February 16, 2021 | International, Aerospace
Stop me if you have heard this before: A whole new class of aircraft will democratize and revolutionize seemingly everything, starting with air travel. Will it be advanced air mobility or maybe very light jets?
Aviation consultant Brian Foley recalls the latter while thinking of the former, since both are in the news recently. Disruptive paradigms are not a new threat to aviation, even this century, he notes.
The Eclipse very light jet (VLJ) was intended to make airborne commuting more of a reality before it became a $1.5 billion “smoking crater in the ground.” In November, the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware authorized the sale of Eclipse Aerospace and the Eclipse Aircraft project to AML Global Eclipse, backed by British businessman Christopher Harborne, for $5.25 million.
Now some observers wonder whether urban air mobility (UAM) and advanced air mobility (AAM) will experience something similar. “There are two sides of the fence, and you're either on one side or another,” Foley pointed out in a recent edition of the Aerospace Executive Podcast with talent finder Craig Picken. “One side of the fence is that this is disruptive technology, and this will just change the whole landscape of how people travel in cities and between regional points. Some investors believe that, too, and they are putting some chips down on the different potential winners if this thing does come out on the other end and is successful.
“There are others that are a little bit curious to see how this thing works,” Foley continued. “We've had helicopter service for years, which isn't all that much different. There are some concerns over noise—these things are overgrown drones.”
Yes, billions of dollars are pouring into UAM/AAM, but is it actually significant yet? Silicon Valley is behind this, as are multiple other investors. But UAM/AAM represents a fraction of their investments, which are otherwise cast far and wide and could include UAM/AAM only as a one-off gamble.
“Even though it seems like a big number to us, it's just pocket change to them,” Foley said. “They hope there is a return. Right now, there are as many arguments why it's going to succeed and won't succeed.”
Such context is easy to forget amid the flurry of recent headlines, such as Joby Aviation's takeover of Uber Elevate and a reported public trading debut on the horizon. What is more, consultants continue to publish eye-catching reports about the market's value in coming decades.
The latest from Deloitte consultancy and the Aerospace Industries Association (AIA) says the UAM/AAM sector could be worth $115 billion a year by 2035, employing more than 280,000 “high-paying” aerospace workers and generating an annual $20 billion in U.S. exports.
“It's become increasingly apparent that this particular area has become more real,” AIA Vice President for Civil Aviation David Silver told Aviation Week ahead of the release of the Jan. 26 study. “This is very real technology that is just on the horizon, and there is no single silver bullet that is going to make it happen.”
Deloitte's global and U.S. aerospace and defense leader, Robin Lineberger, concurred during the interview. The report pushes for a sustained, collaborative approach by the public and private sectors for electric vertical-takeoff-and-landing (eVTOL) aircraft to be widely accepted and adopted, sooner rather than later. “With the market poised to grow sevenfold between 2025 and 2035, it's important for U.S. policymakers and industries to cooperate now to ensure American leadership in this transformative emerging sector,” he said.
Already, the global race for AAM leadership is intensifying, the groups said, and the U.S. faces strong competition from China, Germany and South Korea. As a result, the AIA-Deloitte document calls for streamlined eVTOL testing and certification as well as seamlessly integrating aircraft into the U.S. airspace system.
Silver said it is important to shed light on the issue now, at the beginning of the Biden administration, as Washington is expected again to consider domestic infrastructure development as a key priority. The point is to broaden policymakers' horizons, he said, so that they wonder, “Are we even asking the right questions?”
Still, other observers point out that—like almost everything in aerospace—paradigm shifts come slowly compared with other business sectors. Take the City-Airbus vision from the European giant: “Realistically, we will have to wait until the end of the decade to see more than a demonstrator,” Airbus Helicopters CEO Bruno Even acknowledged in a November press briefing.
Even's boss, Airbus CEO Guillaume Faury, was even more clear-eyed days later in a separate online debate with an automotive CEO. Faury explained that eVTOL projects, such as the Vahana two-seater and the CityAirbus four-seater, should be seen primarily as low-cost demonstrators for future technology on commercial aircraft.
Faury stressed: “There will be a market eventually, but profitability will be tricky at the start."
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June 4, 2019 | International, Aerospace, Naval, Land, C4ISR, Security, Other Defence
DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY HDT Expeditionary Systems Inc., Solon, Ohio, has been awarded a maximum $200,000,000 firm-fixed-priced, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for commercial off-the-shelf shelters and tents. This was a competitive acquisition with one response received. This is a one-year base contract with three one-year option periods. Locations of performance are Alabama, Ohio, Virginia and Kentucky, with a June 4, 2020, performance completion date. Using military services are Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2019 through 2020 defense working capital funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Troop Support, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (SPE1C1-19-D-1158). NAVY Accenture Federal Services LLC, Arlington, Virginia, is awarded a $79,074,099 firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract to provide program and project management; support of the Navy Tele-Mentoring Program; system administration; training; communications support; data analytics; tele-radiology; and support of the Health Experts Online Portal and Pacific Asynchronous TeleHealth in support of the Bureau of Medicine and Surgery. Work will be performed in Falls Church, Virginia (83 percent); San Diego, California (10 percent); Portsmouth, Virginia (2 percent); Camp Pendleton, California (2 percent); Lemoore, California (1 percent); Twentynine Palms, California (1 percent); and Bremerton, Washington (1 percent). The contract will include a 60-month ordering period that will begin July 2019, and is expected to be completed by July 2024. Fiscal 2019 operations and maintenance (Defense Health Procurement) (O&MDHP) funds in the amount of $10,000 will be obligated to fund the contract's minimum amount and those funds will expire at the end of fiscal 2019. Subsequent task orders will be funded with the appropriate fiscal year O&MDHP funds. This contract resulted from a full and open competitive solicitation pursuant to the authority set forth in Federal Acquisition Regulation 16.504. The requirement was solicited through the Federal Business Opportunities and Navy Electronic Commerce Online websites, with 11 offers received. Naval Supply Systems Command Fleet Logistics Center Norfolk, Contracting Department, Philadelphia Office, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is the contracting activity (N00189-19-D-Z024). Lockheed Martin Sippican Inc., Marion, Massachusetts, is awarded a $56,865,098 firm-fixed-price, cost, and cost-plus-fixed-fee modification to previously awarded contract N00024-16-C-6412 to exercise Option Year Three for the production of Mk 48 Mod 7 guidance and control (G&C) sections, Mk 48 Mod 7 Common Broadband Advanced Sonar System (CBASS) Functional Item Replacement (FIR) kits, spares, production support material, and related engineering services and hardware repair support for G&C sections and CBASS kits. Work will be performed in Marion, Massachusetts (88 percent); Braintree, Massachusetts (8 percent); and Lemont Furnace, Pennsylvania (4 percent), and is expected to be completed by March 2021. Fiscal 2019 and 2017 weapons procurement (Navy); Foreign Military Sales; fiscal 2019 research, development, test and evaluation (Navy); and fiscal 2018 shipbuilding and conversion (Navy) funding in the amount of $56,865,098 will be obligated at time of award and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, District of Columbia, is the contracting activity. Communication & Power Industries LLC, MPP Division, Palo Alto California, is awarded a $10,244,971 firm-fixed-price, indefinite-quantity contract for evaluation, repair, rebuild and new manufacture of L-Band Klystron microwave tubes required to support the AN/SPS-49 radar system. Work will be performed in Palo Alto, California, and is expected to be completed by June 2024. Working capital funds (Navy) funding in the amount of $905,658 will be obligated at time of award, and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was not competitively procured, in accordance with 10 U.S. Code 2304(c)(1) - only one responsible source and no other supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements. The Naval Surface Warfare Center, Crane Division, Crane, Indiana, is the contracting activity (N0016419DWP32). ARMY General Dynamics Mission Systems Inc., Taunton, Massachusetts, was awarded a $36,850,696 modification (0125) to contract W15P7T-10-D-C007 for post-deployment software support services. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of June 1, 2020. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland, is the contracting activity. TRAX International LLC, Las Vegas, Nevada, was awarded a $17,666,430 modification (P00312) to contract W9124Q-07-C-0504 for mission support services. Work will be performed in White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico, with an estimated completion date of Aug. 31, 2019. Fiscal 2019 research, development, test and evaluation funds in the amount of $2,100,000 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Mission and Installation Contracting Command, White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico, is the contracting activity. CORRECTION: The contract announced on May 31, 2019, for DirectViz Solutions LLC (DVS),* Chantilly, Virginia (W91RUS-19-C-0014), was not awarded. No new award date has been set. AIR FORCE AAI Corp., doing business as Textron Systems, Hunt Valley, Maryland, has been awarded a $24,318,602 undefinitized contract action for AC-208 contract logistics support and maintenance training. This contract provides for contractor logistics support and maintenance training for the AC-208 aircraft. Work will be performed at Hamid Karzai International Airport, Kabul, Afghanistan, and is expected to be complete by May 31, 2020. Fiscal 2018 Foreign Military Sales funds in the amount of $7,406,993 are being obligated at the time of award. Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Training Aircraft Division, Wright Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, is the contracting activity (FA8617-19-C-6234). Work Services Corp., Wichita Falls, Texas, has been awarded a $20,805,260 firm-fixed-price modification (P00002) to the previously awarded contract FA3020-18-C-0013 for food services. This contract modification provides full funding for the first option period. Work will be performed at Sheppard Air Force Base, Texas, and is expected to be complete by June 30, 2020. This modification brings the total cumulative face value of the contract to $36,010,315. Fiscal year 2019 operations and maintenance funds in the full amount are being obligated at the time of award. The 82nd Contracting Squadron, Sheppard Air Force Base, Texas, is the contracting activity. *Small business https://dod.defense.gov/News/Contracts/Contract-View/Article/1864933/source/GovDelivery/