20 How brightly is our ’jewel’ shining?


On March 18, a £2 billion investment was announced to keep aerospace technology as the UK’s ’jewel in our crown’ within the leading aerospace industry in Europe


This jointly funded government and industry seven-year boost to the sector will secure around 115,000 UK jobs in 3,000 companies from SMEs to global firms – many based in the Solent region. It will also establish a new UK Aerospace Technology Institute (ATI) focused on developing aircraft that are


lighter, quieter, faster and more energy-efficient.


Major firms such as Airbus, Rolls Royce, Messier-Dowty, AgustaWestland, GKN Aerospace and ADS will help form and lead the UK ATI. Investment is expected to focus on four key areas of


UK strength – aerodynamics, propulsion, aerostructures, and advanced systems – protecting the industry in the face of growing international competition.


By 2031, the civil aerospace market is anticipated to be worth in excess of 4.5 trillion US dollars.


Missionkraft: Disruptive business models need support


One-year-old Missionkraft may be a new name but its experienced management team will be known to industry players. Missionkraft is also new because it is adopting a fresh disruptive stance within the defence market.


The company is offering innovative alternatives to help hard-pressed naval budgets go further by suggesting greater use within the fleet of smaller, multi-use craft that are more cost- effective to deploy.


“Instead of relying on a few very capable, but very expensive ’Bentleys’ to do everything, we suggest a bigger fleet of high quality ’BMWs’ would get more work done for less,“ says chief executive Guy Whitaker.


Southampton-based Missionkraft’s version of that BMW solution is a


50-metre compact combat warship that is more agile, robust, up to 60% faster (“it ’flies’ on a wing between catamaran hulls“) and, importantly, much less costly.


The design harnesses leading technologies from different Aerospace & Defence (A&D) areas, combining them to create a radically different product. “The synergy definitely delivers an X factor.“


Austerity, high fuel costs, and the growing security needs of offshore platforms and ’green’ energy zones are opening minds to Missionkraft’s disruptive thinking. Whitaker has presented to RUSI members and at the world’s biggest Offshore Patrol & Security conference, recently held in Portsmouth.


While mature naval defence markets are becoming receptive, Missionkraft is mainly targeting


Folland Aerotech: British talent lauded worldwide, yet undervalued at home


Stress engineering specialist Stan Lewry and his structural engineer partner Colin Baker both have over 30 years’ experience in the A&D sector. Last spring, they started up Folland Aerotech at Fareham’s Segensworth West, and it has achieved a creditable £1.7m turnover in its first year.


Despite attractive business incentives to locate Folland Aerotech in Germany, Switzerland or Spain, Lewry and Baker’s


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experience chose the Solent area – with its beneficial clustering.


“Both Colin and I have also got significant contacts and business partners around here. There’s a lot of synergy with like-minded companies and it’s a good place to gain talented staff. Travel links are good too with motorways, rail and Southampton Airport,' says Lewry.


“Southampton University has good education programmes, and now we are growing we aim to


Stan Lewry


growing economies in Africa, Middle East, South East Asia and South America. “Our efforts are focused on export. We are fishing where the fish are,“ says Whitaker.


Shorter procurement routes and lead times are also likely within BRIC countries, overcoming the “generational“ time hurdle that frequently shackles traditional markets.


Missionkraft, self-funded to date, has planned a pathway to market that involves working with great partners in the right locations. “We are a very collaborative business, championing the owners of the technologies we use. Everyone benefits, including the client who gets a better performing, better value craft.“


Skillwise, Whitaker is confident that the global nature of A&D


So, how well placed is our high- tech, high-skill UK sector to maximise this ATI support? writes John Burbedge.


We spoke to Missionkraft (a pre-revenue start-up), Folland Aerotech (a newcomer to the Solent, but with well-established European industry links) and STI (a globally-operating world-class electronics specialist founded in 1989).


will enable Missionkraft to find suitable talent and resources to progress its new combined technologies focus.


Although he views UK A&D as at risk of becoming “hollowed out in terms of skills“, Whitaker sees UK activity growing “driven by overseas challenges such as rising wage inflation, transportation costs etc. That’s when specific education and vocational training will become more important".


While heartened by the ATI’s strategic support for UK technical excellence, Whitaker hopes it will also help remove illogical ’red- tape’, such as the exclusion of shipbuilding from the Enterprise Investment Scheme.


Missionkraft is currently bidding for significant projects. “We just need that moment of customer enlightenment to get our first domino to move.“


tap into the local pool of aerotech talent to take on additional permanent staff,“ explains Lewry, who already owns Swiss-based Lewry TSE, an established highly regarded engineering company working with RUAG Space.


Folland’s south coast start-up was also motivated by the company’s ongoing involvement with Airbus, for whom it has Airbus A350 and A400M contracts for wing design and stress analysis. “The Swiss Franc strength and the need to import many staff made it uneconomical to operate from Switzerland.“


THE BUSINESS MAGAZINE – SOLENT & SOUTH CENTRAL – MAY 2013


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