Airbus Military has placed a
third work package with South Africa’s Denel
Aerostructures (DAe) for the manufacture of structural components for the A400M military transport program.
This multi-million Rand
contract was received at the Paris Airshow on behalf of South Africa’s Minister
for Public Enterprises, Malusi Gigaba
and Denel’s Group CEO, Riaz Saloojee.
It will see DAe producing the
ribs, spars and swords (ie. the skeletal support structure) for the A400M’s
vertical tail plane.
Airbus Military CEO, Domingo Urena, said: “Denel, with its
diverse set of expertise, capabilities and capacities, is central to Airbus
Military’s ambition to develop an expanded and multi-faceted partnership with
South Africa’s high-tech aerospace and defence industry, tied to South Africa’s
military aircraft requirements and acquisitions”.
South Africa’s Minister of
Public Enterprises, Malusi Gigaba, said: “The approximately ZAR200-million (€15.1m)
work package is contracted to run over the entire life of the A400M program and
demonstrates Airbus Military’s confidence in Denel and South Africa’s design
and manufacturing capabilities, coupled with our ability to deliver on time and
within budgets.”
DAe has already begun preparing
to launch production of the components at its plant near Johannesburg and will
deliver the first finished shipset to Airbus’s specialised vertical tail plane
factory at Stade, Germany in March 2014.
Under a renegotiated contract
announced last September, the South African manufacturer is also responsible
for two other A400M work packages involving the design, engineering and
fabrication of the Wing-to-Fuselage Fairing and the fuselage Top Shells.
The wing-to-fuselage fairing is
the largest single aerostructure component ever produced in South Africa and
provides an aerodynamic shroud over sensitive equipment located in the centre
wing part of the A400M.
South African Deputy Director-General Department of Public Enterprises, Kgathatso Tlhakudi, celebrates after the signing ceremony.
