Agusta was an Italian helicopter manufacturer. It was based in Samarate , Northern Italy . The company was founded by Count Giovanni Agusta in 1923, who flew his first airplane in 1907. The MV Agusta motorcycle manufacturer began as an offshoot of the Agusta aviation company at the end of the Second World War, as a means to save the jobs of employees of the Agusta firm.
43-489: In July 2000, Agusta merged with Westland Helicopters to form AgustaWestland S.p.A., a multinational helicopter design and manufacturing company, and a wholly owned subsidiary of Leonardo S.p.A . From 1952, the company became involved in helicopter manufacturing, first building Bell helicopters under licence, but later Sikorsky , Boeing and McDonnell Douglas products as well. The company also had ambitions to design and build its own helicopters. The Agusta A.101 and
86-549: A 22% share of Westland from Hanson plc and Fiat. In 1984, Westland proposed the WG 44 light attack helicopter based on the Lynx dynamics, incorporating low observable technologies derived from its SUPERVISOR and PHOENIX UAS projects experience in 1977–1983. In 1987, in parallel with the Agusta A129 supported by Westland, Fokker , MBB and CASA , its WG 47 development was completed as
129-507: A case of bribery by Finmeccanica in its deal with India following which the government of India issued a show cause notice to the company. A complaint was filed seeking an investigation into the sale of 21 civil helicopters worth over Rs 7,000 crore (US$ 1.6 billion) by AgustaWestland between 2005 and 2013 in India. As per the complaint Agusta Westland has been selling civil helicopters in India through. Tax authorities in India have been asked to probe
172-495: A confidential private venture with a faceted fuselage, internal weapons and twin canted tail rotors . A side-exiting infrared suppressor integrated the exhausts and its tandem cockpit with the pilot in front had transparencies angled outward to eliminate optical glint . This presaged the US Army Boeing–Sikorsky RAH-66 Comanche , rolled out in 1995 and cancelled in 2004, while the fuselage shaping
215-669: A joint venture, Agusta Westland . GKN contributed Westland, its 50% share in its EH Industries (EHI) joint venture with Finmeccanica, the GKN aerospace transmissions business, and a 50% share in Aviation Training International. Finmeccanica contributed Agusta, including its transmissions and structures business, its share of EHI, its share of NH Industries , and its share of Bell Helicopter Textron . On 26 May 2004, GKN confirmed that it had agreed to sell its share of AgustaWestland to Finmeccanica for £1.06 billion. The sale
258-523: A part owner then, from 1970, the sole owner of the British Hovercraft Corporation , subsequently trading as Westland Aerospace . Most designs were Saunders-Roe or Saunders-Roe derivatives. For many years Westland owned the main London heliport at Battersea . The company gradually fell into unprofitability. Sikorsky approached with a bail-out deal in 1985 that split the cabinet and led to
301-422: A similar alliance with either Embraer with its E-jet E2 or Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and its MRJ . On 21 December, Boeing and Embraer confirmed to be discussing a potential combination with a transaction subject to Brazilian government regulators, the companies' boards and shareholders approvals. The weight of Airbus and Boeing could help E2 and CSeries sales but the 100-150 seats market seems slow. As
344-508: A special program to restore U.S. competitiveness across all U.S. industries, Project Socrates , contributed to employment growth as the U.S. aerospace industry captured 72 percent of world aerospace market. By 1999 U.S. share of the world market fell to 52 percent. In the European Union , aerospace companies such as Airbus , Safran , BAE Systems , Thales , Dassault , Saab AB , Terma A/S , Patria Plc and Leonardo are participants in
387-456: Is Japan ), strong transportation infrastructure (#5, #1 is Hong Kong ), a healthy economy (#10, #1 is China ), but high costs (#7, #1 is Denmark ) and average tax policy (#36, #1 is Qatar ). Following were Canada , Singapore , Switzerland and United Kingdom . Within the US, the most attractive was Washington state , due to the best Industry (#1), leading Infrastructure (#4, New Jersey
430-403: Is #1) and Economy (#4, Texas is #1), good labor (#9, Massachusetts is #1), average tax policy (#17, Alaska is #1) but is costly (#33, Montana is #1). Washington is tied to Boeing Commercial Airplanes , earning $ 10.3 billion, is home to 1,400 aerospace-related businesses, and has the highest aerospace jobs concentration. Following are Texas, Georgia , Arizona and Colorado . In the US,
473-414: Is a high technology industry. The aircraft industry is the industry supporting aviation by building aircraft and manufacturing aircraft parts for their maintenance . This includes aircraft and parts used for civil aviation and military aviation . Most production is done pursuant to type certificates and Defense Standards issued by a government body. This term has been largely subsumed by
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#1732844152400516-511: Is based. Several consolidations took place in the aerospace and defense industries over the last few decades. Airbus prominently illustrated the European airliner manufacturing consolidation in the late 1960s. Between 1988 and 2010, more than 5,452 mergers and acquisitions with a total known-value of US$ 579 billion were announced worldwide. In 1993, then United States Secretary of Defense Les Aspin and his deputy William J. Perry held
559-471: Is the successor company to numerous British aircraft manufacturers which merged throughout the second half of the 20th century. Many of these mergers followed the 1957 Defence White Paper . Marconi Electronic Systems , a subsidiary of the General Electric Company plc , was acquired by British Aerospace for US$ 12.3 billion in 1999 merger, to form BAE Systems . In 2002, when Fairchild Dornier
602-725: The Agusta A.106 can be considered the best of its earlier attempts. Others included the AB.102 , A.103 , A.104 , and A.115 . It also produced a small line of aero engines such as the GA.70 and GA.140 . Developed in the 1970s, the Agusta A109 is a commercial and military twin-turbine helicopter, of which the latest variants are still in production. In 1983, the Agusta A129 Mangusta anti-tank helicopter partook in its first official flight engagement. It
645-668: The Agusta A109 Power , an improved version of the A109C series (1994) and the Agusta A119 Koala (1997), a single-engine design based on the A109. Agusta became involved in the Belgian bribery scandal when it was revealed that the company had paid the two Belgian socialist parties who were then (1988/1989) in the government to assist the company in getting the contract for attack helicopters for
688-500: The Airbus A380 , less than 100 major suppliers outsource 60% of its value, even 80% on the A350 . Boeing embraced an aggressive Tier 1 model for the 787 but with its difficulties began to question why it was earning lower margins than its suppliers while it seemed to take all the risk, ensuing its 2011 Partnering for Success initiative, as Airbus initiated its own Scope+ initiative for
731-567: The Bombardier Global Express pioneered the "Tier 1" supply chain model inspired by automotive industry , with 10-12 risk-sharing limited partners funding around half of the development costs. The Embraer E-Jet followed in the late 1990s with fewer than 40 primary suppliers. Tier 1 suppliers were led by Honeywell , Safran , Goodrich Corporation and Hamilton Sundstrand . In the 2000s, Rolls-Royce reduced its supplier count after bringing in automotive supply chain executives. On
774-474: The CSeries partnership between Airbus and Bombardier Aerospace could trigger a daisy chain of reactions towards a new order. Airbus gets a new, efficient model at the lower end of the narrowbody market which provides the bulk of airliner profits and can abandon the slow selling A319 while Bombardier benefits from the growth in this expanded market even if it holds a smaller residual stake. Boeing could forge
817-703: The Department of Defense and NASA are the two biggest consumers of aerospace technology and products. The Bureau of Labor Statistics of the United States reported that the aerospace industry employed 444,000 wage and salary jobs in 2004, many of which were in Washington and California, this marked a steep decline from the peak years during the Reagan Administration when total employment exceeded 1,000,000 aerospace industry workers. During that period of recovery
860-650: The Westland Scout and its naval variant the Westland Wasp from the P.531, which found favour with the Army Air Corps and Fleet Air Arm respectively. In the late 1960s, the company began a collaboration with Aérospatiale to manufacture three new helicopters, the Aérospatiale Puma , Aérospatiale Gazelle and Westland Lynx , with the last being a Westland design. Through Saunders-Roe, Westland became first
903-503: The "Last Supper" at the Pentagon with contractors executives who were told that there were twice as many military suppliers as he wanted to see: $ 55 billion in military–industry mergers took place from 1992 to 1997, leaving mainly Boeing , Lockheed Martin , Northrop Grumman and Raytheon . Boeing bought McDonnell Douglas for US$ 13.3 billion in 1996. Raytheon acquired Hughes Aircraft Company for $ 9.5 billion in 1997. BAE Systems
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#1732844152400946-858: The Belgian Army. In 1998, Agusta formed a joint venture with Bell Helicopter Textron called the Bell/Agusta Aerospace Company . Its aim was to develop the Bell/Agusta AB139 helicopter and the Bell/Agusta BA609 tiltrotor aircraft. Bell later withdrew from the BA609 project, which is now known as the AgustaWestland AW609 . In July 2000, Finmeccanica and GKN plc agreed to merge their respective helicopter subsidiaries (Agusta and GKN-Westland Helicopters ), forming AgustaWestland . It
989-693: The CSeries, renamed A220, and E-jet E2 are more capable than their predecessors, they moved closer to the lower end of the narrowbodies . In 2018, the four Western airframers combined into two within nine months as Boeing acquired 80% of Embraer's airliners for $ 3.8 billion on July 5. On April 3, 2020, Raytheon and United Technologies Corporation (except Otis Worldwide , leaving Rockwell Collins and engine maker Pratt and Whitney ) merged to form Raytheon Technologies Corporation , with combined sales of $ 79 billion in 2019. The most prominent unions between 1995 and 2020 include those of Boeing and McDonnell Douglas;
1032-818: The French, German and Spanish parts of EADS; and United Technologies with Rockwell Collins then Raytheon, but many mergers projects did not went through: Textron-Bombardier, EADS-BAE Systems, Hawker Beechcraft-Superior Aviation, GE-Honeywell, BAE Systems-Boeing (or Lockheed Martin), Dassault-Aerospatiale, Safran-Thales, BAE Systems-Rolls-Royce or Lockheed Martin–Northrop Grumman. The largest aerospace suppliers are United Technologies with $ 28.2 billion of revenue, followed by GE Aviation with $ 24.7 billion, Safran with $ 22.5 billion, Rolls-Royce Holdings with $ 16.9 billion, Honeywell Aerospace with $ 15.2 billion and Rockwell Collins including B/E Aerospace with $ 8.1 billion. Electric aircraft development could generate large changes for
1075-683: The Leonardo Helicopters brand. Westland Aircraft was founded in 1935 when Petters Limited split its aircraft manufacturing from its aircraft engine concerns. During the Second World War the company produced military aircraft including the Lysander , the Whirlwind and the Welkin . After the war, the company began to build helicopters under a licensing agreement with Sikorsky . From the mid-1950s
1118-1085: The United States ( Boeing ), Montreal and Toronto in Canada ( Bombardier , Pratt & Whitney Canada ), Toulouse and Bordeaux in France ( Airbus , Dassault , ATR ), Seville in Spain and Hamburg in Germany ( Airbus ), the North-West of England and Bristol in Britain ( Airbus and AgustaWestland ), Komsomolsk-on-Amur and Irkutsk in Russia ( Sukhoi , Beriev ), Kyiv and Kharkiv in Ukraine ( Antonov ), Nagoya in Japan ( Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Aerospace and Kawasaki Heavy Industries Aerospace ), as well as São José dos Campos in Brazil where Embraer
1161-506: The aerospace suppliers. On 26 November 2018, United Technologies announced the completion of its Rockwell Collins acquisition, renaming systems supplier UTC Aerospace Systems as Collins Aerospace , for $ 23 billion of sales in 2017 and 70,000 employees, and $ 39.0 billion of sales in 2017 combined with engine manufacturer Pratt & Whitney . Before the 1980s/1990s, aircraft and aeroengine manufacturers were vertically integrated . Then Douglas aircraft outsourced large aerostructures and
1204-679: The company came to increasingly concentrate on helicopters, eventually to the exclusion of other types. Production started with the Sikorsky S-51 , which became the Westland Dragonfly , flying for the first time in 1948 and entering service with the Royal Navy and Royal Air Force in 1953. Westland developed an improved version, the Widgeon , which was not a great success. Success with the Dragonfly
1247-513: The global aerospace industry and research effort. In Russia , large aerospace companies like Oboronprom and the United Aircraft Corporation (encompassing Mikoyan , Sukhoi , Ilyushin , Tupolev , Yakovlev , and Irkut , which includes Beriev ) are among the major global players in this industry. Important locations of the civil aerospace industry worldwide include Seattle , Wichita, Kansas , Dayton, Ohio and St. Louis in
1290-721: The helicopter divisions of Bristol , Fairey and Saunders-Roe (with their hovercraft ) were merged with Westland to form Westland Helicopters in 1961. Westland inherited the Saro Skeeter helicopter, a development of the Cierva W.14 Skeeter and the Fairey Rotodyne compound gyroplane design. They continued to develop the latter, terminating their own Westland Westminster large transport design. The company continued to produce other aircraft under licence from Sikorsky ( Sea King ) and Bell ( Sioux ). They also produced their own designs:
1333-623: The largest industrial bases in 2017 were the United States with $ 408.4 billion (representing 49% of the whole), followed by France with $ 69 billion (8.2%), then China with $ 61.2 billion (7.3%), the United Kingdom with $ 48.8 billion (5.8%), Germany with $ 46.2 billion (5.5%), Russia with $ 27.1 billion (3.2%), Canada with $ 24 billion (2.9%), Japan with $ 21 billion (2.5%), Spain with $ 14 billion (1.7%) and India with $ 11 billion (1.3%). These ten countries represent $ 731 billion or 87.2% of
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1376-762: The more encompassing term: " aerospace industry". In 2015 the aircraft production was worth US$ 180.3 billion: 61% airliners , 14% business and general aviation , 12% military aircraft , 10% military rotary wing and 3% civil rotary wing; while their MRO was worth $ 135.1 Bn or $ 315.4 Bn combined. The global aerospace industry was worth $ 838.5 billion in 2017: aircraft & engine OEMs represented 28% ($ 235 Bn), civil & military MRO & upgrades 27% ($ 226 Bn), aircraft systems & component manufacturing 26% ($ 218 Bn), satellites & space 7% ($ 59 Bn), missiles & UAVs 5% ($ 42 Bn) and other activity, including flight simulators , defense electronics, public research accounted for 7% ($ 59 Bn). The Top 10 countries with
1419-629: The possibility of tax evasion by Sharp Ocean on the commission received for the sale of helicopters and foreign exchange deprivation to the country by off-shoring payments for the sale of helicopters in India. Separately, the comptroller and auditor general, in its latest report, has indicted the Chhattisgarh government for overpaying Rs.65 lakh (US$ 120,000) for the purchase of a VVIP helicopter -an Agusta A-109 Power helicopter. Both companies are promoted by twin brothers Nayan Jagjivan and Nakul Jagjivan. Westland Helicopters Westland Helicopters
1462-568: The requirements of the Royal Navy and the Italian Navy . In 1985 the company started a collaborative programme with the aeronautic industries of France, Germany and the Netherlands in order to develop and produce the NHIndustries NH90 , a nine-ton twin-engine multi-role medium helicopter in order to satisfy the requirements of their respective countries’ armed forces. 1990s projects include
1505-576: The resignation of Defence Secretary Michael Heseltine in January 1986 over the fate of Britain's sole helicopter manufacturer. The split, which became known as the Westland affair , was over whether to push the company into a European deal or accept the US company's offer. Eventually, the link with Sikorsky was accepted. This saw both Sikorsky and Fiat acquire minority shareholdings in Westland. In 1988 GKN bought
1548-459: The whole industry. In 2018, the new commercial aircraft value is projected for $ 270.4 billion while business aircraft will amount for $ 18 billion and civil helicopters for $ 4 billion. In September 2018, PwC ranked aerospace manufacturing attractiveness: the most attractive country was the United States , with $ 240 billion in sales in 2017, due to the sheer size of the industry (#1) and educated workforce (#1), low geopolitical risk (#4, #1
1591-500: Was bankrupt , Airbus, Boeing or Bombardier declined to take the 728JET /928JET large regional jet program as mainline and regional aircraft manufacturers were split and Airbus was digesting its ill-fated Fokker acquisition a decade earlier. On September 4, 2017, United Technologies acquired Rockwell Collins in cash and stock for $ 23 billion, $ 30 billion including Rockwell Collins' net debt, for $ 500+ million of synergies expected by year four. The Oct. 16, 2017 announcement of
1634-405: Was a British aircraft manufacturer . Originally Westland Aircraft , the company focused on helicopters after the Second World War. It was amalgamated with several other British firms in 1960 and 1961. In 2000, it merged with Italian helicopter manufacturer Agusta to form AgustaWestland . In 2016, AgustaWestland merged into Leonardo , where it became the company's helicopters division under
1677-635: Was approved by the British government in October 2004. The former Westland site at the now unused airfield in Weston-super-Mare houses The Helicopter Museum featuring a number of examples of Westland aircraft. Aircraft industry An aerospace manufacturer is a company or individual involved in the various aspects of designing , building, testing, selling, and maintaining aircraft , aircraft parts , missiles , rockets , or spacecraft . Aerospace
1720-554: Was repeated with the Sikorsky S-55 which became the Whirlwind , and a re-engined turboshaft powered Sikorsky S-58 as the Wessex . The chairmanship of Eric Mensforth from 1953 to 1968 marked the start of the transition, which was aided by the government when in 1959–1961 they forced the merger of the 20 or so aviation firms into three groups. British Aircraft Corporation and Hawker Siddeley Group took over fixed-wing designs, while
1763-562: Was reported on 12 February 2013 that the chief executive, Giuseppe Orsi, was arrested on corruption charges. Prosecutors allege he paid bribes to ensure the sale of 12 helicopters to the Indian government, when he was head of the group's AgustaWestland unit. On 13 February 2013, Finmeccanica's Board of Directors named Alessandro Pansa as chief executive officer and resolved to confer the role of vice chairman to Admiral Guido Venturoni. Shortly after Pansa's appointment, Italian investigators discovered
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1806-648: Was retained for the NH90 . In the 1990s, the company returned to profitability and grew as a result of several major contracts from the UK Ministry of Defence for EH101 Merlin helicopters and for 67 licence-built Boeing AH-64 Apache attack helicopters, designated the WAH-64 and entering full operational service in 2005. In April 1994, Westland became a wholly owned subsidiary of GKN. In 2000 GKN and Finmeccanica agreed to merge their Westland and Agusta helicopter subsidiaries into
1849-675: Was the first attack helicopter to be designed and produced in Western Europe. However, this helicopter has been a limited commercial success so far, seeing service with the Italian Army , and has also been a modernized variant being developed for the Turkish Army . The 1980s saw the start of several collaborative projects for Agusta. In 1981 Agusta and Westland of Britain started the EH101 medium-lift naval helicopter project in order to satisfy
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