The pending 12-nation Transpacific Partnership (TPP) is expected to provide further stimulus for aerospace trade and partnership between the Americas and the Asia Pacific region. U.S. exhibitors at this week’s Singapore Airshow are particularly eager to capitalize on the benefits of the deal, which still needs to be ratified by the U.S. Congress.
The TPP was agreed in principle late last year between the U.S. and the following nations: Australia, Brunei, Canada, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, the U.S. and Vietnam. Among other benefits, the deal eliminates more than 18,000 taxes and trade restrictions. It also sets standards for products, business practices and working conditions.
Here at the Changi Exhibition Center, the U.S. Pavilion includes almost 70 American exhibitors, featuring a broad mix of aviation manufacturers and service providers. Also participating are the states of Florida and Oklahoma).
Among the U.S.-based airframers exhibiting in the Pavilion, which is organized by Kallmann Worldwide, are Cirrus Aircraft, Enstrom Helicopter, Gulfstream Aerospace, Piper Aircraft and unmanned aerial system (UAS) specialists General Atomics and AeroVironment. Last month, Florida-based Piper achieved a breakthrough in its ambitions to supply training aircraft to the potentially huge Chinese market when it received a type certificate from the Civil Aviation Administration of China covering the addition of the Garmin G1000 avionics suite to its piston-powered Archer TX/LX single.
Also present in the Pavilion this year are cockpit and cabin systems suppliers such as Flir Systems, L-3 Communications, Rogerson Aircraft Corp., Rockwell Collins and Universal Avionics. The U.S. contingent also includes leading aerostructures and modifications specialists such as Spirit Aerosystems and Aero Precision.
Training organizations also are strongly represented on the U.S. roster at the Singapore show. These include simulator and training device maker Frasca International and the Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. Florida-based Embry-Riddle now has an Asia campus in Singapore, offering students from throughout the Asia Pacific region full degree programs as well as options for part-time and blended-delivery programs for working professionals. The Asia campus is operated in partnership with Singapore’s ERC Institute.
States Seek New Business
The state of Oklahoma has come to the Singapore show seeking to boost the strong aerospace presence it has built over the past seven years. Among the international aerospace firms that have established a presence in Oklahoma are Japan’s Mitsubishi and Ferra Engineering from Australia, as well as Asco Industries (Belgium), Rolls-Royce (UK) and Lufthansa Technik (Germany). Mitsubishi currently has a maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) center for supporting its MU-2 twin turboprop, and the company is considering Oklahoma as a possible location for a service center to maintain its new MRJ narrowbody airliner.
Around 120,000 people in Oklahoma work in the aerospace and defense sectors with approximately 500 companies. The state has a strong emphasis on MRO activity, as well as UAS and components manufacturing. The value of the industry output from the state has increased from $12 billion in 2012 to $27 billion in 2014, and Oklahoma-based companies are now exporting to more than 170 countries.
Tinker Air Force Base near Oklahoma City employs approximately 26,000 people at a major U.S. Air Force support base and the American Airlines MRO hub at Tulsa has another 6,000 skilled staff. Boeing is in the process of expanding its existing facilities in the state, with the addition of a new laboratory building that will house a further 900 employees.
Other major U.S. aerospace and aviation groups with facilities in Oklahoma include Northrop Grumman, Pratt & Whitney, Nordam, GE Aviation, Honeywell, Raytheon and Sprint Aerosystems. More than 30 companies are actively involved in the development of UAS aircraft in Oklahoma, which also houses the only Department of Homeland Security-approved test site for unmanned aerial vehicles.
Oklahoma State University has a doctorate-level program in UAS design, while Oklahoma University specializes in sensor development and Tulsa University has a cyber security department. Under its Career Tech program, Oklahoma provides specific aerospace skills training at some 59 locations in order to ensure that companies can recruit qualified staff.
Oklahoma officials are eager to convey to Asian aerospace executives that the state is an ideal base for entry into the U.S. market. The state offers a variety of tax and other financial incentives to companies investing there, as well as to employees taking skilled jobs in the state. There are further incentives for companies to build facilities on land formerly owned by Native American tribes.
In terms of infrastructure, Oklahoma has two international airports, plus the only inland spaceport in the U.S. that is not in restricted airspace. Additionally, the state has the farthest-north inland port in the U.S., with a connection to the Gulf of Mexico via the Mississippi river.
The state of Florida is represented at the Singapore show by the Enterprise Florida organization, which in 2014 conducted a successful trade mission to Malaysia that resulted in almost $50 million in new sales for some 18 Floridian companies. Florida is home to more than 470 aerospace companies engaged in a wide variety of activities including surveillance and reconnaissance systems, missiles and space exploration.
The U.S. Pavilion will be officially opened at 11.45 a.m. this morning. This will be followed by a VIP tour led by the U.S. ambassador to Singapore. On Thursday, the Pavilion will host a special briefing at 10 a.m. on the China aerospace market and this will be followed at 3.30 p.m. by a networking event for foreign buyers.