Gearing up for the future

Made in India

The contract for 36 Rafales has led to a significant strengthening of our 65-year relationship with India, based on the transfer of costs and technologies linked to the search for sustainable gains in competitiveness. Accordingly, Falcon 2000LXS aircraft produced as part of the Albatros program for the French Navy will be assembled in India.

Since early 2019, our Nagpur plant, located in the state of Maharashtra, has been delivering Falcon 2000 front cockpit sections that meet our quality standards. The production ramp-up, planned over a five-year period, has resulted in the construction of a second 135,000-sq.-foot production facility. As in our other plants, production continued, in spite of the Covid-19 epidemic, in strict compliance with health measures.

Gateway to India

The growth of our business has resulted in a number of partnerships with local companies. Our supply chain is expanding to include new suppliers. Ranging from large industrial operators to SMEs, the French aeronautical ecosystem involved in the Rafale program includes 25 production facilities and 20 joint ventures in India. Activities include design, production and support.

Strategic capabilities

We are continuing the process of further integrating and specializing our production system in a series of strategic areas: metal products, composites, flat products, etc. This drive for synergy has led to the construction of a new plant in Cergy as well as of new buildings in Mérignac, Martignas and Biarritz.

Synergies and new ways of working

The changes we are making to our facilities foster a more collaborative approach. Our design teams work even more closely with our customers and take a more holistic view of the entire aircraft lifecycle. For instance, the design office integrates production and recycling requirements at a very early stage, in accordance with Advanced Product Quality Planning (APQP) standards.

The process of deploying a dedicated production management system across all our plants began is ongoing. It is currently up and running at six of our eight production sites in France. It will improve our industrial performance and the responsiveness of our supply chain.

One of the first benefits of the Connected Factory 4.0 system is that our operators now have access to digital augmented reality support tools.

Industrial ecosystem

We are at the center of an industrial network that has gradually developed over the decades, one that shares knowledge and methods, along with proven design and production tools. Aéroprint bears witness to these relationships: this agreement to support the development of additive manufacturing involves the creation of a collaborative platform in Argonay.