Leonardo has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Chinese group Kangde Investment as part of the Comac CR929 program with the aim of increasing its presence in China. As part of the Leonardo program, it will enhance the skills and intellectual property developed nationwide in the face of Kangde's financial participation to secure a primary role in the future joint venture. Called Kangde Marco Polo Aerostructures Jiangsu Co. Ltd. the company will be responsible for the development, production and assembly of composite components for the CR929 aircraft. Leonardo's proprietary technologies and production capabilities will therefore allow the development of a new long-distance civilian air transport aero.
Alessandro Profumo, Leonardo's Managing Director, said: "Leonardo's decision to participate in the CR929 program testifies to our advanced capabilities in the design and production of large composite aerostructures. As announced in our Industrial Plan we aim to broaden the mission of our Aerostructures Division, in particular by enhancing our production site in Pomigliano D'Arco, and to increase our presence in China, a market where we are already present with helicopters and control systems air traffic ".
According to market estimates over the next twenty years in China there will be need for more than 1.500 new wide body aircraft. The developments of the country's space industry are also of interest to Leonardo.
Today in the city of Zhangjiagang, in the Chinese province of Jiangsu, the Chinese group Kangde Investment Group has celebrated the laying of the foundation stone of the new plant where the carbon fiber fuselage sections of the new long-range aircraft COMAC CR929 will be built. Present at the ceremony were representatives of Leonardo, COMAC, Kangde Investment Group, the Governor of Jiangsu Province, various local politicians and a large representation of Chinese aerospace companies and research institutes.
The CR929 program was launched by COMAC, together with the Russian company UAC, in the 2017 with the aim of developing a long-range aircraft and a wide fuselage. Leonardo had signed in the 2015 a preliminary agreement with COMAC, the Chinese state company responsible for the civil aeronautical programs of the country, to start collaboration for the development and production of composite fuselage sections.
