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EADS Military Aircraft delivers first newly "renovated" Tornado fuselage centre section to the Royal Air Force

Augsburg, 16 January 2003

The first fully overhauled fuselage centre section for the British Tornado ADV air defence interceptor was handed over on schedule to the Royal Air Force in Augsburg today. In 2000, the EADS Military Aircraft Business Unit received a contract from the Royal Air Force to overhaul and extend the service life of 24 fuselage centre sections in total (plus eight options) by 2007. Thanks to its experience in development and production of the Tornado fuselage centre section, the Business Unit was able to overcome the tough competition successfully. This major component represents also the 1.000th unit handled by the Augsburg plant within the overall Tornado programme.

Through this modernisation programme, the fuselage centre section will be overhauled using just under 500 newly produced and repaired parts. The wing boxes, amongst other components, will be newly manufactured, taking into account the high strain on the connection point of the variable-geometry wings. These wing boxes consist of milled titanium parts which will be joined together using electron beam welding. The Augsburg plant of the Military Aircraft Business Unit has gained extensive experience in this area through Tornado series production and also possesses one of the largest technical facilities in Europe.

The overhaul of the Tornado fuselage centre sections represents a particular challenge to both craftsmanship and technology, as the degree of disassembly is very high. During the disassembly and re-embodiment of the modified components the stability of the fuselage must not be jeopardized. This requires the use of the original as build fixtures und a high degree of skill of the production specialists.

As a preliminary step in this overhaul programme and also as something of a test, the Business Unit in Augsburg successfully repaired an old fuselage centre section which was unsuitable for flight due to structural damage. The result was that the Tornado fighter in question could enter service once again following installation of the assembly which had undergone general overhaul in Augsburg. At the Augsburg, Manching and Ottobrunn sites, an integrated team from the responsible programme, development and production departments incorporated the results of this work into a detailed plan for the steps which are now to be taken.

At the present time, several hundred Tornados are in service with four air forces around the world. Comparable overhaul work is also on the medium-term agenda for these aircraft. The Business Unit and the Augsburg plant, backed up by its high level of competence, will also contend for this work.

The Military Aircraft Business Unit has been a partner in the trinational Tornado programme since the beginning of the eighties and constructed a total of 999 fuselage centre sections for this combat aircraft in Augsburg. Although series production finished around ten years ago, the employees and associated know-how were retained – and in Augsburg a strong, civil pillar had also been created thanks to production for the Airbus programme. This secured both the continuous utilisation of capacity at the plant and the consistently high qualification of the workforce.

The Augsburg plant is part of the EADS Military Aircraft Business Unit and is responsible for production of all fuselage centre sections and electrical components in the quadrinational Eurofighter programme. Augsburg is one of the most important structure suppliers for Airbus thanks to its production of tail sections for almost the entire aircraft family, as well as further assemblies. In 2002 Augsburg produced a total of 300 tail section assemblies. In addition, 29 Eurofighter fuselage centre sections left the plant bound for Manching.

EADS is a leading aerospace and defence company, and with revenues amounting to € 30.8 billion the second largest in its branch. EADS has a workforce of more than 100,000 and is a market leader in defence technology, commercial aircraft, helicopters, space, military transport and combat aircraft, as well as the related services. The EADS Group includes the commercial aircraft manufacturer Airbus, the world's largest helicopter supplier Eurocopter, the space company Astrium and MBDA, the second largest missile company in the global market. EADS is the major partner in the Eurofighter consortium and also develops the A400M military transport aircraft. The company has over 70 sites in Germany, France, Great Britain and Spain. It is active in many regions worldwide, amongst them America and Asia.

Your points of contact:

EADS Military Aircraft
Wolfram Wolff
Tel: +49 (0)89 607-25711
Fax: +49 (0)89 607-22455
E-mail: wolfram.wolff@m.eads.net

Augsburg Site
Dr. Frank Liemandt
Tel.: +49 (0)821 801-62322
Fax: +49 (0)821 801-62090
E-mail: frank.liemandt@m.eads.net