Story ID: 
Paris Air Show Busy Despite Absentees
By: Chris Pocock
Caption: A round-up of the defense highlights from the world’s biggest aerospace exhibition.
Word Count: 831
A number of major defense-oriented companies chose not to exhibit at the Paris Air Show this year, including BAE Systems, Eurofighter and Saab. They joined Northrop Grumman, which has not appeared at Le Bourget since 2011. Other companies, Finmeccanica and Raytheon among them, had a scaled-back presence. However, the show remains a magnet for second- and third-tier suppliers, and the show was quite busy. In fact, it was busy enough to generate the usual traffic problems that the organizers and the Paris Police seem perennially unable to solve. AIN’s four editions of Paris Airshow News contained all the important defense news from the show, and the content is also available online.

Dassault Aviation had plenty of good news, including future potential exports of the Rafale to countries such as Malaysia. A Fokker 100 airliner newly converted to serve as a testbed for future Rafale technology was displayed in the static park by the DGA. Other than the Rafale, the only fighter to fly at Paris was the China-Pakistan joint venture FC-1, which has secured its first export sale.

There was no further progress reported toward the signing of a contract for the project definition study of a Euro-Male. Meanwhile, the rival and revolutionary Reaper UAS produced by GA-ASI continues to lead the field, although not without controversy. The other main UAS topic was the French Army competition among the Thales Watchkeeper, Sagem Patroller and Textron Shadow M2 (sponsored by Airbus D&S). Thales displayed details of Project Angelas, a French-funded initiative to counter the proliferating threat to sensitive sites by unauthorized mini- and micro-UAV fliers.

Lockheed Martin or U.S. government officials talked variously about F-35 flyaway cost reduction; a block buy; the impending introduction to service by the U.S. Marine Corps; and correcting the problems with the stealth fighter’s logistics system. Pratt & Whitney defended the F135 engine from recent criticism. Lockheed Martin’s other news concerned commercially focused programs: a new marketing drive for the Hybrid Vehicle, and its European training and simulation business.

Antonov brought its new An-178 airlifter to the show and talked of other projects such as the An-132 and An-188. Airbus flew a development A400M in the daily flying display, with a production French Air Force version on static display, although these are not yet fully returned to normal operations following the fatal crash at Seville last month. There were also indications that the UK and French air forces are not yet impressed by the A400M’s potential for special forces missions: the French plan to refurbish and arm their C-130Hs for this mission, and our report on British C-130 simulator training includes news of an extension to the RAF’s C-130J fleet for the same purpose. Airbus announced an order for the C-295W from Saudi Arabia. The A400M was the largest military aircraft at the show, but we also reported on an upgrade to the Boeing E-3A Awacs, and a new lease of life for the Russian Tu-160 bomber. In fact, there was no Russian military hardware at the show, although we reported on the Russian military and Ukraine’s defense problems.

Israeli companies made their usual strong showing. Rafael unveiled a long-range version of the Derby air-to-air missile and displayed an interactive sensor-to-shooter tool. IAI released details of its long-range UHF radars, the Barak 8 air defense missile, and a new high-definition video payload for the Heron TP UAV. Elbit Systems introduced BriteNite, an enhanced vision system for helicopter pilots, and Airkeeper, a Sigint system.

Two North American companies were at Paris under new ownership: Exelis now part of Harris, and Barco now folded into CMC. Textron Systems made a strong showing, including new precision attack weapons and the Scorpion attack jet. This aircraft carries an ejection seat from Martin-Baker, whose history is legion and whose current story is no less interesting. Raytheon was talking about the role in ballistic missile defense played by its TPY-2 radars and SM-2 missiles, and also about the Small Diameter Bomb II.

The rotary-wing highlight was the launch of the H160 by Airbus Helicopters. This Super Puma replacement has obvious military appeal, although early customers are expected to be commercial. NHIndustries promoted the NH-90 on the ground and in the air. Russian Helicopters was promoting its extensive product line, although no actual hardware was present.

Alenia Aermacchi has its eyes on an impending French basic trainer requirement for the M345 and potential sales of the M346 for the aggressor training role.

It’s always a pleasure to report on the smaller, innovative aerospace companies. This time, we featured the fearsome-looking Iomax Archangel border patrol and attack aircraft and its avionics; the diminutive French jet with an unmanned option from LHD Aviation; the Self-Contained Airborne Reconnaissance (Scar) pod from Airborne Technologies; and the restart of Do-228 production by Ruag Aviation.