After the areas of engines and aerostructures which have become to ITP, on the one hand, and to Aernnova, Alestis, and Aciturri, on the other hand, suppliers of first level, the Guipuzcoan company DMP will produce the cushioning system of main landing gear of 475 A350 aircraft amounting to EUR 15 million. Thus, the company based in Mendaro (Gipuzkoa) and belonging to the Group Egile consolidates its presence in the international aviation market with a long-term contract in the niche of landing systems. The operation entails increasing the diversification of the range of technologies provided by firms in the cluster Hegan.

WMD has signed the contract with the French company Messier Dowty - supplier direct Airbus and global leader in landing gear - to produce in a preferential way 60 units of the A350 damping systems. It will subsequently be guaranteed production on at least 30% of the aircraft which are monthly, constructed to complete the order for 475 aircraft.

Philippe Roulet, commercial director of WMD, points out that "systems must be able to withstand 300 tons, which have very strict requirements of quality and safety". The A350XWB main landing gear consists of two shock absorbers in order to support this model of Airbus, capable of carrying up to 350 passengers. In total, WMD will produce 950 buffer systems, each consisting of a total of 22 pieces of high-tech. It's very sensitive hydraulic damping systems, designed with the client, which has allowed to generate the development of knowledge and technology.

The area of systems and equipment is a relatively new sector for members of the cluster Hegan, although it has been a very high growth in recent years. He currently represents 6.5% of the turnover of the sector, in the year 2009 in 1,167 million euros.

The partners of Hegan, first cluster of aeronautical and space created in the State, have positioned themselves in niche markets very specialized, in those who have achieved the recognition of the sector and manufacturers by its technology and competitiveness.

In 2009, industry Turbo Propulsores, S.A. (ITP), and Rolls-Royce Plc, signed the contract for which the first is Kami supplier partner of turbine low pressure (TBP) of the Trent XWB, which motorizará this aircraft, which will mean a turnover of € 4.9 billion over the life of the engine. Participation in this contract of RRSP (shared risk-benefit) will be the responsibility of ITP in the Assembly, design and manufacture of the low-pressure turbine.

The contract signed by ITP joins those obtained previously by other members of Hegan companies in the field of aerostructures, after bidding for large work packages of the A350 XWB programme amounting to more than 5 billion euros. Aernnova and Alestis formalized macro-contratos amounting to 4,000 million euros to manufacture components and structures in carbon over the next 30 years, becoming first level suppliers and partners to risk-sharing in this modelin which they participate with the design and manufacture of the horizontal stabilizer and the elevator, as well as the belly fairing and the cone of tail or section 19.1.

Airbus also awarded to the also Tier 1 Spanish Aciturri, specializing in the manufacture of aerostructures in carbon fiber, the full development of the vertical stabilizer of the A350 XWB (VTP) queue. Aciturri, signature integrated Hegan, joined this project in the spring of 2009 for the award of the internal structure of section 19 (the area where join the fuselage, with vertical and horizontal stabilizers). Both work packages could reach a value of 1.6 billion euros over the life of the program.

Globally, these companies are planning to invest 700 million euros in a term of four years, at the stage of engineering development and the implementation underway of industrial facilities to develop the project, which is double the investment in r & d currently carried out by the Basque aeronautical and spatial sectorwith an average over the past 10 years located around 16% of the turnover.

Hegan

The cluster Association of Aeronautics and space of the Basque country, Hegan, is the first aeronautical and spatial cluster formed formally in the State in 1997, although he had already started its operation in 1993, with regular meetings between companiestechnology centres, universities and Government of the autonomous community of the Basque country.

Hegan is composed of four major business groups - Aciturri, Aernnova, Alestis and ITP - two great - Altran and Sener - engineering, and an extensive network of small and medium-sized specialized firms. Thus, in addition to the founding companies - Aernnova, ITP and Sener - form part of Hegan currently Aciturri, Aeromec, Aerospace Engineering Group, Aerovision, AIBE, Alestis, Alpha Microfusión of aluminium, Altran, machining Astorkia, Ayzar, Burdinberri, Burulan, DMP, Electrohilo, TTT group, mechanized Astorkia, Mesima, MetraltecNivac, Novalti, Nuter, Qaes, Siegel, Sisteplant, Tecnasa, industries TEY, TPS and WEC. Complete the cluster the CTA and Euve technological centers, and the IK4 and Tecnalia additions.

The cluster Association of Aeronautics and space of the Basque country is first constituted cluster formally in the State in 1997, but already its operation had begun five years earlier, with meetings of the founding partners between 1993 and 1997.

Five of the companies are providers of first level of the sector. Altogether, associate companies in the cluster Hegan added 111 production centres, of which 17 are located overseas (Brazil, Malta, Mexico, United Kingdom and United States) and the rest are divided between the Basque country (57) and various autonomous communities (37).

The aeronautical and spatial sector associated in Hegan reached a turnover of 1,167 million euros, a decrease of 5% over the previous year attributable to the drop in air traffic of this period in 2009. Exports were at 746 million euros, in this period, which represents 70 percent of total sales. For its part, the direct jobs in associated companies amounted to 9819 jobs, which 3.752 are concentrated in the Basque country, 4.921 are located in the production centres in the rest of Spain and 1.146 correspond to plants overseas.

Finally, the chapter of the r & d investment was record in 2009, with a total of 162 million euros and 83% of the total self-financed by businesses themselves. Also highlights the effort human in this task of research and development, an activity that employs 2.097 people.