R6bn expected spinoff for SA from military aircraft

With 192 aircraft already on firm order, and with hopes for production to reach at least 388, Europe's multi-national Airbus Military A400M military transport aircraft is one of the most important aviation programmes currently under way any-where in the world.

It is also probably the most important single programme for a key segment of the South African aviation industry - the aero structures manufacturers.

Once upon a time, South Africa used to manufacture - not just assemble - complete aircraft; the country even developed the capability to design aircraft.

That is, this country developed the capacity to design complete airframes, and many of the avionics systems necessary to allow an aircraft to fly and to fight.

These achievements climaxed in the technically impressive but (so far) commercially unsuccessful Rooivalk attack helicopter, of which, to date, only 12 production aircraft have been built, all for the South African Air Force (SAAF).

But in a country at peace, with no credible external threat currently conceivable, let alone visible, with high levels of poverty and underdevelopment, and the consequent prioritisation of spending on social welfare, education, and health, the funds are not available to sustain the design, development, and manufacture of manned aircraft in this country.

Yet, losing the high-tech skills developed over the past four decades by the local aviation industry would be a severe blow to the country's high-technology industry base.

But, if it is not financially practical for South Africa to design and build complete aircraft, it is still possible to design and build parts of aircraft.

That is, a company that once designed and made complete airframes can still design and make what are called 'aero structures' - an aero structure is a part of a complete airframe: for example, a vertical tail fin, or sections of the fuselage or wing.

Much of South Africa's aero structures expertise resides in two companies: State-owned Denel, and private-sector Aerosud. And these companies are both partners in the A400M programme.

"They are Level One partners - they have responsibility for the design and development, as well as the manufacture, of the components they have been assigned," says Airbus Military marketing vice-president David Jennings.

South Africa is one of only two extra-European partner countries in the A400M programme, the other being Malaysia; both countries were able to join because they ordered A400Ms to re-equip the transport units of their respective airforces - in the case of South Africa, the order is for eight
aircraft (Malaysia ordered four).

South Africa joined the programme in April 2005 (Malaysia following suit in December).

"It's too late for any other country to become a programme partner, because of the industrial, including design, timescales involved," he explains.

Denel is responsible for the top shells for the centre fuselage section - these can be thought of as being equivalent to roof panels.

Denel is producing two top shells for each aircraft - one each in front and behind the wing box, which joins the wing to the fuselage.

In addition, the company is making very large wing/fuselage fairings, manufactured mainly from composite materials but including aluminium parts. Each such fairing is 15 m long, 7 m wide, and nearly 3 m high.

Denel is also set to shortly start contributing the ribs and spars for the tail fin, and centre wing box structural components.

"All these are classified as primary structures," points out Jennings.

Aerosud is mainly responsible for secondary structures. These are nose fuselage linings, cargo-hold linings, and cockpit linings, but the company is also making the cockpit rigid bulkhead, the wing tips, and the nose fuselage galleys.

"The wing tips are quite importantbecause they will contain elements of the aircraft's defence aids sub-system," he highlights.

"Also, a sub-subcontract for the satellite communications antennas for the A400Ms has been awarded to Omnipless, part of the Chelton group, in Cape Town; they won this contract through an international tender, and entirely on their own merits," he stresses.

In total, South Africa's workshare on the A400M is expected to be worth more than R6-billion (EUR750-million) over the next 20 years.

"The A400M is huge for us,"affirms Aerosud group MD Dr Paul Potgieter.

"Not only are we doing the design, but we will be producing throughout the life of the programme - as long as we perform, we are an entrenched partner. We expect the A400M programme to run for a minimum of 15 to 20 years," he adds.

"From an industry point of view, this is probably our most significant contract for many years.

"It has stretched us, grown us - and it will keep us stretched until we start production," he
reports.

"We have people in Europe, travelling back and forth, participating in the integrated design process for the aircraft," he stresses.

"This programme has put us in a very privileged position - to be a direct supplier to the Airbus group," highlights Denel Aerospace strategy implementation executive manager Theo Kleyhans.

"We're doing design, development, and engineering work, not just manufacturing; this means that the engineering base we developed over many years is being sustained into the future and further
developed through the adoption of the latest techniques from Airbus," he cites.

"The certification assistance we're receiving from Airbus is helping us achieve international
benchmarks, making us more competitive globally," he adds.

"In the past, we did prototype manufacturing and batch manufacturing, involving only short order books, which meant no economies of scale and made it difficult for us to achieve competitiveness.

"What the A400M programme is doing is linking us into the global supply chain for Airbus," he explains.

"This gives us a large order book, long-term work stability, and economies of scale," he elucidates.

Once the A400M enters routine production, Denel will be making four 'ship sets' of components each month. Denel has already delivered its first two fuselage top shells to Bremen, in Germany, which is the location of the A400M integrated fuselage assembly line.

Here the components for the entire fuselage, except the nose section, are mounted on a jig and joined together.

Apart from South Africa, aero structural components for the fuselage are being manufactured in Germany, Turkey, and Spain.

After each fuselage has been assembled, it will then be fitted with all its necessary systems, including electrical, hydraulic, pneumatic, air conditioning and cargo handling.

The assembled and fitted-outfuselage will then be transported to Seville in Spain, where the final assembly line for the entire aircraft is being set up.

The nose section is composed of the cockpit unit, the upper rear unit and the lower unit, and is assembled in Meaulte, France, and has its systems and equipment fitted in St Nazaire, France, before being shipped to Seville. The wings are built, and fitted with their systems, in Filton in the UK (although some components come from Belgium). The tail planes are largely built in Spain. Integrated fuselage assembly of the prototype A400M started on July 24 and is expected to be completed around September 12, after which these systems will be fitted.

The completed fuselage should be dispatched to Seville early next year. The plan is to build six development aircraft, of which five will later be refurbished and delivered to customers.

"The South African contribution is looking good; it is keeping to the programme, and it was good to have the first milestone met, with delivery into our system," assures Jennings.

"It's been quite a challenge for the South African companies, and they have met that challenge," he highlights.

Airbus Military is a subsidiary company of Airbus, not a division; although Airbus is the majority shareholder in Airbus Military, it is not the only one - the other shareholders are the European Aeronautical, Defence and Space Company (EADS), Flabel of Belgium, and TAI of Turkey.

The 192 A400Ms currently on order are divided as follows: 60 for Germany, 50 for France, 27 for Spain, 25 for the UK, 10 for Turkey, 8 for South Africa, 7 for Belgium, 4 for Malaysia, and 1 for Luxembourg.

Deliveries will begin in 2009, with three aircraft; this will rise to 17 in 2010 and 27 in 2011; there-after, the nominal production rate will be 28 aircraft a year.

The first deliveries will be to the French Air Force, then to the Turkish Air Force, the UK Royal Air Force, the German Air Force, the SAAF, and so on. "No country will get all its aircraft in one go," clarifies Jennings.

The first SAAF A400M will be delivered in 2010.

However, Airbus Military expects to win many more orders for the aircraft in the coming decades.

"If you look at the overall market, there are today some 1 500 Lockheed Martin C-130 Hercules military transport aircraft in service," cites Jennings.

(The Hercules is currently the standard military airlifter for most Western and many developing nation air forces, including the SAAF.) "Even if these are replaced on a basis of only one new aircraft for every two of these existing Hercules, we think there is an accessible market of 400
aircraft," he argues.

"And we expect to get half of that, in addition to our existing orders.

That is, we expect to deliver 400 A400Ms out to 2025 - we don't make any forecasts after that; after all, the Hercules is still in production after 50 years.

We believe that the A400M will become the next datum for the airlift category and, as a result, we anticipate that our production will run and run. But we don't expect significant new orders until the A400M is actually flying," he cautions.

Outside Europe, the Middle East is potentially a good market, while Asia could be big, especially given the economic growth in that continent. The A400M is a large transport aircraft; its cargo hold has a length of 17,71 m, excluding the rear ramp, which is itself 5,4 m long; and the cargo hold is 4 m wide and3,85 m high (aft of the wing, the hold is 4 m high).

It will carry a total of 47,7 t of fuel internally, have a maximum take-off weight of 136,5 t, a maximum landing weight of 120 t, and a maximum payload of 37 t.

Possessing a strategic range, the A400M will be able to operate into and out of tactical airstrips, including dirt strips; it will be autonomous, able to load and unload cargo without any external assistance - it will even be able to "kneel", to reduce its height on the ground.

It will be able to drop cargo from both high and low altitudes; drop paratroopers; drop paratroopers and cargo at the same time; and it will be able to act as an air-to-air refuelling (AAR) tanker.

"All A400Ms will be equipped as standard to act as AAR tankers- everything needed inside the aircraft will be in place; a customer need only buy AAR pods from a specialist producer and fit them under the wings," says Jennings.

Another option will be to fit additional fuel tanks, mounted on roll-on, roll-off pallets, in the cargo hold, and a centre-line refuelling hose, also mounted in the cargo hold on such a pallet.

'R6bn expected spinoff for SA from military aircraft'
Engineering News Online, Keith Campbell, 28 August 2006