Local aerospace company Denel Aerostruc-tures (DAe), part of the State-owned Denel Group, has won a fourth contract to manufacture parts for the Airbus A400M military air transport and air-to-air refuelling aircraft. The new contract, which was won in an international bidding process, is worth more than R260-million and will run for six years. DAe is based in Kempton Park, on the far side of OR Tambo International Airport from the terminal buildings, east of Joahnnesburg.

“The new work package confirms DAe’s reputation as an emerging player in the global aerospace environment. It is a vote of confidence in the South African engineering and high-tech manufacturing sectors,” affirmed Denel Group CEO Riaz Saloojee. “It is quite clear that Airbus Defence & Space is satisfied with the quality of work we have delivered on other contracts over the past nine years and decided to place another work package with Denel.”

The new contract is to manufacture ISO locks for installation in the cargo holds of all A400Ms. These components are a combination of alumin-ium rails and cross tracks which serve to guide the movement of ISO containers within the cargo hold. The containers are then secured in their positions by a comprehensive system of locking mechanisms. The ISO locks will be manufactured to designs supplied by Airbus Defence & Space.

Each A400M is equipped with four parallel sets of aluminium rails and 32 cross tracks. The process of industrialisation is already under way and DAe will deliver its first ship set of ISO locks in September to the A400M fuselage assembly plant, in Bremen, Germany. (A ship set is a complete set of the parts required for a single aircraft.) Ramp-up to serial production will take place next year and the South African company will produce and deliver at least 20 ships sets a year.

In addition, DAe will also build another rail system to handle smaller containers. This is designated the Central Guide Vehicle Restraint System and is required by some A400M customers. This system is especially useful for the airdropping of emergency supplies, which usually involves the use of smaller containers. This contract is worth more than R70-million.

The new contracts will also benefit DAe’s subcontractors. “The new contract strengthens our relationship with Airbus Defence & Space, but it also sends a signal to the global aerospace sector about the know-how and experience avail-able within the South African manufacturing industry,” highlighted Saloojee.

DAe already manufactures the A400M wing/fuselage fairings, the fuselage top shells (it was also responsible for the design of both these major components) as well as the ribs, spars and swords that form the internal structure of the vertical tail. Saloojee pointed out that DAe belonged to a small and select group of companies outside Europe which were responsible for essential components and parts for the A400M.

Only recently, Airbus VP: international cooper-ation Simon Ward told Engineering News : “Denel Aerostructures is now very successful on the A400M.” Further, Airbus believes that the A400M work will keep DAe at steady state for years to come. “But we need to get them into commercial projects – say, work on the [Airbus] A320 and A330 [airliners],” he said. “Nothing too complicated –trying to use the asset base they have today. “We want them to use their current asset base as much as possible.” This would diversify DAe’s product line and, in due course, their customers, strengthening the South African company and making it a more secure supplier for Airbus.