Well, there is never a dull moment in the hurly-burly world of politics - or in the UK aerospace sector for that matter - and the rippling effects caused by a round of UK Government cuts brought on by the recession has seen some of the valuable work done on aerospace and defence R&D programmes put under threat.
Add to this a fierce global backdrop of an increasingly competitive industry populated by the growth of emerging economies all fighting for a slice of aerospace pie, and it's easy to see why A|D|S, the trade organisation for aerospace, defence and security industries, is moving quickly to preserve one of the UK's most precious of manufacturing industry crown jewels.
To move forward, A|D|S' key priorities mean it must provide strategic support for the UK aerospace industry in terms of understanding the many changes in the UK's regional support infrastructure and promoting aerospace skills development if it is going to succeed in securing the UK supply chain's future.
Is the UK aerospace and defence industry still a recession-defying success story? A|D|S managing director, aerospace and operations, Graham Chisnall thinks so, but what are his plans that will help the main protagonists of the UK aerospace industry navigate their way through these tough economic times?
“A|D|S is now one-year old, and with our first council meeting for the election of a new team comprising a president and sector vice-presidents concluded, it effectively draws a line under the merger of the aerospace, defence and security trade associations into A|D|S,” he begins. “Next year will be the first clear year that A|D|S will experience as one organisation with one set of systems, practices and culture to really get on with the job.
“As the new Government switches to consultation mode, we have a whole range of issues we are seeking to inform and advise them about. These issues were quite difficult and spasmodic in some of the early consultations leading up to the comprehensive spending review (CSR) and the Strategic Defence and Security Review (SDSR). Nevertheless, we launched the industry consultation effort around the defence industrial strategy - which the Government called the Defence and Security Industry Technology Policy (DSITP) - and which began on November 2nd. At that consultation the Government declared it wanted to issue a ‘green paper' concerning this before Christmas and a formal paper by next spring.”
Chisnall says it's vital that A|D|S obtains good access and full consultation throughout this process as the Government will instigate the defence industrial strategy for the remainder of this parliament - at least until the next review it has declared in 2015.
“It's against this timeline that industry will plan its defence investment programme, so it's vital we obtain a really strong industrial voice into the DSITP to make it very clear that when the formal white paper appears next year, industry knows exactly what it has to plan for,” he notes. “It's of huge importance at the moment: Government is moving rapidly to publish its paper and having already started the process at the beginning of November, it effectively gives industry only a few weeks in which to influence it.”
It's good to talk
A|D|S is working on a whole series of agendas and has agreed a meeting structure with the Secretary of State for the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS), Vince Cable and with the Minister of State for BIS, Mark Prisk. The organisation will have an aerospace strategic senior meeting with Cable twice a year on predominantly civil aerospace matters where the discussions will centre on the big strategic challenges facing the sector. A|D|S then has four ‘Aerospace Partnership for Growth' meetings with Prisk, which are intended to take the strategic agenda from the Cable and the industrial leaders meeting and work on implementation issues.
“There will be technology, skills and supply chain issues on the agenda,” states Chisnall. “The UK aerospace supply chain as a whole is something we need to elevate the importance and attention it receives. There's much discussion about helping SMEs, so we need to put this into the context of the entire supply chain, because it's only by having a healthy supply chain that is fed with large contracts that anyone is going to survive and prosper.
“Our SC21 supply chain improvement initiative has proved successful and well supported, but I'd like to see A|D|S doing more than just SC21 around supply chains. I would also like to start changing the agenda with certain arms of Government to talk more about aerospace supply chains, because this is one of the competitive strengths we've got in the UK. This will certainly be one of the agenda items, and we will work this through the Cable and Prisk meetings.”
Chisnall goes on to state that A|D|S will revise the civil aerospace strategy it first issued during the last Paris Airshow.
“Some of the timings concerning the new single-aisle replacement programmes have changed significantly - particularly for the A320 and B737,” he reveals. “What is significant is that Airbus will re-engine the A320 and won't begin a new A320 replacement until 2024 as in-service date.
“This makes a huge difference to our technology plans because it puts back the date when we need to have mature technologies ready for this programme. Airbus wants to capture more radically advanced technologies for its new platform. The change of in-service date puts even more emphasis on technology development, not less, so we will need some clarification here. If Airbus does opt for a mid-2020 in-service date then it may mean a radically different looking aircraft with open rotor engines mounted on the rear for example.”
Chisnall feels that there's a degree of optimism now Government has got some of its tough decisions - like the CSR and the SDSR - out of the way. He says it will soon start engaging with industry and look at what growth prospects it can invest in to generate private sector jobs and offset public sector cutbacks.
“Civil aerospace ticks all the boxes as far as we're concerned,” he concludes. “It's growing rapidly; it grew through the recession and has shown itself to be incredibly resilient. It is high-tech, high-value and generates highly-paid, skilled jobs and is growing much faster than the world GDP.
“Therefore, we've got to really take the opportunity we think will present itself in the first half of next year with the Government starting to lift its head above the parapet to become engaged and look for growth sectors and opportunities. We must ensure that the quality of the civil aerospace sector is fully understood and is invested in so that we can capture the full extent of that growth.”
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