The awarding of funding to support R&D projects under the Strategic Aerospace Defence Initiative (SADI) appears to be gaining momentum. CAE's Project Falcon is the third project to be funded under SADI this year, following awards made to Esterline CMC Electronics Inc and Norsat International Inc.

Esterline CMC Electronics received $52.3 million to support its FronTier R&D initiative, a $149.4-million project to develop integrated cockpit and communication system technologies to be used in business jets, helicopters and air transport aircraft. Formerly the Canadian Marconi Co located in suburban Montreal, the firm was acquired by Esterline Corp, Bellevue WA, a diversified supplier of aerospace and defence components and materials.

The acquisition was the second in six years for CMC, which was acquired by an Onex Corp investment fund and several financial institutions in 2001.

FronTier aims to position Esterline CMC as a leading avionics and global positioning systems integrator. The project's objective is to design and construct a complete cockpit system with open architecture, making it easily adaptable to a variety of aircraft platforms. It is also aimed at reducing costs, improving safety, increasing capacity and reducing the system's environmental impact.

Norsat International is undertaking a smaller, $17-million R&D project to which SADI is contributing $6 million. The project will help to simplify the operation and maintenance of the Richmond BC-based firm's ground-based satellite systems so that on-site engineers and communications technicians are not required.

Norsat hopes the modifications will expand its offering of satellite systems for use in the field by military personnel, emergency response teams and disaster recovery teams. The company will work with several smaller firms as well as Simon Fraser Univ.

All SADI assistance is repayable from company gross revenues over a maximum of 15 years.

The Conservative government pledged to increase funding for SADI by $200 million over four years but the commitment has yet to be implemented (R$, October 7/08).

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