Within the framework of the MRO Latin America Congress held in Buenos Aires, the vice president of the Argentine Aircraft Factory (Fadea), Franco Giuggioloni, pointed to the growth of its activities outside the country.
In this sense, he told Telam that the main objective of the state company is to diversify its work proposals to attract more income, for which they are waiting for authorization from the Federal Aviation Administration of the United States (FFA, for its acronym in English). ).
“Today, Fadea has an agreement with the company Etihad Engineering, through which we carry out some maintenance work for the Latam company on its Airbus 320 aircraft. We also carry out work for Flybondi and paint Aerolíneas Argentinas aircraft,” Giuggioloni explained.
85% of the firm’s turnover comes from the Argentine Air Force, which is its main client in terms of maintenance, aircraft conversion and manufacturing of new aircraft.
“We must strengthen our basic business, but today, diversifying with external clients is the basis of our growth,” he remarked.
Regarding the work for the Air Force, he highlighted those carried out in “the recovery of the C-130 Hercules, the IA 63 Pampa advanced instruction aircraft, the IA 100B primary/basic instruction aircraft prototype, the avionics modernization and assembly of pods radar (modules) and camera units IA 58 Pucará Ov Fénix, the recovery of Orion aircraft and the Beechcraft TC Huron aircraft”, among others.
a new plane
“Historically, it has been Fadea who has solved the need for training aircraft for the FAA,” said Giuggioloni, and along these lines, he pointed out that “the construction of the IA-100, as an elementary-primary military trainer, complements the current product star of the mythical Cordoba factory, the IA-63 Pampa III”.
“The training aircraft sector is a niche among aircraft manufacturers. For the initial stages of pilot training, both civilian and military, aircraft design is quite specific for safety and training of new aviators,” he continued.
In this sense, he argued that in Latin America there is no trainer that has started from a military requirement, but rather they are airplanes adapted from civil aircraft.
This new aircraft, according to Giuggioloni, will represent a key trainer for the initial training and the first hours of flight of a military pilot.
The IA-100 is conceived as a three-seater aircraft, with a 260 HP piston engine, made of composite material and certified FAR 23 in the aerobatic category.
He explained that “the structure of the IA-100 will be built with the most modern technology in aeronautical engineering, which simplifies the manufacturing processes of complex structures and results in lower costs.”