Farnborough 2016

Jim Mueller is a peripatetic traveler, NIP Stalwart and regular contributor to the NIP Quarterly. Earlier this month, he visited the Farnborough International Airshow, a week-long event that combines a major trade exhibition for the aerospace and defense global conglomerates. It is modestly known by it’s promoters as THE WORLDS GREATEST AIRSHOW. In the days of the Cold War, Iron Curtain nations did not attend and the show was held annually.

That has changed. The event is now bi-annual, and everyone with commercial or military aviation items to sell are warmly welcomed. Jim considers the airshow an important event in the international aerospace and defense industry calendar, as the vendor community takes the opportunity to demonstrate civilian and military aircraft to potential customers and investors. The show is also used for the announcement of new developments and orders, and to attract media coverage.

The 2012 iteration of Farnborough attracted 109,000 trade visitors over the first five days, and 100,000 public visitors on the Saturday and Sunday. Orders and commitments for 758 aircraft were announced, a total worth a cool $72 billion in US dollars.

The show has its origins in the annual RAF Airshow at Hendon, held after the first installment in the Great War (1920-1937) and as war clouds loomed again on the European skyline. After the conclusion of the Second World War, the show was resurrected at Radlett, the site of the Handley Page airfield, 1946-48, and then moved to Farnborough where it has remained ever since, close by the home of the Royal Aircraft Establishment.

Naturally, aerial demonstrations are a crowd-pleasing aspect of the show.
At the 1958 show, the RAF Black Arrows Flight Demonstration team executed a 22-plane formation loop, a world record for the greatest number of aircraft looped in formation, and remains unbroken to this day.

Here is a professional intelligence officer’s view of Farnborough, 2016:

“Finally .. I had the opportunity this year to visit the biennial Farnborough Int’l Air Show (FIA)!”

– which along with the Paris show (in the odd years) are the largest and oldest such displays in Europe. The show was held 11-17 July at Farnborough airfield 35 miles SW of London. Monday-Thurs are “trade days”, Sat-Sunday are ‘public viewing’ days and the Friday event which I attended is now called Fab Friday – sort of a hybrid. Both sessions draw over 100,000 visitors. So there’s somewhat different stuff displayed and flown on different days…

In 2014, the show saw US$204bn of engine and aircraft orders made at the show, over 1500 exhibitors and 100,000 trade visits. This year, with the world such as it is, the initial numbers were reportedly a good bit less …. about US$124 bn sales and options …

( see some of the acft “orders story”… http://www.fool.com/investing/2016/07/18/airbus-wins-a-hollow-victory-at-farnborough.aspx

Highlights:

– Finally…. the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, the long-delayed, troubled and costly JSF finally debuted here after being forced to cancel their 2014 appearance (due to a major engine fire and blade rub problems).

An RAF and two USMC F-35Bs both flew over, were demo’d at the show and were on static display this year…

…the ‘trans-Lant’ crossing itself was a bit of an effort … and blessed with a rainbow… on arrival at Fairford…

The aircraft (a Dutch model) had already been shown a bit earlier this year at Leeuwarden, Netherlands (in June) and at the Royal Int’l Air Tattoo (RIAT) at Fairford just a week earlier … strangely, (to me) 3 x USAF F-35As flew from Luke all the way across the Atlantic for RIAT…. did not show at Farnborough..

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The Joint Strike Fighter makes its long-awaited British debut, with its flight and hovering capabilities.

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P&W’s F-35B F135-600 engine and lift fan…..

– Boeing – celebrated their 1916-2016 Centenary at their pavilions …

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one public, one ‘Invite only’ .. http://www.boeing.co.uk/boeing-100.page

and displayed and pushed their …..737MAX

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The Boeing 737 MAX made its first airshow appearance at Farnborough this year(Credit: Boeing)

….. but not on the day I was there and in fact there were very few Boeing acft on display – reportedly have over 3,000 orders for this model …….

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Their 787 had flown on earlier ‘trade days’……

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The Navy did have a F/A-18 Super Hornet.. which flew….. another was on static display

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as was the P-8 Poseidon …..

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which was actually a big story locally as the Brits announced their buy of 9 acft…..

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PM David Cameron, on 11 July…. just two days to go on the job…. w. Fallon. (Def.)

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Boeing+Poseidon+P8-A+at+Farnborough+2014++2.jpg (690×768)

“Tuffi” and “RTB” are a couple of very cool RAF embeds in USN VP sqns…….

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MV-22 Osprey was another ‘no show’ … but was at Fairford .. just days earlier….

…. some other big Boeing news earlier was the recent agreement to sell about 100 acft to Iran !

– Airbus of course was very big, and had……

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2 x A-380s… size does matter…. to show-goers but Airbus also announced that they were cutting 380 production from 27 to just 12 a year…..

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2 x A350-X-WB …. wide bodies…..

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and their A-400M large prop cargo acft … all three flying back-to-back, low, slow and close to the crowd…. started off the flying show…..the P-8 flt. was the final, and very late act….

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Airbus also had a choice spot for their visitors to watch the show………

Five new international pavilions had been established for Austria, Brazil, China, the Republic of Ireland and South Korea.

– China’s was much touted as a big first this year effort and their new ‘advanced regional jet – ARJ-21 was expected …. to fly …..:

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….but instead we got models… and few visitors ( at least on Friday – I was all alone there ! )

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ARJ-21s

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The new COMAC C919 commercial jet….. a would-be Boeing 737 and Airbus A300 challenger

See:

http://www.theepochtimes.com/n3/2117063-chinas-comac-sets-sights-on-boeing-airbus/

– Note: Show biz ! Farnborough International, Ltd, the organiser of the biennial aviation jamboree staged in Hampshire, announced that it will lend its expertise to a new show near Chengdu in Sichuan province.

Scheduled to begin in September 2017, the planned five-day event will be the first to concentrate on promoting China’s civil aviation and aerospace manufacturing industries in the hope of opening up the country’s market to Western companies.

This will evidently be an addition to the current state-sponsored Zhuhai Air Show held in even numbered years.

– Russia: seemed to have very minimal displays. No aircraft ! and their chalets were “By Invitation Only” and seemed void of people (on Friday…).

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Most members of the Russian delegation were not issued British visas at the previous Farnborough 2014 airshow due to the geopolitical situation in Ukraine.

Russia’s state space corporation Roscosmos refused to take part in the Farnborough 2016 airshow after Great Britain did not allow the corporation’s delegation to attend a local arms exhibition in 2015. … and they’re still upset…. http://russianeconomyportal.blogspot.com/2016/05/mp-salon-farnborough-will-be.html

But there was news…… of a proposed Russian-Chinese wide-body joint venture……

http://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/aerospace/2016-07-18/uac-and-comac-work-budget-new-widebody-program

…another challenge to the Boeing-Airbus duopoly….. ?

– A new Ukrainian-built medium lift An-178 cargo acft was there…..

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– Flying shows: Due to a deadly air show accident last Oct. at Shoreham, acrobatic flights were been significantly restricted and the RAF Red Arrows did not perform stunts at Farnborough for the first time in more than 50 years because of new safety rules.

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The aircraft exploded into flames, sending its shell hurtling along the roadway careering into passing vehicles, leaving another 16 people badly injured

. due to the crash of a vintage Hawker Hunter..where 11 people on the ground were killed …. and the pilot may be charged.

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