Recently, the Italian Ministry of Defense announced that it will spend 171 million euros ($198 million) to purchase six Piaggio Aerospace P.180 Avanti turboprop aircraft, as well as flight simulators and engine maintenance services. These new aircraft will be combined with the Active P.180 fleet of the Italian Army to undertake the transport of key personnel, battlefield reconnaissance and surveillance, coastal patrols and other tasks.
Whether it's the Italian military itself, the contract for less than $200 million, or Piaggio's P.180 turboprop, not a single element is much international aviation news worth paying attention to. But when the three are combined, the news story behind it is worth writing about this "hot spot".
It is also a century-old shop and an Italian national enterprise
First of all, let's talk about The Piaggio Aerospace Company, an Italian national enterprise and century-old store, where the "Piaggio" Piaggio is not only the same name as the internationally renowned motorcycle manufacturer Piaggio, but also their predecessors are Rinaldo Piaggio SpA, which was founded in 1884. Of course, this kind of origin is quite common in aviation manufacturing companies, automobile companies and other fields, such as Saab in Sweden, and Rolls-Royce (Rolls-Royce in the car company) in the British engine giant.
As a result, Piaggio is one of the oldest aircraft manufacturers in the world, its initial business was railway infrastructure, locomotive manufacturing, etc., and then when the era of flight arrived, it began to produce the first aircraft in 1915. At this point, Piaggio's "incense" in the aviation field continues to this day, such as the later production of the P.136 seaplane, P.149 trainer and P.166 general transport aircraft, including the further expansion of its aviation business to jet engine manufacturing in the 1960s.
Piaggio's P.166 universal transport aircraft, the propulsion propeller, was slightly different, and this configuration also continued to transition to the P.180.
Also in the 1960s, Piaggio's aviation department and motorcycle division began to become two independent companies, the former is today's news Ofia Piaggio Aerospace (first named Piaggio Aerospace after the spin-off, and then renamed Piaggio Aerospace), while the latter continues to flourish in the field of motorcycles, such as its classic brand "Vespa" Vespa (Italian for "Wasp"), this 1946 scooter was filmed in the 1953 screen classic "Roman Holiday", It has since become a classic prop in nearly a hundred movies, achieving a sales record of 4 million vehicles half a century ago.
Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Pike on the streets of Rome endorse Vespa, just a few minutes of footage, after the release of the year at least 100,000 vehicles sold in the year.
Although a new generation of business jet P.180 "Avanti" was launched in the 1980s, it was directly affected by the Great Depression and the downturn in the business jet market at the end of the 90s, Piaggio Aerospace has been hovering on the brink of bankruptcy, the "gold" shareholders have changed many times, and the recent holding convenience is a strategic investment company in the UAE in 2014.
A century-old airline, even a drone can not be built?
At that time, with the support of the "Middle East oil bully", the renamed Piaggio Aerospace seemed to have ushered in a period of career upswing. One of the big moves is the transformation, no longer struggling in the business jet market, but instead developing the long-endurance drone P.1HH "Hammerhead" based on the P.180. In particular, in March 2016, the UAE stepped forward and said it would buy eight P.1HH drones for 316 million euros. But on May 31 of the same year, Piaggio's P.1HH unmanned prototype crashed in the waters off Sicily during a test flight due to flight control problems.
Piaggio's P.1HH drone based on the P.180 was first-class in Europe at the time in terms of performance indicators.
The following year, the P.1HH drone test flight resumed, and everything seemed to be good, and the delivery of the first aircraft to the UAE by the end of 2018 is expected. In 2018 in particular, Italy's Ministry of Defense said it would spend 766 million euros ($951 million) to purchase 20 larger P.2HH drones. But all this "sudden change", this year Piaggio Aerospace once again ushered in another bankruptcy, takeover and bankruptcy restructuring failure in the course of a century.
Can the Italian government's 700 million euro order save the century-old store?
In this way, this 130-year-old Italian veteran company has been waiting for the new financier to take over from 2018 to today. Also in recent news, it is said that investors from Italy and Sweden have basically reached the acquisition of Piajo Aerospace and announced that they will transform electric aircraft in the future. In keeping with the upcoming acquisition, the Italian military recently announced a contract for six P.180s for 171 million euros ($198 million). At this point, although the Italian government has pigeonted the purchase of the "hammer" drone, it has fulfilled the previous promise of "turning losses into profits" for this national enterprise with orders of more than 700 million euros.
Prior to the recent order for six P.180s, the Italian military had signed a €540 million contract with Piaggio covering engine maintenance services for the Italian Army CH-47 transport helicopter and the A129 Mongoose helicopter gunship, as well as upgrades and improvements to the active P.180. However, the "Hammerhead" drone, which symbolizes the transformation of this century-old Italian store in the new century, has been ignored by all parties, and with the arrival of the new holding party, the fate of the "Hammerhead" UAV has basically ended.
The signboard of the century-old store cannot be kept, and it is also the norm
From the perspective of the broader global aviation manufacturing industry chain, Piaggio, a 130-year-old store, is caught in such an existential crisis as it is now, which seems to be inevitable under the trend of the times. In this regard, since the business jet market has long been a fiercely competitive Red Sea (not to mention the current global economic situation and the background of the epidemic era), piaggio's P.180 designed in the late 1980s is no longer a star model in the market, nor is it a popular model in the hearts of potential customers. Even, from today's point of view, the design of the P.180 is still unique, very "Italian".
Inventory of those born in the 19th century aviation manufacturing enterprises, their fate in the hundred years of ups and downs is mostly disappeared, after mergers and acquisitions converged into today's industry giants, and even if they can still survive until 2021, their business lines have basically chosen strategic contraction, specializing in a certain segment, becoming one of the suppliers in the ultra-long industrial chain of aviation manufacturing "building aircraft".
Judging from the progress of the project, Piaggio's "Hammerhead" drone project is still relatively close to success (even the military insignia has been painted when it was unveiled at the previous air show), but it may not have the day when it will be equipped for service.
As for the "old store" like Piaggio, which has been supporting the façade with P.180 in recent decades, the survival dilemma faced by it is insufficient funds, several easy "gold owners" after several bankruptcies and restructurings, and the "single seedling" in the product, and the subsequent transformation (development of drone projects) The last failure may completely ruin the future of the enterprise. Even if today the Italian government stepped forward as promised and saved this "national enterprise", in the face of this industry trend, there is not much time left for Piaggio to make survival and destruction choices and gamble on electric aircraft outlets.