The 51st edition of the Farnborough International Airshow took place at Farnborough Airport, which is located 55 km west of London, from 16 to 22 July 2017. The Czech national exposition covered 350 m2 in the main hall. Together with seven Czech companies, the Association of the Czech Aerospace Industry, the Moravian Aerospace Cluster, the Ministry of Industry and Trade and CzechTrade, representatives of CzechInvest attended the airshow for the purpose of conducting talks on future possible investments.
Accompanied by Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Petr Očko, the agency’s representatives visited leading global manufacturers of aircraft, aircraft engines and aerospace and defence technologies such as Airbus, Embraer, Rolls-Royce, Thales, MBDA and Leonardo. They also met with representatives of GE Aviation, with whom they discussed further plans for the development of that company’s operations in the Czech Republic. Talks on possible future cooperation were also held with other firms from Great Britain, the United States, Canada, France, Japan and South Korea.
The Czech company Aero Vodochody announced at Farnborough the signing of a contract on the sale of up to 28 L-39NG aircraft, a modernised version of the successful ALCA model, to the Portuguese company SkyTech and the American firm RSW Aviation and signing of a memorandum of strategic cooperation with the Israeli firm IAI involving development of the new F/A-259 Striker combat aircraft. Another Czech firm, PBS Velká Bíteš, a manufacturer of aircraft engines and propulsion units, exhibited its new TJ80 jet engine intended particularly for target drones and other unmanned aerial vehicles.
The rising trend of 3D metal printing was a dominant theme of the event.