing the same proven Hit-to-Kill technology that the PAC-3 CRI missile uniquely brings to the Patriot system.
Fifteen public buses in Vancouver, Canada, will be fitted with BAE Systems’ (London: BA.L) all-electric propulsion system, allowing them to run free of emissions. The fleet is the first in North America to benefit from the next-generation Series-EV zero emission technology.
Series-EV eliminates the need for traditional combustion engines through the use of electric motors, controls, and batteries, creating a clean and efficient mode of transportation. The latest version of BAE Systems’ technology uses fewer, lighter, and more compact components. Its light weight, reduced number of connections, and use of advanced materials make it easy to install and extremely efficient, enabling the buses to travel longer distances on a single charge.
“The deployment of clean transportation in our cities is critical to reach a zero emission future,” said Steve Trichka, vice president and general manager of Power & Propulsion Solutions at BAE Systems. “Our Series-EV system will help Vancouver take a major step towards full electrification of its bus fleet, and will help to improve air quality throughout the city.”
BAE Systems’ Series-EV system builds on more than 25 years of innovation and proven technology that powers buses around the world. The company’s all-electric systems are on buses in service throughout Europe, including cities such as London and Paris.
BAE Systems has more than 13,000 propulsion systems in service on transit buses around the globe. Each year those systems contribute to a cleaner world by saving more than 28 million gallons of fuel and eliminating 313,000 tons of carbon dioxide each year across the globe – the equivalent of taking 54,000 cars off the road or planting four million trees.
BAE Systems develops and services its technology at its facilities in Endicott, New York, and Rochester, UK.
Dallas, Texas March 4, 2021 – Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) successfully tested its next-generation Extended-Range Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System (ER GMLRS) munition in an 80-kilometer flight demonstration at White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico. During the flight test, the ER GMLRS round was fired from the U.S. Army’s High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS®) launcher, built by Lockheed Martin, meeting test objectives. The demonstration confirmed the missile’s flight trajectory performance, range and validated interfaces with the HIMARS launcher and system software performance.
Lockheed Martin has produced more than 50,000 GMLRS rounds and is under contract to produce more than 9,000 new GMLRS unitary and alternative-warhead rockets, more than 1,800 low-cost reduced-range practice rockets and integrated logistics support for the U.S. Army and international customers. The systems are produced at its Precision Fires Center of Excellence in Camden, Arkansas.
For more than 40 years, Lockheed Martin has been the leading designer and manufacturer of long-range, surface-to-surface precision strike solutions, providing highly reliable, combat-proven systems like MLRS, HIMARS, ATACMS and GMLRS to domestic and international customers.
Paris, France 4 March 2020 – Within the Syracuse IV programme, Airbus (Paris: AIR.PA) has been awarded a 10-year framework agreement called Copernicus for the construction and upgrading of part of the ground segment for the telecommunications satellites used by the French Armed Forces. As part of Copernicus, the French Directorate General of Armaments (DGA) has placed an initial order worth more than € 100 million.
Dominique Maudet, Head of French Defence Sales at Airbus Defence and Space said: “We are building the future broadband and multi-satellite ground segment for France’s Armed Forces. It will be fully integrated, intelligent and dynamic, giving operators access to a decision-making tool unique to satellite communications management.”
This first order specifically covers the development of the future satellite communications management system for the French Ministry of Defence. This unique portal called Pegasus, accessible to all units, will enable the French Armed Forces to optimise use of the available capacities on military and commercial satellites. It will make it possible to coordinate requests entered by central military staff or any unit deployed on the ground, at sea or in the air. Allocation of satellite capacities will be optimised in terms of operational criteria completed by the units, such as the type of terminals used, ground cover, level of cyber security, jamming resistance, as well as the need for availability.
The Copernicus project also aims to increase the operability of Comcept, the multi-satellite communications network designed by Airbus and commissioned by the French armed forces in 2017. Comcept uses the broadband Ka-band transmission capacities of the Franco-Italian military satellite ATHENA-FINDUS, in addition to the Ku- and C-band capacities of commercial satellites. Thanks to these developments, Comcept will also be able to use the high-speed Ka-band of future satellites SYRACUSE 4A and 4B.
Different elements of the SYRACUSE IV programme’s future ground segment and the Pegasus portal will enable the French armed forces to use the entire spectrum of satellite capacities efficiently and dynamically, from the most secure and resilient to the high-speed and wide coverage capacities, in all areas of operations.
ST. LOUIS, Feb. 23, 2021 — A new era in aircraft design and build has begun as the first U.S. portion of the T-7A Red Hawk advanced trainer has officially entered the Boeing [NYSE: BA] jet’s state-of-the-art production line.
The training jet, designated the eT-7A Red Hawk by the U.S. Air Force because of its digital heritage, was fully designed using 3D model-based definition and data management systems developed at Boeing during the last two decades. The T-7A Red Hawk employed the digital engineering and design of the Boeing T-X aircraft that went from firm concept to first flight in just 36 months.
The Advanced Pilot Training System also incorporates leading-edge ground-based live and virtual simulators to give students and instructors a “real as it gets” experience.
In September 2018, the U.S. Air Force awarded Boeing a $9.2 billion contract to supply 351 advanced trainer aircraft and 46 associated ground-based training simulators. Saab is teamed with Boeing on the trainer and provides the aft fuselage of the jet.
Boeing is the world’s largest aerospace company and leading provider of commercial airplanes, defense, space and security systems, and global services. As a top U.S. exporter, the company supports commercial and government customers in more than 150 countries and leverages the talents of a global supplier base. Building on a legacy of aerospace leadership, Boeing continues to lead in technology and innovation, deliver for its customers and invest in its people and future growth.
São Paulo, Brazil, February 18, 2021 – Embraer (NYSE: ERJ) welcomes the Brazilian Government’s decisions to withdraw its ongoing World Trade Organization (WTO) dispute with Canada regarding aeronautical subsidies and to launch negotiations on more effective disciplines to regulate government support in the Commercial Aviation segment.
At the WTO, Brazil challenged more than USD 3 billion in illegal subsidies that the Governments of Canada and Quebec provided to Bombardier for the launch, development and production of the C-Series program. These subsidies distorted the conditions of competition in the global market for commercial aircraft, causing serious prejudice to Embraer, in clear violation of WTO rules.
Although Brazil has a strong case, the WTO dispute became ineffective to address the Canadian subsidies and to remedy the distortions generated in the market. After Bombardier exited the Commercial Aviation segment and transferred the C-Series program (now called A220) to Airbus, which has a second assembly line in the United States, the trade dispute against Canada at the WTO is no longer the most effective means to achieve Brazil’s and Embraer’s goal of reestablishing a level playing field in this sector.
Embraer also supports Brazil’s initiative to launch negotiations for more effective disciplines on government support in the commercial aviation segment, as the best way to achieve this goal, as previously seen with the successful experience of the OECD’s Aircraft Sector Understanding (ASU), signed in 2007 to regulate export credits. Ultimately, Embraer believes that commercial aircraft manufacturers should compete against each other based on the merits of their product, not on the amount of funding they receive from their governments.
FY EBIT (reported) € -0.5 billion; FY loss per share (reported) € -1.45
No dividend proposed for 2020
FY FCF before M&A and customer financing € -6.9 billion
Net cash position at € 4.3 billion
2021 guidance issued
Amsterdam, 18 February 2021 – Airbus SE (stock exchange symbol: AIR) reported consolidated Full-Year (FY) 2020 financial results and provided guidance for 2021.
“The 2020 results demonstrate the resilience of Airbus in the most challenging crisis to hit the aerospace industry. I want to thank our teams for their great achievements in 2020 and acknowledge the strong support of our Helicopters and Defence and Space businesses. I would also like to thank our customers, suppliers and partners for their loyalty to Airbus,” said Airbus Chief Executive Officer Guillaume Faury. “Many uncertainties remain for our industry in 2021 as the pandemic continues to impact lives, economies and societies. We have issued guidance to provide some visibility in a volatile environment. Over the longer term, our ambition is to lead the development of a sustainable global aerospace industry.”
Net commercial aircraft orders totalled 268 (2019: 768 aircraft) with the order backlog comprising 7,184 commercial aircraft as of 31 December 2020. Airbus Helicopters booked 268 net orders (2019: 310 units), including 31 NH90’s for the German Bundeswehr in Q4 and 11 H160’s. Airbus Defence and Space’s order intake by value increased 39% year-on-year to € 11.9 billion, a book-to-bill above one, mainly driven by major contract wins in Military Aircraft. This included a contract signed in November to deliver 38 new Eurofighters for the German Air Force.
Consolidated order intake by value decreased to € 33.3 billion (2019: € 81.2 billion) with the consolidated order book valued at € 373 billion on 31 December 2020 (year-end 2019: € 471 billion). The decrease in the value of the commercial aircraft backlog reflects the higher number of deliveries compared to order intake, the weakening of the US dollar and an assessment of the backlog’s recoverability.
Consolidated revenues decreased to € 49.9 billion (2019: € 70.5 billion), driven by the difficult market environment impacting the commercial aircraft business with 34% fewer deliveries year-on-year. A total of 566 commercial aircraft were delivered (2019: 863 aircraft), comprising 38 A220s, 446 A320 Family, 19 A330s, 59 A350s and 4 A380s. During the fourth quarter of 2020, a total of 225 commercial aircraft were delivered including 89 in December. In 2020, Airbus Helicopters delivered 300 units (2019: 332 units) with revenues increasing by around 4%, benefiting from a favourable product mix and growth in services. Revenues at Airbus Defence and Space decreased by around 4%, mainly reflecting lower volume as well as the impact of COVID-19 on business phasing, mainly in Space Systems.
Consolidated EBIT Adjusted – an alternative performance measure and key indicator capturing the underlying business margin by excluding material charges or profits caused by movements in provisions related to programmes, restructuring or foreign exchange impacts as well as capital gains/losses from the disposal and acquisition of businesses – totalled € 1,706 million (2019: € 6,946 million). This mainly reflects the weaker commercial aircraft performance, which was supported by a strong contribution from Airbus Helicopters and Airbus Defence and Space.
Airbus’ EBIT Adjusted of € 618 million (2019: € 5,947 million(1)) mainly reflects the reduced commercial aircraft deliveries and associated lower cost efficiency. It also includes € -1.1 billion in COVID-19 related charges. In January 2021, an update on production rates was communicated in response to the market environment with rates to remain lower for longer.
Airbus Helicopters’ EBIT Adjusted increased to € 471 million (2019: € 422 million), mainly driven by strong government-related activities and reliable programme execution. It also includes lower Research & Development (R&D) expenses reflecting the end of the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) certification process for the five-bladed H145 and the H160.
EBIT Adjusted at Airbus Defence and Space increased to € 660 million (2019: € 565 million), mainly reflecting cost containment measures and lower R&D expenses, partly offset by the impact of COVID-19, including on the launcher business.
A total of 9 A400M military airlifters were delivered during the year, with Belgium taking delivery of its first of seven aircraft in December. Good progress was made with the aircraft’s capability roadmap, including the flight test campaign for Automatic Low Level Flight certification.
Consolidated self-financed R&D expenses decreased to € 2,858 million (2019: € 3,358 million).
Consolidated EBIT (reported) was € -510 million (2019: € 1,339 million), including Adjustments totalling a net € -2,216 million.
These Adjustments comprised:
€ -1,202 million related to the Company-wide restructuring plan;
€ -385 million related to A380 programme cost, of which € -27 million were in Q4;
€ -480 million related to the dollar pre-delivery payment mismatch and balance sheet revaluation, of which € -106 million were in Q4;
€ -149 million of other costs (including compliance), of which € -21 million were in Q4.
The consolidated net loss (2)was € -1,133 million (2019 net loss: € -1,362 million). It includes the financial result of € -620 million (2019: € -275 million). The financial result largely reflects interest results of € -271 million, Repayable Launch Investment re-measurement impact in the other financial result of € -157 million, as well as a net € -149 million related to Dassault Aviation financial instruments. It also includes the impairment of the OneWeb loan, recognised in Q1 2020. The consolidated reported loss per share was € -1.45 (2019: € -1.75).
Consolidated free cash flow before M&A and customer financing amounted to € -6,935 million (2019: € 3,509 million), including the payment of the compliance-related penalties of € -3.6 billion in Q1 2020. The Q4 2020 free cash flow before M&A and customer financing of € 4.9 billion reflects the solid level of aircraft deliveries in the quarter, the good performance from Helicopters and Defence and Space, as well as a strong focus on working capital management.
Various measures were taken during 2020 to maintain a strong liquidity position while navigating the COVID-19 crisis, including a new € 15.0 billion credit facility. Thanks to its strong credit rating, the Company was able to limit interest expenses to € 0.4 billion for the year and extend the maturities of funding sources by issuing new bonds.
Full-year capital expenditure was around € 1.8 billion, down by about € 0.6 billion year-on-year following the prioritisation of projects. Consolidated free cash flow was € -7,362 million (2019: € 3,475 million). The consolidated net cash position was € 4.3 billion on 31 December 2020 (year-end 2019: € 12.5 billion) with a gross cash position of € 21.4 billion (year-end 2019: € 22.7 billion).
Given the global business environment, there will be no dividend proposed for 2020. This decision aims at strengthening the Company’s financial resilience by protecting the net cash position and supporting its ability to adapt as the situation evolves.
Outlook As the basis for its 2021 guidance, the Company assumes no further disruptions to the world economy, air traffic, the Company’s internal operations, and its ability to deliver products and services. The Company’s 2021 guidance is before M&A.
On that basis, the Company targets to at least achieve in 2021:
Same number of commercial aircraft deliveries as in 2020;
EBIT Adjusted of € 2 billion;
Breakeven free cash flow before M&A and customer financing.
Being able to manufacture and assemble objects in space using 3D printing and in-orbit robots may sound like pure science fiction – but these game-changing techniques are set to become reality…and Airbus is making it happen.
The company kicked off its in-space manufacturing and assembly (ISMA) activities four years ago, a reflection of the disruptive thinking currently taking hold in the global space industry. Among Airbus Defence and Space’s key breakthroughs so far is development of Metal3D – the first-ever metal 3D printer to be deployed to space, in a project co-funded by the European Space Agency (ESA).
Manufacturing and assembling objects in space has significant advantages over the traditional approach – where everything is produced on Earth and subsequently transported to space. For example, objects manufactured/assembled in space are not constrained by the size of a launch vehicle, nor must they be “over-designed” to withstand rigorous launch conditions.
ISMA activities are now in full swing at Airbus. A transnational robotics team is developing the company’s robotic capabilities, exploring how best to carry out in-orbit servicing in the future. This year, the team will deliver their boundary-breaking metal 3D printer that will one day go to the International Space Station and they are targeting European projects to achieve in-orbit demonstration of in-space manufacturing the following year.
The ISMA team’s work covers three main areas. The first is manufacturing via 3D printers, which can use metal, and later regolith (Moon dust), or recycle manmade objects already in space as source material to print new parts. Examples include radiation shielding, tooling, equipment, rovers and habitats. By the end of this decade, printers could be deployed on the Moon to make structures for a rover or lunar habitat.
The second area is in-space assembly, which can be used to create very large structures like antennas. This requires a high level of robotic operation, which is the third area. Control of robotic operations with virtual reality and visual serving for motion control is under development at Airbus robotic labs in Toulouse, Stevenage and Bremen to enable remote monitoring and control of future in-orbit operations.
Meanwhile the ISMA team is developing its own modular robotic arm and tools with the high level of accuracy required for such operations. The aim is to test this by placing a robotic facility on the ISS’s Airbus-built Bartolomeo payload hosting platform by the mid-2020s, forming a “digital factory” in space.
The robotic assets could be used by other parts of Airbus, and the ISMA team currently is sharing its ideas with the Commercial Aircraft teams for on-ground assembly lines. Cooperation is also on the agenda with the Airbus team behind the ROXY study, which recently demonstrated that oxygen and metals can be produced from simulated Moon dust.
BRISBANE, Australia, Feb. 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ — Astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS) are conducting experiments with an antimicrobial surface coating designed to fight the spread of bacteria and viruses, including the Earth-bound SARS-CoV-2 virus responsible for the current COVID-19 pandemic. Developed by Boeing [NYSE: BA] and The University of Queensland (UQ), the joint research project was tested aboard Boeing’s ecoDemonstrator last year as part of the company’s Confident Travel Initiative.
The ISS experiment tests two identical sets of objects, including an airplane seat buckle, fabric from airplane seats and seat belts, and parts of an armrest and a tray table. One set received the antimicrobial surface coating, the other did not. ISS crew members are touching both sets of objects every few days to transfer microbes naturally occurring on human skin; no microbe samples were sent to the station for this experiment. Later this year, the test objects will be returned to Earth for analysis at Boeing’s labs to measure the effectiveness of the surface coating in a space environment.
An antimicrobial surface coating in a spacecraft could help ensure the health of the crew and protect the spacecraft’s systems from bacteria – and ultimately may help prevent interplanetary contamination from Earth-borne or another planet’s microbes.
Boeing was selected by NASA as the prime contractor for the ISS in 1993. Since then, Boeing has provided round-the-clock engineering support – maintaining the station at peak performance levels through dynamic missions and ensuring that the full value of the unique research laboratory is available to NASA, its international partners and private companies for years to come.
Since 2003, Boeing and The University of Queensland have collaborated on a broad portfolio of joint research and development projects. In 2017, the Brisbane-based Boeing Research & Technology engineers relocated to the university in a first-of-its-kind partnership for the company’s Asia-Pacific region.
The Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (AIBN) at UQ has been a driver for multidisciplinary research to tackle global problems. The AIBN houses over 400 researchers across a wide range of scientific disciplines.
Boeing is the world’s largest aerospace company and leading provider of commercial airplanes, defense, space and security systems, and global services. As a top U.S. exporter, the company supports commercial and government customers in more than 150 countries. Building on a legacy of aerospace leadership, Boeing continues to lead in technology and innovation, deliver for its customers and invest in its people and future growth.
