Boeing’s aircraft woes drive drone focus at Leonardo facility

ROME — Work on fixed-wing and tiltrotor drones is taking up the slack at an Italian facility run by Leonardo, which has been hit by a slowdown caused by sluggish civil contracts from Boeing, the firm has said.

Leonardo had told unions in Rome that the plant at Grottaglie would need to shut down for four months to deal with a decrease in the usual amount of work performed for the 787 Dreamliner passenger.

Boeing told its staff in April it expected a slowdown in production and deliveries of the 787 Dreamliner because of a shortage of component supplies. The hitch followed quality issues that suspended deliveries for nearly two years, ending in 2022.

“Lower growth in the production and delivery of the Boeing 787 required a four-month plant shutdown to align production volumes with the short-term reduction in demand,” Leonardo said.

To fill the gap, Leonardo has started work at the facility on the wing of the new Eurodrone UAV — being built by a team of European governments and their local defense industries — and on the fuselage of the prototype of Leonardo’s remotely piloted Proteus helicopter.

Leonardo is also working on the fuselage of the VX4 electric aircraft at Grottaglie on behalf of the British firm Vertical Aerospace, the Italian company said, adding that the projects are employing 100 people.

Next, Grottaglie is to host the production of Leonardo’s AW609 tiltrotor, which the firm expects will be certified next year.

Built for civil customers with an eye on military applications, the AW609 is a long-term project that started life as a collaborative program with Bell before the U.S. business pulled out in 2011.

Leonardo said it is also focusing research work into new composite materials for aircraft at Grottaglie.

Leonardo has said delays at Boeing may cost it €50 million (U.S. $54 million) this year.

Tom Kington is the Italy correspondent for Defense News.

罗马——莱昂纳多公司表示，由于波音公司民用合同增长缓慢，该公司在意大利的工厂生产固定翼和倾转旋翼无人机的工作正在弥补产能不足的缺口。

莱昂纳多公司曾告诉罗马的工会，格罗塔列工厂需要停工四个月，以应对787梦想客机乘客通常工作量的减少。

波音公司在四月份告知员工，由于零部件供应短缺，预计787梦想客机的生产和交付速度将放缓。此前，该机型曾因质量问题暂停交付近两年，直至2022年才恢复交付。

莱昂纳多表示：“波音787的生产和交付增长放缓，导致工厂停产四个月，以使产量与短期需求下降相匹配。”

为了填补这一空白，莱昂纳多公司已开始在该工厂为新型 Eurodrone 无人机（由欧洲各国政府及其当地国防工业组成的团队建造）的机翼以及莱昂纳多公司遥控 Proteus 直升机原型机的机身进行研发工作。

意大利公司莱昂纳多表示，该公司还在格罗塔列为英国垂直航空航天公司（Vertical Aerospace）生产VX4电动飞机的机身，并补充说，这些项目雇用了100名员工。

接下来，格罗塔列将承建莱昂纳多公司的 AW609 倾转旋翼机的生产基地，该公司预计该旋翼机将于明年获得认证。

AW609 是为民用客户打造的，同时也着眼于军事应用。这是一个长期项目，最初是与贝尔公司合作的项目，但贝尔公司于 2011 年退出了该项目。

莱昂纳多公司表示，他们还在格罗塔列集中开展飞机新型复合材料的研究工作。

莱昂纳多公司表示，波音公司的延误可能会使其今年损失 5000 万欧元（5400 万美元）。

汤姆·金顿是《防务新闻》驻意大利记者。