Military

100th Eurofighter fuselage centre section delivered

* Preliminary goal reached in Eurofighter production
* Fuselage centre section: major component is challenging technology from EADS Military Aircraft for all 638 Eurofighters

Munich / Manching, 02 March 2005

The 100th fully-equipped Eurofighter fuselage centre section has left the assembly station at EADS Military Aircraft's Manching site. Dietmar Schrick, Head of Programmes at EADS Military Aircraft, officially handed over the centre section to the Spanish partner EADS CASA. This milestone fuselage centre section is destined for the Spanish single-seater bearing the production number SS007 and will be integrated into the aircraft on the final assembly line at Getafe.

"Today we have achieved an important preliminary goal in the Eurofighter programme. With the completion of the 100th fuselage centre section, we can look back on an eventful period since the start of the programme. At the same time, we can also confirm that the quality and production standards reached are extremely high," commented Schrick during the handover ceremony. "The customers have also expressed their appreciation of this and it has helped us to acquire the order for the second tranche last year as well as achieve the first export success in the contract with Austria in 2003."

In line with the single-source workshares in Eurofighter development and production, each partner company (Alenia in Italy, BAE SYSTEMS, and EADS in Germany and Spain) is individually responsible for the production of "its" specific main assemblies. These are produced by the respective company for all aircraft ordered, are fully equipped and tested and delivered to the other partners. Assembly of the aircraft destined for the respective countries then takes place on the national final assembly lines of the Eurofighter partner companies. EADS Military Aircraft in Germany is responsible for the manufacture of the technologically highly challenging fuselage centre section for all 638 Eurofighters ordered up to now as well as for the final assembly of the 180 aircraft destined for service with the Bundeswehr.

Of the 148 aircraft ordered in the first delivery tranche, 37 (including five Instrumented Production Aircraft, IPAs) have already been handed over to the air forces. The other aircraft from the first tranche are at various stages of completion. All the individual components for these aircraft have been manufactured and are currently being equipped and installed. On 14 December 2004, the contract was signed for a second production tranche comprising 236 more of these aircraft. The four Eurofighter partner nations Germany, Great Britain, Italy and Spain will procure at least 620 units in all, while Austria has ordered 18 Eurofighters.

The Military Aircraft Business Unit, which is an integrated part of the EADS Defence and Security Systems Division (DS), concentrates all the EADS capabilities in the areas of high-performance combat aircraft, unmanned combat air vehicles (UCAVs), manned mission aircraft and training aircraft and the ground support equipment for these systems.

With revenues of approx. € 5.2 bn in 2003 and roughly 24,000 employees across nine nations, DS forms the defence pole within EADS. It offers integrated systems solutions to the new challenges confronting armed forces and homeland security units. It is active in the areas of military aircraft, missile systems, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) systems with manned and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), battlefield management systems, defence electronics, sensors and avionics, and related services.

EADS is a global leader in aerospace, defence and related services. In 2003, the Group generated revenues of € 30 billion and employed a workforce of more than 109,000.

Your point of contact:
Wolfram Wolff
EADS Military Aircraft
Tel.: +49-89-607 25711
Fax: +49-89-607 22455
mailto: wolfram.wolff@eads.com