TX054 レオナルド・ボーイング787の機体工場が、バーティカルのVX4 eVTOL機を担当
Leonardo Boeing 787 fuselage plant to work on Vertical’s VX4 eVTOL aircraft
By Dominic Perry 8 February 2022
イタリアのメーカーであるレオナルドは、現在ボーイング787の胴体バレルを生産している工場で、バーティカル・エアロスペース社のVX4電動垂直離着陸機（eVTOL）用カーボンファイバー胴体の設計と試作を行う予定です。
ミラノ 8日 ロイター） – イタリアのレオナルド（LDOF.MI）と英国のバーティカル・エアロスペースは8日、バーティカルの電気航空機VX4の機体開発で協力すると発表しています。
Italian manufacturer Leonardo is to design and build prototype carbonfibre fuselages for the Vertical Aerospace VX4 electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft at a plant currently used to produce fuselage barrels for the Boeing 787.
MILAN, Feb 8 (Reuters) – Italy’s Leonardo (LDOF.MI) and UK-based Vertical Aerospace will work together to develop the fuselage for Vertical’s VX4 electric aircraft, they said on Tuesday.
両グループは、少なくとも6機の（型式証明用）認証機用のカーボンコンポジットの機体を、設計、試験、製造します。電気自動車VX4の認証が成功すれば、年間2,000機の生産に拡張する可能性があります。
The two groups will design, test and manufacture a carbon composite fuselage for at least six certification aircraft, with the possibility to extend to production of 2,000 jets a year if the all-electric VX4 is successfully certified, they said.
この取引は、南イタリアの工場がパンデミックの影響でボーイング(BA.N)やエアバス(AIR.PA)からの受注が激減したレオナルドの航空構造部門に新しい受注ストリームを提供できるだろう。
「我々はグロッタグリー工場でVX4の活動に焦点を当てる」とレオナルドの航空構造物部門のマネージングディレクター、ジャンカルロSchisanoはのべています。
この工場は通常、ボーイング787型機の胴体を生産しています。
バーティカル社は、アメリカン航空(AAL.O)を含む複数のグループから、4人乗りで、ゼロエミッションのVX4について、最大1,350機、54億ドルの予備発注を受けていると、両グループは声明で述べています。
The deal could provide a new stream of orders for Leonardo’s Aerostructures division whose plants in southern Italy have suffered from a sharp fall in orders from Boeing (BA.N) and Airbus (AIR.PA) amid the pandemic.
“We will focus our VX4 activities at our Grottaglie plant,” said Giancarlo Schisano, managing director of Leonardo’s Aerostructures division.
The factory in Apulia normally produces fuselages for Boeing 787 jets.
Vertical has preliminary orders for its four-passenger, zero emission VX4 for up to 1,350 aircraft worth $5.4 billion from several groups including American Airlines (AAL.O), the two groups said in a statement.
Italian producer Leonardo is to design and construct prototype carbonfibre fuselages for the Vertical Aerospace VX4 electrical vertical take-off and touchdown (eVTOL) plane at a plant presently used to provide fuselage barrels for the Boeing 787.
Below the settlement, the pair will work collectively on the design, testing, manufacture and provide of an preliminary six fuselages for the VX4’s certification programme which will probably be made at Leonardo’s Grottaglie facility within the south of Italy. That manufacturing facility builds sections 44 and 46 of the 787’s centre fuselage.
Nonetheless, the pact might be expanded to “scale fuselage manufacturing to 2,000 plane per yr” to fulfill present market demand for the VX4.
Leonardo’s aerostructures enterprise has struggled to attain profitability for a while, with output over the past two years closely impacted by the disaster in industrial aviation attributable to the coronavirus pandemic.
To be able to cut back the division’s reliance on industrial aerospace, Leonardo has been actively in search of to diversify the enterprise into new areas.
Giancarlo Schisano, managing director of Leonardo’s aerostructures division, says:“Leonardo strives to carry new applied sciences, supplies and processes into our established practices in our manufacturing websites. This would be the case at our Grottaglie plant in southern Italy, the place we’ll focus our VX4 actions; the plant is likely one of the most superior services in Europe to provide composite aerostructures.”
Present suppliers to the VX4 programme embrace Honeywell (avionics), Rolls-Royce (electrical propulsion), and GKN (wing and wiring system). As well as Vertical is working with composites specialist Solvay to develop superior supplies and manufacturing applied sciences that may allow high-volume manufacturing of the VX4.
Flight assessments of the four-passenger VX4 are as a consequence of start later this year; certification is pegged for 2024.
Best regards,
Shoichi Sugiyama, Ph.D.
