Russia's United Aircraft (OAK) has decided not to take up Airbus's offer of a risk-sharing role in the A350 XWB widebody twinjet project and will reduce its participation to second-tier supplier level.
The decision was made on the grounds that OAK failed to raise the necessary funding by the deadline Airbus had set.
OAK and Airbus continue to discuss work packages that Russian companies could take on, with the choice effectively reduced to NPK Irkut's IAZ plant and VASO. Formal offers have been sent firms willing to take on work under subcontract from OAK.
Airbus is not going to place limits on the amount of A350 engineering and parts-manufacturing work carried out in Russia, "so that the enterprises can take as much as they can actually deliver, provided the pricing is competitive", says a source at the European manufacturer.
In a separate development, US structural materials firm Hexcel has won a contract to supply carbonfibre composite materials for major primary structures of the A350. The award covers A350 production through 2025, and is expected to generate revenues of $4-5 billion over the life of the contract.
Source: Flight International
