Saab employees design the crew entrance door for the A400M

Saab and Airbus signed a contract on 29 November regarding development and production of the crew entrance door for the new Airbus Military A400M, a military transport aircraft.  The contract makes Saab Aerostructures a risk-sharing supplier in the project. Just over two months after the contract signing, the project is already in full swing.

The project is now in the initial stage with focus on the concept study. Saab Aerostructures already has a conceptual design team, consisting of seven Saab employees, on site in Toulouse that works with producing a preliminary design for the crew entrance door to be ready in April 2005. The team will be on site in Toulouse until the end of March 2005 and is in daily cooperation with their colleagues from Airbus.

A400M

Petter Björkdahl is Saab’s Project Manager for A400M and sees a bright future for the project and for Saab Aerostructures.

Petter Björkdal

Image: Petter Björkdal

“It is positive that we get business such as this, where we can find and directly see synergy effects with other ongoing projects. It is expected that the order for the crew entrance doors will clear the way for other door packages in the future. The delivery date for the first crew entrance door is June 2006, as scheduled, and we will meet the delivery date.

Saab Aerostructures has design and manufacturing experience for doors from earlier projects.

“We have produced similar components, for the Saab 2000 for example, but there are some differences in the mechanics for this particular type of door that are relatively new to us. Finding the most effective and optimal solution is now our mail focus”, said Petter Björkdahl.

Back to CNB 1/2005