SA aerospace company says it is not yet a partner on military-transport project
By: Keith Campbell
13th February 2009
Picture by: Embraer
PARTLY SOUTH AFRICAN? A computer-generated image of an Embraer C-390 in Brazilian markings
South African aerospace company Denel Saab Aerostructures, part of the State-owned Denel defence industrial group (with a minority stake held by Sweden's Saab) has re-confirmed its interest in participating in the Embraer C-390 military transport aircraft project (see Engineering News January 15, 2008).
"We are very interested in having Embraer as a customer, and in being a risk-sharing partner on the C-390," affirms Denel Saab Aerostructures CEO Lana Kinley. "We are already a risk-sharing partner on the Airbus Military A400M."
Reports that the company is already a partner in the C-390 project are, however, premature. "We have no formal contractual relationship with Embraer yet," she cautions. "Embraer has not specified their supplier arrangements for the C-390 yet."
Embraer, a Brazilian company, is currently the world's third- or fourth-biggest manufacturer of commercial jets, and the C-390 is it latest project. The company has not yet publicly stated that it is, in fact, going to go ahead with the new aircraft, but it is known to have had lots of discussions with the Brazilian Air Force - which have led to significant revisions in the design of the C-390, which will give it a greater cargo capacity than originally projected - and with potential partners, including Denel Saab Aerostructures.
A press release issued at the end of last month in Los Angeles, California, by US enterprise Hitco Carbon Composites, implied that it and Denel Saab Aerostructures had become partners in the C-390 project. The American company announced that it had entered into a long-term strategic agreement with Denel Saab Aerostructures, "to collaborate in composite components manufacturing for the Embraer C-390 military transport aircraft".
The two companies planed to manufacture composite components "such as the aft fuselage", which would enable the aircraft to achieve its performance objectives and weight targets. They would both provide "enhanced, automated manufacturing solutions ... to maximise customer value and affordability".
Hitco President Peter Hoffman asserted that the two companies together would "offer ‘best value' because of our unique combination of attributes including: time to market, schedule adherence, quality, and reduced risk". The US company would use its new automated fibre placement machine to produce aerostructural parts with a complex curvature.
Hitco senior vice-president: sales and marketing, Mark Kokosinski, subsequently told British journal Flight International that his company would supply an-as-yet undetermined quantity of composite structures to Denel Saab Aerostructures in South Africa, which would be used to make the aft fuselage and tail cone of the aircraft. Systems installation would take place in South Africa and the completed structures would then be transported to Embraer's final assembly line in Brazil.
If the programme does, indeed, go ahead, and if Denel Saab Aerostructures is one of the partners, then the South African company is expected to benefit from its experiences in designing, developing and manufacturing composite aerostructures for Europe's troubled A400M military transport aircraft programme.
The C-390 will be smaller than the A400M. While the European airlifter will be powered by four turboprop engines, the C-390 will have two turbofans. The Brazilian aircraft's internal fuselage width will be 3,2 m, as against the A400M's 4,0 m. The C-390's maximum payload will be around 19 t, the A400M's will be around 37 t.
The two aircraft are thus not rivals, being aimed at different market segments. Embraer hopes that the C-390 will win some of the market to replace first-generation Lockheed Martin C-130 Hercules transports, and other aircraft in the same category, aged 25 or more years. There are 695 such aircraft currently being operated by 77 countries - excluding the US, Russia, and Ukraine. The C-390's main rival will be Lockheed Martin's new-generation C-130J Hercules.
It is expected, but not confirmed, that the C-390 will be formally launched in the near future, almost certainly with an order from the Brazilian Air Force, probably for some 20 aircraft.
Edited by: Martin Zhuwakinyu