South African airframe and components manufacturer Denel Saab Aerostructures (DSA) is being held back by the delays in the Airbus A400M military transport aircraft programme.
“This is a high fixed costs business,” explains DSA CEO Lana Kinley. “You need to bring in revenue. We are not doing particularly well at the moment. Essentially, it is all about getting more order cover. “The A400M delays have created a big hole in our work. We expected to be in pro- duction by now, and we’re not. We’re still doing design work on the A400M.”
South Africa is a partner in the A400M programme, having ordered eight of the aircraft in 2005. In return, South African companies became industrial partners in the programme, being made responsible for work packages which involve the design as well as manufacture of components for the aircraft.
For the A400M, DSA’s primary responsi- bility is for the detailed design and manu- facture of what is called the wing-to-fuselage fairing (WFF).
This provides the aerodynamic cover for the section of the upper fuselage to which the wing is attached. To simplify design and manufacture, the WFF is divided into six sections plus two leading-edge sections known as onglets (French for knuckles, from their shape). Each complete WFF is 15,5 m long, 7 m wide, and 2 m high, has an external surface area of about 80 m2, and is composed of a metallic framework covered by some 80 composite panels.
“I believe that all the nations involved in the A400M have agreed to continue the programme,” reports Kinley.
“The first flight is now expected between November and March.”
The good news, she affirms, is that DSA “certainly has a platform from which to grow”. “We have the technology in place, we have the expertise, and we have done a facilities upgrade.”
DSA has been one of the local companies which received offset, or industrial parti- cipation, work and technology and skills transfer, in return for orders placed with overseas companies to re-equip the South African Air Force (SAAF).
“We’ve certainly benefited from the offsets programmes,” she says.
One of these re-equipment programmes involved the replacement of the SAAF’s some 40-year old Alouette III helicopters with 30 AgustaWestland A109 light utility helicopters (LUHes), 23 of which were manufactured and assembled by DSA.
The A109 contract ran for nine years and, for three of these years, DSA engineers took part in the designing of the changes to the helicopter that were specified by the SAAF.
“The production programme for the Agusta A109 LUH was fully integrated into our strategy for skills development and product knowledge,” reports Kinley.
“This ensured optimal production flow, focusing on DSA’s core business as a dynamic and structural assemblies producer.”
The South African company gained accreditation as a supplier of key dynamic assemblies for helicopters, such as main rotor blades and main rotor heads, for both the military and the civil markets, and as a manufacturer of structural assemblies, including fuselages and tail booms.
DSA also gained, and embedded, techno- logies used to manufacture mechanical and composite aircraft parts and detail sheet metal, making structural assemblies and undertaking final assembly.
The SAAF A109 manufacturing pro- gramme has now ended, with the last of the helicopters having made its first flight on August 17, which involved takeoffs and landings, hovering, limited flight (forwards, backwards and sideways), and other low-speed, low-altitude manoeuvres. This aircraft will be formally handed over to the SAAF on September 30.
However, it is not the end of the A109 programme at DSA. “We have a contract from AgustaWestland for main rotor blades and main rotor heads,” she points out. “We are also producing five fuselages for A109s for Nigeria, although we are not doing final assembly of these aircraft. “The Nigeria programme will probably run until the end of this calendar year. And we are hopeful of further contracts. Our aim is to get into AgustaWestland’s supply chain.”
Further, DSA is continuing to produce major components for the Saab Gripen, namely the main landing gear unit (that is, the lower half of the central fuselage section), the rear fuselage and pylons.
“This work will continue for as long as Saab gets orders for the Gripen,” elucidates Kinley. “And we’re hopeful we’ll do the same work for the new-generation Gripen.”