经济学人下载:英国航天工业 飞行计划

Britain's aerospace industry
英国航天工业

Flight plan
飞行计划

Can Britain remain a planemaking superpower?
英国能维持飞机制造强国地位吗？

THE sleek de Havilland Comet, the world's first commercial passenger jet, was designed and built in Britain 60 years ago. It is a dozen years since the last passenger jet, a small regional airliner, was assembled in the country. This would neatly illustrate a familiar tale of industrial tailspin were the industry not in such fine fettle. Britain is currently the world's second-largest aerospace manufacturer, with 17% of the global market, behind only America. But staying at that altitude will be tough.
哈维兰彗星型客机是世界上第一架商用客机，由英国于60年前设计与制造。距最后一架客机—一架小型支线飞机在该国组装已经十几年了。要不是这个产业处于如此良好的状态，这将恰好呈现一个司空见惯的工业不景气故事。英国现在是世界上第二大航空航天制造商，占据全球17%的市场，仅次于美国。但要继续站在这个高峰困难重重。

Britain's aerospace industry has a few obvious champions: Rolls-Royce makes engines, BAE Systems makes fighter jets and AgustaWestland turns out helicopters. But much of it is hidden and unheralded. Its muscle is in unlikely places like Western Approach, an anonymous industrial estate near Bristol, where GKN crafts wing spars for Airbus. The long, slender beams that carry engines, landing gear and wing structure are made from light but tough carbon-fibre composites. GKN got the job because of its mastery of the material and its ability to produce in volume. GKN also makes parts for Airbus's arch-rival, Boeing.
英国的航空工业有几个知名的的制造商：劳斯莱斯制造引擎，BAE系统公司制造战斗机，阿古斯特韦斯特兰公司生产直升机。但大多数是隐藏起来未公开的。飞机的支撑部位通常生产在看起来不太可能的地方，如布里斯托尔附近的一家不知名工业园区西进口航道（Western Approach），吉凯恩（GKN）在那儿为空中客车公司制造翼梁。这种细长梁由质轻但坚韧的碳纤维复合材料制成，负责承载引擎、起落架和机翼结构。由于对材料有着出色的掌握并拥有批量生产的制造力，吉凯恩获得了制造权。吉凯恩同时也为空中客车公司的劲敌—波音公司制造零部件。

Rolls-Royce's engines now provide the thrust for half the world's new wide-bodied jets. Around a quarter of Boeing's 787 Dreamliner is made in Britain, including the landing gear, fuel pumps and some seats. British firms are world-beaters in avionics, the electronics that run a modern jet.
劳斯莱斯的引擎如今为世界上大约半数的新型宽体喷气机提供推力。波音的787梦幻客机有约四分之一的部件在英国制造，包括起落架、燃油泵和部分座椅等。英国公司在航空电子设备业、制造现代喷气式飞机的电子工业中举世无敌。

In short, Britain specialises in the complex guts of aeroplanes. Airbus completes construction of its wings in Wales before transporting them to southern France for attaching to fuselages. Bombardier, a Canadian firm, builds the wings for its new CSeries of regional jets in Belfast. Politicians in other countries crow as completed planes roll off production lines on home turf. French participation in the Airbus consortium was contingent on jets being put together there. But the British are quietly coining it: a measly 5% of the value of an aeroplane is added with final assembly.
简单地说，英国专注于飞机复杂的内部构造。空中客车公司在威尔士完成机翼制造，然后才将它们运到法国南部装到机身上去。庞巴迪公司（加拿大一家飞机生产商）在贝尔法斯特为新型C系列的支线飞机制造机翼。其他国家的政客们常常自鸣得意，因为最终完整的飞机是从本国的生产线上生产出来的。法国在空中客车合作中扮演的角色仅是飞机组装之地。但是是英国在安静地创造它：最终的组装仅为飞机增加了5%的价值。

Rising global demand for commercial jets means business will boom if Britain maintains its share of the market. Unfortunately, this is far from guaranteed. Companies are under-investing in research just as changes in the industry make it more vital.
如果英国保持住了自己的市场份额的话，那么全球对商用飞机日益增长的需求意味着生意将会迅速兴旺起来。不幸的是，这一点远远得不到保证。正当行业内变化使得研发投资尤为重要时，各公司在这一块却投资甚少。

Aerospace is a conservative business, says Glynn Bellamy of KPMG. Projects often have lifespans of 25-30 years, and reliability is paramount. As a result the industry has globalised only slowly and Western incumbents have been insulated from the cold winds of competition. But several things are changing that.
航天是一个保守的行业，毕马威会计事务所的格林·贝拉米说。项目通常都有25到30年的使用期限，可靠性是最重要的。这造成的结果是，这个行业的全球化进度很慢，西方的企业被竞争的寒风拒之门外。但是有些事正在改变这一状况。

Some big commercial airline projects, such as the Airbus A330 and the original Boeing 777, are coming to an end, to be replaced by a new generation of narrow- and wide-bodied jets. That provides an opportunity for the big global manufacturers to look beyond their backyards for suppliers. Meanwhile the governments of emerging economies like China and India are eager to boost a high-tech, high-value industry.
一些大型的商业航空项目，比如空中客车A330和最开始的波音777，正准备收尾，它们将被新一代的窄、宽体喷气式飞机所替代。这给大的国际制造商提供了一个将视线投向别处寻找供应商的机会。同时新兴经济体如中国、印度的政府也在发展高科技高价值的工业方面跃跃欲试。

Technology is advancing and becoming far more costly. Andrew Churchill, who runs JJChurchill, a family firm that makes turbine blades and other high-tech kit, says capital equipment is ten times more expensive it was a decade ago. It also becomes obsolete more quickly.
科技正在发展，也变得昂贵多了。安德鲁·丘吉尔运营着一家名为JJ丘吉尔的家族企业，这家公司主要制造涡轮叶片和其他高科技装备，他说资本设备比十年前整整贵了10倍。同时设备的更新换代也越来越快了。

The solution to all these problems is the same: plentiful research and development to keep British companies at the cutting edge. At the biggest companies, long-term investment is taken for granted. Rolls is already developing next-generation jet-engine technology. JJChurchill has ambitious plans to expand. But Mr Churchill says other small firms are failing to raise their game. If that continues, the industry will decline.
这些问题的解决方法都是一样的：大量研究和发展来保持住英国公司的先锋地位。在大公司，长期投资被视为是理所当然的。劳斯莱斯已经在研发下一代引擎技术了。JJ丘吉尔有扩张的雄心壮志。但是丘吉尔先生说其他的一些小公司未能改进。长此以往，这个行业将走下坡路。

Britain is home to 30% of Europe's aerospace firms, according to Martin Wright of the Northwest Aerospace Alliance, a trade organisation. Germany has only 10% but they are over twice as big on average and invest twice as heavily.
来自贸易组织——西北航空联盟的马丁·怀特说，英国是欧洲30%航空公司的所在地。德国仅有10%，但这些公司规模是英国的两倍，接收的投资也是两倍。

Britain's government has done a good job of nurturing aerospace, says Keith Hayward of the Royal Aeronautical Society. It has set aside cash for an Aerospace Technology Insitute and for large and small firms to invest in new technologies. ADS, an aerospace lobby group, would like to see R&D tax credits increased from 10% to compare more favourably with other parts of Europe, as well as accelerated tax relief on new building to help smaller firms move and grow.
英国政府在发展航空业上干得很好，来自皇家航空协会的基思·海沃德说。英国政府已经为一家航空技术机构和不同规模的公司留出了一笔资金，让它们投资发展新技术。ADS，一个航天游说团体，希望研发税能从10%提高到与欧洲其他地区相当的水平，同时也希望加快对新建筑的税收减免以帮助小型公司迁移和成长。

That would help. But convincing small firms to grow is a tough task. The government can only do so much to reduce the powerful gravitational forces acting on a fragmented national industry. Like the Comet, nothing stays airborne forever.
这将会有帮助。但是说服小公司去发展是一项艰巨的任务。政府能做的只有减弱作用于这个支离破碎的民族工业的强大地心引力。如同哈维兰彗星型客机一样，没有什么能一直停留在空中