Design of the engine for A350-1000 on track. Drawings release & parts manufacturing phase starts after CDR maturity gate passed by Rolls-Royce.

Rolls-Royce and Airbus have completed a critical design review (CDR) for the Trent XWB-97 engine destined for the A350-1000.
The XWB-97 is designed to generate the higher thrust needed by the A350-1000 without any increases to the size of the nacelle used on the A350-800/900, and without impacting the specific fuel consumption or on-wing life of the engine. To solve this conundrum, the larger engine incorporates a higher flow-capacity fan to pump more air, a larger core to increase flow and higher-capability turbines to extract power for the fan.

Prototype demonstrations to prove key technology for these improvements also are underway at INTA (the Spanish space agency) in Spain, using a modified XWB-84, and the design groups at the CDR meeting viewed data from these tests as part of development review.

“Some key milestones are coming,” says Trent XWB’s program director Chris Young. Development activity is rapidly accelerating on the new engine as the first Trent XWB continues in flight testing. “We still have a lot of people working on the 84K [XWB-84], but now we have passed the crossover point where there are more people working on the XWB-97.”

Prior to the joint review with Airbus last week, R-R had “just completed the CDR for the 97K engine. It’s a really important milestone because it is the one that says you are good to start machining and to start releasing the drawings to get into final manufacturing. After that is when parts start coming in to stores at the end of the year and early next year. That clears the way for the start of assembly and first test in the middle of next year,” Young explains.

Following the completion of a PDR-preliminary design review for the XWB-97 in January, Young says “there is real raw material coming together for forgings and castings.” These include the completion of rough machining of the first variable stator vanes, initial machining of the intermediate pressure (IP) compressor sixth-stage disc, and trials of the linear friction stir weld process on the IP compressor first-stage blisk. The cone for stage six of the high-pressure (HP) compressor rear drum assembly and other core parts of the first engine are also underway.

Baseline development engine ESN20001 has begun runs of XWB-97 development materials and tip clearance control systems. Tests will evaluate new shroudless HP turbine blades and seal segments. “So we are trying to prove that when the turbine runs into the ceramic seal it will last forever, even though it has had a rub,” says Young.
A second run early in 2014 will include tests of a “full standard of shroudless turbine with tip clearance and cooling,” he adds.

The engine is scheduled to be flight-tested on the Airbus A380 flying testbed at the end of 2015, and will power the A350-1000 for its maiden flight in 2016. Entry-into-service is targeted for mid-2017. Meanwhile, the XWB-84 version continues in flight test on the A350-900 prototype, which it has powered without incident since the first flight on June 14.



Based on the article “Rolls-Royce Reaches Critical Design Review Milestone For A350-1000 Engine” published in Aviation Daily

Airbus and Boeing have similar joint ventures in China with the same company AVIC to manufacture composite parts for A350 and for all Boeing models.

Airbus is looking to deepen its ties with China despite wider industry concerns surrounding technology transfer to the emerging aerospace power.

Chinese production of components for the A350 is already under way at the Harbin Composite Manufacturing Centre (HMC), a joint venture between Airbus (20%) and local partners (80%).

First elevators manufacturing is on progress in HMC and it aims to be the sole producer of rudders, section 19 maintenance doors and belly fairing parts for the A350 by 2017.

Jose Antonio Veroz, the plant´s general manager, says that there are no plans to increase the list of A350 parts made at the site. “There is no additional workload of the A350 planned for China now” he says, noting that the facility is specifically sized to cope with the production demands of the new widebody.

Although he concedes that costs of Harbin will initially be higher than elsewhere, these should decrease as the facility becomes more efficient. Airbus´s business case “is not built in the short term”, he says.

Airbus has stipulated that the factory can only carry out work for its programs. However, this restriction may be loosened if opportunities become available. “In the future if it´s beneficial to us and our partners and it makes commercial sense to develop parts for other manufacturers, including Comac, there is a possibility” says HMC´s head of international co-operation Gao Zheng.

Airbus China COO González Ripoll adds: “Airbus is in China to stay. Our wish is to have long-term partnerships with the Chinese. We are looking for such opportunities”

Boeing Tianjin Composite joint venture with AVIC, located in Tianjin, has 1000 employees and manufactures interior parts and composite structures. 737 horizontal stabilizers are also manufactured and assembled in China (by SAMC) in a 10-year contract until 2021.

Boeing has no intention of setting up a final assembly line in China –as Airbus has done in Tianjin for A320- according to Boeing China president Marc Allen. “We´re not going to do a me-too!” he says, even if there is a need to ramp up production rates in the future. “Will we do a big thing here in the future? Yes, absolutely. But not that.”

“We will help Chinese suppliers expand through raising their capabilities. That way, if we up our production rates, the impact reaches right into China”.

Boeing is the world´s largest purchaser of aerospace components out of China ($1,5 billion in hardware and services since 1980). Chinese components are flying on 7000 Boeing airliners worldwide.



Based on the article “Airbus seeks to bolster Chinese links” published in FlightGlobal and based on the article “Boeing- No final assembly in China” published in ShowNews – Aviation Now.

Starting with A350 XWB program, “we broke with previous decades’ practice of work-share being assigned according to an artificial kind of national split” T.Enders EADS CEO.

Airbus said it won’t return to a previous practice of apportioning work on new programs by national ownership structure, adding to signs that the European manufacturer is emancipating itself from political meddling.

Airbus first dropped the practice on its A350 wide-body jet, where the fact that France got more work so riled the German government that it continues to withhold some financial aid. Even so, the Toulouse, France-based company will continue in its new vein, said Tom Enders, the CEO of Airbus parent EADS.

“We broke with previous decades’ practice of work-share being assigned according to an artificial kind of national split,” Enders told journalists in Paris. “It was the first program where we looked at what is the best, most competitive supplier, and that’s certainly something we’ll insist on going forward.”

The comment highlights a liberation from government ties that Enders, a German and vocal critic of political involvement in his company has sought to push through. Airbus contributes 80 percent of revenue to the parent company, and Enders sought to balance out civil and defense sales last year with a merger with BAE Systems, which failed because of opposition from Germany´s government.

Germany has complained that Airbus’s factories there were given less work than those in France on the A350 XWB jet.

Germany has pledged 1.1 billion euros ($1.56 billion) toward the A350, or 1/3 of the contribution made together with France and the U.K. The A350’s development costs amount to about 11 billion euros.

EADS, also based in Toulouse, has overhauled its shareholder structure since the collapse of the BAE discussions late last year. Germany, which previously held no direct stake in the company, gained a 12 percent to match France’s reduced holding.

At the same time, governments no longer have the special veto rights that they possessed under the old structure.




Based on the article “Airbus Throws Out Workshare Rule as Government Involvement Wanes” published in Bloomberg

Nose landing gear doors for the A350 XWB are made in Corsica; French Minister for Foreign Trade visits CCA in Ajaccio.

Last week, the French Minister for Foreign Trade Nicole Bricq visited Corse Composites Aeronautique (CCA).

CCA is a company with 250 employees whose turnover is around EUR 40 million. It is located in the industrial area of the Vazzio in Ajaccio. The 4 shareholders of the company are Airbus with 25.6% and Dassault, Safran and Latecoere with 24.8% each.

CCA is focuses on 3 main product families: nose landing gear doors, karmans and barrels for engine nacelles.

It was founded in 1983 as a manufacturer, in 1993 was a build to print company and 10 years later in 2003 a risk sharing partner, increasing responsibilities on the work packages and programs involved.

Based on the article “Nicole Bricq visite l'entreprise Corse Composites Aéronautiques” published in Corse Net Infos

Transfer of technology and know-how to China? “Chinese” A350 big work-packages are currently manufactured and assembled in Spain.

The outsourcing of composite manufacturing outside Europe is a significant step by Airbus and could be risky because the Chinese partner (Harbin Aviation) is a subsidiary of AVIC, a shareholder in COMAC, which is busy developing the C919, its own A320-sized regional aircraft.

When asked whether he was concerned over the risk of Airbus technology being reused in Chinese-made aircraft, Rafael Gonzalez-Ripoll (Airbis China COO) was optimistically upbeat. “You cannot hide forever what you have delivered,” he said. “Technology transfer is the model for innovation. The technology we have moved to China is mature, not leading-edge. Airbus has since developed carbon fibre technology not used in Harbin.”

Airbus China COO is Spanish, as the A350 work packages that will be manufactured and assembled (partially and some totally) in Harbin; the Elevators, Rudders, Section 19 maintenance doors and belly fairing parts. Elevators and Rudders are currently being industrialized by Aernnova and the belly fairing by Alestis.

The concern voiced by some Spanish representatives was whether Airbus’ workshare in Spain is being weakened by moving its industrial packages to China. Once again Gonzalez-Ripoll was quick to reassure that there was plenty of work still for Spanish industry. “Moving work to China is more than compensated by the increase in work for the Airbus group as a whole,” he said. “The cake is getting bigger. The percentage of the ‘slice’ for each country may have changed but the size of the piece is still larger.”

HMC build state-of-the-art new facilities in 2009 which were inaugurated in early 2011.

 

The Harbin factory is ‘state-of-the-art’ with all the equipment needed to produce finished composite parts, including core and laminate cutters, laser projectors, automatic tape layer, hot forming, autoclaves, trimming, radioscopy, NDT C-scan and painting booths. Harbin will deliver the Chinese-made elevators to Aernnova where they will be incorporated into the A350’s horizontal tailplane.





Based on the press release “Harbin Composite Manufacturing Centre delivers 1st major A350 part.

A350 second flight test prototype MSN3, painted between an A330 & A340. F-WZGG Registration

In this picture taken in Toulouse airport last Monday 23/January –and received by email- we can see the second flight prototype MSN3 of the A350 XWB, painted and parked outside.

F-WZGG registration for the MSN3

The picture was taken while the MSN3 was located at the end of the flight test line, next to the A340-600 and the A330, both aircraft that will be replaced in the future by the A350 XWB.

The MSN3 will be flying shortly, probably next week, joining the MSN1 into the certification program.

The MSN1 has logged more than 250 flight hours in almost 60 flights, about 10% of certification program. It has already met its performance specification in flight tests so far, as Mr. Leahy said, so a new phase of the certification test plan will start in comming days.



Based on the article “Airbus Says A330 to Survive a Decade on Long-Haul Discount Sales” published in Bloomberg.

“Spirit has come a long way over the past 2 years and we have gotten rid of most of our headaches, but we still have to keep an eye on them”, Didier Evrard HO Program A350 XWB.

For program manager Didier Evrard, the start of flight testing only increases pressure to ensure that Airbus and its suppliers are gearing up production smoothly.

Manufacturing missteps have recently tripped up Airbus and U.S. rival Boeing developing and assembling the Airbus A380 superjumbo and Boeing's 787 Dreamliner.

The A350 XWB, a two-engine intercontinental model designed to compete with Boeing's 787 and larger 777 models, is already more than one year late. Airbus has swallowed tens of millions of dollars in extra costs, in part due to troubles at its suppliers.

After problems with the superjumbo and Dreamliner, Mr. Evrard has made extra efforts to help Airbus suppliers, but concedes the process carries unknowns. "Taking on a supply partner is a bit like a marriage," Mr. Evrard said. "It's difficult to imagine how it's going to turn out on the first day.”

Roughly half of the A350's structure is made from carbon fiber-reinforced polymer composites that are tricky to manufacture. Airbus and its suppliers have struggled to accelerate production of the precision parts.

One of the biggest headaches Mr. Evrard said he has faced is with Spirit AeroSystems Inc.

The Wichita, Kansas based company has been building airplane parts for decades, but only for Boeing, from which it was spun off in 2005.

At one point last year, Airbus had more than 140 engineers and technicians working with Spirit to iron out problems.
"It took some time to realize the extent of the challenge, as [Spirit] had overestimated their capability," Mr. Evrard said at an Airbus technology presentation.

Spirit says the problems stemmed from the A350's novelty. "We believe that the issues we have been experiencing are normal at this stage of a program for bringing a brand-new airplane to market," said Spirit spokesman Ken Evans.

Issues at Spirit came as a surprise to Airbus, which selected the U.S. supplier largely because of its experience with Boeing. Mr. Evrard said Spirit hadn't fully adapted to independence and was accustomed to Boeing monitoring its suppliers.
To address this, Airbus commissioned an external audit of Spirit's internal processes. This allowed engineers and managers from Airbus to help Spirit improve its supply-chain management, Mr. Evrard said.

Spirit has "come a long way over the past 2 years and we have gotten rid of most of our headaches," Mr. Evrard said. "But we still have to keep an eye on them”.

Airbus is ramping up A350 production as a boom in demand for smaller passenger jets is stretching aviation suppliers' capacity to meet increasing demands from Airbus and Boeing.

"Suppliers are dealing with a double squeeze from the ramp-up in production at Airbus and Boeing as well as the need to gear up for their new programs," said Christophe Menard, an aviation-sector analyst at Paris brokerage house Kepler Cheuvreux.

Supply-chain disruptions are "a real risk" for Airbus on the A350, Mr. Menard said





Based on the article “Airbus Aiming for A350 Maiden Flight Within Days” published in Dow Jones Business News