Multi-discipline Optimised Wing (MDOW)

Airbus UK has been recognised for some years as the centre of excellence for wings and currently designs and manufactures aluminium wings for all Airbus aircraft supported by a large supply chain in the UK. However with the move to composite technology Ministers had to fight hard to ensure continuation of wing production in the UK during the discussions on work share for the latest Airbus A350 Extra Wide Body Aircraft in 2006. With growing composite capability matched by government R & T funding Airbus Spain and Germany both have ambitions to take on the wing leadership role and displace Airbus UK. This means that Airbus UK and its supply chain must move further into composites rapidly to remain competitive and retain its centre of excellence status. Investing in the NGCWprogramme will enable the UK to maintain its position by securing follow on production work as Airbus UK present a demonstrably technologically capable option for that work. NGCW is a priority programme within the National Aerospace Technology Strategy (NATS) and regarded as a critical programme for Airbus in that context. NATS identifies civil aircraft wings as a key world class capability in the UK which must be built upon through continued development of composite capability. The drive for the NGCW programme also comes from the need to meet the window of opportunity for the next generation new short range aircraft (NSR) which will replace the Boeing 737 and Airbus A320, from around 2014. Single aisle dominates the deliveries to airlines and it is predicted that over 15,000 aircraft will be ordered to 2025. The new single aisle market is therefore critical to Airbus and one to which it must respond with technologically competitive products and processes. Carbon fibre composites, in place of aluminium alloy, are the future but it will require major investment to respond to the threat from Boeing, who have incorporated composites technology in a major way in their 787 Dreamliner aircraft and will develop for the technology for their 8737 replacement. The NGCW programme is intended to provide the technologies for rapid and reliable composite wing manufacture and assembly. It represents a major step towards reinforcing the UK capability in wing systems. Also, all the first level NGCW consortium partners will themselves invest to play their role in developing technologies and component systems for the programme. These systems should be equally usable by any other civil airliner manufacturer, and therefore will improve UK access to the global market beyond just Airbus. The Technology Strategy Board (TSB) has formally approved and confirmed its funding contribution of £26.8 million towards the NCGW project and funding of £52.5 million from the 20 private sector partners including Airbus has been committed. Several RDA's/DA's have so far approved their respective regional funding and the remaining RDA's have indicated approval, will be confirmed by end March/early April. If AWM does not support the project from a regional standpoint the 3 West Midland partners will have to assess the need to restructure their individual work content within the project and which may jeopardise the outcome of the programme.