Bombardier Inc. has sold its remaining shares in the Airbus Canada Limited Partnership (ACLP) to Airbus and the Government of Québec. Airbus is paying approximately $600 million cash and assuming $700 million in liabilities to obtain 75% of the A220 aircraft program. The Government of Québec increases its holding to 25% for no cash consideration.

As part of the transaction, Airbus subsidiary Stelia Aerospace acquired the A220 cockpit and aft fuselage production and A330 work package production capabilities from Bombardier in Saint-Laurent, Québec.

Airbus CEO Guillaume Faury says, “This agreement with Bombardier and the Government of Québec demonstrates our support and commitment to the A220 and Airbus in Canada. We are committed to this fantastic aircraft program and we are aligned with the Government of Québec in our ambition to bring long-term visibility to the Québec and Canadian aerospace industry.”

“This transaction supports our efforts to address our capital structure and completes our strategic exit from commercial aerospace,” says Alain Bellemare, Bombardier president and CEO. “We are equally proud of the responsible way in which we have exited commercial aerospace, preserving jobs and reinforcing the aerospace cluster in Québec and Canada.”

The deal caps a year of Bombardier divestitures and consolidation:

• February 2019: Acquires Global 7500 aircraft wing program operations, assets from Triumph Group Inc.
• March 2019: Sells Business Aircraft’s flight, technical training activities to CAE Inc.; $532 million
• May 2019: Completes sale of the Q Series program to De Havilland Aircraft of Canada; $285 million
• June 2019: Agrees to sell CRJ regional jet program to Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd.; $550 million cash, assumption of $200 million of liabilities
• October 2019: Spirit AeroSystems Holding Inc. acquires Bombardier’s aerostructures activities and aftermarket services operations in Belfast, U.K., and Casablanca, Morocco, and its aerostructures maintenance, repair, and overhaul facility in Dallas, Texas; $500 million in cash, assumption of $700 million of liabilities

Since Airbus took majority ownership of the Bombardier CSeries program on July 1, 2018 – renaming the plane the A220 – total cumulative net orders for the aircraft have increased 64% to 658 units at the end of January 2020. In 2019, Airbus delivered 48 A220s.

While still pursuing options to pay down debt and increase liquidity, Bombardier now focuses its aviation activity on business aircraft production, increasing backlog for the second year, reaching $14.4 billion at the end of 2019.

Proposed budget boosts NASA initiatives

President Donald Trump’s Fiscal Year 2021 budget would invest more than $25 billion in NASA to strengthen human space exploration programs while supporting the agency’s science, aeronautics, and technology work.

In his State of NASA address, NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine says, “The budget proposed represents a 12% increase and makes this one of the strongest budgets in NASA history. The reinforced support from the President comes at a critical time as we lay the foundations for landing the first woman and the next man on the South Pole of the Moon by 2024. This budget keeps us firmly on that path.”

NASA is developing the Space Launch System rocket, Orion spacecraft, and the Gateway for the Artemis program to build a sustainable lunar presence and eventually send humans to Mars.

The proposed budget, starting October 2020, includes more than $3 billon to develop a human landing system.

“This is the first time we have had direct funding for a human lander since the Apollo program,” Bridenstine adds.

Other space initiatives earmarked include the Commercial Lunar Payload Services program, Mars sample return mission, Europa Clipper, and Earth observation missions. In aeronautics, the budget supports research on commercial supersonic aircraft, all-electric airplanes, and developing a system to make flying small drones safer and more efficient.

The U.S. Congress has the last say on spending and how much money NASA receives.

Industry 4.0 Accelerator launches in Michigan

An Industry 4.0 Accelerator program launching in Troy, Michigan aims to help small- and medium-sized technology and manufacturing companies along their digital transformation journeys.

“Industry 4.0 is challenging the way businesses operate around the globe. It’s no longer a question of whether your company will be affected by the digital transformation but when,” says Tom Kelly, executive director and CEO of Automation Alley, a technology and manufacturing business association and Industry 4.0 knowledge center.

The program, led by Automation Alley with support services from Jackson, Michigan-based business incubator Lean Rocket Lab and Lawrence Technological University’s Centrepolis Accelerator, is a $2.5 million investment funded by the Michigan Economic Development Corp. with $1.3 million currently available for early-stage companies and established firms looking to commercialize products, services, or technologies within the Industry 4.0 sector.

Industry 4.0 – the convergence of the digital and physical technologies disrupting industry – includes technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), the Internet of Things (IoT), advanced robotics, 3D printing, and digital twins.

Companies involved in the program will receive direct investment and business coaching services to help spur innovation, commercialization, and growth. The accelerator is also looking for larger firms and organizations to partner on this effort and support Industry 4.0 adoption for Michigan manufacturers.

Services will be customized to meet the needs of each participating company, including potential pilot and demonstration project funding support with customers and strategic partners, potential connections to product development partnerships with customers and strategic partners, individualized training and mentorship, company growth assessments, technical and business milestone progress planning, strategic plan development, assessing management team and talent needs, investment and fundraising strategy support, potential connections to investors and capital sources, and shared workspace opportunities.

Airbus reveals blended wing aircraft demonstrator

At the Singapore Air Show in February, Airbus revealed its blended wing body (BWB) scale model technological demonstrator, Model Aircraft for Validation and Experimentation of Robust Innovative Controls (MAVERIC).

At 2m x 3.2m (6.6ft x 10.5ft), MAVERIC resembles a smaller version of Boeing and NASA’s X-48. Begun in 2017, MAVERIC first flew in June 2019 to assess low-speed and stall dynamics. The ongoing flight-test campaign will continue until the end of Q2 2020 to analyze MAVERIC’s handling qualities, flight control, multi-objective control surfaces, and modularity.

The BWB configuration could reduce fuel consumption up to 20% compared to current single-aisle aircraft, and the design allows new propulsion systems and a cabin with novel passenger experience.

Jean-Brice Dumont, Airbus executive vice president of engineering, says, “This technological demonstrator could be instrumental in bringing about change in commercial aircraft architectures for an environmentally sustainable future for the aviation industry.”

The 10-person MAVERIC project team is part of the Flight Lab team within Airbus UpNext in Toulouse, France.

The Bassetti Group is providing the Senvol Database of industrial additive manufacturing (AM) machines and materials to its customers in its TEEXMA for Additive solution. The database provides the data necessary for companies to investigate and compare various AM material and process options.

Bassetti’s TEEXMA for Additive solution supports the AM product life cycle from art to part, offering traceability by combining project management, materials, manufacturing, quality, and knowledge management tools and processes in a common interface.

Workflow software

With 3DXpert software for SolidWorks 15, users can easily prepare and optimize designs for additive manufacturing (AM), allowing for complex structures and increased product design life cycles with better automation and bi-directional data exchange. The software provides design freedom, increased efficiency, and reduced total cost of operation. It also offers the ability to create more shapes in new ways.

Acoustic monitoring software

InfiniAM Sonic acoustic process monitoring software lets engineers detect acoustic events within an additive manufacturing (AM) build chamber and learn about build quality.

The factory installed software option in the RenAM 500Q system includes four acoustic energy sensors to detect build vibration. Sensors detect minute vibrations and collect sound waves to be heard, viewed, and analyzed. Four high-frequency sensors in different locations triangulate the position of noise on the build plate. This data can then be combined graphically with other sensor data to build a view of the part and the conditions at the time of build.

InfiniAM Sonic works with InfiniAM Central and InfiniAM Spectral, which provide improved understanding of build quality, increased confidence in the build process, and accelerated process development.

Robots for additive manufacturing

RobotStudio simulation and offline programming software now includes 3D printing capabilities, enabling users to program ABB robots for additive manufacturing (AM) in 30 minutes.

Part of the RoboStudio PowerPac portfolio, the 3D Printing feature eliminates manual programming for faster prototype production. 3D Printing PowerPac supports welding and printing and is suitable for low-volume, high-mix printing.

Standard slicer software design can be translated into ABB’s simulation environment and robot code.

Lightweight steel/epoxy resin composite metal foam (CMF) aircraft wing leading-edge material repels water and insects better than aluminum, research from North Carolina State University (NC State) shows.

“We call our hybrid material infused CMF,” says Afsaneh Rabiei, corresponding author of a paper on the work and professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at NC State. “While infused CMF is about the same weight as aluminum, it is tougher and has other characteristics that make it more appealing from a flight performance, safety, and fuel efficiency standpoint.”

CMF consists of hollow, metallic spheres of stainless steel or titanium embedded in a matrix of steel, aluminum, or metallic alloys. Researchers tested CMF with spheres and matrix made of steel. Previous work showed the metal foam can resist high temperatures, withstand .50 caliber rounds, and block blast pressure from high-explosive incendiary ammunition.

Infused CMF is made by immersing the steel-steel CMF in a hydrophobic epoxy resin and using vacuum forces to pull the resin into the hollow spheres and smaller pores within the steel matrix, filling about 88% of the CMF’s pores.

Researchers tested infused CMF and aerospace-grade aluminum to see how they performed in contact angle, which determines how quickly water streams off of a material; insect adhesion, or how well bug parts stick to the material; and particle wear, or how well the material withstands erosion. These factors all affect an aircraft wing leading edge’s performance.

Contact angle measures how well water beads up on a surface. The lower a material’s contact angle, the more water clings to the surface, which on aircraft wings, can affect aircraft performance. Researchers found that infused CMF had a contact angle 130% higher than aluminum.

Insect adhesion is measured by the maximum height and surface area of insect residue on a material. Infused CMF outperformed aluminum – with 60% of maximum height and 30% of the surface area.

Erosion. Grit blast experiments simulated the wear that occurs on aircraft wings in flight. Researchers found that while grit blast increased surface roughness for infused CMF, it still fared better than aluminum. At its worst, infused CMF still had a contact angle 50% higher than aluminum. Infused CMF retained its properties through erosion and wear, which indicates it would give leading-edge wing components a longer lifetime – and reduce the costs associated with maintenance and replacement.

Rabiei says results suggest that infused CMF performs better at the same weight or that using different materials for the matrix or spheres can perform as well as conventional aluminum at a fraction of the weight. She concludes, “Either way, you’re improving performance and fuel efficiency.”

The research was done with support from NASA, under grant number NNX17AD67A.

Security: Top design priority

An aircraft with passenger exit doors that securely lock is not impressive. Similarly, secure information and technology is inherent to the design of a functioning product – and a functional business. Security systems should eliminate problems before they’re even a blip on the radar. The best security system isn’t one that fends off a mammoth threat; it’s the one you don’t notice is there.

Designing aircraft with security already top-of-mind prevents the need for rearguard actions to correct vulnerabilities.

The three most critical measurements of an A&D company are cost, quality, and schedule. As more threats are realized, the need to protect against them during aircraft design demonstrates that digital and physical security has become the fourth.

De-silo security disciplines

In our Internet of Things (IoT)-driven world, every company is now a software company to some extent. Everything in our lives is more connected; refrigerators can text owners to pick up milk, coffee makers can start as soon as alarms go off on smartphones, and soon, cars will navigate and drive themselves. Adding 5G networks shows this is a growth trend for the foreseeable future.

Companies typically arrange their security disciplines in silos: physical security, cybersecurity (or IT security), and operational technology security. While effective in the past, as connections grow between silos, it is necessary to have visibility across sectors to see the big picture. Disjointed approaches can be costly, inefficient, and leave gaps that hackers can exploit.

The terminology to describe security disciplines has changed alongside this trend. Cybersecurity now encompasses various formerly siloed solutions: network, endpoint, application, content, cloud, and wireless security. Although each solution can perform well individually, when melded together, they create a strong, multi-layered wall of defense against next-level threats.

Open the door to White Hats before Black Hats kick it in

As flight personnel become increasingly reliant on digital controls and multiple networks, the potential grows for in-flight malicious cyberattacks. Prevent Black Hat hackers from getting in the door by using a White Hat security evaluation to pinpoint system weaknesses. The U.S. Air Force instigated one of the first instances of White Hat hacking to test its Multics operating system for potential use as a secret/top secret system.

By creating a competition, organizing an in-house hack-a-thon, or hiring a third party to help, a friendly hack can locate holes in systems and technologies before someone else does.

Create a data tripwire

According to Jabil’s “Aerospace and Manufacturing Trends” report, an online survey fielded to 203 decision-makers in A&D companies, during the past 5+ years, companies have invested in protecting customer data more than any other area of security. The ongoing news cycle of high-profile data breaches and privacy leaks – combined with the connected world – reveals why data privacy is top-of-mind. Customers must trust information won’t be used without consent. Most importantly, breaches of defense-related information could compromise national security.

Readers of detective novels may be familiar with how a tripwire, such as a thread laid across a desk drawer or a hair taped across a door frame, can prove that someone is rifling through something they shouldn’t.

This same concept applies to information security: put systems in place to track who is accessing data and – more importantly – if they’re supposed to. And then ask questions; if someone works in finance, why are they accessing design plans? Or why is someone dedicated to Customer A digging into information on Customer B? There may be a legitimate explanation, but it’s better to have the information needed to play offense rather than defense once a situation arises.

Communication is key

Set up clear, efficient communications with industry players outside the organization to stay current on industry trends and news. Several organizations founded by governments and corporate enterprises share information, including:

• Aviation Information Sharing and Analysis Center (A-ISAC): Established in 2012 with backing from Boeing, A-ISAC is a focal point for security information sharing across the aviation sector. It aims to share security information with its community of airlines, airports, aircraft manufacturers, equipment suppliers, service providers, technology providers, infrastructure providers, and/or general aviation entities.
• Cyber Information Sharing and Collaboration Program (CISCP): Founded by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, CISCP consists of government intelligence analysts, airline representatives, and airport officials devoted to sharing security information across various industries, including A&D.

Digital and physical security is not something that the A&D industry can or does take lightly. Everyone working in A&D is aware that security directly impacts people’s lives and the country’s ability to protect itself, enforce its policies, and protect national and international investments. As technology advances, new threats will arise, but so will new safety features that can withstand these assaults and guide the A&D industry into a more efficient, safer future.

Jabil Inc.

About the author: Erik Collasius is a JDAS business security officer at Jabil Inc. He can be reached at 727.577.9749.