AIAC at the Luxembourg in Space Conference and Awards Dinner Gala in New York
Prince Guillaume, Hereditary Grand Duke of Luxembourg
For Immediate Release
New York, NY – April 24, 2024 AIAC and its Aviation, Space, and Defense Group was represented in the 11th Biennial Luxembourg Space Conference at the Citicorp Tower, followed by an Awards Dinner Gala, held at the Metropolitan Club of New York. Entitled, Luxembourg in Space: Developing the Emerging In-Orbit and Lunar Economies, the conference and celebration was hosted by His Royal Highness Crown Prince Guillaume of Luxembourg and His Excellency Xavier Bettel, Vice Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade. The event was sponsored and organized by the Luxembourg Space Agency, the Luxembourg Ministry of Economy, the Luxembourg Trade and Investment Office of New York, and the Luxembourg American Chamber of Commerce.
At this event, AIAC Chairman L. M. Levie represented the following AIAC companies: Bradford Space, Eurofoil, Arnprior Aerospace, Consolidated Industries, Coating Technology Inc., Vermont Aerospace Industries, Lenape Forged Products, Craft Machine Works, Automated Machine & Technology, Titanium Fabrication Corporation, Ti-Titanium Ltd., SuperAlloy Manufacturing Solutions, Vecco, Champlain Cable Corporation, Champlain Specialty Metals, Umbilicals International, Neotiss, and Forte Micro. Mr. Levie also informally represented the Explorers Club, for which Mr. Levie serves as a member of its Board of Trustees. Since 1904, the Explorers Club has supported pioneering expeditions on land, sea, and in outer space.
AIAC Chairman Levie first privately met for 45 minutes with Crown Prince Guillaume, Deputy Prime Minister Xavier Bettel, Ambassador Nicole Bintner-Bakshian, along with Mario Grotz, Director General for Research, Intellectual Property and New Technologies, Pierre Ferring, Director of Foreign Trade and Investment Promotion, Daniel Da Cruz, Consul General, and Kivanc Ergu, Economic Attaché in New York. Mr. Levie formally presented the Crown Prince with a pen, custom crafted from an ultra-micro-circuit board and precision cast and etched titanium and brass. The pen intricately depicted the economic and technological evolution experienced by the Duchy of Luxembourg into the space age.
During the meeting, Mr. Levie recounted a small, private lunch hosted by the Prince and top Luxembourg ministers at the Metropolitan Club of New York four years earlier, during which the Crown Prince gratefully described his grandmother’s stay as a refugee in the United States during the dark days of World War II when Luxembourg was occupied by Nazi Germany.
The Prince and Prime Minister asked Mr. Levie for his views on the economy of Europe and Luxembourg in particular, and AIAC’s business and investments plans. Mr. Levie offered his compliments on the EU’s highly effective handling of the Covid 19 pandemic and its successful migration from dependance on Russian oil and gas supplies following the start of the war in Ukraine. He noted that EU inflation and debt levels were lower than US levels and that economic growth was continuing at a steady and sustainable pace. He thanked the leadership of Luxembourg on their continued commitment to the Space sector.
The Crown Prince and Deputy Prime Minister Bettel then addressed the Luxembourg in Space Conference, noting the nation’s long support for the Space sector, and the dynamic growth it has generated. Panelists examined the latest developments, opportunities, and challenges in Luxembourg's burgeoning space sector. Presentations covered in-orbit servicing and the lunar economy from technical and economic perspectives. Attendees included leading spacecraft manufacturers, component and equipment designers and producers, venture capitalists, private equity investors, money managers, commercial and investment bankers, institutional investors, and government space agency officials.
From 2:30 pm to 4:00 pm, the Crown Prince Guillaume, accompanied by Tim Kessler, his attaché, proceeded to the Explorers Club, located 20 blocks north, where he was greeted by Richard Garriott de Cayeux, President, Martin Kraus, Prior Member of the Board of Directors, and L. M. Levie, Member of the Board of Trustees. This culminated in a meeting in the Levie-Roosevelt Board Room of the Club. Mr. Garriott noted that they were seated at the original White House conference table on which the Panama Canal Treaty and the Armistice for the Sino-Russian War were signed. Mr. Garriott pointed out Theodore Roosevelt’s framed original application for membership in the Explorers Club in which he listed as a possible qualification for acceptance in the club his position as “President of the United States.” The Prince expressed his sincere appreciation for the private tour and the legacy of land, sea, and space exploration reflected throughout the iconic building.
Later that evening, the Luxembourg-America Chamber of Commerce hosted a black tie gala and awards ceremony at the Metropolitan Club of New York. A champagne reception was held in the Library and the Great Hall of the club, during which the Crown Prince, the Deputy Prime Minister, and the Luxembourg Ambassador to the United States formally received members of the Luxembourg-American Chamber of Commerce. Mr. Levie and Mr. Kraus, who had escorted the Crown Prince earlier at the Explorers Club, again greeted HRH Guillaume.
The guests proceeded to the grand ballroom, where Kristen Edgreen Kaufman, Deputy Commissioner of Public Private Partnerships & Economic Development in the New York City Mayor's Office for International Affairs, formally introduced the Prince and the Deputy Prime Minister, who each delivered an address on Luxembourg’s outsized role in the space economy.
The Crown Prince and the Deputy Prime Minister then conferred the 2024 Luxembourg American Business Award on Redwire (NYSE:RDW), a global leader in space technology, with extensive operations in Luxembourg. Redwire’s Chairman and CEO, Peter Cannito, graciously accepted the award on behalf of the corporation he founded. The Luxembourg American Business Award, initially presented in 1999, recognizes a company that has made unique, long-term contributions to economic activities between the two nations. Previous awardees include DuPont and Amazon.
Reflecting the Luxembourg in Space theme, the award trophy this year was a uniquely designed metal sculpture representing planets revolving within the solar system.
In recent decades, Luxembourg has migrated from economic reliance on mature, large scale manufacturing industries, to a diversified, financial services and technology-centric economy. Reflecting on this economic transformation, Mr. Levie commented, “Luxembourg’s political and business leaders have demonstrated a steadfast commitment to space technology and exploration. Today, 80 space sector companies are sited in Luxembourg because its space industry eco-system is supportive, vibrant and fast growing. AIAC and its Luxembourg-sited companies, Bradford Space and Eurofoil, are proud to be part of the Luxembourg economic success story. We heartily congratulate our friends at Redwire for their great achievement.”
For further information, please see:
About AIAC
American Industrial Acquisition Corporation (AIAC) is a diversified industrial group with manufacturing and distribution sites in 24 countries in North America, Europe, and Asia. AIAC has acquired and grown non-core subsidiaries and divisions of Boeing, Siemens, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon, Johnson Controls, Merck, Pfizer, Astellas, Visteon, Carlyle, Ahlstrom, Tolko, Groupe Suez, Groupe Rexel, and many other leading multinational corporations.
AIAC Corporation manufacturing companies serve companies and governmental entities worldwide in all major sectors, including aviation, space, defense, automotive, truck, rail, marine, petrochemical, solar, nuclear, food, confectionary, beverage, civil engineering and infrastructure, commercial construction, mining, dredging, disaster relief, education, medical devices, and pharmaceuticals. AIAC companies manufacture materials, components, assemblies, packaging, equipment, and finished products. In addition, AIAC companies are exclusive, authorized distributors of leading branded industrial and consumer products throughout Southeast Asia, Australia, and New Zealand.
Of note, AIAC purchased Boeing Canada in 2005, and has produced over 10,000 unique components for every Boeing jet plane ever since, reliably serving Boeing from manufacturing facilities in North America. A leader in ultra high precision jet engine component manufacturing, AIAC companies also produce 2,200 fan blades and blisks for each jet engine produced by GE, Pratt & Whitney, Rolls Royce, and Honeywell. AIAC companies produce the critical automotive wire and cable for Tesla, GM, Ford, Chysler-Fiat, Toyota, and Nissan. In connection with its paper manufacturing interests, AIAC controls and sustainably manages 22 million acres of Manitoba, Canada forestland, an area equivalent in size to the nation of Hungary.
For further information, please see:
AIAC in Space
AIAC companies actively support exploration into outer space, manufacturing critical components and systems for launching, propulsion, attitude control, and avionics for spacecraft and satellites, and for astronaut workstations. AIAC customers in this sector include NASA, the European Space Agency, SpaceX, Blue Origin, and Boeing. Bradford Space, for example, has supported 163 launches with 2,236 products in space.
In addition, AIAC companies broadly serve the aviation and defense markets.
For further information, please see:
www.consolidatedindustries.com
AIAC in Luxembourg
AIAC’s companies, Bradford Space and Eurofoil, have extensive research, development, and manufacturing operations in Dudelange and in Luxembourg City, Luxembourg. Bradford Space, with operations in the Netherlands and Luxembourg, designs and manufacturers propulsion, attitude control, avionics, and astronaut workstations. Eurofoil, with operations in France and Luxembourg, produces aluminum foil for global pharmaceutical, food, beverage, automotive, and industrial markets.
For further information, please see:
About AIAC Philanthropy
AIAC and the AIAC Foundation support a wide range of nonprofit, nonsectarian, bipartisan organizations which promote international conflict resolution, disaster relief, economic development, environmental sustainability, and exploration. The exploration-focused nonprofit organizations which they actively support include the Explorers Club, the National Geographic Society, the Royal Geographical Society, the American Museum of Natural History and the Hayden Planetarium, the Victoria & Albert Museum, the National Air and Space Museum, the National Space Society, and the United States Space Foundation.
In recent months, AIAC Companies have proudly served as a corporate sponsor of Hubert Sagniere’s historic circumnavigation of the earth in a single engine plane (www.flightaroundtheglobe.com). A Fellow of the Explorers Club, Mr. Sagnieres is Vice Chairman of Essilor Luxottica, the global leader in the design, manufacturing, and distribution of eyeglases and sunglasses. He is also a noted author and philanthropist.
AIAC’s other beneficiaries include the Appeal of the Nobel Peace Laureates Foundation Inc., the Asia Society, the Atlantic Council, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation - Gates Philanthropy Partners, the Bretton Woods Committee, the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, the Carter Center, the Council on Foreign Relations, the Economic Club of New York, the Foreign Policy Association, the Institut Française des Relations Internationales, the International Committee of the Red Cross, the International Crisis Group, the International Rescue Committee, the Japan Society, the JFK School of Government of Harvard University, the Peterson Institute for International Economics, the Richardson Center for Global Engagement, the Royal Institute of International Affairs (Chatham House), the Sierra Club, and the Trilateral Commission.
For further information, please see:
https://www.aiac.com/our-values
Luxembourg American Business Award
The Luxembourg American Business Award was launched in 1999 in New York City by the Luxembourg American Chamber of Commerce in the United States. The biennial award recognizes a company for its unique and lasting contribution to trade and business between the United States and Luxembourg. The LACC honors the Business Award recipient for their continuing commitment to strengthening the economic and commercial ties between the two countries. The Award not only acknowledges Luxembourg’s openness to foreign trade and investment, but also the success achieved by an American company as a result of that policy.
The award ceremony took place in New York City at the iconic Metropolitan Club in the presence of His Royal Highness Crown Prince Guillaume of Luxembourg and His Excellency Xavier Bettel, Vice Prime Minister, Minister for Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade.
https://www.laccnyc.org/events/244/
About the Explorers Club
The Explorers Club is an American-based, international, multidisciplinary professional society with the mission of promoting and supporting scientific exploration and field study on land, sea, and space. The club was founded in New York City in 1904 and has served as a meeting point for explorers and scientists worldwide. Members of the club have been the first to explore the North Pole, South Pole, Mount Everest, the Mariana Trench, and to walk on the Moon. The club's notable current members or honorees include Buzz Aldrin, Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, Prince Albert II of Monaco, Richard Branson, James Cameron, Ray Dalio, Wendy Schmidt, and Jane Goodall. In years past, prominent members have included President Theodore Roosevelt, Sir Edmund Hillary, Amelia Earhart, Neil Armstrong, John Glenn, Thor Heyerdahl, Walter Cronkite, and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. The Explorers Club’s historic clubhouse, at 46 East 70th Street in New York City, is a museum and monument to the “Famous Firsts,” the greatest explorers and expeditions of all time.
For further information, see:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/the_explorers_club
Media Contact:
Isabel Carro Toro, Vice President
American Industrial Acquisition Corporation
+34 689 295 827 (Spain)
+ 1 787 244 3175 (USA)
icarro-toro@aiac.com
www.aiac.com
