Will Manufacture As Many As 15 Satellites Per Week When At Full Capacity

A groundbreaking is expected soon at Exploration Park near Cape Canaveral, FL on OneWeb Satellite’s new high-volume satellite manufacturing factory in that location. OneWeb Satellites is a joint venture, equally owned by OneWeb and Airbus Defense and Space.

This new facility will be the industry’s first satellite manufacturing center of its kind, capable of delivering 15 satellites per week, which will all become part of the OneWeb constellation offering high-speed internet with global coverage.  Each of these satellites is about the size and weight of a refrigerator, compared with a typical telecom satellite, which is more similar in size and weight to that of a school bus.
 
For Airbus, this event highlights another major milestone for the corporation in its mission to expand its manufacturing presence in the U.S. and create more American jobs.

Over the years, Airbus’ activity in the U.S. has grown from a single, small sales office staff of fewer than a dozen people in 1978 to a nationwide network of 38 locations in 16 states. Currently, there are more than 3,700 Airbus employees in the U.S., with that number steadily growing. As Airbus’ presence has expanded since 1977, so has its positive financial impact on the U.S. economy, including:

• Airbus has spent more than $187 billion in the U.S. since 1990.
• Airbus spent $17 billion with U.S. companies in 2016.
• Airbus spending in the U.S. supports 264,000 American jobs.
• Airbus utilizes hundreds of U.S. suppliers in some 40 states.The U.S. is the largest single supplier country to Airbus.

Airbus opened its first engineering center outside Europe in Wichita, Kansas, in 2002. Airbus Americas Engineering–Wichita employs more than 300 aerostructures engineers. A second engineering facility opened in Mobile, Alabama, in 2007. Airbus Americas Engineering–Mobile employs more than 220 cabin engineers.

Mobile also hosts the first U.S. Manufacturing Facility for Airbus aircraft. Officially opened in September 2015, the A320 Family production line houses more than 360 employees and began delivering aircraft in April 2016. This facility will deliver four aircraft per month by the end of 2017. The U.S. is the world’s largest single-aisle aircraft market. The vast majority of the aircraft assembled at the Mobile facility will be delivered to North American customers. The new complex represents a $600 million investment in the Gulf Coast region.

Another 140 people work at two facilities in Miami, Florida. Airbus Training Center in Miami trains more than 1,500 aircrew members each year in a range of full-flight simulators and computer-based training programs. Miami is also home to Airbus’ Latin America and Caribbean sales and marketing teams.

Airbus’ helicopter division manufactures, markets, sells, assembles, supports and provides training solutions for rotary-wing aircraft in the U.S. Headquartered in Grand Prairie, Texas, it builds H125 helicopters for the civil market and the UH-72A Lakota for the U.S. Army and Navy, both in Columbus, Mississippi.

(Source: Airbus news release. Images from file)

FMI: www.airbus.com