California-based Ascent Aerospace (
www.aipaerospace.com/ascentaerospace) has announced that its Integration & Automation division has been awarded a contract by Airbus (
www.airbus.com) for the Beluga XL Final Assembly Station.
The Beluga XL is an A330 heavily modified to transport oversize aero-structure components from Airbus supplier facilities to the final assembly line in Toulouse, France.
Under this contract, Ascent Integration & Automation’s European Operation will manage the design, integration, build and installation of the equipment and tooling necessary to assemble this aircraft.
It will also be responsible for providing a turn-key integrated assembly system incorporating all the assembly jigs, work platforms, transport systems, laser metrology and tools required to assemble the new Beluga XL.
The project is unique in that, while only five aircraft will be converted, the assembly system must deliver the efficiency, accuracy and worker safety levels required by Airbus.
The contract started in April 2015 and will run to November 2017. Brian Williams, CEO of Ascent Aerospace, said: “This contract reflects Airbus’s high level of trust in our ability to deliver. With only five aircraft to be assembled, we have to get this right the first time.”