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[August 2009]
Surface Transforms Bags New Contract in France
Surface Transforms Plc (Ellesmere Port, Cheshire, England) has announced the award of a two-year contract to the value of €245,000 from Microturbo SA France, which is part of the international high technology SAFRAN Group specialising in aerospace propulsion, aircraft equipment, defence and communications which has sales in excess of €10 billion.Microturbo itself, with sales of €85 million, is one of the world leaders in gas turbine applications for missile propulsion, drones and UAVs, in addition to civil air and ground-based power units. The contract with Microturbo is linked to the development of ceramic materials and components for an uncooled turbine jet applicable to a range of European missiles. The key material attributes identified are low mass, high temperature capability giving additional system weight savings and affordability. The programme will investigate the feasibility of using such material in the severe environment of a turbojet engine.
The work will be supported jointly by the UK and French Ministries of Defence as part of the Innovation and Technology Partnership (ITP) in the domain of Turbojet Propulsion: Materials for Uncooled Turbines.
The contract has been awarded in relation to Surface Transforms' successful current ITP-funded three-year contract with MBDA in the domain of Materials and Components for Missiles, as announced on 18 February 2008. MBDA is the largest missile manufacturer in Europe and is a major customer of Microturbo. MBDA-France has overall responsibility for the industrial implementation of all eight technical domains within the ITP initiative. Results from the current MBDA programme will be fed into the new contract with Microturbo.
Commenting, Kevin Johnson, Chief Executive of Surface Transforms, said: “The contract with Microturbo is an important recognition and extension of our current work with MBDA over the past three years and continues to show that our carbon-ceramic is now a strategic material which gives significant performance advantages over carbon-carbon and huge weight savings over advanced metal alloys. We can deliver distinct cost benefits with improved performance using our proprietary technology. Working with Microturbo significantly strengthens our position in the defence industry”.
ENDS