– Aircraft engine maker Rolls-Royce is forming a technology center at Purdue University. The university technology program provides support for product development and more fundamental research, including work to develop jet engines for advanced civilian and military aircraft. Rolls-Royce has 19 university technology centers in Britain and one in Sweden and has strategic relationships with eight other universities.
– Eurocopter, the world’s biggest maker of civilian helicopters, reports that 2002 sales rose 12 percent, to $2.7 billion, largely on demand from police and government buyers. The company says that while orders for airplanes have declined since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, demand for security helicopters has risen. The Franco-German company delivered 367 helicopters in 2002.
