Mubadala Aerospace has won a ten-year direct contract from Boeing to produce composite aerostructures for the 777 and 787 Dreamliner for delivery from 2013.
The contract award to Mubadala Aerospace’s Strata Manufacturing division which specialises in composites, also includes a strategic agreement that positions Strata to be a future supplier of the vertical fin for the Dreamliner.
In Boeing’s first direct composites supplier contract in the Arab world, Strata will manufacture empennage ribs for the 777 and vertical fin ribs for the 787 Dreamliner.
Strata produced its first composite part in 2010 and aims to “Become a leading Tier-one supplier of composite aerostructures for the next generation of aircraft.”
“The UAE is one of Boeing’s most important commercial and defense customers, and its leaders have transformed its economy with aerospace investment and development,” said Jim Albaugh, President and CEO of Boeing Commercial Airplanes. “Boeing has been committed for several years to build a partnership with Mubadala Aerospace that brings long-term, mutual benefits to both companies.”
“This is an important milestone for Strata,” said Mubadala Aerospace Executive Director Homaid Al Shemmari. “The signing of this agreement … is testament to how far Strata has come as a company in the short 18 months it has been operational. Mubadala Aerospace is developing a world-class – and crucially – sustainable aerospace industry in the UAE, and Strata is at the heart of this development.”
Boeing has already begun to provide tooling, operational early training and other support for those work packages, and Strata’s deliveries of those components are scheduled to begin in 2013. Boeing says that based on its competitiveness and performance, Strata is also positioned to become a future supplier of the 787 vertical fin assembly.
Boeing and Mubadala signed a deal at the 2011 Dubai Airshow to establish Strata as a composite aerostructures supplier and develop a strategic roadmap for Strata to become a major Tier 1 supplier to Boeing.
These recent developments further advance a framework agreement signed by Boeing and Mubadala Aerospace in November 2009 to show their commitment to develop mutually beneficial initiatives in areas where there is strategic alignment between the two companies. Future partnership initiatives could include military maintenance and sustainment activities, as well as pilot training and people development.