Past Perfect, Future Misleading

Rand Simberg wrote:
I have some more commentary on the Gehman report, and why we should
not build "the" next generation launch system.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,95930,00.html


Also near the end of this essay is this:


"Let's start a new space age based on the American values of competition
and individualism, rather than European (or even Soviet) ones of
monopoly and bureaucracy."

It seems to me there's free market capitalism flourishing in the
European Economic Union, as well as along the Pacific Rim. I think there
may be other entities besides the U.S. that could benefit from private
space industry.

There are some multi-national corporations that strengthen the economy
of several nations. For example CFM International is both U.S. and
French. Would they be able to compete for both U.S. incentives and
European prizes?

Hop
http://clowder.net/hop/index.html

"Hop David" wrote in message
...
There are some multi-national corporations that strengthen the economy
of several nations. For example CFM International is both U.S. and
French. Would they be able to compete for both U.S. incentives and
European prizes?

CFM International--a joint venture of GE Aero Engines (GEAE) in the USA and
SNECMA of France--is truly one of the luckiest companies in aviation
history.

A little history of CFM International: in 1969, SNECMA proposed the
high-bypass M56 engine, intended for eventual growth versions of the
Dassault Mercure airliner. The project languished for some time until SNECMA
began negotiations with GEAE to co-develop the engine. Once the US
Department of Commerce allowed GE to use the combustor core derived from the
F101 engine used on the B-1 bomber on a commercial engine, GEAE and SNECMA
formed the CFM International partnership to build the engine, now designated
CFM56.

Sales initially languished, with the only one application targeted: the main
engine for the proposed YC-15 STOL transport for the US Air Force. When the
YC-15 program ended in 1976, CFM International scrambled to find another
customer for the CFM56 engine, and found it with a sucessful proposal to
re-engine the DC-8 Super Sixty series planes with CFM56 engines. Cammacorp
was formed, and by the late 1970's DC-8 Super Sixty planes were being
re-engined with CFM56 engines; the modified DC-8's were designated DC-8
Super Seventy series.

Around 1980, with the imposition of ICAO Stage III noise emission rules,
Boeing looked for a new engine to make the 737 comply with Stage III rules.
They found it in the CFM56, though CFM International had to redesign the
engine (along with Boeing developing a new engine nacelle design) so the
CFM56 could be fitted to the 737. The result was the highly-succesful
737-300/400/500 series, which became enormously popular in markets where
strict noise regulations were in effect. Among the big customer for the
737-300 was a fast-rising airline named Southwest Airlines. At about the
same time, the Airbus consortium decided to build a narrow-body airliner
that would not only compete against Boeing, but also replace the many
European-built airliners that were getting increasingly obselete. The result
was the A320 Family of airliners in the 1983, with uprated versions of the
CFM56 being the preferred engine choice.

In the late 1980's, Airbus was developing the A340 long-range airliner. When
the original IAE V2500 Superfan engine project was shelved CFM International
was able to quickly develop a 30,000+ thrust version of the CFM56 engine,
which saved the A340 program.

In the 1990's, Boeing developed the Next-Generation 737, which was to
compete against the A320 Family of planes and to replace the many 727-200's
in US airline service. Naturally, Boeing turned to the CFM56 in an uprated
version, and it is the exclusive engine for the 737NG.

Today, with the rapid rise of low-cost carriers, there will be major sales
of the A320 Family and Next-Generation 737 airliners over the next seven
years. And CFM International will be there will power the vast majority of
the planes being sold to low-cost carriers.

--
Raymond Chuang
Mountain View, CA USA