Military products

Military products

Main article: Airbus Military

In January 1999 Airbus established a separate company, Airbus Military SAS, to undertake development and production of a turboprop-powered tactical transport aircraft (the Airbus Military A400M.) The A400M is being developed by several NATO members, Belgium, France, Germany, Luxembourg, Spain, Turkey, and the UK, as an alternative to the C-130 Hercules. Expansion in the military aircraft market will reduce, but not negate, Airbus' exposure to the effects of cyclical downturns in civil aviation.

On 25 February 2008 it was announced that Airbus had won an order for three air refuelling Multi-Role Tanker Transport (MRTT) aircraft (adapted from A330 passenger jets) from the United Arab Emirates [38].

On 1 March 2008 it was the announced that a consortium of Airbus and Northrop Grumman had won a $35bn contract to build the new in-flight refuelling aircraft KC-45A (US built version of the MRTT) for the USAF [39]. The decision, however, was subject to a formal complaint from Boeing[40].

  International manufacturing presence

The main Airbus factory in Toulouse is located next to Toulouse Blagnac International Airport. (43°36′44″N 1°21′47″E)

Main Airbus factory in Hamburg/Germany

The final assembly lines of Airbus are in Toulouse (France) (two assembly lines) and Hamburg (Germany) (one assembly line). A fourth final assembly line, for the Airbus A400M, is in Seville (Spain).

Airbus, however, has a number of other plants in different European locations, reflecting its foundation as a consortium. An original solution to the problem of moving aircraft parts between the different factories and the assembly plants is the use of "Beluga" specially enlarged jets, capable of carrying entire sections of fuselage of Airbus aircraft. This solution has also been investigated by Boeing, who retrofitted 3 of their 747 aircraft to transport the components of the 787. An exception to this scheme is the A380, whose fuselage and wings are too large[41] for sections to be carried by the Beluga. Large A380 parts are brought by ship to Bordeaux, and then transported to the Toulouse assembly plant by a specially enlarged road.

North America is an important region to Airbus in terms of both aircraft sales and suppliers. 2,000 of the total of approximately 5,300 Airbus jetliners sold by Airbus around the world, representing every aircraft in its product line from the 107-seat A318 to the 565-passenger A380, are ordered by North American customers. According to Airbus, US contractors, supporting an estimated 120,000 jobs, earned an estimated $5.5 billion (2003) worth of business. For example, one version of the A380 has 51% American content in terms of work share value.

EADS Airbus will be opening an assembly plant in Tianjin, China for its A320 series airliners, to be operational in 2009. AVIC I and AVIC II will be EADS' local partners for the site, to which sub-assemblies will be sent from plants around the world.[42]

A plant will be built in Mobile, Alabama for KC-45A, A330-200MRTT and A330-200F production.[citation needed]