Wed, Dec 15, 2010
Composite Wing Leading Edge Component One Of Six
The first production leading edge spar component – an
outer spar – for the Airbus A350 XWB program has been shipped
from Kinston, NC to Prestwick, Scotland.
A350 Wing Spar
A leading edge spar fabricated by Spirit AeroSystems is a wing
component, part of the fixed leading edge, and comprises six major
sections: inner, mid and outer for each wing. The outer spar
shipped today is the first of the group to be produced by Spirit,
and makes up about 8 percent of the total spar weight. It is
approximately 11.5 meters in length. Spar components are made of
100 percent carbon fiber material, and all six combined weigh about
one ton.
The subsequent five spar sections will be shipped in the coming
months.
"This is the first production component of any kind we've
shipped out of our Kinston facility," said Tom Greenwood, Spirit's
A350 XWB spar program director. "This first unit was built at our
new, state-of-the-art facility using automated composite
fabrication technology and the technical expertise of Spirit
employees."
Each set of spars will be shipped from Spirit's Kinston facility
to Spirit's European plant in Prestwick, Scotland, where it will be
integrated into the fixed leading edge. From there, it will
be delivered to the Airbus plant in Broughton, Wales, for
integration into the wing box.
Spirit won a contract with Airbus in July 2008 to design and
produce the A350 XWB's spar and fixed leading edge. Spirit is also
designing and building the composite center fuselage section,
Section 15, for the A350 XWB.
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